Thanksgiving Table

We used to have a tradition where before dinner, we would go around the circle of people and everyone would say something they are thankful for. Unfortunately, some people were dumbstruck by this idea. And some people just couldn't stand to wait that long for their food. Go figure.

So, this year, we covered the table in paper and handed out crayons and colored pencils. Then everyone got to draw or write what they were thankful for. No one had to say it out loud and everyone seemed to enjoy hanging out before the meal and working on their artwork while talking. I think we'll do this every year. Yet another way to focus on the aspect of giving thanks on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Tree

With extended family, our Thanksgiving Day tends to focus on food and football. I find the best way for us to institute a spirit of thankfulness is to think about it as we lead up to Thanksgiving. This year we put up a thanksgiving tree. It is in our entryway. We have a supply of leaves, a pen and some tape in the entryway, also. As friends and family come to visit, we ask that they write on a leaf something that they are thankful for and add it to our tree. And everyone that shows up for our thanksgiving meal will be asked to do the same, so we start with a spirit of thanksgiving.

We will also cover the tables in paper. Then we supply crayons and colored pencils, so guests can write/draw what they are thankful for this year. Again, we are focusing on thanksgiving. That way when they must turn on the football game, I can be content knowing that we have focused on what we are thankful for this year.

Pomegranates

Yay for pomegranates! I love them, and apparently God thinks pretty highly of them, too.

Ex 28:34-35

34 The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe.

Deut 8:6-9

6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land — a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates , olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

Growing Up

Babies grow up. It doesn't make any difference whether they are cats or kids or any other kind of baby. It's hard to believe that our kittens are so big. Just a few months ago they fit in the palm of our hands. Now they're almost as big as their mommy. And Rebekah loves to use them as photography subjects.

Sukkot - A Joyous Celebration

Also, in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather the increase of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days; on the first day a Holy Day Sabbath, and on the eighth day a Holy Day Sabbath. And you shall take to yourselves on the first day the fruit of majestic trees, palm branches, and boughs of oak trees, and willows of the valley, and shall rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim seven days. And you shall celebrate it a feast to Yahweh, seven days in a year, a never ending statute throughout your generations; in the seventh month you shall keep it. (Lev 23:39-41)

I love Sukkot. It's such a joyous celebration and an opportunity to spend extended time with God's people. There's nothing like it.

Dancing in the Sukkah

Dancing and singing praises to our Creator at one of His Appointed Times. A great way to start Sukkot.

Deut 16:13-15

13"You shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from your threshing floor and from your winepress. 14 And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, who are within your gates. 15 Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the LORD your God in the place which the LORD chooses, because the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.

Fall Harvest

Here is the first of our pumpkin harvest, just in time for Sukkot - God's harvest festival.

Lev 23:39-42

39'Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the LORD for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. 40 And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. 41 You shall keep it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

And here is the pumpkin harvest we are waiting on. Can you see the big yellowish pumpkin in front of Arianah. That is the one and only big pumpkin growing in our garden.

Park Day

Today turned out to be a double park day. This morning I took the little guys to the park while Jessikah had her orthodontist appointment. We went to William Mason Regional Park. The kids had fun on the playground there for almost 2 hours.

This picture was so cute. I'm bummed it was in such weird spotty shade.

Then, we had to take Jessikah to the dentist in Laguna. Since the only time we could get in was time for Shabbat dinner preparation, we decided to go to Bluebird Park and have a picnic dinner. Jim showed me this park while we were in Laguna for our anniversary. I knew the kids would love it and I was right! They had a blast - all of them.

Cool, tall rocket.

View of the playground from the rocket.

The kids greet Daddy when he brings the picnic dinner.

We only had a little over an hour at Bluebird Park before it got dark. So, we'll definitely have to go back.

School: Getting Back Into It

We have slowly gotten back into school. Of course, every day is a school day, even when we're not doing book work. But I have phased all the bookwork back in as of today. In a couple of weeks we'll be celebrating Sukkot, which puts school on hold. But, for now we're back in school.

The first subject of the day is Bible. The kids are working on their Bible study lessons for Community Bible Study. They attend homeschool classes and have lessons that they complete for their weekly class. CBS is a blessing that we have been enjoying for many years. I highly recommend it if you have a class in your area.

Arianah has to be part of everything. Today she was very diligently working on her coloring book.

Elijah is playing Leapster. He loves this thing. I'm glad it has educational games.

Here, Arianah is multi-tasking. Hannah works on the number balance with her while she sits on the potty. Potty training is very important. This is homeschooling at it's finest :)

Yom Teruah - Feast of the Loud Noise

"Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work'" (Lev 23:24-25)

I love how God blesses us with opportunities to obey Him. This weekend we celebrated Yom Teruah. (We follow the new moon conjunction to begin the month.) For some of God's appointed times, He is very specific about what we are to do in celebration. We focus on Yom Teruah as God shows us in His Word and we stay away from focusing on Rosh Hashanah and the man-made traditions that go along with it.

The instructions for Yom Teruah aren't as specific as the instructions for the spring appointed times. We are told to blow the trumpet - or make a loud noise, depending on the translation. Either way, the kids are happy to make a loud noise. They blew the shofars for a long time. I'm not sure how the neighbors felt about it, but I'm sure God was pleased. And, interestingly enough, this was one of the loudest dinners I have participated in in a long time. Maybe the kids were just keeping with the loud noise theme :)

"'On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. (Num 29:1)

We are also told to do no work. Gotta love that day of rest. If God didn't tell us to take it, I know we often wouldn't. We are always thankful for a day to rest and focus on our Father and our family.

Then, of course, we are told to "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Neh 8:10) So we feasted with friends. Food and friends are one of the greatest joys of life. I think God knew that.

And I do look forward to the day when we understand exactly what we are practicing for. In the meantime, we will enjoy the blessings of obeying our Creator and following Him.

Cuties!

She's just to cute! If she's all dolled up and accessorized, Rebekah did it. Good job, Rebekah.

HalleluYah!

We are enjoying a blessed evening of praise & worship. We have a friend that comes and stays with us and he plays awesome piano. We spend the evening belting out Chris Tomlin, Casting Crowns, Marty Goetz and many more.

Tonight my hubby was playing drums, my brother was on electric guitar and another friend was on the acoustic. And, best of all, my six year old was singing lead. How awesome it is to praise Yah and listen to that sweet little voice singing praises at the top of his lungs.

Shabbat Shalom!

Sweet 16

My daughter's 16th birthday is coming up. The years fly way too quickly. She is growing up into a a beautiful young woman. What she really wanted this year was to spend her time with two friends that live far away. She has spent Sukkot with them for the last three years and they have become great friends.

So, Jim and I decided to get airline tickets for her friends (we are very thankful for frequent flyer miles) so they could spend time together. Both girls arrived on Friday. One left yesterday and one is leaving tomorrow.

What a great time they have had. We had Jessikah's birthday dinner on Friday. It was really a distraction for her friends, so they wouldn't know that we had bigger and better plans for Sunday evening. And it was also a chance for us to sing happy birthday to her.

Saturday, we went to congregation, as usual. That was a special day because there were 5 young people baptized that afternoon. Then, while Jim and I went to a wedding, the big kids went to the Harvest Crusade. While we were all out having a good time, my wonderful Rebekah babysat for us. What a blessing she is to us.

Sunday's big activity, besides the teenage girls taking the teenage boy out shopping for some trendy clothes, was a limousine. Jessikah and her friends and two adults (one that acts like a kid and one that almost acts like an adult) went out for a limousine ride. They drove down to the beach.

They got take out for dinner from Ruby's on the pier. The people on the pier made all kinds of comments about them. People couldn't figure out what they were doing since they got out of a limousine and they were such an eclectic bunch :)

The next day we went to the beach. After all, you can't visit Southern California in the summer and not go to the beach!

That night they went to the Irvine Spectrum. Yesterday, they went to the mall again. Then we had to deliver Brandy to the airport and say good-by. Today Jessikah and Hannah are working on making an Anime video. Then, tomorrow we say good-by to Hannah. I'm thinking this will be a very memorable 16th birthday celebration for Jessikah. And the whole family got to join in the fun at one point or other.

Make Sure Big Brother Stays Informed

Here is a post from my friend, Jennifer:

I didn't believe it, but here it is, in black and white.

The white house is asking to be informed about people who are speaking out about health care. Guess we don't dare disagree with the government now? Casual conversation even? This is straight from the White House blog:

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it toflag@whitehouse.gov."

Go here to view the article.

Food

I am excited that our garden is going so well. God is truly blessing it! I have always had a brown thumb and never managed to keep a plant alive. But, with the help of God and my kids, it seems to be going really well this time.

The bees are busy in the melon patch. (Can you tell I love my melon patch?)

We have some pumpkin flowers now.

And lots of watermelons growing. A couple weeks ago, they were tiny. It's so cool, even tiny, they looked just like watermelons. Now we're discovering some nice sized watermelons. I can hardly wait to taste the first homegrown watermelon.

And Rebekah went into the melon patch and found cantaloupes! The little cantaloupes look weird - kind of like a hairy cucumber. But she found some full size ones that just need some more ripening.

And, remember that cow I blogged about in June? This is what half of it looks like packaged up and put into a 20 cubic foot freezer. That was one big cow! 500+ pound of grass fed beef. Woohoo!