Sabbath Picnic

Since the gas prices are about a dollar higher then they were a month and a half ago, and since we drive a long ways to church, we are needing to stay home every other week for the time being. Today was a wonderful slow home day. Naps were hand, hand work was done, messages listened to. This evening the kids all took turns and help make ginger snaps and talked us into having a picnic on our bed. We threw down a banket (crub catcher) and enjoyed our tea for dinner. Cheese slices, milk, tea, cookies and pineapple(we got away with such a simple dinner because everyone had a huge lunch).

Sabbath Family Activity

Yesterday was a  home day for us, and I had planned a family activity to do in the afternoon.

Clara's

She chose her verse from the Cheerfulness lapbook we did. She knew exactly what one she wanted.

They are very simple, and cute when finished. The kids picked their colors, and the adults handled the hot glue(to glue the crayons down), but the kids did the actually melting (with a hair dryer).

Flora's all pink with a couple random colors thrown in.

I picked a couple verses for her to chose from and she picked this one. She said," I like this one, I am always singing about God!" Yep, total fit.

The men teamed up on this one. Blues and greens. Aaron picked the verse. I had this engraved on the inside of his wedding ring. Special to both of us.

We all had fun and they turned out really well. I am not sure where I am going to hang them up yet, but they will be a nice splash of color when I do get them up! :)

Mine with my chosen scripture.

Pslams 92

A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:   To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,   Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.   For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.   O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.   A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.   When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:   But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore.   For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.   But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.   Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.  The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.   Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.  They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;  To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. 

Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.  

Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. 

 Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. 

Remember his marvelous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;

Psalms 105:1-4

Sabbath Afternoon Drive

About 4 this evening we loaded up and went exploring on some of the farm roads. It was a lovely time enjoyed this beautiful day!

This is what happens at the end of the drive, when the basset hound knocks down the phone and then steps on it. Busted!

Getting Some Good Old Vit. D

Commanded Sabbath Rest

My son, forget not my law, but let your heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they be added to you.

Proverbs 3: 1 and 2 

I like what Mr. Kevin Swanson has to say about this passage. I very good view on keeping the commands!

He says in his study guide on Proverbs: " It is important to understand the meaning of "keep" in the injunction to "keep my commandments". Contrary to popular opinion, the word is not synonymous with "obey". It is the same word used for the watchman who guards the city. There are those who are faithful in guarding the city, and there are others who sleep on their watch each night., allowing hordes of enemies into the city to eventually destroy it. TO keep the commandments it to pay attention to them, to take them into account, or to care enough for the commandments to incorporate them into our lives. "

We are also told in 1 John, that if we say we know God, but do not keep his commands that we are lairs! 

He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But who ever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought to walk just as He walked.

1 John 1:3-6

Do we love God enough to not only obey the command to keep His Sabbath, but do we also "keep" it as said above? Guarding against the Enemy?

Just some food for though! 

Wishing you all a wonderful, fulfilling Sabbath!

Sweet Sweet Sweet!

Since our reserve gas money was needed for the toilet adventure earlier this week, we stayed home this Sabbath and listened to services and took a walk. It was a bit over 60* this afternoon and wonderfully sunny. We loaded the kids and dogs up, drove out of town a couple miles to a dirt road and let everyone  run. Mama got a nice walk, and we all quite enjoyed it. 

We love her so much...she is such a wonderful dog.

There is a Millie in the grass...somewhere. She was so funny bounding along.

Basset Hounds are the funniest dogs! She kept up though! It was Lyla who got worn out and would run with the girls, lay down and wait until we all caught up, then go again!

Every 15 feet or so, Sir Dew would flop on the ground...

...and play in the dirt! :)

Today we are all thankful for the wonderful area we live in. It's so pretty in all seasons!

Something rare happened yesterday. We were ready to leave for church almost an hour early, and with no stress or rushing!

We decided to leave and take a bit of a drive to enjoy all the fall colors!

The glorious fall colors just "popped" against the dark greens and browns of the wet landscape.

We enjoyed our extra time enjoying The Master Artists work!

Sabbath Rest

I love the Sabbath. I love the slowness, the calm and the quite. I love being able to sleep in a little or take a nap. I love hearing good messages and spending time with my family with out worrying about laundry, dishes or the mess on the floor until after sunset.

As I mentioned before we "go" to a couple different churches (same doctrines for the most part, one is a little more real about keeping the Sabbath, which we LOVE!). This week we were planning on attending the nearest United congregation. Well, plans changed.  We were exhausted after a busy day yesterday of paying bills and shopping for the month. I was feeling pretty good during the day, but at bed time (we climbed into bed at 8 pm!) I started feeling achy. This morning it was worse after not a lot of sleep. I am thinking I threw my upper back out some how yesterday. My tummy was upset (from the pain), so my dear man let me sleep this morning, Waking me in time for services with Eternal.

I am very thankful, that we can connect with like minded people through the internet. That when one, or all of us is feeling ill, we can still be fed each and every Sabbath.  

Today I am enjoying a truly restful Sabbath!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Feast 2010

Making the Sabbath Different

I woke up this morning thankful that we had all day to just be a family. No house work, no calls, just time together. A guaranteed day for us and a chance to Worship God is a wonderful way. I was thinking about what we do to make today different then any other day of the week. We found for a while ago, that it was just easy to keep with our every day schedule and found that we were not making day stand out in the kids eyes. So we made some changes.

First and for most, and I think this is a huge stumbling block for a lot of people, and I know it was hard for us to break the habit. We do not buy and sell on the Sabbath unless there is an emergency, meaning our car breaks down, we have to take a trip up to the ER or a family emergency. We do not stop for lunch or dinner after church. We do not get a coffee before church.If there is pot luck and I forgot to make something, we don't top at the store. We feel that God's word is very clean on this point. We are NOT to.

Friday night I (most times) make a nice dinner. Last night, the kids asked for hot dog and because of a crazy week for Aaron (meaning a crazy week for everyone) we had hot dogs!

Now, we wernt letting the kids watch their PBS show (or two, Martha Speaks and Curious George) that they like to watch in the morning, but we were letting them watch a nature show if they wanted to. Well, we decided that there wasn't enough difference, and while them sitting down quietly is nice for getting breakfast on, it just wasn't right in our eyes. Instead they play or read while either Aaron or I (Yes, He helps make breakfast! I am SO spoiled) make the oatmeal, or get the yogurt and fruit out.

We listen in by phone to Eternal Church of God. We love the messages and people and ALWAYS "leave" the service with a lot to think about and so thankful for truth being tough. We do this most weeks. We have been about once a month attending church with my wonderful in-laws and have enjoyed it so much. It's to far of a drive for us on Sabbath mornings (almost 3 hours) so we pack up and spend the night at their house, then head to services with them. The kids LOVE this! We also have loved the messages there and can't wait to go back. As you can see, we do a couple different things, we also attend United. So it works out to be one week at Pacific, one week at United and the "off" weeks by phone or internet to Eternal and United. Kinda strange I know, but it works for us.

For church time the kids have to sit quietly and play. Ether reading books, coloring or something else. When we are with Grandma, she has bags of special Sabbath toys for the kids, but at home and with us, they are stuck with the same old boring. *chuckles* The girls do great and we are working on "training" Andrew to sit and play on a blanket. SO far, so good!

After church, if the weather is nice we go out! Either just to play in the yard, up at the park or we will go for a walk. Today is nice, so this afternoon I think we are going to the park. Everyone in this house is MUCH happier, and sleeps better when we can be out. While the kids are playing, Aaron and I will either listen to another sermon, visit or join in the playing fun.

Our house is rather small and at times and feel a little "loud" with 5 people, 3 of whom are noisy and giggly! My sister usually goes into "their" room for some quite time when she is visiting, it can get a little noisy, but we love it.

We have a simple lunch and I try to have dinner ready to put in the crock pot. Today we are having stew and crock pot corn bread.

After dinner, if the kids already haven't had baths, they get cleaned up, we do family Bible time (usually a review of the Commandments and another verse or 2 and talk about them) read stories, brush teeth and then head into bed.


There is no calls for Aaron, I am not stressing about keeping things tidied. Its just a slow day filled with learning more about God and His ways. I am so thankful that God Commanded us to keep HIS Sabbath Holy.

I do want to point out that Aaron goes back on call ( he is an EMT for our small Ambulance Dept) at 6 pm. Any time that he is "on" that falls on the Sabbath he does not get ANY pay for it. Since most of the crew is older and the total number of people is very small, he volunteers his time. This is an emergency, someone life could be at stake.