Advent in 2 Minutes

Advent begins this Sunday!  Time to start getting things ready.

Hallelujah

I had heard Rufus Wainwright's song by this title and was immediatley struck by the beauty of the music. I struggle with the lyrics though. Some of the verses seem to be speaking about the struggles of living a Christian life, but others are a bit confusing, and as a result I always feel conflicted when I listen to it.  So I was very happy when I found this version, written to reflect the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.

If you would rather skip the intro, the song begins at 1:36.  Lyrics below the video.



A crown of thorns placed on his head

He knew that he would soon be dead

He said, did you forget me, Father, did you?

They nailed him to a wooden cross

Soon all the world would feel the loss

Of Christ the King before us, Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

He hung his head and prepared to die

Then lifted his face up to the sky

Said, I am coming home now, Father, to you.

A reed which held his final sip

Was gently lifted to his lips

He drank his last and gave His soul to glory

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

The soldier who had used his sword

To pierce the body of our Lord

Said, truly this was Jesus Christ our savior.

He looked with fear upon his sword

Then turned to face his Christ, the Lord,

Fell to his knees crying, Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Took from His head the thorny crown

And wrapped Him in a linen gown

And laid Him down to rest inside the tomb.

The holes in His hands, His feet, His side

Now in our hearts we know He died

To save us from ourselves, Oh, Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.

Three days went by, again they came

To move the stone, to bless the slain

With oil and spice anointing, Hallelujah.

But as they went to move the stone

They saw that they were not alone

The Jesus Christ is risen, Hallelujah!

Oh, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Halleluah!

Ana Tells a Story

During lunch today we went around the table, taking turns making up stories to share.  Gabe's stories mostly involved robots, and Deceptacons crushing them.  Addie talked about princess and towers, and Juliana stuck with her favorite character, Dora. 

 (Translation provided below the video.)

"And she was * unintelligible* like Boots. And she was all alone with Boots.  And she was all alone!  And she was not... and she was alone with ponies.  And with rainbow on the sky, and it was sunny day, and she... and she waked up in the morning.  In she's house.  And she was not dead forever!  And... and Boots, he was not, too!   And, and, and she, and he was not, and they were sleeping.  And Ana, and Daddy, and Mommy, and Gabriel, and Addie, was was was sawed a bad witch.  And she was bad. And she was all alone. And she was... Mommy was dead forever!  And she was go in the TV with Dora and Boots.  And she was, she likes Dora.  And, and Ana, too.  And she likes Dora.  And she has the sparkles with a cake on it like me. I was doing it by myself when I woke up, for I make the castle made of, uh uh, of a cake.  With Nutella.  It was a new one with a tent.  The End!"

The First Two Weeks

Playing an Add It game.

Mixing up some sugar cookie dough.

Licking all the sugar off their fingers Decorating with sprinkles

Sight word cookies!

Cracking a Mr. Men sight word code

Coloring a picture of St Helena; the saint Addie wants to dress up as for the All Saints Day party.

A sweet moment as Ana cuddles with Gabe, watching him do his reading lesson.

Gabe was very pleased with his tall word-family ice cream cones.

What do you do when you have a narrow fireplace and lots of little kids?  Close it off with a chalkboard!

Color by word family.

Crafty time!  We've had to put the booster seats on the school chairs to get the kids the right height for handwriting, though this is just a temporary solution.  

Gabe was very focused on sounding out his word for the Say it, Write it, Paste it worksheet.

Addie also had her very first Little Flowers meeting yesterday.  She did great and had a lot of fun!  I'm looking forward to helping coordinate the November meeting.

This coming week we have our first P.E. co-op and a field trip to an apple orchard.