dancin' in the rain...

At the end of a week

where blessings have fallen like raindrops

is there any better way to cool off

than to dance in the rain?

We gathered as one family tonight

around the table and around the Word

to celebrate Sabbath

and to give thanks.

Thanking the One who

provides food from a friend's freezer and garden

and the total surprise of a

year's worth of tuition.

He never stops blessing!

As the day turned hot and I chose to have the a/c off

He sent raindrops to cool us

in this week of showers of blessings.

I couldn't help but join 'em...

dancin' in the rain.

mercy personified...

Mercy, personified, walked in to my house tonight.  She came in beaming... a smile stretched from ear to ear... joy radiating from deep within her.  She sat at our table and partook of our Sabbath celebration tonight.  And, tonight, gratitude was the main course and we had much, MUCH, for which to give thanks.


From her lips poured forth praise... He's been so good to me... He's been so merciful!  


Seven months ago, my friend of 16 years and dear mentor, Cindy, began a life-changing journey... the journey of breast cancer.  Yesterday, she had her last radiation treatment and tonight we celebrated with her and her husband and 16 year old son.  


Tonight my heart overflows with gratitude... so very thankful for my friend and for the end of her journey but most grateful for her testimony to the goodness of God in the land of the living.


Cindy is a walking testimony to God's mercy... she is mercy personified and I am blessed to call her friend.

on a Saturday...

Today...

was a lot of this...

and some of this...

I even managed to get this done...

(just in time for Sunday School tomorrow...).

and this for a dear friend's birthday today...

At the end of the day...

saving the best for last...

another great family Sabbath celebration

...all on a Saturday at the end of January

the gift of rest...

Over the last few years, God has really been challenging my heart to celebrate Sabbath... more specifically, to set aside a day of rest and worship of Him.  It's been three years since He first put this stirring in my heart and just over 7 months since our first weekly Sabbath celebration.  


From sundown to sundown... 24 hours of rest and worship... time purposely set aside to recoup.


Though lofty, this goal doesn't always get met... case in point, this weekend.  I'm learning to bend and sway with the flow rather than break under the stress of trying to DO what I think I'm supposed to DO.  


Yesterday ended up being a very busy day... great fun... much accomplished... zero rest.  My body felt the lack of a day of rest this morning.  Getting up wasn't an issue... getting going was.  It was hard to get moving with chores and school.  


Sometimes rest is nothing more than a gift from Above.  This morning I acknowledged my weariness and asked for some supernatural strength.  


Not only did my loving God give me supernatural strength, He gifted me with a day of rest on a Monday.  Our day of laundry, chores, school has been incredibly restful... thanks LORD for this gift!

an incredible ending to Sabbath...

Though we've gotten into the swing of starting our weekly Sabbath, we haven't mastered the art of ending it.  Usually, the end gets lost in Sunday chaos or we wake up Monday morning to a new week.

One of my goals is to add an ending to our Sabbath celebration.  Something that marks another time of family worship to usher in the week.   Something to again remind us of the gift of a day of rest.  Something more to look forward to for the next Sabbath celebration.

Tonight we had just the thing... a cookout with brauts and hot dogs... chips and lemonade... marshmallows and s'mores... and lots and lots of fun and laughter.

We tried different ways to roast our marshmallows... daddy's way...

or Grandma's way...

another Sabbath done... a mom refreshed... a family renewed... thank you LORD for the gift of rest!

Sabbath rest

Tonight will mark our 8th family Sabbath Celebration, and I'm not sure I've needed one more than I need tonight.  

I'm tired... plain ol' worn out... seems like we've had more crazy days than normal around here.

I'm drained... I put the finishing touches on VBS late this morning.  In two days, we will embark on 5 day Journey to the Promised Land.  Writing always drains me.  There is something incredible about leaving it all on paper and walking away completely drained.

I'm spent... emotionally this has been a tough week in more ways than one... an emotionally charged week with high peaks and low dips.

I'm craving rest.  I'm starving for some quiet time at His feet where He will faithfully refresh and renew my soul, my spirit, my heart... through some Sabbath rest.

non traditional and definitely NOT orthodox...

A couple of good friends told me that once we started having Sabbath celebrations in our home, we wouldn't want to have a week where we missed it.... they were so right! Who knew I had such wise and all-knowing friends?!

Because we were gone last weekend, and because this coming weekend is Chad's once-in-a-blue-moon weekend to work, we decided to have a totally non-traditional and unorthodox mini-Sabbath celebration last night. I am so glad we did!

This wasn't a true Sabbath in many respects but it was a chance for the five of us to sit down together, reconnect and rest. After a slow meal, we did a fun scavenger hunt in the yard. I gave the kids each a paper lunch bag and an index card. They had 15 minutes to find items in our yard that showed God or God's creation and then find a supporting verse in their Bible. They were to put the item in the bag and the Scripture reference on the index card. They had a blast running through the yard with their bags and Bibles and I had a few minutes to do the dishes in a peaceful kitchen. We had a great time as they shared what they found and the verses that supported their findings. In the end, Team Dad/Ellen won with the most items that no one else had.

I tried a new recipe for the family last night as well. Ellen calls it "Merri's Fruit Sauce" as I got the idea from our friend, Merri. Merri had served this over a fruit salad for ladies' Bible study breakfast... yummy!! So, I copied Merri's idea and served individual fruit sundaes for our Sabbath supper. Here's the recipe I came up with...

Merri's Fruit Sauce

1 c. whipped cream

1 t. vanilla extract

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 c. vanilla yogurt

Cream all together and serve over fresh fruit

Mini-Sabbath...non-traditional, not kosher, and definitely NOT Orthodox but a blessed respite in the middle of a busy week... who knows, we may try this again, someday.

anticipating Sabbath

Sabbath. I have to say, I'm really looking forward to that blessed time of rest and worship later this evening and tomorrow. I love the anticipation I feel as the day approaches. I'm loving my children's excitement over helping me plan our Sabbath meal. I love that they love it!

As with most things in life, there are those who are wondering... have Chad and Heidi lost all of their marbles?... are they considering denouncing their Christian faith to embrace Judaism?... are they approaching a lifestyle of extreme legalism?... are they taking another step in totally and irrevocably ruining the chances for Eric, Emily and Ellen to be "normal"?

To the best of my ability and with a great deal of humor, here are my answers.... Yes, we probably have lost most of our marbles, but since we never had an abundance, we haven't noticed any missing! No, we are not in any way, shape or form denouncing our Christian faith; instead, our hope is to enhance our faith by being purposeful in our family's rest and worship time. No, we are not approaching a lifestyle of extreme legalism, just working out our salvation with fear and trembling. No, I don't think we are taking another step toward totally and irrevocably ruining the chances for the 3 Es to be normal but most would probably disagree with me. So, in response to this question, I offer this challenge... come spend some time with my children and get to know them... I think you will be pleasantly surprised (either because they have chosen that moment to be polite and kind or because they argue and fight like any other siblings I have ever met... pretty normal to me.).

So, why do I do Sabbath with my family? Why do I go to the trouble of planning and preparing a special meal? Why worry about china, candles and grape juice? Why not just order in a pizza and rent a movie? These are the questions I'm still working out. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is what we are called to do for this time in our family's life. I hope this season lasts a long time but I don't know. Everything here on earth is temporary. Perhaps this will be too.

Chad and I both are deeply involved in ministry. We both minister at church in our respective areas, but we also minister as a team and as a family. This past winter was filled with various families joining us for meals, sledding, game times, etc. While this was important, it left very little time for Chad and I to consciously and considerately minister to the three precious gifts that live with us. It's sad but true, the 3 Es often got overlooked in the realm of "ministry".

This is the foremost reason that I plan and prepare for our Sabbath celebration. I can have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the Truth (3 John 1:4) I have no greater ministry than a few years with my children before they begin journeys of their own. They will walk their walks, make mistakes, and sometimes forge their own paths. I want to make the most of the opportunity I have now to prepare them for their own faith journeys. Though I can't journey for them, I can teach them more and more about the journey, the pitfalls and the destination. For this reason, and others, I anticipate Sabbath...

...I anticipate the joy of preparing for rest and worship with my children...

...I anticipate their involvement with the preparations...

...I anticipate the discussion of why we are doing what we are doing...

...I anticipate the joy and peace of a meal together...

...I anticipate the incredible encouragement that I see my children giving each other before we eat...

...I anticipate the family Bible time after our meal...

...I anticipate our family fellowship of games or puzzles...

...I anticipate the renewed rest for all of us...

...I anticipate rising for church with a heart ready for worship...

...I anticipate the rest and relaxation...

...I anticipate the change in our hearts as we seek to honor Him...

today's learnings...

I had the undeniable privilege of sitting at my friend, Cynthia's, home for hours today gleaning from her experience and wisdom. What an incredible experience!

Cynthia and her husband, Bill, have homeschooled for almost 20 years. Their oldest son is finishing his first year at Cornerstone University. During this journey of homeschooling, they have embarked on a pilgrimage of studying the Jewish roots of their Christian faith. They've traveled to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. They've fellowshipped with Jewish friends, learned from rabbis and have developed a deep, deep love for God's chosen people.

I don't know if Bill and Cynthia's pilgrimage will resemble Chad's and mine at all but it was so refreshing and enlightening to learn from her. She shared their journey. She shared the ups and the downs of learning and embracing their Jewish roots of faith.

My desire in meeting with Cynthia today was to learn more of their family's Shabbos (here's a tidbit I learned... Sabbath is the English spelling and pronunciation of the Hebrew term Shabbat. Shabbos is the European Judaism spelling and pronunciation. This family first learned from a European Jew and thus they use the term Shabbos). I wanted to know what their time of rest and worship looked like. Cynthia shared with me traditions that her family does and things that worked and didn't work for them. She gave me some Biblical explanation for some of the traditional Sabbath rituals and shared how much Shabbos means to her family.

I also went to talk with Cynthia about the spring holidays that God ordained in the Old Testament for His people to celebrate. In April, I will be teaching (with a lot of help from Cynthia!) a one day unit study on these spring holidays to our homeschool cooperative as a Bible history class. There is so much to these God ordained holidays and I only have time to do a simple survey of each one. I'm so thankful that He is teaching me so much about these special times. And, I'm praying for all of God's words and none of mine on that day!

So, as I begin to look forward to my family's next Sabbath celebration, I have to say I'm getting excited! I'm enjoying the rhythm of my weeks now that I have Sabbath to look forward to. Thursday, Friday and Saturday I am preparing and anticipating our time of rest and worship as a family. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I am finding myself remembering and reflecting on the time that we had. It's a nice rhythm, a wonderful way to stay focused on my Creator, the creator of rest and worship.

our first family Sabbath celebration...

Rest. Hmmm.... sounds like fun, maybe I'll try it sometime!

Seriously, the LORD has been working on my heart over the past few years concerning His commandment "Keep the Sabbath". I have failed miserably in this area and it seems that the older I become, the more involved in church that Chad and I become and the older my children become, the less we "keep the Sabbath". We work had all week and "run" hard on Sunday fulfilling all of our duties and responsibilities. It's become a bit absurd! We have no day of the week where we stop and just rest. I think part of the reason I was so sick this winter was because I rarely let my body stop and rest.

I'm not here to argue the theology of Sabbath being the 7th day of the week or the Lord's Day being the first day of the week. There are many more intelligent than I who argue this day in and day out and still disagree. I'm not sure it truly matters. I think what matters is the attitude of the heart and the desire to set aside a day of the week to rest and worship God. It took me a few years to figure out how this would work in my heart and how it would work for our family.

Chad's work schedule has him working until 11 p.m. or later on Friday nights. However, he then has Saturday and Sunday off from work. My first encounter with Sabbath celebrations came in the form of a book "No Ordinary Home" by Carol Brazo. In her book, she wrote how her family chose to combine the Hebrew tradition of Friday evening to Saturday evening for Sabbath with the Christian tradition of Sunday being the day to worship God. In the Brazo home, they begin their rest and worship Saturday evening by enjoying a Sabbath meal (in the form and tradition of the Jewish Sabbath meal) together, have family worship and then they play games together. Their family retires early on Saturday evening and Sunday morning they go to church together and enjoy the afternoon napping, bike riding, games or movies.

I was so impressed with Mrs. Brazo's idea because I knew it could work for our family. I just was overwhelmed at implementing some of the Hebrew traditions with the Sabbath meal. It's taken me at least two years to work though this and to figure out how to make it work for us.

As I've said before, I am a work in progress. Our family Sabbath celebration is a work in progress as well. I'm reading and learning more and more of the Hebrew traditions and am hoping to incorporate these traditions in our Sabbath meal on Saturday evening. I hope to blog more each week about how our Sabbath goes and how it is working for us.

For today, though, I will tell you that last night was phenomenal! It was better than I had hoped. After our meal and family worship we were all content and at peace. I think we all slept well and going to church this morning was a smooth affair (that in, and of, itself is quite a feat, let me tell you!).

I feel rested. It feels wonderful!