New Advent Helps

Please note the All Things Advent index below the tabs above. Eventually, I may create an Advent Page.

Here are a few of the things I've found this year. I'd love to hear what you've found. 

Advent Bible Study - from Good Morning Girls. This is free. It's meant to be done with your family, but you could do it alone. There are Scripture readings, S.O.A.P. pages, suggested family activities. It begins 26 Nov and ends 21 Dec with a Christmas Morning devo included.

Jesse Tree Advent Family Devotional - Ann Voskamp. This is the same package she offered last year. Also Free. These 25 daily readings trace prophecies pointing to the advent of Jesus, the Messiah. You will start in the Genesis and work through the Bible. There are readings, family devos (though you may want to summarize if your family is young), and a great set of colored ornaments to hang on your very own Jesse Tree.  In our family we tend to choose ONE devotional to do and then talk about these ornaments and hang them.....there were years we suffered from Advent Devotional Overload.....simplify. ::grin::  This is written to be used from 29 Nov to 25 Dec - but you can summarize passages and double up as needed if you want to follow the church's liturgical calendar with Advent beginning on 2 Dec this year.

Everyday Emmanuel - from the Buck Denver/What's in the Bible Folks. The same creator as Veggie Tales. We love the series.....this year they've produced a booklet you can purchase for $9.99. There are also combo deals where you can get this and the video below for $15.  This book has readings, activities, devotionals....but it takes a much more relaxed pace....it may take 3 days a week instead of 7.  Very doable for a busy family.

Why Do We Call it Christmas - We discovered this $9.99 DVD last year. It's 60 min long and covers lots of traditions and Scriptures about Christmas.

12 Questions of Christmas - links to these are included in Everyday Emmanuel, but you can find them on youtube.  Each quick clip has Clive and Ian (brothers from What's in the Bible series) covering one commonly asked question about Christmas. I'm downloading these to use in our PCOC programs at chapel. They would also be quick and fun to use at home for family circle time.

Family Inductive Bible Study  - FREE. We used this for years and it is great for older kids. There ARE coloring sheets for younger kids. Some years I've had the older kids do the reading assignments on their own and then the younger kids color the pages (making an Advent coloring book) while we all discuss the passages in our family circle. I find this to be a lot of work and some years it has been discouraging as we all fell behind...but it is a GREAT free study if you want to do it on your own, with a ladies study group, or in your family.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

It's Been Far Too Long!

I offer this post as proof positive I am deliberately making much more time this year for relationships, self-care and playing. 

I did something today which I've not done in decades!  I think the last time I went shopping with girl friends (no kids and/or husbands) was with Beth Bowers and Julie Orrin before Krista was born.  At 0955 the doorbell rang and Marvie and Mandy whisked me away to go SHOPPING AT THE MALL!  Just three girl friends shopping....no kids, no errands, just fun.   Quite truthfully, through the years friends have gone shopping, done coffee, attended plays and not invited me. They've known how busy I am; they know I spend rare free moments with family...but this year...these two blessed me. First they invited me to go to Korea, spend 12 hours shopping and fly home. I was recovering from the flu and didn't pull it together.... but today....

We hit the mall! 

Marvie, Myself & Mandy

There is a story to this picture. It was so FUN to see a Christmas tree as we walked in the mall (see the doors in the background?) that we stopped and asked the gal there too please take our picture. She motioned for us to move on. Hmmm? We moved ahead and found THIS....guess most don't take their photos at the back of the tree! ::snort:: 

When we moved here I had one weight loss goal: I wanted to lose enough weight to be able to buy cute clothes in the Japanese stores. Marvie and Mandy encouraged me to try on some shirts and sweaters which were 30% off and guess what???? They fit...In fact I even bought some Japanese Medium.  Exciting. A whole new world has opened to me. I can't wait to go explore the rest of the mall. ::wink:: I did find a couple of shirts and sweaters. The irony is that both yesterday and today Michael has mentioned the shirts I was wearing were getting too big...but I've given away 8 boxes of clothes and I didn't want to give away any more...but now....I can replace them with clothes other than BX selections. LOL 

Yes - it is an escalator!

See that huge pile of sweaters? We found an amazing deal! Sweaters which usually sell for Y5498 and Y2498 were on sale for only Y1000 (about $13).  We spent quite a bit of time deciding which ones we wanted - there were so MANY to choose from and so many women to gift. Imagine our shock to discover they were not Y1000 - they were Y1000 OFF.  Ah, the joys of shopping when you can't really read the prices. ::snort:: 

I also discovered the MENS section had more colorful options than the women's section. There were mostly gray and brown shades in the women's department but the men had pink, PWOC turquoise, hunter green, red....I have my eye on a few cardigans... 

We got some Christmas shopping done. I was happy to find cute selections for all the female Gherkins and Shelby. I need to find something similar for the male Gherkins...but again they were 3x the cost of the female options. I'll keep looking. 

Why yes, it IS the same photo - but I wanted closer face photos! 

This was such a fun day! I was thankful Marvie invited me and Michael told me to go.  He put up outside Christmas decorations and played with the kids. 

Click for info 

The new Tim Hawkins DVD released today. I've got it downloaded, the kids are eating leftovers, Michael is putting the finishing touches on tomorrow's sermon and then we'll cuddle up and laugh ourselves silly with Tim.

This has been a very good season for us. I'm enjoying the fruit of hard choices made this fall in many ares of our lives.  In closing....

Many Christmas to you and yours! ::grin:: 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Breakfast

In the time of Facebook every moment of the day seems monumental and worthy of sharing. Do you care what I had for breakfast? Most likely not...but it made me smile. I thought about it....

Then I grabbed one of my tiny Japanese plates and had Sweet Potato Casserole...veggies are a very Japanese style breakfast...though I think the topping makes is more of an American style treat. 

Don't judge me. ::snort:: 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Leftovers and Games 2012

The above was a result of a really good idea I heard at MOPS. Invite families to come over and bring leftovers, play games...great fun....the house is already clean from company on Thanksgiving day. We planned to do this. I made an invite. I forgot to email the invite or give it out.  (Michael helpfully points out this happens more often when I'm taking the yellow pill! I'm also COLD all the time when I take the yellow pill.) In any event, I forgot. This frustrated me as this is our last Thanksgiving here and it would have been so fun.....

BUT I did invite the R family and they were happy to come over. We had a blast. VERY low key. I told them they know they are like family when we invite them over for leftovers and eat off  paper plates...and THEN I fed them a vegan Deep Dish Cookie Pie. 

The kids played flashlight tag with the neighborhood kids until we called them in. 

We ate. We visited. We signed the table cloth. Arielle will embroider the signatures (years are color coded). We bring this out every Thanksgiving and our only regret is that we didn't do several for various holidays...We decided to have the J family sign yesterday and the R family tonight because it's still Thanksgiving 2012 in our book. 

 We had a lot of fun looking at signatures from years' past...and this year...Zander signed his name in a new way - with a FLOURISH - as "Alex" and not Zander.

Nice and big Alex....Ah Lynn from Anchorage

Nolan seems to have taken pleasure in a complicated signature -
Tim from Anchorage, Debbie from San Angelo, Josiah grown up

We decided to play pictionary tonight. We divided into Gender Segregated teams and we hoped we could pull it out as it isn't a brainy game like trivia or scrabble. Michael and Jim have the distinct advantage in those sorts of games. The Awesomeness took on the Bearded Dragons....I'll leave you to decide which team was which. ::snort::

Stacia started us out drawing a crab - point 1 

Getting intense - even Yuuki is trying to help! ::snort:: 

Illegal blocking? I think not - loving caress me thinks.

Oh the gloating! 

And then we won! 

We had a blast with Jim, Marvie, Alex and Ashley.  We  wonder if we can start a "games" small group. ::snort::

And that Garbanzo Bean Deep Dish Pie.....the adults were skeptical but a picture is worth a thousand words...I'll be making this again - I wouldn't call it healthy but it is vegan and it is good!

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Deep Dish Cookie Pie (Vegan)

Totally vegan and really, really good (unless topped with ice cream). I made this tonight as I needed one more dessert for our "leftover" night. 

You won't taste the beans - even if you don't dress it up for a photo! 

Ingredients
2 cans of Garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (500g)
1 C of Quick Oats
1/4 C unsweetened Applesauce
3 T coconut oil (oil of choice)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C Rapadura (or brown sugar or dates)
1 C chocolate chips (or more) 

Directions
Blend all but chips in a food processor - very well - you do not want chunks of beans in your cookie!

Mix in chips and pour into a well-greased 10 in spring form pan (or 9 in cake pan?).

Cook at 350* for 35-40 min. Let stand 10 min before cutting.

Note: 200 cal per slice instead of 700 on the original. You can make this sugar free with dates - check this out. 

Lickable dough - no eggs

Note - there is now a sugar-free version of this that is as yummy as this version.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

No Bake White Chocolate Cheesecake (food.com)

Another really easy, yummy dessert offering...I licked the beater but didn't have a slice. 

INGREDIENTS
1 9 in Crumb Pie Crust (any flavor)
1 C White Chocolate Chips
2 8 oz pkg of Cream Cheese
1 8 oz carton of Cool Whip

Strawberries, cherries etc to top. 

DIRECTIONS
Melt chips and stir until smooth.

Stir in cream cheese until smooth (I use my Bosch mixer).

Fold in Cool Whip.

Pour into crust.

Cover and refrigerate - overnight is best - until set.

Top with berries as you would a shortcake.

Note: I've been told you can whip coconut milk and use it in place of cool whip. I know it would work for a topping - not sure how it would work IN a pie like this.....still not sure what to do about the cream cheese.  This is not vegan. ::grin:: I also feel compelled to say this is not a cheesecake. For authentic cheesecake recipes click the recipe tab and scroll through sweets. LOL 

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Peanut Butter Pie (Food.com)

This is NOT vegan and I really have no clue how to adapt it while living over here where cream cheese and cool whip substitutes are not available...but it went quickly. LOL 

INGREDIENTS
1 Graham Cracker Crust (I make one with Oreos/Newman O's)
1 8 oz pkg of softened Cream Cheese
1 8 oz can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 C Peanut Butter
1 C Cool Whip

DIRECTIONS
Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in milk and continue beating until smooth. Add in Peanut Butter, you know the routine...beat until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour in crust for at least 2 hours.   Cover with more cool whip and chocolate shavings if you like.

Originally from food.com.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...