2013 Jesse Tree ornament swap

What a wonderful treat to come home from the Festival of Trees to a box full of lovely ornaments for the upcoming Advent season!  We have incorporated the Jesse Tree devotion into our Advent plans for about 10 years now and LOVE how it tells our story of faith from the very beginning.  It's such a beautiful and appropriate way to ...w...a...i...t... out the season of Advent and take one day at a time.  So, when I saw that Karen was hosting a Jesse Tree ornament swap, I jumped on it and was thankful to get in!  It can be pretty time-consuming to make 35 different ornaments, but to make 35 of one single ornament and swap with 34 other people is totally doable!  It worked out great and I am so happy to have participated and even happier to see how lovely they turned out.  They are much too cute and adorable to keep to myself, so I thought I'd better share how we will be re-telling the story from Creation to the Nativity this Advent....

1. Creation (earth)              Genesis 1:  1-23

2.  Creation (man & woman)            Gen. 1:  24-31

3.  Fall of man             Genesis 3:  1-15, 20, 23

4.  Noah           Genesis 6:  5-20, 7: 1-23, 8: 1-17, 9: 1-13

5.  Abraham              Genesis 12:  1-5, 13:  14-16, 18:  1-10, 21:  1-3

6.  Isaac           Genesis 22:  1-14

7.  Jacob           Genesis 27:  41-44, 28:  10-17

8.  Joseph             Genesis 37:  3-4, 4:  17-28

9.  Moses                Exodus 2:  1-10, 3:  1-12

10.  Moses             7-14, 19, 32

11.  Ruth               Ruth 1:  1-16, 7-22

12.  Samuel                 1 Samuel 3

13.  Jesse               1 Samuel 16

14.  David             1 Samuel 17, 19:  1-2

15.  Solomon                 1 Kings 3

16.  Elijah                    1 Kings 17 & 18

17.  Elisha                   2 Kings 5

18.  Isaiah’s prophecy             Isaiah 8:  6-7

19.  Isaiah                 Isaiah 6

20.  Daniel              Daniel 6:  11-17, 19-25

21.  Jeremiah                Jeremiah 31

22.  Angel                 Luke 1

23.  Zechariah                         Luke 1
**this is the ornament I made**

24.  Mary, Mother of God                            Luke 1

25.  The Visitation                        Luke 1:  39-56

26.  Joseph                  Matthew 1

27.  Nativity               Luke 2

28.  Magi (star)                     Matthew 2:  1-12

**Next comes the O Antiphons.  You can read more about this tradition here and here and here....

29.  O Antiphon – O Wisdom 

30.  O Antiphon – O Lord of Lords 

31.  O Antiphon – O Flower of Jesse’s stem 

32.  O Antiphon – O Key of David 

33.  O Antiphon – O Radiant Dawn 

34.  O Antiphon – O King of all Nations 

35.  O Antiphon – O Emmanuel

What do you think?  They turned out great, huh?!  And, I have to admit that the kids and I were a little overwhelmed when we first opened the box, because only a few were labeled with what Bible story they went with (and I'm just as guilty as the majority because I never even labeled mine - doh!).  Anyways, it was fun figuring out which story they matched up with, but I sure hope I did it correctly.  If you notice that I have any switched, please let me know!  Thanks bunches!!

Guess who is 1-derful??

Our sweet little "Rose" is 1-derful now!!  (she has been now for a little over a week)

Where, oh where, does the time go?  It seems as if yesterday that she was our itty bitty baby and now she's our chubby girl! 

Here are pics from when she was 1 month,  2 months, 3 months, 5 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, and her praying 11 month pose.  Surprisingly (okay, not so much!) Rose is "winning" the highest number of blog posts here out of our kids. We ALL just can't get enough of her! 

Here are some pictures of the weekend of her first birthday.  She was hesitant about that bright pink and orange frosting at first, but soon enough, she was covered in it.  Hee hee!!  We finally washed her up when she smeared it in her eyes.  Silly goose! 

We had a photo shoot with my side of the family the day after she turned one, and here are a couple pictures that I snapped of her....

Loving God, you created all the people of the world and you know each of us by name. We thank you for "Rose", who just celebrated her birthday. Bless her with your love and friendship that she may grow in wisdom, knowledge, and grace. May she love her family always and be faithful to her friends. Amen.