It’s been some time since we took portraits of the kids, so at Lois’ urging, I took them to the same school playground we went to nearly two years ago, and snapped some shots.  Got some keepers, yay, and these will be mounted onto canvas to serve as Christmas gifts for the grandparents…

We’ve been enjoying our time together as a family for our Advent reading.  It’s such a relaxing time for all of us to be together and listen to three separate readings.

Below is a picture of the books we’re reading.  Russ Ramsey’s Behold the Lamb of God is a narrative account of events from the Old Testament to the coming of Christ.  We really appreciate Ramsey’s narrative account of the story as it helps both adults and kids to better comprehend the coming of Christ.  We purchased the bundle package which included Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God CD.  We’ve been listening to this CD continuously and we absolutely love it.  If you’re interested, you can listen to the whole album online for free.  Interestingly, Christianity Today did an interview with Andrew Peterson recently about his music and books.

For several weeks now, our family has been engrossed in Andrew Peterson’s first of the four books On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness.  And yes, it’s the same Andrew Peterson, the singer and the writer.  I admit, it took me a while to make that connection.  We like this book a lot as it is both humorous and adventurous.  Some parts of it are just goofy, and we love goofiness.  The four-book saga has the flavor of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series.  It’s definitely worth reading.

Our Advent candles.  The candle arrangement is very simple.  I arranged four purple/reddish tapered candles on the outer perimeter inside a tray and I placed the one white candle in the middle.  To make it prettier, I put our Christmas tree trimmings around it.  It’s nothing super fancy but visually pleasing.  The tray works out really well because we can easily put it away after our nightly reading so the children don’t play with the arrangement nor the fire if left permanently on the table.

Lastly, our Christmas tree!  Last year we trekked into the mountains to chop down our perfect tree and it was such a wonderful memory.  We thought we would continue this tradition, but after we found out that Costco has Noble Fir trees for a good price, we decided to do the easy way.  Instead of traveling 45 minutes into the mountains, we drove 10 minutes to Costco to pick out a cheaper and better tree.

We love Christmas!  Three years ago we started celebrating Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas.  Advent means “coming” and it is a way to celebrate the coming of Christ.  I love this tradition because it really helps savor the Christmas season.

Tonight we started our annual Advent reading and the book we selected is Bartholomew’s Passage:  A Family Story for Advent by Arnold Ytreeide.  This book is the sequel to our last year’s reading, Jotham’s Journey by the same author.  In addition to this book, we’ll be reading Russ Ramsey’s book, Behold the Lamb of God:  An Advent Narrative.  We are still anxiously waiting for this book’s arrival.

At the start of the reading, we lit our first purple candle.  There are 5 candles total: 4 purple and 1 white.  We light the first purple one on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and the second one the following Sunday, and so forth.  On Christmas day, you’ll have all four purple candles lit in addition to the one white one.  The kids love lighting and snuffing out the candle(s) and each child takes turn lighting every evening.

To make our tradition a bit more fun, we decided to give each child a new set of PJ’s (Thanks to Target’s Black Friday sale!)  They were really excited in receiving new jammies and with giggles and smiles they got changed into them.  After that, they settled down and got started with our Advent reading.  We look forward to each night just being with one another, reading a chapter from the books, and savor the joy of the season.

I love to celebrate my children’s birthdays.

Not because of gifts.

Or parties.

But because it gives me a chance to really rejoice in the unique and wonderful blessing that each child is.

Today was our youngest child’s turn, and the final birthday this year in our family (unless, of course, our next arrival, who is due on Jan 3, 2012, chooses to arrive a few days early).

Bethany “Bobo” Hope, born three years ago in a hospital shower stall, is a cute girl of relatively small dimensions.  She’s just now outgrowing 24mo outfits.  But her cheerful smile is big enough to light up a room.  This evening we celebrated her 3rd birthday.  Lois made her a felt princess crown to commemorate the occasion.  Below are some photos from the fun.

I couldn’t sleep last night for some reason and naturally it affected my morning.  I simply couldn’t get out of the bed, but fortunately for a wonderful husband and five lovely kids, they made me breakfast in bed.  After daddy set the kids to do some  school, he left for work.  The kids slowly, one by one, came to my room while I was still half comatose.  They had been playing a game and they explained that they now all have new names.  I was quite amused so I started calling them by their new names just for fun.  The boys are now known as Sharkie and Sparkie and the girls are Sarah, Clara, and Hope.  I have no idea where they got these names, but I have to admit that they’re quite creative.  I let them continue with their play while I still lie in bed.  This is one of those moments that makes me really appreciate homeschooling.  I don’t have to adhere to a schedule because life gets in the way.  We simply go with the flow and be flexible.  A little school in the morning, followed by lots of play, and because we’re flexible, we can make up later in the day or the following day.  It is indeed a blessing to be able to homeschool.  I’m also grateful for oodles of kids because they’re each other’s playmates and can keep themselves occupied without my constant attention.  That’s another wonderful blessing!

We opted this year to participate in two very different late October festivities: Reformation Day and Halloween.

Reformation Day commemorates the day that Martin Luther posted his 95 theses at the door of the church in Wittenburg in 1517.  He likely never imagined the immense impact that the relatively commonplace action would have on the whole of Christendom for centuries to come.  We took the opportunity to gather with a couple other families and give thanks for God’s use of Luther and others in that time to recover some key truths about salvation, the Bible, and God’s gracious gospel.  We enjoyed a driveway campfire with s’mores, campfire potatoes, hot dogs, hymn singing, and a brief reading about the key events leading up to and following Luther’s action in Wittenburg.

But the lure of candy was too much for our family (mostly the children) to resist, so we stopped by this afternoon at a local church’s “Harvest Festival” celebration to play some games and take in some loot.  The girls, unsurprisingly, opted to dress up as princesses.  The boys took a suggestion from Lois and were garbed in army uniforms purchased at a surplus store.

At the boys’ request and to their delight, I even picked up Army fatigues at the surplus store and donned a uniform to match them.  For the record, I’ve never served in the military… but I’m quite sure, based on looks I was getting, that a number of people (obviously, civilians) were pondering whether I was in costume or actually was military personnel.  This was even more so later in the evening when we went out to eat at a restaurant that had a “costumed kids eat free” deal, but I was one of only a couple adults in the packed restaurant in costume.  Several people were apparently staring and trying to figure out whether I was actually “for real.”  Thankfully, no one spoke up and thanked me for “my service” (that would’ve left me horrified and both parties embarrassed!).

Looking at the below photo, I’m not surprised at people’s confusion.  I’d have been confused myself (notwithstanding the glaring absence of any patches indicating rank, branch, etc.)!

We’re back from a fun-filled week in Hawaii.  We were blessed by the warm and loving hospitality of our friends stationed with the U.S. Pacific Fleet command in Honolulu and also benefited from their access to numerous beaches and facilities.

Here are a few photos to give you a flavor of our time there: