The Second Week of Advent. . .

During this second week of Advent, we continue with the same theme from John the Baptist of "Prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. . ."

What does Advent mean exactly? Well, in general it means "coming." The Latin word adventus translates to the Greek work parousia. For Christians, this is significant in that it is a reminder of the Second Coming of Christ.

So, our theme for the second week continues with the somber and stern admonition to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Messiah. And we also continue our color of purple for repentence (as well as the recognition of Jesus' majesty) by lighting our second purple candle on the advent wreath. . .

So, about that wreath: It was actually brought to us by the Germans, probably Lutherans. It is round to represent the everlasting nature of God--there is no beginning and there is no ending; it is decorated with the four candles: three purples and one pink; and it is also decorated with greenery--evergreens, again representing the everlasting nature of God, ivy to show how we cling to him that saves us, and holly to remind us of the thorns Jesus wore in his crown at his crucifixion (we should always remember his death as we celebrate his birth for that is what makes us Christians!).

Another speculation on the lighting of the candles is that it is a tradtion brought forth from the Hebrew celebration of Hannukah as a nice reminder that while we are Christians, Jesus himself was not!

Another fun thing to do in the home during Advent, and one I used to do with my Sunday School kids, was to make a Jesse Tree. This is an excellent reminder of hope springing out of discouragement and desperation. . .You take a bare branch and seat it in a can or some other way to make it stand up right. Then you decorate cut outs of biblical images and symbols, such as the Chi Rho, A manager, a picture of Mary or Ruth (the mother of Jesus or the Grandmother of David), perhaps even a picture of the bible or Moses. . .Do a few each week until the tree is fully decorated at Christmas. I used to start with Old Testament images and process to New Testament as a further symbol of going from old to new. Talk about the images as you do them and then more as you hang them.

Aidan news: He continues with the cough and sinus infection. He seems better during the day, but cough is pretty bad at night. I'm hoping that this means it is really breaking up and beginning to go away. We're just about to start our third day on Augmentin, so hopefully today there will be some real improvement. He and I stayed home and out of the cold and wind yesterday. . .even skipping church! Boy, were we glad when Daddy came home from work. . .

And now, I leave you with a picture of my loving boy hugging Ellie:

Happy St. .Nicholas Day. . .

Nicholas ( a real man!!) was the Bishop of Myra (modern day Turkey) in the early 300's. He was known as the "Wonderworker" and was a secret gift-giver. He also was known to put coins, fruit and nuts in the shoes of those who left them out for him. Does he sound familiar to you???

Aidan has no concept at all of Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, or the Russian derivitive Father Frost. But he will soon find out! Tonight, Leesbug kicks off the Christmas season by having a festival in town: lighting of the Christmas tree, Christmas parade with Santa on the last float, Santa holding court on the Court House lawn. . .next to the lit Nativity! It's truly an awesome event. I am hoping Aidan is able to hold out for it. . .

This past week, Aidan has suffered from a pretty bad sinus infection which also had a resulting cough. So bad, in fact, that we went to the doctor twice and started out on Amoxicillan and are now on Augmentin. Every night he has been awakened by the cough and then I hear. . ."Mama. . .mama. . .mama. .." I get up and go to his room and he immediately reaches up for me and says, "Mama rock." So, I gather one of his blankets (preferably the nice quilt Aunt Glady Mae made him) and head to the rocker. Then I proceed to rock him back to sleep. . .poor little dudely! I can feel his entire little body quake with cough! I don't like it! But, he is getting better and truly does seem to be on the mend. Thanks be to God! IF we take him, he'll have to be very bundled up. . .

So, back to St. Nicholas. . .I've been wanting to get a special Santa plate for Aidan to put out cookies, etc. for Santa on Christmas Eve. I saw one with a a really cute whimsical Santa in the window of a local shop in town. Probably expensive, though. And then we got out our Christmas things and began the process of setting up the tree and decorating the house. And, lo, what do I find??? But, a wonderful gift from my friend Allison that she gave me last year!



It's perfect for what I want to do! Thank you again, Allison!

I'm hoping in a year or two, to start the tradition with Aidan of writing a letter to Santa and putting it in his shoe on the night of December 5th so that he'll wake up on December 6th to the letter being gone and maybe a coin or something left in his shoe. . .

And, thus ends the first week of Advent. . .

Noooooo Mama! Aya dood it!!!

So, you'd think I would learn. Everytime I do something, Aidan gets mad at me and tells me he wants to do it. . .My little dudely is very independent! This has been increasing over the last few days and here is why:

For the past few months, Pat and I had been discussing potty training of the boy. WE had concluded that we would focus on this task during the Thanksgiving weekend after our company left. Thinking this would be a difficult task, we have been reinforcing and praising him each and every time he goes on the potty by giving a potty treat. He only gets the potty treat if he goes on the potty. So far, so good. Aidan goes on the potty and gets a potty treat. If not, no treat. All is understood.

So last week, I went and bought some pull ups in preparation and I began showing him his cool underpants with the cars on them. He loves them!

On Friday, we took our company down into D. C. to see the White House, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, etc. We also went to the Smithsonian's museum of Natural History. Fun day! Knowing we couldn't really expect Aidan to train on that day, we put a diaper on him and brought the backpack filled with diaper goodies.

After we had lunch, Aidan began telling us he wanted to "pee pee on the potty!" We went in search of a bathroom only to find that because the museum was so crowded (Smithsonian's are all free) so were the bathrooms! Lines super long and out the door. Knowing he had a diaper on, we weren't too worried and figured we would change him when we got back to the car. When we did, he was dry!!!

Then we drove back to Reston to have dinner at On The Border and again Aidan said he had to "go pee pee on the potty!" So, Daddy took him into the bathroom, where he was found to still be dry and then proceeded to go potty BIG TIME!! Seriously folks, this two year old held it all day long! Incredible!! We celebrated and told him how good he was and how proud we were of him. Since that time, only a couple of little minor accidents, but really he is going on the potty! Talk about training yourself!

Anyway, then on Saturday, we changed his crib into the Youth bed and told him it was a Big Boy Bed. He LOVES it! Now, he says, "Aya go night night in BIG BOY BED!!" Funy thing, though: he hasn't figured out he can get out any time he wants! I'm sure that's coming, though.

Fast forward to this morning: I got him up as usual and proceeded to take him into the bathroom to go potty. But, then I made the first of several mistakes. I pulled down his pull up! NOOOOO MAMA!! AYA DOOD IT!! So, I pulled the pull up up and then he pulled it down to go potty. And so it went for the rest of the morning. It seems Mama didn't learn the lesson very well. I made that mistake so many times that the part of our morning routine that normally takes 20 minutes took 40! If I had learned the leason the first time around, there would have been fewer tears and only a 5 minute addition to our routine.

I promise to try harder tomorrow!

First Sunday of Advent

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'" From the Gospel according to Matthew. . .

And Advent is upon us. It is a time to slow down and reflect on what it means that the coming of the Lord is nigh. It is a time to do a little housecleaning from within. And it is a time to prepare ourselves for the great and awesome time to come. Are you ready?

In the early days of Christianity, Advent was spent much like the season of Lent: fasting and praying in preparation for the coming of God with Us, or Emmanuel. People recognized that their hearts had been held captive by sin and greed and that God has now ransomed them by sending himself to us in the form of his baby son.

Through the years, advent wreaths came into being with the lighting of one candle per week during the four weeks leading up to the Nativity. Two purples, then a pink and then a purple, with many now adding a white candle on Christmas Eve. The purple candles represent the liturgical color of repentence as well as the majesty of our Lord Jesus.

This first Sunday and week to follow, we are asked to repent and turn around. We are asked to begin our preparations: now the outward signs of trees and gifts, but our hearts. (of course I don't mean to suggest no shopping!)

Stay tuned for more on Advent in the Second Sunday of Advent.

But, first, here are a couple of cute pictures to share: The first is of my baby boy Aidan, who looks so grown up! and the second is Aidan and Ellie.

Thanksgiving fun!

Make a Smilebox greeting

We had a blast with the Jerger's this week. They arrived on Monday evening and left this morning. The week was full of fun, family, food and fantastic conversation. I think when you spend such a month of emotion and strain with other people you are bound to become close. Such was our case. I am so grateful the Jerger's could join us for this special time and spend more time creating wonderful memories with us!!