Advent

Last year amid the crazy move-across-the-country-with-four-kids and then live-in-an-apartment-for-forty-five-days and the trying-to-find-a-house and then it was Christmas! and life was very hectic, I decided to find a way for us to find a way to slow things down and focus on the real meaning of Christmas.  At Target, I found an Advent calendar on sale.  I added something to it each day, sometimes simple (like sing Christmas songs) or sometimes bigger  (like go to the Nutcracker ballet).  Our kids really enjoy it and look forward to who gets to open it each day.
This year, one of the first decorations I got out was our Advent calendar.

It's not fancy or large, but our family absolutely loves it.
One of my favorite Advent activities is Picking Gifts from the Compassion Catalog from Compassion International.  The kids all get to look through a Compassion Gift Catalog. Then they each pick out an item or two that they would like to gift to others.  

I had thought that Isabella would still be too young this year to really enjoy this activity.  However, she surprised us all. Quickly, in the catalog she identified a picture of "baby diapers" and proceeded to yell about how she wanted to give "baby diapers" to babies.  It was super cute.      The other kids all found things they wanted to give also.  Aidan even picked out something he wanted to give NEXT YEAR.

 How can you give to Compassion this year?  Head on over HERE to view their Gift Catalog.  Then, pray about it.  Choose something that strikes you as important.
Or, another option is to go HERE  to sponsor a child each month.  Have a question about sponsorship, just ask me!  Sponsoring is a great option and especially a great family project. You will be blessed just as much as the child that you sponsor!