Category Archives: Faith
My Roots – From Christianity to Hebrew
My Roots – From Christianity to Hebrew
July 27, 2012
My Story
I was blessed to have grown up in a church where the “traditions of questionable origins” of the holidays were not promoted… we never had a Christmas tree in the church nor did we have Easter egg hunts on church grounds…Halloween was always spoken against although individuals at church did all these things at their homes, these things were never church sponsored. So to me that part was always thought of as “secular”.
Hanukkah 2011
Hanukkah 2011
December 20-28, 2011
I believe this year Hanukkah spoke to me in a different way than ever before. This year I felt connected to the holiday by the similarity of circumstance. Back in the time of Judah Maccabee, they lived in a country that did not worship YHWH (the God of Israel) in spirit and in truth. Many assimilated to the beliefs of the people with which they lived, even though the many times the word of YHWH says specifically not to do such. However, there were a few brave souls who did not just “go with the flow” and go along with the crowd. They stood strong in their beliefs of following YHWH’s “instructions to live by”, called the Torah. The would NOT defile themselves with the worldly pagan things. They suffered persecution and ridicule and even death for standing strong against the oppression of the enemy, but they did not back down. I felt the strength of the story of Hanukkah for the first time this year. I too have been bashed for my beliefs to follow Torah, nowhere near to the extent of the Jewish people but enough to understand that if you walk (or attempt to walk) a path to righteousness, expect to be fought by the enemy. The story of Hanukkah inspired me to stand strong in the face of opposition.
Last year, Hanukkah was more of a “fun-filled week” but this year I just felt differently about it so we studied more and played less. I try my best to just follow where the Holy Spirit leads me but I have a tendency to try to plan everything too, which usually gets a divine “rewrite” before the day is over. That is just how HE works sometimes.
Each year I decorate with blue, silver, and white because it reminds me of winter. I love it because in Texas we rarely get any snow or any real “feel” of winter so the best I can do is recreate the “feel” inside my home by the decor.
We did do a few fun things like bake cookies. I borrowed this “tradition” from my childhood holidays. We love making and decorating (not to mention eating) these cookies!
Austin’s “bar Mitzvah”
Austin’s “Bar Mitzvah”
October 15, 2011
Turning 16 is a pretty big deal. I wanted to do something for Austin to honor this “rite of passage.” We had all heard of a Bar Mitzvah from TV and so I looked into it a bit more. The word “Bar” means “son of” and “Mitzvah” means “commandments”. Now I am not big on following rituals and traditions from any culture but I kind of just took the idea and went my own way with it. In a nut shell, for Jews this is the celebration of a Jewish boy becoming a man and therefore responsible to keep God’s law and he is no longer under the covering of his parents spiritually. This usually happens around 12-13 years old. I would not have thought of my child as a man at 12-13 but at 16, I do. Austin is a very wise and responsible young man. I am extremely proud of who he has become and I do consider him mature enough to start making decisions for himself. What better way to tell him that… throw him a party!
I wanted him to be clueless to the fact that the party had anything to do with him. Just so happens this year Feast of Tabernacles fell on his birthday week. I just had him thinking everyone was coming over to join in the feast day with us. His birthday is the 12th but Saturday worked out better for everyone to be able to make it.
We barbequed and all ate our fill outside by our “Sukkot”, then while I had Austin taking in some of the leftovers, I snuck his gifts out.
Astronomy
Along with informative links, some posts contain affiliate links, thank you for supporting this blog and our family by purchasing through my links!
Astronomy
September 25-27, 2011
We were studying about “Astronomy” in science and so that took us out to the “Long Bridge” with our telescope in tow to see what we could see!
We set up the telescope and started to look around at the brightest stars.
Gourds of the Spirit
Gourds of the Spirit
September 17, 2011
I wanted do a craft with the kids that would make a harvest wreath for Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:34-43). I also wanted to label it with the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) The only “harvest” items they had at Dollar Tree was gourds, now I know that anything containing seeds within it’s self is considered a fruit so I decided they would work just fine!
We started with a vine wreath base ribbon, the gourds, and some fabric fall leaves of various colors.
Oh Happy Daze 