OK.....what I love about these giveaways are the odds.
Seriously....one in six! :)
This time I very prayerfully pulled a name out of a hat, and that name was: Rachel! And, I was happy, because I just like her. And her kids. Even though I've never met them! We've been following each other's blogs for a LONG time, and she has been an incredible encouragement to me in so many ways on this adoption journey (both hers and mine).
rachel said...jenna, i am so glad to hear this! i was praying for you. my mom's in town and we were both sick with another (yes, another!) stomach flu. we were too sick to even make/have a thanksgiving dinner. but i was very thankful the kids didn't get it. and thankful for my family.
ps - sleeping on the bathroom floor to cool a fever sounds absolutely *dreadful*.
ps - sleeping on the bathroom floor to cool a fever sounds absolutely *dreadful*.
Rachel, I have your address, and I'll get that book right on out to you! I hope you love it as much as I have!
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Switching gears entirely, I have been looking for something new to do this year as we count down the days to Christmas. I have a few simple qualifications:
- It has to be simple. I've tried complicated or involved, and I'm just not good that way. I have not been intentional enough (yet) to create a set of Jesse Tree ornaments. Every year I remember that I really want to, it's WAY to late to try to pull it together. There's always next year, I guess. (But, you should totally check out that link to my friend, Rebecca's blog. WOW....she did an awesome job with her Jesse Tree ornaments. If you are as crafty and advanced planning as her, you'll LOVE the Jesse Tree idea! )
- It has to help my kids better understand the story of the birth of Jesus. I'm not interested in advent calendars that give them a piece of chocolate and help them get excited that they are one day closer to a boat load of gifts. That's just not my thing. I want each day to bring a new discovery of the Christmas story.
- I'd like it to be truly kid-friendly. Devotionals that are way over my kids are not helpful.
So, today I stumbled across the Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands by Amanda White. (She blogs at Impress Your Kids.....go check it out. It is loaded with awesome ideas!) At first glance, you may immediately think I forgot my #1 qualification of simplicity. The entire book is geared around creating an ornament with your kids every day in the month of December.
OK, well, yeah. That's not simple in my book. Let's face it, I'd be dead in the water on night #1.
However, this still qualifies because:
- The readings themselves were simple- only thing I needed was a Bible, and I have one. Simple.
- It fits my other two qualifications: it focuses on the Christmas story, and with my kids being younger, it focuses on the major elements of the story. It's repetitious, and the talking points are VERY kid-friendly.
- One word: downloadable. No running around trying to get it. I saw it. I liked it. I bought it. I printed it. I used it. All in like two hours time.
- Another word: modifications. I totally skipped the ornament tonight because I didn't have time or the materials on hand. But, I did do the other suggested activity, which just involved a dark closet and a flashlight. I had those on hand. So, we read the passage from our children's Bible, and then had a conversation in the closet with the flashlight. It was awesome! And, I felt like Mother of the Year because I didn't miss a day! :) She offers other suggestions besides the ornaments daily! I'll make it my goal to do an ornament at least once a week. I can manage that!
- She includes options to help you create "clues" you can use in an advent calendar to help your kids focus on the one thing they are supposed to take away for that day. Brilliant. When my kids went to bed tonight, I pulled out our wooden advent calendar with drawers (like the one she uses in the post linked above), printed out her icons for each day, wrote the scripture she suggests for that day on the back, and stuck them all in the correct drawers. Now, all I need to do every day in December, is check the book in the morning for the activity, have my kids pull out the clue, then we are on our way! I literally downloaded the book a few hours ago, and now I'm all set for the month. Awesome!
So, I'd love to give TWO lucky winners a downloadable copy of Truth in the Tinsel. (To be clear, I'll be buying two additional copies and sending the two winners the links to download them. I'm not paying for my copy and then forwarding my copy to two people. I just wanted to be sure to clarify that. Stealing is NOT in the Christmas spirit. It's also a violation of copyright law, and that would be a bummer!)
In order to enter, please leave a comment letting me know what you do at Christmas to focus your family on Christ instead of on Santa, gift getting, and all the other things about our modern day version of Christmas that don't seem to have to do much with the REAL reason we celebrate.
If you'd like a second entry, become a follower if you are not already!
Please be sure to enter by midnight on Tuesday, December 6. I'll announce the winner on December 7th!
I have a few more ideas on this topic (some my own and some from others) that I'll share this month as well. We may not have arrived yet, but every year we've become a little bit better at focusing our family on Christ at Christmas. I'm hopeful that every little change will make a big impact on our kids!
