One month until our plane touches down in Israel. Just writing that brings tears to my eyes! We're still going to keep up with the xanga but I thought I'd throw this on here as well.

Now.....time to start on the Israel To Do List

Just to let you all know that I have moved the blog to http://www.xanga.com/WaysofZion

See you there!

Some exciting news from Israel:

In this Interview on Israel National radio (http://www.israelnationalradio.com/#yishai) amongst all the political stuff, lo and behold, an unlikely witness... Live at the Jerusalem Conference. Day 2 - One Week To National Elections. Part 2It is one week from National Elections. Yishai and Alex review the election landscape, and highlight important issues of the conference. Live interviews include right-wing secular kibbutznik Tzafrir Ronen, Bible Magazine Publisher Paul Billington, ...Listen Now - http://www.israelnationalradio.com/Asx/Yishai-tu-2.asxDownload MP3 - http://msmedia.a7.org:82/arutz7/shows/English-show/Yishai-tu-2.mp3 (first few minutes...sorry about the music intro!)

The comment at the end about the Temple had me in tears! It was very moving, especially since we are studying Ezekiel's Temple in Bible Class.

Proverbs 10:22 "The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it."

Counting my blessings today:
Being called a child of Yahweh
The example of Christ
The ability to read the Bible without fear
A wonderful Husband who is leading me towards the Kingdom
2 little olive plants around my table
Wonderful sisters who encourage and guide me (physical and spiritual sisters...you know who you are!)
A warm and caring extended family who is always there
The giggles and tickles that fill me day
"One more story please Mommy"
Being reminded of God by mr Magoo
The dirty dishes that show God provides
Making the bed and finding innumerable sippy cups
Seeing mr Magoo play "(B)Ible class" and saying his prayers

I could go on and on!

What do you count as your blessings?

I need to pay attention to these verses!

"Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Lk 10:38-42

Enough said! Good bye cleaning hello exposition!

Spring Cleaning this week!

Why is it that I always choose the busiest week of the year (thus far) to do our Spring Cleaning. Monday was about 17 degrees, so the children and I spent the afternoon going on a walk and playing outside. The feeling of wet and squishy mud sticking inbetween our fingers and residing under our finger nails is blissful! It never fails to amaze me the amount of weeds that seem to grow up in the midst of the cold winter wind. We managed to fill a quarter of the wheelbarrow! This jump started our spring cleaning and we continued into the house hunting up all the dust that has hid ontop of the doors frames and in the vents.

Weeds, if we don't pull them up when thay are small and insignificant then they take over the garden and strangle the flowers or veggies that you want to grow there. Do I let the weeds in my life take over and fill my garden of life? Yes, I must admit that I frequently let the daily chores and the grind of life to fill my day and push out the blooms of the Word of God in our lives. Diapers, meals, diapers again, dishes, vacuming, bath time, laundry, more diapers, another load of laundry, the list is endless and one could fill every second of every minute of every day all week long with the daily chores of life.

Time to weed! Instead of a perfectly clean house (no I don't have one) let us take a few minutes every day to read a Psalm or listen to a tape while washing dishes and picking up the toys. I've been listening to bro. Roger Lewis' tapes on Samuel the Seer and they were excellent! Highly recommended! Next up: The House of Asaph.

Firstly a personal note:

My son thinks he is Franklin the Turtle! Whenever we tuck him into bed and say prayers we leave him to fall asleep. About an hour later, when we are going to sleep we check on the children and nearly always find him buried under the covers, about half way down his bed curled into a little ball. He looks just like a picture of Franklin sleeping in his shell...

On a more spiritual note, we had an excellent exhortaion on Sunday. Baby Iz feel asleep so I was able to take notes and listen to it in its entirity! Wow! The brother based his talk on Psalm 119 especially the verses on the importance of the daily meditation on the Word of God. Here are some of the points that I found helpful.

Psalm 119:130 "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." The hebrew for entrance is 6608 "opening", if we don't open it, it will not give us light! The Bible will never help us if we leave it on the shelf and collects dust.

Psalm 119:97 "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day" We live in a very busy society and can hardly take the time to get the essentials done on a daily basis. Does this push out the daily meditation on the Word. This verse and many such tell us that it is essenatial to think on these things ALL day long, not just a fly through the daily readings half asleep before bed.

Prov 3:1-5 God's word is to be in our hearts and then He shall direct our paths. We must put our full confidence in Yahweh in everything and in all decisions.

There is a lot more that I could write but this is long enough for now. God Bless!

A couple thoughts on yesterday's readings:

We've been thoroughly enjoying our readings in the Psalms. Last night a couple of verses popped out at me. "I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts." (119:63) Who are our friends? Who do we spend time with? Is it brothers and sisters that believe in the same God that we do? Who share the same purpose of walking down the straight and narrow path to his Kingdom, striving to manifest Yahweh's character in our lives. Or on the other hand do we spend our time with those who do not believe in God, question His power in the creation, who worship mammon in all its various tempting forms. Of course we can't become friends with those in the ecclesia if we aren't there on a regular basis, and not just Sunday morning either! We need to reach out and make the effort, invite another sister (and her kids) over for a couple hours or have a couple over to do the readings. If perchance there are none your age there, then take the opportunity at every chance to visit another ecclesia with those your age or at your stage in life, there is no excuse! David was able to say that he was a friend of those who fear and love God. We must do the same! We are making the choice to either follow those in Christ towards the Kingdom or down to spiritual Egypt. At the end of the day it is truly a matter of life and death, is it not?

"Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word...It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes." (119:67, 71) I know that I do not find pleasure in trials. Having said that though, I can think of a certain trial of faith and honestly say that without that I would not have come into the saving name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is helpful and beneficial to our faith to look back over our lives and see our Father's hand at work to bring us unto salvation.

Here is a a small section from Search Me, O God by Gilbert Growcott:

Love - The Incentive To Please God
STICK with it! Whatever it is that you want to do, stick with it! Don't just drift, and flutter, and complain. Disicpline yourself to keep your mind and effort on the job at hand. That's the only way that anything has ever been accomplished. For this, you must have incentive: powerful driving incentive. The slave's incentive is the task master's lash. It keeps him very attentive to what he is doing. Natural incentives range from terror of that which is bad to strong desire for that which is pleasant and desirable. OUR incentive must rise higher than this. Our driving incentive, like a fire in our bones, must be intense love of and zeal for God, developed by long study and meditation upon His glorious Word and works.

I have been enjoying this book as it is made up of small meditations like the above. It is easy to pick up while the children are playing or the rare occasion when they are sleeping, and read one or a couple of the entries.

I find as a mother it is so easy to complain about the amount of work that we have to do for and with our children. A perfect example is that I gave Mr Magoo a cookie sheet of rice to play in with his trucks, he had been wanting to play in the sandbox but it is still frozen, and I felt bad for my little boy. After about a half hour of play you can imagine that some of the rice had found its way onto the kitchen floor. Immediatly the flesh wants to gripe and goon while sweeping it up, but what would that accomplish? An upset child, a bitter mother, burnt dinner?

I'm going to try and complain less about my children and count my blessings that God has seen fit to let me borrow them (for they are truly His children) to bring up in the nuture and admonishion of Him. I'll let you know how it goes!

Welcome!

I have been searching for a blog that shows the struggles and joys of raising a family according to God's principles. Having failed to find such a thing, we've desided to start our own. We hope that you find this humerous, helpful & fun.