Advent

This Christmas season our family is making a Jesse Tree. It is a kind of advent calendar where each day highlights a different Old Testament story leading up to the New Testament birth of Christ (Isaiah 11:1-3, hence the term “Jesse Tree”). Instead of strictly following Catholic and Lutheran models, we are using The Jesus Storybook Bible.
Even though Olivia won’t grasp the entire concept of redemptive history this year, hopefully she’ll understand that Christmas is about Jesus. Kids are capable of understanding a lot more than we think.
Olivia helped me paint a tree (which looks more like a bush) on poster board. Then I attached the words “Happy Birthday Jesus” to the top. Each day we will read a Bible story and hang/ tape a paper ornament symbolizing that story on our tree.



Also, it’s probably very obvious at this point that art is not my strength. At least Olivia got a kick out of it!

The Gospel for Little Ones

One of the challenges of parenting a baby and toddler is how to communicate the gospel on his or her level. The other day I came across this short (6 minute) Q and A with CJ and Carolyn Mahaney and found it insightful and encouraging.