Singing Praises

A friend sent this picture to me. I love it! I love it so much I made it the wallpaper on my computer...imagine, having a bug as wallpaper. In case some of you can't recognize it, it's a praying mantis standing in the middle of the street with his hands (hands?!)raised in the air and what appears to be a huge smile on his face. My first thought was he was praising Papa. I remember Yeshua (Jesus) saying that even if the people stopping singing Hosanah as He rode into Jerusalem that even the stones would break forth in praise...but I don't remember anywhere in the Bible it saying the bugs would break forth in praise. Hmmm. Perhaps I just missed that one. I'll have to do some looking and see if I can find it.

We had another rainy day today...and cool too! So washday got postponed. Somehow it seemed a waste of time to do the laundry and hang it out on the line to dry in the rain. Ya know what I mean?! So Little Critter and I cleaned bathrooms and worked on gathering things for the yard sale at church. Yea? Anyway, it was a nice day. I got to lead the Cub Scout troop tonight, so we became archeologists for a bit, put together a tangram type puzzle of a dinosaur and then made a T-Rex lunch bag puppet. I get to lead the den for the next month since the regular Den Mother is busy with baseball. So next week we'll finish our puppets, take pictures and mount them and work on finding a dinosaur in the stars. (trying to help the boys earn their arrow points before they move up into Webolos at the end of the summer.) I think we'll have fun while still learning more about leadership, cooperation and our world around us. I was kinda proud we finished two arrow points tonight. Only 18 more to go before August. Of course at the end of our session, the boys put their hands in their puppets and tried to convince me there was a scout badge for eating each other's dinosaur. Good try, you little turkeys! No cigar. I think this will be fun. I'll let you know later in the summer.

Well, I mostly wanted to share my little praising bug with ya'll.. I just find it hysterically funny. So I'm going to join my little buggy friend and praise Papa for the wonderful rain, the cool weather, the fun with the boys tonight and for my wonderful family and friends. What a blessed life I have! May you each be as blessed. Shalom, Spitfire

PS I looked to see if the trees were praising Him today, but they looked kinda sad. Must have missed our music and dancing outside. hehehehe

beautiful days

Well, dear friends, here it's been almost a week since last I posted again! Where does the time fly? And I thought I'd have a life again after tax season....silly me. But it's been a wonderful week! The weather is starting to heat up here in Texas....but the wind has continued to blow. Thus keeping it from getting hot yet. (although 80-85 can feel plenty warm, trust me!)
Little Critter and I have been able to spend several days working in our garden this week. What a joy that is! The other day, I took our CD player out with us and we listened to CD's. Unfortunately, we found out our CD player is anti-semitic. Yep, hard to be believe, but the silly thing kept hanging up in the middle of some of our favorite Jewish music CDs. It didn't do that when we listened to Veggie Tales......or Adventures in Odessey...or even the old Father Knows Best shows. Only my Jewish music. So now we'll have to find a new CD player that's not anti-semetic. (ie: hasn't been dropped several times when Little Critter is rearranging his room and acidentally drops the CD player). But before it decided it no longer liked my Paul Wilbur CD, we were listening to Dance with Me, Lover of My Soul. I adore that song!!!!! Little Critter was trying real hard to look like he was working while digging holes in the rows instead of weeding. So I told him he had to dance with me! So right there in the yard beside the garden, we waltzed to Dance with me. When he complained that people would think we were nuts, I told him he could weed instead....suddenly we didn't look so silly to him. (mean ole Mommy!) Then we looked up, and I kid you not.....the trees were dancing with us!!!! Even Little Critter's mouth dropped open. "MOM! LOOK! The trees are dancing with us!!!!" yep, there on the other side of the house, we could see the huge Oaks waving their limbs from one side to the other....exactly in time with the music! And the wind was NOT blowing from side to side.....only from one direction. It was awesome. Now, I'm certain there's someone who could easily give me some natural reason for the trees to act like that....but I don't want to hear it. Sorry to be closed minded here, but it was just such a joy to see the trees waving in the breezes and feel that they were dancing with us while we danced with Papa. I'll treasure those few minutes for a long time. And Little Critter now thinks Papa is here with us instead of way off in heaven somewhere. In his own words: 'Momma, do you think G-d likes dancing with us?" I replied, yes. And he said "I reckon we'll have to dance with Him some more then. Ya think?" So we danced some more with the Creator of the World. What an incredible blessing. I pray you will also dance with Papa my friends, in whatever way you choose to dance. If you don't you may see the trees dancing with Him and putting you to shame. Be blessed. Shalom, Spitfire

Blessings and more blessings!

Well, my friends, I pray you had a delightful weekend. We were SO blessed it's almost bragging to tell about it! We had a delightful and quiet Shabbat Friday evening with just the 4 of us. I love having guests, and cooking for lots of people, but it was really nice to have just us here. Then we got rain! Now, I realize most folks would think that's no big deal, but here in Central Texas, we're in a 5 or 6 year drought. So anytime we get rain, it's a blessing. And between Thursday and Saturday we got almost 5 inches of rain (though not all at once.) My little garden is just dancing with delight!!! It's so fun to see the little seeds grow inches overnight after a drink from Papa!!
Then Saturday afternoon, we got to go to a Messianic Tabernacle not more than 40 miles from here!!!! Talk about excited!!! Dodi was a bit hesitant at first, but he loved it (OK, we sat near the incense pot and he could have done without that....but that was his only negative comment!!!) Now, in all fairness to Dodi, this was his first experience with a Jewish Service other than what we do at home. So it was all brand new for him. And Papa blessed all three of us so much that Dodi said he'd like to go again! OH, Happy Dancing all over the place! We both felt we belonged there and didn't feel so much like outsiders as we do in our other churches. Now, don't get me wrong, we aren't going to flee the Christian churches we attend. But as the 'odd' ducks it was wonderful to feel at home and not quite so 'odd'.
Then to just pile on more blessings, when we went to church Sunday night, there was a visiting preacher. He asked to pray for several of us after the service and annoint us. When he got to Dodi, he confirmed something we'd been praying about and questioning Papa about without even knowing anything about it! Then he laid hands on Little Critter and anointed him into the service of Papa. He looked into Little Critter's eyes and proclaimed that Little Critter will be a blessing to many and lead many thousands to our Father. Oh, my mother's heart was about to burst!!!! That's what Papa told me when Little Critter was born!!!! Confirmation from someone who had no idea Little Critter is adopted, and consecrated to Papa at birth. Too cool! Then, when I felt my heart couldn't hold any more blessings, he looked at me. He annointed me and told me I had a heart that Papa loved! He said I had the heart of Mary and I would need to say "May it be as You have said", but that Papa would be in control and it would all be a blessing to many! Can you imagine?!?! Me with the heart of Mary! Oh, may I live up to the prophecy of the prophet. Now, do I believe I'll get pregnant or anything like that....PLEEAAASE! I believe this means my prayer to be used by Him to bless others will occur. How cool is that! I saw it as confirmation that what Dodi and I are trying to do with Little Critter and our lives is on track with what Papa wants us to be doing. So, I'm blessed all over the place. More than anything, I want my Papa to be pleased with my life and what I've done with it. So I pray each of you, my dear friends, hear His voice this week as He whispers into your ears to tell you how much He loves you and how proud He is of you also. And if you don't know Papa in a personal, real way, please contact me! I'd be thrilled to tell you about our wonderful Abba. Shalom, Spitfire

Life begins again!

Well, my dear friends, tax season is officially over. Hallelujah! The office did the same number of returns as last year with half the personel. So I will readily admit I've been working horrible hours the last couple of weeks. Hence the lack of posts. Please accept my apologies for sporadic visits to your blogs and silences here. But now life can begin again. Oh, happy dancing. I will continue to have to work one day a week the rest of the year, but it's only one day a week! And not every single week. So there's a blessing!
Speaking of blessings, as the boss and another employee and I were talking today, both said that while there were some problems with other employees, this over all, was a great year. The two of us with the most experience worked our socks off, but the less experienced girl learned alot and can hardly wait for next year. The only real problems were with two part timers who were young, tactless and a bit self centered. Since they won't be back next year, I look forward to a smoother running year next year. I have to admit to a bit of pride when they both said it had been a great year....since this was my first year officially as Office Leader/Manager as well as Tax Pro, I was a feeling a bit proud that I'd managed to successfully manage to keep the office atmosphere upbeat and friendly (for the most part). Even with the constant 'disasters' of one part timer and the striving between the two of the part timers. Youth is so over rated....sigh.
Well, as Little Critter and I enjoyed our day of errands, visits and no school, (as well as plenty of rest!!!) I couldn't help but thank Papa for allowing us the freedom to basically goof off today. Tomorrow will be preparation day for Shabbat. And we both love getting the house ready and cooking the food for Shabbat. So even though I have to go into work for a little while tomorrow, we have a treat when we get home....getting ready for Papa's visit to our home for Shabbat. What a treat! I pray you find the love letters from Papa in each of your days and look forward to visiting each of your blogs soon. Shalom, Spitfire

Hag Sameach

Happy Passover everyone! This is the first night of the feast of Passover and the beginning of a one week festival of Unleavened Bread. We attended a Passover Sedar (dinner) at one of our churches tonight. It was very nice. I think I'm spoiled because the food was not anything special, but it was good food. Dodi and I have been hosting a Passover Sedar for the last 3 years inviting 4-5 other churches to join us at the second church we attend. And I always find new and different Kosher foods to prepare. It's a blast! Little Critter and I start working on it up to a week ahead of time (chopping walnuts, washing/drying and ironing the table clothes, preparing our lists of things to get, ect.) Then a few days ahead of time, we start the cooking! Talk about real live math in action...we measure, cut, chop, stew, bake, broil...you name it we probably do it!
I do have to confess that I'm feeling a bit guilty tonight though. The Sedar tonight served real Kosher wine for the service and the meal. Well, we use Kosher wine with our Shabbat service every Friday, and allow Little Critter to have a sip of real wine when we have communion. So we saw nothing wrong with him having wine with the Passover Sedar. (Of course Mommy was filling his glass!!!) Well, halfway thru the service, after being an absolute angel, he suddenly started acting pretty squirrelly! So Mommy cut his wine down to barely a taste instead of a sip. By the time we got home afterwards, he was so loopy it was hysterical! So I've been feeling guilty for allowing my just turned 9 yr old to get sopped at the Passover meal. Then he started crying... his head was woozy, his tummy hurt, he felt badly. OK, now I'm feeling really bad...what an awful mommy I am!!! Then after almost 30 minutes, it turns out that while I was in the kitchen helping with a little quick cleanup after the meal and before the rest of the service continued, Little Critter was over snitching desserts....he ate two high chocolate, high sugar desserts while no one was watching. Ahah! Now, I understand! The little rat wasn't so much sopped as he was on a sugar high. He's been on a diabetic type diet all his life because his body doesn't process sugar correctly...kinda like his mommy....and he'd had more than double his normal intake of sugar during the evening. So after numreous prayers, lots of hugs and cuddles, he finally crashed. Now he's peacefully sleeping it off in his own little bed. He'll most likely feel pretty poopy tomorrow, but he'll also better understand why Mommy and Daddy are so strict with his sugar intake....bet he doesn't make this mistake again for a while.
Thursday night we'll host our own Messianic Passover Sedar. We concentrate on explaining on why Christians celebrate what most think of as a Jewish Feast...(it's not. It's a biblical feast), how each of the parts of the Sedar (telling) reflect Yeshua (Jesus) and having a good time while we do this. We're having roast beef, rosemary-lemon chicken, spinach matzoh pie, green Mediterreanian salad, Tsimmes (sweet potatoes, carrots, apricots, prunes in an orange juice/honey/cinnamon sauce), deep dish bubble crust (an egg pasta type dish with 4 kinds of cheese and a walnut/basil/spinach pesto...DELICIOUS!!!!!), applesauce with blueberries and cinnamon (homemade), passover fruit casserole, honey nut cake, fudge brownies and sugared fruit slices. Oh, and of course Matza ball Soup. We're expecting about 50 folks to join us, and we'll have a blast reading the Haggadah (the order of doing things), singing songs in both Hebrew and English, clearing the chametz (leaven) from the church (house), and we usually end the night with dancing to Hava Nigala. It doesn't matter how many folks show up, we always have a great time, eat great food, and have a wonderful time with good friends. What a blessing! I pray Papa attends each of the many Passover Sedars tonight and tomorrow. May He bless the intentions of each heart, forgive any botched Hebrew, and dance the nigth away with each of us as we prepare ourselves to be more and more open to His words, His ways and His purpose for each of us. So until next time, be blessed my friends. Enjoy the love letters our Papa sends us each day and know we pray for each of you daily. Shalom, Joie
PS Tax season ends next week....happy dancing all over the place!!!!! Another year almost done and life can become more relaxed again.