Summer Tip #1

Replenish your fluids.

The Holy Spirit Came and Clearing Up a Question

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1-4

Tonight we celebrated the Feast of Shavuot or Pentecost. We had a dairy meal of Cheesy Lasagna to remind us of the promised land flowing with milk and honey. The idea was to let the kids stay up late. They made it to 10:30. Someday when they are older we will stay up all night. During dinner J retold the story of Moses and the ten commandments and the story of Pentecost.

After dinner we played Bible Trivia. L gets very discouraged that B can answer so many questions and she can't . Telling her that when she is 8 she will be able to do the same never seems to help much.

Then in keeping with the dairy theme it was banana splits for a late dessert. A homemade version with fresh fruit is so much better than what you get at a restaurant. We also watched the National Spelling Bee. This was not something that was in the plans but I really wanted the kids to watch just a couple of minutes of it and they were hooked instantly.

Now to clear up the question that J and I are asked constantly......"Are you Jewish?".

And the answer is.........No, but we are adopted into God's family by the Jewish Messiah. So now that I see it written down I guess we are kind of Jewish. Messianic Jewish that is. If J and I go and adopt a child from another country, from a completely different culture, and we brought that child to our home to be a part of our family would we then say,"You celebrate your holidays and we will celebrate ours." No, we would teach that child what we believe. They would become part of our traditions, our celebrations, and our memories. This is exactly how we see it in God's family. Many Christians don't like to think that the Israelites are God's chosen but I've got news for them, they were and they are. Thankfully God sent his Son to extend their salvation to us.

We celebrate the Feasts of the Lord and the Sabbath because God calls His people to. Jesus celebrated the Feasts. He also celebrated Hanukkah which isn't one of the original Feasts. The church you read about in Acts was celebrating the Feasts. There is evidence all over those first five books of the New Testament of the Feasts. It was the Council of Nicea who made decisions that has led the Church away from these great celebrations. So I ask, If Jesus celebrated these God appointed feasts why would His followers not?

Here is just a brief overview of the Feast of Shavuot and a few connections between Old and New Testament.

The Feast of Shavuot was to remember when Moses came down Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments and it was on the day of the feast of Shavuot that the Holy Spirit came down on the believers in the upper room and is recorded in the book of Acts.

Moses was on Mt Sinai for 40 days. Jesus was on the earth 40 days after he rose and before he ascended to heaven.

Moses carried the law written on stone while the Holy spirit wrote the Law on the believers hearts.

When Moses came down and saw the Golden calf 3000 perished that day. After the Holy Spirit came upon the believers 3000 were saved.

This is just a snippet of the awesome things to discover in the Lords Feasts. There will be more on this topic including the Sabbath later. Feel free to ask any questions.

Now to end with two funny B questions from tonight.

1.) Daddy, How long were their heads on fire?

2.) Why in the world would you name your son Ham? It sounds like a sandwich.(Referencing Noah's son's name.)

In Memory......

.........of my Grandma Page.

So my Grandma was obsessed about taking ALL the toiletries from a hotel. My Grandpa and her would travel a lot so there was never a shortage of small bottles of shampoo, lotion, soap, etc.. The big jackpot was a tiny sewing kit and shoe shine towel!!! Here H is taking this generational trait to a whole new level as she tries to stash the decorative soap plate in my purse. Now I must admit this trait hasn't skipped a generation. While I don't take all the small bottles I still see the small sewing kit and the shoe shine kit a jackpot. My Grandma would've been proud. I miss her.

I Will Not Forget

Do you ever take pictures in your mind? Do you have those moments that are some how etched in like it was just yesterday? Maybe it's a smell, a song, or a picture that can take you to a moment in the past. I like to take pictures...in my mind. Over the years the Lord has led me to take pictures of some things and I have no idea why. But lately some of that is starting to make sense.

Many times the things the Lord has me take mental pictures of involves being a wife or a mother. I just had one of those experiences this past weekend. We were out of town. We had been in the car for about four hours with 90 minutes of that being parked while doing school in the van. The kids did well. There had been a couple of incidents but overall things were good. We decided to go out for dinner and after a 20 minute wait we were seated. We picked Mexican since we know never-ending chips from the get go is always great when dining with 3 hungry, tired kids. Once the food came H decided she wanted my meal and did not want her chips and the little bit of rice and beans I had given her. She continued to shriek at the top of her lungs and throw her chips on the floor. Now those of you who know H are probably thinking I'm lying right now since 95% of the time she is this cute little angel. Well she has definitely found her opinion and while she doesn't show it much, when she does you better watch out. I was trying to get her calmed down but at the same time had to discipline her. Across from me there was a woman who I'm guessing was out with her husband while all of her teenagers were at their activities for the night. She had such a look of annoyance on her face that I just wanted to crawl under the table. I finally picked up H and took her outside for a walk. The Lord had me take a picture.

I never want to forget what it is like. When all of my kids are grown and out of the house how am I going to encourage younger women if I have no recollection of life with small children? This is the Titus 2 calling.

Mmmmm......

H enjoyed her first ever Jo-Jo. This kept her quiet for a good 15 minutes. A Jo-Jo is Trader Joe's version of the Oreo but without all the junk you shouldn't be eating. Once you have a Jo-Jo you will never want an Oreo again. They are that good!!!

Ahhhhh, Life is good.

Good News Academy:On the Road

The Good News Academy was on the road again. This time it was only for an hour and a half and not three hours.

H slept through lunch on the way so she ate in her "Play Area" on the floor.

B doing his math in the front seat.

L doing a drawing book in the back. We got this drawing book from the library and both kids have really enjoyed it but L absolutely loves it. We will definitely be buying some of these to add to our never ending book collection.

H loves to smile and pose for the camera. She was pretty good considering there is really no way for her to move easily around the van. I definitely think an RV would make school on the road easier. That could be a business expense right?

VENT!!!!

OK so I have many posts coming but now I need to VENT!!!!

So 3 years ago Liah was in the hospital for febrile seizures. It was one of those great medical moments where after three days of tests they came to the conclusion that I had come to three days prior and then said,"And that will be $20,000."!!! So here we are three years later and I'm still dealing with billing for it. Wait, let me clarify.....I'm dealing with billing in one office. The 9 others got it right back in 2006 and have moved on. As many know one hospital visit equals about 10 different bills since they all bill separately. Anesthesia, Neurology, ER, Gauze department,etc.. OK so gauze department might be a stretch........ but not a big stretch. So this one office(I'm not going to mention any names but it rhymes with Louth Hend Beurology.:) didn't file with the right insurance and by the time they came to that conclusion the insurance company said it was too late. Now of course nobody wants to take responsibility. The office claims that I can fight with the hospital since they are the ones who sent the wrong info.. The girl was very quiet when I told her I thought it was very odd that EVERYONE else was sent the right info. and they were the only ones out of the loop. I feel like I'm going to have an aneurysm and then I'll need an MRI myself!!!

Who Needs to Leave the House....

TO HAVE A GREAT FAMILY NIGHT!!!!

So here is what tonight consisted of:

1. Cartwheels in the Living Room. I told J I was not feeling up to an ER visit if he pulled or broke anything.

2. Watching funny Youtube videos.

3. Have Dinner.

4. Laugh and cheer for H as she is finally crawling up on all fours....sometimes. Yeah H!!!

5. Family Mariocart competition. Hey it's raining so what else could we do??

6. Laughing at H as she decides to join L in her craft and draws a picture and understands how to use a glue stick. She is definitely advanced in some areas!!!

7. Then it's off to bed for the kiddo's.

Now we usually have Family Devotionals but tonight we weren't watching the clock and it got to be late. H has reached that age where instead of just being at family night she is now a part of it. She makes us laugh most of the time. She really is the most content child!!! I think this is a big reason she doesn't want to crawl or walk. She is very content in just sitting back and taking everything in. Although her curiosity is starting to take over and tonight she was all over the place. It was a great night in, without anything we had to do or any place we had to go.

Making Progress

This is how I find H after her naps now. She is pulling herself up onto her knees and sometimes all the way up to standing. I've been making her stand more and try to walk which she still doesn't like all that much. I'm hoping that by her next Dr's appointment she will be standing on her own. She is making progress. Slow progress, but it's still progress.

The Life Cycle of the Frog---Reenactment

1. Start as an Egg

2. Turn into Tadpoles.

3. Tadpoles start growing legs and lungs.

4. Now you have a frog.

Wisdom in the Place Where You Are

So I have already posted about our trip this past weekend but wanted to share another incident that happened. So J had a business meeting on Friday which meant that we HAD to leave the house at noon. Lately we have adopted an attitude about traveling that we will do our best but we aren't going to rush around and get all crazy to leave by a certain time when it really doesn't matter. OK so the going crazy part is mostly on my end but in the last few months I've really learned how to relax, slow down, and look to the Lord for Wisdom on how to get everything done. Well this trip was going to be different since we had something scheduled and the fact that it was business related put an even more urgent feeling on our departure time. Did I mention we decided to make this an overnight trip just the night before? I woke up early and went to work. At one point I really thought I was trying to accomplish the impossible but after a quick prayer and a little more work everything came together and I had all three kids in the car when J pulled in and we left less than 10 minutes later.

The trip went well and we reached the meeting 15 minutes early. While J went to his meeting I planned on doing school in the car with the kids. J thought the meeting would be about an hour and a half and while I knew this was going to be a stretch for all three kids I thought we could swing it. The first hour went well and we were very productive. During the next hour things turned a little hairy as the kids were tired and their allergies were going crazy since we were surrounded by blooming dogwood trees. At one point H was crying, L was whining because she was bored, B was not wanting to do his math, and I was using every fiber of my being to stay patient. I prayed, or more like pleaded with the Lord to help everyone calm down. H and L both fell asleep and B finished his math now that all was quiet. After B finished he read some books and L joined him when she woke up. Things started going south again so I started reading a book to them and prayed that J would come out before I finished. He was knocking on the window by page 3. Once J was back in the car I looked at the clock and we had made it through a 3 HOUR meeting!!! I couldn't have done it without the Lord!!! Lately I've been learning to lean on the Lord in the smallest of smallest things. God's wisdom isn't just for those huge decisions but also for the little things. He will always give you wisdom in the place where you are. Even in a Honda Odyssey with 3 kids for 3 hours.

Tulip Time

Nothing says spring like the Tulip Festival. We headed up for the weekend. It worked out great since J has a business meeting and T and M needed help moving.

E joined us for the day so T and M could finish moving. Here the kids are sitting in the big wooden shoes. I was very proud of Blake who gave up his shoe so E could get in for the picture.

Blake looking at the catch.

So this is the best picture of all the kids. We have tried to take cousin pictures in the past and they all look like this. There is always one who isn't looking.

B and L loved the swing ride. This is their second time on it. I took E on the first time and knew my stomach couldn't handle a second spin.

B and L loved the horse carts you could sit in. The favorite show to watch in the O house is Little House on the Prairie so in this picture B is pretending to be Pa and L is either Ma or her usual character, Laura.

Look what the stork brought us!!!

Peter and the dyke has been the favorite story so far in our Holland unit study. I didn't realize they had Steak and Shake's back then!!!:)

The Tulips were beautiful this year. It was a great weekend. We hadn't planned on this being a full weekend trip since we've been traveling so much but it was a lot of fun and we may be doing the same thing in a couple of weeks as J has another business meeting.