advent reading day 4

advent reading day 4

scripture reading: a giant staircase to heaven: the tower of babel, from genesis 11, JSBB pgs 48-55*

symbol: a tower

*we are using the jesus storybook bible by sally lloyd jones for our kid-friendly readings.

use your imagination when looking at our tower ornament, ha!  that's a tough one to make! :)
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so the other day, i mentioned that we had a surprise adventure to kick off our advent season with the boys this year.  a local church does this thing called "journey to bethlehem," where you join a "pretend" jewish family and go on a journey to bethlehem to be counted in the census.  it was quite a production.  we were in a group of about 40-50 people led by a jewish man, his wife and two children.  along our journey we encountered roman soldiers on horseback, three wise men, an angel proclaiming the birth of a savior, terrible robbers and thieves, a few beggars, more mean roman soldiers and finally the town of bethlehem.  we also saw camels (yes, real camels, 4 of them!), horses, sheep, goats, an alpaca, chickens, and a rabbit.  the city of bethlehem itself was quite impressive.  it was a walled fortress complete with an entire market inside.  the journey concluded with being turned away from the inn because there was no room for us to stay and then seeing joseph and mary in the stable with the baby Jesus.

despite the hour long wait for the journey to begin, it was a really fun family adventure that i am hoping will leave a lasting mark on burrito and noodle.  i wanted them to have a tangible picture of the sights and sounds that joseph and mary may have encountered on their journey.

it concluded with hot chocolate which may have been burrito's highlight of the night.

we are enjoying reading together this season.  it is so sweet for me to hear burrito do the reading each night.  so much has changed in the four years we've been doing this.

and i am so encouraged by all the friends that i have heard from who have chosen to join us this year.  i pray that this tradition becomes a sweet family memory for you too!