Advent 2019 - Getting Started




We’ve always ‘done’ Advent. Duh, born Catholic. What I mean is, we know what Advent is, and we go to mass and I say oohh Advent has begun, oohh it’s already the second week of Advent, oh the priest is in pink (it’s ROSE!), gosh am I even organised for Christmas? Merry Christmas! I’m exhausted…

A simplified version of previous Advents, yes, but the gist of is pretty accurate.

Our homeschool journey was born of the need to give my kids the best. Not of toys and things (the good Lord knows we ain’t got money for that… and don’t want to!), but the best nourishment - for their bodies, their minds, and most importantly, their souls. I’ve researched the heck out of nutrition and curriculums, so faith was left on the list. I suppose I knew deep down that tackling the teaching and guiding of faith for my kids would inevitably mean the old examination of conscience for me, you know, to avoid the hypocrite tag, and I was just simply dreading the reality check. But those kids… those wonderful, amazing, talented, happy, energetic, perfect kids… those kids I would do anything for… yeah them. They’re worth it - and when God gifts you with a child, you need to make sure they’re safe for all eternity, not just this little life right here. Big job. Big responsibility. The biggest, and so here we go…

Despite the internal nausea, I started to finally reach out and connect online with other Catholics, not just other homeschoolers, and it’s amazing how God starts working in your life when you put a tiny bit of trust in Him (who knew?!).
Turns out, there are a lot of Catholics around the place. A lot of young Catholics; and a lot of young Catholic families. I nearly fell off my chair! All of a sudden I had books, podcasts, activities, prayers, new friends, homeschool resources, study courses, and ideas coming out of my ears!

And one of those resources came from “Catholic All Year” (what a gorgeous family they are!), where I read all about how they “prepare for Advent”.

I was like, what do you mean, prepare for Advent? That’s at mass, yeah?

Nope.

It’s so obvious but, like I said above, I’d been avoiding the hard questions for a long time (and become an absolute expert too!) because I’d have to admit that I’ve pretty much been a lousy Catholic.

Jesus is about to be born. God is becoming man. Soon. God is coming to save us all through His son, His one and only, Jesus Christ, brought into this world through the sacred womb of His blessed mother, Mary… Jesus our Saviour - and I was content with just heading to mass on a Sunday?!

Yeah, Nah. Not anymore. No more lousy Catholic. We actually, honestly need to prepare the way of the Lord!

So that brings me to right now (way past my bedtime…!), the night before Advent. We are doing a Jesse Tree this year, which I’ll explain next post, a list of Works of Mercy, daily tasks, and a family Advent wreath. We’ve done a wreath before but to be honest, half the time we didn’t light it and there were certainly no special prayers that went with it….. oops! I’ll introduce all of this next post though, and as I work things out, because I’m not overly skilled or quick at this, I will share it here in hopes of encouraging (or dare I say it, inspiring) others to prepare the way of our Lord!

God Bless you and your family!

Em xx

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