12:17 PM

Happy Birthday Jesus!

3:39 PM

25 Days of Christmas: Christmas Tree Campout

Pull out the sleeping bags and maybe the air mattress and have a camp out under the lights of the Christmas tree!  Take the opportunity to name a blessing in your lives for each light on the Christmas tree!  If you have little ones like I do that probably would never go to sleep, maybe just read the Christmas story or watch a movie together under the lights. 

25 Days of Christmas: Nativity Decorating

We have lots of nativities around our house during the Christmas season.  For our family, they are a simple way of reminding us what we are celebrating.  I try to pick up a new one every year so we can keep building our collection. Some of them are within reach of little hands and others are up high. I love the idea of the Fisher Price or Playmobil sets and hope to pick one of those up after Christmas.

One of my favorites ... this set was Hal's grandmother's 

I picked this one up for $5 this year just for Drew

Don't you love the dust that decorates this table as well. :)

25 Days of Christmas: Behold the Lamb

We are over half way through our 25 Days of Christmas series!  Most of it has gone according to the plan I had put together with a few curve balls thrown in.  Today is one of those curve balls.  Last week at the women's Bible Study I attend through my church, we were asked to bring something to share in regards to the Christmas season.  My new friend Brittany shared with us from a post she had put up on her blog several years ago.  I was BLOWN away by this information.  Oh, how marvelous and thorough and complete the mind and plan of God is!

Behold the Lamb- Brittany Bonner

The prophet Micah foretold the birthplace for the coming Messiah seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Micah said that the Messiah would be born in the little insignificant village near Jerusalem called Bethlehem. The actual location of the birthplace of Jesus Christ is also found in the prophecy of Micah, the location was Migdal Eder which in Hebrew is the “tower of the flock”.

“And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:8 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” Micah 5:2

Migdal Eder, the tower of the flock mentioned in Micah 4:8, is the watchtower where the priestly shepherds would watch over their flocks in the shepherd's fields there at Bethlehem.

This tower is where they would watch over their flock from the second story and where they birthed the newborn lambs in the lower portion of the two story tower there in the fields of Bethlehem. In the lower portion of this watchtower that the birthing of the lambs would take place, ewes were brought to give birth to the lambs. In this shelter the priests would bring in the ewes which were about to lamb for protection.

The shepherds would wrap the newborn lambs in swaddling clothes to protect the body of the lambs, keeping the new lambs without spot or blemish, they would then be laid in a manger until they had calmed down.

These were not just any flock and herd.

Migdal Eder was the watchtower that guarded the Temple flocks that were being raised to serve as sacrificial animals in the Temple. The shepherds who kept them were men who were specifically trained for this royal task. They were educated in what an animal, that was to be sacrificed, had to be and it was their job to make sure that none of the animals were hurt, damaged, or blemished.” These special lambs came from a unique flock which were designated for sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem.

These lambs would be offered as sacrifice at the Temple just four miles away in Jerusalem.

With the establishment of Temple worship in Jerusalem, the fields outside of Bethlehem became the place where this special group of shepherds raised the lambs that were sacrificed in the Temple. Being themselves under special Rabbinical care, they would strictly maintain a ceremonially clean stable for a birthing place. The Tower of the Flock was used for birthing ewes, and the surround fields were where these shepherds grazed their flocks. These shepherds customarily kept their flocks outdoors twenty-four hours a day every day of the year, but brought the ewes in to deliver their lambs where they could be carefully cared for.

It was to this place that Joseph took Mary. It was in this special stable at “Migdal Eder” that Christ was born!

The "swaddling clothes" that wrapped the lambs was also used to wrap the Lord Jesus.

These priestly shepherds in their fields near Bethlehem on that Christmas Eve knew where to go to find the newborn Messiah, Jesus Christ. He would be found where the angel had told them, wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger in the lower floor of the tower of the flock, Migdal Eder

Luke 2:8-18 records that there were shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their sheep by night.

“And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night … And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid: for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” Luke 2:8,10,11

These shepherds were none other but the shepherds from “Migdal Eder”. The angels told the shepherds that they would find the Babe wrapped in "swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." There was no need for the angels to give these shepherds directions to the birth place because they already knew. These were the men who raised sacrificial lambs that were sacrificed in the Temple. When the angelic announcement came, they knew exactly where to go, as Luke 2 indicates, for the sign of a manger could only mean their manger at the tower of the flock!

Migdal Eder at Bethlehem is the perfect place for Christ to be born. He was born in the very birthplace where tens of thousands of lambs, which had been sacrificed to prefigure Him, were born. God promised it, pictured it and performed it at Migdal Eder.

It all fits together, for that's the place the place where sacrificial lambs were born!

The Lamb born at Migdal Eder was the Lamb to be sacrificed to take away the sin of the world.

You see our Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem where all sacrificial lambs were born, and our Lord Jesus died in Jerusalem where all sacrificial lambs were killed.

John the Baptist proclaimed of Jesus,

"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29

Jesus is presented in the Bible as being “in type” as a sacrificial lamb. It was not by chance but by choice that Christ identified His death with the time of the observance of the Passover.

Peter spoke of our redemption as wrought by the

"Precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" 1 Pet. 1:19

and Paul told us that

"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" 1 Cor. 5:7

Even the first fulfilled type by which Christ is to be revealed in Heaven is as the Lamb (Rev. 5:6-13). The baby grew up! He grew into a man to fulfill the plan for our salvation. He grew up to be the advocate, the intercessor, the "one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus." (1 John 2:1, Heb 7:25, 1 Tim 2:5) He grew up so that He could die, thereby offering a perfect, sinless life in sacrifice for our sins. He grew up to be raised from the dead, conquering death and instilling a living hope of eternal life in all who come to Him. He grew up so that he might become “the source of eternal salvation." (Heb 5:9)

I'm glad that Jesus was born. But I rejoice even more in the life He lived, the death He died, and the accomplishment of His resurrection! While the world remembers a baby in a feeding trough, let our remembrance of His death help us to look to the Man, the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the year.

Behold, the Lamb.

For Brittany's complete sources, see this link.

25 Days of Christmas: If At First You Don't Succeed .. Try Again!

I have learned a lot in the last few weeks about what works and doesn't work for teaching toddlers ... at least my toddler!  I mentioned in this post, that we planned on using a wooden Advent calendar.  I loved the way my cute calendar looked, but of course he was way more interested in getting the candy than reading the verse and I didn't feel there was enough repetition for him to really "get" what we were teaching.  I decided to go "old school" and make a felt board.  I went online and printed out characters and headed to the teacher supply store to have them laminated where I found this wonderful bulletin board set that I decided to use instead.  I was able to get felt and Velcro at Wal-Mart and our felt board was done!  We have really loved using this board.  We walk through the scripture each night and move the pieces on and off the board.  I have gotten over the fact that it isn't the most beautiful holiday decoration.  This works for us this year and next year may be a totally different story when I have two different ages trying to learn.

Our story pieces

The felt board

Mary riding on a donkey with Joseph to Bethlehem.  Of course this doesn't look quite right, but a 3 year old doesn't know that!

D placing the shepherds

And Baby Jesus

I have also see a few other ideas in the blog world that I think are great and that we might use next year!  This Advent Book that Grace Full Mama shared builds on the passage in Luke each day so that by the end of the month, the kids have mostly memorized the scripture.  I also love Truth in the Tinsel.  Each day you read the Christmas story from the  Bible and make a craft or ornament together.


What have you used to teach your children this year?  Do you have ideas for teaching toddlers?  Older children?

25 Days of Christmas: Gingerbread Nativity

Pinterest strikes again and we are going to make this one a Ramsey tradition!  Instead of making a gingerbread house, we made a gingerbread nativity scene. I went the easy route and we used pre-made icing and crackers instead of gingerbread.  I love this idea because you can be as creative as you want to be!

The graham crackers were small squares so we headed to the pantry and used Wasa crackers!

Tasting the sheep. :)

Daddy's donkey turned out great!

Showing momma where Joseph goes

Our creation!

Having fun with licorice

25 Days of Christmas: What Is The Story With Those Wise Men?

My mother and husband have teased me for years, because I have this odd struggle every year when I put out our large nativity set. It is so hard for me to put the three wise men and their camels on the mantle with the rest of the manger scene. This year, Hal asked me why I didn't just put them on my bedside table! "Will that be far enough away?" he teased!

Even though the wise men are included in most decorative nativity sets and most include them when telling the story of the birth of Jesus, according to the scriptural account of the birth in Luke 2, the wise men weren't present at the stable just after the birth. I know ... I know ... it really messes up what you have always thought, and now you will want to put the wise men in your bedroom, as well! I ran across this post that gives more information on who the wise men are and when they might have come to see Jesus.

And for the record, I did put the wise men on the mantle, just off to the left (which isn't the East, but don't tell Hal!).

25 Days of Christmas: Get Out and Serve

No matter what the age of your children, find a way to serve others this month.  Last Friday night, we took the boys to Kroger and filled our cart full of canned goods to donate to the food pantry at church.  I actually let D out of the cart to fill up the basket with goodies ... I hope I don’t regret it when he wants to help the next time we go to the grocery store! We made sure to remind him numerous times while we were in the store why we were there and that we weren't buying things for ourselves but for those who might not be able to come to the store every week like we did. He was excited to take the groceries to church on Sunday.  He constantly reminded us on Saturday that we had to "wake up, go to church, and take food."

25 Days of Christmas: Whom or What Am I Worshipping This Christmas?

Even with a sick little man, my gracious husband let me sneak away Monday night to be able to attend the Christmas get together with the young women at our church.  We are still fairly new to this body of believers but I love the way they have welcomed us and I am crazy about this group of women.  This week we were focusing on the Christmas season.  The wise woman who leads the group asked this question: “Are you worshipping Christ or are you worshipping Christmas?”  The next thought I had was: “Am I worshipping Christ or am I worshipping the fact that I am teaching my kids about Christ during Christmas?”

I have loved helping my family to implement new ways to focus this season on Christ and continuing the things we already have in place. We are in this unique place where our boys are still young and we can begin traditions that will build a foundation for them to see this season for what it truly is: a time to celebrate the birth of our Savior and to anticipate His return again one day.

Busyness is Busyness. It doesn’t matter if it is the busyness of overbuying Christmas gifts and filling the month of December with Santa, Ms. Claus, and reindeer or it is making a Jesse tree, stocking a food pantry, or building a gingerbread nativity.  I can get just as lost and caught up in the things that are supposed to focus on the birth of Christ. It isn’t about the Advent activities or the Happy Birthday Jesus parties ... it is about my heart.  Am I worshipping Christ?  Am I focusing on what the incarnation means for me? Or am I worshipping the activities and traditions that I have put in place? I can plan all kinds of activities with the right message and work until I am exhausted to make sure this month is chock full of Jesus, but in the end, my boys and all of those around me this season will see more of Jesus by seeing a heart that WORSHIPS and ADORES the SAVIOR.  Because busyness is busyness and idols are idols, I will make a choice to worship the Savior.  Oh...how much more the month chock full of Jesus will mean to my family when my heart is focused on the glory of God not the glory of Lindsay.

6:36 PM

Waiting patiently for daddy to get home to light the Advent candles at dinner.

25 Days of Christmas: Nativity Floor Puzzle

I picked up this Christmas floor puzzle at Lifeway and it has been a hit!  D and I have put it together NUMEROUS times!  It has been a great way to walk through the Christmas story with him again and again!

Working on the border 

 Almost finished!

 Once you complete the large part of the puzzle, you place small pieces in

The finished product!  And one little boy who isn't feeling great. :)

What things have you found to help teach your children the story of the birth of Jesus?

10:53 AM

We interrupt this Advent Season to bring you ... pneumonia. Praying big brother is well soon!

25 Days of Christmas: Santa?

As I began putting this series together, I have attempted to write a post on how we approach the subject of Santa Claus.  Each time I was never happy with what I came up with or how I was able to explain our heart on the subject.  This week, I ran across these posts from Desiring Virtue. I love the way she is able to express these truths in a three part series "Why Not Santa Claus?"
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
There are many reasons we have chosen not to include Santa in our Christmas celebrations and most of them are beautifully outlined in the links above.  We do celebrate this season and we are experiencing a precious time with D.  At 3 years old, he is at this wonderful stage where he gets so excited about the smallest things and his excitement is infectious. We want him to be excited about the truth that God came to earth as a baby to bring salvation to the world more than we want him to be excited about a fictional man. This weekend as we were driving home from a visit with Hal's family, we passed through a town where they had placed decorations in the park in the center of town.  There was a manger scene and just to the left of the manger scene was a cut out of Santa and reindeer.  D looked out the window and yelled, "Look momma, baby Jesus!"  I smiled and thought how grateful I am that we have chosen to place the emphasis of this season on Jesus Christ. If you have been reading R&R then you know my heart is to share my pursuit of Biblical womanhood and to encourage you in yours.  I pray this post does just that. It isn't mean to condemn or judge ... only to share our journey with you.

25 Days of Christmas: Large Stocking

Many of the ideas in 25 Days of Christmas are geared towards toddlers because that is just where I am, but this is a great idea for older children.  To help place a focus or emphasis on serving others, hang a large stocking or place a big jar somewhere in the house where everyone passes it several times each day.  Through the month of December, place extra money or change in the stocking/jar.  Just before Christmas, take the money buy food for a local food bank or toiletries for a homeless shelter.

25 Days of Christmas: The Christmas Nail

The first ornament that goes on our tree each year is a long spike/nail to remember the nails that were used to hang Jesus on the cross.  We hung the nail close to the center of the tree.  It is also the last ornament we take off the tree each year so that we can reflect back on the season and all that we have celebrated.  It was so sweet to hear Hal explain to D why we were hanging the nail on the tree.  I had visions of him explaining it to him in the years to come and each year he could go a little deeper into the story.

Our Christmas Nail

Hal explaining the nail to big brother

25 Days of Christmas: You've Got Mail

The first Christmas we were married I went to a Christmas women’s event at the church we were attending where the focus was on different ways to keep your family centered on Christ during the holiday season. One of their suggestions involved Christmas cards and I must say this has become one of my favorite traditions!  Each day we wait to open the Christmas cards until we are seated at the dinner table together.  We open the cards and spend a few minutes praying for the families that we received cards from before blessing our meal.  This year, I am going to try a new way of displaying the cards so that I can pray for them throughout the month.  I love that it will add a little Christmas cheer to my kitchen as well!

We don't have any Christmas cards yet, so I used a piece of mail from today. :)  I think I will pick up some red paper clips to attach the cards with.

Today kicks off the "25 Days of Christmas" on Rubies and Rewards. Each day I will share an idea for keeping this season focused on celebrating the Savior. Please share your ideas as well! The more the merrier!  

Merry Christmas!

Advent Resources

The season is here!  A whole month of focusing on the birth of Christ and what that means for our lives 2,000 years later.  We drove home from my parents tonight and as I roused a sleeping D from his car seat, we walked out in the driveway to see the lights our neighbors had put up.  He was amazed at the lights and I told him the neighbors had put up lights to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  He was so excited and it got me excited as well!  Because of our trip home today, we will be kicking off most of our Advent activities tomorrow.  It isn't too late for you to start as well!  

Our take on an Advent wreath
 I still need to add the center white candle.

Here are a few resources that will help you out and remember it doesn't have to be fancy or over the the top!  The purpose to focus our hearts and the hearts of our children on the Savior this season.

• Rubies and Rewards Advent Post
• Advent reading suggestions from Noel Piper.
• Advent Wreath and Calendar suggestions
• Advent Activities

Advent Plans

Are you making your Advent plans?  I have been looking around the Internet and trying to decide what I will do for our Advent wreath.  I am hoping to get it put together this week.  This is my current favorite and I am hoping I can do something along these lines.

Have you heard of a Jesse Tree? This is another way of presenting the Gospel message that starts with creation and works it way through to Jesus being the light of the world.  This site includes clip art for each day.

Jesse Tree

Today at Lifeway I picked up this Nativity floor puzzle.  D is really into puzzles so I thought this would be a fun way to go through the Christmas story!

Planning ahead will make all of this run much more smoothly!  Next year, I may have to start at the beginning of November since D's birthday is on the 19th.  The last few days I am not sure whether I have been planning Advent or Birthday party!

The Season of Advent

I must admit that I struggled putting up a post about Christmas this early in November.  I love Thanksgiving and I hate that it is almost forgotten because as soon as the Halloween candy goes on sale for 50% off in the stores, the Christmas decorations come out and the busyness of the Christmas season is upon us.  But the busyness of the season is exactly why I wanted to go ahead and put this post up.  I will be sharing some of my ideas and hoping you will share yours over the next several weeks.  Let's share how we can work on keeping the month of December focused on adoring, honoring, and exalting Christ before calendar rolls to December and the season is upon us.

Just like with most of the training and teaching we do with our children, focusing on Christ during the Christmas season takes preparation.  This year, we are planning on celebrating the full season of Advent which will begin on November 27th(yikes,the Sunday after Thanksgiving!).  The Advent season is something neither Hal nor I celebrated growing up, so I have been doing a little research. 

"Advent, which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, is a time devoted to waiting, as believers anticipate the hope that comes in the form of a Savior. The name Advent is derived from the Latin word adventus, which means "arrival." This season anticipates the arrival of Christ! Advent not only looks back to the birth of Christ more than 2,000 years earlier, it also remembers Christ's presence here with us now, and it anticipates His promised return." 27 Day Advent Calendar: Thriving Family by Focus on the Family

A few of the ways to celebrate the Advent season are with calendars, wreaths, and actives.  I am sharing a few of the ideas I have found.  You can see many more by looking at my Advent Calendar board on Pinterest.  I loved looking at the different ideas and designs of the wreaths and calendars.  Some of them could be done with things you already have in your house and others would require a trip to Hobby Lobby or Michael's (yippee!). If you click on the links from the Pinterest board, you will see instructions on how to make many of them.  You will also notice that some of them offer Advent Calendars/activities that are not based or focused on Scripture.  On the Pinterest board, I was primarily looking at different designs not necessarily the advent schedules. :)

Advent Calendars

Wooden Advent Calendar

Last year we decided we wanted to do an Advent Calendar.  I naively thought I could run out and buy one.  I quickly learned they weren’t easy to come by and I didn’t have Pinterest to supply me with ideas this time last year!  I did manage to find one at Hobby Lobby. We are looking forward to continuing the tradition this year.  I found a resource for preschool age children and wrote the verses out on a piece of paper.  We also placed a piece of candy behind each door. Last year, D was more interested in the candy than anything, but I am hoping as he grows each year he will get more and more into the story!

Advent Activities

This Advent Activity resource from Focus on the Family looks awesome and would be really great for school age kids and maybe even preschool children.  Each day has an activity and a scripture reading. 

Advent Wreath

This year, we are planning on having a meal each Sunday night together and lighting a candle on the advent wreath.  This article by Noel Piper talks about the tradition of Advent wreaths.

Advent wreath

Yes, all of these different things will be great traditions to start with our boys, but we pray that they are way more than traditions.  We pray they will really celebrate and honor what Christmas really is ... the season we remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I shouldn’t say “they” because I need to remember and celebrate as well.  There is the temptation at every turn to focus on anything other than the Savior.  I pray that as mothers and wives we can have the correct focus this year and can help guide our families in worship. I am going to begin preparing for us to celebrate Advent, BUT I am still going to enjoy this month of Thanksgiving! 

How does your family celebrate the Advent season?  Share your Advent traditions with us!