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.