Monday, November 30, 2009

Advent Hunt Calendar

Nope, we don't believe it's all about gifts...though you can read my thoughts on gifts at Christmas. ::snort::

We have seen families do Advent Calendars for years and simply couldn't get into it. One, we didn't want 9 calendars to open each day. Two, I didn't really want small toys or candy around all month. Those are tiny doors on the calendars. We WANTED an easy count down to Christ's birth. The "Advent Hunt Calendar" was born.

I bought this at Target last year.

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We love hunts and riddles. Mike and an assistant write up clues to put in each tiny box. I buy gifts at the $ store or the Y store....

Each night we have a Scavenger Hunt....(tonight's) AFTER our devotional.

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At the end of the hunt they find a small gift...tonight a Rubik's cube type of puzzle.

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I thought I should explain as new readers may wonder what in the world we're doing night after night. ::snort::

{For those who are wondering ~ Tonight's Clue: "It's just a mattress without these." It was hidden in my linen closet. If nothing else this will ensure I get the closets cleaned after the kids tear through them nightly. ::snort:: Great fun!}

For more Advent ideas - click here or the link at the top of the column.

ing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

The Wonderful Thing about Boxes....

Isn't that a handsome guy in that uniform?

Yeah, he IS my very own husband bringing a cart load of boxes to the Joy.

Six of the Eight boxes Deja sent have arrived. I bet I can pick up the other two tomorrow!!!! I'm very excited. Thank you so much....and Heather too...for letting us order some extras with the group. I can bake bread this week.

Let's see...what else did we do today? A couple of quick Skypes. School. Nice Skype with Mom and Dad. Piano Lessons. Arielle, Stacia and I went to the Y100 store to buy gifts for this month's Advent Calendar/Hunt. I'll have to post more about that in a bit.

I printed off some free curriculum to go with the BOZ DVD that was loaned to me last week. We'll give that a shot tomorrow in PKOC (OK that's NOT our name - we don't have a name...but if there's PYOC, PWOW, PMOC...P KOC sounds fun for the kids. ::snort::). I figured out which of the many games and crafts I wanted to attempt. I gathered supplies for those activities.

I wrote up Committee reports for the local PWOC board meeting. I'm currently the Titus 2 advisor and the Interim Children's Ministry Coordinator.

That's about it for the day. GOOD GRIEF, I FORGOT TO EAT! ::snort::

OH, Photobucket has MORE ads for Lord type games with scantily clad women on my account...I'm trying this to see if the things that frustrated me about blogger are still around. If not, I'm switching to Picassa if I don't have to have ads. Mike says $20 is a small price to pay. ::snort:: I'm worried Picassa will do the same things blogger does to me...strange spaces, dropped uploads...but I'm giving blogger a shot with this post....so we'll see if there are strange spaces. Looks o.k. now. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

First Sunday in Advent

I've debated writing one long post - or splitting it up into "Advent/religious" and daily life...then I remembered by belief that all of life is lived before the face of God....and so you'll get one post about our practically perfect first Sunday in Advent.

There was no R.E. this Sunday and so we got to sleep in a bit - carnal but real. ::snort:: We are BLESSED with a great R.E. program, but it is nice to occassionaly sleep in.

Worship, ah worship. I do love to worship. I have loved the songs the last few weeks at chapel and it's a joy to worship with fellow believers. I assisted in the children's church. God is on the move in my life. I don't really "do other's children". I just don't. I don't like disrespect. I like giving a 3 point sermon with a few real illustrations thrown in....and I've been TOLD by R.E. Coordinators NOT to volunteer for R.E. because my "gifting is adults". I've been secure in this. Earlier this fall, however, our PWOC needed an interim Children's Ministry Coordinator. They didn't NEED adult teachers. I believe it is a HUGE ministry to teach little ones...and so I volunteered...and have come to love it, though I set an end date of December due to the changing season of my ministry. Because I'm having such a good time, I went ahead and told our service children's coordinator to schedule me to help them out once a month. You just never know where God will take you....installation platform at a regional conference on Sunday, wiping snot and goobers from your hair on Tuesday. ::snort:: What WAS I saying? Oh, Sunday a.m. was great....I was with kids and loved the worship and fellowship.

After service we went to an Italian restaurant. The kids are not impressed with Japanese/Italian pizza, but we did know enough not to order squid on it. ::snort:: I also avoided the squid ink spaghetti. Mike was tempted by the spaghetti with white sauce, bacon and pumpkin - but resisted. I was proud and RELIEVED that the kids sat very quietly and meekly and ate....and we weren't louder than any of the others in the restaurant. Public outings are more subdued in Japan than they are in America. I am betting the Sumo tournaments would be the exception to this rule.

We drove to the Swan Park after lunch. Fun times.

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Look closely & you'll see Goeckers hanging out the top
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Arielle & Nolan race to ring the bell
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More swans
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Then I had a 2 hour conference call with my Asia Region PWOC team.
And..... :::drum roll:: it was time for our first Jesse Tree reading and our first Advent Scavenger Hunt. Mike and Jared made up 25 clues. Every Sunday in Advent we have a family gift. They had an extra clue and so we let the kids begin last night.
They hunted.....
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they found.
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I'll post clues daily at the end of the post as I know at least some of my family like to see if Mike is still keeping up. ::snort::

The gift this week is "10 Days in Asia". Arielle and Nolan had played it at the S's and enjoy it. They helped us learn. It's a bit more cerebral than some of us enjoy. I tend to like UNO...but I'll learn. ::snort:: Zander and Nolan were playing this afternoon.

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{clue - As you get drier, I get wetter. Thus they ran to the dryer...and finally to the upstairs bathroom where the game was hidden in the nicely folded towels. ::snort::}

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...