This year we are using a free resource from www.theholyexperience.com. The resource is called the Jesse Tree Journey. Each day of Advent we focus on the promises God made regarding His son Jesus. We journey through God's word all the way up to that day in the manger. It has been a precious time reflecting on God's word along with the children and seeing how the stories foretold of the coming King!I have posted a picture of the children we took this morning in front of our tree. You can see how much they are growing and how beautiful they are! Michael and I count ourselves blessed beyond words. We cherish our precious gifts from God and our desire is to teach them to be generous with the gifts they have been given. This year we are scaling back on all the normal hustle and bustle of Christmas and the amount of gifts we give to the kids, and instead focusing on the gift of Jesus and sharing that gift with others.
Here is a precious quote that has encouraged me to be generous with the gifts I have been given.
Nothing can be claimed, taken, received, had; everything we have is gift to us from heaven. All that we have has no other source but the hand of God (Jn 3:27).
So “Christian hands never clasp and He doesn’t give us gifts for our gain because a gift can never stop being a gift— it is always meant to be given.” When we pass our gifts on — the gifts from Him remaining a gift and being given again — we are the ones given even more of the source of all gifts — more of God Himself. Filled. (The Holy Experience)
Blessings to each of you Dear Ones!
Angela and Michael
Alexis, Nathan, Aidan, and Noelle
1 comment:
Angela . . . did they mention The Jesse Tree that you can make to celebrate Christmas? There is a little book that contains directions for making small ornaments to place on a small tree, each one with particular meaning along the Jesse Tree journey. It is a very special thing to do with children . . . you make 25 ornaments, all depicting the story of Jesus lineage and the Christmas story. We made one years ago and still use it today. You place one of the ornaments on the tree day by day all the way through Christmas Day. I'll look up the title and resource for you if you don't already have it. Blessings!
Just let me know . . .
Roberta
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