Day 3 and 4

Just a quick peak at Day 3 - The Flood and Day 4 - The Tower of Babel. 

So, we memorize the first 4 events as: Creation, Fall, Flood, Nations. 

Day 2: The Fall in the Garden of Eden

Assembling the Lego creation

                                              

Tonight we discussed the fall in the Garden of Eden and I must say, it is a delight to have my 8 year old read the stories aloud to us now. This is also the first year they have joined AWANA and one benefit already is tying in the verses they have memorized with the story, like they had both memorized Romans 3:23 which fit with our discussion of sin and disobedience to the perfect plan God would have wanted us to live out. I look forward to the deeper conversations that we will have with them now that they are all of 5 and 8.

                                              

Two crafts I have adopted with our traditions are making felt ornaments and melting and molding chocolate shapes. My ornaments have gotten so much easier this year thanks to my Stampin' Up Big Shot to die cut perfect circles. The ornament designs are fun to make, playing around with stitching techniques and implement symbolism even with the choices of color. These I've made during the year in preparation for Advent. November 30 is usually spent standing over my little melting pot stirring the chocolate wafers until they melt (Ghirardelli makes good and easily available melting chips!), pouring by spoon into the plastic molds and freezing on cookie sheets. This year I made 6 sets with the burst of energy I got Sunday after 9pm! Enjoy Life vegan chips work as well. By stretching our imagination a bit we have adapted shapes to fit about 18 out of the 25 Jesse Tree stories. Everyone definitely loves the addition of chocolate!

Felt ornament of the Tree and White chocolate skull representing man's death

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caught eating the turtle's food!

I think the wandering wise men were a hit! One wise man with his camel and treasure were found at daybreak and talked about all day. I even saw that my son had set a compass ring out for him to borrow and the use of his toy airplane. The wise man didn't take him up on that offer... but the boys have a great imagination and I think this will be a fun, goofy addition too. 

Please feel free to share any ideas or adaptations that your family is enjoying!

Advent Day 1, 2014

 

  

"You are Lord of Creation and Lord of my life. Lord of the land and the seas. 

You are Lord of the heavens before there was time. Lord of all Lords you will be!"

December 1 always seems to come in a rush and catch me by
surprise. Just as soon as the Thanksgiving dishes are all put away, in blow the Christmas bins spilling over with excitement. We started last evening's Advent with the house in total darkness. And then- a single candle lit to show just how much impact it can have on the darkened room, symbolic of God's power to merely speak and illuminate the nothingness. We read about the Creation of all that we know and lit the first candle on the Advent wreath which represent the ways that God reveal Himself to us, through Creation and nature. There are 2 Creation ornaments, 2 small chocolate flowers that we molded, and the start of a Lego creation to build along the month, in the Cross box. We ended by praying about what we had read and teaching them "You are Lord of Creation."

Now that we have gone through our Jesse Tree list for a few years our kids know somewhat what to expect. They showed up to Advent story time with plush kangaroo and snake, knowing it was Creation night.

So in order to preserve an element of surprise we decided to implement a new idea this year- a search for the wandering wise men! We have told them they are not real and this is just for fun, but with our wishes to build anticipation for the coming Christ we will be visited by the wise men too who are also looking everywhere for Jesus. And why would they come to our house? Because we are seeking after Jesus too! As expected, one son is a little hesitant, and one dives in and was up again before 7am searching the house.

After Advent, armed with their candles, they took to the yard to look for any hidden or lost wise men. It was a little funny because they didn't know what they were looking for and the front gate was accidentally left open which gave the appearance of real visitors. All they found tonight was a tiny hat and treasure box but it was enough for them set a lure and trap with the found hat and treasure box. 

"Lost and found". Clever.

This morning there was a note by the trap and a poor, lost wise man and camel found in the kitchen by the coffee maker. We are going to hang a large star up that they will be following, but they will be searching for the baby all month. The boys can't touch them if they find them so as not to knock them off track, but can observe how far they make it each day. We like the creative outlet, the boys like the hunt, and the point is to build anticipation as we are all awaiting the day of celebrating the Lord's gift to us at Christmas.