Advent Day Nine

                                                           Joseph: A Righteous Man


We read together:

Matthew 1:18-24;

^"18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. ²⁰ But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His nameJesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

²² So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ²³ “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

²⁴ Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife."

                                 Working on Joseph ornament and got the Mary ornament to compare to


I asked Sissy, how she thought Joseph felt when he found out he would be the earthly father to Jesus. She said, "He was happy." :-)

Advent Day Eight

                                                         He will Shine Like the Sun

We read together: 

Luke 1:57-80

New King James Version (NKJV)

Birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷ Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. ⁵⁸ When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.
⁵⁹ So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. ⁶⁰ His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.”
⁶¹ But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” ⁶² So they made signs to his father—what he would have him called.
⁶³ And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marveled. ⁶⁴ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. ⁶⁵ Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶ And all those who heard them kept themin their hearts, saying, “What kind of child will this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.

Zacharias’ Prophecy

⁶⁷ Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

⁶⁸ “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
⁶⁹ And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David,
⁷⁰ As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,
Who have been since the world began,
⁷¹ That we should be saved from our enemies
And from the hand of all who hate us,
⁷² To perform the mercy promised to our fathers
And to remember His holy covenant,
⁷³ The oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
⁷⁴ To grant us that we,
Being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
⁷⁵ In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

⁷⁶ “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
⁷⁷ To give knowledge of salvation to His people
By the remission of their sins,
⁷⁸ Through the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Dayspring from on high has visited^[a] us;
⁷⁹ To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰ So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

    Our sun ornament

Advent Day Seven

                                                             Mary's Song

We read together:

Luke 1:46-56

The Song of Mary

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
⁴⁸ For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
⁴⁹ For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
⁵⁰ And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
⁵² He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
⁵⁵ As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

⁵⁶ And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

                                                      ignore the lack of makeup and wet hair :-)

Advent Day Six

                                                            Mary and Elizabeth

We read this together:

Luke 1:39-45

³⁹ Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, ⁴⁰ and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 

⁴² Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed areyou among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. ⁴⁵ Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

Then the craft we did today was pregnant Mary and Elizabeth ornaments. This has been Sissy's favorite craft so far. 

                                          Sissy painting Mary and Elizabeth 

                                         Afternoon snuggles with Moses (Nana's dog)

Advent Day Four and Five

                                                        The Angel Gabriel and Mary 

We had to do a catch up day and so we did both day four and five together, first we read:

Luke 1:26-38

New King James Version (NKJV)

Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

²⁹ But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. ³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. ³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

³⁵ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.³⁷ For with God nothing will be impossible.”

³⁸ Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

                                         Angel ornament (sorry best pic I could get :)

                                         Our Mary ornament

Advent Day Three

On day three we read: 

Luke 1:5-25

New King James Version (NKJV)

John’s Birth Announced to Zacharias

⁵ There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wifewas of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. ⁷ But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

⁸ So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, ⁹ according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰ And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴ And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’^[a] and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
¹⁹ And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. ²⁰ But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

²¹ And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he lingered so long in the temple. ²² But when he came out, he could not speak to them; and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.
²³ So it was, as soon as the days of his service were completed, that he departed to his own house. ²⁴ Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived; and she hid herself five months, saying, ²⁵ “Thus the Lord has dealt with me, in the days when He looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”

Then we made our Zechariah ornament. Sissy loves his "silly face". 

Walking into favor

So, I have to quickly interrupt my Advent postings because a wonderful surprise came in the day today and I want to share it with my "readers". HA. The week before Thanksgiving I was asking the Lord for favor and just His hand to be on me. That evening on a date with my husband I got a notification on my phone that I had won a drawing on a facebook page for a sweet package of lotions from Delish Naturals. I was pretty excited! Then the next day which was Friday I went to a soiree at our local cloth diapering store and on the way I told my husband I was going to win if they had any drawings, he smiled at me. He went to get some dinner with our three year old while I took the one year old to walk around the store. When he came to get me and entered the store the owner told him to enter the drawing they were having, he was like "no, thats ok," but then I told him to and he did. WELL, he ended up winning the grand prize drawing of $100 worth of cloth diapering products and I won the third place drawing! I just felt the favor of the Lord on us and that was worth much more than any of the awesome products.

Then to finish off my little story the next day we went thrift store shopping to find my husband a suit jacket and as we were walking in the store I just asked the Lord for favor and to help me find something special. I went to the picture section and right in front of me was this little picture of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, my dad has a big one hanging in his office and I have always loved it. I turned it around and it was only $2. I was going to go look for more things and felt the Holy Spirit say to my heart "you got what you came in here for." I am so happy to have this picture hanging as a reminder of how Jesus longs for my friendship and to have my heart attuned to hear His whisperings throughout the day.

Advent Day One and Two

                                                  Jesus is the Light and the King

Isaiah 9:2-7

New King James Version (NKJV)

² The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.

³ You have multiplied the nation
And increased its joy;^[a]
They rejoice before You
According to the joy of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
⁴ For You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of Midian.
⁵ For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle,
And garments rolled in blood,
Will be used for burning and fuel of fire.

⁶ For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

                             Days One, Two and Three

Day One: Jesus is our Light in a dark world

                       My boy and our Jesse Tree

With Days One and Two we read Isaiah 9:2-7 and I talked about how it was dark in the world (turned off the lights in the room) and then Jesus came to bring LIGHT! Day Two is about the Kingship of Jesus and that is just naturally easier to explain to my little Princess. He has a white horse and is coming to earth to be our Hero, where He will rule and reign!! Can't wait for the day! Maranatha come quickly!

                      Day Two: Jesus is King of Kings

Advent with My Toddlers

Taking a break from my cloth diapering posts to catch up on whats really important this month:  The birth of our Savior. We are on day five of Advent and so I am going to do catch up posts tonight and tomorrow.

Since my kids are so young (one and three) I didn't want to overwhelm them and really wanted them to be captured with the nativity story of Jesus. I decided to download and print "Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands" and supplement it with "Everyday Emmanuel". We are also reading different Christmas books everyday that are focused on Christ and His birth and I will share some of our favorites as we get closer to Christmas.