Advent Storybooks for the Family

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What is Advent?

The season of Advent begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving and continues until Christmas Eve. It's a time of expecting, a looking forward to something that's about to come.

​The word Advent means, 'Coming'. In the 6th century the church associated the idea of "coming" with the coming of Jesus. But not his first coming, instead they looked towards his promised second coming. Later in the Middle Ages, the church used Advent as a time to look back at Christ's first coming.

Today, however, we look at Advent as an opportunity to both look back and to look forward. We remember and celebrate Jesus' first coming as a baby in a manger, but we also look forward with expectation to his second coming, when he will redeem his people and all creation!

So for us as a family, Advent is a season to remember but to also look forward to Jesus promise to return. In the church, Advent is marked with the lighting of one candle on each of the four Sundays in the season. The lighting of each candle reminds us of a the story of Jesus coming and his coming again. For years, we would light these candles as a family, but that's a blog for another time. Advent is also a time where we as a family reflect on the birth narrative of Jesus. 

A number of years ago, when our kids were still little, friends of our introduced us to Jotham's Journey, and Advent adventure book that shares to story of Jesus' birth through the eyes of a young shepherd boy named, Jotham.

Jotham is the youngest of his brothers, charged with the protection of their father's sheep. Set in the weeks just before Jesus' birth, Jotham is unexpectedly separated from his family. When he realizes what has happened, he set's out to find his family. This leads Jotham on a thrilling adventure that changes his life.

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Our kids loved reading about Jotham and his adventure. Each day through Advent, we would read that day's chapter. At the end of each reading, there is a biblical application that help kids connect Jotham's adventures with who God is and how he loves and cares for us.

Jotham's story was one that we read during many Advent season. But we were thrilled when the companion books were released. In his story, Jotham meets Tabitha, Bartholomew, and Ishtar. These three friends help Jotham in various ways as he searches for his family, all while each one is experiencing an adventure of their own. You can read their stories in Tabitha's Travels, Bartholomew's Passage, and Ishtar's Odyssey. We would recommend you read all four books with your kids, obviously started with Jotham's Journey!

There is one disclaimer we need to mention. In all four books, the characters experience the realities of their time. Jotham, for example, faces thieves, robbers, kidknappers, and intense situations. There is suspense and drama mixed with joy, gratefulness, and celebration. The first time we attempted to read the story of Jotham, our kids were still a bit too young for some of the content. However, the very next year we tried again, and they loved it. So just be sure to consider the appropriateness of the your kids ages. 

Have you already read, Jotham's Journey, or one of the companion storybooks? What what did you think? How did your kids respond? We would love to hear from you! Share your stories in the comments below!

If you do want to order a copy of Jotham's Journey, use the links within this post. These affiliate links will take you to Amazon.com where you can order your books safely and securely. And if you do order using our links, remember, a portion of your purchase comes back to us to support the blog and vlog, with no additional cost to you! So thank you for support our efforts to create family friendly content!

- the higham family

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