Christian Archives - Life in Lape Haven

If you were to ask me to name good children’s programs to help your child learn, I could easily rattle off a long list of quality shows that I used to watch or that my kids love to watch now, some on repeat.

(This post contains affiliate links, which means that at no additional cost to you, I may receive a small commission when you use the link. For full details, see my disclosure.)

But if you were to ask me to name good FAITH-BASED children’s programs that I loved or that my children enjoy, well, sadly that list is remarkably shorter. Aside from the old school favorites of Gospel Bill and McGee & Me or the ever-fabulous Veggie Tales and What’s in the Bible?, Christian kids’ programming generally leaves A LOT to be desired.

**Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised when my family sat down to check out a new faith-based children’s series, Little Image-Bearers.**

From the first cheerful greeting of “Hello, fellow image-bearer!” to the sweet sign off of “May the Lord bless you and keep you,” my children were taken with this simple but high-quality show.

Professional without being overly polished and beautifully reminiscent of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood (but a little cooler and funnier), each episode is hosted by Mr. Caleb Phipps, who teaches young viewers about God and foundational biblical truths through stories, experiments, crafts, puppets, and visits with local friends.

This adorable program is not only well-produced, well-written, relatable, and delightfully delivered, but it was instantly enjoyed by our entire family – not just our little preschooler. When we were watching the first episode, my 7-year-old was sitting beside me, and he sweetly looked over at me and said, “I like this.” Later he added, “They need to make a second season.” We hadn’t even finished the first season yet!

As they were already sharing their thoughts when we watched it, I asked my boys to give me an overall review of the Little Image-Bearers series once we’d seen all the episodes, especially since they fit right into the show’s target demographic of 2-10 years old.

Isaiah, my 3-year-old, is definitely a fan of “Image Bears,” as he calls it. He constantly answers back to “Mr. Caleb” throughout the shows, and he likes to tell me about what happened with Bobo Bear and Lala Redhead (the puppets) from various favorite moments of the series. When I asked him what he liked about Little Image-Bearers, he pointed to all the characters on the DVD cover. So he likes it all! 🙂

Josiah (7 years old) said, “I really like it because it tells me more about the Bible, and some I don’t know. I like the parts where we meet new people. I also like it because he’s calm and not crazy. It teaches you stuff, like I didn’t know that about golf carts. It’s cool.”

At nearly-10, Elijah was predictably skeptical about a “kid’s program.” But even my oldest, who has already outgrown Happy Meals, was happy to sit down and watch one episode after another. His opinion: “It’s fun to watch, and the puppets are enjoyable. My favorite part is the experiments and activities. It’s not just for little kids, and it’s not babyish.”

Hearing my boys share their opinions, even my husband chimed in with some thoughts, “As a parent, I appreciate that Mr. Phipps is laidback and approachable, not over-the-top, and he keeps the messages simple and understandable without talking down to kids. It’s a show that I wouldn’t mind having to watch or listen to over and over in a day.”

(Every mom, dad, grandparent, and babysitter knows how important that last part is!)

Suffice it to say that Little Image-Bearers has officially been added to our list of good faith-based children’s programming and has the Lape family’s seal of approval (It also has one from the Dove Foundation, for all ages!) We are looking forward to the next season already!

You can order the series as either a DVD or a Digital Download on their website and follow the progress of future releases or get behind the scenes sneaks via Little Image-Bearers on social media. To find out more about the series, visit littleimagebearers.com

Thank you, Caleb & Abbey Phipps, for the chance to review the series!

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If you’ve never heard of St. Nicholas Day, don’t worry. Neither had I until my sister-in-law shared about it a several years ago, and it wasn’t until a few Novembers ago that I really started looking into the day to find out more about it. (It’s a big deal in European countries, but not as widespread in America. While it seems to be more prevalent as a Catholic holiday, since Saint Nicholas was a priest and bishop of the early Catholic Church, in my researching, I have found that Christians of all denominations celebrate the day honoring the real-life St. Nick.)

(This post contains affiliate links, which means that at no cost to you, I may receive a small commission when you use the link to make a purchase. For more, see my full disclosure.)

Growing up, our families didn’t focus much on Santa Claus at Christmas time, even though we didn’t completely shun the idea. Now that we are parents, Brad and I don’t want our children to be overly obsessed with the story of a jolly elf bringing them lots of toys either. We’ve not encouraged our boys to make Christmas lists or write letters, mainly because we don’t want them to think that that is the main point of Christmas. In fact, when Elijah was little, it wasn’t until random people (at the store or church) started asking him what he wanted from Santa that he even thought to ask for specific things at Christmas.

Of course, again, we don’t avoid Santa. We watch Christmas specials, sing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” and if we see a Santa and Mrs. Claus while we’re shopping or at Christmas events, our boys say, “Hi,” just like they do with other costumed characters and maybe get their picture taken (if it’s free or I can take it. Haha). Elijah has never been fooled by people in costumes or thought that they were real. He just sees them as playing dress-up like we like to do, so we didn’t even need to pretend with him. Josiah was a bit more shy, so while he might not have been sure if they were real or playing, he wasn’t as likely to be as anxious to see them either way.

So for our first few Christmases with kids, we just kept Santa on the sidelines, acknowledging him as one of the back-up dancers to the holiday, along with Frosty, Rudolph, the Grinch, and even good old Charlie Brown, while Jesus – of course – always took center stage as the true Star of the season.

However, knowing what I did about the real Saint Nicholas, and then learning more as I investigated his holiday, I wanted my boys to see beyond just the Santa stories and learn the truth about the man behind all those Christmas legends because THAT Saint Nicholas clearly points to the heart of Christmas and the Savior.

(There’s also a really great fictionalization of the story of Saint Nicholas by Christian author Roseanna White, which, while more for adults, is a great read and helpful in understanding the times in which he actually lived.)

After talking it over with my hubby, we decided that we would add celebrating December 6, St. Nicholas Day, into our Christmas traditions.

First we all watched the Veggie Tales version of his life, Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving, which is a great way to share with little ones about where “Santa” comes from. Then Brad and I talked to the boys about the real Saint Nicholas, a Christian man who helped the needy and gave to bless others. We told them about how he had even been in prison for serving God and how his story eventually morphed into the tales of Santa Claus that we hear today.

: Elijah put out his snow boot for St. Nicholas Day.

: Josiah was excited that his boot had a Twix in it!

Then we gave them the exciting news that we were going to celebrate a special day in his honor, and as part of that celebration, they would leave their shoes out overnight, re-enacting one of the most famous stories about Saint Nicholas.

As St. Nicholas Center shares it:

“One story tells of a poor man with three daughters. In those days a young woman’s father had to offer prospective husbands something of value—a dowry. The larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good husband. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry. This poor man’s daughters, without dowries, were therefore destined to be sold into slavery. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home-providing the needed dowries. The bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas.”

Leaving shoes out to be filled with little treats was the way that my sister-in-law always celebrated the day as a child growing up and the way that she and my brother do now with their children.

Elijah was quite excited to have yet another day in the month to expect something special. However, mixed in with his anticipation of a small surprise and goodies, instead of thinking of flying reindeer and sacks of toys, there was an appreciation for someone else who loved Jesus and used what he’d been given to minister to others.

That’s a pretty good take away any time of the year.

St. Nicholas Day is December 6, and if you’d like to find out more about who he really was, you can find lots of information at St. Nicholas Center and all over the web.

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Tag - Christian

A Family’s Review of “Little Image-Bearers”

**Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised when my family sat down to check out a new faith-based children’s series, Little Image-Bearers.**

You can order the series as either a DVD or a Digital Download on their website and follow the progress of future releases or get behind the scenes sneaks via Little Image-Bearers on social media. To find out more about the series, visit littleimagebearers.com

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