I Love You to God and Back: A Mother and Child Can Find Faith and Love Through Bedtime Prayers [Paperback]

Amanda Lamb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2012

Whimisical. Simple. Thankful. Profound.

One day at a time, one prayer at a time, a busy working mother and playful six-year-old daughter transformed their bedtime prayers. They started rushed and tired. Distracted, "It's late. Let's go."

 

And then, gradually, something happened. A thank you here. A vulnerable moment there. The perfunctory prayers became . . . opportunities. "What did you do today? What did you learn? Anything else?"

 

Like a window into their relationship their prayers and reflections let us witness the growth, enjoy the childlikeness, and learn from their winsome faith. Discover how you and your child can find connection, humor, and a deeper understanding of God in the quiet last few minutes of each day.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Amanda Lamb is a professional television journalist with 23 years of experience. She covers the crime beat for an award-winning CBS affiliate in the southeast. Amanda is also the author of six books, a wife, and the mother of two little girls. She received her undergraduate degree from Duke University and her master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (April 17, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400203910
• ISBN-13: 978-1400203918
• Product Dimensions: 0.9 x 6.7 x 4.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #777,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Amanda Lamb is a professional television journalist, author, and mother. Amanda writes in two completely different genres: one about her life at home, and one that mirrors her life as a hard news crime reporter. Currently, she has seven books in print.

In February 2013, Thomas Nelson published Amanda's first children's book, "I Love You to God and Back." This sweet and beautifully illustrated picture book teaches young children about the joy of bedtime prayers. This book compliments the adult version of the book of the same name published in April 2012. This book takes parents on a yearlong spiritual journey as Amanda documents and reflects upon her daughter's prayers.

Switching gears, "Love Lies" is her most recent true crime book. It was published by the Berkley Group in December 2011. It features the story of a young mother whose husband said she went jogging and never returned home.

By day, Amanda is also a veteran crime reporter for an award-winning CBS television station in the Southeast, WRAL. She also writes a parenting blog for WRAL every Monday called "Go Ask Mom."

In her nearly twenty plus years as a professional journalist, Amanda has developed a reputation as the go-to reporter for networks seeking credible feedback and interviews on high-profile murder cases in the southeast. She makes regular appearances on crime magazine shows on CBS, FOX News, CNN, truTV, Discovery Investigates, Biography and on the Oxygen network.

In January of 2011 she published her fourth book, a parenting humor book titled "Girls Gone Child." This book chronicles her daughters' journey out of babyhood and into parenthood with their mother as their imperfect but loving tour guide.

In April of 2010, Amanda's third book, a true crime called "Evil Next Door" (The Berkley Group, a division of Penguin Putnam) was published. It features the story of a 2002 rape and murder case she covered as a news reporter for WRAL. A young woman who was just starting out her life was stalked and killed by a man many believed was a serial killer.

In June 2008, Amanda published her second book, "Deadly Dose: The Untold Story of a Homicide Investigator's Crusade for Truth and Justice" (The Berkley Group, a division of Penguin Putnam), a true crime about a young, promising scientist who is poisoned with arsenic by his scientist wife.

In August 2007, Amanda published her first book, "Smotherhood: Wickedly Funny Confessions from the Early Years" (Globe Pequot), a collection of irreverent anecdotal humorous essays about being a working mother in the twenty-first century. This book landed her an appearance on The Today Show.

For more on Amanda and her work got to www.alambauthor.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter (links to those addresses are on her website).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars It's ok April 17, 2012

By Robin

Format:Paperback

Love You to God and Back
By Amanda Lamb
This book wasn't what I expected. I was expecting a sort of "how to learn about God with your children in the moments before bedtime" but instead I walked through a journey with a mother and daugther. The mother started recording her 6 yr olds bedtime prayers and formatted them into a book. Her daugther is definitely an interesting character. The mother learns quite a bit from her. I could relate to a little of what the author was saying and finally after reading this book was able to pin point exactly what my children are teaching me! They are teaching me many things such a patience, control of anger, but the biggest thing they are teaching me is child-like faith and I believe that's the biggest thing this mother is being taught by her daugther as well. The author and I do not agree on some topics (such as halloween, etc) but those are really unimportant. Don't misunderstand me, she doesn't try to debate these issues. I was just making an observation. I'm passing this one on to a dear friend I know that's expecting her first child. I like it but I'm not in love with it. I wouldn't neccesarily recommend it nor would I not recommend it.
I recieved this book free in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am not required to have a postive review.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars It was nice.. October 10, 2012

By S. E. Ussery

Format:Paperback

I was excited to get this book as it looks extremely adorable and the title, even though it's not the most original, really struck a note with me. Maybe it's because of my love for the book that had the original saying "I love you to the moon and back" that I had high expectations for this book. I am not really sure.

The book was lovely in away and very sweet. The mother had written down her daughter's nighttime prayers for a year. Then some conversations and little blurb's on what she learned from her daughter's prayers and their conversations. It was a very personal book which is probably why I didn't really like it. It may have been just a little too personal.

I felt as if I was somewhere I shouldn't have been and I was apart of someones very personal prayer time and journey with God. I also felt at times that the book was a bit too much. She was trying too hard to learn something from every prayer that it felt a bit reaching.

Personally I would think this would be a wonderful gift to give her daughter, I don't know if I really thought it was a great book idea.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <[...]> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Very sweet, but I got bored :( May 23, 2012

By Kara

Format:Paperback

I feel a little torn in writing my review of this book.

As a mother of a young child, I understand how precious this book must be to the author. It is a collection of 100 of her 6-year-old daughter's prayers, followed by the mother's own thoughts and commentaries on what the little girl mentions in her prayers. How absolutely beautiful and wonderful to have this collection for all time. I can't imagine how special it is to the author, and I applaud her in writing this book and putting her heart and experiences with her daughter out there for the world.

At the same time, the book was nothing like what I was expecting. Based on the book description, I was expecting it to provide me with some parenting or theological insight. I found neither. Instead, I felt like I was simply reading the life story of a mother and daughter. Yes, the mother learns things from her daughter's prayers...but the things she learns are more personal and about her family, not things that can pass knowledge and wisdom onto others.

I think the prayers and commentaries in the book would have been very enjoyable to read as a blog. Each chapter could have been a blog post, and the story could have been read slowly over time. However, to sit down and try to read this book all at once was too much for me. I got bored. I honestly stopped reading the book before finishing it because I found it to be too tedious and long.

Again, as I said above, I can see the worth of this book to the author and so I don't want to negate the value of her writing in her life. But as a person who does not know her or her daughter and never will, this wasn't a book that was very enjoyable for me. I simply did not gain anything from it.

Note: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.