Friday, December 19, 2008

Annual Ornaments


One fun Christmas tradition is giving your children annual ornaments. Each year pick an ornament out for them that reminds you of them (specific to that year). We give ours to the children the night we put up our tree. We actually wrap them and hand them out at random then the kids have fun guessing who's is who's. This year we gave our oldest daughter one with a big monkey bathing a little one and our baby boy who began walking at 6 months got a superman onesie. I think I am also going to start writing them a letter as to why this ornament was chosen for them and give them the letters someday when I give them their box of ornaments. My mom did this for us growing up (minus the letter) and I still see my "annual ornaments" and they make me giggle because of the silly memories they bring back. I have about 3 different raccoon ornaments and my kids think it is funny because anyone who knows me would never describe me as an animal person but there were a few years that I was obsessed with them! Plus when I first got married it was so nice to have 21 hallmark ornaments to start my tree off with that had meaning. My kids even know a bit about me growing up from the ornaments that I doubt I would have thought to tell them otherwise.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Advent

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and I hope you all are anxiously awaiting the beginning of a beautiful season of celebrating that Jesus came and is coming again! What good news!

For those of you who do not know Advent is a Latin word meaning Coming. The season of Advent is a time of preparing our hearts for the fact that Christ came and is coming again. Traditionally people use an advent wreath with 4 candles going around and 1 center Christ candle to light. You light one each Sunday leading to Christmas and the center candle Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. For more info on the meaning and depth of the season just google it... there are so many resources. With the ages of my children we don't go too in depth on the meaning behind the candles we just light them and say"He's Coming" "He's Coming" and each candle our voice is more animated and excited.

I just wanted to encourage you to spend the whole season celebrating the only ONE worthy of a month long birthday party where all the attention is placed on Him and the fact the He is a perfect gift to all of us. Try to use each of the symbols of the season to teach the TRUTH of the season! Remind the kids that the tree points up - not down to the presents but up to the TRUE PRESENT who is very PRESENT to us all and loves when we look to Him and seek Him in our daily lives. Remind them that the gifts are reminders of the ONE TRUE GIFT we have in JESUS! Every symbol that is going to be in front of their faces for the next month is an opportunity to draw their hearts back to the one who made them.


Our family spends each night before bedtime going through a special Advent book beginning December 1st. In it there are beautiful doors on each page that you open and read part of the Christmas story from. Each day we get to open one more day and by Christmas morning we have read the whole story straight from the bible and the kids have most of it memorized since we start from the beginning every night. The pictured book is an heirloom addition that I am not sure is available anymore but I know they have another red version you can still buy.
After we read the story we talk about what we read then we all get to pick one Christmas song of worship to sing to Jesus and of course we finish the night of in prayer to our favorite Birthday Boy ever! I find these times so wonderful and they really help us keep our hearts focused on the real reason for the season.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Dinner Devotion

I think almost every family has the tradition of taking time at the dinner table to thank God for his blessings and share with each other what they are thankful for most from the past year. Just in case some of you do not do something like that I would encourage you to give it a go. It's my favorite part of thanksgiving! After the food is served (don't make people eat cold food) we just go around the table and each person shares what they are thankful for.

The only twist to this is that in the past couple of years I have called the family members that can not be with us and typed out what they had to say on small strips. Under everyone's plate I put somebody else's thoughts. So along with sharing each person own things they are thankful for they read who ever's paper they got. I know this means a lot to my mom and MIL as they have big families and it helps us feel like we are together.

Don't forget to save those and keep a binder (yes, I have a binder for just about everything) with previous years comments. One year about a week before thanksgiving I even sent an e-mail to everyone including the families "thankful fors" from the previous year to remind everyone to get thinking and feel blessed because no matter what your circumstances are if you have access to this blog I have a feeling YOU ARE VERY BLESSED!

Oh and one more suggestion... read a part of the Thanksgiving Proclomation by Lincoln.... it's got some good stuff in it!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Tree of Thanks

Here is something super easy, fun and meaningful we did this year...




Each night as we did our evening devotions focused on thankfulness and our many blessings the goal was to have each family member add another leaf to our tree. We just wrote something we wanted to thank Jesus for and signed our names then picked a branch and stapled it on. We had a great time with it and then when my sweet little nephew went to heaven our tree stopped growing for awhile. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for our family. Although I long to see my little nephew again right now I can say that I am so thankful for his life and all he did to further God's kingdom in his short 9 years on earth. What a blessing to be his Aunt. He wanted to live his life in ministry and he did and his life story will continue to minister to many for years. I hope to start growing our tree again tomorrow and am thankful for the big reminder in my home of all we are thankful for and most importantly WHO we are thankful to! It's pretty special that on our tree this year are the words heaven and so many things relating to what our family was in the midst of this year and the innocent child like approach our 5 and 3 year old had on it. I will for sure be keeping our leaves this year and starting next years with them.

More Ideas:

Thankful Turkey:
My sister's mother in law does something I hope to do in my home eventually. Last year I got the hand prints and this year I will as well in hopes next year I have enough to start my turkey. I think it is one of the best ways I have heard of to display previous years blessings in a fun, cute and special way. So what you do is have each family member trace their hand and write on it what they are most thankful for that year. The next year you will use these laminated hand prints to be a big turkey tail of a turkey body that you draw and put somewhere to display on your wall. This is super special because not only is it a cute handmade decor item but it shows the growth of the children's hand prints, the growth of the families hearts as they mature and go from being thankful for toys, to people, to grace and so on and you can even include the people you spend your Thanksgiving with and then it is a trip down memory lane as you see hand prints of people who you have been with in years past. My sister loves this turkey in her MIL's house and enjoys reading her hubby's words from his teenage years when he said things like "I'm thankful we only have to do this once" to his adult years and her name made it on a hand print! I will try and get her to take a picture this year and post it if I do.

Thankful Tree:
For those of you who move around a lot this is especially good for your families. It's the same idea as above but instead of hand prints each person picks a special leaf near your home to write what they are most thankful for on. The person who shared this idea with me said they use contact paper on them and then write with permanent markers. It;s special to them because they have leaves from several states and also all the fun things they were all thankful for hung on the wall for a beautiful fall decoration.


Don't forget if you have some great ideas for any of the holidays to share them with me (amy@honorhimalways.com). And check back often as December is sure to have lots of good stuff on here! I will be posting before the end of the week on Advent as the season is soon to begin and I hope to encourage you all to participate in the celebration that He has come and is coming again!
Blessings!

Friday, October 31, 2008

Discussion Box

One of my favorite traditions that we do all year is called Discussion Box. I find it especially enjoyable and meaningful during November when we are trying to refocus as a family and soak in the fact that we are SO BLESSED!
Discussion Box is just a decorated box, bucket, tin or plain old bowl full of questions. We keep it on our dinner table and each night different kids draw out a question. Then we go around the table answering the question. It really helps us parents not to talk about "grown up" stuff and leave the kids out. It also helps the kids learn about each other and us. Most importantly though... it gives everyone a chance to share their thoughts and feel special. I usually change the questions based on the theme of the month... Here are some good November/Thankful questions to give you an idea of what we do.

- Name something about each family member you are especially thankful for.
- What food are you most looking forward to at Thanksgiving and what food are you hoping isn't on the table?
- Tell us a story of a time you felt God used you to be a blessing in someone else's life.
- If you were on the Mayflower what would have been the hardest thing for you and what might you have enjoyed?
- Would you rather be an Indian or a Pilgrim? Why?
- Do you think we spend enough time talking about the effects the pilgrims had on the natives of America? What do you think are some effects we should always remember?
- Think of a creative way we as a family could bless a group of people in need this month?
- Would you rather dress up like an Indian and do a tribal dance for our family on Thanksgiving OR dress up like a pilgrim and sing a hymn for everyone?

This is one tradition your family might enjoy in November (watch out... the kids might not want to stop after Thanksgiving). In fact even if I run out of questions in my box the kids still say "Can I do discussion box" and that means they get to make up a question. We have had so many wonderful conversations with each other based on these kinds of questions and I would encourage you to give this a try! DO NOT forget that this is not a teaching time for us as parents... it is a time for our kids to share their hearts! KEEP IT FUN!

Fun Fact... this is how I told my husband and kids we were expecting baby #4. I filled our box with several papers that all had the same question typed on them. The question was this... Babies are such a blessing from God! How do you feel about the fact that God has blessed us again with another baby growing inside moms belly? I had asked Kyle to read the question and as he read it he started laughing... then he looked at me and saw tears in my eyes. He quickly got up and gave me a big hug. Adia started asking what was going on and then dad read the question to the kids and we all laughed and had a wonderful evening talking about the baby we would soon meet. Now Adison is 2 and that is such a precious memory for us all!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Reformation Day

October 31st, 1517 is the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. This was the beginning of what is known as the Protestant Reformation and has had a huge impact on the world in many ways. I want to encourage you to learn more about this day and to celebrate it. This was the beginning of common people having access to God's word and people were learning to read just to know for themselves what it says. This began the realization that Salvation is a gift given to us.. not something we can earn or buy! "Through faith alone in Christ alone” began to be heard all over Europe. The reformers urged people to transfer their confidence for salvation from the church and its religious traditions to Christ alone. They encouraged people to read the Bible. They also preached that the Bible should serve as the Christian’s final authority. Could there be a better reason to have a party! It is estimated that about half of the people who call themselves "Christians" worship God in a church that couldn't even be here if it were not for the events of this day!

How are we all (myself included) so focused on Halloween when this day stands for oh so much more! I challenge you (and me) to learn more about this day and to celebrate it. Start simple... look up the facts and learn them. Then next year, when you have more time to prep, have a "Reformation Party"... that could be just you as a family or you could invite others to come join you. Also if you are someone feeling convicted to avoid Halloween you could use this as a time to reach out and change the focus. To be a light we have to be seen!

Here are a few ideas to make it a celebration...
- Listen to German music
- Eat German food
- Dress up in Renaissance attire
- Learn and Play Luther's battle song... A Mighty Fortress is Our God
- Have a castle building contest
- Play Hide the Heretic (Hide and Seek)
- End the Indulgences
- Bible Relic Contest (Have kids make or find something and sell why theirs is best)

For more info on these games and to get more ideas check out:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/UnderHisConstruction/414225/


The moive "Luther" would be worth watching as well. I found it extremely interesting and educational. If I could change things about it I would but over all I learned a lot from it. It is rated PG-13 so this might not be the best thing for the whole family but I would recommend seeing it.


Okay, I don't know about you but I am going to make this a focus in my home this year. Not sure how yet but when I figure it out I will let you know. If you have any great ideas or input be sure to let me know!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Just Say NO!

I had a good e-conversation today with a lovely lady who shared how her family is in the "no Halloween" group and I am sure a lot of us might relate to her feelings about how we are called to be holy (set apart) and how we as a church body are failing in so many areas. Here is a book she recommended along with a quote from her on how her family spends the evening. Thank you Friend (wasn't sure if you wanted your name on here)... you are a gem!



Book Recommend:


"We choose to make this a solemn night of prayer and intercession for the lost and those deceived this night…we circle up and approach the throne of Grace together as a family…and set aside all the “fun”…for one night. I believe in the long run…it will stick in their hearts and minds far better than substituting or attempting to redeem an evil day."



Our family too will spend a part of Halloween evening praying for the people that come to our door but the difference is that at this point I feel led to keep the door open. I can totally understand where she is coming from though and wanted to share her idea with those of you more comfortable staying out of Halloween altogether.

Halloween night our family actually continues on our "Missionary Month" theme with getting a new book on a Missionary and trying to read it in one night (starting when the doorbell rings for the first time). Last year we got DC Talks book on Martyrs (it's a bunch of great short stories) and it was huge so we were really discouraged that we didn't even make it a 3rd of the way through before I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. So far Adia wants to stick to that one again but I want to reach the goal and get a new (short) book. We'll see.


Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Pumpkins, Pizza, Parables and Parties!

Pumpkin Parable:

Okay, this is more for the younger kids but I believe that any tradition you start that the kids enjoy young they will also enjoy as the grow older just because it's a "tradition" and that makes it fun!

Did you know carving a pumpkin is a perfect parable for our walk with God. First we are full of yuck, then he cleans us/forgives us and then he fills us with his light to shine and attract others to Him. Wow! Sounds so obvious once someone points it out huh? It may seem weird to turn carving a pumpkin into this but as I have shared so many times in the past if we are going to have symbols put in front of our faces all the time why not think of FUN ways to make them always draw our hearts and thoughts back to God. I can't guarantee where or how my kiddos will spend Halloween or Fall all their lives but I can bet you that it will be hard for them to ever carve a pumpkin when they are older and not think about the plan of Salvation!



So those are 2 books I highly recommend that are based on that concept to read as you empty out your pumpkin and learn about Salvation at the same time. We do it different each year. Sometimes we read each step of the story as we follow the process with our pumpkins and sometimes we read the book the day we plan on carving pumpkins with dad when he gets home. The first one is geared to I would say 2-5 year old and is written as a short rhyming story. While the second starts with a farmer lovingly planting, caring for the seed and is much more of a story. They both have verses on each page to go along with it as well.

Don't forget this is still supposed to be fun and simple... no being all serious and making them sit quietly around you while you read in monotone!

Also, since we are supposed to be lights for Christ my oldest daughter always carves a candle into one of our pumpkins... it's another fun reminder what this is all about and what we are called to be (a smiley face can be a good reminder too!). And don't forget scary pumpkins are very similar to that pagan festival I told you about a few posts ago.


Pumpkin Party:

If you have lots of energy this year then have a pumpkin carving party and let your kids invite friends over to join in on the fun... maybe invite some kids who don't come from Christian homes and this could be a way to introduce them to the gospel. Just don't do it over your tile without putting something down and don't let them put their feet in the pumpkins... you will be finding seeds all over for days to come... yes, I learned that lesson the hard way! And my husband did say "I told you so" about 50 times!



Or you could read the story and let them decorate a pumpkin instead (doesn't really reinforce the point but it's still fun). I know there are a lot of little ones (girls especially) who think cleaning out a pumpkin sounds super yucky!

And you can decorate pumpkin cupcakes with the theme... SMILE JESUS LOVES YOU!


Pumpkin Day:

So for us... we are turning pumpkin carving day into a holiday of it's own. We will have pizza, pumpkins, parables, pumpcakes and a family pumpkin party the week after we go to the pumpkin patch. I'm not up for making a huge event out of it but we might have to get another family involved to spread the love and the fun!

Let me know what you do!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Hall of Faith

If you are just visiting it makes more sense to read the previous post first!













One fun thing we do each October is have a Middleton Family Hall of Faith. THis is a fun way to honor people who have given their lives for Christ and it is something the kids and I really enjoy.
All we do is hang a big bulletin board and each family member that understands the concepts can induct someone they want to display. We put a picture of the person or the country they lived in, why they are inducted and who chose to induct them.

Some examples from this year:

Who:Teenage girl in China (From the Martyrs Book)
Why:Because she wasn't afraid to say she loved Jesus even though it cost her life.
Inducted By: Adia

Who:Avery
Why: Because I love Jesus and want to follow Him.
Inducted By: Avery Middleton

Okay, so Avery didn't really die for Christ but she was so sure she should be inducted and I just couldn't tell her no.

What is Halloween Really About???

In some circles Halloween is the forbidden holiday and to be honest I used to be in it. Whether you find yourself in or out of the "forbidden circle" please continue on. As Christ followers we have to decide what we are going to celebrate and why and there is freedom to come to our own conclusions and to be okay with whatever we decide. If we are wrong then the Holy Spirit can convict us and until that happens plesae relax and be confidant that you are capable of making the right decision for your family.


So here is my brief and so not perfect explanation of the day (obviously this is history and every source changes the details but I think this will give you a decent idea with very few details because that can get too confusing)... Way back when there was a pagan festival on November 1st called Samhein. It was from the Celtic culture and it stood for the lord of the dead. It was believed that on that day a veil between this realm and the spiritual realm was lifted. People feared the roaming spirits and dressed up in evil costumes to scare them away. As you can see Halloween has a lot of ties with that old pagan festival and I do not believe if it were still Sanhein any of us would participate.


BUT... the good news is that the church, who celebrated All Hallows or All Saints day in May, thought the pagan festival was not a good thing and like they had done with many other pagan festivals they tried to put a holy day on the same day to redeem it (it worked a lot better with Valentines Day and Christmas) So All Hallows, a day to honor people who gave their lives for the gospel/Christ, was moved to November 1 as well and October 31 became "All Hallows Eve" which is where we get the term Halloween.


So with that information I hope you can choose to celebrate the redeemed day in a way that honors Christ and consider avoiding things that closely resemble Sanhein and instead focus on people who are in heaven that set a great example to us and deserve to be honored.


Here is an AWESOME book, from Focus on the Family, with way more details and TONS of FUN ideas!

Chapters like...
Underground CHurch Party


Movies, Memories and Monsters


Doors of Opportunity


Fear-Not Party


Harvest Boxes


All Saints' Day


Luther's Legacy

and more... it is a HONOR HIM ALWAYS MUST HAVE!