Looking forward to Easter

You read it right.  Easter. Christmas, the celebration of Christ's birth is over.  now it is time for us to begin looking forward to the celebration of his death on a nasty cross so that we could have an intimate relationship with God. 

Randy and I have begun preparing our home and family for the Easter celebration.  Okay, okay - so we have started in small ways.  The tree is still up (for today), there are still assorted Christmas goodies around the house.  We even have some more Christmas celebrating to do in the next week. 

Still, we have begun talking with the boys about the next celebration.  We want them to know that Christ's birth is a BIG deal.  Even more than that, we want them to know that his death means that we can live. 

As we are preparing for the next year in the life of the Crum family, we have laid out a course of study for the first 3 months of the year.   We will be exploring the gospels with the boys from January 1 through March 31.  Each week we are focusing on a different story as a family and will be learning it through a variety of formats - crafts, music, reading, games and more.  You are invited to follow along with us on my Friday posts. 

Here is our road to Easter schedule:

January

Jesus as a child

Jesus' baptism

Jesus calls disciples

Jesus loves children

February

Lazarus

Water into wine

Jesus heals the blind

Walking on water

March

Jesus calms the storm

Feeding of 5,000

Passover

Good Friday

Easter

Advent Day 13, Heifer International

We started this project over a month and a half ago!  As a family we set to work making crafts that we could sell at a church craft bizarre so we could raise money to help impoverished families through Heifer International.  The boys decided that we would make a goal of raising $150 so we could buy a goat and a beehive.  That would help 2 different families and matches some of our own interests.

Tonight was the night that we counted our money and ordered the gifts to send to another family.  We did not have quite enough for a goat, so we had to alter our plans.  The boys enjoyed looking through all the options with daddy and picking out their gifts.

Next it was mama's turn to help them out.  I got to do the ordering of their selection.  Instead of helping 2 families, we get to send animals to 3 families!  The boys chose a flock of ducks, a flock of geese, and a beehive!  They were still so thrilled to be able to bless another family.

This might not been the most fun and exciting part of our advent, but we all loved that with the help of friends and family, we were able to bless others.  This is an activity that has helped the boys learn so many important virtues that we want them to practice every day!

Thank you to everyone that has helped make this donation possible.  You have made an impact on my little world-changers.

Advent Day 11

Okay, I'm out of order.  It's been a busy few days.  

Tonight for advent we scheduled Christmas Caroling.  Then we had a flat tire that ended up keeping the boys and I away from home until dinner time.  That meant late dinner, and late bed time.  We decided to change our project (and we are thankful that our boys can't read yet).

We chose to make baby Jesus out of play dough!  The boys LOVED the project.  We had fun talking about what Jesus looked like (our babies have mustaches).  Here is a quick clip from our family time.

Finding Peace through Advent

Have you noticed that we tend to fast forward through our holidays?  We try and fill our time with all of the great festivities and busy ourselves with shopping.  Christmas time is frequently anything but peaceful.

This week, as we lit our advent candle, we talked about peace.  Peace is often a struggle - I like fast paced living.  I like the rush of adventure.  I fret about things like "am I doing enough to teach my boys" and "what should I be doing to make my home a healthier, happier place".  While these are great things to consider - I sometimes forget to allow myself to experience the peace of God.

This month, as we celebrate advent, Randy and I have set out family activities that help us focus on the season of Christmas.  We have something every day that points us to the anticipation of the coming of Christ.  The change of our change of focus, the other concerns are less.

My lesson: When Christ is my focus, my problems fade.

How has advent changed your family life?

Advent Experience: Week 1 Review

This is the first year we are practicing the celebration of Advent.  We are excited about the idea, but uncertain about how it would all work out.  Randy and I sat down and briefly reviewed our week together tonight so that we could talk about what, if any, changes we would make during the next weeks.

What we like:
- We have an excuse to sit down at our table every night - it's easier for us to say no to going out to dinner when we have a planned activity after dinner. 
- We've got a planned conversation topic for our meal.  This really helps with engaging the boys.
- It's given purpose and shape to our learning with the boys.
- The boys have changed in their prayer life (even in this week).
- It helps us focus on the birth of Christ.
- The boys look forward to our special family time.
- We are building beautiful memories and new family traditions!

What we are not so sure about:
- It's been more difficult to schedule our time at the gym.
- The boys are staying up later because it has changed our routine.
- We sometimes struggle to focus on the reason instead of the activities.  We'll modify some of our activities for next year.

Overall:
We are enjoying the celebration of Advent.  We'll absolutely make it part of our family tradition as our boys grow.  The boys have changed even in this week from begging to eat dinner out, to thanking God in their prayers that we can eat healthy food at home instead of at a restaurant. 

Advent Day 6

December 6 is St. Nikolas Day!  Children traditionally celebrate by leaving stockings or shoes out for St. Nick the night before in hopes that he will leave gifts for them.  We had Awana on December 5, so decided to wait.  As part of our St. Nikolas Day celebration, we decorated stockings and hung them by the fireplace.  December 7 we woke them early to open their stockings and again shared about who St. Nikolas was and why people like to remember him.

Advent Planning

Advent is the season of waiting in expectation for the birth of Christ Jesus.  As Christians, we know that Christ was born over 2000 years ago, and we celebrate his birth because the birth and death of Christ mean that we have the opportunity to know God in a personal way.  We have the ability to go directly to God with needs and concerns.  That is nothing short of amazing.

Many churches celebrate advent by decorating with evergreens (the hanging of the greens), lighting candles in a special advent wreath, and a variety of special events that lead us in expectation as we remember the hope that came in the form of a baby.  Many families have special traditions related to advent as well.  I remember a few Christmas traditions that we shared in our family as we were growing up.  I loved this time of year because it meant time with the extended family.  We have a huge family and I love the smells, the sounds, the chaos at times.  I have such great memories growing up and celebrating the birth of Christ.  I don't, however, remember very many special "advent" activities that helped us focus our season on the birth of Christ.

I want to help my children celebrate advent.  I never really fully understood what the advent calendar was about.  I am learning that it is about helping us focus on Christ and anticipate the celebration of his birth, and our new birth in him!  Today I downloaded Everyday Emmanuel from What's in the Bible (a series that I am extremely fond of).  I have enjoyed reading through it and pulling out so many rich ideas for sharing this season with my family.  I am excited to begin building traditions with my boys.  Randy and I are already working on some activities that we will be doing as we celebrate this season as a family.  

Next week I will share about the activities that we have lined up.  I'll share about our homemade advent calendar and how our activities are going so far.  I'm excited to put things together!  As I think about the upcoming month I am looking for input on 2 main areas.  Please leave a comment below responding to my questions:

1) How do you celebrate the season with your family?  Are there old traditions that you stick to?  Do you have some new things in mind that you want to try out with your family this year?

2) Are there any special meals that you share mostly during this season?  Is there a favorite family recipe that is unique to the Christmas season?  Have you found a great recipe you plan to try this year?

Many blessings.