Jesus' birthday present

Remember we were saving to get a present for Jesus' birthday?  One cold morning last week, Jaan, Raia and I went to the market to choose something.  There were hardly any toys left after the New Years rush, so we ended up getting something close to Raia's original idea: a basketball!  It was about all that was left, but they were very pleased with their choice.

Even though Jaan understands that we actually sent it to a needy child, he wanted to know if Jesus knows how to play basketball. Then he answered his own question, "Of course! Jesus can do anything!"

Advent reference

Now that the Christmas season is over, I'm moving this from the sidebar to here.

Jesus is Our Greatest Treasure!

(This is my adaptation of Noel Piper's Advent story. For more details of our Advent plans, read here.)

Start from the top and read it all every day. . . .


DEC. 1 - Jesus is the greatest Treasure of all. This is the story of how he came to us.

Long ago, God made a promise about a little town named Bethlehem. He said, “O Bethlehem . . . from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.” Jesus is the King God promised to send.

One time, a long time ago, in Bethlehem there was a place called a STABLE...

DEC. 2 - In the stable there was a MANGER, filled with hay . . .
(and so on. Desiring God is so generous with their resources! Last year when they sent me the file with the story, they said that I could pass it on. Let me know, if you want me to email it you.)

Learning about Jesus

(These are our nightly lessons for the Advent season. We did the same thing two years ago. This is adapted from a similar list found in various places around the internet.)


1
25 kopecks! There are also 25 days until Christmas, when God gave us His best present. Jesus told about one woman's gift and the way she gave it. Read: Mark 12:41-44.

2
Grape candy! Grapes make jelly and juice, raisins and wine. But Jesus didn't need grapes to perform His first miracle. Read: John 2:1-10.

3
A birthday candle? As you know, we are getting ready to celebrate Jesus' birthday. However, Jesus talked about something else that is related to this candle. Read: Matthew 5:14-16.

4
What a nice little boat! But would you want to be in it during a storm? With Jesus you would be safe. Jesus can control the weather. Read: Matthew 8:23-27.

5
These would not go very far if you were really hungry! But Jesus could make much out of little. Read: Matthew 14:13-21.

6
You could make some noise with this. But it would not have bothered a certain man--until he met Jesus. Read: Mark 7:31-37.

7
Here's a smile! A smile usually expresses happiness. Jesus gave us many instructions to keep us happy. Read: Matthew 5:1-12.

8
Fish! Well, if you were surprised to find these fish, wait till you read the story today! Others were surprised to find fish, too. Read: Luke 5:4-7.

9
A house! Jesus told us about a home that he is making for us. Read: John 14:1-6

10
It's soap. Do you like to wash? Washing turned out to be a happy time for a man who met Jesus. Read: John 9:1-7.

11
Hearts. Wordlessly, they speak of love, don't they? Jesus gave us some commands about love. Read: Matthew 22:37-40.

12
We use the cross as a symbol, representing Jesus. Do you know why? Read: Phillipians 2:1-11.

13
Ordinary salt. Yes, Jesus related salt to us and our behavior. He also gave us some advice. Read: Matthew 5:13 and Colossians 4:6.

14
Don't try to eat this! It's sand. It reminds us that Jesus knows something about architecture, about buildings--and building lives. See His instructions: Matthew 7:24-29.

15
Flowers are pretty, aren't they? Jesus used flowers to teach us a reassuring lesson. Read: Matthew 6:28-34.

16
Raisins! They are made from grapes, which are a healthy and delicious fruit. Jesus told us how we can produce good fruit. Read: John 15:1-5.

17
Jesus told a story about seeds that a man planted. Then He explained it, revealing its deep meaning. Read: Matthew 13:3-8 and Matthew 13:18-23.

18
Christmas is just about a week away. And here is an appropriate song. Sing it loudly! The angels also praised God when Jesus was born. Read: Luke 2:8-14.

19
A hard stone! Can you change this stone into a piece of bread? Do you think Jesus could? Jesus was asked to do just that. Do you know how He handled it? Read: Matthew 4:1-4.

20
Popcorn kernels to make popcorn! Jesus talked about corn and serving Him in this passage: John 12:24-26.

21
The mustard seed is the smallest there is. When it sprouts, it grows into one of the largest plants. See what Jesus said. Read: Matthew 17:20.
(Couldn't find the mustard seeds.)
Try to smooth out this piece of aluminum foil and use it as a mirror. It's hard to see your reflection plainly, isn't it? Many circumstances are hard to understand, but someday everything will be clear. Read: 1 Corinthians 13:12.

22
We've learned that the cross represents Christ, but do you know what the dove stands for? Read: Matthew 3:13-17.

23
This is soft and fuzzy like a sheep. Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd. Do you know who His sheep are? Read: John 10:7-18.

24
Воздушный шарик! Знаешь что ещё называеться шар? Земной шар. Наш мир. Бог создал мир, и Он любит всех в мире. Читать: Иоанна 3:16.

25
Isn't this baby cute? When he was born, he made a whole family happy. Jesus was born a baby, too. He came to make the whole world happy. Read: Luke 2:1-20. Enjoy your celebration today. Continue to learn about Jesus--and love Him forever!

Twenty-second night: The Holy Spirit, like a Dove

Raia, showing her dove
(They didn't want to cooperate for photos last night.)
Reading from a book by Aleksandr Men', about the Life of Christ

Advent and more

Twenty-first night: Someday we will see clearly

Trying to make a clear mirror
Asya works with her foil

Twentieth night: "Unless a corn of wheat. . ."

Popcorn!

And more:

Angel, shepherd and. . . ?Raia made this lovely monochromatic masterpiece yesterday.  See the shepherd, standing with his arms outstretched?  And the angel flying by?  And the flock of. . . koloboks!

And it's snowing!  Finally, something more than just the lightest powder.  There were even some snowflakes this morning.  Up until now, even when there has been a bit of white stuff, it's so fine that you can hardly see it, and it definitely hasn't been flakes.  If Christmas were today, I'm still not sure that we could say that it was a white Christmas, but at least a whiter one.  And we still have a few days for it to accumulate.  I hope!

This morning Will and Jaan went out to our dacha to see about getting the electricity hooked up.  (Raia and Asya and I stayed home and made gingerbread men.)  They found the electrician, but he didn't want to work today.  He'll come on Wednesday, though.  Here are some photos from their trek:

See the green, peeping through the white?
On the way back from the dacha
The church in the snow

Nineteenth night: Not by Bread Alone

Rocks!

Sticking stickers on the box
We also (finally) decorated the box where we're collecting money for Jesus' birthday present. I'm afraid we made quite a sensation at the market this morning, when we stopped at every toy stall to (loudly) discuss what we wanted to buy for Jesus. Happy days!

Eighteenth night: Singing Praise

I was thrilled to find one of my favorite Ukrainian Christmas carols in English!  Using those words and the Russian and Ukrainian words that we know, I made five little "hymn books" for the Advent bag.  We had a wonderful time of singing with them.  Here's the song we were singing, in Ukrainian [2012 fixed link] and English [fixed link].  That's exactly what we sounded like, too.

Nights 13-17

Thirteenth night: "The salt of the earth"

"Taste and see"?

Fourteenth night: Building on sand or rock?

Setting up the house on the sand
It was too crowded for good photos, so we backed off and posed.
Singing "The Wise Man Built His House upon the Rock"
Asya singing

Fifteenth night: God takes care of the flowers and of us

Giving out the flowers

Sixteenth night: "I am the Vine"

This is how they walk around to search for the bag.  I don't know why they do it, but it's awfully cute.
Eating raisins

Seventeenth night: The parable of the seeds

Seeds!
Planting the seeds

Nights 9-12

We've had a few busy days here.  I'll catch up with Advent first.  Maybe I'll have time for more, after that.

Twelfth night: The Cross

(Asya and Papa were tired!)

Eleventh night: Love the Lord your God

Chocolate hearts!

Tenth night: Washing in the Pool of Siloam

Soap!
Sorry.  This was just too funny not to post.Right after we finished our Advent lesson, they got to take a bath and use their soap.

Ninth night: Our home in heaven

A house!
Hard at work
Raia and her finished house
Happy, quiet play

Eighth night: Fishers of Men

Fish!(Thank you Baba Julie for the fish and all the other things you sent!)
For the first time I gave the nativity scene figure to Asya, instead of Jaan or Raia, as I read the Advent Story. She took her job of placing it very seriously. In fact, she would have been happy to keep placing and replacing it all evening. We had to drag her away to move on. She was so cute about it!

Back to Advent

Ready for a bunch of photos?  Here we go!

Seventh night: Happy Are. . . (The Beatitudes)

Smiley stickers!
Seriously sticking stickers
"More stickers, please."
Happy faces

Sixth night: Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

Ring those bells!

Fifth night: Jesus Feeds 5000

Asya learning to share (She did not want to!)
Happy with her fish

Fourth night: Jesus Calms a Storm

Boats come to the stable
Cutting!Snowflakes have been the latest craze around here. Making the boats really got us going with paper and scissors.

The aftermath
(What do you think of the snow? None falling here, so I thought I'd at least put some on our blog.)