Advent Goodness

What a busy time of year! I want to start by writing about something fun that I did last night. Our church has a partnership with a public school. Odd sounding, isn't it? This is an urban school where over 80% of the students are at or below the poverty level. Mosaic believes in serving the community in Jesus' name with no strings attached. So last night, I went to a craft fair at a K-8 public school that was planned, funded, and staffed entirely by a church. I served free cups of hot cocoa for two hours to a diverse group of students and parents. It was SO MUCH FUN! It reminded me of what I loved about being a public educator. The people! Watching these folks come in from the bitter cold and enjoy themselves as a community was simply a huge blessing. The kids were able to make free, quality gifts for the adults in their lives while the same adults enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and tasty seasonal goodies. I look forward to the next event at the school and hope to take the entire family eventually.

In Bangsund-Land, we have enjoyed the beginning of Advent in so many ways. I began pulling out decorations the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Luke looked at me in surprise and said, "Is it Christmas?" I told him it was indeed Christmas time. His next question was, "Where is our tree?" We found our Christmas tree at a local u-cut tree farm the next day. The boys enjoyed the free mini candy canes and the big machine that wraps the trees. I enjoyed the $13.50 price. :-) The tree is precious and sweet standing in our living room. We also put up the Christmas train for the first time this year. I received this battery powered train as a gift my senior year in high school with much delight, but this train had not known love until it met Luke and Paul. They adore it. Paul is still a bit young, but Luke does an awesome job of realigning the wheels and getting it back on the track when needed. It's amazing to me the things he can do without help now. Time. It flies.

Looking toward Christmas morning, we are excited about focusing our celebration on the person and birth of Jesus Christ. There will be birthday cake and singing. Presents will be given. Just this morning during school time I was telling Luke the BSF story for the week from John 7. (We had to miss BSF today because Paul had a fever...he's doing better now.) Anyway, in John 7, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for a Feast and people everywhere are talking about Him. Some believe He is the Messiah. Others do not. There is LOTS of controversy. (Not unlike today, eh?) I shared with Luke that when people hear about the Lord Jesus, some believe He is the Christ and some do not. He processed this and said, "I know that Jesus is the Christ." I actually had to take a moment to appreciate childlike faith. Unable to say anything in reply, I silently thanked God for His Word and how clear these matters can be if we allow faith to blossom. That is what we will be celebrating this year. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, born in Bethlehem to save and redeem on Calvary.

Some pics of the peeps:

Luke checks out the tree and approves.

Paul supervises the cutting.