Christmas Memories

Getting Ready! Advent, Week 2

Read: Mark 1: 1-8 (2-3)
See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”


Sing: Cleaning Song

Do: Stack the Hay and Make it Quick!
To make your set of pick-up sticks, paint the ends of the skewers* with the following colors: one black, three red, five blue, nine green, and twelve yellow. Use a table or the floor to play the game. Hold the sticks upright in a bunch in one hand just above the floor or table. Release the sticks and let them fall. Now try to remove the sticks one by one without moving any other stick in the pile. You can use the black stick to help you remove other sticks. Continue removing sticks until you move another stick by mistake. Now count how many of each color you picked up. (adapted from fun.familyeducation.com)
*Your can also use spaghetti or long toothpicks.

Read:

“Sweep the earth,” says Chick. Goose says, “I will line the crib with eider.”
When your are getting ready for a special guest, you spend extra time on making things look extra nice — wash the windows, shine the silver, dust all the corners, fluff the pillows. And you have to put things away or even get rid of some things.
Sometimes it’s important that we do the same thing so that we can welcome Jesus into our hearts. Those things that make us forget to be like Jesus are things that we need to get rid of.
We call this asking for forgiveness. That means we say we’re sorry to those we’ve hurt or been mean to. We ask God to forgive us too. Then we start doing things that honor God and others.
Are you ready to get cleaning?

Pray: Dear Lord, I am sorry for things I have done to hurt you and others. Please help me clean out those bad things and make room for your good things. Amen.

Respond: Look at the Covenant Church brochure. We are collecting food for their food pantry. Decide what food you can bring to Breakfast with Santa and set it aside. Spend time praying for the church, Pastors Abe and Joni, and the people who go to Covenant Church.

Are You Ready? Advent, Week 1

Read: Mark 13: 24-37 (35-37)
Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Sing: Barnyard Bantering

Do: Pigs Surprise!
Cut out the pictures of the Three Little Pigs (p.12-13). Use the cards to tell the story. After you’ve finished the story, mix the pictures up. Work together to put the pictures of the story in the correct order.

Read:
"Make Room!" says Pig.
I love surprises! Most of the time, like for birthdays or parties, surprises can be really fun.
But sometime it's not good to be caught by surprise. Two of the little pigs sure weren’t ready when the wolf came!
Even the animals at the manger had to hurry and make room for a very special guest to their house because very few people were ready for their savior to come as a little baby. No one had room for Jesus to be born -- he had to be born in a barn with all the animals! But Jesus came anyway. And there was space among the stalls for this holy child.
Later, when Jesus was older, he told people to be ready for when He comes again. We may not know the time or the place, but we can be sure He's coming because He promised us. We need to follow the advice of our four legged friends -- open the door ajar, butt aside the rig and make room for Jesus.

Pray: Dear Lord, thank you for blessing us with surprises. Please help us to be ready for your arrival. Amen.

Respond: How can you help your family get ready for welcoming Jesus? Think of something that you are expected to do to help around the house. Do you sweep the floor? Or do you take out the trash? Do more than expected! Help Mom fold laundry. Or pickup your toys without being asked. Enjoy the surprise your family will feel.

Mentos, Diet Coke, and Too Much Time

Check out this video. These guys may have too much time, but I'm glad they do.

Click here.

Pick a Friends Nose, Pick a Nose Next to You!

How is everybody doing? I haven't heard from everyone and would like to. Just so you guys have my email, it is located at this site here. You should write us!

Nothing much is going on right now except a lot of rain. I have noticed that the weather people here freak out a lot. They go crazy for hours about the weather without it really getting that bad. today they called for all kinds of flooding and I haven't really seen it. Who knows?

Here's another great nose picking picture for you all to enjoy. It just goes to show that you can, in fact, pick a friends nose! I am still working on getting some of the pictures we took before we left on the blog. I'll try to update more often now too.

Sunday

Well, Sunday was my first Sunday at Parkview. Everything went well. Pastor Dave (that's my new pastor) introduced Julia and me and then we went to children's church. After church we ate lunch with Pastor and his wife as well as a children's worker and her husband. We had a good time. That night, there was a drama group from California called the Covenant Players who ministered to us with drama and music.

Yesterday was the Holiday at Home parade here in Kettering. There were a ton of people in and at the parade. However, there was not a herd of steer running through the streets like at Pioneer Days in Guymon. There was a church that rode in the parade on unicycles. One guy rode a unicycle that was six feet tall. It was kind of like the one in the picture.

How is school going? I hope you all are doing well. I want you to know that Julia and I miss you very much! We are praying for you too.

While at Julia's Mother and Father's farm in Havana, Illinois we tried this little experiment. We took a warm two litre bottle of Diet Coke and added mint flavored Mentos and it shoots like a fountain ten or fifteen feet into the air. Try it at home, with your parents permission of course!

On Our Way

Well, Julia and I are on our way to Dayton, Ohio. Last night we stopped in Columbia, Missouri because we were really tired. Today, I am visiting my family in Decatur, Illinois. Julia is with her family in Havana, Illinois. My nephew, Chandler, is with me while I write this. He's a great kid! But he keeps bugging me about his name. He wants me to tell you that his name is Chan-Chan or Fat Head. But I keep telling him no!

Julia is going to post some great pictures of some of you picking your noses. Look for them on this site. In the mean time, we'll be praying for you all. Let us know how you are! Here's a picture of a cow picking its nose with its own tongue!