We saw a miracle!!!!

I am so pumped! We saw a miracle today. About 4:00pm this afternoon, we saw an honest to goodness miracle!!! It rained. Yep, after almost 2 months of not a drop of rain here in Central Texas, we saw rain. Little Critter wasn't sure at first what that funny sound was....till he looked outside. Then he and I went running outside and stood in the rain, thanking Papa for sending it to us. This of course also means the temps stayed lower this afternoon! This is a wonderful miracle since it was 107.8 at 2:00pm....By the time the 15 minutes of gentle life-giving rain had ended, the temps had dropped under 100! WOOHOO!!! It's now at almost 10:00pm close to 88 degrees outside....only a couple of degrees higher than we keep the A/C (when it's working!!!!) in the house. Is that just too cool or what?!?!

So on that happy note, I have an email a friend of mine sent me. I really enjoyed it and thought you would too my friends. So read the following, never forget to thank Papa for His love letters to you and be blessed. Shalom, Spitfire

Inner Peace


If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment ,


If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,


...Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!



PS And no, I have proof I'm not the family dog.....mornings without caffeine is not a pretty sight at my house!!!!!giggle giggle.

On the road....part 2

Well, here's day two in Branson, Mo. We started the day with breakfast with Red Skelton. Tom Molika used to work as a writer for Red before his retirement. Now he impersonates him. The first picture is Little Critter with his favorite Red Skelton character, Clem Cadiddlehopper. I have video of Little Critter when he was really little, running around the house with one of my old felt fedora-like hats crammed on his head and an oversized shirt (one of mine) talking like he was Clem. It's hysterically funny. The second picture is Tom Molika. He even sounds like Red Skelton when he's not in character!! And he was so funny, I couldn't breathe! I had to pull out my inhaler and use it...I haven't had to use an inhaler in years!!!! (I always keep one handy for just in case scenerios. Trips to the ER are expensive....lots more so than a generic inhaler for asthma!!!!)








After we finally got our breathe back after Red Skelton...we took Little Critter to the Talking Rocks Cavern. It was incredible. This is a picture of one of the group of stalagtights called curtain stalagtights. Of course the young boy behind us had to remind us they were also called Bacon Stalagtights to the point I finally turned around with a grin and said "We're Jewish. We don't have bacon and certainly don't crawl thru it!! They're curtains!!!" He just looked at me a minute and then he and Little Critter in unison chimed out 'bacon, bacon, bacon!!!!" The two little rats.....it was really funny. But then again, we were 200 feet underground by that point, so most likely a lack of real air was beginning to make everything silly to us!!!!(Not to mention the fact that we were deep into a small tight place I could not readily get out of!!!! Which was only half as bad as the natural bridge we walked across....the one where Little Critter says so excitedly "Mom look! I can hardly see the bottom from here!" Of course I looked.....silly me....then when the vision returned to my stunned eyes I remembered I don't like heights either!) Little Critter loved the cavern....Dodi thought it was wonderfully fascinating.....I did it because I love my son. (I hate small, tight places and walking on very narrow, slippery natural bridges miles above the bottom of the hole we're crawling thru.....Next year-NO CAVERNS!!!!!) Wink, wink.


Once we finished panning for jewels (which we were guaranteed to find...
once we bought the sand to pan with) we drove back to the hotel and walked over to the Titanic museum. This picture is of Little Critter in front of the Museum. It's one of the coolest museums we've ever been to! The whole thing is built like the front half of the ship Titanic. You walk thru a man made ice berg with a real ice berg inside (out of the heat of course) to pick up your boarding pass and ticket. Then you find out which of the real passengers from the Titanic you are. The rest of the museum you walk thru various compartments of the ship and read all sorts of fasinating info about the people, building, launching and sailing of the Titanic. Little Critter was John Jacob Astor-the richest man in the world (in 1912 of course), Dodi was the head mailman on the ship and I was one of the women. Needless to say, I was the only survivor. We had little scavenger hunt pages to fill out that I'd downloaded from their website and all had a blast looking for the answers to the questions on the hunt. For instance, did you know there were 12 couples on their honeymoons on Titanic's maiden voyage? There were. And there were only 23 female staff members of the 432 employees on board. We all learned some neat facts about the ship, the crew and the passengers. Mr. Astor was there with his second wife on their honeymoon. (Which was probably a good thing since she was 5 months pregnant with his child....ooops) Mr. Astor was 47 yrs old ( I think) and his new bride was 18. She survived and the child was born later. Mr. Astor perished. I believe I remember reading there were only about 12-14 crew members who survived and they were all rowing the life boats. It was a beautifully well done and really family friendly museum with great things for kids to do hands on. At one place they could put their hands in water cooled to the 28 degrees the water was when Titanic sank and then punch the clock to see how long they could stay in that cold water. There was also a place were you walked along the promenade in front of the captain's deck and the air temp was about 32 degrees. Boy that one felt good!!!! Even in our shorts and t shirts!!!! All in all, this is for sure a place to visit more than once. It was great.

After Titanic, we went back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning (Friday 6-19-09) we hit the road again....but that's for another post. On the road again....just gotta get on the road again... sorry, couldn't help myself.

Well my friends, I pray that as you travel on your journeys whether to new, exciting places or even if just to the local grocery store you take the time to see the wonders that surround us. Learn to savor the moments, make beautiful memories, enjoy the wonders around us. And always look for Papa's love letters to you....they're all around you. If you look. Shalom, until next time. Spitfire

Still on the road.....

Well, we made it back to Grandma's house. We actually made it here last Friday (6-19-09) just in time for Grandma's birthday! (Funny how that worked out heh? wink wink) I've checked the blog a couple of times and tried to check email, but it's tricky here. The WIFI link is iffy at best and unreliable at worst. So I'm just blogging a quickie while I have a signal.

We're having a great time here with Grandma and the cousins. I have some more pictures to post, but can't do it here. Will have to wait till after we get back home later this week. Little Critter is being spoiled rotten (that is with a capital R you understand!), Dodi is having a blast getting to sit and talk with his momma, and me....well, I'm enjoying not having to cook, clean and watch Little Critter every minute of the day! It's relaxing to be able to sit on the back porch of Mom's house, listen to the birds, and go pop fresh blue and blackberries in my mouth if I'm hungry! (OK, between Little Critter and I we've pretty much cleaned out the ripe blueberries...still working on the blackberries, but we still have a day to do it in!)

Mom's house is out in a small subdivision of folks that live about 15 miles from the nearest small town. It's my idea of heavenly. A few neighbors in case of emergency, but not so close as to be able to see all the goings on at your own house. In fact Dodi and I snuck out last night after Little Critter was asleep and went swimming in the swimming pool! At 11:00PM!!!! It was SO wonderful. The stars were amazingly clear and bright, the air was cool (but not cold, only about 87 degrees), the water was still warm from the daylight heating....ssssiiiigggghhhh. It was SO relaxing. I think we're going to do it again tonight. Without all the kids in there, it's quite pleasant. And it's the only time this whole trip we've had time to ourselves! It was even romantic! Kinda felt like Adam and Eve out there in that pool....just us and YHWH and the stars. I told Dodi we may have to consider one for our house! (someday)

Well, probably better check on Little Critter and Dodi....it's strangely quiet all of a sudden....of course Little Critter is down at the pool with Aunt and the girls, and Dodi's in with his mom....but I'd hate for them to forget me! Hahahaha Besides, I've got to get things ready for the Rosh Chodesh (New Moon)....had no bread, and no way to make it here, so Papa forgive me for using Popcorn....it's all we have. But we can salt it! He'll understand. We also don't have our shofars with us, so we'll have to use paper towel rollers I reckon....it's hard to do the feasts and festivals on the road. But I feel certain Papa understands and recognizes our effort even if it's unconventional. Yes, Gayle, I know, I know....I'm seldom accused of being conventional anyway, so what's new.....I could hear you thinking it clear up here! I still love you and know that's one of the things about me that you love too! Giggle, giggle.

So my friends, as you rush thru your days, please be sure to slow down enough to hear the birds. Papa sends them to remind us how much He loves us. And if you can find fresh berries, that's just an extra love letter from your Papa! Smile. Shalom, Spitfire

PS For my Jewish friends, Shauva tov. (I think that's the Hebrew phrase for Happy New Moon... If I'm wrong, at least I tried. Happy New Month anyway! :-)

From the road....part 1

We're still in Missouri, but I thought I'd try to upload some pictures of our adventures....Crossing my fingers I've figured this out....


Ok, this is a tunnel through a mountain! Yes, through the mountain...I was a bit jittery going through here. I think it had something to do with the HUGE 18 wheeler truck behind me, the equally big truck next to me and the idiot in the little car that changed lanes in front of me and SLOWED DOWN!!!! All I can see in the rear view mirror is grill and bumper of the HUGE truck and this pipsqueak in front of me slows down...I nearly wet myself!!!!! Fortunately, we survived this adventure....and down the road we went.


This is at the Holy Land Adventure in Eureka Springs Arkansas. (For those of you from Loma Linda, that's still in the US) It's a wonderful place and you go from spot to spot, listen to the park employees tell their part of the Bible story and then go to the next spot. It covers about 1 mile or so and you walk it all. It was wonderful! I thought I'd gotten a picture of some of the other spots, but would have to search through my whole 450 pictures to find them.....this is Little Critter at the Moshe (Moses) spot. He's helping hold up the 10 commandments. I just knew I had a great picture of Kefa (Peter).....he's my favorite desciple. I just know he was a red head....how else to explain his mouth so often outrunning his good intentions?!?!! grin.

Well, on to our hotel and our spot in Branson, Missouri....and yes, that's still in the US. We've know gone through Texas, Oklahoma (nothing exciting to share from there), Arkansas and are now in Missouri. Roughly 750 miles from home. Whew!!!


The following morning (Wednesday) we had breakfast with Mark Twain and Norman Rockwall. Now I realize both these men are dead....but the impersonator of Mark Twain was wonderful! He even looks a LOT like Mark Twain!!!! This is a picture of Little Critter and Mr. Twain after the show. He was impressed Little Critter had read both Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and had also read The Jumping Frog from Calico County. Little Critter loved the jokes (that he caught, several went over his head) and seeing the pictures Mr. Rockwall had painted for the second edition of Tom Sawyer. (I personally love Norman Rockwall's paintings!) I also didn't realize he'd done the pictures for the second edition or that the two men knew each other!! THey did! And enjoyed each other's company quite well...according to Mr. Twain that is. Little Critter enjoyed this show so much he wanted to spend the money Grandma had given him to buy a copy of the show on DVD for PawPaw to watch. He just knew Pawpaw would love it. (He's right, but Momma paid for the DVD....that money is for Little Critter to buy himself something.)


After that show, we stayed downtown on the landing and snooped around. Not much to see unless you wanted to eat or shop. But did see the Paddle Boat go by as the water works started spouting water. Then suddenly the Star Spangled Banner is booming from the speakers down at the pond, and wham! Fire is bursting from these tubes in the background. Boy, howdy, it was fabulous!!! Talk about getting your patriatism stirred up!!!!! I grabbed this quick picture to share. WOW! I was almost in tears when it finished, it was so beautiful and made me so proud of this country!!!! Thank you Branson, for reminding us what a great place this is! Ok, let's move on now....


Our second show for the day was at the Sight and Sound theatre. We saw the musical Noah. This is Little Critter outside the theatre in front of the Lion and the Lamb sculpture that doubles as a small water fall. Once inside, no cameras allowed. Pooey. If you ever get the change to see this....DO IT!!! It's a bit pricey, but worth every single dime in our book. Our only quibble was they used the name Jehovah quite often mixed in with Hebrew names and Greek words. There's no J in Hebrew or Greek....so Jehovah is not a correct translation of His name. Oh well, it was only slightly bothersome. The rest of the show was incredible. Especially when we're inside the Ark...yep, they build the set all around you in the audience and you're in the Ark with them. And they bring the animals into the Ark right through the audience. It was great!!!!! This was Dodi's favorite for Wednesday. I was torn....I liked both the shows we saw. Little Critter, well, he just liked being surprised all day.

Well, I'll try to post some more pictures from our day on Thursday later this week. It was a full day with LOTS of fun stuff! As we went to each show and explored the town of Branson, we were grateful to be born in this country, to see SO much of Papa's love for us in the friendliness of wait people, ticket takers, showmen and even just other tourists, and to be able to enjoy all this great adventure. I pray you take the time to see His love for you in the people around you. He really does love you like crazy! And He sends you people and events to show it to you. Be sure not to miss them. It makes life so much more beautiful! Well, gotta get to bed, we have another big adventure on the books for the morning. Shalom, from the road......Spitfire

On the road......

Well, we left home Monday morning around 11:30 to head for Grandma's house. Over the river, and thru the woods....well, OK, there's no woods, but we did cross a couple of rivers! Six hours later, we arrived at Grandma's house. I love my mother-in-law! She is truly a jewel!!! She's always thrilled to see us, even if it's the middle of the night. (It wasn't this time, but one year we showed up around 2 in the morning....she just left the doors open for us in the little house and had a note for us. Then cooked a huge breakfast for us later that morning! No complaints about our being so late or anything! We had to wait until after work to leave....funeral, no prior warning. Oh well. We got there!) And this time she even knew we'd be using her as a Motel 6....meaning we arrived Monday around 6pm and left Tuesday morning around 10am. What a bummer! But we'll be back to her house late Friday evening...and get to stay for about 3 days.

We're now in Missouri. (For those of you unfamiliar with the US, that's another state...in fact, we drove thru 3 states today!!!!! ARGGG!) We left Texas this morning, drove thru a good portion of Eastern Oklahoma always on the lookout for Indians! I thought sure I saw smoke signals a couple of times...giggle giggle. (Oklahoma is the state the Federal Government sent all the American Indians to live in in the 1800's. There's Indian reservations all over it.) Little Critter had his nose buried in the DVD player thru most of Oklahoma, so Dodi and I had fun making up stories about the scenery....and the Indians.

Once we crossed into Arkansas (another state) we pulled the plug on the DVD player and made Little Critter look at the scenery with us. By now we were driving thru parts of the Ozark Mountains. It was beautiful....at least the parts I could actually take my eyes off the road to see! We went to Eureka Springs. To be honest, from about Fayetteville on to Eureka Springs I saw little of the scenery...something about 75 million squiggly hairpin turns up and down those blasted mountains at 65 and 70 mph.....gulp! I got seasick just before we actually got to Eureka Springs...the road did so many switchbacks! That's when the road turns back almost opposite the way you just came. And after being used to Texas roads and highways.....well, let's just say Arkansas and Oklahoma dont' know what a highway is!!!!!

Once in Eureka Springs, we went to the Holy Land Tour. We got there 30 minutes before closing (google maps was not accurate about the timing from Grandma's to Eureka Springs.....must have been all those mountain switchbacks!) so they didn't charge us for tickets and just let us run thru the tour. It was great!!!!! I hope to be able to post some pictures tomorrow of what we saw. We got to talk to "Hannah", Kefa (Peter), and Moshe (Moses). Imagine our surprise when talking with Moshe to find out he was born in our hometown and went to school 17 miles from our house!!!!!! Talk about a small world....and boy did he look good for being 3000 years old!!!!! Smile. (One day I'll have to figure out how to get smiley faces on here......oh, some other day.)

After our whirlwind tour of the Holy Lands, we got back in the Trooper, and drove the last 1 1/2 hours to Branson, Missouri. Tonight we're in our hotel room getting ready for tomorrow.. We have breakfast with Mark Twain tomorrow.. I can hardly wait and Little Critter can hardly go to sleep. He's read 3 or 4 of Mr. Twain's books, so can't wait to meet him in the morning....wait till he finds out we go on the Titanic our last day here! Hehehe. Mom can still surprise the little beast! Well, will try to post again tomorrow evening. We eat with Mark Twain in the morning, then later go visit with Noah and help with the critters. (Good grief, that could be a lot like being at home!!!!! I've got dubs on feeding the unicorns!!!)

We saw more of Papa's gifts to us today than I can recount in one entry....the mountains, the hawks, the rivers we crossed (I think there were about 30), the friendliness of the folks we met at meals and gas stops, the sharing of His love with us by the actors/actresses of the Holy Lands. I pray you each have found some of Papa's gifts to you today. And may you find more tomorrow. Shalom, from a long way from home.....one tired spitfire.

We did it!

Each year for about 10 years now, Dodi and I (and Little Critter since he was about 5) have held a biker's rest stop for those bikers going to Austin for the ROT Biker Rally. Now, if you don't live in Texas, you have no clue what this is. But it's a huge (like about 70,000 bikers) Motorcycle Rally held down in Austin each June. It's a secular rally which means we've never actually gone to it because it's mostly drunk, scantily dressed and/or hung over bikers. (For those who don't know we've been bikers for over 10 years....with the Christian Motorcyclists Association. And yes, I do have my own Harley and have logged more miles than Dodi! In fact for over a year I was the road captain and led our group on all rides....which was totally unheard of at the time...for a woman to be road captain! And that's where the name Spitfire originally came from.....the bikers.)

Well, this year, we opted to do 4 days of rest stop. Usually we only did 3 full days and sometimes part of a 4th day. But this year, Dodi really felt called to do all four days....whew. We got up between 6am and 6:30am each morning, loaded 6 ice chests with ice, drove 40 miles to the nearest Harley dealer, unloaded the canopy, table, ice chests, chairs, tracts, Bibles and our selves and proceeded to water, juice and witness to hundreds of bikers all day. The weather was between 90 and 100 degrees with humidity levels from 50-75 percent. It was miserable the last two days!!! The first two days it was cloudy so wasn't too horrible....just humid! But we got to share with SO many folks looking for a way to feel better about themselves and their lives. It was incredible! And the folks at Horny Toad Harley are the best!!! We've known them for over 10 years, and each year they just treat us like royalty. It's great!

But it's over for another year....and to be honest, I'm glad. Staying outside in the heat, the wind and the noise for 8 hours or more gets tough. I love visiting with folks, although explaining my voice gets old (I don't have one....it sounds like I have a bad case of laryngitis....but that IS my voice. Sigh.) And I LOVE getting to talk about Yeshua, the Kingdom of my Father, and prayer with these people...but. Of course, we've already started working on ways to impact more folks next year...and I'm sure I'll be right in the thick of it again...but I can honestly say I'm glad we're finished for this year. (What a baby I am, heh?) I just pray some of the seeds we planted will get watered and come to fruition.

Well, I've gotta get to bed, we leave in the morning on a trip I won as a new partner in our H & R Block office, and then to see Grandma. I'll post as I can on the road but fair warning....Internet is tricky at best at Grandma's! So if I'm quite for the next 10 days, it's just that I can't get Internet access at Grandma's. So be blessed this next week, and be sure to listen for Papa's voice asking you to fulfill His Great Commission. Tell the world how wonderful He is! They need to hear it!!! Shalom, Spitfire

Happy Dancing Again

Well, we're happy dancing around here again. We just got a phone call from our eldest foster son. He's not been speaking to us for about 1 1/2 years. And this was a pleasant phone call, so we're blessed. Of course the reason he called was he and his father have had another falling out resulting in father disowning eldest son....that hurts my heart. Torah (Bible) tells us to honor our father and mother. So it hurts my heart that this father and son can not seem to work out their differences.....but in fairness to this son, I've seen the story working out for 28 years and felt it would come to this eventually. Eldest son has a multitude of problems, many of them caused by his parents. His mother's death when he was 13 didn't help anything.....but his father's reaction and response to the boys (he has a younger brother that also lived with us for awhile, but will no longer even speak to us. Sigh.)when their mother died was nothing short of heartless. As eldest son grew up, step mom resented him being there, younger half brothers hated him, and father did nothing to try to alleviate the situation. Eldest son ran away from home numerous times, but father had issued a court order that we could do nothing to help the boy. Only after he hit 19 could we step in, and by then an enormous amount of damage had been done. He now serves in the United States Army...as a mechanic on the big machinery. He's also pretty good on smaller cars. ;-)

I told Dodi when he got mad at me over a year ago for telling him the truth about some of his actions that he'd be back next time his father got mad at him. As we talked, he asked why we always took him back even when he treated us badly. I told him that what family does. Even if we're angry with you, disagree with what you've done, or disapprove of your speech,....you're still our son and we love you. Bless his heart. He's heard that for most of his life from me. (And no, he's not my child....except from my heart.) But now that eldest son has his own child, he's beginning to understand where we've been coming from for the last 17 years of his live. So now there's hope we can help lead him to a closer walk with Papa. He's professed faith in Papa, but his actions don't show it. Perhaps we can be used by Papa to show him that Papa loves him more than we.....more than his father. And thru us perhaps, little creeper (his son-our grandson) will also be introduced to Papa. WOOHOOO! We could possibly impact their eternal lives!!! OH, the incredible responsibility of that just hit me. Wow, we could impact the eternal future of their lives. Hmmmm. Boy, gonna have to hit my knees on this one! I sure don't want to allow my red hair and unruly tongue to ruin everything......Well, I'll trust Papa to have this all under control. After all, He's the one who put this child into our lives so long ago, and keeps bringing him back to us. There has to be a reason for that! So as long as we stay out of the way, allow Papa to use us and listen carefully so we hear His voice, this could have a seriously happy ending!

And best of all, we're going to get new pictures of our grandson!!!!! We haven't seen him in over a year either... and he spent his first 6 weeks of live in our home without either of his parents. So in a way, he's another of our kids! I can hardly wait to cuddle that little creeper!!!!!!

So I hope you each listen for Papa's voice in your hearts....He's got big plans for each of you. And He's got people just dying to hear you tell them how much Papa loves them. So get to work! The Kingdom is at hand! Shalom, Spitfire

PS Things are a little more peaceful with Little Critter the last couple of days....he's trying to catch himself when he's being disrespectful (doesn't always make it, but you can see him trying. That's a big step towards growing up!) So while I know it's only the opening volleys in this war to grow up, I now feel more assured I haven't lost his heart. It's just hormones getting in the way! Sigh. But this too shall pass. And soon I'll see my little caterpillar turning into a wonderfully beautiful, G-dly young man. OK, now I've gotta go get a hankie, sniff, sniff. My baby's growing up!!!!!! WAAAAAAA. (giggle, giggle)

Regaining Consciousness

One of my sweet sisters sent this to me today. It's called the YaYa Sisters....in many ways (more than I really want to admit to) it describes life in our zoo this week. ....let me explain a little.

For several months now we've had increasing trouble with Little Critter and his attitude mostly towards me, but also towards several adults. It was most puzzling as he has wonderful manners....most the time. And when he chooses to use them, people are usually blown away by his maturity level. But lately, he's chosen to not use them with me and has been increasingly rude and disrespectful. No amount of fussing, paddling, taking away priveleges or times out have seemed to help alleviate the problem. I was not only hurt and sad about this, but also bumfuzzled. What in the world could have gotten into my sweet, loving, squirmy, wormy little boy?!?!?! I had this horrible thought one day, and asked the Dr. about it when we went in for Little Critter's annual checkup. But Dr. assured me he was far too young and we wouldn't have those problems for a couple more years.... Still there was a niggle in my mommy heart that something wasn't right. Hmmmm.

Well, the last three days have been miserable for both Dodi and I. Little Critter has been almost totally out of control....rude to both of us, disrespectful, nasty, hateful to others and downright mean to all living creatures. Today, as we were beginning the preps for Shabbat, it came to a head. He blew it with me, I lost my temper, paddled his backside, sent him to his room, and (sigh, I'm ashamed to say this........) I ran away from home. Yep, I gathered my things, took the car keys and told Dodi I was leaving and would be back sometime. When the poor man asked what happened, I snapped "Ask YOUR son! I'm sure he'll say it's all my fault!!!!" and then drove off. I'm not proud of my actions.....but I was about to do some serious harm to my child.....starting with yanking that nasty little tongue out of his mouth and wrapping it around his neck!!!!!!!

Fortunately, my parents (to whose house I ran) allowed me to vent my frustrations, offered their advice and after about an hour sent me back home. Sigh....now to apologize to my poor Dodi. I did, he understood and told me he loved me still. Feeling better now, I left Little Critter in his room while I prepared things for Shabbat. I knew I had to talk with him, but needed to allow Papa to rid me of my anger, sooth my hurt heart and talk some sense into me. He did. And before Shabbat started we'd both apologized, talked and spent some sweet time together with giggles, hugs and affirmations of our love for each other. Shabbat was a lovely time together as a family with a friend over.

As for the source of the problems.....well, I'm afraid I was right. Papa told me to trust my mommy heart. He speaks to it regularly! Little Critter is going into the male version of PMS....or puberty. He's only just turned 9, and this shouldn't be happening for a couple years. But it is. So for those of you with young boys.....cherish your cuddles and giggles while you can. And when they suddenly turn into Jeckel/Hyde, hit your knees!!!! Papa can and will give you all the patience (oh how I hate that P word!!!!), control and wisdom you need. Just hit your knees before you run away....grin. It's so undignified.....

May Papa bless each of you this Shabbat and may you each feel Papa's love for you. He loves you like crazy ya know. Heiveinu Shalom Aleichem. (May peace be on you) Spitfire

Scotty, I think Summer's here!

Well, my goodness. Has it really been over a week since I last wrote?! Whew. The time just flew past. Of course, the temps have sky rocketed too! It's now generally in the 90s with moderate to high humidity. Yuck. I wouldn't mind the heat so much if the humidity weren't so high. But 40%-70% humidity is a real killer of motivation to do much of anything!!!!! Even my poor little plants are not having fun out in the garden.

We've been busy harvesting and preparing more zucchini than I have figured out what to do with, green beans (8 quarts in the freezer so far....one more we ate tonight for dinner....boy were they good!), and about 1/2 a bushel of onions. We've been picking peppers, tomatoes and cilantro as they ripen. Hoping they'll start ripening together so we can make some salsa for Dodi. I've also got to cut all the bok choy and do something with it......any suggestions?!?! I don't think we can eat all 8 heads at once.

I hope you all had a blessed and wonderful Shavuot (Pentecost). We went to the new synagogue in Temple and joined. (Ahava, don't have a heart attack please. )But Dodi decided he was ready to join, so we're now Messianic Jews. We have been in our hearts for several years, but had no where close enough to make it feasible to join. Now we do. (Gayle, now it's your turn to NOT have a heart attack!!!! I'll explain to you later....) Our Shavuot service was incredible!!! I even got to hold the Torah Scroll as we "danced like David danced" during the service. The Torah scroll I got to carry and dance with is one that was smuggled out of Iraq just before the War started. It's got tiny bells all over the top of the two spools (?) holding the actual Torah. I was blown away when they handed it to me. It's priceless! But I did SO enjoy dancing with Papa while holding His love letter to me!!!! It was such a blessing. We also had taken some freshly gleaned wheat with us... yes Gayle, Little Critter and I went out early and gleaned some of your corner wheat...thank you for allowing us to do that. I'm so blessed to have friends in high places! We still may come do some more gleaning if I can figure out how to grind it.....probably would help if I had a grinder. But I don't. And I don't think I want to stand at the table and use my marble slab to grind wheat......hmmmm. Will have to continue to study this one.

After the service, we had a feast!!! Boy, if you left hungry it was your own fault!!!! The congregation is small (much like All Saints, Gayle) but there was more food than our home town could have eaten!!!!! All 5,000 of them!

Then Monday, we got to go pick up our baby chicks. Six of the little darlings. They are SO cute. I'll try to get a picture of them to post soon. We're now busy building a small pen for them so the big chicks don't hurt them. Eventually, they'll all be in the same pen. But for the next several months, the babies will have their own brand new pen. We're also trying to hatch a couple of the older hens eggs. I'll letcha know how that goes. We've hatched several quail, but they never live past 3 weeks. sigh. Hopefully this will work better.

Well, I reckon I've made up for being silent so long.....will try to post more often and shorter posts. I pray Papa has blessed each of you as we start this hot season of the year. shalom, Spitfire