My favorite time of the year. Advent season. Christmas season. Yes, when I was growing up, Christmas meant decorating the Christmas tree, annual Christmas program, Midnight mass and presents...and more presents. However, now as a grown-up child, I have learned that Christmas is so much more. This is the time for us to prepare our hearts, to prepare our minds for the greatest give of all -- Jesus.
As a mom, I want my children to prepare their hearts also, I want them to really understand what the Advent season is all about. What Christmas is all about. The past few years we have bought presents for children and donated to City Mission and this year we filled boxes for Operation Christmas Child. The one thing my husband and I are mindful of is that our kids use a portion of their allowances to purchase the gifts. My heart just melts and beams with love as I watch our kids shop for others.
But this year, I wanted to go further. I prayed as what else can I do to help our children prepare their hearts this Advent season. Amongst the remodel of our upstairs, Christmas decorations are very limited right now. However, I did make a small Advent centerpiece and I decided that a family Advent study would be perfect (or maybe not so perfect) idea.
So much for this grand vision in my head, the first study didn’t go over so well. Not going to lie, wasn’t a “Mother of the Year” moment -- or actually anything close! Didn’t even get to talk about preparing our hearts, I lost two of the three children’s attentions about 30 seconds later. Today’s theme, being patient. I wanted to discuss what can each of us practice patience better throughout the Advent season. So here it is, me learning how to practice patience...this will truly be a grand adventure as I teach my children to prepare their hearts for the greatest gift of all. I get to start over tomorrow. Back to the drawing board, because tomorrow has new verses -- tomorrow a different approach.
The verses I read:
Matthew 1:1-18 (1) The genealogy of Jesus…(18) This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Questions I wanted to ask:
Today, I learned, today was about God teaching me. Patience. Preparation. As we go throughout the Advent season, I am going to try blogging about the created study and the impact of it (actually I hope there is an impact).
O Come, O Come Emmanuel...until the Son of God appear...
As a mom, I want my children to prepare their hearts also, I want them to really understand what the Advent season is all about. What Christmas is all about. The past few years we have bought presents for children and donated to City Mission and this year we filled boxes for Operation Christmas Child. The one thing my husband and I are mindful of is that our kids use a portion of their allowances to purchase the gifts. My heart just melts and beams with love as I watch our kids shop for others.
But this year, I wanted to go further. I prayed as what else can I do to help our children prepare their hearts this Advent season. Amongst the remodel of our upstairs, Christmas decorations are very limited right now. However, I did make a small Advent centerpiece and I decided that a family Advent study would be perfect (or maybe not so perfect) idea.
So much for this grand vision in my head, the first study didn’t go over so well. Not going to lie, wasn’t a “Mother of the Year” moment -- or actually anything close! Didn’t even get to talk about preparing our hearts, I lost two of the three children’s attentions about 30 seconds later. Today’s theme, being patient. I wanted to discuss what can each of us practice patience better throughout the Advent season. So here it is, me learning how to practice patience...this will truly be a grand adventure as I teach my children to prepare their hearts for the greatest gift of all. I get to start over tomorrow. Back to the drawing board, because tomorrow has new verses -- tomorrow a different approach.
The verses I read:
Matthew 1:1-18 (1) The genealogy of Jesus…(18) This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Questions I wanted to ask:
- What do you think generation means?
- How do you think Mary felt knowing she was going to have a baby?
- What does it mean to be patient?
- How can we practice patience this Advent season?
Today, I learned, today was about God teaching me. Patience. Preparation. As we go throughout the Advent season, I am going to try blogging about the created study and the impact of it (actually I hope there is an impact).
O Come, O Come Emmanuel...until the Son of God appear...
RSS Feed
