Making the Most of Every Opportunity

Last year, I shared that we'd be trying an advent tree. It consisted of 25 daily Scripture readings, each symbolized by an ornament we hang on a felt tree to help set our hearts on Jesus during the busy, Christmas season. We had three weddings in three weeks in three different states, and as a result, traveled so much last December. Having this small, foldable, easily stored felt tree to pull out at each stop brought a little consistency to our trip and gave us our own little tradition that carried through each different place. We hung it from hotel lamps, on a nail near our friend's back door, on a dresser drawer knob at grandma's, and finally, on our living room wall at home. We loved it and are doing it again this year (though without the travel), so I thought I'd post some pictures of it: day 25 ornament is a gift, and there's the Scripture card several ornaments and their cards Day 1- Holy God and sinful man. putting the last ornament on the...

One new thing I wanted to add into our school day this season is a weekly advent event/craft/ reading to engage in looking back at the prophets who proclaimed the Messiah was coming and show how Jesus fulfilled that and to look forward to when He'll come again in full reign on earth. I needed simple, since we're in kindergarten, but engaging, because I'd like it to become a tradition in school years to come. My friend Virginia Knowles has a wealth of knowledge and love for Christ and does an awesome job pointing her kids to Jesus. She shared many of her Christmas traditions on her blog and I found our weekly "look back and see Jesus" time there. She shared an awesome and simple  4 night family advent blogpost . You could do this in a four day period or once a week over four weeks. We just did #1 this week- learning about Immanuel, "God with us" and being reminded by the Christmas lights in our neighborhood that Jesus is the light that pierced through...

I've heard several friends mention that they make a "Jesse Tree" each Christmas and i had NO clue what that was. Ha! So I looked it up. The tree gets it's name from a passage in Isaiah:   “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord.”-   Isaiah 11:1-2 So, it's a tree that points to Jesus as the fulfilled Messiah. People do all sorts of different versions and it's fun to see how families remember. Some people find cute toys/trinkets that remind them of certain aspects of Him (like a small toy fish to remember His miracles, toy tools since he was a carpenter, nails and a cross to remember His death, etc..) Others have a more formal tree with actual glass ornaments and different Scripture painted on them. This year, we are doing one that just seemed ...

My last post was long, so here’s a short one:  Here's the advent calendar I want (cute drawers to fill with candy, presents, and scripture) once we can afford it: But for now, we have this homemade felt tree and will be using it as we read through Scripture to encourage us to remain excited as we come closer to the celebration of Christ's birth! We also bought a chocolate filled one for fun to go with it (yum!).  Though Andy grew up celebrating Christ's coming through the  Advent  season, this is my first advent experience, so I’ll let you know how we like it.  As a couple, each morning we're reading from  Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas , by Nancy Guthrie, a compilation of old and new theologians to stay our minds on Christ. What an incredible season of hope. So excited to fix our eyes on Jesus throughout Advent!  In my next post will share about our Christmas Eve traditions. We LOVE Ch...