"Was there a moment, known only to God, when the galaxies paused in their dance for a fraction of a second, and the Word, who had called it all into being, went with all his love into the womb of a young girl, and the universe started to breathe again, and the ancient harmonies resumed their song, and the angels clapped their hands for joy?"
~Madeleine L'Engle~
"Advent literally means "to come to" which is exactly what we believe Jesus Christ has done-he has "come to" his people to save us from our sins."
Every night we gather by the fire and candle light, we become hushed and we wait, listen,worship and seek Him, expectant. All of our special advent Christmas and Advent books are out. The kids have loved our evening ritual and eagerly wait for the candles to be lit and the new door on the advent calender to be opened. In addition we are joining our church family through Advent passages that you can find here. Words are read while little fingers arrange and re-arrange Mary, Joseph, wise men, shepherds and baby Jesus. We ponder how our God loved us enough to become one of us, to bring us back to Him. On bended knee we wait, and quiet our hearts to take in this miracle. I can not express how very precious and holy these evenings have been, what a reminder to be in love with His word and the things that begin to stem from that. It has again reminded me that it is all that we need. Though we enjoy lots of the festivities that surround Christmas it all becomes dim in comparison to the one Creator King who was born of a virgin one night in Bethlehem. I'm feeling a lot like this again this year, always that bittersweet knowledge of our utter brokenness and His perfect promise to heal and restore us with His love. I am reminded that each of us has had our own story for the past year. Some one fell in love while someone else still feels lonely. Someone had a brand new baby, while someone else's mother died of Cancer. Someone felt blessed while another felt abandoned. Someone felt quite smug at all they'd accomplished while someone else found themselves homeless. Our stories so different, all in need of this one truth and hope, a manger born King. What would happen if we turned down and unplugged from some of the noise and distraction and made room for space and stillness, if we became a sanctuary for His Spirit?
Watch for the Light is my favorite Advent book and so I'll end with a quote from it and a Juden prayer(one of my best gifts this year).
"The gift of the greatest efficacy and power that we can offer God and creation is not our skills, gifts,abilities, and possessions.
Mary offered only space, love, belief. What is it that delivers Christ into the world-preaching,art,writing,scholarship,social justice? Those are all gifts well worth sharing.
In the end, when all other human gifts have met their inevitable limitation, it is the recollected one,the bold virgin with a heart in love with God who makes a sanctuary of her life, who delivers Christ who then delivers us...
What if instead of doing something, we were to be something special? Be a womb. Be a dwelling for God."
~Loretta Ross-Gotta
"Dear Jesus,
I can't wait for your birthday and for your birthday I want to give the little kids who don't have enough food, something to eat and I'm saving up money to give them Bibles too, so they can know about you. Thank for what you give me and you're the Prince of Peace and I love you to pieces and pieces and pieces and pieces.
Amen"
~Juden~
We've been trying to keep things pretty simple this year for Christmas. It is both an economic necessity and a purposeful decision. We are making our kids gifts and I hosted a free-cycle swapping, hand made Christmas shopping kind of party. There are so many talented artists and craftspeople in this community and it is great to support each others' creative endeavors. There was hand made soap, jewelry, beautiful knit works,pottery and photographs for sale. I purged my house of un-needed things and so did many friends, filling up my house with clothes and toys and hand made goodness. My home was turned into a shop for a night, a very fun way to shop, I tell you. I just might have to do it again next year. I got some great free gifts for the kids and traded for this ridiculously adorable gnome hat with a pretty little floral button accent made by Amber. I love it and so does she. 
Everybody needs a garden. Okay maybe not a garden, but something that has the same effect of slowing your heart rate a little, helping you pause a minute and notice. A place an arms throw from messes that need cleaning and to-do lists, a place to sit for a few minutes with a cup of tea, to wander, to finger soft petals, to clear your head a little, to watch birds. I don't suppose I'm the only one that feels a sense of guilt at times for just sitting still for a few moments. Surely there is something I should be doing, and there always is.
"Is it an ocean of grace? Or an ocean of regrets.
Are we what we do? Or how we feel.
Or something different, something in between, something the size and shape of the perfect smooth rock that you close your hand around, just to feel its weight.
I am learning to be silent, to silence the seething within with patience and gentleness....
Gentleness is a great gift. I will ask for it and wield it in my house, with my family, spread it on my table like a cloth, throw it on the walls like a bucket of water, so it runs down and covers all of our mistakes...
And then I will wrap it around the small stone that I have in my hand, like a blanket."~ Rae
You can read it in its entirety here.I think about things in pictures and I love the way she strings together her thoughts. God is teaching me more about how closely connected love and gentleness are. How very humbling at times. 
So back to my garden;I have noticed I find myself there just about every afternoon at about three having a cup of tea (my British daddy would smile). Up until last week I was amazed at the color that was hanging on despite the dropping temperatures and autumn winds... marigolds,zinnias and roses. Their deep pinks and oranges shining bright against a wash of tangled dying vines. And then last weekend, December brought our first snow of the year. A fresh white blanket stilled the landscape thrilling the children and taking with it the last of the blooms. But there are things quietly blooming in our hearts in this precious season of advent. I am seeing the tiny seeds planted slowly and over time starting to sprout. Sometimes in thoughtful questions, sometimes in simple little prayers that make make me catch my breath and bring tears.
Like the other night when Juden's prayer was this,
"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for all you give us. We love you. And someday we won't need the sun and the moon anymore because you will be all of our light. I'm sorry that you had to die on the cross for my sins. We know that you love us.
Amen "
Here is a sample of the CD I've been working on this past year.
Thoughts Undressed by ilaJade
Thank you to all of those who have already supported this project and bought them for Christmas presents. I am already feeling inspired to start new projects and am thinking of recording a solo worship/hymns album and maybe a children's lullaby CD.
They are available for purchase at Collective Clothing in St. Elmo and at this blog.
We spent the day at my sisters and it was a lovely day with sunshine, an amazing feast and happy cousins. By the day's end we were sipping tea by the fire and watching living room dance performances. It can be overwhelming really, how much we have to be thankful for. I'm not sure how to reconcile all these good gifts that I don't deserve. I've noticed that I've been posting more frequently the past two months. The reason is two-fold. One, is that in addition to my husband's teaching job, he has been in not one but two bands not including his involvement in my CD. Needless to say he was gone or occupied many a night as of late and I'm not much of a TV watcher, so I read or write instead. Two, is that keeping with the theme of thankfulness has been easy. If I had the time to write every time the inspiration hit, there would be a post everyday at least. With that said, I may just have to let this theme linger a bit until I can catch up. The husband's schedule has lightened some and I tend to choose him over the computer. Speaking of which he has emerged from our attic studio so I'm off.
Whatever circumstances you find yourself in this year I hope you are able to find something of the blessing that is life itself.
We like to do crafts and art projects that coincide with the season and usually end up ironing leaves between wax paper but this year we tried dipping them in wax discovered over here. I like the chance to find those last remnants of Autumn color and string them in my windows for the sun to shine through. Extending the vibrancy of a season that seems to be over in a blink. This is an easy project though not the best for really little ones. All you need is a disposable pan, a block of wax and some pretty leaves. I gave the kids long stemmed ones and held them tight while near the hot wax. You set the leaves to dry on some newspaper and then they are ready to string. It's also a great way to learn the different types of leaves. After time of course they still fade but I'll take Autumn hues in my house as long as they last.
