Shabbat is here!!!

Well, Shabbat is here.  What a blessing each week it is to enter into our Messiah's rest which He provides us each week. All we have to do is obey and enjoy! 

We enjoyed a nice and restful Thanksgiving yesterday.  A family that we are friend with came down for the day from Holmes County area.  We feasted on turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, apple banana salad, pumpkin pie, and whipped cream.  Yum!  And double yum! 

Then last night, we did some Black Friday shopping...yes, we braved the stores...well, just one.  Walmart had a really nice 16 megapixel camera on sale for only $69.  My camera's battery clip had broken, so I was in need of a new one.  My previous one had lasted 7 1/2 years, so I was pretty happy.  The new one was really nice - a pretty silver color too.  We got to Walmart about 9:50pm for their 10pm specials which is when the camera went on sale.  We got a good position near the camera display...then when they ripped the display open, I dove in for one while Daddy guarded my back.  :)  I was able to get that plus the camera case I wanted.  I was wanting to get a memory card, and a lady overheard me talking about it.  While I was waiting for the camera, she went and brought one back to me!  That was so kind of her...she was a fellow shopper.  We quickly headed for the registers and were all checked out by 10:05 pm!!!  How's that for some successful Black Friday shopping?!  Then, today, we went up to Tractor Supply for our annual supply of water softener salt.  They always put it on the best sale today, and we buy a pallet load.  It's fun to watch all the trucks lined up to have the pallets put in their beds. 

And this afternoon found me studying, working on a few things for Purify 2013, and getting ready for Shabbat.  So now, I will wish you a wonderful Shabbat!

Sukkot

Sukkot was once again a wonderful eight days of rejoicing before our loving Heavenly Father.  We go by the sighted New Moon as seen in Jerusalem, so our Sukkot started on Monday, October 1.  We had a couple of families who wanted to Sukkot with us who go by the dark of the moon, so they arrived on Sunday.  Also, we had three of the families in our congregation come over on Sunday to help us finish preparing - mowing the yard, fencing in the chickens, pulling the last of the weeds, setting up tents, putting up tables and chairs, and fixing food.  It was a lot of fun working togther!

Monday began the real excitement with everyone arriving.  That evening as the sun set, we had our annual opening Thanksgiving style dinner.  Since the first Thanksgiving was either a Sukkot celebration or based on the concept of Sukkot, we have taken that back and made it a "new tradition" for our group for the past three years.  Momma fixes her turkey and dressing, and each family contributes a dish to go with it.  We then had our opening session and enjoyed lots of good fellowship.

By Tuesday, we began to establish a daily routine.  Get up, enjoy breakfast and fellowship for a while, watch a Hebrew Lesson by Jeff Benner on DVD, fix and eat lunch which was our main shared meal of the day, enjoy a rousing afternoon midrash, dance before the Lord in our Davidic Dance class, pull out some leftovers for supper, and then have an evening teaching session.  We often closed out the night with a movie such as Flywheel, Fireproof, and Courageous. 

On Sunday, we had Aaron and Tricia Leu who recently wrote the book Love Awakened join us and share their testimony which is a very touching story of Yahweh working mightily in someone's life.  Monday morning was our "Breakfast Brunch" which is where we feast on eggs, turkey bacon (which we ended up naming "Turkin"), pancakes, fruit, hashbrowns, and fruit pizza.  The children also enjoyed some special activities and crafts just for them like a making a banner which said Sukkot in Hebrew letters and decorating it. 

Throughout the week, I most enjoyed the teamwork and fellowship as well as the many Scriptural discussions.  I also took quite a few pictures which you can view by clicking here.  Hag Sameach! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow! My mom knows how to cook a feast! We had turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, apple banana salad, and pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. Everything was from scratch and as fresh as possible. The pumpkin pie was from fresh pumpkins...and the sweet potato casserole was from fresh sweet potatoes. I enjoyed eating some of everything and yet did my best to not overeat. We are enjoying some good family time - eating, checking out the "Black Friday" sale ads, and now playing games. So a very Happy Thanksgiving Day to you! And did you realize that the first American Thanksgiving was really a Sukkot celebration???