Learning more and more about God’s word has made such a difference in my life over the past few years.  The more I learn about who God is, the more I know that God has  a plan for my life. I know that he orchestrates things together for his purpose, and many many times, the sounds of that band sound a bit off key to our ears!  We started reading a child’s Bible together with the boys a couple of years back and each story had the phrase – But God had a Plan – at the turning point of each story.  It is important to me that the boys know who the God that I trust and love and follow is.  They will use their own free will in their 20’s and 30’s do do as they wish, but they will know – for sure – who My God Is.  For now, in their sweet little hearts, they love Jesus, and wish to do anything to follow him!  Praise God!  But – I don’t want it to be a blind faith – or a purely parental obedient faith – or a faith that will break when they face a hardship. I want them to know that God loved each person and died for them no matter what the did – for or against Him.

One way we do this is during the Holy-Days.  It drives me crazy that the entire evangelical church wants to celebrate Jesus’s  Birth Day on December 25.  My birthday is June 10th – it would be crazy if my friends threw a party in February because all the family was in town and it was better for them to acknowledge it on that day. Once in a while maybe, but intentionally???!!  Year after Year?  I have yet to hear from any evangelical pulpit that His Birthday isn’t in December, and that we can know through the Bible when it would be, and that the Jews know when it would be – even the Jews that do not claim him as their Christ know when he would have been born.  So why don’t we???? Anyways, I must step down from my soap box, this is about a Jesse Tree – not a Birthday –  . . . . You can look it up, there is alot of documentation for you to discover. 🙂

SO – Jesse Tree – One way that we celebrate is the Jesse Tree.  The Bible speaks of the Christ coming from the Root of Jesse.  So – we cut a branch (roots are dirty and not very pretty) and then decorate it throughout the month of December.  Each night that we are able, we talk about a prophecy of the Messiah, and then how Jesus fulfilled that prophecy.   The boys know that we are not counting down to His birth day, but rather that we are spending a month remembering that He came, and looking forward to the time that He will return. 

There are several web sites that have cute little crafts and ideas.  We have used a book by Douglas and Amy Hays – revhayes@aol.com – a guide to Advent and the Christmas in Family Worship.   We also use a cute little book called An Advent of Ideas, it doesn’t share an author, but says its from Christmas Sharing, Product Concept Inc.   One year we used the curriculum from Greenacre’s Church in Coos Bay, Oregon.  They had a little box to open each night with an object lesson and bible verse. 

This year we are being super spiritual, in that instead of an object lesson, we are passing out minifigs from LEGO each time we light the candle. 🙂  We are making crafts to decorate the branch each night, and then at the end handing out a lego head, or wig, or crossbow.  🙂  Its a joy to see how eager the boys are to line up for the bible story – – – – – – – –