My most favorite thing about the season is ADVENT! Advent is a Latin word and the meaning is to do with the arrival or coming of a notable person, thing or event. Traditionally Advent marks the beginning of the Church year and we celebrate the 1st Coming of Christ in the weeks leading up to Christmas and at the same time look forward to the 2nd Coming of Christ! I love that we can celebrate this!
This year we are doing a Jesse Tree and we are using the Jesus Storybook Bible for our readings. Each night we light a candle on our Advent Wreath, read a story, pray and then hang and ornament on the tree. Each story we read helps us to see Jesus in the whole Bible - not just the New Testament!
In addition of our Jesse Tree, I took it upon myself to combine some ideas from different people and the internet to create excitement and take advantage of a discipleship opportunity with the boys. A mom (she had college and teenagers) I knew from church told me that every year she hid the Wise Men from her Nativity and the kids had to find them every morning and they had a journey to the manger. I was led to a mommy blog that talked about Elf on the Shelf Jesus Style and I loved the idea of the kids receiving a letter and then being taught a lesson about the true meaning of Christmas every day. And finally about 2 years ago we did Advent Readings from ThrivingFamily.Com and I loved the focus of learning the names of Jesus. So I combined all these things to come up with our Journey with the Wise Men!
So Far so Good.
Our first Advent reading.
Hanging the first ornament on the Jesse Tree.
December 1: Letter from the Wise Men.
December 2: Jesus is "I Am" - John 8:58. Not the easiest concept to teach a 4 year old...
December 3: Jesus is The Word - John 1:1-4. The Wise Men provided us with these balloons (from the Connection School) and we blew them around and learned that things such as our breath and words aren't seen, but they can make things happen. God's words are powerful. God spoke and the world was created. Part of the reason Jesus is called the "word' is that he existed before the world was created and God made all things through the Word, who is Jesus.
December 4: Jesus is the Son of David - Matthew 1:1. We caught the Wise Men looking at picture albums and we discussed how Jesus was descended from King David and how God had promised that the savior of the world would come from David's family.
December 5: Jesus is the True Vine - John 15:1. The kids woke up to a yarn spread throughout the house. We traced the yarn back to the source, those Wise Men. The taught us that the yarn is like a vine. A vine connects leaves to its roots, just as Jesus connects us to God, who is our source of life.
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