For us, Passover has officially ended, and it seems like we're now getting back to normal life, but I still feel like I've been run over by a truck. And to that, most people wonder why in the heck a week-long Passover celebration would make anyone feel like they've been run over.
Well, for those of you who aren't familiar with Passover, it is a biblical feast in which we celebrate a huge Seder meal compete with the telling of the Haggadah. The kids get involved, and it's a lot of fun. Most people don't realize what a great way the Passover celebration is to teach children all about the history of Yah and his blessings.
But anyway, so the week before Passover you go through and strip your house of leaven (or yeast) in its entirety. And you know, the first year we celebrated Passover I thought, well, you know we'll get rid of the bread, the flour, our pastas, that'll be about it.
Well let me tell ya, I was wrong. Leaven is everywhere, even corn syrup is used as a leavening agent in some foods and corn syrup has totally taken over most American households' kitchens. By the time we get done cleaning out all the leaven we usually have meat, tons of meat, veggies, fruit, seasonings, and some good ol fashioned oatmeal for breakfasts. Which when you think about it, is probably the kind of diet we should be on year round - which is one of the great symbolic meanings of Passover. It's a week of cleansing and setting ourselves apart for holiness. Not to mention the practical aspect of giving your normally crumb-laden house a good work through, hence the term "spring cleaning."
And part of the reason there is no leaven during Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is because leaven or yeast is seen in the Bible as a symbol of sin - it literally infects the food to make it rise - and Yahushua, Jesus, had no sin. We are in essence celebrating who Yahushua is and His great sacrifice.
But me, I am a carbohydrate nut. I love cereal in the morning, crackers and a piece of toast with lunch, cookies, cakes, tortillas, as long as it has a carb in it, I'm hooked. So during Passover I am like a zombie walking around all day. I have no energy whatsoever. I could probably go to sleep at 9:00 and wake up at noon. I keep thinking, "Please just give me a cracker!!! I can't take it anymore. I'll do anything, just give me a cracker, please!"
But every year I make it through with tons of pot roasts, tons of broccoli and fruit, cubes of cheese, and tons of matza bread, which crazy enough, my son loves. Actually, during church on Sunday, we normally bring him bags of snacks like fruit and raisins, crackers and cereals to eat during the sometimes two hour-long service. As long as there is tons of food available, my little three-year-old will sit through the entire service without making even a peep, well maybe a peep, but not a whole lot else. So, on Sunday, there weren't a whole lot of snacks in the house so we brought grapes, raisins, and tons of matza bread to church. Kaydn Rye loved it. I'm sure everyone else was thinking, "What is that wood-like looking food that kid is chewing on?" But he thought it was great.
And as soon as the eight-day Feast of Unleavened Bread is over, you guessed it, we pig out. We actually went to a mexican restaurant and had chips and salsa and tacos that night. It was great. Then we came home and inhaled cookies. Fun times.
Kaydn Rye is still figuring out why all the food in house goes into a locked room in the basement for a week, but he's starting to get it. He'll tell people when they come over, "All our cookies are in the basement."
But anyway, I'm now adjusting to the carb lifestyle again, and I'm loving it. God Bless cookies and cereal....
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
What Will You Give Praise For Today.....
This week has been a Praise Yahushua Week.
Something life has taught me is the benefits of designating some time every so often to just praise Yah for everything that he's done that month or in the previous months. There is so much power in just reflecting on life's progress rather than on all that seems to be lacking in life.
We've been having some interesting times lately, I won't say hard times because life could definitely be much harder, but it's definitely been interesting with family and work and did I mention, family.
Moving back to my hometown has been one of the most challenging endeavors I have ever had a part in, mainly because it created a world in which my family members now make regular appearances in my life, on their terms. Sounds crazy, I know, but that alone for me is like living in a far-away universe. Living thousands and thousands of miles away from my family really allowed me to grow into a person outside of all that I believed about myself because of what they communicated to me for the years I lived directly in their midst.
But anyway, that's for another day's post.
Anyway, it has probably only been only in the last year or so that I picked up on one of the biggest secrets of the universe, which is the principle of giving thanks in the midst of all that seems to be swirling out of control.
What I mean by that is this, actually speaking into existence all that I'm thankful for in the midst of a situation that I have spent much time lamenting and praying over.
For instance, I have spent much time in prayer for change in all that seems to go wrong with my crazy family members. And rather than focusing on all that is wrong with that part of my life, I now focus on the breakthroughs that have happened even amongst the tumult that they bring to my life, no matter how teeny tiny those may seem.
Even when it seems like Yah has done nothing to intervene with His divine favor, the concept of searching for and meditating on those tiny little breakthroughs in the rocky times - and then praising Yah for those - actually opens up the channels through which His nature is poured into that particular aspect of our lives. Ironically, the more we praise Yah for His goodness in the most tumultuous times, times that seem hopeless, the more we will see His goodness manifested in them.
It's the same concept of reaping what you sow in life, some of you new-agers may call it karma.
Before I caught on to these concepts I was an entirely different person. I inherited my grandfather's natural born melancholy personality, which is like a generational curse, passed down through the generations until someone nips it in the butt. But because of that curse, I would bring myself to such depressive states that I would be almost literally paralyzed. The fear of what was to come would paralyze me for days, sometimes weeks. And focusing on all that seemed so horrific at the time is exactly what brought me to that state.
But just changing my perspective to one of hope and praise, just allowed Yah to do in my life all the goodness that He had in mind for me.
Which is how I learned, when your husband is being a miserable jerk, say something out of love, or when finances are out of control, give to a ministry, or when you run into the person who ripped out your heart and stomped on it, say hello.
Just wait and see what Yah does when you open up the channels of heaven.
Something life has taught me is the benefits of designating some time every so often to just praise Yah for everything that he's done that month or in the previous months. There is so much power in just reflecting on life's progress rather than on all that seems to be lacking in life.
We've been having some interesting times lately, I won't say hard times because life could definitely be much harder, but it's definitely been interesting with family and work and did I mention, family.
Moving back to my hometown has been one of the most challenging endeavors I have ever had a part in, mainly because it created a world in which my family members now make regular appearances in my life, on their terms. Sounds crazy, I know, but that alone for me is like living in a far-away universe. Living thousands and thousands of miles away from my family really allowed me to grow into a person outside of all that I believed about myself because of what they communicated to me for the years I lived directly in their midst.
But anyway, that's for another day's post.
Anyway, it has probably only been only in the last year or so that I picked up on one of the biggest secrets of the universe, which is the principle of giving thanks in the midst of all that seems to be swirling out of control.
What I mean by that is this, actually speaking into existence all that I'm thankful for in the midst of a situation that I have spent much time lamenting and praying over.
For instance, I have spent much time in prayer for change in all that seems to go wrong with my crazy family members. And rather than focusing on all that is wrong with that part of my life, I now focus on the breakthroughs that have happened even amongst the tumult that they bring to my life, no matter how teeny tiny those may seem.
Even when it seems like Yah has done nothing to intervene with His divine favor, the concept of searching for and meditating on those tiny little breakthroughs in the rocky times - and then praising Yah for those - actually opens up the channels through which His nature is poured into that particular aspect of our lives. Ironically, the more we praise Yah for His goodness in the most tumultuous times, times that seem hopeless, the more we will see His goodness manifested in them.
It's the same concept of reaping what you sow in life, some of you new-agers may call it karma.
Before I caught on to these concepts I was an entirely different person. I inherited my grandfather's natural born melancholy personality, which is like a generational curse, passed down through the generations until someone nips it in the butt. But because of that curse, I would bring myself to such depressive states that I would be almost literally paralyzed. The fear of what was to come would paralyze me for days, sometimes weeks. And focusing on all that seemed so horrific at the time is exactly what brought me to that state.
But just changing my perspective to one of hope and praise, just allowed Yah to do in my life all the goodness that He had in mind for me.
Which is how I learned, when your husband is being a miserable jerk, say something out of love, or when finances are out of control, give to a ministry, or when you run into the person who ripped out your heart and stomped on it, say hello.
Just wait and see what Yah does when you open up the channels of heaven.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Naked in the Backyard....
I'm not normally one of those mothers who feels a constant need to disclose all of life's little embarassing moments, but today is one of those rare days when I feel like telling all...
So today I'm in the kitchen cleaning out my cupboards for Passover, and whenever it is above atleast 65 degrees I love to just keep the back door open so Kaydn Rye and Gertie can go in and out with just the screen door whenever they please. It just seems to let the outside in a little bit, which when you live in the middle of the frozen tundra for half the year, feels great.
So anyway, Kaydn Rye is outside and I'm cleaning away. I just happened to go to the back door to check on him, and I find him standing in the backyard playing with a bunch of twigs, naked. He has his underwear and his shorts around his ankles and he's just playing away havin a good ol time. And on top of that, he has no shirt on because about five minutes before this, while rubbing his belly, he had said, "My belly is hot, I need to take this shirt off Mom."
So, I took his shirt off and let him run around with his belly hanging out.
Well, now everything was hanging out.
I say, "What in the world are you doing out here?"
He says, "I peed in the grass, over there."
Apparently, my redneck father must have taught him how it is you go about using the restroom when you're out in the field or up at the barn all day working.
And the shorts he had on were zippered and buttoned, which he does not currently know how to operate, so I guess instead of asking me to help him he thought, "I'll just stand here naked and she'll eventually come out and fix my pants."
Whatever I guess. I'm not so fussy, but I'm sure the neighbors got a real show.
I'm sure they were all thinking, "What in the heck is going on over there, and where is that boy's mother?"
You know your little boy has officially mastered manhood when he drops his pants and pees in the backyard....
So today I'm in the kitchen cleaning out my cupboards for Passover, and whenever it is above atleast 65 degrees I love to just keep the back door open so Kaydn Rye and Gertie can go in and out with just the screen door whenever they please. It just seems to let the outside in a little bit, which when you live in the middle of the frozen tundra for half the year, feels great.
So anyway, Kaydn Rye is outside and I'm cleaning away. I just happened to go to the back door to check on him, and I find him standing in the backyard playing with a bunch of twigs, naked. He has his underwear and his shorts around his ankles and he's just playing away havin a good ol time. And on top of that, he has no shirt on because about five minutes before this, while rubbing his belly, he had said, "My belly is hot, I need to take this shirt off Mom."
So, I took his shirt off and let him run around with his belly hanging out.
Well, now everything was hanging out.
I say, "What in the world are you doing out here?"
He says, "I peed in the grass, over there."
Apparently, my redneck father must have taught him how it is you go about using the restroom when you're out in the field or up at the barn all day working.
And the shorts he had on were zippered and buttoned, which he does not currently know how to operate, so I guess instead of asking me to help him he thought, "I'll just stand here naked and she'll eventually come out and fix my pants."
Whatever I guess. I'm not so fussy, but I'm sure the neighbors got a real show.
I'm sure they were all thinking, "What in the heck is going on over there, and where is that boy's mother?"
You know your little boy has officially mastered manhood when he drops his pants and pees in the backyard....
Monday, April 14, 2008
No More Spacesuits!!
I have again been gone for about a week, mainly because with advent of spring also comes a new activity added into my day - playing outside with Kaydn Rye. He, like me, is a winter-hater. When the snow starts coming down, unlike most children, Kaydn Rye's last thought is to go outside and roll around in the snow. He just wants to be nice and toasty inside.
And with growing up in North Dakota and then moving to Mississippi, where it is pretty much atleast a balmy 50 degrees in the winter, it was like some crazy joke to move back to North Dakota. Needless to say, I'm still a little ticked off about enduring North Dakota winters for more than a weekend stay, but I know that I know that I know that this is where Yah has placed us, so I'm happy with that.
But still, it seems like such a waste of life to be stuck inside from November through March to avoid having to dress in a space suit just to make a ten second trip outside to start the car. I think that's my biggest qualm about winter, the twenty minutes it takes to get everybody's shoes, coat, gloves and hats on. And on top of that, I was a little rusty on the whole having to warm up the car thing this winter, so half the time I definitely wouldn't plan it right and Kaydn Rye and I would spend five minutes just hanging out in the foyer with our space suits on just waiting for the car to warm up.
But I was thinking today, now that about half the year will be spent in temperatures freezing or below freezing, would I trade the year round, crazy extremes - sub-zero winters and 100 degree summers - for a year-round 70 degree climate?
I don't know. It's a good question.
There would be no swimsuits, no playing in the water at the lake (since in my opinion anything under 90 degrees is way too cold to be half-naked in a body of water), and no more laying in the shade under a tree, dripping with sweat on a 100 degree, 100 percent humidity day.
Would I really want to trade all that? I don't know, I'm still thinking about it. And really, would I want everyday to be 75 and sunny? I think I might need a gloomy, rainy day every once in a great while. I think everybody should have a rainy day every now and again, it keeps life in perspective.
And with growing up in North Dakota and then moving to Mississippi, where it is pretty much atleast a balmy 50 degrees in the winter, it was like some crazy joke to move back to North Dakota. Needless to say, I'm still a little ticked off about enduring North Dakota winters for more than a weekend stay, but I know that I know that I know that this is where Yah has placed us, so I'm happy with that.
But still, it seems like such a waste of life to be stuck inside from November through March to avoid having to dress in a space suit just to make a ten second trip outside to start the car. I think that's my biggest qualm about winter, the twenty minutes it takes to get everybody's shoes, coat, gloves and hats on. And on top of that, I was a little rusty on the whole having to warm up the car thing this winter, so half the time I definitely wouldn't plan it right and Kaydn Rye and I would spend five minutes just hanging out in the foyer with our space suits on just waiting for the car to warm up.
But I was thinking today, now that about half the year will be spent in temperatures freezing or below freezing, would I trade the year round, crazy extremes - sub-zero winters and 100 degree summers - for a year-round 70 degree climate?
I don't know. It's a good question.
There would be no swimsuits, no playing in the water at the lake (since in my opinion anything under 90 degrees is way too cold to be half-naked in a body of water), and no more laying in the shade under a tree, dripping with sweat on a 100 degree, 100 percent humidity day.
Would I really want to trade all that? I don't know, I'm still thinking about it. And really, would I want everyday to be 75 and sunny? I think I might need a gloomy, rainy day every once in a great while. I think everybody should have a rainy day every now and again, it keeps life in perspective.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Puke, a Yellow Highlighter and some PowerAide
After about a week away from the blogging world, I'm trying to re-evaluate my priorities. Last week was crazy with work, but only because I allowed it to be so. I spent last week engulfed in my biggest case ever, worth more than $25,000, and I let work and making money consume me. Instead of working towards all of my business goals, I started lusting after them and the money that would subsequently follow. So I decided to change that and make sure that it doesn't over take my life again this week.
Ironically enough, I hardly worked at all today. It was just one emergency after another, and on top of that I felt like dying I was so sick. I woke up this morning only when Kaydn Rye got up and started begging for my attention, so I got him on the potty and half way dressed when I told him that I was not feeling so well and was not ready to start the day - he could either play in his room until I was ready to get up or he could lay in my bed with me. He chose to lay in my bed to take a little cat nap, and he did so probably until about 9:00. If you can believe it, I was still feeling miserable, but told him he could go play. He is super good about just playing with his toys and going potty by himself if I'm not feeling well or am preoccupied with work - which is a blessing from above.
So anyway, I dozed off until about 9:45 when I awoke to Kaydn Rye screaming. I raced out of bed and found him downstairs in the bathroom. My husband had apparently not taken the time to put the seat down on the toilet, and Kaydn had literally fallen in. He was crying such big tears that the floor was wet with tears and fallen snot. Sorry for the mental image.
So I got him cleaned up, re-dressed, and calmed down. I decided it was probably time to just suck up the fact that I felt crappy and actually join the world of living. After that Kaydn ended up spilling Poweraide on the floor, writing with highlighter on the carpet, and Gertie (the dog) ended up puking on the floor. Mind you, Kaydn Rye rarely gets into stuff that he shouldn't be into, so I don't know what was going on today. It was just one of the those days. And I wish I could say that puking is a rare occurence for my crazy little mutt, but I would be lying. The only thing out of the ordinary for the puke was that it was just unusually gross today.
It was just an unusual day.
Ironically enough, I hardly worked at all today. It was just one emergency after another, and on top of that I felt like dying I was so sick. I woke up this morning only when Kaydn Rye got up and started begging for my attention, so I got him on the potty and half way dressed when I told him that I was not feeling so well and was not ready to start the day - he could either play in his room until I was ready to get up or he could lay in my bed with me. He chose to lay in my bed to take a little cat nap, and he did so probably until about 9:00. If you can believe it, I was still feeling miserable, but told him he could go play. He is super good about just playing with his toys and going potty by himself if I'm not feeling well or am preoccupied with work - which is a blessing from above.
So anyway, I dozed off until about 9:45 when I awoke to Kaydn Rye screaming. I raced out of bed and found him downstairs in the bathroom. My husband had apparently not taken the time to put the seat down on the toilet, and Kaydn had literally fallen in. He was crying such big tears that the floor was wet with tears and fallen snot. Sorry for the mental image.
So I got him cleaned up, re-dressed, and calmed down. I decided it was probably time to just suck up the fact that I felt crappy and actually join the world of living. After that Kaydn ended up spilling Poweraide on the floor, writing with highlighter on the carpet, and Gertie (the dog) ended up puking on the floor. Mind you, Kaydn Rye rarely gets into stuff that he shouldn't be into, so I don't know what was going on today. It was just one of the those days. And I wish I could say that puking is a rare occurence for my crazy little mutt, but I would be lying. The only thing out of the ordinary for the puke was that it was just unusually gross today.
It was just an unusual day.
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