December Musings

Merry Christmas Friends! We are doing a Lego Advent calendar this December, which the boys would say has been MOST fun. They alternate days of getting to open a door. D gets odd because he is "son one". Caleb gets even because he is "son two". They never forget what day it is in December. They also have chores around the house assigned with this same methodology, but they don't get remembered as well as those Lego advent doors! So it would be fun enough to just do the calendar as usual right? Well, before I gave the calendar to the boys I DROPPED it--while it was open and um, some of the legos came out of their holes and I just stuffed them back in empty holes thinking nothing of it. Come to find out Lego puts some pretty strange stuff in these calendars and the only instructions are on the door of the day you are opening. So what do you do when you have three tires, a red/green/white piece and two yellow thingies, but your picture is of a table? haha! Things are never dull around here. My boys think I am NUTS because I just laugh at these things and tell them EVENTUALLY we will get to that door and won't that be fun to finally see what it was supposed to be? Haha. No mom it is not fun to excitedly open a door and not know what to do with the random legos behind it! Well little men, this is a lot like life. Doing the best you can with the pieces you have been given and somehow finding a way to make those pieces fit, be useful and have fun in the process--so get going with your creativity and next year I will try not to drop it! This year we are studying the names of Jesus for our Advent, which has been most interesting. We have been blindfolded to show what a Counselor does for us. We have only been able to talk when we joined hands to show what a Mediator does. We have colored pictures and have names in all kinds of writing on our white board. I think the boys are beginning to see that Jesus was more than a baby, more than a miracle worker, more than a person who died on a cross. He was ALL things to ALL people. We farmers and sheep raisers LOVE that the angels visited the Shepherds. Truly HE came for us ALL, rich or poor, desk job or dirty hands. I want my boys to get that Jesus is sufficient for every need they might ever have. Whatever the need, He has a name that will cover it. I am learning a lot too. Probably more than my boys are, which is normal for this homeschooling mom. My favorite so far? The LION of the Tribe of Judah. How wonderful we have a LION as a protector, nothing messes with lions. How humbling to think of a LION as my Savior. If I were in a pen with a lion I know how insignificant and helpless I would feel. BUT GOD--God sees our need, our fears, our insecurities and He goes before us brave as a lion! Merry Christmas to you all. I hope it is a wonderful season full of GREAT JOY! Love Julie