Our Anniversary Day!

The day started out slow and I was convinced it was going to be uneventful. We woke up to the tail end of the storm and were just extremely thankful to have power! Many in our area are still without power still today. YHVH really sparred us from the effects of the storm.

Once the storm was officially over, hubs made the decision for us to try to get to church if it was possible. So he called and the van was able to come pick us up! We needed a few things so he went out to get them and I got the girls ready to go. When hubs came back home he had some fresh picked flowers for me. :o) I love flowers.

Then we went to church and got to fellowship and get prayer over our marriage and our family. But even more exciting than that..... We signed our ketubah!!!! So exciting! Its all I really wanted for this anniversary!

First hubby :o)

Then me :o)

(we also had our pastor sign and two witnesses)

The way we designed it, we have on one side our vows to each other in poem form and then on the other side our actual personal vows that we wrote to each other.

Our vows:

I, *Husband*, promise to love, honor, and protect Tewauna all the days of my life. I promise to always lead her in truth and provide for her. I promise to always be understanding and compassionate putting her needs before my own desires. I promise to guide our family in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord. I will train up our children in the way they should go and love them unconditionally. I promise to remain faithful to her until the day of my death. Through the enabling grace of God I will carry out these promises.

I, Tewauna, promise to love, honor, and obey *Husband* submitting to him as unto the Lord, putting his needs before my own desires. I promise to be his confidant and helper in all things. I promise to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and to always give to my family with all my heart, mind, and soul. I promise to live out our marriage covenant until the day of my death, forsaking all others and giving myself only to him. These promises I will carry out through God’s enabling grace.

The other portion read:

I join you to me forever. I join you to me in everlasting faithfulness. I will be your loving friend as you are mine. Set me as a seal upon your heart, like the seal upon your hand, for love is stronger than death. And I will cherish you honor you, uphold and sustain you in all truth and sincerity.I will respect you and the divine image within you. I take you to be mine in love and tenderness. May my love for you last forever.May we be consecrated, one to the other, by these rings. Let our hearts be united in faith and hope. May our hearts beat as one in times of gladness as in times of saddness. Let our home be built on The Word of God and loving-kindness. May our home be rich in wisdom and reverence.

And here is a picture of our ketubah :o)

We had so much fun making this together and I'm just excited that we got to share the moment with our church family. Now to find a frame big enough....

The storm is over and were all safe Praise Yah! I'll update more soon! *I'm trying out text blogging so I'm sorry if these posts look weird.

Thank you to those who were praying for us and that wished us a happy anniversary!

A year ago today.....

A year ago today I legally gave my heart to my beloved husband. I say legally because he's had my heart long before then. We made promises to each other in the past, but this one is documented!

We got married at our church in a small ceremony. And I really do mean small. It was our pastor, his wife, and four of their children. Our then 1 1/2 year old daughter was our flower girl. My family was away and hubby's family lives out of state.

We initially had a big wedding planned, but then I got pregnant. Obviously we were struggling with not being married so we decided it was probably not best to keep waiting.

Sometimes I wish we had an amazing courtship story of being pure and saving our first kiss for our wedding. But we don't. I just pray our children will learn from our mistakes and not make the same ones.

This first year of marriage has had its ups and downs. We've definitely had to spend a lot of time getting used to actually being married. Plus having two children. We certainly didn't do any of this the easy way.

Nonetheless I am extremely thankful for my husband and excited for the future that's ahead of us. He brightens my life and is the secret behind my smile. I pray that this next year we are able to draw closer to each other by drawing closer to YHVH.

We don't have any exciting plans. We're actually under a hurricane AND a tornado watch. We are one of the many families on the East Coast in the path of Irene. If you are also please know you are in our prayers.

We did plan to renew our vows and sign a nice pretty ketubah (that we designed) but with the impending storm I'm not sure if we'll make it to church. (We still have no car, so it all depends on if someone can pick us up)

As for now our plans are just to make it through the storm. But at least we'll be together :o)

Preparation Day!

Today has been a busy preparation day as usual. But not too much cleaning! Just a lot of baking. I'm making challah, baked fish for dinner tonight, cinnamon buns for breakfast, and vegan Jamaican beef patties for lunch tomorrow. My kitchen is HOT. But I'm excited. I love the smells of Erev Shabbat. It makes my house smell like a home to me. I can't wait for my hubby to get home and find out that I made him some patties. He loves vegan beef patties and I have never made them before so I know he'll be very happy. Our anniversary is on Sunday so I'm hoping to make this whole weekend special despite the hurricane heading our way! If you think of us please just keep us in your prayers that we won't get blown away in the storm.

I pray that you all have a a wonderful Sabbath.

Shabbat Shalom,

Amazing

YHVH never ceases to amaze me! I wanted to share this scripture with you all that just really spoke to my heart today.

Isaiah 56¹Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
 ²Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
 ³Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
 ⁴For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
 ⁵Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
 ⁶Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
 ⁷Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
 ⁸The Lord GOD, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.
 ⁹All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
 ¹⁰His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
 ¹¹Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
 ¹²Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

We really serve an Amazing Elohim!

Shabbat Reflections

Our Sabbath Table on 8/19/11

These last few weeks we kind of got lazy and our Shabbat hasn't been what it should be. Not meaning that we didn't have Challah :o) but that we weren't truly focused on YHVH. We just kind of went through the motions and were trying to catch our breaths. Its hard to dive into things head first, and with out the proper foundation its easy to loose steam. We know why we keep the Sabbath, and follow YHVH's commands, but with out people around you to sharpen you it's like you feel alone and confused. It's like running a marathon with out pacing yourself, you end up with out enough energy to finish. But I want to finish the race! So we regrouped and now we're back at it!  This Shabbat I was able to discuss scripture with some friends, listen to some teachings, read, and spend time with my children. But more importantly I was able to connect with my Abba!

It was a MUCH MUCH MUCH needed break from a pretty dramaful week. My hubby was in car accident (he's fine Praise God!) but our car is wrecked. Our insurance is totally dragging their feet so we are car-less. But I won't get into it too much. If you think of us just please pray that we'll get this all sorted out soon and find a new vehicle that we can afford so hubs can get to work.

Although this Shabbat is over I pray that we can carry its Shalom with us into the week.

Picture I found on google :o)

Shavua Tov!

Slow Cooker Wednesday

I'm so excited!!! While my family and I were away, in North Carolina, my aunt gave me a crock-pot and a hand-mixer that has bread hook attachments! Now I already had a Crock-Pot but this one is a much newer version and getting it resparked my interest in making easy slow cooked meals. So I've decided to start a series called Slow Cooker Wednesdays! I picked Wednesday because it's our church's prayer and bible study meeting night and I could use the extra time that using the slow cooker will allow.

Soooooo tonight's dinner is slow cooked lasagna, fresh baked bread, and corn! YUM!

For the lasagna you'll need: half a package of frozen spinach thawed and drained, 1 container ricotta cheese, 1 box lasagna noodles, 1 can pasta sauce, 1 bag (2 cups) mozzarella cheese.

I mixed the spinach with ricotta cheese to use as a filling. Then I put down some sauce in the bottom of the Crock-Pot, followed by lasagna noodles broken to fit. Then I put some of the spinach ricotta mixture followed by a layer of shredded cheese. Then I just kept repeating that process until the Crock-Pot was full. then I just covered it and set it to high. I left it on high for about an hour and then switched it to low. It's not ready to eat yet but here's what it looks like so far:

For my bread I'm following this recipe:

I'm linking up with: