Advent 2017

I love Advent. And if I am honest, I really need Advent. I feel that with the rush of the holidays, it helps me slow down and focus on what's really important. It helps me "reset" and offers an intentional time to focus on Jesus. In the past, I have often done Advent reading plans or specific Advent studies, and I can remember the Advent celebrations each Sunday at church. All a means to help celebrate the coming of Christ.

Advent: a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas.

This year, I will personally be reading the Advent guide from John Piper, Good News of Great Joy. It came out a few years ago, but I never got a chance to read through it.

Source

As I thought about how I wanted to incorporate traditions and celebrations into our lives for Eli and Maddie, I knew that Advent had to be part of that. I came across the Jesse Tree and thought it would be a great {visual} way to walk them through the Scripture, specifically leading to the birth of Jesus. {Has anyone done the Jesse Tree?? How did I miss out on this growing up??}

Eli and Maddie are still young this year, and probably won't understand much, but we want to start instilling important Truths early. Which is why I love that others have already put together an Advent/Jesse Tree plan that follows the Jesus Storybook Bible! This is the perfect way to incorporate this tradition, since we are already reading the Jesus Storybook Bible to them. 

And because I love working on DIY projects, I decided to make an Advent calendar to go along with our Jesse Tree ornaments. I found this wooden chest on Amazon {because I looked everywhere for this style and this was the least expensive option, and I got it on sale!} and painted it. 

Each drawer contains the corresponding day's ornament for our Jesse Tree, with the story and Scripture reference on the back. There are specific images that go along with each day, and I just found ones that I liked, had them printed for $2 at Fed Ex, then Mod Podged them onto wooden discs. I'd like to find actual {nicer} ornaments for each day, but time and money prevented that from happening this year. Plus, I know there is wisdom in not pulling out all the nice things for a few years...I fully expect these homemade ornaments to be destroyed at some point :)

So there is our Advent Calendar/Jesse Tree! I am probably way too excited about starting this tradition {since it's still early and the babies are still so young}, but even if it ends up being just for me this year, I am ok with that :)