Indiana - By the Way ~~ A New TOS Review!!

As many of you know, we have been in process of moving to Indiana. What better way to get to know some of the state's history then through a travel book for kids that explores all this great state has to offer, all while tying in Scripture to daily life.  By the Way has added 4 new titles to their By the Way Book Series and we have been blessed to be picked to review the one called Indiana.  The other new ones are Ireland, New York City, and Alaska, and after reading the one on Indiana I know we'll be getting more of these soon. I'm putting them on our Christmas wishlist!

Even though this is a book, meant to be read, it is part of a larger series of geographically based Christian worldview children's books created by Joy Budensiek, based off of the Scripture in Deuternomy 6:7 that teaches us to daily talk about God as we go "by the way". The Indiana book we received was even signed! And the front inside cover (isn't beautiful) reminded me of my childhood where autumn became my favorite season.

Joy encourages us parents to use the book as a tool not just a book to be read and pushed aside. The book is full of facts, science, geography and history, Scripture, and a constant reminder that our world was created by God the Creator.

A few more pages in and there are a bunch of pictures of items we were encouraged to locate while we read the book. We tried to find as many as we could, but some we are still searching for. But we did manage to find some pumpkins, mums, and a church. We scoured our town to find the state bird (a cardinal), but to no avail.

From the book

a pretty church

pumpkins and mums

This wasn't on the scavanger hunt, but these are a fall staple. 

Within the book there is a story about Lexi and Alex as they and their family go to visit friends and family in Indiana for Thanksgiving. The children in the book hang out with their friends Maddie and Jeff (who is supposed to be writing a state report) and their Aunt and Uncle as they travel all around Indiana discovering all it has to offer while keeping the Lord at the center.

Scripture weaved throughout

While we read we took many breaks along the way so we could discuss some of the things we read about or delve deeper into a subject.

One of those was when the book mentioned there are many covered bridges in Indiana. We hadn't explored much in Evansville, but after a quick Google search we found 2 that were only 30 miles away. So we decided to go on an adventure to find one. We found the Wheeling Covered Bridge that was built in 1877. It is not used any longer, but we did get to walk around it and discuss what it might have been like to be able to use it. It was next to a waterway so that spurred conversations about goods that might need to get from one town to another.

Wheeling Covered Bridge 1877

Walking down to the other side

On the way to find the covered bridge we passed alot of corn fields. Some were still there, but most were getting ready to be harvested. We decided that this corn must be feed corn or corn for grits or cornmeal because they had let the stalks go until they were VERY brown and dried out. We even got to see this machine cutting down the corn. I know we'll be celebrating National Popcorn Day in style since "Indiana is THE number one producer of popcorn"!!! (It's January 19th in case you wanted to put it on your calendar to celebrate as well.

Machine cutting corn down

We were also excited when we noticed that our new city was mentioned -- Evansville! So we went to the riverfront to take pictures during the beautiful sunset on the Ohio River. This last week or so the Ohio River has been at the brink of flooding we were able to read all about the levee system that was put into place after the Great Flood in 1937 which went up to 57' (five streets back from the river!)  In one of the pictures I tried to get a picture of the barge, but it was too far away. We talked about how this was how things were shipped primarily and that the Ohio River was a major bustling goods passage.

The Ohio River at sunset.

The Ohio River in the book and in real life.

My eldest daughter was intrigued when the book mentioned geocaching, which we've dabbled in a little over the years, but I think we may explore it more in our new location. And my middle child loved the pages on the animals. From bunnies to butterflies they were beautiful representations of the Lord's beautiful creations. 

Then on one of the days we were looking at houses a garden area was FULL of butterflies. She tried to catch one and came very close. I also snapped this other photo of a butterfly on a butterfly bush. We can't wait to have our own place where we can fill it with all the plants that will attract many butterflies and birds to our own yard so we can watch them.

The Indiana book by By the Way has been a great addition to our bookshelf. I plan to add many more (there are 8 others already and 3 more on the way). The photographs throughout are spectacular, vivid, and rich. Be sure to check out the reviews by my fellow Crew members by clicking the link below. And you can connect with By the Way on Facebook.