Once Upon a Child's Heart

The first Advent Sunday is only a week away.  If you haven't done so already now is the time to start preparing for this special time of putting flesh on Christ.  Today, in our Quaker meeting house, I shared a story I wrote about a personal experience I had with the Incarnation of Christ to help transition us into the Advent season.  I'm sharing it with you all below.   Enjoy! Kristen A Window By Kristen S. Sandoz     It was a dry, hot, African day.   I was headed to a birthday party with my African friends in the up-country of Kenya.   I knew I wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing my Levis so I put on the only skirt I had and a coordinating blue T-shirt.   I gave it a second thought and decided to don a necklace with a praying hands pendant, hoping I could dress up my humble outfit with one of the few pieces of jewelry I had brought.   There wasn’t much improvement but I had tried.   Once we reached N...

Ch 3: On the Day of Pearl's Birth By Kristen S. Sandoz 2012 Here we are once again with an adventure before us.   You have met in earnest the Witch Hazel.   However, I’m sure by this time you have so many questions about our heroine Pearl.   How did she come to live with her Aunt Hazel and what happened to her parents?   Were they dead?   Did they abandon her?   Were they really a king and queen? She is a princess, right?   How can this be?   Well, your questions are very insightful, reader, and you will be shocked at the story I have to tell you regarding Pearl.   Be sure you are not reading this up past your bedtime for once you start on this part of the story you will not be able to stop until I have finished.   I would not have you get in trouble on account of me for reading when you should be sleeping.    Well, she is a dear girl!   Truly the daughter of a king.   She does not know this, of cours...

Ch. 2: The Witch Hazel   By Kristen S. Sandoz 2012             Let us start our story today by returning to Hazel and Pearl.   They were both highly regarded among the Outcasters for not only their wisdom and understanding but also for the healing power of their voices.   You can only imagine the intense and melodic sound that comes from one young and radiant voice and one old and, shall I say, well-worn voice.   It is as if the two juxtaposed sounds stirred themselves together into a rich and nourishing formula.   All who came and drank of this formula knew they found a fountain in which to renew their tired souls, weary hearts, and worn bodies.   Of course, the content of the songs Hazel and Pearl sang were of only good, faithful and uplifting things and this helped the hearer in unexpected ways.   One would come to listen to the two ladies sing because of the sound of their voices, but...

Sometimes I get it right.  Not often but sometimes.  It feels so good!  Lately Thing Two has been feeling bad about himself.  He tries to punish himself for being "bad" and gets into these funks where he can't seem to find anything good about himself.  This is so heartbreaking.  Especially as he is my birthday boy (born on my birthday) and can be as sweet as pie!  (I actually called him Baby Pie as an infant).  Like many of us he has believed a lie and follows its trail. So what did I do right?  Instead of lecturing Thing Two on how good I thought he was I played a game with him.  I made it up on the fly.  It's called "I'm Good".  It worked too!  I have to brag because probably 90% of the time I'm beating myself up for getting it wrong.  It just seems so rare to actually feel like I'm doing something good for my boys.  Hmm...guess I need this game too! Here it is. I'm Good Game To Play: Each player ta...