Since I wrote last….

Tuesday was a busy day around the ranch as we are preparing for a “week of camp” for children in the month of July.  This is a ministry of our home church.  

Between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, a very special event happened   I hope to have a special post dedicated just to this one event on Mary’s Show and Tell.  Come back on Friday!  (no, it was not the birth of our fifth grandchild – we’re still waiting……)

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Wednesday we went to the cottage to do yard work and to plant flowers in the flower boxes.  This was an all day event.

Thursday – Rachel and Joshua had riding lessons in the evening.  In the morning I finished planting peas, and at the same time the children got the house cleaned.  Grandma was here this day so the two little ones did have some school time, too.

Friday – Dad was home in the morning as this was the day of Pentecost.  There are several festivals in the spring.  It starts with the Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) - this past April 9th; The Festival of Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah) - April 10th; The Festival of First Fruits (Bikkurim) April 11th; and the conclusion of it all is the Festival of Pentecost (Shavuot) - this was last Friday on the 29th.  

On the fiftieth day after the crossing of the Israelites over the Red Sea, Moses called the assembly to the base of Mt. Sinai and it was here that he gave all the laws of God.  This was the day of Pentecost. The word Pentecost means “fifty.”  Are you surprised by this?  I was.  Until I studied the Biblical Holidays, I only thought of the word Pentecost as meaning the religion known as “Pentecost,” (like Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist,) and those that attend there are called, “Pentecostals.”    I didn’t know that the word Pentecost in the Bible meant the number fifty.

In our home, on this day, we gathered together in the parlor and we shared with the children what this day was and gave the history of it.  We also gave testimony of the night of the Passover when Jesus became the perfect lamb and was sacrificed for our sins, and when we accept Him as our Savior, we are saved from eternal death in hell.  We also talked about the Day of Pentecost after Jesus had ascended that the disciples were meeting together and a wind came in through the windows and a tongue of fire sat upon everyone’s head and they began to speak in different languages than their own. 

We had cleaned our house on Thursday in preparation of this day.  As a general rule, Friday is our cleaning day, in preparation of the Sabbath, in order that we may rest from Friday night to Saturday evening.  But with this Biblical Holiday of the Day of Pentecost, we arranged our week to follow suit.  We didn’t do anything “special” this day (like on the Passover and we had a dinner), but rather, we just set aside the morning to sit and discuss what was special about this day and read particular selections in the Bible.  Basically, we used this morning to teach about the Day of Pentecost, the history of it, and to call special attention to it. 

I find the Biblical Holidays all very interesting.  Some books in my library on this subject are:

The Seven Festivals of the Messiah, by Edward Chumney

Celebrate the Feasts of the Old Testament in Your Own Home or Church, by Martha Zimmerman

The Biblical Holidays, by Robin Samson

In the afternoon of this day, I prepared meals for the coming weekend in order that I wouldn’t be labored with cooking but still provide some nourishing meals for everyone.  I made a homemade chicken broth on Thursday, and on this day I added vegetables cooking in the crock pot.  I made a lot of it and this served as a warm meal on Saturday that was tasty.  When I noticed it getting low, I would add a can or two of creamed corn and a few cans of Cream of Chicken soup to keep it restocked. By doing this, anyone that got hungry throughout the day could easily find a bowl of stew cooking in the kitchen at any time they wanted. 

Saturday evening I looked toward Sunday in preparation of what I would serve to our home church.  I made vegetable lasagna and a bean dip made with refried beans, rice, hamburger meat, and Ortega taco seasonings and sauce.  Both recipes were kind of easy as I pulled the already browned and seasoned taco meat and the meatballs and sauce for the lasagna, from the freezer.  I put both dishes in the refrig and on Sunday all I had to do was to put them in the oven to bake.

Things I need to do this week:

#1 priority is to finish planting my garden!  I started a bunch of seeds in pots of soil on my screened in porch. I need to get them all into the ground. I’d like to plant additional seeds and perhaps some extra tomato plants.

#2  Errands:

We need a few items from Tony’s Saddle Shop.

Joshua needs some gym shoes and jeans – need to take him shopping.

Need to make a trip to Costas to get some things.

Groceries I need:  Tuna fish, bread, rice, freezer bags ….(I’ll add more later)

#3 The kids bedrooms need cleaning/organizing.

#4 Plan this week’s meals -

The week for fish?  I’m getting low on hamburger meat and chicken – but I have a plethora of fish in my freezer.  Perhaps I will ask the kids for suggestions today as I plan this and see what they would like to eat.

 It's Tuesday morning (having written the above post yesterday morning.)  I had a wonderful Monday morning.  Although I had a lot I wanted to accomplish, after having a busy weekend with lots of company, my Monday morning moved slow (which is usually my custom.)  I enjoyed writing a post as I hadn't been on the pc for almost a week. 

We did go to Tony's Saddle Shop and Tractor Supply Company.  And I also accomplished my goal of gardening.  I got almost everything into the soil that was growing on my porch in potting planters.

I now have peas, corn, and bell peppers planted in my garden.  I stayed outside all day into the night getting everything done. 

On the agenda for today:

With my goal yesterday to finish my gardening projects, my kitchen went to pot.  This morning my #1 priority will be to get the kitchen looking good.  For those of you without little children still at home, you may have forgotten how messy kids can be! 

It looks as if Dad will be home today - so this will structure our day accordingly.  We will most likely have Bible reading and perhaps some other reading, too.  Grandma is coming today, so several of the children will do some summer school.  I need to take a trip to Wal-Mart.