Advent Events

It's been a tough one today.
I can't even begin to comprehend the fear and pain.

My parents were teachers and my child is a kindergartner, so it hit a little closer to home this time. 

I've found comfort in Psalm 34:18

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

And I hope we all heed the advice of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to

"Pray without ceasing."
May God give peace and comfort to all who were affected.

Moving on to something that's brightened my December, Tristan's love of Advent celebrations.

I was so blessed that a friend, Hillary, posted a wonderful advent reading plan on her blog.  

It uses the Jesus Storybook Bible.

 We have it, but it's never been opened.

Bad mom.

It turned out to be a wonderful book with the bible stories written in a manner that helps kids relate to them (and sometimes helps adults understand them too!).

Tristan and I have been reading a story each night and having great discussions afterwards.

See if you can pick out what doesn't belong in this photo?

Tristan LOVES to play with his nativity.  

 I was deeply saddened (but also heartened) when Tristan had to explain what the nativity was to his friend.

I realize that not everyone is a believer, but I just assumed that most kids knew that Christmas is about Jesus.  

I was heartened by the fact that Tristan is bold in his faith and explained the whole nativity to his friend and let the Transformers be a part of it as well.

It was a great compromise for a perfectionist of a 5 year old.

A church near us, puts on an amazing production every year called, Journey to Bethlehem.

They basically recreate Bethlehem with the stable and all.

There were live animals, tons of activities that related to the time period, and different scenes of Bethlehem.

 The angels appeared, we saw Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus (a real baby mind you), and the Governor and his guards.

The kids get shekels to spend on all the food and activities.

And get this, it's all free!

Tristan was most excited about the three kings.

Everyone stays in character the whole time.

 They spoke to Tristan as if they were currently kings at Jesus's birth.

Great fun for a little kid.

One of the king's asked Tristan, "What did you bring to give Jesus?"

Tristan was unsure of how to answer.

The king seeing this looked at him and said, "How about your heart?"

Such an amazing message.

Tristan did ask me multiple times if he was meeting the real people or just adults acting like them!

 Normally we make a gingerbread house, but this year pinterest brought me new inspiration.

A candy nativity!

We had so much fun making all the different people.  

I think Tristan was most excited about the angel.

Happy advent.

And still so sorry about the horrible phone photos!