Earlier in the week I received a package from my Aunt Jane and my cousin Jen. It had strict instructions not to open it until a camera was present to take photos since they couldn’t be there in person. So I left it on the counter and waited for Mike to get home (such a rule follower). Here is what I found in the box:
“Awe it’s so cute! It will match her room!”
“Cute little lady bug.”
Then I flipped it over and saw this on the back:
And started to cry…..
Thank you so much Jane – you are such an encouragement to me and your love of Jesus shines in your life and your words.
Thank you so much Jen – from our pen pal letters as children to our texts today, you are such an important part of my life. I love you more than you know.
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Last night we went to church for the Advent Celebration. Everyone ate dinner and then the families got to work on our candy advent chains. Kaye had the best idea for this and it was super easy. They had numbers cut out and we all got the ribbons and 25 pieces of candy. Then a big giant piece of saran wrap. See the photos to see how it turned out. Nadia and I had fun putting this together.
Then Kaye gave us an Advent Devotional to do each night and it included sheet music and the songs go with the verse for the day. And we grabbed a “Names of Jesus” advent chain maker so we can learn one of the names of Jesus each day of Advent. Nadia is finally the perfect age to do this and listen and respond to the readings.
A couple of weeks ago we went to a charity fundraiser that was called “High Tea with Santa and Mrs. Claus” It was the most adorable thing and they had Colonial Country Club decorated with all sorts of Christmas Trees. For the children they had a buffet table that was their size with snacks and fruit. They also had hot cocoa and spiced cider. There were truffles at every seat in addition to coloring pages for the kids while the Grinch Who Stole Christmas was in the background.
They had a whole bunch of activities set up, but the first thing Nadia wanted to do was meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. The people who were playing the parts were perfect! They were totally in character and did such a good job with the kids. Nadia knows that Santa is just a storybook character so she gave him a funny look when he asked what she wanted him to bring her for Christmas. She did end up telling them “I just want my sister.” Which led them to ask me questions and I told them that we were going to adopt a little girl from China soon. Mrs. Claus gave Nadia a lollipop and they posed for a photo and she was good to go.
Then Nadia made Reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn so they have something to eat on Christmas Eve. Nadia really enjoyed this and we already sprinkled it on the lawn. She wants us to make another batch with more glitter to put out on Christmas eve in case the birds eat what is out there already 🙂
Grammie came with us and said that she enjoyed every minute of the event.
Emily brought her boys and they were so cute running around.
They also had a Flip Book station set up. Nadia did not want to do one with me until she saw me do one with my “mommy friends”. They both turned out really cute and it’s such a fun thing to do. Kerrie and her daughter made a book and I snapped a photo while they were being filmed.
