The "real" reason that we get the presents on Jesus' birthday

Rose is in LOVE with Kehya Cause (Santa Clause). She is delighted to see him in any form. The Christmas Parade(more like a candy toss really) we saw a couple of weekends ago had a live Santa at the end. She begged, "I go with Santa Claus?" I respond, "He has to go to his house to work on your presents." "Oh. I go to his home? I go see Rudolph? Please, Mommy, please?" In Walmart the day after that, she was pleased to firmly plant herself on Santa's empty lap and lucky for her, no one else was around, because she had no intention of leaving. When it was finally time for him to go, she said "I go in Santa's car?"

And today, Anna Kate finally explained to me why it is that we get presents on Jesus' birthday:

"I'm so excited that Christmas is here and we get presents -
because it's Jesus' birthday, and Jesus is up in heaven, and Santa Claus doesn't
have enough magic to get his reindeer to fly up to heaven."

I'd always wondered about that. ;^)

Craft of the Day

Our Merry Mice ! (Walmart was out of green).

Budget American Girl fun

Okay, I seem to be on a roll here so why stop? This might make a good stocking stuffer, or just a fun project. I've loved American Girl dolls since they started. Last year, we read the Felicity series together after my kids watched the movie and loved it. Then we read the Kirsten series. Last night we finally saw the Samantha movie and loved that too. We initially made paper dolls of Felicity and Elisabeth for Anna Kate to use with out toy horse collection, and we've added to them. Just mount the pictures of the dolls you like on thin cardbaord, such as a cereal box, cut them out , then laminate them. They are played with often at our house!

these are just a few - the others, having been played with recently, are scattered.

Jesus' Birthday Party

This year we had 11 kids (including mine) at our birthday party for Jesus. We had streamers, the "happy birthday" sign, and balloons. First we played charades by drawing an action form a hat to either act out a portion of the nativity story or a winter/Christmas pastime like ice skating or putting the star on the top of the tree. Then the children dove into a basket of scarves, oversize vest, crowns, and other accessories and acted out a part in a living nativity. After some hot dogs, mandarin oranges, cheese puffs, and not-so-hot cocoa with candy cane stirrers, we lit the candles on our cupcakes, sang "Happy Birthday", and blew out the candles. Then we read The Legend of the Candy Cane and made these simple pipe cleaner candy cane ornaments.

Simple Toddler gift

My mother made this photo album picture book for Anna Kate last year. Anna liked it, but Rose loves it, then and now. There are favorite characters from Disney princesses to Nick Jr. pals, foods, animals, letters - anything likely to peak a toddlers interest is game. She used a stack of old Family Fun magazines.

Mailing Packages

I think that tomorrow is the shipping deadline for guaranteed Christmas delivery, so if you're still running slow, get thee to the UPS store.

Can you believe that today, I walked into the UPS Store and right up to the counter to mail my box? No wait. I was sure that I was going to be entertaining three antsy kids in a half hour line, but no. No line. This is a great blessing in my life. One I surely don't deserve, because I deserve to be taught patience at every turn. I HATE WAITING. In line, at stop lights, at stop signs for that matter, for my two year old to get her shoes put on the third time so that we can get out the door. Yeah, no line at the UPS store the week before Christmas is a red letter day for me, folks.

On to packages. I like to decorate my boxes that I'm mailing. I cover them with magazine pictures. All blue flowers for my mother, lacy hearts and roses for Valentine's Day, or, in this case, Christmas wreaths and florals. It just gives an extra special touch. I was in a hurry today, so this example is rather sparse, but you get the idea. Martha Stewart Living or old Victoria magazines (if I can bear to cut one, sometimes I have duplicate copies), a pair of decorative edge scissors and lots of packaging tape are all you need. They look best completely covered in a collage, but this simplified version is still a step above ordinary.

Budget Christmas gifts

So many people sweat out how they are going to pay for gifts for so many members of their family. I'm thankful that my extended family does not go way overboard for gifts. I'm sure there are plenty of you all that spend less, but, in general we spend $25-50 for each kid, $10-25 on each other (Brian and I), $15-20 on each of our parents, about $5-10 for each grandparent, and as close to $5 as possible for my six siblings and their spouses (Brian is an only child). This calls for creativity to find things on sale, used (which no one in my family minds), homemade, or just something new and different. This year at Thanksgiving I got one sister a Christmas nightshirt at Walmart, which she gleefully began wearing right away, and the other a pair of the cutest Christmas slippers. Sisters are easy - I just buy them whatever I wish I were buying for myself - but it's even more fun to get it for them (they're the best!). My brothers will be getting some great books from Amazon's "used and new" sellers. You can often get great books in new or like new condition for a dollar or two plus $4 shipping. This year I got my two grandmothers and Brian's great aunt a Gl*de flameless candle. Something none of them would likely buy for themselves, but a great gift for them. I got several of the Gl*de light show fresheners with coupons and rebates last year. Good gifts for kids, teens, or someone in the hospital. And before I had a chance to post this, I ran across Crystal's post telling you how to get a great deal on the Gl*de Flameless Starter Kits at Target this week.

On another note, you can often be rescued from expensive gift exchanges outside of your family by suggesting a white elephant exchange. Everyone else will be relieved too.

"The Story of Silent Night featuring the Vienna Boys Choir" review

Our family thoroughly enjoyed this film last night. We were blessed to find it at our local library and it is as peaceful and full of the spirit of Christmas as the song itself. We turned of all of the lights except the Christmas tree and lived in the mood of that beautiful Christmas hymn for the space of an hour. It is not flashy or particularly geared for children, but we found it well-suited to watching just before bedtime. Anna Kate and Ethan watched the whole thing, and Rose drifted gently to sleep near the end to the sound of the Vienna Boys Choir. If you'd like a quieter reflection of Christmas, you'll love this.

Christmas Meme

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags - I hate wrapping
2. Real or artificial tree? I prefer real, but I use artificial -cheaper and easier
3. When do you put up the tree---Thanksgiving or day after? Usually the day after Thanksgiving but this year I think Dec. 1
4. When do you take the tree down? Soon after New Year’s.
5. Do you like eggnog? love it!
6. Favorite gift you received as a child? hmm... Barbies, my Cabbage Patch doll?
7. Do you have a nativity scene? one for every room, a cloth one for playing with - and a few extras! :^)
8. Hardest person to buy for? my father-in-law and brother-in-law
9. Easiest person to buy for? my mother and kids
10. Worst Christmas gift ever received? can't think of any
11. Christmas Cards...snail mail or e-mail? both. I love real mail, but enjoy e-mail too
12. Favorite Christmas movie? White Christmas and the Nutcracker ballet
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? the after-Christmas sales
14. Have you ever 'recycled' a Christmas present? I'll never tell
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas cookies and my grandma's ham dinner
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? clear usually
17. Favorite Christmas song? Just one? "Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella", "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day", the Nutcracker, and The Messiah are big favorites - but I love almost all of it
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? both. I enjoy travelling to spend a week with family somewhere, but don't like Christmas Day travel
19. Can you name Santa's reindeer? of course
20. Do you have an angel or a star on top of your tree? that is a loaded question at our house - we have both - right now my tree has an angel, but all the little trees have stars
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? both
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? being broke :^)
23. Shopping...mall or online? online and in other stores...I try to stay away from the mall, haven't been there in months
24. Do you decorate outside for Christmas or just inside (or at all)? Both.
25. Favorite Christmas cookie? Ha! Russian teacakes, peppermint puffs, does nutroll count?...I love cookies!
26. Do you own Christmas clothing or jewelry? A few sweaters and a new pair of Christmas earrings each year (usually). This year I got new jingle bell earrings. I also have Christmas pins, and at least one bracelet. Oh, and I have Christmas sneakers too.
27. Do you believe in Santa? If it means that I get presents, I do.

What a lovely night

I finally got my life in enough order to get the Christmas trees down. My attic is considerably more organized and my prelit tree is up and glowing, though it's still in need of shaping and decorating. Ethan happily decorated his four foot Christmas branch (originally our first $10 Christmas tree as penniless newlyweds) with his ornaments, and the girls little red Christmas tree and glowing Santa are up in their room. Only the little tree destined for my room remains, at least in the tree category.

We're enjoying Christmas. We had our first pajama Christmas lights ride last night, but it was a little too late for Rose. She conked out before we got to the subdivision I'd targeted. Anna Kate and Ethan, however, were thrilled. The children enjoyed painting stained-glass type ornaments earlier today. And tonight after our second Jesse tree devotions, we enjoyed a peppermint ice cream cone to the light of our tree and the sound of the PBS station playing the three tenors in the background and asking for donations to help support more of that programming. I must say it was interesting hearing them sing "Jingle Bells", not quite what I expected, but I love to hear "Silent Night" in German and it suited them better.

And did you see the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie on CBS - Picture of Hollis Woods? Looooved it! I love Hallmark movies - the only thing I have against them is that I get nothing done in the commercial breaks - because I love them too! I didn't see my favorite commercial tonight, though. The one where the dad walks across the snow my lantern-light to read the Hallmark card from his now grown daughter who was missing that walk with him. I always cry my eyes out. And I like crying my eyes out over books and movies and sappy commercials, don't you?

I'm hoping everyone here will be better tomorrow. Anna Kate had a stomach virus on Friday, so we watched movies all day, then Brian felt terrible all weekend.

Never underestimate the power of the dollar store

Some Christmas treasures from the Dollar Tree where everything's a dollar :

1. A set of five tools - a hammer, phillips and regular screwdriver, pliers, wrench, and hammer to replace the plastic tools in Ethan's toolbox, so he can really help Dad - $4
2. A few "decorate it yourself" travel coffee mugs. One for Pa maybe, and Daddy, and one to surprise Ethan with his own. My kids all love coffee. Even the two year old.
3. "build a bear" size outfits
4. 2 plastic mermaids to replace the broken ones in the under the sea castle playset that Rosie loves - $1
5. 12 inch doll outfits
6. dress up accessories such as Ninja weapons and a pirate set with earring, hook glove, and patch, for the stocking (they take up lots of space for the money!)
7. glow bracelets in red and green for Christmas travel or evening parades - glow bracelets can save your life when you're travelling at night, but before bedtime.
8. Christmas tights
9. a "learn-to-make balloon shapes"kit with a mini pump, long balloons, and instructions for several things - $1
10. A set of Santa's-sleigh-size jingle bells for Polar Express ornaments - $1
11. paint-your-own ornaments craft sets
12. a miniature silver tree, 20 colored lights (yes, from China, got to go donate!), a mini garland and star, and twelve little colored drum ornaments - $4. The delight my children took in decorating it, plugging it in in the playroom, and giving a stout rendition of "O Christmas Tree" in the tradition of Charlie Brown - priceless. Oh, and the silver branches with the colored lights make it look like a rainbow tree. It really looks lovely - much better than expected.

Update: I know that most of us don't have a ton of extra money left over for donations, but donating $1 to VOM for a Christmas Care Pack to China per string of Christmas lights you buy is really quite painless ( I just did it for the lights I bought yesterday) - and you may be helping the family of a Christian prisoner that made those very lights! Go here and donate now!!

Christmas time is here!

I am in the mood now! It suddenly came to my memory that I always go to Ross after I've shopped everywhere else and wonder why I didn't go there first. Plus, I was looking for Barbies from the older movies and they often have the "not quite as new" varieties. Did I ever hit the jackpot! Let's just say that Santa is going to be very good to two little girls I know, and while Mama splurged just a little (upping the budget to nearly $50 total for one of them (gasp!), it is going to be sooo worth it! I walked in and right there at the front was a Cinderella Mega Bloks castle with Cinderella, Prince Charming, and a dance platform that spins and plays music. Rosie's in love with princesses and "Cinderella, Cinderella" is her new favorite. I got it and an add on set for just $24! On to Anna bug. All she wants are Twelve Dancing Princesses. She's got the books, DVD, and five of the twelve Barbies. They are not to be found, but online and rather expensively. But I just snagged the palace! Woohoo! I can't wait 'til Christmas, I can't wait "til Christmas! Lest you worry, the boy is well taken care of with a special Star Wars transformer, some Magnetix, and a couple of Dollar Tree build a bear - compatible outfits. I even found a pack of eight large jingle bells at the Dollar Tree to make the requested bells from Sants's sleigh. You know, the ones that you can only hear if you believe in Santa.

Beautiful Christmas Wallpaper

at Crosscards.com !

Jesse Tree

I love ideas like this, but I'm not very creative. So the Jesse Tree sparked my interest from the first time I heard it, but the need to make my own ornaments, or buy a very expensive pre-made set, automatically set it on the back burner.

But, it's on fire today, baby! And you can have one too.

Let me backtrack. We got a subscription to God's World News for 2-3 grades, Taking Off. We get a two week set of a pamphlet type newspaper every other week and a teaching guide. And about once a month I get really fantastic full size posters. Last moth it was a detailed drawing of Plymouth Plantation, this month, the symbols for the Jesse Tree!

So I was ready to go. I used magnets to hang it on the downstairs freezer and thought that we could use the poster and read about each symbol. But then, as I was requesting enough Christmas books at the library online to reach the maximum hold limits for each family member's library card, a thought struck me. Why not google and see if some good hearted person hadn't, by now, posted printable Jesse Tree ornaments. And they had, bless their hearts! More than one of them. Here they are:

1. Cute tree ideas and kiddie style ornaments
2. Free printable book and ornaments pdf - I have not read this, I'm just finding free ornaments, not endorsing websites, one way or the other.
3. Simple patterns you can embellish
4. And my favorites, that can be printed in small or large sizes
5. This is a great website where you can buy several types of ornaments and they have a great jesse tree advent activity calendar online!
6. While I'm at it, here are some preschool advent crafts and activities .

Hurry and you can begin your Christmas countdown tomorrow! Oh, and don't forget, Sunday is the first Sunday of advent, so get those wreaths out too. Have I mentioned that I love Christmas?

Remembering by Christmas lights

This past Sunday was the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Our church supports Voice of the Martyrs and often calls the persecuted church to remembrance. We watched a short film dramatizing the arrest and torture of a young Chinese woman, the editor of an underground Christian newspaper. At the end of the film, it noted that she spent six years in prison - making Christmas lights for America. A man from our church went to the front to pray, and before he prayed he called on the fathers to lead their families in remembering our brothers and sisters in bonds whenever we see Christmas lights and even planning to set aside time throughout the holidays to specifically remember and uplift them in prayer, perhaps by the light of our Christmas tree.

This is what I want to do. Challenge you. Spread the word. The Christians in China are mocked and humiliated by having to make Christmas lights. Why don't we remember them by Christmas lights? What if so many people committed to do this that it would no longer be a mockery to those Chinese believers, but an encouragement and reminder that the lights they made would be a sign for their American brothers and sisters to uplift them in prayer?

So this Christmas, when you turn of the lights to admire your tree, remember the church in China. When you load up the van and head off to see Christmas lights, pray for those who were put in a van and never seen again. When you tromp down a street in the wintry cold admiring the lights in the shop windows and on the lampposts, remember your brothers and sisters in cold prisons. Gather your family and remember by Christmas lights.

Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. (Hebrews 13:3, ESV)

And then, let's take the challenge one step further. If you buy Christmas lights made in China, would you commit to donating $1 for each strand to the persecuted church? Think of it as helping the family of that Christian who may have made those lights. Just go to Voice of the Martyrs and click on donations.

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy...

-from Hebrews 11

http://jsmagic.net/

Homemade gifts for young kids

1. Lacing cards made from cereal boxes


2. Melted and remolded crayons


3. Paper dolls - one of Anna Kate's favorite toys is a set of American Girl characters cut from the catalogue and mounted on cardboard, then laminated. Ethan has a set of Zelda characters. This is an especially helpful idea when your child falls in love with a movie , book or show that you can find pictures of, but no toys.


4. An alphabet book or favorite things book - my mother used a magnetic photo album and cut out pictures of disney characters, favorite foods, and other happy things from old catalogues - Rose loved it


5. Bean bags - beans are cheap


6. A personal photo album


7. A costume box of accesories, hats, etc.


8. An old jewelry box with costume jewelry - my grandmother passed one of these on to my then 3 year old daughter, just a box, a necklace, a braclet, and a bright pink scarf, I think and she was thrilled with it


9. Print out personalized stationary


10. Video of several episodes of a favorite show

There are so many great, easy, and virtually free ideas, especially for young kids. Most of these are gifts I've given my kids or someone else has given my kids. Some years are lean years and no one minds saving money and giving more peronal gifts even in fat years, so add your ideas for kids...

graphic from Anne's Place

Favorite Christmas Books

I know before I even start that I'm going to want to constantly change this. I'm always finding new "favorites," but right now...

1. The Greatest Story Ever Told by Fulton Oursler - very beautifully written, thought provoking
2. Two From Galilee by Marjorie Holmes - Mary and Joseph's sweet story
3. The Bird's Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin - this book from 1886 is a favorite from my girlhood
4. The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans
5. Who Is Coming To Our House? by Joseph Slate and Ashley Wolffe - the best board book for toddlers
6. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore - I have at least four versions and love them all
7. Here Comes Santa Claus by Gene Autrey and Bruce Whatley - Rosie's favorite book this year, and the older kids loved/love it too.
8. Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers by Andrew Clemens and Kate Kiesler - a storybook that I love more than my children do
9. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski and P.J. Lynch
10. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg - when I gave the girls Christmas bell necklaces on Sunday, Ethan said,"See, do you hear it? That means that you believe.."

Favorite Christmas Traditions

1. Our cookie exchange party (coming up this Monday! - I'm making Russian tea cakes.)
2. Going home to PA every other year - I feel like a little kid again. It sure is easier on Santa when we stay home, though.
3. My Grandma's Christmas dinner. It's always exactly the same. A perfect ham (I mean it, I've never had ham that good anywhere else or at any other time), baked potatoes, green beans, corn, crescents, milk, and Christmas cookies from the Serbian church.
4. Our shepherding group Christmas party and white elephant gift exchange.
5. Filling the book basket, coffee table, and end tables with our Christmas books, getting even more from the library, and reading Christmas stories all month.
6. Lighting the Advent wreath each evening, singing carols together, and reading about the Promised One. The children constantly calculate how far away Christmas is by the number of unlit candles and love to blow the candles out after our family time. Every Sunday of Advent is exciting because a new candle is added to the old ones. And the Christ candle remains white, unlit, waiting until Christmas Eve. Like the world was waiting, waiting, so long ago.
7. Learning the Christmas verses for the year. We're working on Luke 2:1-16 and should have it perfected by Christmas. There are so many opportunities to say them as we see angels on street lamps, and nativities in front yards.
8. The children also love to learn as many Christmas carols as possible. Rosie's favorite is "Away In a Manger," she does all of the motions. Anna Kate loves "Angels We Have Heard On High," and Ethan really likes "Silent Night," but "The First Noel" is starting to win out. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is always a hit, we've really enjoyed Reliant K's version this year, and we love to sing along with Bruce Sprinsteen's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." I wish you could all hear Ethan sing this; Brian always comments, "when can you start giving him voice lessons?!" It's hysterical. Okay. I obviously have a passion for Christmas music, I'm actually feeling guilty for not mentioning Bing Crosby, Gene Autry.....
9. Wearing my Christmas sneakers.
10. Christmas jewelry. I buy a new pair of Christmas earrings nearly every year (the $1-2 variety). My favorite pair is the gold jingle balls with a small red and green plaid bow at the top.
11. Christmas movies - White Christmas(my Daddy and I love to sing "Snow"), Christmas in Connecticut, A Charlie Brown Christmas, How The Grinch Stole Christmas...
12. Visiting a living nativity.
13. Driving through a holiday lights display. We have one in our tow that takes about 10-15 minutes to drive through, and then gives you the option to loop back through before you leave. We usually have to go through at least three times - and then "hurry, hurry, buckle back in!"
14. "Christmas Lights" runs (see below).

Praying - and carolling in pajamas

Please pray for my brother's wife, Kristy. She just found out that she is pregnant. We are, of course, delighted to have a new baby, but with Nathanael in jail and four month old Brooklynn at home, this must be more than a little overwhelming.

We were busy today doing Christmas crafts. I hope to post pics soon. I'm also planning to post favorite Christmas books, and in response to Kim's request, Christmas traditions.

We enacted one of the kids favorite traditions tonight. After they're in bed, we call out "Christmas Lights" and they come running out to don robes and shoes and go look at the lights. We headed over to see a friend's house that is particularly lovely and started singing Christmas songs on the way there. Ethan decided that we should sing our songs to them, so our lights trip turned into Christmas carolling. In pajamas, no less. (Don't worry, Brian and I were fully clothed :^) Our pastor's family lives next door to our above-mentioned friend so we carolled there too (we love our pastor!). And they are off the beaten path, so it really wasn't too weird, and we sure did enjoy ourselves.

My mind is full of things to post, but my fingers are slow and my life, like yours I'm sure, is insanely busy right now. Just thought I'd let you know I'm still alive. :^)

Carol of the week

This is a different kind of carol. A newly written carol that makes you rethink your preconceived ideas of what Christ's birth was like, and leaves you with a fresh glimpse of His overwhelming love for us. It is from Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb.

Labor of Love
Listen here.

It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

Words and music by Andrew Peterson


I hope these colors are not horrible, and that the song is red and not orange. The color in our monitor went out this morning, so I'm giving my best guess. :^)

Five Things to do this weekend

1. Attend a seasonal choral concert such as the Messiah.
2. Begin tracking Santa at NORAD. If you haven't seen their promotional video you must watch it right now - your kids will love it!
3. Last chance to order photo gifts. If you still need grandparent gifts, check out the great options at Walmart's photo center.
4. Make these wonderfully simple cinnamon ornaments.
5. Light the second candle (for peace) on your advent wreath. We'll be following Lindsey's suggestion and saying "May God's peace dwell within us."

May God's peace surround all of you.

Frugal Friday Double

Okay, two Christmas tricks for all of my frugal friends.

First, I discovered a few years ago that a round, plastic, felt bottom tablecloth makes a great tree skirt. If you have an open floor plan, you can match it to your tablecloth, and if you change your color scheme, you can find a very inexpensive replacement. Simply cut a line to the middle and wrap around the tree, no sewing required. It can be wiped clean and pine needles will be a snap to clean up.

The second I discovered this year. Our artificial Christmas tree warped where the screws go in and we had to replace it. I hate to throw away anything that could prove useful, and I quickly realized that I could use the branches as greenery anywhere that the metal ends could be hidden. And I stuck the top part (a perfect mini tree) in a planter and strung it with lights outside.

For more tips head to Biblical Womanhood.

Five things to do this weekend

1. Attend a Christmas lighting and carol sing.
2. Enjoy a local Christmas parade.
3. The Nativity Story opens today. View the trailer here, and Focus on the Family's Plugged In review here.
4. Take advantage of online shopping whil there's still time. The Lakeside Collection is a great place to find affordable gifts for almost anyone.
5. Light the first candle on your advent wreath.
   
   

Gospel for Asia

While you are considering what you can do for others this holiday season, please consider Gospel for Asia. Many blogs have mentioned sponsoring a child, and that is a good thing. Our family, however felt that we could do the most good by sponsoring a native missionary. These missionaries head out into the remotest parts of Asia spreading the hope of the Gospel. They may plant dozens of churches in their lifetime. Some have families, and they may go for days without food because of their efforts to take the Gospel to a new area with no outside support.

The vision of Gospel for Asia is linking these native missionaries with North American resources so that they can spread the Gospel freely. You can sponsor a missionary for $30 a month; the total amount for support of a missionary is $90-120 a month, which includes family and ministry expenses.

At the very least, please go request their free book, Revolution in World Missions. If you've ever wondered, "why did God place me in America and give me all of this- there must be a reason?" You will have an answer to your question, and be challenged to reevaluate how you live and where you store up your treasures. The only reason for not requesting this book is fear that it will challenge the status quo and change you -- because it will.

If you still would like to sponsor a child, you can do that through Gospel for Asia as well. And whether you are sponsoring a missionary or a child, 100% of your sponsorship money goes to that person. Nothing is taken out for administrative expenses.

Yes, you can do this. Did you know that most of the world doesn't have clean drinking water? We take this for granted. Revolution in World Missions suggests that if the average American simply cut out of their diet the junk food and soda that is bad for them anyway, the grocery money that they save could easily cover the monthly sponsorship of a missionary. Even if you don't eat junk food, you probably drink a lot more than just water. So please consider it.

The Parable of the Rich Fool
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." 14But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." 16And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' 18And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' 21So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
Luke 12:13-21(ESV)

I'm challenged again every time I think about it.

The best place to shop for Christmas toys...

is our local thrift store. On Friday I got a nearly new fisher price dollhouse for $.50, a boy's bike for $7.50, a huge Rescue Heroes plane in perfect condition for $.50, a bunch of new Christian books, some pillows for the play corner I'm making for the girls for Christmas, and more! My second run on Saturday produced a working Little Touch Leappad for $.50 and a beautiful Moses basket complete with yellow gingham bedding for $8 (future baby shower gift- usually $70-100). I'm on a roll--gotta go back today.

Planning Ahead for Advent

Thanks to Lindsey at Enjoy the Journey, I'm putting a Christmas post up before I have a Thanksgiving post. And one of my pet peeves is Thanksgiving being crowded out by Christmas. But sometimes you just have to plan ahead for good things, and Lindsey's new blog, Advent for Evangelicals looks like a very good thing. I was so excited the first time she mentioned it, and it is beautiful! I'm looking forward to garnering many more ways to share advent with my family.

Here are some of my family's favorite ways:

1. Brian has really enjoyed Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas, an advent book with readings from many different authors with many different backgrounds.
2. When I got married, I wanted a nativity set like my mother's. A wooden building with moss and ceramic figures. I was student teaching that first year and my sweet cooperating teacher got me one as a Christmas gift. It's always given a place of honor, lately, on top of the piano, in the living room in front of the window.
3. I searched high and low for a nativity playset safe for the under 3 set, and finally found this one. It is a huge hit every year when the Christmas things come down from the attic.
4. My piano students always look forward to putting aside lesson books in mid-November and learning Christmas music for our annual recital at the nursing home.
5. We love to invite over our little friends and have a birthday party for Jesus complete with balloons, streamers, and a birthday cake. We've missed it the past couple of years due to illness and babies, but I'm excited to plan this special celebration again.
6. Reading our huge collection of Christmas books. I'll post a list of favorites later.
7. My favorite new find is Christ in Christmas: A Family Advent Celebration. This compilation of Advent devotions by James Dobson, Chuck Swindoll, James Montgomery Boice, and R.C.Sproul has a devotion and family activities for each Sunday of Advent and daily Scripture readings, along with songs and instructions for an advent wreath. The readings are already written into my lesson plans.

Now I'm really getting in the mood. I feel like I could go on forever. I keep thinking of more "favorites" I'd like to share with you. But first things first. I'll try to stick with Thanksgiving posts for now - just watch out the day after!