8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When
the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to
one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has
happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
In a recent devotional, I read about how dumb sheep are (do you like our sheep craft from the picture above?). Real sheep will literally smother each other to death trying to keep warm or run off the side of a cliff to get away from a predator. They need a shepherd! And I'm glad that God gave us a Shepherd to take care of us when we make stupid choices, too. But, the craft this day was to remind us that there were shepherds who heard the good news and came to see the Christ child.
You may wonder what this ornament is, but it's supposed to be an angel. The craft on Day 18 called for white feathers. I thought I had some, and here the only feathers we had were colored. But, rather than get hung up on the details, I thought the story line was more important. So, our angels have "flair." We talked about how the choir of angels came to sing and praise God after the announcement that His Son had been born!
On Day 19, we made shepherds from a template in the book. It was cute that they could keep their hands to the sides to tell others about the great news or raise their hands to praise God. I thought this day was particularly neat! And I didn't follow the directions completely again but let them color their shepherds with crayons instead, which they highly enjoyed.
Even baby Ryan colored with us. :)
Here were the final three shepherds:
And the boys hung them up "near the back" like we do with most of our homemade ornaments. :) :) :)
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