Preparing for His Birth

This year I have been thinking a lot about ways to prepare my heart for the advent season.  And as a new mom I have been putting thought into how to prepare my heart in the busyness of the Christmas season.  My friend Julianna has been writing posts this year on Christmas with her family, the family traditions they have and how they anticipate the birth of Jesus together.  I sent her a question on her blog to see if she had any thoughts on the topic. Here is the question I sent to her:

How do you as a mom prepare your heart for Christmas when you are so busy with normal life stuff and then on top of that you are doing all the preparing, planning, coordinating, Christmas shopping, baking, etc.? How do you juggle all those things yet still keep your focus on Him?  What things do you do as a mom to anticipate the birth of Jesus?

You can go here to read her well written response to my question.   

Thank you Julianna for sharing your heart with me.  Your honesty was an encouragement to me.  It was a good reminder for me to keep seeking Him daily even when I begin to feel discouraged or feel like I have "failed" to prepare my heart properly for Christmas.  My prayer this Christmas season is that I will continue to seek Him with all my heart, listen to Him, learn more about Him and point others to what He has done for us all!

I hope that other moms are encouraged by this blog post too!

Photo Credit

Here are a few ways I have been preparing my heart for Christmas this year.

• Reading Ann Voskamp's Jesse Tree Advent family devotional (I am a few days behind...)
• Reading, meditating and attempting to memorize part of the story of Jesus' birth
• Listening to "How Many Kings" by Down Here that my mom shared with me on YouTube
• And watching this adorable version of Jesus birth told by children
• Reading Ruth Bell Grahams book called "One Wintery Night"  (Only half way through the book so far)