November has come and gone, and has been full of joy. We finished the first semester of our homeschool group and moved into the Christmas season. We're enjoying all of the family time that accompanies this time of year!
General happenings
 |
| Playing while she waited to leave for church |
 |
| Zeke's Sunday school class putting together shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse |
 |
| A day at Classical Conversations |
 |
| Seflie with my big girl |
 |
| ...and a selfie with my boy |
 |
| Lily Faith playing in Adalynn's bed with her baby |
 |
| They love to pile on Daddy |
 |
| Ready for church |
 |
| I had the opportunity to help with the shoeboxes in Zeke's class |
 |
| The boxes were all packaged and ready to send to children in need |
 |
| Zeke and I had a date lunch at Chick-fil-a |
 |
| I got this picture in a text from Gregg while Zeke and I were on our date...haha! |
 |
| Zeke practicing his recorder at CC |
 |
| Adalynn practicing hers |
 |
| We learned the parts of the body and they created life-size diagrams! |
Thanksgiving
We headed to Johns Creek to have an early Thanksgiving with the Stargel side of the family. My parents were headed to Branson for Thanksgiving, and Gregg was working on the actual holiday. He wasn't able to come up with us, but we brought him back some delicious leftovers! When we got home, Gregg's brother, Jimmy, and his family came to stay with us for a couple of days!
 |
| While we were there, Zeke and I had the opportunity to visit with my friend Kristen and her family |
 |
| Zeke and Adalynn went with Wynna to drop off the shoeboxes their connect group made |
 |
| The day of our Thanksgiving celebration |
 |
| The Stargel/Hall cousins |
 |
| Wynna with her grands |
 |
| We were missing Gregg |
 |
| The kids in the hats Wynna and Granddaddy brought from NYC |
 |
| Adalynn lost her first tooth...she's not even 5 yet! |
 |
| Gregg's brother and his family came to stay for a couple of days right before Thanksgiving |
 |
| Jimmy with Lily Faith |
 |
| Hall cousins (missing Krissy's husband, Garrett, and Nick and his wife, Tracy) |
 |
| These sweet boys get along great! |
 |
| Brothers |
 |
| Thankful for Maria |
 |
| At lunch with the family (I wish I knew what they were talking about!) |
Preparing for Christmas
We started decorating for Christmas on Thanksgiving. This year, I wanted to try to be even more intentional about what fills our days. There are a lot of Christmas traditions that are good, but not necessarily good for us. I wanted us to keep our focus on Jesus and WHY it is so important that He came into the world. I wanted to seek God about what activities we should and should not do.
For the past several years, our family has chosen to donate to a cause in lieu of exchanging gifts among the adults. Gregg and I have prayed about it each year to determine where God wanted us to give. This year, we included Zeke as we prayed about it. He felt passionately about giving emergency food and water to people in need through Compassion International. The kids were also able to be a part of giving to a child through an Angel Tree.
Next, God led us to something called the Giving Manger. We watched a movie called The Last Straw in which the family built a manger for baby Jesus. They drew names each week in December and did secret acts of kindness for that person. Each time they did something for a family member, they'd put a piece of straw in the manger. By Christmas, baby Jesus had a soft manger in which to lay and the family had served one another out of love. We were going to try to build a manger and do this, but came across a little manger set at a local store in Americus. It came with straw and a little baby Jesus. We drew names and are doing secret acts of kindness for one another. It has been such a blessing.
 |
| This is our Giving Manger (baby Jesus actually doesn't go in it until Christmas!) |
For years, I've been attempting to start a Jesse Tree. It has never really been quite right, but this year, I'm pleased with how we are doing it. We found a little tree last year at Walmart and I found a lady on Etsy who makes Jesse Tree ornaments. There is one ornament for each day beginning with creation moving to Jesus' death and resurrection. It continually points us to Christ and His sacrifice. There are verses that we read together and discuss each day before we hang each ornament.
 |
| Some of the Jesse Tree ornaments |
 |
| Adalynn putting an ornament on the Jesse Tree |
 |
| In front of the Jesse Tree |
The final tradition that we are focusing on this year is the book, Jotham's Journey. It's an advent storybook. There are 4 books in the series, but you only read one book each year. It is set up so that you read one chapter every night leading up to Christmas. There are a few questions at the end of each chapter for discussion. It is beautifully written and I can see us enjoying these for many years to come!
Now, a few more pictures...
 |
| The night we set up the tree |
 |
| I just love how she loves her baby dolls |
 |
| Gregg found this picture on his phone and it made us laugh, so I had to share! |
 |
| I finally found a Nativity scene for our yard that matches what I'd imagined in my head! |
 |
| The kids before we went to the "Christmas Around the World" celebration with our CC group |
 |
| After we shared about Denmark and listened to the other presentations, we all ate foods from the different nations |
 |
| I captured this one evening. This is real life...time together as a family |
 |
| Before church |
 |
| Our makeshift mantle with the stockings my mom made for all of us! |
 |
| The girls before the Christmas program at church |
 |
The kids eating snacks after the Christmas program at church
|
Well, that about covers the month of November (and a little of December.) We are so thankful for the freedom to worship our savior and spend time with the ones we love. Merry Christmas to you all!!!
