Sukkot is the Feast of the Lord which is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths). According to Leviticus 23:33-43, it is to be a week long celebration of God's provision and a remembrance of how He brought us out of Egypt, and came down to "tabernacle" among us.

When Jesus was born during this Feast, He fulfilled it. Remember He is the Word made flesh, who came down and "dwelt" among us? That word "dwelt" means He pitched His tent among us! HalleluYah!

But that is not all that this Feast rehearses. By keeping it, we not only look back to when He descended on Mt. Sinai to give us His Word, and when He descended and took on a fleshly "tent" to show us how to obey His Word, but we are looking FORWARD to when He will come down to earth again to tabernacle with us, establishing His Kingdom on earth!

Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

If you would like to learn more about the Feast of Tabernacles, check out the following links:

Short Introductory Video

Feast of Tabernacles/Booths

This is a short video showing how we know when Jesus was born:

The Birth of Messiah

Isn't this beautiful?

I was so privileged and blessed to be invited to be a part of it. This is my new friend, Iris, who gave birth to her firstborn child, eight pounds of BOY. The proud papa was there, supporting his wife through her labour and delivery.

I love it!

"Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD." ~ There have always been blessings for those who walk in obedience to His law, and curses for those who do not.

The tactic of the enemy is to cast doubt upon the Word of YHVH. "Yea, hath God said?" Did He really mean THAT? Surely it doesn't apply to YOU.

In the Garden of Eden, they blew it. In the Millennium, what is the first thing God will do? "He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2)

Time is short. It's time to come into obedience to the covenant we entered into with God, sealed by the blood of His Son Yeshua/Jesus.

I can love the person who is difficult to love. How can I do that? Because love doesn't depend on how I feel. Love is a decision I make, to prefer another above myself, to be like my Father Who defines love.

If I do not love when someone is rude, or critical, or churlish, then my love is conditional, and is not like His. True love shines brightest when it is hardest to love.

Love bears and forebears. Love forgives. Love breaks down the barriers that pride builds. Love changes things, changes people.

I can love others who are difficult to love because... HE loves me.

Stopping in to update! My foot's been in a cast for about three months now. We will be going in to have it removed this week or next, then will begin rehabilitation.

It's been difficult for this mom of eight, hobbling about on crutches or in a wheelchair, but God has been so good. My family has blessed me, especially my older girls, pitching in and doing the things Mom could no longer do. But I am certainly ready to be able to walk again.

My Beloved is home. After seven long weeks in Texas, he is back with us in Guatemala! I had just put the children to bed last night when he came, so of course they jumped up to go hug their Dad. He lay on one of the beds, and they crawled all over him. It's so wonderful to have him home again. :)

This is the longest I've ever been separated from my husband. I am so thankful for God's help and special protection during our time of separation, but I hope we never have to do this again.

Hats off to you single parents and spouses of military personnel! I don't know how you do it for months on end.

Among the many treasures my hunny brought home to us, one of them was a camera for me. I am so excited to finally be able to post pictures on my blog again! Here are some photos of the Eagle's Nest, where we stayed last night and are playing today.

Our sweet little Jayne Moriah was born Wednesday, November 23, at 12:58 a.m. She weighed about nine pounds and measured 20.5 inches long.


Her birth story is pretty brief. I had stayed home with five of our children who had gotten ill after our week of VBS (coughs, some with fever). I had experienced a few good, low contractions during the day, but at around 9 p.m. they seemed to suddenly get serious. I hurried the children to bed so I could labor quietly.

Hubby got home late, around 10 p.m., and found me relaxing in the tub. He started getting things ready while I got out and got ready for bed. I didn't know how long I had before she would be born, so I thought I might try to get some sleep. We both went to bed and slept from 11 to 12 a.m. I was only half-waking when the contractions came. Midnight was when I could not lie there anymore.


I paced a little, breathed through some contractions as I leaned against the wall, against the bed, on the bed on all fours, once propped up on pillows (hated that - it hurt my back), then went to the bathroom. While sitting on the toilet, my water broke (glorious moment!) and we knew her descent would be fast from that point.

I felt for her head, all wrinkled up. I stood up, and she crowned within a minute or two. Hubby knelt, ready to catch her. I supported her head with my hand, felt the incredible, involuntary urge to push, but tried to hold back just a little so I could ease her out. Just two pushes and her head was born. Another good push for the shoulder, and her body slid out into her daddy's hands!

HalleluYah!


She let out a cry just as she was born. The cord was rather short, so Daniel helped keep her close to my body while I sat down again and got a little situated to hold her. He put a towel over her, and we checked her over, suctioned a little mucus from her mouth and nose. The umbilical cord was pulsing beautifully, so we left it alone to do its job. She was looking around, blinking in the light, and soon started breathing on her own. I put her to breast - not interested yet.

We cleaned her up a bit, and Daniel got her clothes laid out while we waited for the cord to stop pulsing. Pretty soon I felt the placenta coming, so I stood again and he held a bowl under me to catch the placenta. By then, of course, the cord was not needed, so he clamped it about two inches from the baby and cut it with sterilized scissors we had ready.

I held her while he checked the placenta, which was whole and looked good. He also took note of my blood loss. Then he took her to clean her up and dress her, while I cleaned up in the birth pool. (I didn't labor in it much this time, but it still came in handy! No hot water in our upstairs bathroom.) It felt good to settle into bed to nurse our new little one, who was more than happy to latch on this time.

We are so excited and blessed that the Lord allowed us another healthy home birth and has given us this beautiful gift of a healthy baby! Thank You, Abba!

{Psalm 67}
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song.
1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
2 That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.
3 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
5 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.
6 Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

(Emphasis mine in verse 2.)

So where is Jesus' name in this psalm? Look at verse two. The words "saving health" in the Hebrew is one word, yeshua, which is the name of Jesus in Hebrew. So the verse literally says, "That thy way may be known upon earth, thy Yeshua (Jesus) among all nations"! Isn't that beautiful?

Now read the whole psalm with Yeshua/Jesus there. It means so much more! HE shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations. ALL the ends of the earth shall fear Him. The day is coming! Let us make Him known among the nations. Time is short!

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. {Matthew 7:13-14}

A little pearl just jumped out at me from these words of Jesus. There is the Gate, and there is the Way, which lead unto Life. Many, many people respond to God's call and enter in at the Gate (the Door, the Messiah), but many of those forget about the Way. The word way means "a road; by implication, a progress; journey". Isn't that interesting?

Jesus is not only the Door. He is also the Journey beyond! We are to walk the Way, the Road, the Journey, that He instructed us to walk. If you have entered in at the straight Gate, don't just stand there. Walk! :)

"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the {old paths}, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16

I love this verse! I've heard so many wonderful sermons about seeking the old paths, and it has been my desire to do that. Go back, go back, because we have gone astray from the paths God would have us to walk!

Have you ever thought about what exactly the old paths are? We tend to think about the great revivals of the 1800's and early 1900's. But the old paths are older than that. Older than our grandparents and great-grandparents. Older than anything invented since the time of Jesus, yea, they are even older than that, because they were well-established before the time when He walked on the earth. Keep going back, to the time of Jeremiah, who wrote these lines. But these paths were ancient to him, too! What are the "old paths", then?

You'll get it from the context..

I like the Rangers. I like the Cowboys. I like them the way that I like popping a piece of candy into my mouth. It gives me brief pleasure, but it's not something I seek out every day, or make a priority, or something I rearrange my schedule for. It doesn't make me jump up and down screaming. It's not a habit that compels me to spend a lot of money or invest a lot of my time into what's here today, gone tomorrow. Wait, am I talking about candy, or sports? Hee hee, well I am talking about both.

Seems to me that many believers get so caught up in sports that they forget who they are in Christ. When they get into a game, their character seems to change, and the things that are usually important to them are suddenly forgotten. That bugs me.

I wouldn't say that there is anything wrong with enjoying sports (or any other earthly pleasure that is legal and wouldn't ruin the testimony), just that as Christians we should examine all things by the light of Scripture.

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. {1 Corinthians 6:12}

What it comes down to is this: Does this thing control me? Does it change me? Does it draw my heart away from what is eternally important, and make me dwell on things which do not really matter?

Can we imagine the man who said he pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, glued to the TV every Monday night to watch football, hollering at the referee for the bad call he made? I just can't see it.

I don't mean to imply that as believers we can't enjoy watching a game. I just wish believers would remember Whom we represent, and what our mission is during our brief lifetime. Just thinking.

Some are thinking I'm getting ahead of things, blogging about the birth of the promised Messiah in mid-October. But did you know He was born right around this time? Yep, it can be calculated that His birth fell right around the Fall Feasts, likely the Feast of Trumpets or the Feast of Tabernacles. Either way, the babe was certainly not laid in the manger in the dead of winter in Bethlehem. If it were so, then the shepherds would have been notified by angels at home, which is where they would have had their sheep cozied against the cold, and not out in the fields at night.

God never commanded us to celebrate the birth of Messiah in the winter, and the Scriptures do not bear out that He was born at that time. So why DO so many celebrate the birth of the Saviour on December 25th? I will leave you to do your own research about the history of that date.

In the meantime, if you want to truly remember and celebrate the birth of Jesus, NOW is the time. Don't wait for December! :o)

In my continued efforts to replace commercial health and beauty products laden with harmful chemicals with healthy alternatives, I was thrilled when my friend Kelly gave me her recipe for homemade deodorant! Most of my life I had used a commercial deodorant until some years ago I learned how the aluminum in it can accumulate in my body and possibly put cancer and other health issues into my future!

Okay, the recipe. I did not have all of the ingredients listed in the original, but I altered it a bit and came up with this:

Ingredients:
2 or 3 Tbsp coconut oil
3 or 4 drops GSE (Grapefruit Seed Extract)*
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup talcum powder** (I use baby powder, because I like the scent.)
a few drops essential oil like lavender (Optional. I omit this since I use baby powder.)

Soften the coconut oil in a small saucepan, and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix very well with a spatula, then scrape it out into a small container. I put mine into a 4" x 4" square plastic container, and once it hardens, I cut it into four squares for easy application. The soft mixture can also be put into an empty commercial deodorant container, which sounds like a really good idea! (Haven't tried it myself, yet.) Allow to harden at room-temperature or in the refrigerator, depending on the climate where you live. Now it's ready to use!

I was really surprised how effective this deodorant is. I was relieved, too, because my deodorant crystal was not working as well for me as it used to. (Probably due to hormone changes.) If you try it out, let me know how it works for you!

~.~ Good health to you and yours! ~.~

* Original recipe calls for Tea Tree Oil, which I do not have, but intend to try out some day!

** The original recipe called for corn starch instead of the talcum powder I use, but I'm trying to get away from using (modified) corn starch, too.

I looked at some pictures of a Mormon wedding today online, and something that really struck me about it was that there were SO many children in the pictures of the extended family. Their family is large and beautiful, and children are clearly welcome. It made me think sober thoughts about how the Enemy has lied to true believers about the importance, the value, the *necessity* of children. Those who have the true Gospel have, unfortunately, bought into his lies. In fact, some of our most respected teachers and preachers actually counsel young couples to hold off having children, and then be careful to "space them out". And those are the couples who are actually planning to have any children at all.

We have forfeited God's long-term blessings in favor of short-term convenience, or so that we can have more luxuries, or the designer "one of each" kind of family. We've lost sight of the eternal, and fixed our eyes (and affections) on the temporal. How far removed we are from the godly men and women of Bible times who begged God to bless them with children, who rejoiced to see them born, who blessed young brides of the next generation with a blessing of fruitfulness!

"Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways... Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table." {Psalm 128:1,3}

"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it." {Genesis 1:28}

"And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people." {Genesis 28:3}

"And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase." {Jeremiah 23:3}

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." {Psalm 127:3-5}

Do we believe that the fruit of the womb is His reward? Really? If we believed that, then would we be counseling young couples to prevent pregnancies? The fact is that Christians today have an unbiblical view on childbirth and family planning. We've accepted the world's philosophy on it, while other groups.. cults.. (not just Mormons) are multiplying and teaching their young their false doctrines, raising up a healthy generation of hell-bound zealots. And we look around us, bewildered at their sheer numbers, wondering how we'll ever be able to win them all to the Lord.

Well, the answer to that dilemma is right in our homes.

The fact is that YOU can't win that many people to the Lord in your lifetime. It's impossible. You will only be able to reach a limited number of people, and that's it. Meanwhile, people continue to be born, grow up without being taught the truth, and will likely, eventually, die lost. Will your influence only extend to the end of your life? Not if you have a whole passel of children, and train them up to walk in the ways of the Lord! I challenge you to do this:

1) Rethink your philosophy about childbearing and family planning. Does it line up with Scripture? Do you see large families as being abundantly blessed, or as unfortunate souls who perhaps haven't figured out "what causes that"?

2) Realize that children really are a blessing from the Lord, and treat them as such. Do not balk at the woman in your church who is "pregnant AGAIN??", and instead bless her with words of affirmation and joy. (Check out Luke 1:42!)

3) Encourage the young mother who is tired, who wonders if it's all worth it, who just had a baby and needs the support of others while she is resting. Give her the support she needs, lest she get discouraged and decide in her heart that this one's the last one, because she can't take anymore.

4) If you are married, of childbearing age, and you are physically able to have children, pray about taking your hands off the controls and allowing God to open and close the womb according to His will.

I have never heard anyone say they regret having a child, but I have heard many regrets from people who wish they would have had more. "Father, give us YOUR heart attitude about children!"

***This post is not intended to hurt those who cannot have children, nor to cause distress to those who could have, did not, and now it is too late. To those brothers and sisters, I say now is your opportunity to encourage the next generation to welcome children, and bless them with your words, your love and support!***

I've always been taught in church to love the Bible, to read it, study it, memorize it, LIVE by it. That Jesus Himself is the WORD made flesh. To obey the Word is to obey Jesus. And to reject the Word is to reject Jesus.

...So which parts of the Word are we systematically rejecting, because of our traditions? This is something that the Holy Spirit has been working on me about for months. Is not the Word as eternal and unchanging as the Author?

Jesus said:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (as recorded in Matthew 5)

So, apparently none of the Word of God is done away with, or made obsolete. Not even the "Old Testament". Can this be read any other way?

So I've got a hundred things I want to blog about, but when I sit here in front of a blank New Post screen, I freeze. I want to post something relevant, but I worry about offending someone. I want to post something funny, but wonder if it's too silly and frivolous to merit taking up cyberspace. I want to describe something about my wonderful life as a wife and mother in Guatemala, but lament that I can't post a beautiful picture to go with it because our camera is so old and does not give me quality photos. I know, they're all excuses! I need to just quit waiting for the perfect circumstances, and just blog what God lays on my heart. Grainy pictures and all. :o)

So I've been trying to work out a really creative way to make this announcement. I thought about making it cute. I thought about making it inspirational. I thought about making it funny and joyful. Because it's all those things! But since I couldn't make up my mind, I will just come out and say it.

We're expecting a baby!!!!!!! Number Eight is due in late November. Praising Father for the gift of life! :oD

I remember the days when one of my little boys would streak through the livingroom after bathtime, naked and without a thought about it. As a toddler, he had no sense of modesty whatsoever, as should be expected from a little one.

Over time, he became aware of what nakedness is and started to keep himself covered up. He realized (with little help from us) the inherent shame of being naked, and actually preferred to cover his body. I thank God for it, because we learn from the Garden of Eden that it is right and proper to cover ourselves in this fallen world.

Ah, the slow awakening of a child's conscience! It is the parent's help in raising them to be God-fearing and holy (set-apart). We should never, ever violate that sense of modesty by dressing them in skimpy clothes because it's "cute" or because the weather's hot.

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:6)

That word "offend" doesn't mean what people think it means. It does not mean to cause vexation or annoyance. Here it means to entrap, scandalize, entice to sin. To offend a little one means to train him/her to sin!

Let us consider Biblical guidelines for modesty when dressing our littlest ones, too.

My twelve-year-old daughter and I were driving to La Esperanza to clean the church building today, when we passed a woman standing by the car of a man who was leering at her. She was not dressed like a lady, and her laughter as we went by was garish and loud. It reminded me of a proverb about the "strange" woman, which I quoted to Jessica.

"She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house."

To which Jessica responded, agast, "Yeah, her feet are abiding about six or eight inches above the ground!"

This made me laugh. She was talking about the woman's really high-heeled shoes.