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!