This Little Prayer of Mine

We say our bedtime prayers and our mealtime prayers. We pray for victims and rescue workers when we see an ambulance or fire truck. We attend Mass regularly and pray together there. We pray for our friends and family. We pray prayers of thanksgiving, adoration, and petition. All this praying that we do in our families, with our children! We hope that it brings us together... closer to the God we love and trust. We hope that it plants the seeds for our children to grow and mature in their faith and relationships with God. Sometimes I worry that I'm not doing enough to cultivate a long term love for God in my children. I try. I try to keep God alive in our home. I try to make my own faith visible to my children. I try to involve them in my faith in the hopes that it will be a springboard for theirs. And I pray.

Yesterday afternoon, the Fed Ex truck pulled up and delivered a much anticipated package! Last week, I received an email from Anthony DeStefano inviting me to be a part of the publicity effort for his new children's book, This Little Prayer of Mine. Little Mister was so excited that the author of a book was giving us a copy- and it would be here in time for his birthday! I, meanwhile, started researching Anthony DeStefano because I really like to know who I'm endorsing! This guy has led an amazing, busy, amazing life! Really, go read about him! Hubby and I were both impressed!

When we got the package yesterday, we just had to open it before we left to pick up Big Sister from school. Little Mister's eyes bulged from his head, and his chin dropped in amazement that the book had really come! You would've thought it had popped straight out of the computer screen!

After school, my kids and I sat around the counter in the kitchen, sugar cookies in hand, to find out what this book was all about. The prayer that is offered through the pages of This Little Prayer of Mine covers so many issues (the ones that seem life or death to a 3 year old) that my children haven't yet learned to pray through. A little girl prays to be happy even though her doll was dismembered by her puppy. A boy was left out of the group of kids (Big Sister thought it was awesome that there was a DSi in that illustration). In a store, the boy, arms heaping with a pile of toys remembers to say thank you for all that he already has.

The book even made me stop and think about what I do when these situations arise. More often than not, I'm cuddling my toddler when she's sad, giving my tweenager advice when she's left out, and disciplining my preschooler when he's grabbing toys from the shelves on our shopping trips. These are not situations where I instinctively teach prayer... but they should be.

I didn't expect this to be a children's book that would reach all of my children, ages 2 to 10, one that would make each of them (and me) think. But Anthony DeStefano's children's book, This Little Prayer of Mine did just that. The book is available to pre-order now for just shy of nine bucks and will be released next week, on February 16th. I really do believe that this book would be a valuable addition to any kids' bookshelf and prayer life!

These opinions are my own.

I was not paid for this review.