Preparation Day!

Since the sun is setting later on Saturday than it was a month or so ago I have to prepare more food in order to make sure that no one is hungry. So I've decided to share our menu. We're sort of vegetarians. We still eat kosher fish but no other meat. We eat cheese, but drink soy milk and use margarine in stead of butter. Strange I know, but its us. :o)

Dinner: 

Tomato Basil Salmon, Mashed Potatoes, Corn and Peas, Challah, Fruit Cobbler with Ice cream

Breakfast:

Salmon cakes, Corn bread, Fruit

Lunch:

Vegetarian Soup, Challah, Fruit salad (kiwi and apple)

Snack:

Vegan Brownies or oatmeal cookies (I'm not sure which yet)

We usually eat dinners late so if anyone is hungry after Havdalah then I'll cook something quick.

Shabbat Shalom!

100th Post!

I can't believe I'm already at 100 posts!!! 

This blog started out as a place for me to work out my thoughts and document my growth. I had no idea that a year ago I would be in the place that I am. Many things have changed and I've grown so much closer YHVH. I was thinking and thinking what should I write about for this post when I opened up my Bible to Psalm 37. I NEEDED to read that today. I'm in the beginning of my journey. I have not arrived and everyday is a struggle. 

We believe my place is at home with our children. But doing so is different from how I was raised. I struggle with it. But this is what Adonai has led us to do. Submission, although I am willing, is difficult. Letting go of the idea that I am in control of my own life has been difficult. But I have chosen to delight myself in Adonai. His ways are not my ways. He has promised to give the desires of my heart. But I think that means when I truly delight in Him then my heart's desires will line up with His. I long for that. 

He says to rest in Him, to wait on Him. I am probably the most impatient person in the world. But still I wait. I trust Adonai. I trust that all that He says will come to pass and that loving Him and following His commands is the best thing. Not the easiest thing, but the best. 

Dressing modestly is hard. Not because I want to attract attention. But because its not easy to be set apart. To stand out from the crowd. When I go places in my long skirt and headcovering I know people wonder what's my story. My own family has a hard time adjusting. But I believe that this is what Adonai wants of me. I don't go around looking for ways to be different. He calls me to it. Before we (hubby and I) decided I should cover full time out of the home, I remember reading different passages during my normal Bible reading that alluded to a headcovering. I would show my husband and ask if he saw it too. I needed reassurance I wasn't cracking up. That indeed I was coming across these things, "randomly". Of course nothing is random Yah knows what He is doing. 

Although this road is not easy, having an Abba that gives encouragement right when you need it makes it possible. Today mine came in the form of Psalm 37. 

Psalm 37

 ¹Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

 ²For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

 ³Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.

 ⁴Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

 ⁵Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

 ⁶And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

 ⁷Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

 ⁸Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

 ⁹For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

 ¹⁰For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

 ¹¹But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

 ¹²The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

 ¹³The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.

 ¹⁴The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.

 ¹⁵Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.

 ¹⁶A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.

 ¹⁷For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.

 ¹⁸The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.

 ¹⁹They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

 ²⁰But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

 ²¹The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.

 ²²For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

 ²³The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

 ²⁴Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

 ²⁵I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

 ²⁶He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

 ²⁷Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

 ²⁸For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

 ²⁹The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.

 ³⁰The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.

 ³¹The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

 ³²The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.

 ³³The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

 ³⁴Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

 ³⁵I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.

 ³⁶Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

 ³⁷Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

 ³⁸But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

 ³⁹But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.

 ⁴⁰And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.

Spring

IT'S SPRING! YAY! I love spring (and fall) it's not too hot and not too cold. Everything feels just right! This spring its even more exciting because we're gearing up to celebrate the spring feasts! So I've decided to start a series called "Spring Has Sprung!" to highlight what we're doing around here for Spring. 

The First thing I'm supper excited to share is my indoor "garden" It's very small right now because this is our test run. I've never really grown anything but hubby and I think it would be really cool to grow our own food. Hopefully one day we will have tons of space to do so but right now we have to start small. Really small lol 

The small plant is strawberries and the larger one is tomatoes! :o)

Another project that hubby is working on is our bathroom. The tile floor was really a mess and needs to be replaced. But since we rent instead of doing all that hubs had a brilliant idea to make our bathroom BEAUTIFUL. I still need to find new curtains and such so when I do that I will update with the whole bathroom. 

Before

After

This really is a great time of year! A time of renewal and fresh starts! Are you doing anything special for spring? 

A Mezuzah!

This is not our Mezuzah but I thought this one was pretty :o)

Baruch HaShem we finally got a mezuzah! I'm so excited about this. We've lived in our apartment together for 7 months, hubby lived here for three months before we got married, and we didn't have a mezuzah! But we recently renewed our lease and got a mezuzah; perfect timing! It feels so good to be keeping another commandment! Adonai didn't give us His commandments so we could ignore them.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: ⁵And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ⁷And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. -Deut 6:4-9 

¹³And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. ¹⁵And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. ¹⁶Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; ¹⁷And then the LORD's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. ¹⁸Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ²⁰And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: ²¹That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. -Deut 11:13-21

Preparation Day!

Our God is an AWESOME GOD! I want to share this video with you all. This is so unbelievably interesting! YHVH speaks to us in ways that we can't even yet comprehend. In this video Mark Blitz explains a message that is hidden within the Hebrew text of Proverbs 30:4-7. This is just so amazing to me! 

Mark Biltz Q & A Yeshua in Old Testament

"But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." Deut 4:29

Shabbat Shalom! 

Book Review

          Well I finally finished reading The Committed Life, by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis, and I can honestly say I think I'm a better person for it. She touched on many areas in my life where I needed to work on and encouraged me to seek out YHVH's way to fix it. She inspired me to dive even deeper into learning the "Torah way". Maybe it's because I'm new to Torah Observance but she opened my eyes to things that I had never put much thought into.

            The book consists mostly of short stories. Which she explains is the way the Jewish Sages teach lessons. We can see that to be true just by turning to the Bible. Yeshua told many stories, parables, that were for the purpose of teaching. Rebbetzin Jungreis opens up her heart and discusses the death of her father and her husband. In doing so she allows the reader to really connect to her stories. She paints a picture with her words that makes you feel as if you're right there with her. She touches on many different areas with chapters on: inviting G-d into your life, responsibility/accountability, charity-tzedukah, peace, prayer, and forgiveness just to name a few. This is a book I definitely recommend for others to read.

“But even as the wisdom of the Torah sustained me in the past, I knew that it would enable me to make this new transition as well.[…]  To be sure Life is cyclic. At one point or another, every one of us will be confronted by difficult and painful challenges. Our reactions and how well we cope will depend upon our spiritual resources. Please do not consider however, that it is only in times of crisis that we require G-d’s guiding hand. In moments of triumph, in the hour of our greatest achievement, we need him as well. Without G-d, we are left empty. Our successes leave us with a taste of ashes in our mouths and we sense that there must be something more to life… but what? 

There is a charming story about an exchange that took place between a rabbi and a little boy.
“Tell me, my son,” the rabbi asked, “where is G-d?”
“That’s easy,” came the ready reply. “G-d is everywhere.”
“No, my son,” the rabbi said, “G-d is not everywhere. G-d is only where man allows him to enter.” 

It is for this reason that I have written this book--- so that we might open our hearts to G-d, invite Him into our lives and discover the blessings that will enhance our days, the blessings that are our rightful spiritual inheritance.”- Epilogue pg 333*

*Jungreis, Rebbetzin Esther. The Committed Life: Principles for Good Living from Our Timeless past. New York: Cliff Street, 1998. Print

Preparation Day!

It's almost Shabbat and my heart is heavy.... I usually try to keep my preparation day posts about Shabbat or something light hearted. But something happened today that made me feel just how hard it is to be set apart. Making decisions for myself is easy. When dealing with family sometimes its hard to go into details and when I just say "I don't want to," most times people leave me alone after that. But when it comes to my children for some reason it never seems to be so simple; at least not with my family.

You see my cousin is throwing a party for her daughter. My daughter who is two was invited. Now normally this would be no big deal! But this party is being held at an indoor water park. Sigh. While the idea of a water party for little kids sounds like great fun, my mind turns to modesty. This is not a secluded water park, it's not like the children will be the only ones there, AND its not likely that any of the children will be dressed modestly. Sadly in the world we live in, being near water means its ok to be naked. I can't allow my daughter to be around that. I know to some it may seem innocent enough but I can't knowingly and willingly submit my child to that. Some of my own family members have boasted about the bikinis they will be wearing. How then am I as a Torah loving follower of Yeshua HaMashiach supposed to handle this situation. 

Just simply saying no we will not be attending brings question after question of why not. When I finally just say point blank we don't want our child in that environment, although it may be taken fairly well, I know in my family it means I will be talked about behind my back. But that's not the part that is making my heart heavy. Its the feeling of not allowing my child to take part in what should be innocent fun! She's two and she has a few friends from Sunday school but how will it be received when she can't attend their parties because it's Shabbat? Although I   KNOW this is the right path, it breaks my heart to think that my children will have lonely lives. That they won't get to go to friends parties and that they won't have any friends but me and their father. While in a way that's fine and well, because I'm more than happy to be my children's friend, but the fact still remains that I am their mother and not their friend. There will be times where they may want a friend but I have no choice but to be a mother. We don't have a local Messianic fellowship and I don't have any like minded friends that live close by. This road is certainly not the easy road but I know it's full of blessings that I can't even pretend to imagine. 

Here is the patience of the saints: 

here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. -Rev 14:12

But I won't end this on a low note! Its's SHABBAT after all! :o) So enjoy this adorable video I found on youtube.