JOY

Sights...Words...Tastes...Experiences

 from the Third Week of Advent

I'm learning how to do something pretty.

Ordinary driveway beauty.

"The message of Christmas is that this world's a mess and we can never save ourselves from ourselves and we need a Messiah.  For unto us a child is born."                     

                                                                         Ann Voskamp

# Light the World - Jesus worshipped through song and so can you.

"We were made to worship- our internal circuitry wired to worship. Every moment you live, you live bowed to something.  And if you don't choose God, you'll bow down to something else." 

                                                                         Ann Voskamp

Who has the biggest sprinkle collection?  This girl!

Pre-party kitchen.

Wray Family Christmas Party

"It is advent again. Be alert, be alert, so that you will be able to recognize your Lord in your husband, your wife, your parents, your children, your friends, your teachers, but also in all that you read in the daily papers. The Lord is coming, always coming.  Be alert to his coming.  When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize Him at any moment of your life.  Life is Advent: life is recognizing the coming of the Lord."

                                                           Henri Nouwen

"Christmas is often seen as a season of excess.  What it ought to be is a poignant season of remembrance.  The point of all the food and song and gifts is not some hedonistic, once a year immersion in material over-indulgence.  The point is to put flesh and expression to joy.  If we lose sight of the Christ's child's coming, if we forget the heavenly joy we are trying to embody, then Christmas can easily become a season of excess.  But when the Incarnation is at its heart, then every song, every special meal, every planned event becomes a pageant in which the drama of the heavenly story is lived out."

                         Sally Clarkson - The Life Giving Home

LOVE

Sights...Words...Tastes...Experiences

 from the Second Week of Advent

"The birth of the child into the darkness of the world made 

possible not just a new way of understanding life,

 but a new way of living it."

Frederick Buechner

#Light the World- Jesus Ministered to Children and So Can You

Lighting the Love candle at dinner

These two would like some dinner too, please.

Have I mentioned how much I love the chalk marker that Kenzie gave her dad for his birthday?  He regularly draws pictures and writes notes to me on the bathroom mirror.

Pizza night before trimming the tree.

What a blessing to have three of the kids here to help.

"You have as much laughter as you have faith."

Martin Luther

Gold coins ready to pass out to everyone I see on St. Nicholas Day.

Early morning quiet.

" It is no use for you to attempt to sow out of an empty basket,

 for that would be sowing nothing but wind." 

Spurgeon 

My advent scripture placed in a location where I see it often.

#Light the World - Jesus Fed the Hungry and So Can You

Christmas Carol with Dad, Yvonne and Sherri

Christmas Party cooking at Cindy's house.

Love this sweet lady!

Dad carving the roast beast!

"How would your perspective on the dailyness of life change

if you could see that "here" is holy?

Ann Voskamp

The traditional Christmas carrot cake, with a ton of frosting.

Well, it is the best part.

"A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes...

and is completely dependent on the fact that the 

door of freedom has to opened from the outside,

is not a bad picture of Advent."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

HOPE

Sights...Words...Tastes...Experiences 

from the First Week of Advent

The theme of the first week of Advent is hope.  Hope.  I'm pondering the historical event of Jesus' birth and imagining the hope that the chosen people were clinging to as they waited for their Messiah.  I'm hoping that my desire to grow closer to the Savior, will be realized as I prepare for the celebration of his birth in a few weeks.  I also look forward with hope, along with other Christians, to the second great advent, or coming of Christ.

On the first Sunday of Advent, we lit the Hope candle and read the following scriptures after our sabbath meal-

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath

anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent

me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim the acceptable year

of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all

that mourn."        

 Isaiah 61:1-2

"For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may

know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory

any hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves

had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which

 were before us.  Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped

 the Father in his name, and also we worship there Father in his name."

Jacob 4:4-5

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God

 through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have

 access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and 

rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only so,

 but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation 

worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience,

 hope; and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of 

God is shed abroad in our hearts by the

 Holy Ghost which is given unto us."   

Romans 5:1-5

"And what is it that ye shall hope for?  Behold I say unto you

 that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and 

the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal."

Moroni 7:41

I taught the Sunbeam class stories from the scriptures about Jesus.

Yoga class is my guaranteed hour for quiet pondering.

(Pumpkin pecan waffles.)

"If you want to follow Jesus... you must control what you take in every day.  It's not just a question of pushing bad things out, but a question of holding on to something really good.  It is good to have a prayer on your lips wherever you go."        Henri Nouwen

"The heart that makes time and space for Him to come will be a glorious place.

Because each day of Advent, we will actively wait."                        Ann Voskamp

"The careful balance between silence and words, withdrawal and involvement, distance and closeness, solitude and community forms the basis of the Christian life and should therefore be the subjects of our most personal attention.  Let us therefore look somewhat closer, first at our life in action, and at our life in solitude."             Henri Nouwen

"Advent is made of the moments, the slow unfurling of grace.  What are you waiting for?  Yearning for this season?  Peace, moments of quiet, slow, expectant waiting...

Where can you see new life coming in what you may have considered dead?"                

                                      Ann Voskamp

#Light the World challenge -

 Jesus Honored His Parents and So Can You 

(Drawing inspiration from this stack of books.)

#Light the World challenge-

Jesus Fed the Hungry and So Can You

"We only find out where we are when we find out where He is. 

 We only find ourselves...when we find Him."              

 Ann Voskamp

(Worship on the hiking trail.)