Merry Christmas!

Today starts the 2018 Advent. I have purchased 3 chocolate Advent calendars per the request of my daughter. We will start eating our one piece of chocolate today.

I will put out our Christmas Advent Candles for Sunday, the first day of the Christian Advent which is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day. I posted about this tradition here.

Today though, is about reflection. I was reading my devotional, the Finishing Touch by  Charles R. Swindoll.  I have had this devotional for years, decades even. I picked it up a few weeks ago and decided to finish off the year reading his daily devotional. Yesterday, he suggested something I have never considered.

He said there are four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas why not spend each of those weeks reflecting on the four seasons leading to Christmas. Starting with Spring, then Summer, Fall and Winter one should reflect on the blessings of the year. This seems like a New Years type of activity, but he makes a good point about why Thanksgiving is right before Christmas. He says, it is good to start the season being Thankful so that Christmas isn’t lost in the hustle and bustle. If each week we stop and consider the blessings of each season, we will come to the Manager with so much more thankfulness.

So, I decided to look through my Photos starting with March and found 10 things to be thankful for that happened this Spring:

1) My daughter was baptized in March. This was her own step of faith, as directed in the Bible. It was a beautiful ceremony.

2) Same daughter, received her Certificate of Merit for her piano playing. A great reward for all her hard work.

3) My son passed Level 10 in the Barton Reading and Spelling Program. He started this program in fifth grade when we found out he had dyslexia. This year he was finishing ninth. He did it! I did it without killing him or myself!!!

4) We had a wonderful trip to Hershey, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Gettsburg, PA, and Georgetown, KY. This trip was a result of a homeschool assignment. My daughter was assigned to read a biography and she chose Milton Hershey. After reading this book, she expressed her desire to visit the town he created. We wanted to take a vacation, but really had no destination in mind so we decided to take this mini cross country road trip.

5) We got to see the college my daughter will attend next year. It is a small private college called Georgetown College in Kentucky.

6)My son got to visit his best friend in Kentucky.

7) We saw the amazing Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

8) I ran a 5k with my sister. That was amazing! It challenged me. I have done one more after that.

9) My daughter graduated from homeschooling! It was a blessing to be able to graduate her.

10) My son and husband found out they have SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). (a blessing and a curse)

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at all the wonderful memories of the spring.

Next week, I will focus on Summer 2018.

 

Ligia

 

The kids and I filled 19 boxes. They each filled one box for each age group: 2-4, 5-9 and 10-14. I filled 7 boxes one of each age group and 1 extra 10-14 girl. I read once that the older group does not get as many boxes filled, so I did one extra.

This year, our church was a collection center so ,naturally, I signed us up to volunteer. So here the kids helping to count and sort the boxes.

Our church collected 2,823 shoe boxes and packed 143 cartons. That is a lot of kids! I am so happy I got to participate.

Next year, I really want to try and make it to the Processing Center. That would be a true honor. The nearest one is 8 hours away, so it would have to be a mini vacation.

Ligia.