The First Baby of Promise (Expecting Christmas)

In Genesis 18 and 21 God promised Abraham and Sarah they would have a baby, even though Sarah was barren and they both were well beyond child-bearing years. "Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness." Years later, Sarah gave birth to baby Isaac. He was a miracle! God again promised to send a savior, through Isaac.

We have forced amaryllis bulbs in past years, so decided this would be a good day to continue this tradition. Some instructions for doing it are on the Martha Stewart site. The sprouting and growing shows the magnificent hand of God, just as God made Sarah able to have baby Isaac. Thank you Lord for new life!

Ribbon Journey (Expecting Christmas)

After Noah's ark, many generations passed before we meet God's "father of the nations." Today we talked about God asking Abraham and Sarah (Abram and Sarai) to leave their home and go to an unknown place. God would lead them and tell them where to go. Abraham believed God and obeyed. For our Christmas activity we got a roll of Christmas ribbon. While the kids stayed in one room, I wound the ribbon through the house. Over chairs, under tables, around toys, into different rooms. The object was for the kids to follow the ribbon on their "journey" without knowing where they would end up. Von said, "this is actually fun, not dumb." I guess it didn't sound fun at first. The kids wanted to take turns creating the ribbon path and taking us on a journey.

Promise of Isaac continued (day 7)

We reviewed the story of the promise of baby Isaac by drawing the story on the dry-erase board instead of reading it. Then we stood on opposite sides of a door (like Sara listening in on the angels telling Abraham she would have a son.) We took turns telling each other jokes or things that made the other person laugh. Sara thought it was just as absurd that she would birth a baby in her old age. For some reason, my kids love to be silly.

the point? God is not limited

Son of Laughter (day 6)

Page 56 of "The Jesus Storybook Bible" begins the story of God promising a son to Abraham and Sarah. After reading the story we acted the story out. The highlight for Alyse was bathing baby Isaac-- complete with a bottle of soap and a washcloth. Von wanted a "boy doll" so he found a bathtub whale to be his "Isaac."

fyi... just to show you the natural progression of things... after bathing the babies, Alyse put her legs in the bucket and washed her own legs... then Von threw sidewalk chalk into the bucket and discovered that the chalk is a lot brighter when it is wet... then we had a tiny lesson on color mixing and rainbows... just go with it :)

the point? God has a plan and keeps his promises