Tag: advent

What Does “Peace on Earth” Look Like?

1 Comment

A few days ago my daughter Mackenzie asked if I would help her on an assignment in her online guitar class. Now this doesn’t happen often, because she is the expert in music not me!

The assignment taught some basic guitar skills along with reading music. I whizzed through the instructions quickly assuming Mackenzie understood those things and just needed help understanding how she was supposed to put it all together.

That’s when she told me “Everyone thinks because I’ve been playing guitar for a long time that I know how to read music but I don’t. No one taught me that at the beginning. I just started out just learning the chords and not the individual string/note names.”

That kinda amazed me but looking back, it was true!

Well the devotional I read today in My Utmost for His Highest reminded me of this conversation and how we can do the same thing spiritually, especially during the Christmas season.

Continue reading →

An Arrival to Remember

Leave a comment

It’s November 29. The Christmas season is upon us, ready or not.

I love the Christmas lights hug on my tree. I love the lights that glow in the streets at dark. I love the smell of Wassail in my kitchen and hot chocolate stained cups in my sink. I love hearing O Come Let Us Adore Him on the radio and feeling my favorite sweater on my skin. I love being with my friends and family, sharing gifts and catching up on life.

But with all the ads and commercials on screens everywhere about how to make this Christmas unforgettable, it’s hard to keep my focus on the reason for the season – the birth of a Savior.

Last year I shared a post about what advent looks like for us. After starting and feeling guilty for never finishing advent calendars over the years, I came up with this simple idea and it has helped me stay focused on my Savior during the holidays.

I wanted to re-share this with you today and hope that you will join me in leading our children to focus and anticipate the arrival of Christ this Christmas! For that is what Advent really means.

To see last year’s post, click HERE.

Or, click the links below

advent-updated-2016 (explanation sheet)

advent (pictures)

And if you haven’t  noticed, I’ve done some rearranging on my site! You can take a look at my home page, or my homeschool resources or projects page and I hope you’ll come back for ideas about living life creative.

painter-1246619_1280

julie-steck-6

A Simple Advent

9 Comments

Welcome to Advent Season 2015!

Celebrating advent is a new thing for me. I didn’t grow up doing any kind of advent activity or devotion. I had a wooden shadow box that I counted down to Christmas by putting cute little miniatures in every day, and that was it.

Since having kids, I’ve tried various Advent activates, always beginning with much excitement and enthusiasm but fizzling out long before Christmas arrived.

The year I began my blog, I did a simple alphabetical devotional series in honor of funny quotes my kids said. After that the ABC theme was still in my head at Christmas time. I wanted to do something that talked about other Bible stories than just the manger scene. I wanted to open the Word with my kids and let them see His character. I wanted something simple, something I wouldn’t feel bad about not doing every single day, something I could travel with, and something guests could join in on too.

This is what I came up with.

There are 26 letters of the alphabet and 25 countdown days until Christmas. Official days anyway. I wondered if I could find a character quality of God in each of the letters. We began with A on December 1 and looked up ALL. The next day was B and we looked up the Bread of Life. We continued on till the day after Christmas and the letter Z, finding that yes, the letters of the alphabet give Him glory and share with us a glimpse of His character.

The more I learned, the more I saw how much more there is to learn. But the process brought the stories of the Bible alive to me.

When I started my kids were ages 3, 6, & 9. Now they are 6, 9, & 12. My 3 year old didn’t understand everything, but he at least heard the stories and I tried to give him things to feel apart as well.

This will be our 3rd year of following this.  Last year we changed a few words by looking in the bible concordance. Sometimes I would let my kids pick a word if they could think of one. For those who could read, I let them read the passage.

But most importantly, I found this to be flexible…we could spend 20 min together on it or 5 minutes. We could be around the kitchen table or in bed or in the car, by our self, or with friends or family. So I wanted to share it with you. Enjoy…and let me know what you think!

Just click the link below to download an ornament for each 26 letters of the alphabet and coordinating verses/story for that day. I’ve also included a day-by-day simple outline with extra verses to read and an optional activity for the days you have time. 

And please, if you like it, share it with your friends!

Click HERE to Download the Simple Advent

Here’s an updated explanation of each day…advent-updated-2016. You will still need the pictures from the the first link.

26 Daysof Advent (1)