Favorite Children’s Book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”, Depicts Daily Drama for Us Adults…

One of our boys’ children’s books continues to amuse me. All three of our boys, John Jr., Gordy and Woody, absolutely loved If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff.

Its’ premise of cause and effect, better known as one-thing-leads-to-five (or more!) is so true of our lives and this crazy culture in which we live. Hubster and I were discussing this over some of his stellar Starbucks coffee just this morning…

You may recall, in the book, a merry little mouse is given a chocolate chip cookie by a cute little boy, clad in blue jeans and bright red high top sneakers…

The cookie makes the mouse thirsty,

and he asks for a glass of milk,

and a straw,

then a napkin,

then a mirror to be sure he’s not left wearing a milk mustache.

The challenges ensue, flat wearing out the little boy who supervises the mouse’s antics, and the cycle starts all over.

John and I have just engaged in a similarly incredible one-thing-leads-to-five scramble.

After thirty-one delightful years of marriage, I’m pleased-as-punch to announce we’ve finally bought a king-size bed. Whenever we travel, we always choose a king, so why not at home for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary??? After all, Hubster is six feet and four inches tall!!!

Further miraculous, we ditched the double bed in Woody’s room (which is now the Guest Room) and moved our four- poster queen-size bed in there. It now “looks” more like a guest room and our guests will appreciate not having to cram themselves into a double bed.

Ahhhhh, but as you know, it doesn’t end there. Queen-size sheets don’t quite fit on a king-size bed. And certainly one needs more than one set.

Plus (See how this works???) a new bed needs a mattress pad, and a blanket,

and a comforter,

and the king-size width now requires three pillows,

and three euros,

and decorative shams for those six new pillows (!!!)

and there you go.

(Thanks to Bed, Bath and Beyond, they take as many 20% off coupons as your little purse can hold.)

Once we got said bed assembled, we realized we needed a headboard!!! And oh, the choices!!! And bigger groaning: oh, the prices!!! (FYI—found a super deal via Home Decorator’s: www.homedecorators.com)

I will not continue to confess how this has gone WAY BEYOND If You Give a Mouse a Cookie! May I just suggest that some reupholstering and a lot of painting presented themselves into the equation.

Not exactly sure how to arrive at a point of spiritual value here for us since I’ve wildly veered off the let’s-be-wise-stewards road. This is more of a take off on Fixer-Upper on HGTV.

However, I believe this can be a fun plug to all you Grandmothers and Mothers of young ones out there, who love to read to your babies. (I’ve saved loads of the boys’ favorite books for our someday grandchildren.) We all know the value of reading to our children and we love it when they remember years later!!!

Here are some more of Laura’s books for when you’re itchin’ to read to your kids (or yourself!)

Laura’s newest book, published in 2014, Raising a Hero looks really good too. Jump onto her website, www.lauranumeroff.com and watch the video about this book and service dogs! The dog steals the show!!! It’s in a new series called Work for Biscuits. The book benefits Canine Companions for Independence www.cci.org

Finally, let’s not forget that while If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is now considered a classic, the very best book you can read to your children and for yourself is The Good Book, God’s Word.

Try The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones. It’s fantastic for children and adults! Like when we read The Message to try to figure out a passage, the Jesus Storybook Bible helps us envision stories from the Bible we might not grasp by ourselves.

We’re never too old to read… To ourselves, to the elderly, and to the young.

Let’s close by reviewing these three verses:

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.”

Psalm 71:18 is my favorite: “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.”

‘Til next time!