Blogger Friend School Assignment #5
GETTING INTO THE SPIRIT

Is anyone else sitting here and shaking their heads in amazement that today is the first day of November? 

Oh yes!  October is over.  The parties are ended.  I am so looking forward to this Holiday season, as I have so few left before my first born baby is an adult and in college!  This may also be the final one Gandma is here.  It may also be the final one that my youngest still beleives in Santa.  So this year is special.  A time to rejoice in all that the Lord has given us and gotten us through.  A time to make sure we share with each other the love the Lord blessed on us.

 I know that I am.  The countdown until Christmas has already begun and the world around us will be dancing the holiday shuffle with crowded lines in department stores, long lines to checkout a basket full of "things", wrapping presents, battling the post office to ship those packages, and don't forget to have pictures taken of the children.  The rush through the season is felt everywhere and as the tension builds so does the stress in our homes, families and spirtual lives.

Yes, this year is tight and I seem to always over spend.  This year my spouse and I are trying something new.  It's call a 'B-u-d-g-e-t'!!   I've never tried this before!

Pictures, pictures and more pictures. Maybe even a few with clean faces?  I would love a family portrait but know the rest of the family will get goofy.  I think I'll get one anyway goofs and all.

I don't want to rush through the season!  I want to be prepared to renew my spirit with the most precious gift the Lord has given us -- HIS SON! 

Thank you for posting that.  With all the preparations, and responsibilities, it is so easy to forget the obvious.  Christmas is not about the gift wrap nor holly.  It's about the greatest gift of all.  The Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour.

Our assignment this week, is to blog about "Getting into the Spirit".  I would like everyone to cover 3 areas in their posts:

   ~ family traditions for Christmas and/or Advent

For me personally, the Christmas Tree is central.  When I was a little girl living in Pennsylvania, in the house my father built, we always brought in the Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve.  The fire would be roaring in the fireplace, Christmas carols would be playing on the record player, and as a family, we would decorate the tree.  I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas is still my favorite song.  My mother's favorite is The Little Drummer Boy.  Oh how I just love a white Christmas!

One year after we had moved to Florida, my sister who had just turned twenty, was murdered at the start of the holiday season.  That year there was no holiday. But Santa showed in the form of my older brother.  He went on Christmas Eve, to the local firefighters' tree lot.  It was very late.  He begged them to let him have a tree.  He told them how he wanted to get it for his sister (me!)  He brought it home and decorated it.  Christmas morning, it was there looking glorious, the best present ever! 

The Christmas Tree is an evergreen as it represents the Lords everlasting love.

The shape points to heaven above. I wish I could remember the exact story I was told.  It's in my heart forever.

~ 10 ways that you can prepare for the season

This year, I will start with one preparation.  To get my footing back in my own personal beliefs.  It's been a long tough road and I have lost my way.   First, I need to get back on the path before I continue further.

1. Post a scripture that will help you "Get into the Spirit

I will need to get home for this one. 

EXTRA CREDIT:  Add your verse to bottom of every post that make this week to help you remember to focus on Him as your start to prepare yourself for the upcoming season.

I will post one of the most powerful verses I have ever read. This one holds special meaning to me as many Christians at the time were trying to get me to quit  Martial Arts training. They felt an oriental art was against the Lord.  So before one of my belt tests, I prayed.  I was in a hurry as I was young and running late.  I asked the Lord to let my Bible fall open to what He wanted me to do.

I sat my Bible on it's spine and let go.  This is the first verse I laid my eyes on and it has never left me since. 

The Psalms 144

A Prayer for Rescue and Prosperity
A Psalm of David.
	1. Blessed be the LORD my strength,    which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: