Christmas in July...

Or, really, Advent.

Yesterday morning I was at Bible study with women of all ages.  I love learning from ladies who have walked through many seasons of life and can offer grace and wisdom to us who are younger.  It has been a blessing, for sure, to be a part of this group this summer and last.

Sometimes, the blessing comes through the material we are studying throughout the week, or the video we watch during group, and sometimes it comes through fellowship.  Yesterday, it came through the sharing of a WONDERFUL advent idea, that I just couldn't wait until Christmas to start.

Kathy, our host, shared that when her (grown) daughter was little, they celebrated advent my making an ABC book, or posters, that declared the different names and characteristics of God.  For the 25 days of December leading up to Christmas, they would focus on a different letter of the alphabet (one day they would have to double up).  They would search scriptures and find names of God, or his attributes that start with that particular letter, write them down and praise Him for those aspects of his character.  As their daughter got older, they would ask her to recount examples - sometimes she would tell ones she had learned from scripture, and other times, she would come up with her own.  (Apparently an example is for C she said "cake" because God was sweet like cake).

Anyhow, I left Bible study determined to do this with Eli each Advent, especially as he gets older.  My teacher/momma brain was moving at full speed thinking of how to turn this into a wonderful little "lesson" each day, and how fun it would be to have a different spin on the "project" each year.

But, the more I thought about it, the more I was prompted to do this NOW - not for Eli, but for me.  SO - I'm starting my first blog series of posts.  Each day, for the next 26 days (or 26 posts, if I can't make 26 consecutive day) I'll be posting briefly about the names/characteristics for that letter of the alphabet.  I'm praying that I will know the Lord better through this process - that God will teach me more about Himself.  I'm also praying that this will be a blessing to someone who reads along.  I'd love comments along the way (especially with some of the names/characteristics that I may forget).

Here we go:  Christmas (Advent) in July!!