Yesterday was Tisha B'Av, which simply means the 9th day of the month of Av on the Hebrew calendar. Historically this is a very significant date which now commemmorates the destruction of the Temples of God's people (both of which were destroyed on this exact day), and a time for grieving and fasting, symbolically grieving over the distance between ourselves and God... thus it's also a time to meditate upon our own spiritual journeys, a time to ask God to direct us and show us the condition of our own heart and inner temple. To read more about this whole idea of a temple, you may read a wonderful article here, Does God Need a Temple?, which I just read this morning.

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are.

~ 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

It actually all began way back when the ten of the twelve spies didn't believe God for the victory that He had already promised to them (see Numbers 13 & 14). You may click here to read more about "The Sin of the Spies" , an excerpt of which follows:

The Israelite community accepts the report, and gives up their dream of going into Israel. The consequence? If you don't want to enter the land, says God, then you won't enter the land. All Israelites will die out over the next 40 years in the desert, and only their children will enter the land.

Numbers 14:1 tells us the people's reaction to this news: "The people wept that night." That night was Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av. God declared: "They cried for no reason; in the future I'll give them good reason to cry."

Hundreds of years later, the destruction of the First Temple was to occur on Tisha B'Av. And 500 years after that, the Second Temple was destroyed on Tisha B'Av as well.

Upon hearing the negative report about Israel, the people sat down to cry. The land had been promised, but their fears prevented them from going forward. At which point God responds: "Today you cried for nothing; in the future I'll give you a real reason to cry."

Talmud - Ta'anit 29a

I am reminded of my own unbelief... how many times have I not taken God at His Word, simply because of worldy, carnal circumstances. Because of fear... how much ground have I lost?

 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

~ 2 Timothy 1

Upon realization of the state of my own temple, how my spirit does cry out to my Lord, Who is full of such grace and mercy!

23 Jesus said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes. 24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help you my unbelief.

~ Mark 9

I wrote a brief post about Tisha B'Av here a couple of years ago.

If I forget you Jerusalem
May I forget my right hand
May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth
If I ever don't think of you
If I don't raise up Jerusalem above my highest joy

 

~ Psalms 137:5,6

This weekend I've been reading from the book of Jeremiah, along with some of its contextual setting (a more concise summary of which I found in Mear's What the Bible is All About), and also yesterday and today- the book of Lamentations (which is traditionally read on the 9th of Av).

21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

22 It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23 They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness.

24 The LORD is my portion, said my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

25 The LORD is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.

26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

Av means "Father" in Hebrew... so it's the "month of Father", interesting... it is a time to consider our relationship with our Heavenly Father, and maybe even our earthly Fathers, deal with our past hurts, grievances, etc... This morning I listened to a fascinating broadcast by Dr. Michael Kavanabout here, where he shares some of the symbolisms found in Tish B'Av, along with his own spiritual reflections during this time.He discusses a bit of the process of getting back in touch with one's inner temple, explaining how grieving opens the heart, and then forgiveness opens the heart even wider. "Before we can forgive and come up into life (as seen later during Yom Kippur), we must go down into the darkness of the grave." Hmmm... that's a familiar concept there... reminds me of what our Messiah Yeshua did.

25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

~ John 11

Through this process of greaving, and true repentance of sins, the way is made for a resurrection... the coming of the Messiah and great healing within us. How is the temple inside your heart? How is your ability to love?

I found a great post with further thoughts on Tisha B'Av here at Messianic Moments:

Tisha B'Av ... From Sorrow to Hope

and another here at Religion Transcends:

Celebrate Tisha B'Av!

Technorati Tags: 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av, Temple of God, Biblical Holidays, mourning, fasting

Today we visited a little folk festival being held at a local State park just down the road from our house. It was fun, T made a beautiful corn husk doll that I'll forever treasure. N won second place in the greased watermelon race, and Chris learned how to make rope from poplar bark. We all chased baby S around. I especially enjoyed watching her dance and visit with all the people sitting in the open-air chapel, as we listened to the Gospel Bluegrass band playing their mountain melodies.

It has been a good weekend... a restful Sabbath. I'm finally starting to get used to Chris's being home on Fridays. It's a lovely arrangement, makes the whole weekend feel longer. Lately he's been working 10 hr. days (some days more), getting his 40 hrs. in Mon.-Thurs., which gives us longer weekends, and has been nice.

Last night we had a big Shabbat dinner, basked in the warmth of our special time together, with our Lord, by the calm glow of the candles and our blessings one for another. N remarked upon how much he loves the Sabbath traditions. T asked how we came to know about it. We talked, we laughed, and I thanked our Lord inwardly for the binding of our hearts together that I was feeling as my heartstrings were being tugged upon.

Thursday morning, the kids and I spent at the lake with friends, and then I was pleasantly surprised by Chris's early return home from work. Then on Thursday evening we were blessed by the music of Ted Pearce, live! I've been a fan of this singer/songwriter/guitarist for some time, so when I received an email from a friend (thanks Crystal!) letting me know that he and his sons (who are traveling and rocking with him, the "bearded band" as they call themselves) would be playing at a local coffee shop last Thursday evening, I was a wee bit excited. Chris and I took the kids along and went to the "Manna Bagel Shop", where we were warmly welcomed by a host of new faces.

We all had a wonderful time of worship with these fellow Believers, many of whom were members of a local Messianic congregation other than the one that we've fellowshipped with, all of whom we met for the first time there. Baby S, who loves to dance at the sound of music, did just that and at one point a gentleman handed her a tambourine, which she knew exactly what to do with! It was all that I could do to keep her corralled and out of the circle of dancers on the floor, lest she trip them up. It was a night of Hebraic dance, singing, clapping, testimony and heart-felt praise as we worshiped the God of Israel in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

I love the way that Ted explained the meaning of our Lord Jesus's name in Hebrew, which you may view here: Yeshua (wish I could figure out how to embed youtube on my blog here!) Many (most?) of his songs are taken straight from the Scriptures... as he said wryly, "Everyone please open your hymnals to the Book of Isaiah!" LOL

We bought his album, Hallelu et Adonai (Hebrew for Praise the Lord), which I've wanted for some time and absolutely LOVE! I think that I like it even better than his other one we have, Zealous Over Zion, which is also wonderful.

We'd almost taken the kids to a friend's house, but I'm actually glad that it didn't work out that way and they came along with us instead. Yesterday N told me that he was inspired by Ted Pearce, to diligently pursue his own guitar practice. That's good. T says that she'd like to learn to play "those drums", the bongoes, now. Hmmmm... we'll have to stick with the violin for starters, for now. We were all inspired by Ted's wonderful testimony of how he went from Atheist to Messianic Gentile Believer in Jesus/Yeshua, as well as that of a ministry close to his heart: March of Life.

My heart was encouraged. This has  been timely nourishment to my spirit, filling our home and our children's hearts with enthusiastic praise and worship of our beloved King as we sing and dance together. The Lord has really richly blessed us through His ministers lately, over here in NE TN, both local and from abroad.

I haven't even gotten around to blogging about how blessed Chris and I were to be able to go listen to and meet esteemed Biblical scholar, Dr. John Garr, at a little church in Jasper, VA. Many of his articles and books are available to read right online for free. I cannot recommend his well-researched and inspired teachings highly enough! How wonderful it was to meet he and his wife, and to personally thank them for the invaluable contributions his work has made not only in my own spiritual walk, but to the whole Body of Messiah. I'm eagerly anticipating the publication of the books that he mentioned he's working on.

Tomorrow I shall begin my week out right, with digging in the dirt as T and I tend to the garden (we've some squares to re-plant) and hanging laundry out on the line. Yes, this weekend has been music to my soul so far...

We had a wonderful time camping out last weekend, as we celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles/Ingathering, aka. Sukkoth, with friends new and old. We also helped our local congregation to build a little sukkah the weekend before in front of the church building where we meet at. They said that they build it there every year and leave it up for a couple of weeks to serve as a testimony for all who see it.

You may go here to read more about why we, as New Covenant Gentile believers in Jesus as our Messiah, Celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. Also, my dear friends Carla and Jenny have recently written lovely posts about this holy day as well, also known as Messiah's Feast, here and here.

A time for worshiping our King under the sukkah... this little guy was gettin' his boogey on!

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Revelation 21.3

...and for remembering Who is our shelter...

For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 27.5

And we're just practicing, because according to the prophet Zechariah, someday soon...

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to WORSHIP THE KING, the LORD of hosts and to KEEP THE FEAST OF TABERNCLES"

Zechariah 14.4,16

On Sept. 15, during the Days of Awe, we dedicated and blessed our baby S during our Messianic fellowship's Shabbat service, under the chuppah, which is actually a tallit (prayer shawl) right after we all sang the Sabbath Prayer of blessings over our children (the same one sang in The Fiddler on the Roof, beautiful!).

Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 19:13-14

[MOTHERS AND FATHERS]

May the Lord protect and defend you.
May He always shield you from shame.
May you come to be
In Israel a shining name.

May you be like Ruth and like David.
May you be deserving of praise.
Strengthen us, Oh Lord,
And keep us in Messiah's ways.

May God bless you and grant you long lives.
(May the Lord fulfill our Sabbath prayer for you.)
May God make you good husbands and wives.

May the Lord protect and defend you.
May the Lord preserve you from pain.
Favor them, Oh Lord, with happiness and peace.
Oh, hear our Sabbath prayer. Amen.

Thank you Father for our children, and for this new blessing in all our lives. Guide and direct us Lord, that we may be the parents you've called us to be. Draw our childrens' hearts to Yourself. May they follow hard after You alone. May Your hand of protection be upon this precious little life, which we offer back to You.

Click here to read more about the Sabbath blessings for children, customarily given by the parents on Friday evening.

Click here and here to see more pics of baby S.

I'm not really feeling very talkative lately (maybe you've noticed?), but wanted to blog a bit of what's been going on around here lately anyways. Afterall, I did promise an update, didn't I? So, what have we been up to?

Remembering, Celebrating & Worshiping

This last Sunday night Chris, N, T and I enjoyed a wonderful Passover Seder dinner with our local Messianic congregation, Beth Shalom.

It was beautiful, and the kids' favorite part was the dancing (well, besides the eating!). We've been reading together about the first Passover from the book of Exodus, and some childrens' picture books, and also of Jesus's sharing this meal with His disciples before His deah, and then His resurrection. N and T watched one of N's favorite movies yesterday, Cecil B. De Mille's "The 10 Commandments". It has been a refreshing time of encouragement, remembrance and worship for me, and for all of us I think.

Also, Jenny has a lovely post here about Passover, and the Cup of Redemption, which is ceremonially taken after dinner, and which Jesus Himself shared with His disciples.

The third cup of wine is taken after the meal. It is the cup of redemption, which reminds us of the shed blood of the innocent Lamb which brought our redemption from Egypt. We see that Jesus took the third cup in Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.'" This was not just any cup, it was the cup of redemption from slavery into freedom. This is our communion cup.

~ excerpted from The Meaning of Passover

To see more pics from our Seder, click here.

To read more about the Passover from a Christian/Messianic perspective, you may see my post from a couple of years ago here, and there's a good article here and another here.

Riding

N and T started their horse riding lessons again last month. Their instructor takes a break during the winter every year. So, they're beginning their third year now of formal English riding instruction, and are becoming pretty good little riders, if I do say so myself. I think that T is becoming more and more horse-crazy, if that's possible. She spent this morning, making home-made molasses and bran horse treats for the pony she's riding, Baldrick, whom she "misses so much"... She had the idea and did a search for good "horse treat recipes" on her latest favorite site, a kid-friendly search engine. Then, she wrote it down and followed the recipe herself, turned out some great tasting (yes, we tried them), chewy horse treats for her pony. Well, it had been a whole day and a half since she saw him last! *sheesh* LOL

On Saturday T had her first horse show of this year, and she was so excited that she barely slept the night before. I know because she kept waking me up every hour with, "I'm so excited, I just can't sleep..." We had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to get her ready and to the barn to help load the ponies into the trailer. It was a really long day for her, well week really, since she spent most of Wed., Thurs., and Friday over at her riding instructor's house/barn with her lesson and then preparations for the show (shaving and bathing the pony, cleaning and conditioning tack, etc.). She's looking forward to her first year of showing, once a month, with cute little "King Baldrick".

Chris and I have just been so blessed to see how the Lord's provided a way for her to participate more actively in this sport which she loves so much, but would normally be out of our range financially. J, her instructor, asked me if she could show this year, because the academy that hosts these particular shows is giving her free classes/slots for one student and pony to show in each month (normally each class costs a certain amount which can range from $20+ per show, depending upon how many classes the student shows in, the average being at least three), since she already has so many students signed up to show. And she wants T to fill that complimentary spot. "Of course!", says I, what an unexpected blessing!! I think her teacher, J, is just as excited about it as we are too, which makes it so fun.

To see the rest of of the pics from her show, click here.

Demolition, Planning & Building

The past couple of weekends, Chris and N have been working hard salvaging oak wooden planks from a huge antique barn before it's to be destroyed by a developer that Chris knows, who gave him permission to take whatever he wants. Though it's a messy job and alot of work, this is has been a huge blessing and answer to prayer, since Chris has been specifically looking and asking around for salvageable barn wood to use for the various building projects he's been planning out... our new and improved (larger) chicken coop (which he's now working on, pics forthcoming), a big harvest-style dining room table, a headboard for our bed, and a bunk bed set for T (she's been wanting "rustic, horse-style" instead of the girlie white wicker trundle bed she has now (which I love btw, oh well, 'tis her room). He plans to plane the wood for some of the furniture pieces. It's amazing to me how finished and beautiful looking his handiwork is once he's finished. He has such an eye for detail, a true craftsman. I'm sure that N will learn a lot from Chris, who has had N working alongside him like a little man lately.

Playing, Resting, more Planning, Learning & Cleaning

So, Spring has sprung around here, and we're all absolutely loving it!! Once again, we have daylight until 8p.m., the windows are open and we don't need to heat nor cool the air at all, which is so nice, and the landscape is turning all green again too! The kids have proclaimed the weather as suitable for playing in the hose-water on the trampoline and running barefoot outside. They've been spending a lot more time down at the creek too, which Samson loves (nothing like a romp in the mud and water to make a dog's day). N has been bringing armloads of bionicles and GI Joe figures outside to play, building them little forts, etc. and T has been playing horses outside a lot, both alone, with me and with her kindred spirit friend, M. I've been playing at taking lots of pics of Spring blooms, but have yet to upload any of my pics.

Last month was a welcome reprieve from the months prior, since I had one less baby I was watching. It had been getting pretty stressful for me there for awhile, so the month long break was very timely. I'd been sleeping in until 8-8:30 most mornings, glorious, I tell ya! The mother had temporarily moved out of state with her daughter (the older of the two babies I've been watching for the last year), but has just recently returned again, and asked me to babysit for her again. I accepted, so my mornings are earlier again as well.

Now I have two crawling babies here, a 10 month old and a 14 month old, chasing each other, and me, around... crawling up my legs, reaching to be held and constantly getting into everything. It can be a bit much at times (I'm finding myself praying more), but the extra income is so nice, allowing us to spend some $$ on (hopefully) finishing the renovations on our old house here, without going into debt, and we're going to buy a new mattress for Chris and I (yay!!) -so it's well worth the extra work and inconvenience to me and our kids. And it's only for a few more months... We'd spent most of our tax return on paying off all of our credit card debt, and so now the only debt we have is our mortgage, and I'd like to keep it that way!

This is little E, the three yr. old we're keeping, brother to the 10 month old baby I just mentioned. He's a sweetie, and I feel badly that he and his little baby sister will probably be stuck in daycare soon. Their single Mom has recently put herself on a list for income-based daycare. So, I may lose them anytime, really. I plan to keep the other baby through the month of July, and then will take a couple of months off from baby-sitting to have our own little bean that's due in mid-August. After that, I'm going to just play it by ear as to whether or not I'll babysit anymore.

The kids and I went to a local homeschool co-op's visitors' day a couple of weeks ago, and really enjoyed it. I plan on enrolling both N and T in the weekly classes for each of their age groups next year, and they ARE. SO. EXCITED. This will be our first time to join a homeschool co-op. We've also been drawing out plans for our garden this summer, some of which we'll be planting pretty soon. It will be a simple garden this year, with N and T each having their own "little bit of earth" to garden and care for. T is growing herbs and helping me with a few of the veggies. N has some flowers and veggies picked out to grow. I'll share our gardening plans in greater detail a little later.

Schoolish type stuff has been happening around here lately too, though minimally. But we're happy with it. Reading (both independently and aloud to me), writing (daily copywork, and some written narrations here and there) and arithmetic of some sort are getting done most days, and I read aloud to them at least an hour almost every day, but not nearly as much as I'd hoped to before we'd started baby-sitting. So, much of what we'd planned to do this year will be pushed over to next year I'm afraid, but so goes it. And you know what? I am SO okay with that... we've had a wonderful year, full of challenges and life lessons that we never could have planned for, nor anticipated. We've lived and learned together, exactly what we were supposed to for this season.

I've been quite pleased with how well both N and T have progressed with their writing this year. T has written some stories, and writes in her journal almost daily, this of her own volition. She and N both are slowly working through the Writing Strands 3 book together (originally it was just for N, but then T insisted that she could and would do it with him), and lately have enjoyed writing letters to friends and family (their idea even). Their spelling has improved greatly, I think as a cumulative result of all their reading, copywork, spontaneous oral spelling quizzes that I give them (per their request, from the lists in their McGuffey readers-they love it!) and our sporadic work in our AVKO Sequential Spelling book (something else we really like and will continue with).

N and T have each recently completed a Developmental Mathematics book at their own levels, but have both decided that they very much prefer their Singapore math books to the Dev. Math books, so we've happily gone back to Singapore (with renewed vigor and appreciation on their part), and will continue on with that program, at our own pace. This week we're taking our Spring break, and so I'm not requiring anything academic from them, and yet today and yesterday they both wanted to play their Singapore math cd-rom, Vroot and Vroom, "just for the fun of it", and there they sat hurriedly scrawling out equations so they could find the answers and get through the mazes! So, math happens anyways. As does reading...

I walked in the dining room the other morning, to find N busily munching left-over pizza for breakfast, thoroughly engrossed in a library book... gotta love it! Also, below are some pics of their recently accomplished copywork. I recently invested in a couple of books of quotes and verses, compiled by Sandy Queen, for copywork, "The Thematic Copywork Lessons for Girls" and "The Thematic Copywork Lessons for Boys" books. They may also be used for dictation lessons, and are designed for children in grades 4-12, but has been working fine for T too, since she's a pretty advanced writer for her age. Though it seemed a bit pricey at first, this has turned out to be just the thing for us. Now that kids know exactly what they're to copy to each day, independently, it's actually happening every day, consistently... no scrambling for a worthy excerpt, or squabbling over its length being "tooooo long!" Each days work is already laid out, lessons numbered, nice and simple. N even exclaimed to me that he really likes his new copywork book (he really likes to know what's next, and this way can easily see what he has to accomplish). So, it's working for them (and me), and they're enjoying it, wonderful! After they complete these books, I plan to maybe compile my own copywork book for each of them, for a year at a time, since this system works so well. Or maybe they could just copy from one text for a term, year, whatever, with pre-determined portions already marked out/decided upon?

The copywork books are typed in a manuscript print, and N and T transpose each of their lessons into cursive (which they were already becoming proficient at when we started these books). N had asked if he could write his in print, rather than cursive, one day, "to take a break from cursive writing for awhile". So, I let him, and it was so funny that as he began, he was surprised to find that he was having a hard time keeping from writing words in cursive (he's gotten so used to it), and even commented on how much slower-going it seemed, to write in print. So, he ended up choosing to start over and write that lesson in cursive afterall!

Here's some of N's recent copywork:

And some of T's copywork:

With all of this lovely weather, and plans for a very busy summer ahead for us, I've been feeling the need to do some serious Spring cleaning. So, I decreed this week Spring break for the kids, and for the rest of this week, that is what I shall be about- cleaning! This will also allow me to get used to having both of the babies again, see what sort of routine we all work out together, before trying to do too much more with N and T seperately. I did recently buy the Beautiful Feet Geography Through Literature guide and maps to go along with our Holling C. Holling books (we already had), hoping to get the most out of these beautiful and informative books. I'd really like to get started on that soon, but am wondering now if it's even feasible, or will have to wait until after our baby girl's born (and thus we're not baby-sitting the other three anymore)?

My brother and sister-in-law will be visiting us next week with their four kids (which they unschool). Michael has an interview for a teaching position at a college campus about an hour and a half away from us, and so may even be moving here this summer, if he decides to take this job. He's graduating in May with his PhD in Physics, just has to complete his thesis. I'm so proud of him and Sharon (he's been in school in a long time, and Sharon's done alot to help him make it work!), and so looking forward to seeing them - it's been a couple of years!

So, I think that this should bring you pretty much up to date with us, and I'm starting to get a stiff neck from sitting here for so long, so I'm signing off for now! Happy Spring to ya~

God raised him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name (Philippians 2:9).

Although Chanukkah (the Feast of Dedication) is not a festival specifically commanded in the Scriptures, we are told that Yeshua observed it in first-century Jerusalem (John 10:22). He certainly affirmed the importance of the Maccabean victory of 164 B. C. E. and celebrated the preservation of his people, Israel. A central part of the observance is the lighting of the nine-branched chanukkiyah (Chanukkah menorah, or lampstand) to commemorate the miracle of the oil.

We are told in the Talmud that as the Maccabees kindled the Menorah in the restored Temple, one day's worth of oil lasted for eight days until a new supply could be produced. Hence, we light one candle for each of the eight days. Why the ninth candle? We call this candle the shammash (servant). It is the first candle lit, kindled by the match; in turn, it gives light to the other eight candles. Although shammash means "servant," it is clearly exalted above the rest of the candles of the chanukkiyah. It stands taller than the others.

The shammash candle is a perfect picture of Yeshua the Messiah. He left his glory in heaven and humbled himself to become a shammash to mankind. Yet after his death, he was raised by the Father and exalted. We can only experience the light of God as we receive it from his Son, Yeshua, the Servant.

Thank you, Abba, for the light of your exalted servant, Yeshua HaMashiach (the Messiah)!

Today I will...seek to be a light in the world as I have received the light of Messiah.

~excerpted from the devotional book, The Voice of The Lord

T last night, on the first night of Hanukkah 2006, which was also the beginning of Shabbat.

We said our Sabbath blessings over eachother first. Chris and I laid hands on each of the kids, and prayed for them, blessed them. Then I read Psalm 112 over Chris, and he read Proverbs 31 over me (the kids love that part, they get downright giddy). We said the blessings of "the bread from the earth" and wine (kiddush) "the fruit of the vine", read and talked about His being the the Bread of Life (the Word made flesh), and He the vine, and we, the branches. I then lit our Sabbath candles and I prayed aloud for Yeshua's Sabbath peace and light to fill our home this day and always. We then remembered our Lord's work on the cross as we partook of the bread and wine (grape juice, it's cheaper) together. Afterwards, N recited aloud (read) the Hanukkah blessings as T and I lit the menorrahs.

In the last couple of weeks, I have been meditating upon thoughts of thanksgiving. I have been especially aware of blessings all around me this last week... gifts from my Father above. As I've been mentally taking note, I've given up on trying to scribble them all down as I think of them... too many, at all points during the day. Here are a few quietly whispered "thank yous" to Adonai... for His vast outpouring of love and mercies. When I take the time to notice, my spirit does sense His hand on my life, His fashioning of my days, calming of my soul... may I live in these realizations of His Presence~ fuller, slower, less of rushing off to the next thing.

Truly, He is immense, and leaves me speechless... one moment pouring blessings to the next, gifts heaping upon gifts. Life is full... without even trying. He is Rest...

I am thankful for...

64. sleeping in on rainy days

65. flannel sheets and pulled shades

66. rumbling box fan and the pitter-patter of little feet

67. hearing a busy shuffling outside the bathroom door, giggles and an explosion of "Surprise" and proudly uplifted giftbag as I open the door, "Happy Birthday Momma" sung gleefully through the brightest of smiles

68. my Chris's sense of humor

69. his love, and the way he says "I love You" when he calls me during the days

70. his words thoughtfully written on a perfect card

71. the way my son always draws a heart with an arrow through it next to his cursive signature when signing cards

72. my daughter's honesty as she writes in her journal

73. her creativity and zeal for life

74. our family's love... cultivated, sacred and shared.

75. Open windows in the Spring and Fall

76. my heavy suede jacket that my sister gave to me, all well worn and perfect for Autumn days spent outside

77. slow roadtrips through these hills of TN

78. stopping to meander through old shops along the way, enjoying Chris's company and that he loves it as much as I do.

79. comfortable jeans that fit just right

80. a new shirt in my favorite color, sky blue

81. Eternity~ my husband's favorite perfume

82. comfy white tennies

83. flip flops and toe rings

84. wearing Chris's flannel shirts

85. freshly laid eggs for breakfast

86. the sour sweetness of my morning lemonade (freshly squeezed lemon with raw apple cider vinegar and honey in cold, filtered water)

87. coffee with cream

88. lazy mornings watching the old b&w cartoons with my kids

89. that my kids like the old b&w cartoons

90. early morning quiet, when everyone else is still asleep

91. hanging laundry on the line, and its crispness when taken down,

92. the wind swirling, wrapping itself around me...

93. freshness in the smell of rain, a soaked ground and wet leaves

94. a car that's running good (still)

95. our friendly neighbors

96. having a house, our home, and the refuge it provides within

97. Chris's thoughtfulness in occasionally asking me if I'm happy, and telling me that he is

98. warmth and familiarity felt while snuggling on a cushy couch with Chris and our children, thick socks and sweatpants, legs sprawling and arms tangling under the blankets, watching and discussing movies, playing games, letting the world go by without us for awhile

99. baking chocolate chip cookies for my birthday, at my son's suggestion

100. the way my daughter measures the ingredients so very carefully, choosing to help me rather than watch the movie, grooving as she works to the jazz music dancing in our ears

101. the sincere praises of the family as they trimphantly dip and munch warm chocolate bites, hot chocolate...

102. sharing a blessing and plates at the Olive Garden, green salads with onions

103. chocolate mints

104. the moon rising, smiling down upon us as we travel

105. my Grandma's voice, sure and strong

106. my Mothers' prayers, lifting us up when we don't even know it.

107. my favorite blue and green turquoise earrings that look like little globes set in silver, and the turquoise bear necklace, birthday gifts from Chris, which he bought for me during our first dreamy trip out here to NE TN, where we hid away in remote cabin on a mountain three years ago.

108. My Beloved~ Dreams we share, the way we know eachother's thoughts, and finish eachother's sentences... his faithfulness, his strong arms around me, his breath beside me in the dark, our marriage bed, his steady ways, likemindedness and comradery in convictions and passion.

109. Soft and cozy, warm sweaters

110. walking through the mall with my family, with us all linked together as we naturally hold hands in a way that I could not have understood 15 years ago... and would have mocked.

111. that my heart is not full of the rebellion and bitterness that it was then.

112. memories of living close to the road, the train rumbling past our dark room in the night, bellowing its familiar warning into the stillness... shaking our little house, with my sister and I snuggled close in our shared bed

113. a childhood of adventure and intrigue

114. sketching my imagination

115. soul healing

116. freshly sharpened pencils and clean, white paper

117. the smell of tobacco burning in a pipe

118. thick beards on the weathered faces of men whose eyes shine with laughter

119. the crackling of leaping flames, a fire in the fire pit

120. snow on the groud, crunching beneath my feet, sleds and snowballs, wet gloves, socks hung by the fireplace, hot chocolate and marshmallows

121. Carefully handed to me, a cup of herbal tea my daughter brewed for me, sweetened with too much honey, in the new over-sized chicken mug she bought me for my birthday~ with her own money saved up.

122. Love letters my children write to me

123. evening rituals, requests for nightly lullabies and laying in the dark singing to those who love me unconditionally (and like my singing voice), just glad to be together, another day closing.

124. heat radiating from wood stoves and baking biscuits

125. home-made fig preserves, from Grandma's fruit trees

126. sitting around the table with family, bowed heads and hearts

127. Grandma's gravy over biscuits, she sitting in her chair, watching the news, across from Papaw~ always, their generosity, hospitality

128. home-made peanut butter ice cream and fish fries, with french fries and family

129. Aunt Ann's seven layer salad, her artistic talents

130. Mom's paintings on the wall, inspiring, stories of their childhood, so fascinating to me, family reunions, my siblings' children, blonde hair, black and red hair, and glowing cheeks, time passing and returning.

131. Papers in heavy baskets

132. bruised herbs between my fingers, lingering scent

133. flowered curtains, and freshly painted walls.

134. Holly hobbie and

135. scented candles

136. dried flowers from years of bouquets, glass hearts with long stems

137. satin ribbons recycled adorning freshly cut braids, flaxen, chestnut and golden hairs on the bathroom floor...

138. sharp scissors.

139. Quiet of staying up late alone, or with Chris, private pleasures, still moments.

140. simple FOLK music, acoustic guitar and violins, earthy voices, harmonica keeping time

141. coffee stains and smile lines, Dad coming home

142. getting ready to go out

143. clean floors, freshly mopped floors

144. painted toe nails

145. plush bath robes

146. antique dressers with beveled mirrors

147. deep bath tubs

148. big brown eyes peeking out from behind bubbles, hair swirling in the water

149. pony tails and jean over-alls

150. rope and tire swings

151. straight rows in the garden

152. waiting for and watching the deer together, rabbits bounding to and fro

153. tree forts

154. two-story houses with glass door knobs and creaky staircases

155. old porches

156. spider plants and ferns

157. the morning dew

158. begonias and pansies in planters

159. fresh thyme and oregano

160. heavy marble mortar and pestle

161. cold-pressed EVO and fresh squash from seeds we planted.

162. The joy of cooking with friends, family, comparing and learning new recipes

163. spontaneous picnics outside on a blanket, under the apple tree

164. watering our garden

165. gathering apples and peppers

166. walking down to the creek with Chris, and the kids

167. a new day, and another, beginning again

168. dreams that awaken and inspire, trembling expectation

169. a good story, a living book

170. learning from others, discoving new-to-me truths

171. how the seasons change, but stay the same, more noticeable to me every year, awareness that grows, ebbs and flows, Life cycles.

172. generations before me that have brought me here...

173. legends of those who walked this ground in ages past, remembrances that challenge my ways.

174. Our son~ with his goofy grin, perceptive soul, forgiving nature, strawberry-golden hair, blue eyes with sincere intents

175. seeing him engrossed in the pages of a book

176. the breakfasts he cooks

177. his gentle way with little children, like his Father, his desire for us to have more children...

178. the faith that I hear in his prayers, trembling voice as he prays for others

179. his love of nature, and tendency to find quiet places "just to think".

180. Thank you Father for giving him to us, before we knew how much we needed him, our son.

181. His brotherly love towards his sister

182. his love for animals and desire to be a good man.

183. I'm thankful for how he's been able to learn to ride horses well

184. for friends we have who love him, and teach him wonderful things that we couldn't offer

185. community

186. seeing him excel at something that he loves (riding horses) and win blue ribbons and Grand Champion at a large competition.

187. how he likes to write thank you notes

188. and reads his Bible each evening in bed (his idea)

189. how he hugs his sister after a squabble

190. how he (usually) listens to me reading aloud to him

191. how much he loves the baby we lost, hopes for another, prays for others

192. how so many of his mannerisms remind me of my youngest brother...

193. my three brothers, beautiful and each so different, reminding me of our father...

194. Newness of life, the way that the crocus and daffodils curl out from under the snow in Spring

195. honey bees buzzing busily in the meadow

196. wildflowers

197. black dirt

198. earthworms

199. worn garden gloves

200. gardening tools to use

201. our old apple tree blossoming in all her glory.

202. Our daughter~ her comradery and inspiration, her nurturing way, meticulous drawings, fancy letters and colorful personality

203. her exuberance as she plans our menu for visiting friends or family, or excitedly dawns "her best dress" for our Sabbath meals, carefully setting our table, relishing the beauty and ceremony, asking to light the candles and wear the scarf, and "Momma, don't forget to wave the candles..."

204. hearing traditional Sabbath blessings sang in Hebrew by a friend

205. my daughter's love for the language and desire to learn Hebrew

206. her initiative to get things done, which moves me.

207. I cherish memories of long nights that I've comforted her after nightmares, tending her fevers, singing in hushed tones together

208. holding hands and knowing glances

209. teaching her to be a better wife and mother than I, imparting patience and femininity

210. seeing that her strength is greater than mine

211. praying protection over my children, and knowing He listens.

212. long, flowing skirts, lacy cotton shirts with princess sleeves

213. bare feet

214. strappy sandals

215. heavy buckles and leather fringes

216. Rolling down hills in tall, cool grass

217. rock collections

218. seashells

219. and riding bikes down dirt roads

220. long hair braided

221. tiny glass beads strung with bells

222. poetry read aloud, over and over again

223. polished silver and porcelain plates

224. tiny tea cups

225. hand-thrown earthen vessels, glazed in blues and grays

226. the smell of linseed oil and turpentine, blank canvas, visions of grandeur

227. sunlight streaming through sheer curtains dancing on the summer breeze

228. listening to the clock tick-tocking in the silence... time passing

229. icicles growing upside-down

230. evergreens and holly berries, vibrantly red against an otherwise muted winter's pallete.

231. Perfectly unique snowflakes.

232. A summer etched in our family's collective memory... abandoned unity solidified, nights of camping-out, journeying down new roads, between homes, states, our existence like a single knot on an infinite string. Breakfast on shaky tables, lunch packed in a cooler, sleeping bags, motel beds and dinner on sticks, roasted over camp-fires, our family sharing a single, small tent, listening to the tap, tap of the raindrops outside, feeling eachother's warmth, melting into slumber together, the comfort of shared dreams, morning light and woodland noises, breathing in the fresh, green air, flashlight journeys and inchworms saved... reading the map, meeting surreal characters, seeing the inked lines materialize before us into road signs and new horizons.

233. Homeschooling with our children is a tremendous gift... is there any other way, choice, but to live together each and every day, to learn and grow in love... with time unfettered. Not for us.

234. We've always had what we needed, and more. The lean times have enlarged our table, plenteous has been our legacy thusfar.

235. Our wondering together over our wandering heritage, history, mountainous microcosms in everyday miracles.

236. God's Word stored up in my heart, which gives me faith to pray. Life is rich.

For to which of the angels did God ever say,
"You are my Son;
today I have become your Father"? Or again,
"I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son"? And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
"Let all God's angels worship him." In speaking of the angels he says,
"He makes his angels winds,
his servants flames of fire." But about the Son he says,
"Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever,
and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy." He also says,
"In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will roll them up like a robe;
like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end." To which of the angels did God ever say,
"Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet"? Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

~ Hebrews 1.5-14

237. a Sabbath rest....

It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts." For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

~ Hebrews 4.6-11

Homeschool e-store has another great offer this week, Biblical Feasts and Holy Days Level 3-4 Teacher Edition <<click here to go check it out!) This one is particularly timely, for those of you who may be interested in knowing more about the Biblical Feasts & Holy Days, their Christian significance, and would like a framework from which to study/teach them with/to your kids. Here's a description of the study offered in pdf, e-book form. I've downloaded it too, and will eventually print it out. It looks great!

Have you ever wondered why God established the feasts and holy days of the Old Testament? Teach your student what God expected from His people when they celebrated and observed the feasts and holy days. Discover how Jesus fulfilled some of the feasts with His first coming and will fulfill the other feasts in the future. Read about New Testament references to the feasts and holy days and events that took place on theses special days. This study will enable you to give your students a better understanding of the New Testament and all that Jesus did for us.

This teacher-friendly book contains lesson notes and drawings, memory verses, and reviews. Limited preparation time makes this an idea study for today’s teachers. Begin your study today!

Teachers can:
• Introduce students to the timeline of the feasts and holy days.
• Teach the feasts and holy days from both the Old and New Testament references.
• Show how Jesus has fulfilled some of the feasts with His first coming.
• Reveal to their students various aspects of the gospel in relation to the feasts and holy days.

But hurry! It's normally $14.95, and yours FREE until Oct 9th only!  (I sound like quite the salesman, huh? LOL) Can't beat it though! And I promise, there's no catch. I've downloaded and printed out quite a few e-books and notebooking pages from them already. You have to sign up for an account though, but that's free too, with no strings attached. They just email you weekly to let you know what the featured free item of the week is. Oh, and if you do happen to buy anything, let them know that I sent ya, and I'll get a bit of spending credit there too.

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested ^[a] from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. ~ Genesis 2.1-3

"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

~Isaiah 58.13,14

"Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sancitfied the Sabbath as a special day of rest. We praise you for your mighty act that brought light out of darkness and your miracle of redemption through Jesus who is the light of the world.

As I cover my eyes, may we be reminded that before Messiah opens our spiritual eyes we cannot see your glory. But as I spread the light of these candles with my hands, may the Holy Spirit spread Your light throghout our home on this Sabbath day."

~ Erev Sabbath, Shabbat Shalom: A Christian Guide to Understand the Sabbath by Richard Booker

Yeshua (Jesus), the Light of the world, is the Lord of the Sabbath. (click to read more)

CURRENT Theme is "LIGHT"
(Fire, Candle, Flame, Sun, Light Bulb, Spot Light, Sparks,...)

Photo Theme for Thursday

The other night (when Chris was on the 'puter) my brain was so full of swirling ideas- thoughts I wanted to write about, and now here I sit, totally blank. So, I'll just share randomly about my life lately.

The house is quiet... I'm so glad that Chris was able to take the kids to their riding lessons this evening. *sighs* It's so nice to be alone for awhile, even though I spent the majority of the time adding all the necessaries to a big pot of chili, and mixing up some buttermilk cornbread. But now, dinner's on... and I'm alone with my thoughts...

After awhile the *noise* level of a 3yo, and 4yo seemingly simultaneously squabbling and then shrieking with delight over their toys, and wanting this, or that, all day, gets to ya if you're not used to it. I'm not used to it yet! LOL And it does make it especially hard to read aloud for any length of time to your 7 and 10yo! *sighs* T and N have been such a big help though, taking them outside to play, and helping to entertain them as needed. Of course, my kids are still needing their own normal amounts of Mama time and attentions as well, and then the sweet little 3 month old baby (who is really the easiest and quietest of them all) crying out for her bottle... it's just enough to tire my mind. My hat's off to you Moms of big families... Yeah, I'm still not accustomed to the added decibels during my days of having these extra kiddos here. Yet, I/we find ourselves growing quite fond of them all too.

And oh yes! Let me not forget our Rosh Hashanah celebration this weekend. It was a lovely, quiet time spent together. For our Sabbath meal, I baked my first round challah, and it turned out beautifully, if I do say so myself. Chris and the kids all agreed that it was the best tasting challah recipe that I've tried so far.

Blessed son and (goofy) daughter...

This particular Saturday was busy, with my all-morning CPR certification class (small class, got done early!), N's annual 20+ mile bike ride down a mountain with his AWANAs group, and T's riding horses all day with friends. When we all got home, we went over to visit with some friends for the evening. Sunday I baked a couple of apple crisps, put on some coffee, and we relaxed together during the entire cozy, rainy day. Eventually we all walked down to the creek, and read Michah 7:18-20, Psalm 118:5-9, and Psalms 33 aloud, shared about repentance, and thoughtfully threw bread crumbs and stones into the water, each one symbolizing a sin or regret that we were confessing privately to the Lord, never to be remembered, or brought up again... This is an ancient Jewish custom associated with Rosh Hashanah, called tashlich. We thanked Him for His forgiveness, for our redemption in Yeshua, our Messiah. Then we let Samson jump in, and laughed over his romping through the water antics. Notice him here in this picture, obediently waiting... so very patiently... oh, he wants in that water so very badly... and then with us throwing things in there, that he couldn't immediately dive in after... I'm sure that he thought we were torturing him...

Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.
He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our^[a] sins
Into the depths of the sea.
You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.

How our children glow during our Sabbath dinners. They enjoy the day of preparation, the expectancy, getting cleaned up and dressed up for a formal dinner (candles, special tablecloth, linen napkins, and our fine china) with *eachother*, and our Lord.

Friday evening I'd simply told the kids to get cleaned up for dinner, and Tabitha came out with one of her fanciest dresses on, had brushed and pulled her hair back and even put on perfume! She must have said "Shabbat Shalom" about ten times after dinner. LOL

I think we're all really learning to love the ceremonial familiarity of it all, and relish the blessings we pronounce upon eachother especially. It's been a wonderful new family tradition to share, and we are truly reaping a harvest of blessings from honoring the Sabbath more literally together. We're beginning to better understand the importance of it, why God made it such a priority as to model it Himself in the first Creation week.

So, I've finally gotten around to trying to finish my pinwheel quilt (a neglected project from back in January!), but had to stop before I hurt someone, due to my dinosaur of a sewing machine continually locking up on me every few stitches, which meant that I then had to totally dismantle the shuttle and all of its other immediately affected components. Now I remember why I didn't finish already! It's the machine's fault, of course! After about the tenth time of putting it all back together, I was throwing in the towel when Chris returned home from an appointment, and offered to try his hand at fixing it. So, by the time he'd finished his jerry-rigging (yes, it's truly jerry-rigged, with plastic shims now in place to *theoretically* keep it from jiggling and jamming again), I was already over it, and reading my book. Tonight, I'm tired- and reading my book. Tomorrow, I may try it out again. What's really pathetic is that I'm at the very end of the project- last step, sewing on the binding, but I'm just too lazy to do it by hand! Well, actually I'll have to do the *very* last stitches on the back by hand anyways, but hopefully not the entire binding itself. Anyways, that's my latest bit of excitement.

Chris has taken all of the doors inside of our house off their hinges- earlier last week, and we both worked on getting them all sanded and ready for him to paint them last weekend with his sprayer, but alas, it ended up raining ALL weekend long here... so our breezeway is full of doors, waiting for Chris to have another full day available for painting (hopefully this week!). We're trying to get that and some other esthetic things around here done in the next two weeks, before his Mom and step-Dad come over for a visit from central FL, during part of their vacation time. Goals are good. We're meeting them halfway between here and their time-share in Sky Valley, at a favorite restaraunt in Pigeon Forge for lunch. Then they'll follow us back here to spend a night with us, and then they're taking our kids back with them to spend a few days in their lovely cabin, sight-seeing and enjoying eachother. N and T are counting the days! Originally, the plan was that I would be going with, but since I'm babysitting these kids now, I can't. *sniff*

Oh yeah, I finally got to see the new Pride and Prejudice movie! We'd gone over to some friends' house, my friend Robin and I having the intention of scrapbooking, but since we hadn't seen eachother in so long, we just ended up talking and talking. Eventually she made mention of the fact that she'd gotten the new P&P movie for her b-day, but hadn't opened it yet, and I was ecstatic! Once she realized that I hadn't even seen it yet, we ditched the guys (who we'd planned to play cards with up till that point) and watched the movie. She hadn't seen it since it came out in the theatres, and was just as excited to watch it again as I was. Chris watched part of it with us (he's a fan of the A&E P&P), and said that it felt "adulterous to watch the parts being played by these other actors"! LOL I enjoyed it, was entranced the entire time...
Well, the kids and Chris are home, time for dinner. Later!

*Bonus, great article: Restoring that which was lost!

L'shanah tovah ("for a good year") is a shortened version of "L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem" which means "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year."

This evening's Shabbat celebration will be a special one, for today marks the Feast of Trumpet's Eve. My daughter T, and I, have just made our first pinwheel round challah, using the challah recipe in this article. T loves helping with our challahs. We substituted freshly milled whole wheat flour for half of the flour called for, and used all-purpose for the rest (I like Hodsgon Mill's all-natural white ap). The challah from this recipe has risen fabulously so far (I've tried some that haven't)!

We've also made a carrot cake from scratch (complete with home-made cream cheese frosting, of course!), and we'll enjoy some apples with honey at our Sabbath table tonight, along with Apple Glazed BBQ Chicken. Chris has requested that I make some of his favorite, latkes. "Why wait for Hanukkah?" If I have time, I'd even like to bake an apple crisp from the recipe Carla just sent me *waving*. After dinner, we'll walk down to the creek behind our house and do tashlikh.

Tashlikh - On Tishri 1, during the afternoon, many Jews perform the ritual of “tashlikh,” or “casting off,” a ceremony in which Jews symbolically cast their sins into a body of water. We walk to flowing water, such as a creek or river, and empty our pockets into the river, symbolically casting off our sins. Often Michah 7:18-20, Psalm 118:5-9, and Psalms 33 and 130 are recited during the Tashlikh ceremony.

"Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.” ~ Levitcus 23:24

My friend Carla has written a wonderfully informative article on the significance of Rosh Hashanah to us as the Redeemed, and shared some of her own family's traditions here.

Are you curious about the Feasts, God's Moedim, and why they should matter to Christians? Click here for a nice, concise overview.

Quote:

1. Overview - A compilation of Biblical material on the Feasts, along with notes on Purim, Chanukah and the Yovel Year.
2. Detailed Look - Insight into the prophetic and messianic signficance of the feasts, including application in the "New Testament."

Why were the Moedim given?

* To learn more of God, His creation and His plan, including keys to understanding role of Messiah and the end times when He establishes the Kingdom of God. The Moedim are all part of his "revelation" to us, as originally found in the Tenakh, and further developed in the New Testament.

Read more on Rosh Hashanah here at Hebrew 4 Christians.

Rosh HaShanah itself, or rather Yom Teru’ah, has prophetic significance in the life of the Christian. The blowing of the shofar is prophetic of the rapture of the church, where those who are part of the Bride of Mashiach, the church, will experience everlasting transformation:

“Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet (shofar): for the trumpet (shofar) shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51)

Click here to hear the three different types of shofar blasts.

Read about the Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Hashanah here at Biblical Holidays.

The Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) are the holiest days of the Jewish year. These ten days are called the Days of Awe or High Holy Days. Unlike other holy days, they do not celebrate a season or historical event. This season is a time for looking inward to spiritual growth. The themes surrounding this holiday include:

• Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah literally is “Head or beginning of the year.”)
• God’s Royalty (Coronation Day)
• Day of Judgment
• Remembrance (Yom Ha-Zikaron, the day of remembrance)
• Birthday of the world

According to Jewish Tradition all the following happened on Tishri 1:

• Adam and Eve were created
• The Flood waters dried up
• Enoch was taken by God (Gen. 5:24)
• Sarah, Rachel, and Samuel (1 Sam. 1) conceived
• Joseph freed from prison by Pharaoh
• The forced labor of Hebrews in Egypt ended
• Job contracted leprosy
• Start of sacrifices on the altar built by Ezra (Ezra 3:1)

As we drove down a winding country road the other day, my son proclaimed to me, with satisfied air, of how glad he is that Fall is just around the corner. "It's my favorite season!" he announced jubilantly. "Oh, mine too!" I agreed, "for so very many reasons."

I love the coolness in the air, so vibrantly felt after summer's long, hot days... I love the smells of harvest and preparations for winter. To me it is the end of one year, and therefore intrinsically it is also the beginnings of the next... It has always seemed like a time of renewal to me, a shedding of the old... like so many falling leaves, bejeweled as they surrender themselves to death, thereby becoming the fertile ground of next year's blooms. It has been the season of my births, both physical and spiritual, and the season that I was full with the lives of my two winter-born babies growing inside of me. Yes, I love this time of year... for so very many reasons.

This month also commemorates the time that my husband baptized me 6 years ago now, on Rosh Hashanna, as we celebrated the Feast with our children and a company of friends and family in the Lord. The month of September correlates with the month of Elul on the Hebrew calendar, a time traditionally set aside by God's chosen people, ancient Israel, specifically "to reflect" upon the year closing. This idea has been on my heart lately, as I've been preparing for a time set aside... for me to reflect upon the preceding year. As a family, we will purposely re-dedicate ourselves to the Lord as we look forward to the next season of our lives together. It is the time of our Lord's High Holy Days, as given by Him to ancient Israel:

"And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts." " ~ Leviticus 23:1-2

:: Artwork is "Tomorrow" by Edward Raymes, from allposters.com

Preparations for the Fall Holidays begin a full month in advance. On the Jewish calendar is a forty-day season called Teshuvah (return or repentance.) It begins on Elul 1 and ends on the Day of Atonement (Tishri 10). This forty-day season is a time for one to annually examine his life and restore relationships between God and man. The first thirty days of this season are the thirty days of the month of Elul. The last ten days of this forty-day season are the Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement, or the ten High Holy Days (Days of Awe).

The Jews start the celebration of the Fall Holidays thirty days prior to the Feast of Trumpets, which falls on the first day of the seventh month. For thirty days the shofar is blown every morning in the Synagogue to remind the people that the holy days are approaching, and that they should prepare themselves. Their preparation consists of confessing their sins and seeking forgiveness, and going back to fix mistakes made during the year. The ten days between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) are called the Days of Awe.

~excerpted from Fall Holidays Overview at Biblical Holidays.com

Celebrating the Fall Holidays has become a beautifully integrated part of our family's Christian traditions over the years, as we've been learning more about our Hebraic Heritage. Each year we have learned a little bit more about the Biblical Holidays, and their Messianic significance and associated customs, as we have celebrated them a bit differently each year, with friends and family, according to varying circumstances. I find the topic fascinating and love to learn about these Jewish roots of our faith.

Elul -- the month preceding Rosh Hashana -- begins a period of intensive introspection, of clarifying life's goals, and of coming closer to God. It is a time for realizing purpose in life -- rather than perfunctorily going through the motions of living by amassing money and seeking gratification. It is a time when we step back and look at ourselves critically and honestly, as Jews have from time immemorial, with the intention of improving.

The four Hebrew letters of the word Elul (aleph-lamed-vav-lamed) are the first letters of the four words Ani l'dodi v'dodi lee -- "I am to my Beloved and my Beloved is to me" (Song of Songs 6:3). These words sum up the relationship between God and His people.

In other words, the month preceding Rosh Hashana is a time when God reaches out to us, in an effort to create a more spiritually-inspiring atmosphere, one that stimulates teshuva.

~ABC's of Elul

These 40 days were set for all future generations as days of repentance and forgiveness. These days are especially appropriate for personal reflection and repentance since they mark the perennial recurrence of Divine compassion.

~ excerpted from the history of Elul

Here is A Kids' Bible Study Workbook for Elul & A Family Handbook for Elul (both of which we'll be using during our Bible time this month, along with our Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays book) and other Fall Festival resources for your perusing.

Awake, you sleepers, from your sleep! Rouse yourselves, you slumberers, out of your slumber! Examine your deeds, and tur