Advent

We have been doing some fun Advent things with the kids this year. Our little nightly routine includes reading a scripture passage and text from a Jesse Tree devotional - then hanging an ornament on our "Jesse Tree" to go along with the story we read; then lighting candles on our Advent wreath, adding one additional candle each night until we get to 24 candles on Christmas Eve; and finally, reading the Christmas story from a book called The Advent Book. This book has 25 "lift the flap" pages, where each page is a numbered door.  On December 1st, we read the scripture behind the first door, then each night we start from the beginning and read through, adding one new door. Esther has caught on to the earlier pages through all these repetitions, and she likes to complete the phrases as Brandon reads.

We are excitedly counting down the days until Christmas! And as we get closer, we are learning to wait in expectant hope for the coming of Jesus, our Savior, whose continued presence gives us reason to always live in hope.