18 Days ...

Tonight we made an amazing trip, Back to Bethlehem. This event is put on every year by a church about 30 minutes from our home. The acting, attention to detail, and animals all make you feel like you are back in the days when baby Jesus was born.

We love this event so much! Many times it is a field trip with our homeschool group but, this year we had a conflict so instead we sent to the night time performance with our good friends. It made the hour long wait fun!

19 Days ...

Ava Mae wanted to make something she could sell to help raise money for our hosting fees for Miranda. We found some fun ornament ideas on Pinterest but, we really loved this one. It is an I Spy Ornament.

We found these plastic ornaments at Michael's - we chose plastic so they would be safe for little ones to take them off the tree and look for the items hidden inside.

We purchased several packages of little Christmas items ... Christmas tree, jingle bells, snowflake, holly, Christmas light, gingerbread man, and a cookie cutter.

Fake snow we found in the holiday village section of Michael's.

So easy to assemble, just use a funnel to fill the ornament a little less than halfway with the fake snow. Add your items and shake ... that's it. We also made up a card and laminated it with our list of items inside each ornament.

20 Days ...

Today was our last Wednesday Night at church until after the new year. Ava Mae had the Lottie Moon Bake Sale - we made these adorable Christmas Tree cookies, pictured above. Devin and Lexi both spent the evening at a nursing home entertaining the residents with music.

This afternoon we shopped for and wrapped up gifts for all the choir and GA teachers at church. Such precious volunteers and we wanted to make sure we remembered each of them at this time of year.

21 Days ...

Tonight I hosted the homeschool group, which I co-lead, for our annual Christmas party. It was an amazing night. Our gift exchange is a really special time - each gift is accompanied by a scripture. Always so wonderful to hear how each woman receives a gift and scripture that correlates with something going on in her life.

Love being a part of a group that has blessed me so much! Such a fun night getting to spend a few hours with new and old friends.

22 Days ...

The kids and I attended The Star of Bethlehem presentation today at our church. We had expected that it would be a DVD they were showing but, as it turned out, it was an in person presentation by Rick Larson. What a nice surprise! Devin loves astronomy and we have had discussions before as to what we believe the star over Bethlehem was.

During the presentation biblical and historical clues are discussed and then a computer model is used which shows the skies over Bethlehem 2000 years ago. As a family, we had some great discussions during our Advent study last night about what we had thought of the presentation. Conversation covered everything from Jupiter in retrograde motion to Lexi being mad that all these years we have deceived her with nativity showing the Magi visiting Jesus as a baby.

If you get an opportunity in your area to see this presentation I highly recommend it! Even our 8 year old followed along with the discussion. The Star of Bethlehem is also available on DVD.

23 Days ...

Tonight was the first Sunday of Advent - Ava Mae had the honor this year of lighting the first candle. We read from our Advent study book we are doing this Christmas, prayed, and sang Christmas songs.

Love how our children look forward to these Sundays in Advent. It is a tradition we have had since they were little.

Pictured above the Advent Book we are using.

Earlier in the evening we attended our church's Christmas Packages program - another yearly tradition. This year we arrived early and made sure to get in line for the carriage rides as soon as they started. For the last two years the rides have been so popular the line is an hour long.

Carriage Ride Fun!

Always love seeing Santa's reindeer.

Ava Mae wanted to take this Alpaca home!

24 Days ...

Christmas is coming ... 24 Days from now we will celebrate the birth of our Savior - the day when Heaven came to Earth. Our kids could not wait to wake up this morning and open the first day on our Advent calendar.

Each day brings us closer to Christmas and closer to the day we pick up Miranda from the airport!

Today my husband and I spent a full day in training on being a host family. What an amazing day ... we loved meeting other families from around the Southeast who will also be hosting children from both Latvia and the Ukraine. I am still processing everything I learned. Hearing from young ladies who were previously hosted and have now been adopted was heartwarming. And, while we are hosting one orphan - many families we met today are hosting whole families of siblings or orphans with disabilities. So many to pray for! 

This Christmas we are looking forward to sharing the love of a family with Miranda! Not sure of God's plan but, just acknowledging it is His plan and it will be revealed all in His timing.

Welcome to Advent ... Merry Christmas ... here we go!