my true love gave to me–

Five loads of pukey laundry

Four children sleeping on the kitchen floor near the throw-up bowl

Three hours of sleep

Two cranky parents

And one husky who was mad he missed his walk and pooped on all the Christmas toys.

Good thing Jesus is our reason for celebration–and He’s eternally good!

Elizabeth, under the power of the Holy Spirit, says:

“Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

Mary responds:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 

 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 

For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. 

For He who is mighty has done great things for me,

And holy is His name. 

And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation. 

He has shown strength with His arm;

He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 

He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

And exalted the lowly. 

He has filled the hungry with good things,

And the rich He has sent away empty. 

 He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,

As He spoke to our fathers,

To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

Lord, let my response to Your truth always exalt You and You alone. Like Mary, let me be humble in heart, saying, “May it be done to me as You have said.” No matter how I feel about Your plans, in spite of how life looks, let me submit my person to You. You alone are worthy to be praised. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in His mercy has given us great life!

Merry CHRISTmas!

We’ve been baking cookies

crafting

playing with our many nativities

working through our Advent materials

and spending time with good friends.

Lord, as we celebrate your birth on earth, let us turn our every smile and sweet moment to you in glorious praise.

A hearty holiday greeting from my Sonflower Sisters group.

Chuck’s grandfather passed along his Lionel trains to Chuck’s dad, who passed them along to Chuck. He hasn’t done much with them since his father’s death, nearly 5 years ago. But this Christmas he’s beginning to pass on his love for trains to his own children.

Brad was so excited, he asked Chuck to wake him up every morning before he leaves for work so they can run them together.

Chuck’s been collecting train sets since we’ve been married. He has a set for each child. I pray one day they sit around their tree with their own children, showing them how their daddy taught them to run the trains.

I decorated this window over a year ago. It’s been sitting behind my couch since then. Hubby finally hung it for me just in time for this Christmas–a little early gift.

Check out my little KONOS Tree for All Seasons done up in aqua Christmas decor. I love living on the water! I have so much freedom to do things that just wouldn’t fly inland.

When we find something we like, we want to repeat it year after year. The only problem with that is we get too full and I either end up feeling guilty about not following through, or cranky trying to fit everything in. This year I narrowed our Advent celebrations:

Lighting our Advent candles (in my childhood wreath) as we read Jotham’s Journey, and sending the kids to bed holding lit candles. The story is intense, and is pretty scary at points. We’re using mini-jar candles because they’re too young to handle lit tapers.)

Reading about a Christmas hymn each day using O Come Let Us Adore Him.

Stickering scenes in our copy of The Very First Christmas.

Circling and underlining key words in our copy of Eleanor Zweigle’s Advent inductive study for families.

Listening to Brooke read devotions from Virginia Colclasure’s Christmas is Coming advent activity book and creating all sorts of crafts as she suggests.

Hoping to get around to reading and coloring in our copy of The Glorious Coming, A Jesse Tree Celebration of Advent by Anne Voskamp.

If you’re wondering how we fit it all in, Christmas is our primary focus for the month of December. These devotions replace our typical Bible curriculum, and in true unit study style, we cover math, science, history, reading, etc. through our Christmas preparation. I would not recommend trying to accomplish all these things on top of a regular, rigorous school schedule. If you don’t feel free to school in this way, you could always choose one of the above studies.

Happy Advent!

We had a full day of huge white fluffy flakes falling from the sky.

There wasn’t enough to sled in or make snowballs, but we ate a few cups of flakes.

Time to re-read Snowflake Bentley.

My girls loved dressing up for Thanksgiving dinner.

So did my boys.

We spent the afternoon playing

and eating

with my side of the family.

We added in a little snuggling,

and enjoyed it so much

we decided to make a family affair of it.

What a perfect Thanksgiving day!

Sweet November,

full of the color of grace,

and touches of heaven,

sneak away slowly in the middle of the night.

Then I won’t miss you so much as long for your return.

Lord, You set the roots in the ground and the poured the waters atop the sands. You set in motion the seasons and the tides and the moons. You are Masterful Creator and Sustainer of all that is beautiful and natural. Bless us in this season with Your warmth and color. In Jesus’ Name I praise You.