This week (and every week, for that matter) was a mix of joy and failure. Tears and high fives. We don’t like to talk about the hard. The ugly. But what I’m realizing is that I am craving authenticity, and it has to start with me.

When I was pregnant with my Ellie I had a dream. In that dream I had a beautiful little girl named Elliot. I woke up excited and with so much joy! I actually woke Chris up to ask him if he liked the name and to my surprise (because we were having a hard time agreeing on names) he just smiled. We both loved her name.

Later that morning I looked up the meaning of her name.

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
Isaiah 11:1

This year I am so excited to start a Jesse Tree Advent with the kids. Every day we will dive into God’s word together and uncover God’s all consuming, always faithful, never giving up love for His people. From creation to Jesus’ birth each day we will see how God’s plan was to always, always, always rescue His people.

As the kids put these ornaments on each day in December my prayer is that God’s story of Salvation will truly come alive for them. 

Last year we had our very first visit from an elf. I had been avoiding the whole “Elf on a Shelf” scenario for a few years…. it just looked like soooooo much work- sooooo much pressure, and just ONE.MORE.THING to add to the craziness of the season.

But I finally decided to try it out after a friend raved (and raved) about what fun they had with it the last couple of years. She made it sound so wonderful!

And wonderful it was.