Advent 2025

For Advent this year, we will do our Advent Blocks again. The kids still ask for it, so we will keep doing it :) 

For school, we will be walking through The Savior was Born from Driven by Grace. We have been using their curriculum for our Bible time, so we will take a break from our Old Testament study and walk through this Christmas study in December.

For our family advent reading at dinner time, we will use our Advent Wreath. Our church handed out family Advent reading, so we will use that as we light our candles each evening. 

For my own personal study, I will read The Dawning of Indestructible Joy by John Piper. Every year, our Women's Ministry Director gifts the leaders an Advent devotional, and I look forward to seeing what she picks!

As we enter this season, I am trying to ease into it as much as I can. I'm not ready for the onslaught of joy and cheer, and I'm not really sure if I want it. If I had my choice, I would hibernate and spend the next month quietly reading and drinking hot chocolate, not leaving the house unless absolutely necessary. I would prefer to hide away to process my grief in this season, without the expectations of the season, without the endless list of holiday "to-do's." But that's difficult to find the balance with kids and still having to meet the demands of ministry. So I'm doing my best to simplify where I can, and turn my heart in anticipation and hope of our coming Savior. 

Advent 2024

I thought maybe we would be moving on from our Advent Blocks this year, but the kids were definitely still asking for them this year when we were unpacking our Christmas decorations. So we will use them to countdown to Christmas again, along with the other things I had planned.

For school, we will be walking through the All Creation Waits book. It's less a Jesus-centered book, and more a creation-centered book. Each day walks through a different animal and how it prepares for winter. While it's not a typical Advent guide, it reminds us that every good thing that God gives is worth waiting for.

For our family Advent time at dinner, we will use our Advent Wreath again. We will use An Advent Journey from Focus on a Family, which is what our church is walking through. We will also watch the Bible Project's Word Study Advent Series each Sunday.

For my own personal study, I will be reading through this book that I received as a gift from our women's ministry director. 

I have most of my Christmas shopping done, but still have quite a bit on the Christmas "to-do" list. It's definitely going to be a busy season. But I am hopeful that we can keep our hearts and minds focused more on the joy of the season, as we anticipate the coming of our King. I'm thankful for Advent, and the chance to quiet our hearts in the midst of the busy holiday season.

{iPhone Rewind} :: December

Painting some wooden nutcracker crafts

Making snowmen with Daddy!

Hands in his pockets hehe :)

Blurry, but we took several walks around the neighborhood to see the Christmas lights! A perfect post-dinner, pre-dinner activity ;)

We loved hosting Ross King at CBC again this year, and we loved that the kids got to go to the concert this time!

Community Group Christmas party...so thankful for this sweet community.

Doing our advent reading over dinner; they really like Sundays when we light the real candles haha.

We got our first snow of the season! To be honest, I didn't really think we'd see much or that it would stick, so I was really surprised to wake up to it.

It was wasn't much and was gone by lunch, but that didn't stop our Texas-born kiddos from enjoying a few snowballs :)

National Gingerbread House Day! :)

The kids sang some Christmas songs in church- Silent Night and Mary's Boy Child

A re-enactment of the nativity: Maddie as Mary, Eli as Joseph, Aiden as Baby Jesus, Pooh Bear as a shepherd, and Mickey as a wise man haha

Showing off her history/Bible project :)

Frozen Trouble! Complete with ice cubes, salt, and water pouring haha

My little Lego builder :)

Introduced Maddie to perler beads!

Learning how to play Qwirkle

Making bagel pizzas

Stomp rockets were a hit!

How Eli spent his last days of the year :)

Matching her doll!

This boy is ALL about the army men these days haha

Somedays just need flowers AND chocolate ;)

<3

Advent 2023

For Advent this year, we are doing our Advent Blocks again, but we are also adding in the countdown wreath that we used at Easter from The Keeping Company. We set it up to countdown to Christmas, and we will be using Advent candles and their Advent devotional. I plan to light the Sunday Advent candles, but use battery-operated candles during the week. I figured that was safer ;)

For me, I signed up for a daily Advent email series from Every Woman a Theologian: The Right Prevail. It's supposed to be a more theological Advent series, so I'll be curious to see what it will be like :)

I am looking forward to entering into this Advent season. I had high hopes of having all of my Christmas shopping/wrapping/shipping-prep done by December so that I could enter into the season free of that stress and distraction...while I didn't quite meet that goal, I am close. And I will still be able to wrap things up earlier than usual and focus on the beauty and wonder and peace of the season. At least that's what I'm fighting for this year ;)

Advent 2022

We're in the thick of packing right now, so we are simplifying Christmas this year. Hopefully next year, we can finally have everything back again: Advent, Christmas tree, all the decorations, etc. 

But for now, I wanted to at least do something for Advent with the kiddos. We really enjoyed the Advent Blocks that we used last year, so I pulled them out again for this year. We will also read The Jesus Storybook Bible at bedtime {which we usually do in conjunction with our Jesse Tree}. 

For me, I am reading through Ruth Chou Simons' new Advent devotional Emmanuel: An Invitation to Prepare Him Room at Christmas and Always. I actually bought it for Laura for her birthday...and then ordered my own because I really liked it when I flipped through the copy that came in the mail for her :)

We may not have the full Christmas festivities this year, but I want to be sure that our hearts are still focused on Christ, especially in the midst of all the craziness. It will be good to anchor our hearts and pause in the midst of the chaos.

{iPhone Rewind} :: November

We kicked off November with a fun obstacle course! It was a little colder than expected, so we just moved it indoors :)

"Look! I drew Mommy!"

Such a serious {and cute} little pray-er :)

National Nacho Day!

900 {unique} books!

Family Jam Session :)

Shoes of the Gospel of Peace + Shield of Faith

Reading with Daddy

They're just too cute!

Sweet Maddie putting her brothers down for a nap :)

Date Night Box #4: We played a Pictionary version of the Newlyweds Game and did some seed art

It was just a granola bar...how on earth did it get this messy?

The Helmet of Salvation!

Maddie lining up her crayons :)

Mickey & Minnie's Birthday! We played games, ate on Mickey/Minnie plates all day, and used a bunch of themed stickers.

We are so excited to start this new Advent tradition!

Maddie's tall tower!

#life

Making turkey hats with Daddy :)

Our cutie dress up girl

The Sword of the Spirit! We wrapped up our Armor of God study, ready for battle!

Grandma and Papa got Eli and Maddie a Highlights magazine subscription for their birthday, and we got our first one in the mail! They were so excited! I loved this magazine as a kid, and hope they will too :)