Family Fun

What a week. It has been filled with all kinds of adventure. This picture is a nice highlight of our day. Having Scott's family in town we decided it would be nice to take a day and spend it on beautiful Whidbey Island. Starting with a ride across the ferry, driving up to Coupeville and eating a magnificent lunch at the Knead and Feed which we topped off with an amazing marioberry pie, we landed ourselves at Deception Pass. Those few who are daring decided to walk across the bridge....those of us far less daring decided to wait and pray for them and enjoy the view on solid ground. :)

When we gathered back together we made our way to a beautiful park on the water and hiked up to the top of a huge rock...where you see us gathered for a family photo at the top. The views from up here are quite incredible. A bit of all the beauty of Washington is summed up when looking around from here, mountains, water, inlets and trees. Breathtaking. The day finished off with a crockpot dinner (thank the Lord I had the inspiration for that before we left!), and a fun night spent all together. Whew, it has been quite a week, and the memories we made are so sweet!

Armor of God

Ephesians 6:17 and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The idea of God's word being compared to a sword is not a new revelation: Isaiah 49:2 He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me; And He has also made Me a select arrow, He has hidden Me in His quiver. I think Revelation 1:16 sheds some interesting light on this passage as well: In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. Hosea 6:5 Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.


Interestingly the mouth and the sword are connected in all these passages. The word "word" here is not logos as it is usually translated in the Greek, but rather rhema (RAYma). What is the difference? It seems from the bit I have studied this that the two words can be used interchangeably. However there also appears to be a subtle distinction....this word, rhema, has within it the idea of the spoken words of God,differing from the written. I have found it interesting that in some bibles the words of Yeshua are highlighted in red....how come in the Tanakh (old testament) God's words are not also highlighted the same way? Can you imagine HOW MUCH of our bibles would be covered in red lettering? From the very beginning all things were being created and are being created by the living words that are uttered from His mouth! Including His word and that includes His Torah! The interconnectedness between God, His Word and His Son are beyond our comprehension. However I love the passage of poetry from John where we are given a glimpse of His majesty: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. God, His Word and His Son, all shedding light on the darkeness...Genesis 1:3 Then God said, "Let there be light; and there was light." Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. When Yeshua returns, He is coming as righteous judge, King and Ruler of this creation, what will He rule and judge by? The living words of God. It is by these same words that we can learn how to wield a righteous sword to discern between those things that are apart of the tree of life and those things that are apart of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And of course I have to close this study with Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edges word, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints nad marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Be bathed in the living waters that are found in His word - the entire book - drink in the Words that were uttered from His mouth in the beginning and be filled with His precious gift of life!
Shalom aleichem! שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם
Peace Be Upon You!

Travelkits Review

The Old Schoolhouse Ebook: Travel Kits: A Simple Way to Bless Others

Road trips, what an amazing way to make family memories! They can be a complete blessing, but also require patience and some careful planning to have the troops peaceful and happy when they arrive at their destination. Travel Kits: A Simple Way to Bless Others Ebook is completely packed with great ideas, suggestions and wonderful photographs to help you make a gift that will help the trip be a much more enjoyable experience for everyone!

Inside this 93 page Ebook you will find ideas for everyone you know! These wonderful boxes, bags, name your container of choice, are filled with gifts to keep everyone entertained as you are on your way. There are suggestions for everyone from infants to adults. If you are one who would love to create things like this but feel you do not have enough imagination to come up with the ideas on your own, this book is for you! Author, Donna Rees, has thought of everything for filling up these containers to delight your family and friends when you bless them with this gift before they leave for their next adventure! The color photographs will help you visualize what your gift basket should look like, how you can coordinate the ribbons or paper so as to identify the recipients of the gift. She even suggests ideas on WHEN to open these gifts! Such as, "hear a certain song or advertisement on the radio" or "stop for gasoline".

And additional idea I really enjoyed was "blessing boxes". These are boxes filled with biblical encouragement and inspiration for someone who may be going away for an extended period or embarking on a difficult task. What a gift of love this would be!

As much as I enjoyed this book and it's creative ideas, which I am sure to use in the future, I did have a few things that I found well...a bit different. For instance, one thing the author repeated as a suggestion when creating these baskets for your family or others was utilizing the library. From what I was understanding she was suggesting that we check out books and wrap them up as a "gift" for the recipient. Seriously? I am not going to give someone a gift that they have to make sure they keep nice and neat, in addition they can't lose it or they are going to have my library fines to pay! ;0) So, I would have to say, this suggestion might be fine for getting inspiration for additional ideas, but as for me, I will not be checking out library books to temporarily give to others as apart of their basket. I think I will stick with giving gifts I have purchase and not borrowed...it just sounds like trouble for me! :)

My only other issue with this was the use of pill boxes. It is suggested to give out pill boxes filled with candies and other treats, personally I find that a dangerous idea, children should never associate pill boxes with something they can eat, especially candy, since it is so easy for them to overindulge in it. She did use one for putting beads into, and I thought was a much better, creative idea for them...but never for food.

With that said, overall, I found this book to be very informative (perhaps for the creative soul, maybe a bit too informative) and I really did enjoy it and feel very inspired. I will also add, my children who were peeking over my shoulder and reading along with me from time to time, were so excited that we are going on a road trip this summer and they are thinking this would be a GREAT idea to have these for the trip! Don't tell...but I will probably do a little something up for them as a surprise, after all I am completely prepared with ideas now!

I do hope you will take a look at this book for your next trip or to bless others around you!
Blessings and Shalom,
Tina

For more reviews of this product please check out the TOS Blog.

Ebook download $12.45
Travel Kits

Disclaimer: I am a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. As such I have received this product free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion and review of this product. I have not received any additional compensation for my review.

Seriously? WOW!

Beautiful Blogger Award

WOW! So my sweet friend ♥Denise♥ has given me the Beautiful Blogger award! I was so completely surprised that I did not realize that is what she meant by her email! How silly of me! I was happy for her and her achievement and completely agree with her receiving it, however it never entered my mind for a moment that I would be the recipient of one! (So apparently I owe Denise a big ole' cup o chai tea now...ya know, the big payoff!) ;0)

Now according to the rules, the recipients of this award must complete the following tasks:

1) Add a link and note of thanks to the person giving the award
2) Pass the award on to the bloggers whose blogs you love (15 tops)
3) Share 7 things about yourself

So, seven things about me? Who cares?? But here goes!

1. I love, love, love to DANCE! I have been blessed to coordinate and teach Messianic dance and look forward to my time worshiping before Him in the dance. (However I don't think this was a big secret...but it is still something about me!)

2. I love foreign languages, but always quit them when it comes to grammar. I stink at the grammar. Currently I am learning Hebrew....and struggling with the GRAMMAR! ACK! (so for the count, I have studied Sign Language, Spanish and Hebrew...and I am currently still working on English, but that's only because I have to since I homeschool my kids)

3. My favorite ice cream is Ben & Jerry's Phish Food. By it for me and you will be my BFF. (At least until the pint is gone, oh, and don't expect me to share.)

4. I love to bake. A lot. But then I eat it.

5. I workout every weekday. Please refer to numbers 3 & 4 above. I also have workout ADD. I need to change up my workouts all the time or I get bored very easily.

6. I'm allergic to turkey. I know it's weird but true.

7. The Bible is truly my favorite book to read, every time I open it's pages new gems come flying out at me and put me in total awe of the God I serve. It is just an incredible gem full of facets and layers that I never knew existed before about 7 years ago...so glad He healed my blindness and has shown me the beauty in His amazing Word!

Ok, so I am now supposed to pass the fun along..the thing is...Denise stole all my favorites and awarded them the Beautiful Blogging Award already! But that is a good thing...I am still getting to know a lot of these awesome mommy bloggers and it has been a joy. So, perhaps when I have had a chance to get to know some of these blogs a bit better I will pass this along later!

I'm a nerd part II

WOO HOO!! Ok, so after being diligent in cutting my coupons and matching them up with sales, I am really seeing that this CAN be beneficial to our budget! So, what have I learned so far? Well, I have found out that there is a learning curve to this whole thing. I have also learned that this is not free money or a get rich quick scam. It takes work. I spoke with a very sweet lady this weekend about her experience and she said that she considers it her part time job. I can see why. You have to be careful to balance this with life and not chase after every possible deal that comes your way. Buy smart, by what you use, not what you think you might use. Don't waste your money on something unless of course it is FREE! Stockpile. That is the essential vocab word to learn, you must stockpile. My kids have already picked up this lingo and say it now! The idea is, catch a great deal and buy as much as you can and set it aside, you never want to pay retail for anything! So, here are some of my finds for this week that I am particularly happy about....
So here is the breakdown...
Barilla pasta, bought two boxes for a total of $1.40 for BOTH
Bulls Eye BBQ Sauce - total 25 cents
Butter in tub - 49 cents
Tortillas - 59 cents
3 pack of socks - I made 12 cents before tax - CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??
Almond breeze - 99 cents bought 4 at this amazing price
Pretzels - 50 cents
packs of gum - 50 cents each
Popcorn $1 for both boxes

Not bad huh? So everything you see here cost about $5.60 before tax...wow.
And not only that, but this was fun to do...feels like a game! I also left some of my coupons around the store for other shoppers on things that were getting close to expiring and I was not going to use. That was kind of fun too. Ok, gotta go...must find more coupons! ;) Kidding! Gonna go get my jammies on and enjoy a quiet evening with my family!

Armor of God

Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

The helmet of salvation, the scriptures literally say "the helmet of Yeshua", this particular quote is taken from Isaiah 59:17 where it says "He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle." Yeshua is acting here as high priest and judge when read in the context of the chapter. As such He was set apart and holy to the Lord. Exodus 28:36-38 "You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal, 'Holy to the LORD.' "You shall fasten it on a blue cord, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be at the front of the turban. "It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall take away the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel consecrate, with regard to all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD. We are to have a literal "renewing of our minds" in our walk with God. Daily, as we read His word, come before Him in prayer we should be sacrificing our ways of thinking and renewing our thoughts to His ways. And as we grow closer to Him and more familiar with His ways, we should be developing a discerning mind, one which can decipher between truth and deception. We should be daily becoming more holy to the Lord...holy, consecrated, set apart for His purpose and work. Yeshua also wore a helmet of salvation, for us, He wore a crown of thorns as He performed the ultimate act of obedience and submission to His Father on our behalf. So, when we spiritually put on the helmet of salvation, see upon your forehead that you are Holy to the Lord, you are set apart for a purpose and you have a divine calling to walk out as you are shod with the Gospel of Shalom.

Hebrews 7:23-25 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.




The sword of the Spirit will be continued next week. I pray His teachings and ways are in your mind today as you seek to grow closer to Him!

Bathing Suit Moments

So, after hunting around last year for a more modest bathing suit, I found a pattern for a very cute, however a bit frumpish style. I made it last year and we liked it, Atira alternated between that suit and a pair of board shorts and rash guard shirt, which is also very cute and modest as well. However this year, Atira and I decided to reinvent our pattern and create something new and fun with it...losing the frump factor.


This is what we came up with! Thanks to my sweet friend Chloe and her fabulous surging machine (as well as her incredible skills), we made what I think is quite a cute little suit! What I love about this style is that Atira can wear it out and about, as well as for swimming or playing in the yard, at the beach or river. We split the original pattern which was a dress and leggings into a pair of leggings with the skirt attached (which she can shorten or lengthen but scrunching the waist and then a more tunic style top. What you cannot see is the fabulous fabric! It is full of pink sparkles, she says she looks like a salmon...very cute.

So, Chloe and I plan on making a few more of these for the other girls in our lives and continue to work on bumping up the fun hip look while still maintaining this wonderful level of modesty!

This was such a super fun project, I am really looking forward to working on them again. And who knows...perhaps we make a few extra to see if we can make a few dollars on the side!

In His Word Wednesday

		YHWH (יהוה YHWH, Strong's #3068): Virtually all translations from Judaism and Christianity use "the LORD" for the Hebrew name of God - YHWH. The original pronunciation of the name can never be determined with complete accuracy but in Hebraic thought it is the meaning of a name that is more important than its pronunciation. The Hebrew YHWH is the verb hawah meaning "to exist" with the prefix y meaning "he." Therefore, the word YHWH means "he exists." YHWH is the one who exists every where every time.

What I love about looking at the Bible from the ancient Hebrew language is how the scriptures open up in a very dynamic way. Our English language is just not sufficient to convey the deeper meanings of the text. The Bible is truly a diamond, with many facets and when you get out your jewelers loop to examine it more closely you are abundantly blessed with the beautiful rich gems found within it's pages. I hope you enjoy taking a deeper look at God's name, He Exists and I am so thankful for the opportunity to get to know Him more intimately!

In the Moment

This morning I woke up thinking....thinking about the root canal on the schedule for today. It was a quiet morning, my house was warm, my kids were sleeping away and my husband was by my side. It should have been a wonderfully blissful morning. I should have been enjoying the memories of the night before, a night spent with good, sweet and loving friends. A night filled with great food, fun conversations and the beauty of fireworks. A night of watching happy children running around having a blast...literally! But instead, I lay there thinking about what was coming up for me this afternoon. It frustrated me. My thoughts led me to my blog...the blog I named "In the Moment". I named it that for a reason, I named it that as a goal and a reminder. I want to live in the moment, I want my life to focus on the positive good things and not have those sweet times tainted with thoughts of negative things, like I was doing this morning. I have come a long way in my life, learning to live in the moment, but I have times when I get stuck living in a moment that has not yet come or that has already past. The Lord reminds us to not worry about tomorrow and it is a reminder I needed today. I am thankful for His word and His promises to care for me and be with me during the difficult times. And I want to learn to be obedient during those times in between and enjoy the good moments He has also given me! So, for now, I am off to enjoy some good moments with my family, for tomorrow will worry about itself!

My Beautiful Girl

I decided with the many events we have planned during July I better get some things out of the way, one of those was haircuts for Atira and myself. Yesterday we were at my salon and the wonderful gal who does my hair had time to take Atira...what a blessing! This is the cut she received and I just LOVE it! She looks absolutely beautiful....dontcha think? :) Atira thinks it makes her look a bit like Patty Duke..which by the way, she is loving that show. Cracks me up, my kids adore I Love Lucy too (and honestly so do I!). So, now the boy is next on the "chopping block". But he will just get a trim on those incredible curls he is developing!

WAFFLE WAFFLE WAFFLE!

Delish, huh?! For probably years now Scott has wanted a waffle maker. This past Sunday, Fathers Day, we were watching QVC and they had on this fabo waffle maker, you know the kind, they are in all the hotels with breakfast bars. Since I had not purchased him anything for dad's day, I popped up, went online ordered this baby up and printed off the receipt handing it to him with "Happy Fathers Day" written across the front. He was very happy and very excited. So, the wait began. We were all given strict instructions to keep our paws off his new waffle maker when it shows up while he is at work. Of course for the kids and I that is the ultimate challenge. He might as well have begged us to touch it all up and get it greasy and used up before he gets his first chance to use it! Well, as it turns out, it showed up minutes before he walked in the door (and minutes after I walked out it). So, while I was out and about, I receive a picture text showing his shiny, gleaming new waffle maker sitting on the counter. Since dinner was done for this particular day it was quickly voted that waffles would be for dinner the very next night. And so it was! These are shots of Scott using his beautiful waffle maker, he really did enjoy himself. We had quite a variety of toppings from strawberries to bananas and of course syrup. On the side (in case you are wondering) are the fabulous and way too fatty beef sausages from walmart..of all places! It was a lot of fun and I can't wait for this weekend...more WAFFLES! :)