Geesh, I got through giving thanks (not that we're ever done giving thanks) and just completely neglected documenting any of our Advent season. In my defense, we were hit like a freight train with the stomach bug this past week and I literally feel like I lost a week of my life. Between cleaning up, washing loads and loads of laundry and being sick myself I'm feeling so behind in every area of life. Thank goodness for a husband who does just as much around the house as I do-especially laundry.
The first Sunday of Advent we had a small group from our church gather at a local retirement center to carol and visit with the residents. It was a sweet time and I enjoyed every minute of chatting with the lovely women. I promise we will go back. I promised them we would be back. I have so many regrets that I didn't spend more time with my grandparents when they were in these same living environments. Maggie has such a heart for elderly and truly desires to spend time with them. So a promise was made to her too, yes we will go back.
This picture cracks me up for so many reasons. #1 it's not even the tree we ended up buying #2 Josie was in my arms because she was having nothing to do with the photo op, so once again it looks like we only have three children #3 Millie is totally sportin' some Kindergarten attitude #4 Maggie has the tween, hand on the hip pose and #5 the funniest of all, we kept telling Sam to smile natural and quit doing funny things with his lower lip when he finally reminded us that he couldn't actually feel his lower lip. Poor guy was still totally numb from the dentist! This is one for the memory book!
What would the Christmas countdown be without the gingerbread house? Loved that my cute little egg crate got another use! The kids and I agreed that next year we'll have our own candy stash to munch on while decorating. While the Costco all-ready-assembled kit is great, the candy is rock hard.
Totally random, but I had to post a picture of something I made from Pinterest. FINALLY, I completed a project!
Our Chistmas Pageant was this past weekend and this Mary, Joseph and baby were just the sweetest. Maggie Lu was the only one of our kiddos in attendance at the program as Sam has outgrown the cast, Millie was still home sick with the flu and guess who didn't want to wear her sheep costume? Seeing a pattern with this three year old?
One last picture, if you're still hanging with me. Sam took this. For his Fine Arts portion of school he wanted to try Photography. Okay, let's be honest here. He really didn't want to try anything that had to do with arts but after he saw his other options, photography didn't seem so bad. Today was the first afternoon he played around with the camera. It was freezing out so we didn't spend a whole of time exploring but I have to say it was so fun to see him get excited and actually look for some artistic shots. He said he really liked how the red looked laying against the dark leaves. I'm looking forward to learning along with him and just maybe he can add photography to his list of hobbies and interests someday!
I'm looking forward to the rest of this Advent season and hopeful that we can slow it down just a bit. The last couple years we've tried to be so much more intentional about the season. I will be the first to admit that for years we have celebrated the season slave to the consumerism and materialism that surrounds us. It's hard not to. We have a long way to go but I pray that we are giving our kids the true message. Jesus came to love and to give of Himself. He came to serve others and that's how I want our family to live. We're looking for those opportunities and even if they come in small gestures I'm hopeful that in the process we are transformed and others might be blessed.
I promised Sam I'd be in bed by 11:00 pm....oops, time to call it a night!
No comments:
Post a Comment