Week 1 Friday

S- Romans 15:12-13 "And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.”  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

O- Jesus is coming.  He will rule over the nations and give hope to the Gentiles.  He is a God of hope! 

A- Since placing my trust in Jesus, I can truly say that I have joy and peace in my heart!  I trust that His plans are perfect ALWAYS!  I have joy that I will one day be with Him in Heaven. 

P- Thank you God that you made a way for me to be with you through Jesus.  Thank you for your perfect plan; for your amazing sacrifice and grace.  I do not deserve this and am so thankful to you.  Thank you for bringing me joy and peace!  A joy and peace that can't be brought by anything besides you.  You are perfect.

In past studies, I had Fridays set specifically for prayer requests and praise.  This time I am welcoming you to share anytime throughout the study.

Have a blessed weekend ladies!

• Introduction, Week 1 Monday, Week 1 Tuesday, Light Reflection, Week 1 Wednesday, Week 1 Thursday
• Advent Study Invite, Advent Study Welcome

Week 1 Thursday

S- Isaiah 60:19-20 "You will not need the light of the sun by day anymore. The bright light of the moon will no longer have to shine on you.  I will be your light forever. My glory will shine on you. I am the Lord your God. Your sun will never set again. Your moon will never lose its light.  I will be your light forever.  Your days of sorrow will come to an end."

O- Jesus is The Light!  He will lead us out of the darkness!  He will be our light forever.  Our days of sorrow will come to an end!

A- How great is our God?!  I have hope in Heaven.  His light is all I need.  There will be no darkness and no sorrow!  Praise God!

P-  Thank you Jesus for leading me out of the darkness and into your glorious light!  Thank you that my time on earth is only temporary and I will spend eternity with you, basking in your glory!  Thank you that our sufferings and sorrow are only temporary.  Please help me to keep my eyes on things above.  My hope is in you.  In your name I pray, Amen.

• Introduction, Week 1 Monday, Week 1 Tuesday, Light Reflection, Week 1 Wednesday
• Advent Study Invite, Advent Study Welcome

Week 1 Wednesday

 

S- Jeremiah 33:14-15 "“‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah.“‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land."

O- God is saying that his promise will be fulfilled.  That Jesus is coming!  He will do what is just and right!

A- God is just and righteous.  He fulfills His promises.  Praise Him! 

P- Thank you God, for the excitement building up to Jesus' birth!  Thank you for your promises.  Thank you that you are holy!  Thank you that you are the one we can trust.  Thank you for sending Jesus for me!

• Introduction, Week 1 Monday, Week 1 Tuesday, Light Reflection
• Advent Study Invite, Advent Study Welcome

Light Reflection

Yesterday, I repeatedly asked Zac "Who is the Light?"  His answer every single time was "On."  He'd laugh like he knew he was teasing me when I said "No, Jesus is the Light!"

Here are some picture of us today doing the suggested activity from the eBook.  "Use a mirror to show your children how we are to reflect Jesus’s light to those around us."  They were most interested in blowing the candle out. 

He’ll huff and he’ll puff!

Lucy is kissing herself in the mirror.

• Introduction, Week 1 Monday, Week 1 Tuesday
• Advent Study Invite, Advent Study Welcome

Week 1 Tuesday

S- John 1:9--12 "The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—"

O- Jesus came into the world that was made through Him and was not recognized.  I love verse 12.  He gave us the right to become children of God, because we believe in His name!  He gives light to everyone!  He is the light.

A- Jesus came to be a light to the world.  People did not recognize him.  So many people still don't know Him, have not received Him, and do not believe in His name.  What can I do to let His light shine through me so that others can see Him in me? 

P- Dear God, please help me to follow your light.  I pray that your light would shine through me and others would see and want you.  Use me as you need.  Help me to humble myself and think of others first.  Thank you for choosing me. 

• Introduction, Week 1 Monday
• Advent Study Invite, Advent Study Welcome

Introduction

In past studies, we have started Week 1 with Getting to Know You questions each day.  Since the focus of this study is Jesus, I think we should keep the attention more on Him and less on us! 

However, since we are a group, I think it is important to get to know each other a little bit before we start!  We'll just do it once rather than all week.  I will throw out a question now and then to keep conversation going and so we can learn from each other how we celebrate Christmas with Christ first!  I can't wait to learn from you all!

Getting to Know You Questions

1.  Your Name, Spouse's Name, Kids Names and Ages  I'm Nicki, my husband is Luke, Zac is 2 and Lucy is almost 15 months old.

2.  Favorite Christmas Tradition  Since having kids, I have loved the past 2 Christmas Eve's as we finally get home from all of our family parties and settle in for the night, Luke reads to us Jesus' birth story in the Bible and also "Twas the Night Before Christmas".  And I love all the family get togethers we have just spending time with family we don't see very often.  All of us being together, eating, playing games, and just the excitement and happiness of it all.  I also love decorating the tree.  This year was especially fun with Zac helping me.  First, we just had the tree up with just the lights on it for a few days.  I had decided to take things slow and explain things to him.  I told him that we decorate to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  The first thing he was doing every morning was coming downstairs and shouting "Jesus' birthday!" when he saw the tree and asked to turn the lights on.  Then we were putting the stars on the tree and I explained to him that the Three Wise Men followed the star to baby Jesus!

3.  Favorite Christmas Song and/or Story  O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  Also, I'm loving the new CD I got this weekend.  Francesca Battistelli's Christmas CD.  I am pretty sure it is $5 (normally $13.99) at Lifeway through this week.  Don't quote me on it though.

4.  Was Jesus a part of your family celebration as a child?  How?  I remember Christmas being all about Santa

5.  How do you plan on making Jesus the focus with your family this year?  A lot of you know I have been doing "school", a letter a week/activity per day, with my kids.  I'm putting that on hold this month to teach them and do activities that will teach them about Jesus and what Christmas is about.  And I'm looking forward to ideas from each of you. 

I attached a photo of me and Zac decorating our tree.  I am encouraging pictures and stories throughout the study to share with each other what we are doing to celebrate Jesus' birthday!  Share anytime!

Does anyone remember these bubble lights?  This is my "candle".  I lit a candle this morning, but this one stands out much more as I walk by it.  And it reminds me of my Grandpa.  He always had these lights on his tree.

• Week 1 Monday
• Advent Study Invite, Advent Study Welcome

Week 1 Monday

S- John 1:1-4 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind."

O- The Word was God.  The headline of this chapter (I have no idea if "headline of this chapter" is the right term) caught my attention, "The Word Became Flesh (or Human is the term used in the NIrV)".  So we could say God became human.  It led me to read a little further in the chapter. 
John was witnessing about Jesus and explaining that he himself was not the light.  "⁹ The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world."

^"14 The Word became a human being. He made his home with us. We have seen his glory. It is the glory of the one and only Son."

A- Jesus is the light!  He gives us life!  Without God there would be nothing. 

I may have totally went off on a tangent here adding these verses rather than journaling more about the verses of the day.  But, that's where God led me, so there you have it.  I'm looking forward to reading what you all got from today's reading.  This is why I love studying as a group.

P- Dear God, thank you so much for giving us hope in Jesus!  Thank you that you became human and made your home with us.  Thank you for life!  Life on earth and especially eternal life with you in heaven.  Thank you for throwing me off a bit and leading me to the verses further in this chapter.  And thank you for the verses in Luke that I also read today about the angel speaking to Mary telling her that she would give birth to a son and he would be called Jesus.  I'm so thankful that I am able to read my Bible and hear the birth story of Jesus as often as I chose.  Help us all to keep you first this season and always.  In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Luke 1:26-38

The Coming Birth of Jesus

²⁶ In the sixth month after Elizabeth had become pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee. ²⁷ He was sent to a virgin. The girl was engaged to a man named Joseph. He came from the family line of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel greeted her and said, “The Lord has given you special favor. He is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was very upset because of his words. She wondered what kind of greeting this could be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary. God is very pleased with you. ³¹ You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must name him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king like his father David of long ago. ³³ He will rule forever over his people, who came from Jacob’s family. His kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How can this happen?” Mary asked the angel. “I am a virgin.”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come to you. The power of the Most High God will cover you. So the holy one that is born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Your relative Elizabeth is old. And even she is going to have a child. People thought she could not have children. But she has been pregnant for six months now. ³⁷ Nothing is impossible with God.”

³⁸ “I serve the Lord,” Mary answered. “May it happen to me just as you said it would.” Then the angel left her.

• Advent Study Invite, Advent Study Welcome

Advent Study Welcome

Hi Ladies!

I'm sorry I'm so late sending out a welcome email.  I'm so excited to start this study and keep Christmas about Jesus this year!  And I'm especially excited to be doing it with this group of women that God has hand picked!  Some of us have done an online study together and some a brand new. 

I will be starting a Yahoo Group and adding each of you to join.  This made it so much easier to keep all the Study emails in one place.  If anyone joins the group late, then all of the emails we have sent are archived and don't need to be sent to each new member one at a time.  Huge time saver!  And so nice that we don't each have to add/remove members to a contact list.  Please join the Yahoo Group when you receive the invite.  If you have any questions let me know!

Subscribe to the GoodMorningGirls.org blog HERE.  Once you are subscribed, you will receive emails from them with blog posts that go along with the study.  They are very encouraging to read as you do the study.  Occasionally I will post highlights from the blog, but I recommend reading the posts as different things will be meaningful to each of us.  At the bottom of each email is a link to download the free eBook.  If you don't get this soon and would like me to send you a pdf copy I can do that. (Especially since I was later than I wanted to be sending this email out asking you to subscribe.  I was caught up in family time over the Thanksgiving holiday and away from my computer!)

Here is what works for me doing an online study. 

I will be reading the verses out of my Bible at breakfast with my kids.  They LOVE when we finish reading their Bible and get to read out of Mom's Bible.  I'll take it!  Some great advice I once heard was to fill up on God's word at the table.  This has totally worked for us.  My kids are still in high chairs and are totally focused at breakfast.  I will likely read my verses at breakfast and then at nap time send out my daily email to you.

It is convenient for me to read my verses from www.biblegateway.com. I will copy and paste the verses into my email and do my SOAP journal as an email.  This worked for me because everything is saved in my email and I didn't have to hand write in a journal and then type it all out in an email to each of you.  I also love Bible Gateway because I can choose 2 different Bible versions and click "Parallel" and read them side by side.  I choose NIV and NIrV (the kid's simplified version).  This often makes things much easier to understand for me.

This study uses the SOAP journal method. If you aren't familiar with the SOAP journal, here is a link that will explain it for you.  http://www.soapstudy.com/index.php  You can also use the site to post your own SOAP's if you chose to do so.  Some of the girls in our group last time did the study each day, but were only able to email the group occasionally. 

I am asking that you please email the group once a week, hopefully more.  I understand if you miss a week (Things especially tend to slow down towards the end of the group.  I am so guilty of doing this in the past!), but please don't be discouraged that you have slacked for whatever reason that you don't pick up the next week!  We would all love to see everyone involved as much as possible!  I know that we will all learn from each other and each of us will be a huge tool for God in learning His word!  Since I am the leader, I have made it my own personal goal to do my SOAP's daily.  I did miss a couple days last study, but made up for them the next day (or so).  I would have probably used the website to save my SOAP journal's had I not shared daily.  Just to have my journals saved somewhere.  Some of the group preferred to hand write their journal entries, which is super awesome.  I just don't have the time to do both! 

The first week of the study is always the most exciting and you will likely see a lot of emails.  Things will slow down as we get going.  I'm so excited to learn from each of you!  The Study starts tomorrow!  If you have any friends that would like to join, please send me their email and I will add them to the Yahoo Group!

Keeping Christ First!

• Advent Study Invite

Advent Study Invite

I don't know about you, but I am excited to celebrate the Reason for the Season!  Christmas is coming up and I am looking forward to staying focused on Christ this year!  I'd love for you to join me in a four week online Advent Study. 

The ladies at GoodMorningGirls.org have written an ebook for the Advent Study.  I briefly looked through the ebook and am so excited to do this study this Christmas!  The Scripture reading is just a few verses per day. And they have included some family activities to get our kids included.  Here is what they have to say about the Advent ebook!

I’m so excited to announce our upcoming session, a 4 week Advent Study- Keeping Our Hearts Focused on Jesus, starting November 26th! We would LOVE for you to join us!

For this session we have written an Advent eBook which will guide us through our 4 week study.

The {GMG} Advent eBook includes:

• Weekly Devotions
• Assigned Scripture Reading
• Daily Family Activities
• Recipes
• S.O.A.P. Journal Pages

All you need to do to get the ebook is subscribe to the blog (HERE) and the book is free!  Please let me know if you would like to join the group!  You can also do the Study on your own, but I assure you that studying with a group will bless you so much!

If you know of anyone else that would like to join, please send me their email and I will add them as well! 

Keeping Christ in Christmas!

**I realize I’m posting this the night before the study starts.  Please don’t be afraid to jump in late if you want to join!

Photoshoot

Trying to get a photo of these two both smiling and looking the same direction is near impossible.

Sass

Watching a big truck coming up the road.

They do look alike.

Zac’s New Drum Set… I Mean Workbench

I was so excited for this great find at a consignment sale I went to with a friend.  Zac now has his own workbench to play on next to Dad’s.  However, he thinks it’s a drum set.  Tools?  No, “band sticks”.  It might even be louder than a drum set.  I’m surprised our neighbors haven’t come by asking the madness to stop.  Zac and Dad love it!

School Days–“Ee” Eggshells

Who would have thought crushing eggshells would be so much fun?  He loved this!

After he smashed up the egg shells, we added food coloring and stirred it up.

We laid them out to dry.

I thought it was so weird that the blue dye spread to the outside.  Crazy.

The next day we glued the eggshells onto our letter “Ee’s”