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This is part 2 of a 7-part series on Advent by Toni and Brian Becker. An Advent wreath can be as simple or as elegant as you desire. Traditionally there are four candles for the four Sundays leading up to Christmas plus a candle for Christmas Eve (or Christmas Day). If you want to purchase one, you can choose between modern or traditional. Here are a few places to get you started on your search:

This is part 1 of a 7-part series on Advent by Toni and Brian Becker. One very special way our family celebrates the Christmas season is to have “Advent time” together in our home. Advent is a season where believers in Jesus Christ remember His arrival on earth as a baby in Bethlehem and ready our hearts for His return to earth as the Lord of all. Some of our favorite family memories were born during these sacred, and dare I say, silly moments huddled around our fireplace, reading from the Bible by candle light.

The seven parts of this series are: Advent: Reclaiming the Spirit of Christmas Advent: How to Make An Advent Wreath Advent: The First Candle - Advent Service Advent: Lighting the Second Candle - Advent Service Advent: Candle #3 - Advent Service Advent: Lighting The Fourth Candle - Advent Service Advent: The Christ-Child Candle - Advent Service

In a nameless place on a clear, blue day, Death comes stalking, wearing blue and Gray. Hometown boys, nervous as cats. The fear was there, their first combat. It happened quickly, this fight over space. Neither side giving, wanting this place. Orders given, guns charged, lines of men drawn straight. Hammers cocked, eyes to sights, shots from a rifle expressing hate. The fight is joined with a roar of sound. Bodies fall, slam to the ground. Screams and moans as the battle rages. With all this death; no history pages. Death takes its toll, the only winner. The battle’s over, ranks are thinner. Neither side wins; the troops withdraw. Each side looks back with awe. No name for the battle,

By May of this year, the next president of the United States was narrowed down to three candidates: John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. One of those three was going to be the next President of the United States. FoxNews Article: Bill's Foreign Affairs Could Cost Hillary Cabinet Post It was a close race between Obama and Clinton in the primaries (a race that might have changed with a little more time, or if Florida and Michigan not changed their voting schedule and forfeited their right to help direct that choice). Hillary Clinton was almost the democratic nominee and with the current economic crisis being seen as a republican-created mess, she would have most likely won the presidency. Okay,