Unwrapping the Gift—A Book to Herald the Season!

A lot of wonderful firsts happening here right on this post today, and I am so thrilled to share them with you right now.

First of all, it is December 1st.

It is the first Book Promotion I have been blessed to do on the New House Blog, and the first that I have been blessed to do for someone else.

It is the first Sunday of Advent, and the first day of the amazing devotionals that this wonderful Book is all about.

Unwrapping the Gift is a special E-book put out by a collaboration of women as people seek to find the meaning and celebration in this time of year! Day by day you will be able to open this little E-book up and share right alongside the Welcoming House family as we continually remember the reason that we celebrate Christmas! Even better, there are some wonderful links in there for free printables for your family!

I would just like to highlight a small portion of the introduction that gripped my heart and really made me excited to delve into the rest of the book:

“We often take the time to carefully select wrapping paper, add a ribbon or bow and lovingly place a name on each gift. We also decorate the house and trim the tree, cook good food, and of course, wrap the presents. The reason we spend all this time doing these things is because we hope and pray that our time and money spent on preparing each gift is a blessing to our loved ones. We want to show how much we love them and care.

We wait with anticipation for the moment at which they unwrap their gift, hoping to see a smile of delight as they tear back the paper to find something that brings delight to their eyes.

Our heavenly Father has also prepared a gift for each of us. A gift long foretold and anticipated. A gift that nations prepared for, and kings feared. A gift that came in the middle of the night in the small remote village of Bethlehem.

This gift wasn’t wrapped in satin and bows but in swaddling clothes and placed in a manager.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6″

(excerpt from  Unwrapping the Gift)

I would like to share a little bit about one of the authors, in her own words, and then encourage you to run over to the link and grab a copy for yourself before they are all gone. Then meet me here, each Sunday, as we chat about our favorite parts of the week that has passed and the things that really jumped out as us as we celebrate this Christmas season……

One of the authors is a wonderful new friend of mine, named Crystal from Wisdom Seeking Mommy Blog. You might remember her from a previous guest post a few weeks ago titled Being thankful when it is Hard. She has one gorgeous, blue-eyed daughter, and runs a bee-keeping business with her husband that supports her online store where she sells her homemade beauty products! She is also a Lilla Rose Consultant!

I asked her some details about the book, and here is what she had to say:

1. How long have you been blogging?

I’ve been blogging since May – so about 6 months.

2. Why do you blog and what is your passion?

The primary reason I’m blogging is that I feel that it is something that the Lord has led me to do. I’ve always been passionate about teaching people what I’ve learned and discovered in life – and blogging gives me an outlet to do that. I’m passionate about seeking God’s wisdom out in situations, and blogging has really allowed me to focus on that and share it with others as well.

3. How long did it take for you to write this, and please tell me a little bit about the process?

This idea for this book actually started with a seed planted back in October when I wrote about Doubt. God revealed that when we are doubting we are questioning His nature. That was a pretty scary thing for me to realize. With the guest post that I wrote about Being Thankful When It’s Hard I decided that I needed to focus on being thankful for God’s Nature more than the things and stuff around me.

Jane from Devoted SONriser (http://devotedsonriser.com/) suggested that I put the Thankful for God Facebook posts into a printable for Thanksgiving. As I was working on that on November 20, the idea came for this book. I asked Jane and Ashley from Joyful Thrifty Home (http://joyfulthriftyhome.com/) to join me in writing it – and they quickly and enthusiastically jumped in!

From idea to publication this book took us 1 week! It was an amazing journey and a terribly fast turn around, but God is so faithful and brought together our unique gifts and talents. Ashley did the layout, design and printables  and Jane and I wrote the devotionals and we all edited, and re-edited.

4. What are you hoping to accomplish through the publishing of this book?

Our goal in writing this eBook is to point people to the Ultimate Gift this Christmas Season: Jesus Christ. Our Heavenly Father gave us the Greatest Gift as in Him we have everything that we need. Often we don’t ever fully unwrap the gifts that have been given to us through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Our prayer is that people will fully receive the wondrous gift of Jesus by looking at all the things His many names mean for us as God’s children.

5. Tell me a little bit about yourself and your passions in life.

I am blessed with a wonderful husband who is currently in the midst of going back to school to follow God’s leading into full-time ministry. We were blessed with the beautiful gift of our daughter last December. I have a passion to teach and encourage others to seek after God and His wisdom.

You can find Crystal blogging frequently over at her Blog, WisdomSeekingMommy.com, and that is where I am going to send you for this amazing link to a free book that will put the entire Christmas Holiday season into perspective for you and yours!  Just for signing up for her amazing blog posts that come directly to your email, you will get an amazing devotional that as a community we will be walking through together this next 25 days.

Ready to check it out?

Click right here