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.

Days 23 & 24 of Advent

Day 23: Joseph's Vision


We were still traveling these days and improvising as we went. This ornament is Joseph receiving his dream of a baby to come as he slept, hung from my in-laws ceramic Christmas tree.

There are so many emotions and thoughts to ponder about in this story. Joseph, engaged to Mary, learned from her that she was pregnant as a carrier of the child of God. Then an angel appeared to him in his dreams to confirm Mary's testimony and affirm him as the earthly father to care for Him who would save His people from all their sins. Joseph had a role to play in the fulfillment of the prophecies he had heard his whole life. Talk about entering your first year of marriage with some challenges!
"The Lord is Salvation" was about to enter the scene in the most vulnerable of ways.


If you are following along in the Bible In Stories: pages 442-3
In the Bible: Matthew 1



Day 24: The Journey to Bethlehem

We discussed this night the reasons for Joseph and Mary to take a long, dusty journey at the worst of times; bouncing upon a donkey, about to give birth at any moment or perhaps spurred by the travel.

There was the census to be counted, the tax to be paid, but also the prophecy to be fulfilled, that the Son of God would be born in the city of David, Bethlehem. Bethlehem, an over-crowded city that forced a King to be born in a stable. It is interesting the humble and identifiable means by which God created this awesome event- carried by an unwed mother, entrusted to a couple of no significant wealth or position, born and spent His first few nights in a barn crib, displacing the fodder of the livestock, probably to endure a misunderstood youth? AND THEN THE LORD'S GLORY AND HOST OF ANGELS INFUSED THE DARK SKY AND ANNOUNCED HIS ARRIVAL! What an unusual way to carry out the long-awaited prophecy. Looking down the situation looked humble but looking up the angels declared it glorious!

We had driven home this night in time to hold Advent in our own living room and had filled the box with all of the traveled ornaments to put on our tree. The ornament for this story is the donkey on purple felt in the middle. 

If you are following along in the BIS: pages 444
In the Bible: Matthew 1, Luke 2, John 1

Days: 21, 22

We had 2 unique days of Advent. Day 21 was Car-vent edition, where we told the story in the dark car. It's a little hard for them to take it as the "real thing" with no box and no book, no tree, and no Legos! but we convinced them this is the flexibility needed to travel Christmas week and that we would double up on everything the next day.

Day 21: The Prophets
We have already covered in more detail other prophets: Moses, Daniel, Jonah, Elijah, and Isaiah, but this was a general discussion about what a prophet is and characteristics that were foretold about Jesus and His coming. The ornament is is of a cross and crown (red, below) to symbolize prophecies of Jesus as suffering and Savior or King, which was theme we spent a while discussing. It was actually nice doing Advent this way because we had no pressure of time since we were traveling for several hours and no distraction with the chocolate or toy. We spent a lot of the night singing along with the radio and reviewing the songs we have already done this month. Different, but fun night.

If using the Bible or another Bible reader - There is no specific story in BIS for there are several passages to look up and read, like Isaiah 53.
We sang every song we have sung so far while in the car and any that came on the radio.

Day 22: Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist and Mary, mother of Jesus
For this day we had a guest reader, the kids' Pop to read the stories. We read about the miraculous messengers sent to Elizabeth and her cousin, Mary, and their miraculous pregnancies- Elizabeth as an older woman and Mary as a young virgin, chosen to carry the Son of God. There was a Mary chocolate and she is pictured above (purple). My son said it looks like Tinkerbell is coming to visit her, but I was trying to show the angel descending to her. Elizabeth (blue) is below. We ended the night with Nana playing the piano for us, working on our family harmony.

Elizabeth with leaping John the Baptist

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - pages 438-445

If using the Bible or another Bible reader - Luke 1-2, Matthew 1, John 1 

Songs: "Joy to the World", "O Come, O Come Emanuel", "What Child is this"

Day 18, 19, 20

Here's where we get to Advent- mobile edition. We will be traveling until Christmas day and if you are following for plans, there may be more details after Christmas. We pack everything that we use with us and include our family, but time does not permit much more elaboration.


Day 18: The branch of Jesse- This prophecy in Isaiah is I believe, the basis for the "Jesse Tree".

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit."

There is no specific story about this in the Bible in Stories and the passage is worth reading from - Isaiah 11


Day 19: Jonah

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - pages 432-435

If using the Bible or another Bible reader - Jonah 1-4





Day 20: Daniel
This ornament is a picture of the Babylon gate, from the time of King Nebuchadnezzar. We actually got to see this gate moved and re-built in a museum in Berlin, Germany which was an incredible experience.

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - summarizing pages 408-415, 422-425

If using the Bible or another Bible reader - summarize Daniel 1-6

Day 17: Elijah

Tonight was fun because we had a two year old little girl roaming around our living room during Advent time. We read about the next of our prophets, Elijah. Now he led an interesting life- fed by ravens, challenging the prophets of Baal, and the vessel for many miracles. He heard God's still, small voice, walked with Him, and then was taken from this life by a fiery chariot. This is why it is Elijah we anticipate at our Passover table. This was an challenging image to create.

Elijah's flaming chariot into heaven

 
If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - summarizing pages 318-321, 326-327, 338-339
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - summarize -1 Kings 17-18, 2 Kings 2
Song: "O Little Town of Bethlehem"

Day 15: David

We have begun a new element this week of asking that they each ask a question after the reading. I am enjoying this addition to Advent, with them listening well and asking good questions, like about Why David cut off a piece of Saul's robe? And about his slingshot.

They brought their dog family to Advent tonight.

Day 15: David
Tonight we covered the life of David, his unlikely anointing, his job as musician for Saul after already being anointed as the next king, his defeat of Goliath putting him at odds with Saul, and later his assuming the crown after Saul and Jonathan's death. Overall, David was a king that loved and feared the Lord. The paper ornament shows his slingshot, my felt ornament is of his sack and smooth stones and the chocolates are "Stars of David". We want to teach them about harmonizing with our singing too, so we sang along with Nat King Cole's classic "Joy to the World" tonight, trying to sing parts with him and hearing better music than my piano playing. 

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories -  telling by the pictures, pages 244-275

If using the Bible or another Bible reader - summarize 1 Samuel 16- 2 Samuel 3

"Joy to the World" accompanied by Nat King Cole

Day 13: Samuel

Tonight we read the promise of a son to faithful Hannah and how she dedicated that son to live at the temple. This son, Samuel, was left with the priest Eli who had 2 wicked sons. Samuel was awakened by the Lord one night and given the message that these 2 sons would not continue rule in Eli's temple. This was the first of many prophetic messages that Samuel would bring God's people who remained faithful and obedient to listen to the Lord.
My husband reflected on how he thought as a kid how great it would be to live like little Samuel at the temple and learn about the things of God all that time, except that he would miss his family.

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories -  pages 224-229
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - 1 Samuel 1-3 

I want to re-make this Samuel ornament (above). It's hard not to make a back view of a person not look awkward.
I made this ornament today for my friend using the Voskamp booklet. It is the town of Bethlehem, prophesied to be the place of Christ's birth in the Old Testament. It's simple but I really like how it turned out. I could work on these all day!

Day 12: Ruth

There are so many fascinating stories to tell from the life of Joshua but for tonight's lesson we fast-forwarded to the story of Ruth. Ruth, whose noble reputation and future children would bear Mary, mother of Jesus. Her story with Boaz reflects an attribute of God who also redeems the destitute in the role of Kinsmen's Redeemer. We're not sure this is a story we will keep in the line-up every year, but in keeping with "Jesse Tree" she is part of the lineage of Jesus as the great-grandmother David, from whose line Jesus was born. There were a few more Legos and 2 ornaments like the wheat Ruth threshed in the box tonight. We ended with "Away in a Manger" again and this time they definitely knew more of the lyrics!

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories -  pages 220-223
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - summarize Ruth 1-4
Song: "Away in a Manger"

As far as adventures in crafts go with boys, I tried a new one this week- plastic cross-stitch shapes. I got a 10 pack of star shapes for $1.50, some gold and silver cord, and large eye needles and let my oldest experiment with them. This actually turned out to be a good boy (or girl, I'm sure) craft because he had plot which direction to go, count the holes, and figure out how to end up on the right side to go to the next part of the star. You could really make a good math and pattern lesson out of this! When he does the next one I'm going to challenge him to use the 2 colors and make up a symmetrical pattern. If I can figure out the best way to cover all our knots and oops on the backside, these will make cute (and economical) ornaments to give on top of our gifts.

Day 11: Joshua

Tonight, for a change, I read the story of Joshua. This was the beginning of the fulfillment of claiming the land God promised to Abraham. A land flowing with milk and honey that God would help them to claim. This miraculous story was the first conquer. 
There was a felt ornament of a horn and sword, paper ornament, and a chocolate horn that they split and pretended to toot. We ended the lesson with a jazzy round of "Joshua Fought the battle of Jericho".

When the story was over, my youngest ran to grab a few foam blocks and small men, set them up, made a horn noise and kicked the wall over. Good application of the lesson!





If you are following along with the Bible in Stories -  pages 186-187, Rahab could also be told on this day, pages 182-183.
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - Joshua 6.
Song: "Joshua Fought the battle of Jericho"

Day 10: Moses, Part 2

Day 10: Moses, Part II
Tonight we furthered the story of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt in the great Exodus into the desert. Despite the many, many miracles that they had seen, the people began to worship their own crafted idols and God gave to them His laws written on stone to guide them. We will contrast this later with the truth that those now who believe in Jesus and have His Holy Spirit, have no need for a written Law, because it is written on their hearts.

God had offered for them to become a kingdom of priests, but since they feared to see God and sent Moses up the mountain before God alone, they became a Kingdom with priests. The main ornament is of the Hebrews (dots) passing through the waters and toward the Law (the tan represents the desert). I had an extra ornament with the 10 Commandments I had made, paper ornament, and the chocolate stone tablets, which are one of my favorite designs. They finally got a Spiderman piece which is their biggest clue so far in the Lego kit that we got them that they are assembling progressively. Usually the toy is tied in to the story or significance, but this year that's not quite the case. And then Mommy leaned over on the couch and fell asleep for an hour while Dad put the kids to bed. This was an unusual night.

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories -  pages 154-163, and looking at pictures of Ark of the Covenant, where the 10 Commandments were stored.
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - summarize Exodus 19-34

Day 9: Moses, part 1

Tonight Joseph and Moses showed up for Advent! Vests or robes are one of the easiest kind of costumes to make and they have used them in a million ways. I like their initiative!
  
So far we have covered the first 8 major people and events: Creation, Fall, Flood, Nations & Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. Now we will spend 2 days covering the amazing stories of Moses.

Our Language Arts (My Father's World) and History (Story of the World) have been right on in helping with Advent this year. During our morning lesson we did this fun sticker activity from SOTW with the 10 plagues, reading from Bible in Stories and adding the part to the picture for each one. I am kind of addicted to my home laminator so I made all of the pieces re-positional to be saved for other years.

Day 9: Moses, Part I

Tonight we read about Moses being saved by Pharaoh's daughter, his growing up among the Egyptians but eventually fleeing from them. Then God speaking to him through the burning bush and commissioning him to return to Egypt's Pharaoh to have the Israelites set free, their eventual freedom and the first Passover. We had read about the 10 plagues in detail this morning so we skipped ahead to the miraculous Exodus and how God provided food for them daily in the wilderness. In the box there are paper and felt burning bush and manna ornaments, more Lego pieces, and "manna". My husband had once said he thought manna might have been like Frosted Flakes, but since we didn't have any, Frosted Shredded Wheats had to do. They were received without any grumbling.

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories -  telling by the pictures pages 110-148
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - summarize Exodus 1-16

Day 8: Joseph

Invasion of Bethlehem!  
I'm sure I am going to miss it when these days are over. Every time I turn around my decorations are disrupted or displays tweaked. But instead of getting annoyed I thank God for the opportunity to live with little boys' perspective and mind to view life through, since I did not grow up with that.


This week we played a Bible Trivia game I had as a kid and no matter what the question my youngest shouted, "Joseph!" as the answer. I guess he doesn't know yet that the pat answer is "Jesus". Since there is a significant Joseph in the Old Testament and New Testament I guess he's heard that name a lot and assumed it was a safe answer. Either way, it was funny every time.

Day 8: Joseph's Coat of Many Colors

Tonight was the second Sunday of December so at dinner we lit the second candle of our Advent wreath which symbolizes the second form of revelation: the Law, which will be our story for tomorrow. Through the Law God revealed to His people more about who He is, what His will is for His children, and His standards of righteousness. We often think of laws as boring or hindering but I'm fascinated as how the Isrealites wept, celebrated, and offered thanks at the reading of the Law! They listened to the Law read aloud for hours and sang praise to God for it! What a different perspective they had and I will discuss this week with the kids how the Law is perfect and makes us wise as written in Proverbs. I got candlesticks to fit my wreath but bought a cranberry color rather than the traditional purple and white. We light a 5th candle at our Christmas dinner, the 4 red and this white candle at the center of our wreath.

There is a booklet to go along with the symbols on this wreath, but we have also assigned our own symbolism for each candle. These kinds of wreath/booklet sets with daily readings are a great, simple way to add to your Advent teaching.

In the box we gave one paper and one felt ornament and for the chocolate I had a Thanksgiving mold with cornucopias so we used these to represent the time of feasting and storing before the great famine during Joseph's rule. When I can I like to use a different symbol than what is on the ornament so it's another visual element to remember or tell part of the story.

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - pages 78-81, summarize 82-99
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - summarize Genesis 37-46

Day 7: Jacob

Our oldest was enjoying the decoder pin so he made the message of J-A-C-O-B for tonight and put it in the countdown box. Earlier he made us an I LOVE YOU note so I'm not going to put the decoder pin away just yet....

Day 7: Jacob 
There are many stories in our book about the life of Jacob, so we summarized about his twin birth and the names of he and his slightly older brother, the eventual trading of his birthright for soup, Jacob's deceiving his father to receive the blessing, and his fleeing into the desert from his brother. During that time of hiding God appeared to him in a dream and promised to protect him if he returned to his father's land. Jacob then meets Rachel and Leah and has 12 sons who become the 12 tribes of Israel that God would bless and divide. It's on a staircase like this he witnessed angels going up and down to earth in his dream.

They got more parts for the second Lego vehicle in the pack. They crowded around my phone to look at the instructions. A smartphone and 2-day shipping really helped this part of Advent this year! While they figured this out, Donnie and I sang all the verses of "O Come All Ye Faithful" and practiced the 4 year olds song to sing on stage at Church tomorrow.

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - pages 46-47, summarize through 63
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - summarize Genesis 25-30
"O Come, All Ye Faithful"

Felt Ornament Pattern Ideas: Tutorial Part 1

This is the set of ornaments below I have made so far for our Advent, which is part Jesse Tree, and part our own list. Sometime we do a variety, like one December we read about the life of Jesus from the book of John. I made a new set of ornaments for that theme and they were fun, especially some of the miracles and trying to come up with a symbol for theological concepts. Who knew you could do so much with felt? They turned out to be my favorite and a great teaching visual! But if you want to get started making felt ornaments on your own here is a little help. They are a tiny but satisfying little project and once you get going they can be done in maybe 20 minutes each. (So...one per episode of Curious George in Mom terms, right?)

Tutorial:
These can be done with as much as little detail as you want, but the details are what really make it. The basic embroidery skills you would need are slip stitch, french knot, back stitch, and stem stitch. I found a good tutorial for these stitches HERE. But there is a lot you can do with just a stem stitch or making x's. 

To get started you need:

• a variety of felt sheets, definitely need: white, brown, green, grey, blue, black and then what ever other background or piece colors you choose.
• needle with a large eye
• embroidery floss; I recommend getting a variety pack of colors which should be the most cost effective way to go.

I do not use an embroidery hoop since this is such a small piece of fabric, though you could use a hoop and do your embroidery work, then cut your circle around it when done. It will take a little practice to master holding this between the fingers of one hand and using your needle with the other.

I start off with two 2 1/2" to 3" circles for each ornament. By some trial and error I cut out the shape I want and then trim it to fit the circle if needed. Making a paper pattern and cutting that out, then cutting the fabric out would work well but may take up too much time for something so small.

You could also make these solely with the embroidery floss and your background circles, outlining the pictures in embroidery instead of cutting them out of another color of felt, but I like the 3D effect of the layers. For the edging and most of my stitching I use all 6 strands of the embroidery floss, but they could be divided to create different effects (less strands to make thinner lines, for example).

When your design in complete on the top circle, line up the back circle and sew around the edge. This should make your work very neat by covering up the back of the stitches.

To sew the edge and loop:
First, cut a very long piece of floss to make it around the circle and for the hanging loop. You could blanket stitch around the edge or I usually whip stitch, starting at the top by making a knot and putting my needle in only through one layer.  Then you can continue with the whip stitch instructions found HERE. When I reach the top I hold out the length I want for the loop and make one more whip stitch, slipping my needle under the slip stitch until it tightens without affecting my loop. Lastly, slip your needle under the next 2 or 3 stitches and pull your thread through and cut your thread. Perfect edge with no knot!

Ideas for the first 8 days:
1) Creation- Adam & Eve, but I have also done a sun on black felt to represent the darkness.
2) The Fall in the Garden- notice the snake (optional). An apple or fruit would also be a simpler image.
3) Ark with Rainbow- I have done others with a lot more detail on the ark, lines in the wood.
4) Tower of Babel - I have done one w/o the ladder and with a curled staircase on the outside going up.
5) Abraham's Tent and sky full of stars, but some simple stars would suffice.
6) Isaac- lamb on the altar.
7) Jacob- ladder to heaven.
8) Joseph- coat of many colors. This one is fun because you could do much with colors, stripes, etc.

Please feel free to use my designs here and attach any pictures of your finished project. I would love to see them or any variations!

Day 6: Isaac

Day 6: We read about Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son of promise to God tonight. We know Abraham had been promised descendents from Isaac and had faith that God could raise him from the dead. This aided his willingness to lay him in sacrifice before the Lord. Just for fun Dad used a secret decoder pin to make a cryptic message for the countdown box:  I-S-A-A-C.

In our box was the paper ornament, felt ornament, a clay ram, a large chocolate lamb that we broke and shared to represent his sacrifice, and a few Legos to finish the mystery vehicle they are building.

A friend of ours had the good idea to throw a Jesse Tree ornament party a few years ago. Each person brought 25 of the same ornament and distributed them at the party so everyone would leave with an entire set. We use some of them from this party and this was one of my favorites.

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - pages 40-43

If using the Bible or another Bible reader - Genesis 21-22

Day 5: Abraham

I have been looking forward to this day all week because the tree is in the corner of the living room but without any lights. And during this dreary week in VA we need more lights in the house! Some of my favorite decorations are these antique shell string of star lights that we got for $2! The sad news is that 2 of the strands are out and they are antique lightbulbs, so... I hope we can find replacements. No beautifully finished tree picture for tonight.

Day 5: We read about God's Promise to Abram that he would become the father of many nations, with as many descendents as the stars filling the sky before him. It's cool to think that God had Abram step outside to span the vast heavens for this powerful visual (Genesis 13) and that we who share the faith of Abraham are actually the fulfillment of that promise. We wait to hang the lights on this day to represent those stars.

There are 2 Abraham ornaments and star chocolates to represent God's promise. This ornament shows Abraham's tent and the night sky. We hung the large shell star on top and strung the lights. The 4 year old set up the Fisher Price Nativity set under the tree. We ended the night wearing ourselves out singing and moving to "Father Abraham".

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - pages 18-19, 22-25
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - Summarize Genesis 12-15

Totally unrelated, but they were eager to finish tonight because we promised to erupt a volcano that they had set up for before dinner. I loved the scenery and they were so excited!

Day 4: The Tower of Babel

Day 4: The Tower

Bible in Stories, pg. 16

Tonight we discussed the Tower of Babel, revealing that man's plans to create his own way to heaven is as old as recorded time. God's will was for men to spread out and to Fill the earth but they instead were huddled, devising their own wicked plans, hoping to build their way into heaven. Hadn't they heard what happened in grandfather Noah's day? So God dispersed them by confusing their languages.

Our oldest knew it would be the Tower of Babel tonight so he filled our extra, small cross box with 2 people, a ladder and a map or "plans to build the tower". He made his own box for his brother to open.




The Lego set we got them arrived and this went well with "building" for the tower. They got a small baggie with a few pieces and we took pics on our phone of the instruction book so they could only look at part of it. This is fun because they cannot figure out what it is going to be! (and I'm going to make you wait too.) The ornament is of a ziggurat. The yellow represents the sun or building into the sky and the white are clouds. No chocolate for tonight and we all smiled and sang Away in a Manger one more time and talked about what some of the lyrics meant. At the end Dad shared a prayer request for me and asked our youngest if he would pray for Mom's sake? "Mommy doesn't have an ache," he said.

Last year we bought the Playmobil Advent set which worked out well because it was a castle/knights theme, so for this night there was a cardboard castle to build. Castle theme often works well with the Bible since parts like animals, armor, royal regalia can fit with many of the chosen stories.

Building according to plans

If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - pages 16-17
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - Genesis 11
"Away in a Manger" found in back of BIS Volume II (ii) or hymnal

Day 3: The Flood

Day 3: Today's story is Noah, the worldwide flood, God's salvation of Noah and his family, and God's promise not to destroy the earth by flood again. Our 7 year old said the was the 56th time he had heard this tale, so we quizzed him over dinner and then proceeded to #57. I can understand his point since his Bible reader and worksheet for today happened to also fall on Noah!

We are working through the first 8 main events of the Old Testament that my husband teaches as part of his college Bible class, summarized as: (4 events) Creation, Fall, Flood, Nations, and (4 people) Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. The kids are asked to memorize this order and at the and of Advent they are asked as best as possible to put all of the ornaments in order. On Christmas day we review all of these events, asking them for details, and to place the ornaments in order. If you are doing this plan or something similar, I promise you will be surprised and blessed by how much they can remember!

There are two paper ornaments from our set about Noah and the felt one I made. For chocolates, they get a sweet pair of lambs to represent the animals on the Ark.


If you are following along with the Bible in Stories - pages 12-15
If using the Bible or another Bible reader - Genesis 6-9
"Away in a Manger" found in back of BIS Volume II (ii) or hymnal