It’s been awhile since I’ve published my Mailbag Monday column and things have really stacked up. So I’m tackling as many as I can this week — all centered around a freebie theme — in an effort to get caught up. Enjoy!

• Kids Eat Free

  First, I want to say a big THANK YOU to readers Paula, Melody, Beth, Kim, Mallory, and Jennifer for letting me know about new restaurants that let Kids Eat Free (including Lola’s Sandwich Shop, Walk-In’s Bistreaux and Bar, FreeBirds World Burrito, Slim Chickens, The Grove, and Fresh), as well as a few old ones that have stopped their family night promotions.

  I’ve updated my lists to reflect all that new intel. With the business of the holiday season now upon us, it might be a good time to bookmark our Kids Eat Free in Tyler page if you live locally (or our Kids Eat Free in the USA page if you don’t).

  Bonus: In addition to Sundays, kids eat free all day at FreeBirds on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving!

  

• Prayer Guides

  Jody writes: “Do you have a prayer for adult children? We have six. I do pray for them but, as you can imagine, they need constant prayer being out in this world.”

  The answer is, I had never made a guide for praying for adult children before, but I have now! I published it just this morning over at my other blog, Loving Life at Home, and you can download a free printable version of it there:

  

  I also made a “Praying for Myself” guide after receiving this message from a reader named Theresa: “Thank you for your website. I have looked all over the internet for a prayer that I can pray as a wife for myself, to be a better wife, etc. All I find on the internet is how to pray for my husband that I do already. Can you by any chance help?”

  You can download that prayer guide here: Praying for Myself. You’ll also find a listing of all the other prayer guides I have available. Spot something I’ve missed? Send me a message and let me know.

• Answer Keys

  A couple of readers have written to ask where they might find the answer key for our Christmas Word Scramble party game.

  

  For most of my other Christmas games, I published the solutions on page 2 of the same PDF as the master copy, but for whatever reason, I made a separate file for this one. You can find the link to the answer key in the 3rd paragraph of the original post, or just download it here.

  If you’re as fond of playing games as we are, you may also want to visit my Christmas Party Games board on Pinterest.

• Christmas Tract Contest

  Speaking of Christmas, I’ve received a few questions about our Christmas Gospel Tract contest, including these:

  • QUESTION: Do you have to be an artist to enter?
    ANSWER: No. We do want you to include a couple of hand-drawn illustrations (please use black ink for your sketches), but just enough to show us what you’ve envisioned. If we like your idea, we’ll clean up your artwork (or replace it, if that makes more sense), before publishing the polished printable version of your tract.
    
    
  • QUESTION: Can more than one person collaborate on the entry?
    ANSWER: Absolutely! But if you win, it will be up to you to decide how to split the prize money. 🙂
    
    
  • QUESTION: Can winners from the last tract contest win again?
    ANSWER: They sure can! All you need to do is send us a fresh, new idea that we like better than all the other entries!
    
    

  We will be awarding $600 in cash prizes for this contest: $300 for 1st place, $200 for 2nd, and $100 for 3rd. If you’re interested in submitting an idea, you can find all the details for doing so here.

  

• Free Scripture Memory App + Handel Biography

  Although the following information didn’t come from a reader, I did find it in my inbox this morning and wanted to share it. For the first time ever, Scripture Memory Fellowship is offering their Bible Memory App absolutely free, no strings attached. This is a great tool for helping you and your children hide the Word of God in your hearts.

  I’m a huge proponent for committing Bible verses to memory. In fact, we offer lots of free resources right here on this website designed to encourage our readers to memorize more Scripture: everything from Bible memory flashcards to Scripture-based coloring pages and more.

  This time of year, I usually review Luke 2:1-20 with my children — something we committed to memory many years ago. To further celebrate the Christmas season, Scripture Memory Fellowship is offering a free biography of George Frideric Handel, the famous composer of Messiah, to everyone who memorizes Luke 2:1-14 by December 31. To get yours, follow these simple steps:

  • Download the Christmas Story memory book in the app under By Topic>Jesus Christ
  • Select your preferred translation and commit the passage (Luke 2:1-14) to memory
  • Mark the “Memorized” box for each set of verses in the Christmas Story
  • Choose “Messiah” from the list of available rewards

  

• Free Audiobook

  Along those same lines, Christian Audio is giving away another great audio recording this month: Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.

  I think every Christian ought to read (or listen to) this classic at least once in their life. I read it the first time at the hospital when I was delivering our third child. I found it hard to complain about the discomforts of childbirth while reading about the calm courage with which these faithful brothers and sisters faced their deaths.

  If you’re interested in getting a copy of this inspirational book yourself, you’ll need to download it soon. The offer ends Nov. 30, 2018.

  If you’re a fan of listening to books on tape, I recommend you sign up for Christian Audio’s newsletter while you’re there. They offer a new free title every month, no strings attached. And you’ll find more free downloads on their subscription page.

  These aren’t affiliate links, by the way. I’m just passing along information about something that has been a blessing to me, in hopes that it will bless you, as well.