By Beth Demme This December, as I’ve done every December of my adult life, I put out a Nativity scene. I bought this one eight years ago. Usually, I put it in the dining room, a place I can see it every day. I love how colorful this one is and how pretty it looks on the table. Sometimes I …
The Birth of Jesus: Bible 100 Style
By Beth Demme In Bible 100, I teach the entire Bible in 100 minutes, or less. My goal is to help you learn the Bible, without telling you what to think. This is a sample of the style I use in that workshop. The birth of Jesus is celebrated by Protestant and Roman Catholic churches on December 25 each year, and …
Christmas Bible Trivia
By Beth Demme Since it’s the Christmas party season and you might find yourself at an adult party wearing your pajamas and playing Christmas Bible Trivia (hey—it happened to me!), I’m here to help you prepare. Here are some Christmas Bible Trivia questions with answers that might surprise you. 1. Does the New Testament begin with Christmas? 2. Was Jesus …
How The Bible Embarrassed Me at a Christmas Party
By Beth Demme Several Decembers ago I was at a Christmas party with a bunch of really wonderful Baptist women. We were all eating cookies, wearing our pajamas, and sipping sweet tea. Yes, we were all grown women who had, by choice, gone out in the evening wearing pajamas instead of evening gowns. Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) do this sort …
Advent Is A Season to Celebrate Waiting
By Beth Demme It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas / Everywhere you go / Take a look in the Five and Ten / Glistening once again / With candy canes and silver lanes aglow. When it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Advent has arrived! We could sing “it’s beginning to look a lot like Advent,” but …
The Thanksgiving Everything Changed
By Beth Demme It was just before Thanksgiving 2002. My husband and I followed the pediatrician down the hall, our footsteps echoing off the undecorated walls and hard floors. We were inside a maternity/pediatric hospital in a small coal-mining town in southwest Russia. The doctor led us to a bright room, with a big window, three cribs and one precious …
Living Loved Is Like Being Adopted
By Beth Demme When I talk with my children about adoption, I ground everything in that precious four-letter word, L‑O‑V‑E. I think #NationalAdoptionMonth is a great time to explore what it means to Live Loved. When my children were toddlers, they learned their adoption story as part of their bedtime routine. I would tell them:
How Adoption Changed My View of God
By Beth Demme #NationalAdoptionMonth My husband and I are parents by adoption. I have some great stories about our adoption journey, some of which would make you roll with laughter and others that would leave you weeping. Adoption brought a lot of changes to my life (hello, babies!). One of the unexpected changes adoption brought me was a new understanding …
Adoption Awareness Month 2015
November is #NationalAdoptionMonth. As an adoptive mom, this month is a time for me to celebrate everyone who made our family a reality. Of course, I’ll take any excuse to celebrate my children, their heritage, and the beautiful way God brought us together! Here are some pieces I’ve written about adoption, to get your adoption celebration started: How to Talk …
Why I Will Never Arrive
By Beth Demme I don’t know if you have experienced this, but one of the places I go regularly has a terrible parking lot. The asphalt is smooth, there aren’t any potholes, the lines are freshly striped, and the size of the parking spaces is adequate. Sounds nice enough, so what’s the problem? It’s the layout. The layout is all …