Jesus's Birthday Party

One of my FAVORITE things leading up to Christmas this year has been doing an advent activity with Ella.  It is truly amazing what a child at 16 months old understands!!!  We wanted to start a tradition with our kids that requires us to take a moment each day to focus on why Christmas is such a big deal.  We want Ella (and Micah) to understand what and who is most important at this time.  

So we decided to do a "Jesse Tree" with Ella this year.  It is called a "Jesse Tree" because it starts with the first person in the genealogy of Jesus.  It begins a month before Christmas and each day takes you through scriptures from creation to the birth of Jesus.  Here is the link I used to download the activity cards. http://www.eriercd.org/jessetree.htm  Instead of building a separate tree for these "ornaments" I just laminated them and put a magnet on the back and we attached them to our front door.  I admit we definitely weren't as diligent about doing them every single day.  But when Ella walked by the door she would point to the mantle where we keep a bible, take a seat at the bottom of the stairs beside the front door, and patiently wait to read the verse before giving her the card to put on the door.  Here are some pics of the process...

(disclaimer... Ella did not wear the same sleeper all month.  This just happened to be the day I took pictures. And there were many days she chose to take all pics down for review.)

Each card followed with a celebration!

The finished tree!

 As I think about the birth of Jesus I can't help but think about what it was like. The simplicity of it all.  Husband, wife, and child surrounded by nature and God's love.  Not running from one Christmas party/family event to another.  Not racing to the store to get all the ingredients for the big feast or last minutes gifts.  Don't get me wrong, it was a blast to watch Ella tear apart wrapping paper, the snow was beautiful, and family-get-togethers are always a blast.  But there is something magical about laying on the couch with my husband holding one child and I feeling another child kick in my stomach.  And laying there in the quiet and calmness of a moment and thinking about the "moments" Mary, Joseph, and Jesus had in that stable.  The same God created all of us.  He created the family Jesus was to be raised in.  He created Ryan and I to raise Ella, Micah, and whoever else may come along, if any.  And God intended for THE BABY who was born with humility in a stable to die with humility on a cross.  And that baby - King/Messiah - was intented to save us all!!  So what was my favorite Christmas gift?  Having 4 days at home with my husband and daughter and basking in the fact that the only hope we trust in is Christ Jesus!  I hope you had a fantastic birthday party for Jesus this year!


Here is Ella's first time at opening presents...

A square inch of paper was removed at a time and immediately disposed of before moving onto the next piece.

 She may not have had the opening presents down, but she sure knows how to play with them...

Within 30 minutes, ALL toys were all over the floor!

 

Oh how we LOVE organizational presents!!!

LOVES her daddy!

This is her "cheeeeeeeeeeeeese" face.

Takes after her daddy.  Prefers to read more than one book at a time.

 

Boy, do we know how to have a tea party!

 

It had been such a long day!

And now for my favorite pics!!

Blessings to your families!
~ The Lewellings

It's Christmas Time!!!

I absolutely LOVE Christmas time!!  We have begun decorating around the house.  This is our first Christmas in our first home and we are SO excited!!  

The Lord has blessed us with a mantle in our home.  From the time we signed the papers back in May I have been looking forward to hanging the stockings on it for Christmas.  And as stocking hangers we used our favorite family toy...

While Ella was down for a nap we decided to put up the Christmas Tree.  I know some people love putting on strands and strands and strands of lights... but to me, there is NOTHING like a pre-lit tree.  Within 15 minutes the tree was put together and fully lit.  =)


When Ella got up from her nap she could see flickering lights coming down the hallway.  Walking down the hallway she was so excited to see the tree and kept saying, "WOW!" over and over again with her mouth wide open.

And of course she had to go investigate this marvelous contraption...

 

Every time she sees the tree (from the banister upstairs or when we go downstairs) it's as if she has forgotten about the tree and experiences it for the first time with "WOW!"  She is so precious!  Ryan and I find ourselves constantly laughing with her.  We have so much fun together.  I can't imagine how wonderful it will be when Micah joins us.

October Highlights

In chronological order...

We were able to find out that in March we will be having a boy!!  We are so excited about Micah's arrival!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ella also went to the Pumpkin Patch for the first time.  She loves her some animals.  And regardless of the type of animal, they all receive a bark from her.

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While carving pumpkins, she wasn't too keen on getting her hands dirty. She couldn't figure out why daddy was taking the guts out of the pumpkin as she would go right behind him and put it all back in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then our church did a "Trunk or Treat" for Halloween. We were the Three Musketeers!

Blessings and MORE blessings!!

Ella is growing up so fast!  Sunday morning she picked out her outfit for church.  (Of course she does NOT wear shoes.)  It was so fitting, I thought I would share it with you.

Yes, this does mean that we will be having another bundle of joy!!  We just found out last week that we are expecting.  Thus far all we know is little one will be arriving sometime in March.  We are THRILLED!!!!  God is SO good to us.  "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23.  

Join us in praying for the safe arrival of blessing #2!!

Celebrations Galore!!

We have been über busy since the last blog.  So get ready for a novel.

 

Praising God from whom all blessings flow… we closed on our house on Friday, May 7^th (which just happened to be the day Ella turned 9 months old – and who says God is not in the details?)  We began moving within a few hours following closing and by the next day our house was full of all our belongings.  Sunday morning I woke up in my own house on Mother’s Day!  What a blessing that was!!!  For me, one of the greatest responsibilities as a mother/wife is to provide a safe, loving, nurturing environment for my family.  Being able to spend Mother’s Day developing that responsibility was a dream come true.      

 A week after we moved my precious little nephew, Gabe, came to visit for a few days.  I absolutely must share some sweet moments we had with him.  They had such a blast eating at the table together.  Then Papa came over to visit with his grandbabies.  They just love their Papa.  

 At the end of May we headed west to see my brother-in-law graduate with his second degree in Engineering!  So proud of him!!  

A couple of weeks ago Ella was dedicated at church.  And let me just tell you how special that was for us!  Being a parent is one thing, but as a Christian, knowing how the world is and seeing the sweet little life God has entrusted you to raise, it is so encouraging to have a church family committing to walk with you and behind you to help teach Ella the ways of Christ that she may too one day choose to follow Him.  That service was such a blessing!