Advent

One thing that we are trying this year as a family is to spend the month of December with a little more intentionality when it comes to preparing for Christmas. With Claire the ever-moving-and-talking 3 year old and Averi Kate the always-active-and-sometimes-fussy 9 month old, this "preparation" or advent celebration lasts for approximately 2 and a half minutes each night. But hey. Small steps.

So what we are trying this year is to follow an advent plan called the "Jesse Tree". This plan takes small snippets from Scripture, starting with creation and then following down through the lineage of Christ, each day to paint a bigger picture of God's plan of redemption throughout the whole Bible.

Each night of December we are reading either a portion of Scripture or a corresponding story from one of our storybook Bibles while Claire colors a paper ornament representing that particular story. And while Averi Kate struggles to jump out of my arms and chase the "guh! guh!" (translation: "dog! dog!")

Is any of this sinking in? Is it sticking? I might be tempted to think not, like when we bow our heads to pray and Claire gets miffed because we are not singing "God our Father." Or when both girls are acting insane the whole time Spencer is reading. Or when we ask Claire what praise song we can sing to Jesus at the end of our Bible story and she says, "Old Macdonald!" But then there are the times when she says something profound that makes me think, "Wow. She is taking in everything." And there are the promises of God not to let His word return void. And there is the grace and power of the gospel that works in and through our stumbling through 2 and a half minutes of trying to sit still enough to listen. And then I know that it really is making a difference.

So...happy Advent!