December 8th - Never Alone

God had a plan for Joseph. He sank to the pits, but God had a plan to bring him up to the heights.

"And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you." (Genesis 45:5 NIV)

We made a dreamcatcher because Joseph was a dreamer, but also because the belief about dreamcatchers is that they protect, just as God protected him. We watched the film of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat - starring Donny Osmond! - and I was touched by the line in one of the songs: "Children of Israel are never alone." That was the message I wanted us to take away from the story of Joseph.

December 7th - God Watches Over Us

Genesis 28:10-22

Today we read about Jacob's dream at Bethel. God's promise to Jacob, to be with him wherever he goes, is for us too. What a comfort.

I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go... (Genesis 28:15)

  

We love this angel! It's going on the top of our tree. 

Do you feel that God is watching over you always?

December 6th - God Provides

Genesis 22:1-19

This was a great craft. Aside from cutting out the legs and head, B did all of this herself. We set her off with it, and after a couple of minutes she seemed bored and wandered off. But a bit later on, she came into the lounge with a completed lamb. So proud!

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” 

Are you in need? Can we pray for you?

December 5th - As Many As The Stars

Genesis 15

Proud to be a descendant of Abraham!

He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (Genesis 15:5)

December 4th - Worth Saving

Genesis 6:9 - 9:17

We made rainbows out of paper plates today:

Genesis 9:13

I explained to B that God was sad about all the meanies and had to wash them away. But that He gave us rainbows so that we know He would never do it again. We generally focus on the animals and the rainbow in the story of Noah, especially when it comes to telling children, because the full story is so hugely difficult to comprehend. How could our all-loving God do something so horrific?

December 2nd - I Am Special

Genesis 1:26 - Genesis 2:25

Today we found out about Adam and Eve, and how God made people. I tried to explain to B that she is special because God made her and loves her. She was more interested in the fact that they were naked though!

Last year we put all of our handprints on a canvas and we thought it would be nice to make a tradition out of it, so we did it again. I thought getting M's handprint was tough last year - this year was harder! She just wanted to squeeze the paint. B really enjoyed this activity - she found it difficult to wait for the hubby's and my handprints to dry so that she could do hers. I think it's such a lovely reminder of how precious our family is.

December 1st - Looking After the Earth

Genesis 1:1 - 2:3

Today's Jesse Tree theme was Creation. We read the Genesis account at breakfast time, but B really wasn't in the mood to listen, so instead of starting the day with crafts, we got out into nature and took a walk.

The fresh air and exercise did us a lot of good. B calmed down; M slept most of the walk; I enjoyed being outside. As we walked, I talked about Creation with B and I was surprised to find that she had taken in quite a bit of the story at breakfast. She remembered that God made light first and then talked about Him putting a roof over the earth. She enjoyed pointing things out on our walk and telling me that God made them. We spoke about looking after the beautiful things God had made for us, and we fed the ducks as an example for her of being kind to animals.

Jesse Tree 2013 - 6th December: Isaac

As Isaac was the beginning of the fulfilment of God's promise to give Abraham countless descendants, we did another star based activity today. 

We made salt dough stars to create a mobile, based on this: 

However, yet again, it didn't go quite to plan! Blame the sleep deprivation from having a 3 week old baby, but I misread the oven temperature in that blogpost. It's American and therefore in Fahrenheit. I baked those little things at 170 C and they burnt. Fortunately we can salvage with a bit of paint, but we'll try again next year to make one to keep. B enjoyed playing with the special play dough, and I resisted the urge to tell her not to eat it. She would try it either way! She put a bit in her mouth and found it disgusting, so that worked without me having to nag!

Jesse Tree 2013 - 5th December: Abraham

Genesis 22

Whenever I see stars in the sky I am reminded of two bible verses. The first is, "He also made the stars," from the creation account. Such a throwaway verse for something so perfectly beautiful. The second is God's promise to Abraham: "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky..." (Genesis 22:17a NIV)

Today's activity acknowledged that promise, in that we made star jars. I pinched the idea from The Imagination Tree.

However, they weren't as successful as the various ones I'd seen on the internet. I was expecting the glitter and stars to float through the water, snowglobe-like, but everything basically stayed in a big blob at the top. Still, B enjoyed sprinkling the stars into the jars, and she wasn't bothered by high expectations or the need for perfection like I am, so to her the jars were lovely. 

Thank you, God, for fulfilling our need for perfection, and for keeping your perfect promises. 

Jesse Tree 2013 - 4th December: Noah

Genesis 6-7

Noah was one of the easier themes to come up with activities for, though as B gets older I expect I will have to be a bit more inventive in order to make it teachable and relevant. She has several Noah's Ark related books and toys, so we read the story and played with her wooden ark. 

Daddy and B did some painting together, making a picture of the Ark ready for sticking animals onto. They painted a piece of paper with blue paint to be the sea, and then made an Ark out of paper plates which they painted brown and red. When that was dry, B stuck loads of stickers of animals on to the boat, and added rain clouds and rain drops to the sky, as well as some sea creatures to the water. 

I really love this picture. And B loved painting and sticking. It was brilliant to watch her doing an activity with Daddy. They had a lot of fun together. 

After this they painted rainbows onto two halves of a paper plate and I added streamers and string before sticking the plates together to make a mobile. I pinched this idea from http://megduerksen.typepad.com/whatever/2010/09/craft-thursday-9.html

There was a rainbow in the sky the day that B was born, and so I always think that God has special plans for her. I really hope so. 

Thank you, God for keeping your promises. 

Jesse Tree 2013 - 3rd December: The First Sin

Genesis 3

B can be very wilful and stubborn (I wonder where she gets those qualities from...) but she isn't yet at an age where she can be held accountable for her actions. We don't use punishments or rewards, but use a mixture of explanations and logical consequences in the hope that she will learn to choose right actions, rather than being "good" out of fear of punishment or simply because she will get a prize for doing so. As a result, today's theme is quite a difficult one. In a few years' time we will be able to discuss how we've upset or hurt someone and choosing to say sorry to people and to God, but for now I've chosen to concentrate on the fruit in the story of the first sin. 

Today we made some apple shaped tree decorations out of apple sauce and cinnamon. You can find the instructions here: http://www.momto2poshlildivas.com/2012/12/easy-cinnamon-and-applesauce-dough.html

The key was stopping B from eating the dough, which smelled pretty tempting, but is inedible. And there, I suppose, is the teaching point! Some things look great, but aren't good for us, and God, like our mummies and daddies, wants only the best for us, even if that sometimes feels like we're being deprived and disappointed. A tough lesson for a 2 year old, but no easier for a 30 year old!

Jesse Tree 2013 - 2nd December: Adam & Eve

Genesis 2

Yesterday we made an effort to appreciate the beautiful world God created for us; today we were acknowledging that God made us too. This is a difficult, and therefore important, topic for me, especially at the moment when I am once again struggling to feed a baby with my faulty body. For the sake of my daughters, I need to get a much more positive view of my body, in order that they can grow up loving they way they look, etc., so remembering that God made human beings - including me - and declared us "very good" is vital. 

The first activity we did was to put all four of our handprints on a canvas - always an interesting activity with a baby!! The first time I tried with B they looked like monkey paw prints!

 I love this canvas. It's a beautiful reminder of our precious family and how little our girls are. I think we will repeat this every year. 

For lunch we made pizza faces. This was a lot of fun, especially because we had some friends round and they joined in too. B really enjoyed decorating her pizza and I was surprised at how accurately she placed the facial features. Her highlight though, was eating a large number of olives straight from the jar!

In the afternoon I drew round B on a big piece of paper, with the intention that she would colour it in and be able to add features, or some semblance of them. I definitely overestimated what she would manage! Instead, she enjoyed sticking stickers on the paper, so while we didn't achieve what I planned, B still had fun and wasn't asking to watch Mr Tumble! I think this is an activity that will work better when she's a bit older, so I'll try and remember it for next year. 

Thank you, God, for making each one of us. 

Jesse Tree 2013 - 1st December: Creation

Genesis 1

B is old enough to appreciate more structured activities now, so, with that in mind, I set about organising crafts and other activities to do with her based around the Jesse Tree that I made last year. I also want her to have fun things that she can do with any visitors who've come to see the baby, so that she doesn't feel neglected and ignored.

The first theme on our Jesse Tree is Creation, so we went for a walk at our local forest centre. B was given the task of searching for interesting things to collect and take home. She really enjoyed looking for red leaves and berries. Her particular highlight was some acorn cups and a large pigeon feather. We decided not to collect any berries, for fear of them being consumed(!), but also because from the amount that we saw, it's going to be a pretty severe winter and the birds are going to need as much as they can get. Instead we took photos of the berries, and also of some teasels which were too prickly to pick. We printed these off as soon as we got home. 

B absolutely loved making a collage with her findings. Her Aunty sat down to help her make it, which was wonderful for B. Since M was born two weeks ago, we've been in and out of hospital, having to sort out supplementing and sterilising, etc. and B has been having a hard time of it. She loves M and is ever so gentle and kind towards her, but she's definitely feeling the strain of not being our one and only anymore. She's also become a bit addicted to using people's phones and watching telly, as, at times, I think we've all found it easier to pacify her with screen time, rather than deal with another melt down. So it was wonderful to see her doing something creative without a screen in sight, and to see her delighting in the activity. I think a highlight for her was being allowed to use big scissors to cut the sticky tape!

I explained to her that every thing she had stuck onto her poster had been made by God for us to enjoy or use. We also read the Creation story in her Children's Storybook Bible. 

I really appreciated the walk and getting a childlike view of creation, especially after being cooped up in hospital rooms and at home waiting for midwife visits. I think too that it was important for us to look for good and God in our day after feeling so angry with Him over the past days. 

Thank you, God, for making a beautiful world.

December 8th - Joseph

Joseph

Genesis 37:23-28; 45:3-15

Today's symbol is a multicoloured tunic, representing Joseph and the great love his father had for him. There are a number of ways in which Joseph could be compared to Jesus. At Christmas we are celebrating the arrival of God's son, whom He would refer to as beloved. And, like Joseph, Jesus was betrayed by those closest to him, sold for silver coins. Yet both forgave those who had harmed them.

December 7th - Jacob

Jacob:
Today we read Genesis 25:19-34; 28:10-22. Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, met with God in a dream and learned that the promise made to his grandfather would be fulfilled through his line. God would bless all people through Jacob. Upon waking from the dream, Jacob announced, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” (Genesis 28:16)
My favourite advent hymn is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Advent is the time of waiting, hoping for the arrival of God in human form. Jesus was called Emmanuel, which means 'God with us'. At Christmas we celebrate God coming to earth to be with us, humbling himself to walk amongst us and be like us. He would no longer just be found in one place; He would no longer be unapproachable - in Jesus we find our personal, universal God, and we can be with Him anywhere and everywhere.

"Dear God, help me to see that the whole world is your home."

December 6th - Isaac

Isaac:

Isaac was a long awaited child. Abraham and Sarah were old, and despite God's promise of descendants, they struggled to believe they would ever become parents. When Isaac was born there must have been absolute delight and happiness - his name means laughter, after all. So when we read in Genesis 22:1-14 how God asked Abraham to sacrifice his precious son, it's impossible to understand how Abraham was able to trust God in that situation. He must have believed God's promises so strongly that there was no doubt that God would provide in some way, which He did with the ram in the bush.

December 5th - Abraham

Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3 is where we find God's promise to Abraham. The promise is that Abraham will have descendants too numerous to count, and that through him all people will be blessed.

Fast forward to Jesus, a descendant of Abraham. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the one who would fulfil the second part of God's promise: Jesus, through His death and resurrection has enabled all people to be blessed, if they choose to follow Him.

This advent we can think about ways in which we can bless others. Inviting people for a meal; sharing the good news of Jesus; praying for someone; giving to charity. There are so many ways to share the blessings we have received.

"Dear God, help me to be a blessing to others."

December 4th - Noah

Noah

The story of Noah is found in Genesis 6-9. We discovered a number of parallels between Noah and Jesus, the first being that they were both good at carpentry!

God used both for salvation: Noah brought a physical salvation for his family, the animals and the future of humanity through building the Ark; Jesus brought spiritual salvation for all who believe in Him through His death on the cross.

December 3rd - Fall of Man

Fall of Man

Forbidden Fruit

Whether we believe that Adam and Eve were real people, or representations of the whole human race, we cannot deny that somehow sin entered the world. The first people on earth disobeyed God, and everybody since has followed in their footsteps. From a very young age the forbidden is attractive. My fifteen month old daughter will approach the coffee table and look at me, shaking her head, before putting her hand on the mug that was supposed to be out of her reach. She knows she's not supposed to, but goes for it anyway.

December 2nd - Adam & Eve

Adam & Eve

Adam and Eve

Today's reading comes from Genesis 2:7-24, where we see God creating man and woman. God says that it is not good for the man to live alone, which is why He creates woman to be his helper and companion. We humans are made for each other, not just as couples, but as friends, families, communities. We cannot exist alone; we must rely upon others and, in turn, allow them to lean upon us.
We remember also that it was through Jesus that we were created, and yet He chose to become like His own creations.