Wordless Wednesday: The Eastern Gate, Jerusalem

The Eastern (Golden) Gate to the old city of Jerusalem, taken from the Mount of Olives.
Prophecy about the Eastern Gate.

***To see more entries or to join in and do your own, go to Wordless Wednesday or 5 Minutes for Mom.***

Happy new year ;) September 30, 2008

Today is Rosh Hashana, the Feast of Trumpets.

The themes of this holiday:
~the beginning of the new year on Jewish calendars
~a celebration and remembrance of the creation of the earth
(birthday of the world in Jewish tradition)
~“Coronation Day” The shofar announces God’s Kingship
~Day of Judgment
~the beginning of a 10 day period of serious contemplation, called the High Holy Days, and repentance in preparation for the Day of Atonement Yom Kippur.



If you're not familiar with this holiday, I hope you'll click these links and discover some wonderful things. God ordained the feast days of the Jews to help His people remember important things and to look forward to things He has promised. Here is a quote from biblicalholidays.com:

Most Christians don’t know about the Fall Holidays of ancient Israel; Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and Tabernacles (Sukkoth). If the spring festivals so clearly prophesied the first coming of Messiah, it stands to reason that the fall festivals are also prophetic of His second coming. The way these holidays are celebrated reveals specific information of the way they will be prophetically fulfilled.

It is meaningful and exciting. I hope you'll click......it's right here....click!
An overview of Rosh Hashana.
The Messianic significance of Rosh Hashana.

Rosh Hashana in Israel this year, 5769.

For a sweet new year.

God is still God...no worries

"Dow plummets record 777 as financial rescue fails" - do you think that's a sign? I just saw this headline tonight on an AP news release. 777? I honestly think that the Lord is humbling us as a nation, as families, as the Church. Look at the very clear signs of the times and put your trust and faith where it should only and always be. In the hands of God, who holds the future but also cares for His people as a Father for his wayward children. Thank Him for the Hope He gives us and ask how we can communicate that Hope to all the people who are beginning to be consumed with worry about their financial 'security'.

And God help us all as we go through this.

Psalm 4

3 Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD will hear when I call to him.

4 In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah

5 Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the LORD.

6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

7 You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.

8 I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety.

Real men

Paul Newman has died after a long battle with cancer. One of the things I really admired about him was also something they quoted him on in the news article on his death:

Newman sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood's rare long-term marriages. "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?" Newman [said].... when asked if he was tempted to stray

THAT is what being a real man is about. I know several of them myself and hold them in high esteem.

Tomorrow

There is a new button in my sidebar at the upper right corner. It is one of those ribbons you see everywhere, in all sorts of colors. It symbolizes that there are people out there who are fighting for a cure for Alzheimer's and Dementia, a cause I really would love to see become reality.

If breast cancer ran in my family, I'm sure I would have a pink ribbon for you to click. But it so happens that Alzheimer's and Dementia run on my dad's side of the family. He died from dementia 2 years ago. His oldest sister died less than 6 months after him. She had Alzheimer's disease for over 20 years before dying in her 90's. He suffered just a few years. I can't imagine 20. His other sister Ruth is in the beginning stages and has had to move to an assisted living center.

Sadly Alzheimer's disease is a slow process of losing your mind along with physical problems. It is usually a long road of suffering, helping, exhaustion and feeling alone. If you have a loved one with any kind of dementia disease, there are very good resources on this webpage, Caring.com. Two years ago even, there were not half the resources that there are today for people caring for loved ones with dementia. Eventually I feel like it will touch almost everyone's lives in western civilization. I hope and pray that they can find a cause, a cure, a reason, an answer, anything. It is such a devastating thing.

If you would like to make a button for your blog or website, click my ribbon. The steps are very easy. Mom, if you want help doing it, I'll help you soon. ;)

One day at a time we walk through this life. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. But we can live fully and well today. Don't let busyness make your days fly by without doing important things and knowing the One who gave it to us.

I was going to add Matthew 6:25-34 here and found it with fresh insight in The Message. As well as dealing with tomorrow's difficulty, it is also a very telling insight for the financial crisis our country is in right now. So I'll post the whole thing.

Matthew 6:25-34 (The Message)

25-26"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

27-29"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Alida's thought for the day

My friend Alida has a wonderful Thought for the Day on her blog at Blackpurl's Knitpickings. Go over and see! (especially if you're a teen or college aged type of person. ;)

Yeah toast!

My teens keep saying something and I was wondering where they got it, so I looked it up. They keep saying 'Yeah, toast!' in a high falsetto voice with their eyes shut, saying it is from a song about toast.

Just for diversion: The toast song.

So now that I know it's not from something strange or off color or something, I respond to them about 1/4 of the time saying "yeah, toast!"

I was trying to annoy Bethany with it in the grocery store today.....but a small Spanish speaking man gave me a strange look....heh

League of pdubs and missionary chicks update

The League of Pastor's Wives page has been relaunched and is now at a new address. Please take note. There is a cute button you can put on your sidebar if you'd like to put word out for these great ladies too. (see it in my sidebar, the code is on the league page) If you are a ministry wife of any kind, you are welcome to send in your blog address there and join us! Your blog does not have to be about ministry. ;)

Also a quick note, our missionary chicks are coming home! They will be leaving shortly and come home. It seems like it's been a long time since we saw them off at the airport. Here is their blog about their trip! It's very interesting reading!

Update 5 from Lilly of the Valley

We got another update from Lilly of the Valley. I will copy part of her email so that you can see how she has to write in code because emails are screened in this heavily muslim country.

As I said before, Heather and I will be living in a concrete house, which is nicer, but it is also better for our situation. The village that I will be living in is known for its sp*r*t**l oppression. It is known as on of the most evil villages in this area due to its strong influence of w*tch crft. It is a place that the last semester girls loved and you can tell because all the people who knew them loved them. It is going to be difficult, but extremely good! The Father has placed me there for a reason. The Father is bigger than anything that Stn can throw our way. His power extends to the ends of the earth and of whom shall I be afraid, whom shall I fear?? A blssng that we are living in this concrete house is that we are not living in our dad’s compound and that we can set our own boundaries and not have to be so much under his authority. We have the most amazing neighbor H. She seems very protective, but hospitable and is a great leader. She would make a great sister…yarp that she comes to know the true road this semester.

On the other side of the village of S there is a little girl and she is crippled. She crawls on her hands and knees and has been this way since she was born. Yarp that she will receive healing. I believe that the Father could do such a thing, even meeting her has caused my f**th to grow. How incredible would it be if the Father displayed His glry through her…just think of the possibility! Yarp that the Father would do His will in that situation!

I do not have malaria praise JC, but I also did not have anything show up in my other tests. My stomach is just NOT ok. B and K’s doctor friend put me on some medicine and I am feeling a little better. It should kill anything that is in me!!! We saw L that day and she was doing much better. By Wednesday L came back to Kollo!!! Which is amazing because B and K can support her better here rather than in the city. Thursday was spent in the bush and was semi-stressful! I believe that the Father let me see a glimpse of the evil that is in this place to make me prepare for it, but there is A LOT of spiritual oppression in our village.. Stn does not want us to be there, but praise JC that the Father does. These people need JC!!

It is so amazing the work that she gets to see, do and experience. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to pray for missionaries out in the world, especially in these semi-closed countries.

'aaaarrrrrgh

Aye, tis' talk like a pirate day if anyone cares t' know it

Gar.

A comment for an old man o'de sea?
Arrr, an' lea'e 'em translated int' pirate talk, ye go' it?
Arrr, just click the link t' translate your message.

Aye.

Strange but true

I got a sunburn last week that made my forearms pretty tender.

On the weekend I first noticed that the 'sunburn' had turned very red and was becoming raised. The only thing I could figure out, after looking on the internet and asking people, was that I had hives. A friend of mine suggested they could be due to stress. I have been hating, loathing, despising them all week. It was BAD. My arms were RED, they were itching, it looked horrible! I thought I'd never be rid of them.

But listen to this.....Charles left Monday for an almost weeklong trip. And there I was today, driving to the airport right after work to pick him up and I ran my hand along my arm.

NO hives.

I think I'm allergic to not having my husband.

Oh my Lilly

I'm either a fount of blogging posts or a dry well. But I have an excuse this time. I haven't felt very well this week.

So I wrote and then deleted a pathetic blog entry.

I actually just got on here to write a quick update about Lilly of the Valley. She is sick and they think she has malaria. That part of Africa is malaria country, so you are bound to get it if you are there for a while. But this will be her second round of illness since she left in mid August. Please pray for her health....and for her team as well. They will be moving into small villages this week to make relationships and do story-telling.

So please lift her up as she is in misery and far from home right now.

Weathering the storm

Some friends of ours are in Houston. He is being treated at the cancer center there, and they have been commuting for treatments there, then flying back to Arizona. They are stuck there now. He is in the middle of some intense treatments, so they did not leave. Here is the text message from his wife, L, that her cousin received this morning and then the group email her cousin sent out:

good morning just woke up
very ruf night
we are fine
worse over I think
I will call later
no coffee no power
hot sticky

And about the last call they were able to make before the storm:

When I spoke with her yesterday they were getting ready to hunker down. R had the air conditioner on HIGH, preparing for the heat once the power went out. They knew that they would loose power and cell service – even though they would be able to text. They had gone to Target the day before to get a battery operated radio and butterfingers (the necessities). They had already stocked up on groceries and water. She had packed all of their clothes etc and put them in the bathroom. The hotel had stocked up on food, ammenaties and brought in their own families and pets. They said they would not leave the quests. L said that some members of FEMA were also staying at their hotel; I think that made her feel better. She had even gotten some packing tips from the FEMA guys (she always makes new friends there). I am sure as soon as they get power and cell service she will call – I will let you know ASAP.

Thank you for your prayers....for Houston and all the people who had to stay there, and also for R as he is getting this intense batch of chemo.

Lots to pray about these days I've been noticing.

What Ike looks like to us,


And what it looks like to Galveston, Houston and all along the coast there:

Moz report and second grade sentences

Please stay in prayer for our ladies and man in Mozambique this weekend. They are traveling now, going to a village to teach a women's conference. Read their recent reports here! They are having fun, getting quite an eyeful and missing their families. Please pray for endurance, energy and even emotions for them during this time. For the weekend and also for next weekend, they will be staying in camping tents in these villages, using a homemade outhouse and eating unfamiliar foods that the villagers will be preparing for them. (scary) When you are out in a foreign country, at the mercy of the locals there, it can be very intimidating and frightening. They really do appreciate your prayers, even a quick heartfelt one as you finish this paragraph. =) Thank you!

On a lighter note, I was grading homework packets today. The second graders have to write a sentence for each of their spelling words. It always cracks me up to grade these, as the sentences are sometimes quite telling! (the spelling words are underlined)

~My teacher is mean.
~I am tired of this.
~I love my teacher hundred and more.
~I have too much page. (no spelling word in this sentence, I guess they just wanted us to know)
~My dog goes to bed at 9:20. (does it also tell time!?)
~My dad likes to keep his shoes organized. (reminded me of Charles. While my shoes are tossed in from across the room, his are neatly set in pairs. Sometimes I find that the closet elf has set my shoes up right too.)

Two things

Two things.

1. Our missionary team to Mozambique has a blog. Click here to read it. They are in Quelimane, Mozambique now and will be reporting back as much as possible.



2. Our Lilly of the Valley, who is also in Africa (until December) is doing very well. She is healthy and good things are happening. There is a mission group there for this week, so pray that much will be accomplished. The missionaries there have about 51 people who are Christians, along with some who are considering committing to Christ. One of these is a leader of the village, and his being baptized and converting may be source for persecution. It is a Muslim country. They will be meeting together soon and want prayers of protection over the believers there and against evil things that are prevalent there.

Thank you for your prayers.

Wordless Wednesday: The little mister

This is my nephew, little mister. He's getting his groove on.

***To see more entries or to join in and do your own, go to Wordless Wednesday or 5 Minutes for Mom.***

....stuff I did or thought or bought or cooked today

Well the ladies and their token hubby are well on their way across the Atlantic. I know this because Shirley's husband, Pete, coached my husband in how to find a live satellite feed of their airplane!!!! It is like a drawing, not a real picture, but still! I told him they were stalking those missionaries. Freaky. The mission team should arrive in Johannesburg tonight. Then they will make their way tomorrow to Quelimane, Mozambique to run some women's conferences for the women there.

I went to Walmart today....all by myself. No kids with me to beg me to buy things. So I bought stuff for me....heh heh. I had birthday money left and bought a nice new exercise outfit for myself....black capri exercise pants and a lime green v-neck t-shirt. It's awfully cute and was only $12 for the whole shebang. I will be cute at Curves now. The ladies there will be shocked. And they will wonder what happened to that woman in the dumping '80's style brown sweat pants and huge baggy shirt that in a very faded way says, "To my H llfl g r" across it.

As far as I can figure, I was in Walmart for almost 2 hours, by myself even. I wanted to make little greasy tacos for dinner....they kind you make with soft corn tortillas, chicken filling and lots of grease. I don't know why I go to Curves and then fix little greasy tacos for my family, but that is not the point right now....try to stay focused ok? Anyway.....

My friend Joann posted about chicken taco secrets a couple weeks ago, so I was going to follow her advice. She got her advice from her mother in law, who she lovingly calls the Tamale General. She thinks the secret to very crunchy, yummy tacos is using LARD instead of oil to fry them in. I have never bought lard.....ever. I have always seen it there on the shelf by the shortening and loathed it from afar. I have seen it on recipes I've made, but I always substitute canola oil or shortening.

So today I was really going to buy a small bright blue container of lard.....just to see if it really is so different and wonderful. But a very nicely dressed Asian couple were beside me. They had a handbasket (not cart) full of healthy little one or two serving items. I had a cart full of gallons of shampoo, dog clippers, hair dye and some produce for the tacos. I suddenly felt like the elephant in the room, everyone's eyes on me, trying to take in what i would choose from the oil section! I could NOT bring myself to pick up or even glance at the LARD. I found myself quickly grabbing the Crisco vegetable oil and darting away.....away from the thing that might have given me a name like The Taco Queen or something. (okay on second thought, I don't think I could handle being a Taco Queen)

The tacos were half crunchy and half kind of soggy. I got better at timing them toward the middle of the process.

And now I need a shower. I'm a greasy little taco queen. ehn

Sending more out

Please pray for our ladies from church plus one husband, who are flying across the ocean today. They are going on a 2 week trip to Mozambique, Africa.

MaryAnn
Bill
Jackie
Shirley
Joann
Kelly
Trina

We saw them off early this morning. They'll be leading women's retreats for the women in Mozambique.

Generation gappy

My sisters and I took my mom to see the movie Mama Mia this afternoon. We wondered if she would like a movie that really relates to our generation as far as nostalgia and humor. We went to the "Mama Sing" version of the movie. It had all the lyrics at the bottom of the screen, sing-a-long style. So after the movie, I asked her if she liked the movie.

She said, "Well........it was no Sound of Music."

"It was what we used to call bawdy."

My sister, "I wonder what your Sunday School
ladies will think of you seeing it."

Mom, "Oh they've probably all seen it already.
But we'll have something to talk about now."

We laughed a lot today.

Overheard in the classroom

Substitute teacher: So after reading this story about all the different kinds of dogs there are, what kind would you want?

Second grade boy: A really big one!

Substitute teacher Okay, why do you want a really big one?

Second grade boy: *thinking* So I can find him if he gets lost.

Me: *cracking up in the back of the room*

Lilly of the Valley's prayer requests

I just received another update from our semester missionary from our church, Lilly of the Valley. She is doing much better...she was sick for a couple of weeks when she first arrived. Here are her requests to pray about. She is really seeing God work in their relationships as a mission team together as well as with the people in the villages, also in their language schooling. She said it is like God is giving them supernatural abilities to speak and understand the language there. They can already understand at least half of what people say.

Pray for Lilly and for her team of missionaries there:

Thanksgiving:
~That the Father provided a house in the village of S
~For healing my body of all its ailments
~For the sweet fellowship with my team (and our instant unity)
~That the Father gave us a wonderful language teacher and that we have caught on so quickly
~For the encouragement of the believers here!
~For the people that He will draw to Himself this semester!

Things to lift up:
~The brothers and sisters here that they will have strength to not fast during Ramadaan even though they have great pressure on them to follow everyone else
~That the Father will draw people to himself through this time of Ramadaan and that they will seek the truth
~That the father will give these people visions and dreams of the truth and that they will be obedient to follow Him
~For continued health
~For divine appointments where I can share the Father’s love with the people of West Africa not only through my words and actions but just by my being with them!
~The children that so long for the love that the Father can give!

How you know you are in West Africa:
~When there is a big bug a little bigger than the diameter of a baseball outside your compound and it draws the attention of only the white people!
~When 22 people fit in a van semi comfortably
~When chickens ride beneath the feet of people who pay to ride in a taxi….
~When to get to the market you must cross a mini river of rain water (which has been known to take cars off the road with its force- we crossed it by foot ☺)
~When you go to the lab to have a test done and they give you a film case in which to get a stool sample.
~When you go to the lab and the technician is the person taking the money, running the test and looking at the test results and then handing back the results.

As the daze go by

Things I can't seem to get up the gumption to write about:

~Hurricanes. One after the other...yikes. Praying for the southeast.
~Monsoon storms here in Phoenix with hurricane force winds (80-100 mph) last Thursday night.
~Political conventions, interesting things you learn in a political race, and why.....oh, nevermind.
~People going to Africa, Korea, and all those utter parts!
~Second graders who do really funny things....which I can't recall right now, but I do laugh a lot at school.
~Maisy methodically sneaking and stealing paper products from my pantry, then tearing them limb from limb in the living room. She can steal a stack of paper bowls one at a time until the whole pile is gone and in shreds before I come to and realize it!
~A girl in college who freely gave her cell number to a stalker last week.
~A girl who is a new driver, who keeps coming in happily after driving and announcing things like, "I pulled in to the garage all by myself! It's straight! AND I didn't hit anything!" (makes my eyes bug out)
~The instantly sobering feeling lately hearing about gobs of people (who are my age or younger) who are having strokes, cancer, weird new diseases, having fatal accidents and in general scaring the bits out of me.
~Photos I've taken that I could have posted.
~Links to cool things my blogging friends have written.
~'Interesting' menopausal moments.

Yet, here my blog sits, quiet and dull.....like me lately.

Now that I have that out of my system, maybe I can get my gumption up tomorrow. Does anyone else feel in a daze lately?