2022 Reading Challenge

Since I read so many books last year, I decided to see how much of this fun challenge I could accomplish: the 2022 Reading Challenge from Visual Theology. I have such a long list of to-be-read books, so this might help me choose what to read next! :)

My goal is to complete the Avid Challenge, with a stretch goal of the Committed Challenge. I just thought this was a fun/unique idea. Happy reading in 2022!

Easter Week 2021

We had a fun week counting down to and celebrating Easter!

This year, we used these Resurrection Eggs from Family Life to countdown to Easter. Overall, it's a good resource, and the items themselves were good quality {enough to withstand our chaos}. I do feel like it left out several parts of the story, so I ended up having to supplement, which wasn't a big deal. 

We made a fun craft for Palm Sunday; Mrs. Debbie is always so sweet to think of us and send home crafts from church. And anything to do with scissors and glue is a big hit in our house haha.

We made an Easter Egg Fruit Pizza! The kids loved getting to put the fruit on the pizza, and of course, they loved eating it :)  Aiden was more interested in the fruit than the cookie and cream cheese frosting, but the twins loved the whole thing.

We had our own little Easter egg hunt inside on Saturday morning. It was pretty chilly outside, so we just kept it indoors, which the kids didn't mind at all. They were just excited to hunt for eggs and then open them up to find fun treasures!

This year, we also made Resurrection {or Empty Tomb} Rolls. We used this recipe, and they were so yummy! The kids love helping in the kitchen, and this is such a perfect visual for the empty tomb. Because we had been talking about the cross and the resurrection all week, they knew immediately what the empty roll represented. So many times I don't think they're listening or paying attention, but with repetition, it definitely sinks in. It might be much later, but I'm thankful to catch glimpses of how the Lord is connecting the dots for them...and it makes the hard parts of teaching little ones worth it.

Our church also surprised us with another Easter egg hunt! They "egged" members' houses by hiding eggs in their yards, filled with candy and a shorter version of the Resurrection Eggs. And thankfully the weather was nice enough that we were able to hunt for eggs outside this time.

Mike had a full morning at church, starting with a sunrise service, followed by 3 more Easter services. Since we can still only fit a certain amount of people in the sanctuary to abide by social distancing guidelines, they wanted to be sure there was enough room for everyone who wanted to be there in person. {And they require masks and registration at all of their services, and have throughout the whole pandemic}. I'm still not quite ready to have the kids in Sunday School, and it's pretty difficult to wrangle 3 kiddos solo. So we stayed home and joined in online. 

We gave the kids their Easter baskets later in the afternoon, as a fun final Easter activity. We fill their baskets with books and small toys, as a celebration of the resurrection. We give gifts to celebrate at Christmas, so we like to do something small at Easter too. 

It was a FULL, fun week of Easter activities. It was definitely more than I had originally planned, but I am glad that the week was full of fun memories that pointed us to Jesus. Happy Easter!

Advent 2020

I feel like I could use some time to pause and take a breath. Anyone else?

2020 has been quite a year. So I have been looking forward to celebrating Advent. A time of expectant waiting and preparation for Christ's coming. A time to pause and reflect, focus my attention on the coming Light. In a lot of ways, it feels like all we have been doing for months is waiting. Waiting for the curve to flatten. Waiting for a vaccine. Waiting for life to return to normal. Waiting to feel better. But that waiting feels so futile and endless, and the positive results we want are definitely not guaranteed. Contrast that with the joy and anticipation of Advent. We have the benefit of celebrating a sure thing, the coming of the Messiah over 2000 years ago. And while we still wait and groan, we have the assurance of His second coming. That gives me so much peace and joy in the midst of a year like 2020.

Since all of our Christmas things are packed away in our PODS, we don't have our Jesse Tree. I also don't have easy access to a printer to even have a makeshift advent calendar. So we are doing something new! I ordered The Christmas Promise book and calendar, and we will read through the little devotions each night. While I definitely miss our usual reading plan and want to keep up that tradition, it's kind of fun to have something different this year.

Personally, I am walking through the Hymns for Advent devotional from The Daily Grace Co. I really enjoy hymns, and it's fun to walk through the history of these Christmas ones, while also looking more deeply at the lyrics.

Fun Resource :: The Daily Grace Co.

I am always on the lookout for good Bible study and devotional material. And I think I may have found a good resource in The Daily Grace Co.! I have been able to walk through a few of her studies, and I have really found them helpful. She offers a range of studies, and I have worked through a few of her shorter {3-week} ones: 

• It is Well: Walking Away From Anxiety
• Haggai: The God That Comes Near
• Habakkuk: Even If {current}

It's hard to find time to sit down in the quiet and do Bible study. I have talked about this before, and it's definitely something for which to fight. What I love about these studies is how succinct they are. They seem to be great go-to studies for summer reading, and the best part is the app! Each day, you have verses to read, a short devotional, a few reflection questions, and then there is a 2-minute video to watch. It's perfect for moms with little ones! I can do my reading while the kiddos are playing or reading, and they will often come and watch the video with me too. And while the study is not in-depth {word studies, commentaries etc.}, it is not fluff either. They are biblically rich and gospel-centered. They're really good.

They often have 50%-80% off sales, which is how I have purchased studies for just $5 or $10. You get the actual physical book, if you want to write in it, but you also get the download code for the app access. You can really get a good deal when the sales come through! There are some other fun resources on her website too. I have some journals to coincide with my studies, as well as fun resources for kids.

We have started memorizing a verse a week, and these little cards are prefect!

Anyway, totally random, but I just had to share! I am so thankful for this resource, and I look forward to walking through more of the studies in the future.