Shana tovah! For a sweet new year!
Tonight is the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets and the Biblical new year. It is the fifth of Seven Feasts recorded and defined in the Bible as “The Feasts of the Lord”. Our family is celebrating with extra sweet challah formed in a round loaf and dipping apple slices into honey as our pre-meal fun! I have found that the grandkids love the holidays. They don’t necessarily remember from year to year what it all means, but they definitely remember the food we eat. This morning Ashlyn (7 yrs old) started jumping up and down when I mentioned round challah along with apples and honey. “Oh, I remember! I remember! I LOVE apples and honey!”
We try to make every holiday something that the kids will enjoy and remember. If the kids remember, then it makes it more fun for the parental units as well. The Feasts of the Lord are meant to be enjoyed, and they are precious family times!
The blowing of the shofar comes from Leviticus 23:24.
“Tell the people of Israel, ‘In the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with blasts on the shofar.’”
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Posted in Family on 05. Aug, 2010
Two days ago right around lunch time we heard a knock on the door. One of the kids ran to open the door knowing that I was just a few steps behind them. A FedEx delivery man was standing there holding a large box that looked really heavy. The kids started saying, “It’s Meme’s box!” My mother told us last week that she mailed a care package to us and had put some surprises in it. Everyone was standing around the box waiting for me to tear it open.
I want to interject something here that I have learned over the last year and a half of living overseas as a missionary. Do not underestimate the power of sending care packages to missionaries. Most missionaries live on a very limited budget and don’t splurge on unnecessary items very often. Comforts from home mean more than you can imagine. We have to limit our Mexican food meals because the ingredients here are so expensive. One single can of black beans, IF you can find them, is 5 Euros ($6.50 USD). Corn tortillas only come in packages of eight and cost 3 Euros ($4 USD). And forget about Pace picante sauce. You can’t find that anywhere. We have been making our own salsa, even though you have to search really hard in the grocery store to find a few pre-packaged jalapenos. Care packages mean more than just what’s inside. A lot of time, energy, and money is spent in sending one. That is what brings tears to my eyes when I see everyone enjoying the contents of a newly-arrived box. It’s the thought and love behind it. Ok…now back to my story….
I peeled back the flaps of the box and immediately heard squeals of delight. At the top of the box were Hostess Twinkies and cupcakes, taco shells, corn tortillas, Twizzlers, several boxes of fruit snacks, and a baggie full of flavored lipsticks for the girls.
It would take too long to list everything in the box, but everyone in the family benefited….even the new Vandy baby who is still in mommy’s tummy. As I watched the kids laughing and jumping up and down while going through the items in the box, my eyes brimmed with tears of gratefulness. They are missing their homes, their friends, their church, and also their favorite restaurants. The small familiar items in this box made them smile and feel more at home. This was fun!
Coloring books and sticker books that have kept them busy for hours! (Notice the HUGE container of Pace salsa)
Even fun stuff for the grown-ups!
The little boys loved their trucks and coloring books!
This box truly blessed us, and I want to thank my mom (their Meme) for sending it. She just had a birthday yesterday, so I want to tell her happy birthday! We love her! (more…)
Living with six of my seven grandchildren is a joy. Poppy and I get to spoil them and love on them continually. We try not to spoil too much, but we just can’t help it. Like last night. The parental units went to an Explosion youth leadership dinner and meeting, and we kept all the kids. At dinner time we lined up six plates, filled them one by one, and passed them around the table to each one. When the plates were passed out, we started on the drinks. One of the older ones said they wanted Pepsi Max. Pepsi Max is a beloved drink by some around here. It has 30% more caffeine than regular diet Pepsi, and the kids are not allowed to drink it. The next thing I know, Poppy is handing the two oldest girls their own glasses of Pepsi Max. Poppy said Ash and Maddy needed it, because they had had such a busy afternoon. They had gone with him to run an errand. They ended up walking in the forest and got lost. (That story will have to wait for another blog post…) You should have seen their faces when Poppy told them they could have Pepsi Max. You would have thought we gave them a $100 bill! All this to say, we usually give them what they want…especially when mom and dad aren’t around.
I don’t know why I went off on that story, because the real reason I’m writing this post is to talk about how the kids are learning to play instruments during our watches in the BHOP (Brussels House of Prayer). Ashlyn is very interested in the harmonica, and it sounds so great. It’s not your typical “hoe-down” harmonica sound. She has learned how to make it sound good even in slower worship songs. Madysen is loving the piano. She practices all the time. She has learned two chord progressions and we have been singing several songs to those progressions. It’s very beautiful, actually. Kadyn is a natural on the drums. She is learning to keep a steady beat and is very good at it. (She has her dad’s drumming genes.) Lyric loves to play the guitar she got for Christmas last year. She does a great job, and she sings at the same time. The boys are just 2 1/2 and 18 months, so all they do is dance. It’s so cute to watch.
Ashlyn on the harmonica
Maddy on the piano
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Posted in Family on 10. Jul, 2010
Austin's first birthday
Am I that old?! Yep. I am. My third-born child and first-born son, Austin Wayne Benjamin, is twenty-five years old today. From his first breath he was a joy to us, because we had been told, according to a sonogram, that he was more than likely a “she”. He never would cooperate with the sonogram technician and was always turned the wrong way, but they gave us their best guess. We already had two girls, Courtney and Destiny, and were more than thrilled to add another girl to the mix. Well, when Dr. Fong said, “It’s a boy!”, it just didn’t register at first. Then we started crying and saying, “A boy?!!! A boy?!!!” Then the tears REALLY started flowing!
These twenty-five years have really been a joy. Austin loves to have fun. He always keeps us laughing. He values family. He loves God with all his heart and is committed to seeing His purposes lived out on earth before Jesus’ return. He loves people. He is fiercely loyal. He prefers interacting with small groups of people as opposed to large crowds. His sensitivity to the needs of others around him astounds me. He enjoys LOVES all types of sports. Just ask him about any sport, and he will tell you the stats of the best players. He has seen just about any movie that you can think of. To say he’s a movie lover is an understatement. He is a worshiper of God and loves to lead others into His presence. He is seriously a joy to all around him. He is precious to me.
When Austin turned 9, he wanted a Ranger birthday!
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Posted in Family on 21. Jun, 2010
At 5:00 pm tonight Texas time thirty years ago, I married my best friend. I married the man of my dreams. I married a man who would love me through thick and thin…lean times and abundant times…pretty times and ugly times. I married a man who would be the father of my five children and the grandfather of my seven precious grandbabies. (I can’t ever talk about my grandchildren without using the word “precious”!) I married a man who loves Yeshua with all of his being and is not satisfied with anything less than giving his life to search out the mysteries of God. I married a man who would show me what it means to love God’s people unconditionally, even through offenses. I married a man who would show me what it means to be fiercely loyal no matter what storms might come. I married a man who would show me what humility looks like. I married a man who believes the best in everyone and does what it takes to make them successful. I married a man who would give his life for his family and love them with a fierce love. I married a man who would do anything and go anywhere to be in the will of God. Our life in Israel and Belgium is proof of that.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. I am beyond blessed to be his best friend and wife. Thank you, honey, for thirty wonderful years. I’m eternally grateful.
29th anniversary on the patio of our apt in Israel last year
Gary standing inside the Eastern Gate on the Temple Mount
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