Sep. 29, 2009 Where have I been?
Oh where, oh where has our little friend gone? Oh where, oh where has she been?
It's not everyday that I sing to my blogging friends! You should be impressed!
I checked and the last time I posted was April!! YIKES!!
I am so sorry everyone!! I have been sooooooooo busy with life that it all just got away with me.
I hope to be more faithful to get on here more often.
So much has taken place since April!!
Without boring you with all the details I will list out the important events in our lives since my last entry.
May 09 Left to see my Marine son graduate the School of Infantry.
June 09-August 09 Re-established life in a cold Michigan. Came home to 10 acres of cut grass, 1 acre of VERY TALL GRASS......ABOUT 4 FEET TALL! Had to bush-hog 4 times and rake and pick up soggy loads of cut grass. It took us about three 8 hour days. We looked like scarecrows when we were done....grass coming out of every known and unknown place!!!
Began all of our entertainment in the preschools and libraries around the state. Lots of smiles and miles added to our line-up.
Saw our Marine son 2 times and loved every minute of it!
Had a surprise 50th birthday for my husband. Did the tire tracks in the 10 acre yard give it away? Yes.....but he pretended not to notice:(.
Here are some pics.
Took him to Ohio for some paragliding. He has always wanted to do this....he has had dreams of flying since he was a child. His dreams came true this weekend.
Our fellowship collected the money and sent us on our way! It was incredible!
That's Capt. Kurt on the right giving Steve instructions. That's Sherri, Kurt's wife, on the left also giving instructions.
Starting take-off
Almost up above the trees!
And he will soar as with wings like eagles.
Look honey, no hands!
He wanted to FEEL the power behind the motor....had to brace himself on the van.
OHHHHHH!!! UUUGGGHHH!!!! I stayed up late last night putting ALLL kinds of pictures on here and then hit the wrong button and LOST IT ALL!! INCLUDING MY MIND!!!!
I am posting this for now and then when time permits will post ALL those other pics and stories to go along with them. UUUGGGHHH!!!! |
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Matzah Ball Soup, haroset, horseradish, and the Passover. These all speak of a season that I love. We just finished our Passover Seder. This is the first year that we have spent Passover in Florida!
We have been attending a wonderful Messianic Fellowship in Boynton Beach, Fl and they put on a "Messiah in the Passover Seder" for 91 people. The tables were set with burgandy attire. The candles were lit by the mother at each table. Then the lights were dimmed and I along with 5 other dancers entered in with the Candle Dance.
This is a beautiful dance where we hold winie glasses with gold beaded votive candles lit within. The room was dark except for the candles on the tables and the candles that we were holding. Here is a picture of that dance.
As this dance ended the lights were turned back on and the ceremony of Passover began.
Intermingled throughout the night were readings about Messiah in the Passover. My husband and my son both spent time reading Scripture and the Passover story to the listeners.
This is my son, Jordan, reading from the Haggadah.
We concluded the night with a dance that I choreographed about 19 years ago. It's an interpretive dance performed to the song, Watch the Lamb, by Ray Boltz.
 
This was a very moving dance about a father and his two small sons going up to Jerusalem to sacrafice their lamb. The two small boys were to "watch the lamb."
As the story proceeds the crowd becomes unruly hollering, "Crucify Him!"
The dance depicts the father having to carry His cross. The children weeping and the oldest saying, "Father please forgive us. The lamb ran away." He tells his boys to turn and face the cross and "Watch the Lamb".
Very powerful and moving!
Oh, next year in Jerusalem.....this is my hope!
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Mar. 14, 2009 The Making of a Marine
December 17th....D-day for us. We watched as our son was wisked away in a Marine transport vehicle (a van with a Marines sticker on the side)....just sounded better....hee-hee.....to become a Marine.
My husband and I walked upstairs and cried and cried and cried. We didn't stop crying for two days. Not that we were sad to see him go into the Marines...but we knew he was no longer ours. He now belonged to the USMC. I couldn't protect him anymore...except through prayer.
We have waited 3 long months to see and talk with our son. The day finally came. We packed up our camels, loaded them down with all the goods from our tents and crept our way to Parris Island, SC to watch our son strut his stuff across the Parade Deck with his uniform on and his cover pulled low. He was so handsome.
We arrived at the island at 6:30am and stood under this sign. We were told that they would come and run under here and we would see him. We made a sign that glowed in the dark the said, "WE LOVE YOU AUSTIN PLT 3020". We stood there and could here the platoons chanting their "joeys" in the background. We heard them take off from the Parade Deck area and then they were "supposed" to come and run under this sign.
WELL.......2 hours later that hadn't run under....we couldn't figure out why.
I went into the visitor's center to check out the status of this and found out that we were given erroneous information and we missed him. UUUGGGHH!!! A mama that hasn't seen her son in 3 months is not one you want to give erroneous information to!!! BEWARE!!!
Well, dejected and a little miffed we headed over to the All Weather Building. We watched them parade in and get introduced. The main honcho(can't remember who he was) said some words then we were able to go see our new Marine! I cried, laughed, held him, you name it!! I couldn't believe how grown up he looked, so distinguished in his uniform. :)
We spent the day being led around by our new man and he showed us everyplace where all his torturing took place. :)
This is the sand pit where they did "motovational" PT. Ya, know...the kind were you end up looking and feeling like a sugar cookie when you are done?
The Barracks. This is where they slept, wrote letters, shined their shoes, guns and pressed their uniforms. They did every unimaginable thing under the sun here. Too many to even write about!! Can you say..."I, sir?!" That is all you were permitted to say for 3 months!
The infamous Marine group shower hold. They had 64 naked recruits in here at one time....they had 300 seconds to shower and shave and be by their bunks ready to get dressed. (They could only get dressed if the DI said they could).
The rest of my family experiencing the Yellow Footprints......eeekkkss!!
Now a Marine...he can smirk at his DI. I shudder to think of what they would have done to him had he done this as a recruit. Actually, he told us some pretty scary stories of things they did to him and others when they broke silence. :(
Where did my curly headed little boy go? He is now a US Marine!
There he is #4 from the left. Struttin' his stuff!
We had a welcome home dinner.....he loved it!
His Uncle Chris (a former Marine) and Austin singing the Marines National Anthem. Very emotional evening.
We gathered around him and shared how it was for us as parents that survived boot camp. We listened to him tell us stories of his experiences while on the island. It was a wonderful reunion.
We are headed back to civilian life with our son. He has 24 days with us then he is off to the School of Infantry. He will be stationed in North Carolina at Camp Geiger. He is there for 52 days then off to more schooling....then off to Afghanistan.
Pray for our son. He is fulfillling his calling and defending our freedom.
We are so incredibly proud of him! |
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Mar. 3, 2009 Garage Sale Days
Well, we had our infamous garage sale! After countless hours of work moving boxes, organizing "stuff" and staging everything to look like a showroom we finally opened.
Zoe was soooo anxious that we weren't open at 8 am like the signs said. But, I reminded her that we hadn't posted the signs yet so no one even knew that we were having a sale. She wasn't buying it!
We spent the day exchanging our long kept trinkets for a whopping total of $900.00!!! Woo hoo!!
My mom had some big ticket items so that helped.
We are hoping she will take us to the water-park with the dividends!!!
Now that the garage sale is over we have all the "keeping" garage pile in the living room. Remember that picture on the previous blog? Well, we are STILL living in that mess and it will be added to as my husband is preparing to completely gut the garage and put in cabinets and shelves. Yes, I will post before and after pics for you visual people! :)
Off like a herd of turtles today.....going to practice for a performance that we hope to do soon then to the resource library....I will have to tell you guys about this incredible find.....then off to the regular library. Kids are staying home with daddy this morning to get their schooling done then off with me for the afternoon.
TTFN!
ps. I want to post about a great "chore" card system I developed and see what you guys think. So, come back and check on me! |
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Feb. 22, 2009 Busy, busy, busy
It's been sooo busy around here. My girls and I spent all day Friday unloading my mom's garage.
You have never seen my mom's garage.....so I am posting a pic below.
This is the pic of what we pulled out of part of the garage......
This is all in the living room now....of which today my mom went through and created a garage sale pile.
There is still debris all over the place....but we are on our way to organization!
We plan on having a garage sale with just about everything here!!! I told my mom to have no mercy on this pile!!!
It took my girls and I about 3 hours to unload this pile and I rewarded them with icecream...I know....dairy.....don't usually do this, but my mom had bought some and there really wasn't anything else that was like a treat to give. So, I ":poisoned" my kids....yikes!!
They thought it was great!
So, now we are off like a herd of turtles to get this mountain cleaned up and ready for the ULTIMATE GARAGE SALE!
My girls are hoping to make some vintage pet collars to also sell. If they succeed in getting these made I will post a picture.
Steve and my mom are out looking for a new car for her today. Her lease is up on March 8th so he is trying to find her a good, dependable used car. Looks like she will be getting a convertible Toyota Solaro.
Much to my husband's delight....he will get to drive it!!
TTFN! |
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Feb. 16, 2009 Sunshine and warm weather
Am I boring you yet about the warm weather? Well, we just had our son's friend with us for 3 weeks...Zach. He came down from Michigan with us and stayed at my mom's house with us for the last 3 weeks.
We had a wonderful time of laughter, silliness (with two 15 year old boys), swimming, snorkeling, blogging, and eating. Man can boys eat! He says that Grandma speaks his food language....it's called Jiffy peanut butter, cheese, and milk.
Well, we have had amazing weather and now Zach is back in Michigan freezing! He called my son, Jordan, today and said, "Man, you gotta get me outa here!" He is in the cold, grey weather again and having a hard time with re-entry. It's always hard to go back after you've tasted sunshine and warm weather!
We have all been busy remodeling my mom's kitchen. She now has a breakfast bar with drawers that self close, new counter tops, new sink and faucet (with a great faucet that curves way up). A new fridge and stove were delivered today and I think we might be cooking in style
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Steve, may have earned the respect of other homeowners around here and may have some other work to do in the neighborhood. We are really hoping for this as it will help us out financially.
My girls are lovin' life here. Swimming everyday, trampoline everyday, outside in the sun everyday!
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We went to McArthur State Beach today. The temps weren't the best....70* and cloudy and windy.
The tram guy....probably in his late 70's looked at us with disbelief. There were 7 of us carrying snorkles and fins, beach bags, lunch boxes, chairs, towels, clean clothes with shampoo and conditioner, sand toys, book bags and the like. We looked like that movie "Vacation" with Chevy Chase!
The tram guy said, "You guys going to the beach? (he looked like he couldn't believe his eyes!) He was probably thinking....."they must be Northerners!"
Well, we all piled onto the tram.....stuff, kids and all. He drove us over this very long boardwalk that takes you to the beach. The boardwalk runs over the essuary. The essuary is a mangrove of trees and water. In this beautiful grove area lives all kinds of sea life. You can see fish, horseshoe crabs, lobsters, birds, crabs, and the best find of all.......a live starfish.
We were so excited to see this starfish. Zoe, our 11 yr old precocious daughter, says....
"I need to get down there and get that so we can bring it home."
"No, honey, you can't bring home wildlife, ' I say, "wildlife needs to stay in it's original habitat."
"But Mom, I can at least get down there to lift it up for everyone to see!" says Zoe.
It didn't take two seconds and she had figured out a way to get herself off that boardwalk and down into that water to get a closer peek.
After much coaxing she picked up the starfish for all to see. Jordan, our 15 yr old son, monkey hung over the side of the boardwalk and grabbed the beautiful find and brought it closer. It was truly amazing! It was salmon colored and the spines were quite pricky.
We took a pic of it on my cell phone......and if I figure out how to get it from there to here I will post a picture.
Jordan handed our prized possession back to Zoe who gently returned him to his wet home.
On the way back out of the mangrove Zoe saw a horshoe crab and a lobster....of which she commenced on screaming and running in the opposite direction! Go figure!
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Feb. 7, 2009 Note to self!!
I wrote a very long blog the other day. Full of antedotes and humerous stories about our time here in Florida.....only to have the entire thing go flying off into cyberspace with the push of an involuntary finger stroke!!
I laid my head in my hands and decided that maybe I wasn't supposed to be writing at that time...or maybe I just needed a lesson is safe blogging............it's called "write it in Word then copy and paste!" You will have no lost work that way.
So, I will be writing in Word when the blog is significantly long and hopefully all of my blogging friends will be able to enjoy Florida with us!
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Jan. 27, 2009 This is the Great Adventure
"Saddle up your horses,
We gotta trail to blaze
We have saddled up the 31 ft. horse, or house I should say, and we are blazing a trail to Florida
Good-bye snow, sleet and below freezing temps. We have sunshine to soak up, palm trees to sit under, and sandy beaches to play in. Can you feel the 81 degree weather yet? I can!
We are about 30 minutes outside of our destination and we are VERY ready. We've been driving for 4 separate days....about 8-10 hours a day. Lots of pit stops and this horse is soooo slow! But...whose in a hurry? We will enjoy the journey.
We spent the last 3 days with my dad and his family in Georgia. We had a wonderful visit with my extended brothers and sister. We played Risk, watched the Duggers on TLC, and went to the park...outside!!! The weather was so nice!!!
But can you believe I didn't get one picture? What was I thinking?
We will be staying at my mom's house for the next few months. She has a garage that she wants turned into a rental apartment. Then we plan to do some upgrades to her house.
We also have an opportunity to perform some dramas in the churches and schools in the area. We have a Treasure Box Tour that speaks of the message that where your heart is there your treasure is also.
We are excited to be working with another couple on this endeavor and hope to expand our horizons with more dramas that will teach biblical truths to children in a fun and interactive way. Our hope is to someday have enough of these interactive dramas that we can take them all over the country to all different types of venues.
Plug here: If any of you would like to have us come to your church....let us know and we will see about bringing these dramas to you!
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Jan. 9, 2009 Anai's Glamour Party
Anai is turning 10! She decided to have a few friends over for a glamour slumber party.
It was early in the morning when my 3 little girls came running into my room to remind me that I told them they could decorate today.
Well, schooling will have to wait! Creativity is on the way!
Down the steps they fly as they start a flurry of preparations for the big day. On the way down I overheard my 11 ydd say something about hanging our party parachute from the ceiling. "Oh, brother", this will be a sight to see!
The basement is finished except for the ceiling. It has the rafters still......this becomes our chin up area, our swing until we drop area and now a parachute hanging area!
Well, the girls were gone for 1 1/2 hours....I almost forgot about what they were doing until I heard......"Mom come and look!"
Sooooo, I peel myself away from figuring this years taxes....uuugghhh!....and skip down 2 flights of stairs.
"Wait! Wait!," they yell. "Don't come down yet.....we have to put on some music!"
Music is on and I open the basement door to find my husband has screwed down an outdoor woopdeedoo slide to the stairs! So, down the slide I go.......why can we feel all our bones when we do that?
I slide into a pile of pillows! FUN!!!
To my right the poles are decorated with pink and purple crepe paper.....they look like candy canes. Next to the poles is the birthday table, dressed in pink. It has a light pink table cloth with my sparkle pink face painting table cloth on top. Then there are wrapped presents and furry glamour hats placed strategically around the table.
To my left is my party glamour box fitted with boas, glasses and strings of beads all spilling out in a decorative fashion. Next to this is about 6 blow-up guitars and shiny pom-poms decorating the floor. To the left of all this is a "Glamour Table"....outfitted with boas, glasses, nail-polish, a glamour mirror and little notepads as give-aways.
Now for the best thing of all! They managed to hoist that HUGE parachute up to the ceiling with bright pink string. It is hoisted by all the handles on the parachute. Tied to the handles are my party scarves, hanging down in a very pretty fashion. Then they managed to make an intricate, but pretty pully system to let down two sides of the parachute. Out spill balls, and balloons on top of the party table!
Do I have party decoraters in the making or what?
We plan on having games, treats, face painting, dancing, karioke, movies, nail polishing, late nite stories, and very little sleep!
My girls are so excited that they can hardly contain themselves!
Who said homeschooling was boring...or routine...or outdated.....or less than educational....or without flair,....or lacking in creativity! Not ours!!!
The party was a huge success! As you can see by the pictures below. Even the big boys got into the action....guns and all! LOL
Did they have fun or what? Ahh,,,,,until next year! |
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Jan. 4, 2009 The floor is coming up and going down!
We put part of our wood floor down in the upstairs of the house.......only to find out that it creaked really bad the next day. My husband....the perfectionist.....was just sick over it!
After many phone calls and pacing he decided that we would need to pull it up....glue it and use longer nails.....then put it back down. UUUGGHHH! Have you ever pulled up wood flooring? It can be u-g-l-y!
Well, my daughter, Zoe, and I along with Jordan and his friend set up an assembly line. My husband was pulling up the floor, handing it to us. I was pounding out the nails, my daughter was yanking them out from their pounded out position, and Jordan and Sergei were sanding and stacking.
It was quite the team effort. I only hit the ceiling once with a board.....:( oops!
It took us about 6 hours. Well, we laid the rest down the next day and guess what? It STILL CREAKED!!! AAAAGGHHH!!!!
My husband decided to sand it to see if that would make a difference. It did! They stopped creaking! Go figure!
Now for the other 2000 sq. ft!
Anyone want to come and help? |
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Jan. 4, 2009 Day 3-8 of Hannukah
My husband and children went to a Hannukah celebration across the state.
There was about 200 people that joined together for teaching, praise and worship and just some plain old fashioned fellowship.
My husband played the drums for the worship team......hasn't played in 18 years and did rather well! We even had people in our fellowship that were astounded that he could play. It's been a well kept secret!
My girls were soooo impressed with their daddy!
Lots of food, fun, great teaching and incredible fellowship.
They closed out the time of Hannukah together.....without Mom......but there is always next year! |
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Day 2 was untraditional for us as I left for Florida for a birthday vacation with my mom. So, my husband and children carried on the tradition of reading from the Macabean story, playing the dreidle game and drawing pictures, and lighting the candles.
Pretty uneventful! |
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Jan. 4, 2009 My first REAL letter
Okay, I can let go of the strangle hold I had on the postman!! He will be very happy to be able to get back to work!
We finally heard from our son! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like honey to my soul!
My other son, Jordan, came running in from the mailbox.....it's a1/4 mile away from the house....grin.
He was hollering...we have a letter, we have a letter. He loves his big brother!
All the family was gathered from various parts of the house and we sat in our sunroom. Drum roll please..........
We opened and read that our son was adjusting to Marine life. He said that the Drill Instructors were CRAZY! He said he has never had so much screaming and cussing at him in his entire life! He said his body hurt, he was sleep deprived, and has to get up at 4am to do PT. Of which he said was fun. Go figure!
He said that for punishment many times the DI's will make them hold their M-16 out in front of them for 15 min. He says that the gun goes from being 8#'s to 100 #'s really fast. He said that his platoon messed up on drill the other day and they were sent to the Sand Pit 3 times. Sand gets in every crack and cranny of your body. Nasty he says!
He is thriving in the environment and very happy to be there.
We are just elated to hear from him!
I have become a mailman stalker.....grin. |
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Dec. 23, 2008 Hannukah at our house
1st day of Hanukkah:
After our family meal we cleared the table. Zoe, my 11 yod, took it upon herself to organize all the chocolate candy, the hahukkiah with it's candles, the nuts and raisins and the dreidel.
We all sit around the table waiting to light the candles. Usually we give this honor to our oldest son on the first night....but, if you read my other blog, he is in Marine Boot Camp. So, we gave the honor to our youngest daughter. She was thrilled!
Now we are sitting around the table with only the 2 candles burning and our wood stove crackling in the background. Then my husband decided to do a word picture. Out blow the candles and now we are in almost total darkness.
He wanted to give my children the understanding of how much just one light can make a difference in the darkness. My children see this picture every year as we do Hanukkah but they love it each time. It was amazing how much just that one candle, the Shamash, or the helper candle lit up the darkness. This helper candle is a representation of Yeshua, or Jesus. He is the Light of the World. We are reflections of Him.
The 2nd candle is lit by the helper candle and now has it's own light given from Yeshua. It really is a great word picture.
Now, we commence on the dreidle game. We play it by putting candy, raisins,and nuts into the center and then rolling the dreidle.....which for the 1st time in 10 years we couldn't find.....so Zoe made one out of dice. She put tape all over the die and wrote the Hebrew letters on each side.
When the dreidle falls to a certain letter you get a certain amount of the goody pot or you put in a certain amount. We don't advocate gambling so therefore when all is said and done we divy up all the goods and everyone feasts on the bounty together.
We then all sat by the fire, my girls on the floor with paper and colors, the boys on the couch next to dad and me on the floor with the girls. My girls spent the entire time drawing Hanukkiahs and Hanukkah decorations to give to me. My husband read from the Apocrypha about the Macabees and their story of redemption for the people of Israel. We love to hear this story every year as it helps remind us of God's faithfulness to His people.
Just as we finished the 1st part of the story our candles had burned down and we were all very sleepy and ready for bed.
Good night 1st night. |
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Dec. 23, 2008 Who needs the gym?
We are in the last stages of building our house and we are laying the wood floors.
WELL>>>>>my job was to get the 12fters, 10fters, 8fters, and 6fters off the big flat bed and into the new house. There was about 200 planks stacked about 4 feet high!
Do I hear stretch and reach?
I "volunteered" my 15 year old son to help me carry them into the house then as he went to get more I would arrange them like a criss cross pattern.
That's me! I am standing on the criss cross pattern of wood. Behind me are the cabinets for our schoolroom.
Are you feeling those thrusts and bends, curls and bicep work? No? Then you aren't working hard enough....I'm workin' up a sweat!
They had to be laid out crisscross to distribute the weight equally.
Now I am breathing hard, heart rate is up and I am only 1/2 way finished! My biceps are talking to me!
My back muscles are saying hello to me! My quads are feelin' like their gettin' a workout!
Arnold Swartznegger look out!
Who needs a gym? Not me! I have a house to build!
Get busy ladies! |
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I just got home from a l-o-n-g day in the blustery snow, navigating through Christmas traffic and snowy roads. My girls had to stay home today b/c they were under the weather. I started supper, turned on some Stephen Curtis Chapman music and then my 10 yod came up to me, grabbed my hands and began to spin and twirl ballroom style with me. She was cuttin' the rug! We spent the next 5 minutes just dancin' our little hearts out! I noticed my 8 yod with a pouty look and ran over to her, swooped her up in my arms, and swung her around in a gleeful twirl. She was now giggling and had a happy smile on! I happened to look over in to the kitchen to find my 10 yod and my 11 yod dancing together. What a happy scene that was!
Okay dancing is over.....hafta catch that rice that is boiling over! YIKES! |
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Dec. 22, 2008 From trees to flooring
My husband cut down Ash trees from our woods this Fall. The ash borer had eaten them and they were as good as dead. He felled about 20 -30 trees. They were huge! They sat in our back 40 for a time as the Fall rains had come and we couldn't get them out without lots of damage to the land.
Well, we finally were able to transport them to the mill and had them milled into 5 inch plank flooring. We intend to stain them in american traditional.
As I write my husband is installing the flooring. He has two rooms finished.....and as he says 100 sq.ft accomplished only 3000 sq. ft to go! Knock yourself out, babe!
I am looking forward to the finished product as it will be a beautiful contrast against our white beadboard and white trim, and stained french doors.
So, now I can tell everyone that we have flooring directly from our own woods! Cool, huh? Just like Little House on the Prairie! |
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Dec. 21, 2008 Friday Nite Sabbath Fun
We lit our candles, I said our Sabbath prayer...in Hebrew...with an English transliteration after....blessed the children by singing the Sabbath prayer, blessed the Lord for the bread and wine, ate our dinner...supplied completely out of the garden...potatoes, green beans sauteed in fresh garlic, fresh frozen corn from off the cob, and challah. We sat around the table sharing about what we were thankful for and what the Lord has done in us. Usually at this point we either read the Word or a biography or watch a family movie or.....like tonight!....we went out to play in the snow!
We have over 12 inches of snow in our back 40. My husband pulls us on a tube around the acreage. We go F-L-Y-I-N-G around the yard!! Y-I-P-P-E-E my children and I sing out loud! We take turns as we only have one tube left...the other got popped by a sled left out in the snow (that was buried and we didn't see). Snow flies everywhere...down our snow suits, in our faces, down our boots. We turn on the spot lights to the back 40 and we sail around like banchee indians!!
We got so covered in snow that we had to take a break. My children begged me to sled down the hill with them so, I said, "Why not? I'm covered in snow anyhow!" So, we sled down the hill over and over and over......backwards, forwards, sideways and all catiwampus! We had a great time.
We came back in and nestled in by the woodstove and it's crackling fire, greeted by our two Bichon's (which we just groomed and they are all fluffy!). Our toes were frozen, our hair wet and our noses dripping. But the kids and I will remember this night forever. Another wonderful beginning to the Sabbath. This is my favorite time of the week.
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Dec. 19, 2008 Yes, we celebrate Sabbath!
Yes, we keep Sabbath. I can echo the sentiments of others on this blog that we don't keep Sabbath for our salvation but for our good. We LOVE to honor Sabbath. We too realized that we were keeping all the other commands of God but this one. Then we argued that we "kept" it on Sunday ( even though we went shopping, cut the grass or did any other kind of work imaginable). We had to ask ourselves, "What did God mean when he said, "Keep the Sabbath day holy." Was the Sabbath Sunday? Well, we did some searching.
We came to the realization that the Sabbath was actually Saturday....hence our calendars starting on Sunday as the 1st day of the week. We found our that the Catholic Church had actually "changed" the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. You can read it right in their Catholic Bible. So, we asked ourselves.....does MAN have the right to change the Sabbath day? Who was the Creator of it anyhow?
Man thinks he can change God's laws. Man is arrogant enough to think he has that dominion. Well, we didn't want to be a part of that deception any longer. BUT.....how do we change we asked ourselves.
We do everything on Saturday....play sports, go shopping, buy products, etc. etc. How in the world would we STOP and do nothing? Well, we just decided to venture out and walk by faith. We figured if it has been observed for the last 6000 years we could glean something about how to do this.
Hence our journey began and we haven't regretted it one day!
We have been celebrating Sabbath for 14 years now and it just gets better and better!
Our children have known nothing else and to them this is a normal way of life. They think it's unnatural to do anything but rest on Saturday. And rest is something we do well.
We spend most of the day in our pj's reading the Word, or playing board games. Then at 2pm we scurry out of our pj's to get ready for fellowship. We have a home fellowship that meets in our home every Saturday at 3pm. We have aboutr 40-50 people that attend. We have a wonderful time of worship, great teaching that corresponds to the Torah teaching of the week, then we have share time and announcements and then we all eat from the feast of what everyone has brought. This usually brings us to about 7pm in the winter and even later in the summer. In the summer we play volleyball, basketball or swim in the pond after Fellowship is over. Sometimes we light a campfire under the summer stars and sit around and worship more or just tell funny stories. Many times we get into great theological debates! This is our all time favorite time of the week! The kids count down the day until Sabbath! |
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