Day 19 - Elfina's Advent Adventure

Today is a helpful Elf day.... today is all about helping out the people you love.... so why not start with Mom and Dad.... Ella's job today (with the "help" of Elfina) is to do three jobs around the house to be helpful.... she was also encouraged to help her Mim today but she slept in so she didn't get to find the Elf before going to Mim's house this morning.

Day #19

Today your job is to be a helper elf

Just like me, but really yourself

I need you to join me to do three jobs today

The jobs are your choice, but your mom and dad have a say

Also it would be nice if you help Mim as well

She loves you and your help would be swell

Verse of the Day: Matthew 19:19 

Though this day didn't go exactly as planned.... Ella was helpful and did so some things to help around the house... and she even helped our neighbor put salt on his driveway.  I also didn't get any pictures.  

Day 18 - Elfina's Advent Adventure

Today's Advent Adventure involved singing at a fundraising Coffee House.  Though it didn't go exactly as I would have planned.... it was pure Ella fashion.... we didn't get to have Elfina on the stage but she enjoyed the show.

Day #18

Let’s take the stage, and sing a song

Maybe we can even ask Mommy to sing along

Please don’t forget to take me tomorrow night

I want to meet your friends and I’ll be a sight

They won’t forget me, but better yet

We hope they remember Jesus who you have met

In your heart, he lives

So tonight let’s sing about the love He gives

Verse of the Day: Psalm 100

Ella and her friend Kaylee

Day 10 & 11 - Elfina's Advent Adventure

These two days were spent in DuBois Pa.  We spent some time at a hotel (thanks to Mandy!) And enjoyed meeting new family as well as time celebrated Christmas with some family members.  Ella had a sleepover at Nana's house and enjoyed Cousin day with Easton.  I didn't get lots of pictures, but here is an Elf picture of the set up - they enjoyed lots of fun activities together. 

Day #10

It’s Cousin Day – Let’s have some fun

We will laugh and sing and even run

Around the house, we’ll make some noise

We eat, hide out and play with toys

I have a few things to add to the joy

So open me up, and together enjoy!

Verse of the Day: Ecclesiastes 4:9

Day 11 - thankfully - the weather did work out as it was predicted because I had to plan everything ahead of time for the whole weekend... and it snowed as planned and Ella loved it!  

Day #11

Good morning Sunshine, Go and look to the sky

Will it be snowing, can you see it with your eyes?

If it is snowing I think you should go out

And throw a few snowballs, and give a big shout

If angels are possible, I would make one I would

Because playing in the snow is something you should

Do when it’s winter, it doesn’t snow much

So enjoy it and remember the meaning is such

Jesus died to help us to know

He washes our sins as white as snow

Verse of the Day: Isaiah 1:18

This was also a great opportunity to talk about the fact that Jesus washes our sins are white as snow!  What a great promise!  

Making Snowmen as we drive home.

Elfina's snow angel 

Snowball fight! 

Elfina's Advent Adventures

For a few years now I have been contemplating the whole Elf on the Shelf craze.  I look on pinterest and see lists of ideas of how to make your elf find itself in  great predicaments.  I even enjoy taking a few minutes to see what my friends have done with their elves on my facebook feed.  I love the creativity and the adventure of the elves.... I am not sure I love the total concept behind the elves. Now before I continue on - I will admit I haven't read the book, and I don't know the exact story behind what the elves do but if I understand the bits and pieces that I have heard it involves reporting to Santa on the behavior of the children... so if the kids are good - then they will tell Santa to bring gifts.  

Just like the whole concept of Santa - some are all about Santa, some are against Santa and some fall somewhere in-between.... my goal is not to get into a deep theological discussion on Elves and Santa and all those other made up characters that come around on different holidays throughout the year.  To be honest I love holidays and the fun fictional characters that come along... but for me... it is important to make sure that my child understands that they are a fun part of the holiday...a fairy tale feature that allows us to pretend and be creative... while still not loosing sight of the real meaning of the holiday.  And lastly it is a priority for me to be honest with my child... I don't want to tell her something is real and then later tell her it is not real.... do we have conversations about Santa - yes! But I try my best to never talk about him as a real person that watches to see if you are good.... That is my personal conviction!  Not one that I expect others to fall in line with.

More than anything I want my child to know that she is getting gifts because God is good to us!  And he is gracious!  Not because she has earned it, because if I am honest - I haven't earned any of the good gifts that God has blessed me with - it is God's grace and goodness that he lavishes his love upon us.  That to me is what I want to be promoting to my child. In the same way I want her to be a giving person, knowing that we give not because people deserve gifts but because whatever we do for others, we do unto the Lord.  I want my child to be giving.

So with that being said - I wanted to come up with a way to stay true to my convictions while also enjoying the fun and creativity of the Christmas elves.  So after doing some research I found some information about a few alternatives such as the Kindness Elves and one I learned about just tonight which was the Shepherd Adventure and Wondering Wisemen.

So I decided to marry two ideas into a fun new tradition called Elfina's advent adventures.... so as in years past we have turned over a Christmas tree to find out what we would be doing that day, now this year instead of having the adventures on the paper trees lined up on the wall I am going to have Elphina doing something fun as a clue to what we will be doing as our advent adventure for that day.

I will be posting daily through Christmas about Elfina's adventures.... I hope you will follow along with us and share your advent activities or your favorite Elf activities and maybe I can use your ideas to help create an awesome Advent Adventure for Ella and her new friend Elfina.

Advent Adventures - Toddler Edition #8 & #9

Advent Adventure #8 - Sing Christmas Carols - Which we did at Church on Sunday and then Adventure #9 - Making Apple Dumplings - Tonight our 2nd Annual Apple Dumpling making get together - Hanna Alderfer is attending the Vo-tech for Culinary Arts and she loves to bake so last year we got together and made Apple Dumplings and we had a blast so this year was our 2nd time and we are a perfect pair.  We, along with Ella's help, were able to make 38 apple dumplings in less than 4 hours (including bake time which was 40 minutes).  They look so yummy!  While we were baking we also had a fun time singing Christmas carols together which was yesterday's advent adventure.  Just imagine the fun we had as we had a toddler, a girl who is deaf, and myself singing together - it was a joyful noise to the Lord for sure!  My heart just melted as we sang!  Tonight was nothing short of a blessing to all three of us! 

Advent Adventures - Toddler Edition #6 - #7

Today is both day 6 and 7 - since both were completed by a fun morning at the Susquehanna Valley Bible church. We made lots is fun things, talked to Santa, and had a great breakfast. Day 6 was a Christmas tree craft (bonus because this one was edible) and day 7 was visit with Santa 

Advent Adventures - Toddler Edition #3 - Cookie Making

You can't have Christmas without cookies, right - well I guess you could but it wouldn't be quite so yummy!  This year our mom's group at church is doing a cookie dough exchange so I thought it would be fun to get my little baker in on the action.  We had a great time and only made a small mess!  Ella's biggest stumbling block - the M&Ms - she kept taking breaks to eat more - good thing I only gave her a few in a small measuring cup (yes I have turned into my mother - she would always give herself and sometimes us some chocolate chips in a small measuring cup).  Anyway I hope you enjoy our pictures and I hope the other mom's enjoy our cookies! 

Advent Adventures Toddler Edition #2

Today I am posting about both Day 1 and Day 2 of our adventure since we ended up doing both today because of napping and church yesterday.  For Day 1 - we were to set up our Nativity.  First we set up Ella's Little People set - it was fun to hear her say Baby Jesus - she was however a little frustrated when she pushed on the angel and realized that ours does not play music like Mim's (Grandma Snyder) does.  It is also pretty amazing that she would remember that from last year since she hasn't gotten hers out yet.  After we set up hers, we set up my Willow Tree one and had a talk about not touching it unless Mommy or Daddy is there... I actually think she will do well, Moses (the cat) is actually the one that I am more worried about.
.

Day 2 - Mommy Daughter Date - Today we had the great blessing of visiting one of my best friends and having a facial party.... it was fun to see many great friends and all the little girls running around we had 7 ladies and 6 little girls ages 2 months to 4 years.  What a joy as moms to have that time to fellowship and to get a little pampering with our little ones.  Ella loves lotion and make-up... I wonder sometimes how I ended up with such a girlie girl but I wouldn't trade her for the world.  Mommy daughter days are the best!

Advent Awesomeness #11 – Saturday

What did you do for your random act of kindness? I wish you could catch on film the looks on people's faces when you surprise them with kindness. It is actually kind of sad that kindness is a surprise and not expected. Today you will have another opportunity to surprise a stranger through giving!

Day #11 – Season of Giving – Sticking with the same theme of yesterday and knowing that many of you will be shopping today, buy a gift for Angel Tree Ministries, or Toys for Tots or some organization that collects needed items for Children in need. In Luke – it says that those who are given much, much is expected… if we are honest – we have all been given much! So we are expected to do the same for others. Who will you give to today?

Advent Awesomeness #10 – Friday

So what did you do for your Crazy Thursday? Well, my thursday was not quite as crazy as I would have hoped as I was stuck on the couch most of the day with the sinus yuck.... I did get to pull out the crazy socks for my appearance at play practice! Now onto todays Advent Awesomeness!

Day #10 - Give to a stranger – I love that God tells us to give in secret – I think he does that so we don’t get swellen heads thinking how great we are. I think sometimes we give because we want recognition or we want to be thanked by someone. Today I am going to challenge you to give – expecting nothing in return. How can you guarantee not being thanked – well if you don’t know the person you are giving to, they surely will have trouble finding you to thank! Pay for the person behind you in line at the drive through. If you are in a city with Tolls – pay the next person’s toll. If you are big spender pay someone else’s bill at the restaurant. Be creative! The sky is the limit! You may never know how much of a difference that will make for that person.

Advent Awesomeness #8 - Wednesday

Did you know that 8 is my favorite number – that really has nothing to do with Advent but it does have something to do with my advent blog for today! But before we get to the topic of today - I want to say what a blessing the past two days have been. I so enjoyed loving on my friends and "my kids" I have gotten many notes in return which has made my advent adventure all the more exciting and meaningful! God created us for relationships and in that area I am so blessed!

Day #8 – Favorite things – “Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens, snowflakes and sleighbells and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things!” I love that song because it is all about favorites. What are your favorite things? Have you ever thought about making a list, if not today is your lucky day.

Start with ten, then keep going, maybe you can get to 25, or if you are really ambitious or bored you can come up with a list of 100 of your favorite things. Why is this important – I think we sometimes loose sight of the positive little things in our lives. God has blessed each of us with so much. Put the list on your nightstand or on your refridgerator as a reminder of the things that you are thankful for. And also make sure you take time today to thank God for each and everyone of those "little" things that make a big difference in our lifes....

Here are a few of my favorite things......

Tiger Lilies

Raspberry Ice Tea

Being a Red Shirt at Group Workcamps

Operation Christmas Child

Boo and Tucker

Sunrises in Nova Scotia (or anywhere for that matter)

The Fall Season

Advent Awesomeness #7 Tuesday

Yesterday's activity brought back such great memories to look back at how God has used different friends in my life to mold and shape me into the person that I am today. My hope is that I can be that kind of friend to others.

Day #7 – Celebrating Kids/Students– If you have children today is the day to celebrate them! Take time today to do something special for your children. Maybe a note in their lunchbox. Maybe a special dinner. Or a night out with your kids. Let them know today how important they are in your life! One of the things that we have done in years past over our thanksgiving mission trip is to have the parents write a letter of thanksgiving to their children – letting them know why they are thankful for them.

Since I do not have kids of my own – today I am going to write a note to several students of mine from the past that I am so ever grateful for. And the funny part is – some of the students that were the hardest to love have become some of my favorites to this day. Tough love is hard at times, but the end result is so rewarding!

If you don't have any children, find a young person in your church or community that has stood out to you, and drop them a note of encouragement - who knows what a difference your words will make in the life of a young person.

"Remember that the youth are not the church of tomorrow, they are the church of today!"

Below you will see just a few of the many kids that I have been blessed to work with that I believe will make a mark on our world! There are so many more than these pictured but these are just a few of the girls that I have been blessed to work with! Love you girls! And of course I love my guys too! The list of students would be too great to number, and I am sure I would forget a name, but if I have had the joy of working with you - please know that you are loved, prayed for - and remember - "to those who have been given much, much is expected!" To my my kids - be leaders! Let your life point to Christ! I know you will accomplish great things as I know you already have! Love you and miss you all!!!

Advent Awesomeness #6 Monday

It’s a new week! For some of you that is a reason in and of itself to celebrate. Part of the season of Advent is about the anticipation of Jesus’ return. Are you anticipating how great it will be when Christ returns and renews and makes all things new!

In the first picture - Kristin, Jill (my sister), me, Christie, and Jeanne

The next picture, Bonnie, Lori and I

The third picture - Christianna, Jeanne, Abby(one of my students), and Christie.

Day #6 – A Focus on Friendship – I strongly believe that God did not intend for us to try to do life alone. In fact there are countless scriptures in the Old and New Testament that refer to the need for Good Friends. Who are your good friends? You know the friends that when life seems to fall apart they stick by your side. The kind of friends that just show up to help clean your house when you are sick, because they know you are too stubborn to call. The kind of friends that will sacrifice their time and their finances to help you out.

Today – publicly affirm your friends! Whether it would be through a blog, a facebook post, a phone call, or even a letter if you have no other way to publically affirm them!

I would like to affirm several people that are “friends who stick closer than a brother” – these are the girlfriends that have walked through good times and bad with me and still like me (or at least pretend to J) I have countless friends – but these are a few that stand out.

Kristin W. – Our bike rides, walks, countless talks – you are to this day one of my best friends – though the miles separate us – and life steals our time to talk – you will always remain one of my best friends – I miss you greatly and pray for you often! Every time we talk it seems as though time has stood still.

Christie H. – College would not have been the same without you. You inspire me! Your love for adopting children is a pure reflection of God’s love. Thank you for all the great memories in college and as we continue to walk through adulthood. I hope we can get together soon! You are loved and missed.

Jeanne G. – God’s timing is so perfect and boy did he know that I needed a friend to cry with, to laugh with, and to do life with. You walked through one of my biggest challenges with me with unconditional love and care! I am forever grateful for your love and friendship.

Jacki R.– Seriously – who drives 8 hours for an afternoon visit. Who continues to make calls just to check in on me even when I couldn’t bring myself to answer the phone. You have cried for me and with me. And to this day I still have my comfort blanket and it goes with me to every camp. You have loved me with an everlasting love – thank you!!

Jess J. – It was one of my saddest days in Lewisburg when you left. It felt as though my family was moving. You always made a place for me in your home. You never made me feel like a third wheel. You stretched my eating habits, and you help me learn how many different ways you can use apples from the tree in your backyard. Your friendship is invaluable! Miss you guys! Including Goose!!!!

Meg M. - Since Meg and I both suffer from the disease MS - we were set up by members of our church to get to know each other - in both of our stubbornness, we reluctantly agreed and an amazing yet very beneficial friendship began. It was so nice to talk to someone who really understand and wasn't just trying to be nice. Though I pray and wish for healing for both of our bodies, I am so grateful that I have someone who walks through this with me!

God continues to bless me with great friends here in Richfield as well.

Jess W. – as soon as I move to Richfield – you move away! I will miss doing ministry with you. I appreciate your honesty and transperancy and your encouraging words. Can we do lunch sometime soon.

Lori M. – so glad to be part of your wedding in a flash! That was one of the craziest most fun weeks ever! I am so glad I only had to keep it a secret for a week., much longer and I would have had a really hard time.

Christianna M. - As a member of the Ninevite Wife's club - we both can relate to what it is like to go to a totally unfamiliar place to begin a new life with our husbands. It has been great to have another kindred spirit who understands what I am going through - which brings me to another shout out to Deborah P. - the other member of our fun club!

Bonnie, Brenda, and Amber - a special shout out to you fine ladies - I so miss our Bible study time together, I cherish your friendship - hope we can hang out soon!!!

These are just a few of the many friends that have impacted my life! Please know that whether you are listed above or not – I am blessed and today I celebrate you!!!!

Advent Awesomeness #1

As I was sitting and thinking about my blog for today - I was thinking how can I steal a great idea from my husband without copying him...... so this is what I came up with (oh are you wondering his idea - if so then you should check out his blog everyday for the month of December, just click here www.joelsnyder.net) Advent Awesomeness! For each of the 25 days of Advent I am going to blog about an idea to help you celebrate Christ, your faith, and your friendships. So sign up to follow me so you can be sure not to miss one day! Also feel free to pass this along to your friends. I know that you will be encouraged, as well as others.

Before you get started with day one - take some time before the end of the evening to find out the full meaning of Advent.... just to get you started it is a celebration of Jesus Birth and the anticipation of his return.

Day One - Through out the next twenty five days I challenge you to read your bible daily. Maybe you want to focus on a specific book of the Bible, maybe you want to focus soley on the Christmas story which is located in Matthew 1 & 2, Luke 1 & 2, you could even read a book of the bible that has 24 or 25 chapters Luke, Joshua, 2 Samuel, or one that actually has 25 chapters is 2 Kings.