One Week Down

Well, we started our Advent candles tonight.  Yes, I realize it's a week too early, but our calendar for December is a little nuts.  We will be out of town for one Sunday altogether, and that will mess up our candle lighting.  Ergo, we lit our first one tonight.

I think that we do ours a bit differently than I've seen some done.  We light three purple candles, one pink candle, and one white candle in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  Tonight's candle, a purple one, represents Jesus as the Light of the World.

Aesthetically speaking, I also like the looks of the stair-stepped candles when they are lit and burned at the appropriate intervals!  We light a candle each Sunday and then burn it at supper each night that week, culminating with the white candle lit on Christmas Eve.  Our Advent candles really help me start feeling celebratory, as they are usually our first step toward Christmas.

Jeff has been in France for just over a week.  So far, he's worked a lot, eaten at most of our favorite restaurants, reconnected with our friends at St. Marc's, and gone skiing.

Those of us here at home are trying, with varying levels of success, not to be TOO jealous!

Around here, we've pretty much filled our time with make-up tae kwon do lessons, doubled-up schoolwork so we can take this week off, and other activities designed to completely wear us out.  But we also managed a play date with friends with whom we've been trying to reconnect since we moved back...fantastic!  My friend Kathy Hunt has four boys, the youngest of whom is about five months old.  I've decided that, if I can have a baby boy as calm as James Hunt, I might just survive our new little boy!  Charlotte and Elijah had a terrific time playing with her older three boys, who are Elijah's age, six, and three.  Too much fun!

I also had the opportunity to attend the National Missionary Convention on Thursday evening, held at the Peoria Civic Center.  A couple of members of our small group went to serve, as our church was one of the host churches for the convention.  We ended up helping take up the offering at the end of the worship service, but, in the meantime, we had the privilege of listening to Jitendra (Jay) Henry, who was born, raised, and has served as a missionary in India since 1969.  His story of seeing God move in a dangerous place with persecution around every corner made me think about just how easy I have it and how much I take for granted being able to freely walk into our church each Sunday.  Wow.

Well, I hope that you all are looking forward to spending time with your families this holiday week!  The kids and I will likely be heading to Michigan to spend a few days with my family before returning here to pick Jeff up on Saturday. 

If I don't blog again before we go, have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving!