Advent...well life got in our way this week.

 I know there are probably about 3 people following our advent calendar, so for the 3 of you wondering what we have been doing this past week and why we stopped blogging...some kind of plague hit our house. Well, really just me and Gabre. I started feeling sick on Monday and by Wednesday was out of commission- rough. Evidently, some kind of virus. Gabre has double ear infections and some kind of virus that gave her a rash. We are starting to recover and actually went out of the house as a family to church this morning. It felt great to be out!
We have been able to do a few things on our calendar- call old friends, the kids and Jimmy helped their teachers clean their classroom before the holiday break, and say something kind to another. We may try to make up some of the things we missed this week- we'll see. Today is a day of less complaining! I am all about this day and hope of health this week to celebrate advent and the coming of Christ.

In other exciting news...Gabre is walking!!! She took her first steps last Sunday and is doing more everyday. She is so proud of herself.  This morning at church the sermon was on sharing what has brought us Joy this year as a reminder that God is with us. He is still with us. I almost want to shout at the joy Gabre has brought to our lives. Oh how we love this precious gift!

3rd Sunday in Advent: Clean something without being asked

This weekend our advent tasks have been cleaning up related. Yesterday we went through our things to donate. Davis always struggles with donating toys, even ones he doesn't play with anymore. But after spending the entire morning going through toys and clothes we took 10 bags to goodwill. I love cleaning out things we don't use anymore.
Today our task is to clean something without being asked. (I should figure out a way to work this in throughout the year!).
Tomorrow's task is to say something nice to someone with intention.

Wishing you all Joy in this 3rd week of advent.

2nd Friday in Advent: Be Grateful

I haven't been doing a great job of blogging about advent this week- so here is a recap of our week so far.

Monday we took can goods to a food bank. 
Tuesday we made a card for someone. While we didn't say who the card should be for, we all ended up making cards for each other. It was nice to share love with each other this way.
Wednesday was make a homemade gift for someone- this was a FAIL. Life got in the way and we didn't make anything. 

While I didn't make anything for someone on Wednesday, I received the most amazing, thoughtful, homemade gift. It is a picture frame with Africa, China and the US all cut out of different fabrics with this scripture: I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18
I can't tell you how touched I was by this gift.

Today was to let someone in line before you. I have thought about this often today. For our children, there is a very literal meaning to this. For us, there can be as well. However, as adults this can also mean so much more. Can we put others before ourselves. Can we put away our selfish desires to think of others before ourselves- that is also 'letting others in line before us'.

LOVE tomorrow's practice of being grateful.

Family Photos

Our friend MaryAlice came over a few weeks ago and took some AWESOME pictures of the family. Thank you MaryAlice!

The Birthday Girl!

Finally downloaded some pictures of the birthday girl's 1st birthday. Don't have any great ones, but they show she loved her cake and ice cream! (Cake more for playing in, ice cream for eating!)

What a blessing she is for us. Her happy spirit brings so much joy into our home!

2nd Sunday and Monday in Advent

Jimmy and the kids had a great time baking cookies yesterday morning. And we All enjoyed tasting them! Gabre especially. I later remembered the first time Sarah Bess was tasting cookie dough at Christmas time and the pictures I took to document it. Being the third child...I'm not so good at that. But trust me- it was cute!
Sarah Bess, Davis, Sudie and I delivered the cookies to the neighbors. We aren't the best at interacting with our neighbors often, so it was nice to take them a sweet treat.
Today our goal was to forgive someone. So many different levels of forgiveness...some of them easy, some of them not. Some that I can't do alone.
Tomorrow our task is to take can goods to a food bank. Our church is active with Western Wake Crisis Ministry and we plan to go there tomorrow after school.

1st Saturday in Advent: Bake something and share it!

I never had a chance to write on the blog yesterday, but giving hugs went well. Our task for today was to pay someones library fine. We went to the library this afternoon, gave some books, and left some money for the next person (or people) that needed to pay a  fine. The librarian at first seemed confused, but then she was very complimentary to Sarah Bess and Davis telling them how generous they were.

Tomorrow we will Bake! It will be fun to make cookies with the kids and then share them with the neighbors. The kids wanted to make sure we will keep some also and we reassured them not to worry!

It is fun to be generous- and it is hard. I wish I didn't sometimes second guess my giving. We are adopting a family at work for Christmas and I debated over myself for far too long on how much of a gift card I would give the Dad to the place he requested today. That is not a generous heart (luckily Jimmy was there and said to get the higher amount I was debating about). Why do I question, when I know I have so much? I hope this advent that we can grow our faith in giving and really trust in God that he will meet our needs.