Advent - Day 4 - Names

I realize some of you may follow this blog for the giveaway, that some of you may not be interested in any advent ideas, that some of you don't do religious things with your family, some of you follow because you want the ideas for your family, others read to keep up with our family, and I'm sure there are other reasons.  Whatever the reason, I appreciate you taking the time to read a little glimpse into our life.

Today I am going to share a website with you that would be good for anyone to use if you want to represent a group of words/descriptions.  It's called wordle.net.  Click {here} to check it out.  I think it is a fun site with lots of opportunity for neat ideas.

I used wordle.net to get ready for today's advent activity.  I logged on and typed in all the words that describes each of my boys.  Then I printed each description.  The boys each got their own WORDLE print out full of words that Lou & I felt described them.  We talked about different words that could be used to describe God.  And how many of those words are actually names for God -- Names like: Jesus, Light of the World, Bread of Life, Immanuel, Saviour.  We got out a wreath and added one star to it with the name "God" on it.  Throughout advent, we will add more stars to the wreath.  Each star will have a different name for God on it.

Here is an example of what Wordle.net looks like when you're done:

Changing the subject, I am just amazed at how far technology has come.  I am typing this blog post connected to WiFi in my husband's car.  Yes, his CAR has WiFi.  How amazing is this technology?  Blows me away!

Advent - Day 3 - Lights

Originally, I had planned for us to go look at Christmas lights next week.  Yet, our kids were begging and begging to go...so I switched up the advent activities; we went tonight.  We saw this:

JUST KIDDING!!!  Don't we wish we had??  Honestly, there weren't a lot of lights up.  So if you are planning on doing this, then I encourage you to wait until next week.

We gave our kids light up reindeer noses to wear during our light looking with a reminder that Jesus is the real Light of the World.

Our reindeer... I don't know why Maddox felt the need to touch his light up nose for the pictures.

Lots of other wonderful things happened today.  Jessica's little boy had surgery today!  I've known Jessica and her family for years and years!  They had a little over a week to raise $100,000 (yes, that's one hundred thousand dollars) for their son to have surgery...and they did it!  Well, God did it.  Amazing!  You can follow their story by clicking {here}.

Friends of ours found out they are getting two children from the foster system.  Another blessing.  

Lots of wonderful things going on in our world.  Lots of loving and caring people out there.  Wish more of these things were advertised rather than the bad and sad things.

Another happy thing is the Amazon gift card giveaway.  Learn more about it {here}.

Advent - Day 2

Traditionally, an advent wreath would start on a Sunday.  But who said we're traditional around here???  So today for advent activity, we got out a "wreath" the boys made last year.  This wreath has its green from bell pepper painting which Brewer did; its red berries are Maddox's fingerprints.  The outside of the wreath has four candles (battery powered, thank you very much, after all I do have a 3 and 6 year old).  The center has the Christ candle.  We will light one candle each week during advent and be reminded that Christ is the Light of the World.

Don't forget to leave a comment (NOT ON THIS POST...go to the GIVEAWAY POST!!) to be entered for the giveaway.  You could win a $25 gift card to Amazon.  Right now, only two entries have been made...so your chances are good great!!  Click {here} for the giveaway information.  Make sure you leave your comments to enter the giveaway on the GIVEAWAY POST -- not on this post. :)

Advent Starts Today - Day 1 (and a giveaway)

Our front door is decorated with a great saying:

BELIEVE IN THE MAGIC OF THE SEASON

The secular calendar doesn't start advent until Dec. 1; yet, advent in the Christian calendar started today.  And advent is my favorite season.  What is better than preparing for the arrival of Christ?  Preparing for this arrival brings a lot of magic to the season for me.

A few years ago, we started a Christmas (new) tradition where our family does something everyday of advent that focuses on Jesus.  Today was day 1 with:
SHOPPING FOR OUR ANGEL TREE CHILD

Both of the boys adopted a child off the angel tree.  Maddox picked a 3-year-old boy that wanted power tools.

Brewer picked a 6-year-old boy that wanted wrestling things.  

In addition to the toys the boys picked for them, they picked out a complete outfit including Spiderman light up shoes.  (I bet for a few seconds my kids were wishing they were these little boys.  Oh, how they would love to have light up Spiderman tennis shoes.)

It was a blessing to me in watching my kids shop for these kids.  AND THEY GOT IT!  They did not ask for things for themselves while we were out.  They understood we were shopping for others.

There really is a special magic to this season.  If you want to do advent activities with your family but haven't prepared any ahead of time, here are a few good resources.  Plus, you could always start on December 1st -- which gives you a few days to get it together.  Throughout the season, I'll be posting our activities here too.

Advent Resources:
-- Advent ideas from Focus on the Family, click {here}.
-- Advent Forum full of ideas from past years, click {here}.

What are some things you do for advent?

And now onto the giveaway...  I know some of you worked through reading this to find out about the giveaway.  So click {here} for the giveaway information to win an Amazon gift card.  Make sure you leave your comments to enter the giveaway on the GIVEAWAY POST -- not on this post. :)

My First Giveaway!!!

I love free things; you might too!  The winner of this give away will receive $25 gift card to Amazon!! All comments must be made by 11:59PM/EST on Dec. 11th. The winner will be announced December 12th.  

There are 4 ways to enter... 

1. Follow me.

2. Add a link to this blog from your blog.

3. Blog about my giveaway.

4. Post about the giveaway on Facebook (including a link to this blog). 

Leave one comment for each thing you do and I will pick one lucky winner on Monday, December 12th.   Please comment on this blog post ONLY for the give away opportunity to win!  

MORE INFORMATION: You MUST post your comment here.  I will use Random.org to select the winner.  Here is how it works...

-Let's pretend there are 50 comments below on Dec. 12th.

-I will put in the random.org system the starting comment number (which would be comment 1) and then the last comment number (in this example, it would be 50).

-Random.org will produce a number.  On this example, it was 11.  So in this example, comment 11 would be the winner.  

-If you select "follow" at the top left of the screen to follow the blog AND you post about this giveaway on your FB page (including a link to the blog), that would be two entries for the giveaway.  You would need to post two comments (one entry for each).  Here is an example of someone from another blog who entered twice by posting her two comments -- hence, her entries were #10 and #11 -- so she would have won the giveaway since the Random.org selected comment 11 in the above example.

If you have any questions, let me know.  Good luck!  I love shopping at Amazon!

Eleven things about ME

Since 11-11-11 won't come around for 100 more years, a blog suggestion I read was to blog eleven things about yourself.  Here goes...

1. When asked as a kid, "What do you want to be when you grow up..." I would respond with, "A stay-at-home mommy who goes to Bible study."  Did I have an awesome role model or what??  (Thanks, Mom)  And now I am living my dream (in every sense of the word).  I'm in love with my life.  These two rascals make it so enjoyable!

2. I taught school before I had kids.  I enjoyed that very much.  Yet, school makes me sad now.  I really don't like it when my kids go away everyday.  Plus, I don't think I could handle the challenges that teachers face in classrooms now.  The education system (both public and private) make me sad.

3. College football is my favorite season.  Go Tigers!

4.  I believe flip flops should be worn year round.

5. I am a morning person, not a night owl.  Ironically, I love to sleep.  So maybe I'm really a sleep person.

6. I run, and I despise it.  I keep waiting for that thing called THE RUNNER'S HIGH to happen to me.  Nada... Nope this has NEVER happened to me:

7. Our house is often neglected, because I volunteer all the time.  Lou thinks I'm one of the only people who love to work hard and not get paid.  Seriously, I volunteer for things that should be paid positions.  But I just can't help it.

8. I don't like my food to touch on my plate.  And until recent, I only ate one item at a time off my plate.  Oh, did I mention I have an A-Type personality to the n-th degree?? LOL!

9.  Traveling is one of my favorite things to do.  Hawaii is my favorite place on Earth.  Here is a photo of us in Hawaii.  I still hope to make it to Australia before my time is up here on Earth.

10. My kids are 3 and 6-years-old and I haven't come close to finishing their baby books.  I've made a few of my friends promise me that if I were to die early, they would finish the boys' books for me.  They all chuckle when I say it...but I.AM.SERIOUS!

11. While coming up with this list, I realize I'm not very exciting.  If I live to be 136, hopefully I can write a thrilling list of 12 things on 12-12-12 (year: 2112).  I guess I need to 'up my game' on life's adventures!