Every year, families make summer plans to travel, explore and get away from the house for a while. But this year, COVID-19 has affected many of those plans and families are now reorganizing for a safe and healthy summer at home.

As part of your revised vacation plans, bring home some fun, biblical entertainment for your kids to enjoy, with Summertime Savings on Adventures in Odyssey. With our Summer Value Packs, you can save up to 52 per cent on collections of audio adventures, books, graphic novels and more.

At Focus, we hear so many stories about Adventures in Odyssey, how God is transforming lives through this entertaining series. I wanted to share one of them with you.

Karen and her husband, Ryan, have no children of their own but have fostered 11 kids over the past two years. They’re both huge fans of Odyssey and have gotten their foster kids hooked on it as well, using it to share God’s love with them.

“My kids had been in five different homes previously, so you are parenting five different parenting styles,” Karen explains. “You are figuring out who they are and the best way to approach them.”

“We had an 11-year-old and a two-year-old for about five weeks in our home,” she continues. “When the 11-year-old saw my collection of Odyssey, she just could not believe her eyes. ‘I can listen to these any time I want?’ she asked. I said, ‘Yep!’”

Karen and Ryan live nearly 40 minutes from town, so they always play Odyssey in the car for their kids during those long drives. At the end of a trip, Karen often hears the kids exclaim, “We can’t be done yet! We have to listen to the rest of this episode before we get out!”

On one occasion, her tired two-year-old sighed, “No Odyssey,” before falling asleep. Karen later realized what he meant. “He didn’t want to miss it! And he is only two years old!” she enthused. “There is God’s message coming through to a child who can’t even understand but he can engage with it.”

It hasn’t been as smooth with every child. “I had a nine-year-old and it was his first time in care,” she recalls. “He didn’t come from a Christian background of any sort, he was addicted to TV and screen time and he was really upset there was no video player in the car.”

At first, this young boy thought Odyssey was corny and complained about listening to it on the drives, but gradually he became captivated by the stories. “We had to do a two-hour trip and he said, ‘I don’t think I can do this, we have no movie’,” Karen remembers. “But he didn’t care the whole time because we were listening to Adventures in Odyssey.”

With government rules that restrict foster parents from sharing their faith with their kids, Karen is especially thankful for Odyssey. “I can pick the topic from Odyssey that the kids need to hear, and they can get the Gospel that way using their imagination,” she explains.

In addition to the audio adventures, Karen also loves reading Odyssey stories to her kids. “I have all the Young Whit books,” she says. “I believe that when you read a book, it sets the stage for God to be able to work into their lives.”

“I find that once I started fostering, I started praying more,” Karen concludes. “I think God really takes that to heart and is able to even work in the children’s heart before they know what they’re going to listen to.”

This summer, as you spend your vacation at home, it’s a great time to enjoy Adventures in Odyssey with your whole family. Check out the Summertime Savings on Adventures in Odyssey with our Summer Value Packs, and dive into a season filled with fun, biblical entertainment that will also help your kids grow in their faith and in their knowledge of God’s love for them.