I Have ADO - ADVENT DEVOTIONAL OVERLOAD
Here's my confession. EVERY year I go through a cycle called Advent Devotional Overload (ADO). ADO begins innocently enough. I simply pull all the great resources I've gathered.....We usually do Jotham's Journey or Barthlomew's Passage every night (we've done this for years and years - I can remember it back in Great Falls - maybe Hardin). We also go through the chapel devotional - usually one that Mike's written. This is also nightly. We do the Jesse Tree ornaments and devotional - this is daily. We love the Adorenaments and do them daily. We have a family inductive Bible study on Christmas that we do - this is daily.....see the picture? Everyone feels massive guilt to welcome the baby Jesus.
This year the chapel hasn't handed out Advent devotionals - or I didn't get one if they did. I loaned out my *Let's Make a Jesse Tree* to Adrienne, a friend who was interested in it. This year I will simply put up all the Jesse tree emblems on the banner and we'll discuss them as we have time. The Adorenaments didn't get unpacked - the kids voted to put only photo ornaments on the tree and those must have been in an ornament box.
I've not decided about the Family Inductive Bible Study Guide...it was AWESOME and I may do it for myself. I'm not sure I'll have all the children attempt it this year. I will make the coloring sheets available.... You really should check out this study. Mike and I talked about printing it up and making it available for families at the chapel - but he's gone and that's as far as the idea went...maybe next year. ::snort::
When I pulled out Jotham and Barthlomew, Jamin asked if there wasn't another one. Yes - TABITHA. Then I discovered that it was out of print. Copies of these books are going for $70 each. Yowzer! It was mailed to me by a cyber-friend. Jamin was surprised that Tabitha is a GIRL and Arielle is thrilled. We are enjoying these readings. I wish I could find something like this for year round use.
All this to say, keeping it simple may be the most blessed route for us to take. We are doing a lap book on Christmas symbols. I want to make this FUN for the children again - Christmas School had become to school- like in years past. You see now why we HAD to take the month off of school? ::snort:: I really am enjoying reading Tabitha and working on our lap book. I'm not sold on the lap book I bought - where ARE THE INSTRUCTIONS???? I think I liked the Live and Learn better. LOL BUT we are happy making our own and we don't need instructions for it....just piles and piles of paper. So far....a few days into Advent we have no symptoms of ADO.

*SISTERS*

After our reading of "Tabitha's Travels" tonight (thanks again Debbie!), I set to baking a healthy chocolate cake. I sure hope the children like it - their anticipation is high. Arielle had been holding Stacia during Tabitha and told me she thought that Stacia needed another 5 minutes or so to sit before we moved her. I went to get the cake in the oven and came back to this "Kodiak" moment.

MY WHISPER MILL HAS DIED AGAIN!!!!

I'm not sure what to do. It just clogs up. The flour is packed in the chute thing....it seizes....

Charly called from San Antonio - she is willing to pick me up a new one....I could order one online...I hate this..... I just re-ordered my annual wheat order yesterday. There is a lady in town who is trying to get a 5000# order so that we get wholesale prices and only pay $5 a pallet from Wheat Montana. The grain is much cheaper this way - like $11 for a 50lb bag of wheat. I told her last week that my mill died and I couldn't get grain. Then I told her it was fixed...now I'm not sure what is up or down for that matter. I think I'll sleep on it.

TUESDAY'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Hmmm....must be something! ::snort::

Sent out a co-op newsletter.

Fielded phone calls.

Did a bit of school.

The pillar candle is not going to work for our Advent countdown. I want to burn it 20 - 30 min a day NOT 6 hours a day!!!!! ::snort:: Also - it's burning down the middle and not a nice total burn...if that makes any sense.

Took a nap.

Led a Bible Study. DID decide to have the Chapel Ladies tea here at the house instead of at the Fellowship Hall.

Cy finished his Christmas shopping and much of mine.

Bought milk on the way home from Bible Study.....

Decided to go with a 1/2 way party for tomorrow.....young children are in bed. Baking a chocolate cake that I will cut in 1/2 and decorate. I bought some doughnuts (lusted after but not allowed in our home these days....) they'll each get 1/2. I bought some paper plates and napkins which will be cut in 1/2. Send any ideas this way....We did talk about how this is the "1/2 way week" because we really don't have a DATE for Mike to return.....

ADVENT RESOURCE (and she keeps up far better than I will LOL)

My dear friend, Renee...the Catholic Religious Educator Coordinator at her post who loves to torment families with mulitples of Advent devotionals....::snort:: Just a bit of friendly teasing from the comment section....

Renee found this blog about celebrating Advent for Evangelicals. http://advent4evangelicals.blogspot.com/ It's awesome. If you're a Protestant who was not raised with the whole pagentry of Advent (as I am) you will finds lots of tips here. For instance CHEAP ways to make an Advent wreath, devotionals, ideas for celebrating AND a great idea to put your nativity IN THE FIREPLACE....I think I will move one to the fireplace....I like this idea a lot.

I've not searched the whole blog and there are sure to be things I don't agree with and that you may not agree with but it looks AWESOME.

THANKS RENEE!!!!

*T*H*R*E*E* MONTHS ARE GONE ~ THREE MONTHS REMAIN....I think we should have a 1/2 way party......maybe I'll do that this afternoon.....hmmm....These spur of the moment ideas is why we have trouble making much forward momentum!

MONDAY RECAP

The day began with several long distance calls. An exciting one was from my friend Julie, whose twin boys have responded to a work of grace in their lives and asked Jesus to be their savior. What an EXCITING way to begin celebrating ADVENT...the coming of Jesus into our daily lives.

Since couch school had been delayed so long, I bundled Nolan and Stacia up, and we headed for the base. We picked up more toys and ran an errand for Mike.

Back at home we did some couch school in the afternoon. We continue to enjoy TOG - but *I* am missing our typical Christmas School schedule. I really think it is best for us to continue. Yes, we can school year round, but Josiah is graduating in May and so school must reach some sort of conclusion for him on schedule. LOL We want to be able to enjoy guilt free time with Mike when he comes home...so we'll persevere. We may take off when the public school children do....I'll have to check and see when that is. I'll probably break with Arielle and Nolan and give the boys the option. They are fairly driven. Jamin asked me yesterday if I could find more school for him. Yikes.

I paid for six pages of Jamin's book to be critiqued by Christian Writer's Guild (Jerry Jenkins group). He worked so hard to get his sample below 1500 words. It was cheaper if it was below 5 pages (1500 words). He had 6 pages but our computer counter showed 1491 for a word count. They charged us twice the amount for 6 pages. I called them and she had it pulled up on her computer her count was 1890 words.....so we couldn't argue, since it was SIX pages on our computer. This could explain the comments he keeps getting from his writing mentor about word counts. I have no idea how or what to fix to get the word count to be accurate. LOL

Shop Natural (TCW) co-op was last night. A HUGE thank you to Heather, who came early and helped us sort. Things went fairly well. We had 3 of the wrong bags of chips - someone ordered black bean and we got "salt and cracked pepper" and we had an extra box of "organic" co-co puffs". I decided it was simpler to keep the items than mess with getting the credit. It took me THREE MONTHS to get the credit for a bag of wheat that we had to send back. ::snort:: Nolan and Zander were thrilled to try a new food - co-co puffs. Arielle said it looked like DOG FOOD - but that didn't deter them in the least. Krista loves all manner of chips and if no one wants to eat them we'll send them back with her to WA.

Stacia fell asleep in the sling for about an hour during co-op. The end result is that she was up most the night. I think her ear was hurting her....the stinker wanted me to STAND with her...not sit or sleep.....finally I simply set down and let her scream. Sunday night was great - we both went to bed at 7 p.m. and woke up at 7 a.m. I needed that. It beat last nights down at 4:30 a.m. and up at 6:00 a.m. I'm ready for teething and colds to be gone!!!! The other children all seem fine.

I picked up the sign up sheet for the Ladies Tea. Numbers are way down this year...there are only 8 signed up and two of them are Arielle and I. I'm thinking it would be far easier to have the tea here than at the chapel. I have the house decorated, I wouldn't have to transport decorations or china....I could set things out while the children played.....I only need to figure something out for Jamin, Jared, Nolan and Zander. Josiah would take them bowling, to the movie or Mr Gatti's, but he is working. We'll see. There has to be a good solution.

Jamin came in and asked me to go take a nap. It's not even 8:30 a.m. !!! I told him that if I lay down I won't be able to sleep anyway....my mind will be whirling about school and such. I promised to try to take a nap this afternoon. Goodness....am I getting to old to mother a big family? I seem to be taking lots of naps this month...and I'm certain I'm NOT pregnant. ::snort::

Winter Finery

My children all insist they are ALASKANS and have no need of coats in TEXAS....but let me tell you when it is 15* outside it doesn't matter to ME what state I'm living in. LOL Stacia, is a TEXAN (much to the chagrin of the boys who wanted her to be born an Alaskan) and so she needed some winter finery. Here she is.....

She loved this.

She immediately began to sing and dance.

Here she has the gloves and hats TOO and the clapping, twirling and singing commenced.
She ran to find her brothers. She danced, twirled and sang for them. Josiah told me last night at 11:30 p.m. that she was "so cute" in her coat this afternoon. Mike, beware! I think she is practicing to sweep her Daddy off his feet. You'll never KNOW what hit you!!!

ENTERTAINING STACIA

Stacia LOVES to sing. It's hilarious. If I'm leaving, or she is fussy, or I need to divert her attention, I begin to hum or sing and she INSTANTLY sings along. (She also loves to
dance to Cy's rap music.) Here, I was getting her ready for bed. She began to sing, grabbed the brush that someone had left on my bed, and KNEW it was a microphone. She hammed it up for a long time, long enough for Jared to run to the library, grab the camera, and take 6 or 7 photos.