Monday, December 19, 2005

The J.O.Y. Patrol


Merry Christmas! The Christmas play is over, so I'm able to blog again! Here's a picture of Connor as Joseph and his friend, Lindsay, as Mary. Amongst the busyness we've tried to keep our Advent traditions going, most with success. One of the advent activities that our family enjoys is being the "J.O.Y. Patrol". Romans 12:10 says, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." and John 13:35 says, " By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you lone one another."

The "J.O.Y. Patrol" stands for Jesus, Others, Yourself. Using this my children ( and myself) can remember what our priorities should be. God should always be placed first in our lives, then we should think of others needs and only after that our own. We've had fun making badges and door hangers with J.O.Y. on them as a helpful reminder. The kids enjoy having a secret name for doing the right thing.

There are many things you can do during the Christmas season as the J.O.Y. patrol. We bake cookies for our neighbors, give coins to the Salvation Army, make shoebox presents and generally just keep aware of opportunites to give. We don't do big things but hopefully things that show love to others.

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Thursday, December 01, 2005

Taking Time for Tea


Yesterday my little girl, Caileigh, asked if I could play tea. I said that I couldn't, for I have a Christmas play to direct, laundry to fold and put away, dinner to make, presents to wrap, a budget to go over, and numerous other things that need to be done. Sweetly, Caileigh offered to help. She helped me put my laundry away, sang the Christmas play for me and wrote a label for Daddy's present. Caileigh didn't whine or complain that I wouldn't play she just wanted to be with Mommy. After an hour or so, I finally realized that all these things weren't very important. The play will go on, laundry can always sit in the basket, I could pull out a Supper Solutions dinner and everything else could just wait but Caileigh will only be four once. Soon she won't want me to have a tea party with her, she'll want to be with her friends. So, Caileigh and I had our tea party, we dressed up in funny outfits and called each other dahling. Caileigh made cookies in her pretend stove and we talked about all the things little girls like to talk about. We had a wonderful time. Perhaps next time Caileigh asks to have tea, I'll remember this lesson right away, laundry can wait but little childhood won't.




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