Bike Riding!

Though we do live in the country now, we have reasons for not letting our precious lambs ride their bikes in the neighborhood. So I decided to take them some place where they will have plenty of room to ride, now that we can load up all the bikes onto our shuttle bus!

Our New Ride!

We outgrew our Honda Odyssey 6 months ago when baby #6 was born. That van has been good to us, but we have to move on. Now a friend has it, so hopefully they will be able to build some great family memories with it as we did.

We have a good, reliable truck that my mom recently gave us, since she moved to the city and no longer had need of it. We will probably give it to Jonathan when he turns 16 (shhh!), but we are so thankful to have it for Myles to drive to work.

We decided to "keep" the van but turned in our HHR, after they were BOTH totalled for hail damage!!! We were shocked, but it has been such a blessing. It has enabled us to pay cash for our new family vehicle as well as have plenty of vacation money for September! YHWH always provides, and sometimes He will just blow you away! \o/

So here is our new ride, with 15 seats! Plenty of room for the whole family, some friends and neighbors! Well, not our current neighbors, as they are all snobs and we are plannng to move away from them ASAP. We tried for years to figure out how to get out of the city, but as much as I hated living there, all of our neighbors were AWESOME! I don't know what it is about these people here, but I digress.....

The kids have already claimed seats, and Jonathan claimed one for Rocket (the dog) as well for when we take him with us on vacation. Yep, we're going to have an awesome trip on that bus, building more great family memories. I can't wait!!!

Kosher Jello!!!!

The photo and recipe are from my friend Audrey.

Kosher Jello:

Obviously start with kosher (probably beef) gelatin!

2 T gelatin
2 C of your favorite, no-sugar added organic juice

In a saucepan, heat 1 C of juice not quite to boiling. When it is steaming good, add 1 T of gelatin and stir with a whisk very briskly until the gelatin is dissolved. Pour this into another bowl and add the remaining 1 C of juice and 1 T of gelatin. Stir briskly until dissolved. From here you can transfer to a jello mold or something else if you'd like. If there is foam, I usually skim it off the top. Refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours.

Enjoy!

I don't get it. :/

Along the same train of thought as my last entry, I just don't get why people don't get it. Seriously, the things that YHWH has shown me in His Word over the last few years seem so clear when you read some key verses that I have always skipped over my whole life because I didn't understand them (and everyone I knew also skipped over them), but now all of the pieces seem to fit, and the ENTIRE bible just makes sense. It is amazing and exciting every single day!!!!

So why doesn't everyone see what I see when I show them these same verses?

I am learning to accept that I cannot remove the veil of blindness, only the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy Spirit) can do that. And I have experienced that for myself, having learned some very important Truths without hearing the teachings of man until *after* the Ruach showed me these things.

But still, even though I KNOW that I am powerless to change others, I still just can't wrap my brain around it. I mean, it is right there in black and white, even in English it makes sense, in most versions. And there are many others (few in comparison, but still many) who have been shown the exact same things, yet most do not see it. I just don't get it. I do, but I don't.

One of my brothers replied to an email I had sent him this past week as a follow-up to our conversation back in June, discussing these Truths of Scripture. I didn't go into detail, partly because the email would have been a novel if I had, but also I wanted him to look these things up for himself. Well, his response was not even any words of his own, he just copy-pasted some articles about how the "law" is bondage and we are not supposed to be "under the law". Seriously?! I asked him if he even studied it for himself or if he just looked up these articles to support the false doctrines we've always been taught. He said (through the articles) that we are in a cult. Right. So, we are the ones reading the bible *for ourselves* and NOT following any one teacher or set of doctrines, but he is sitting and being spoon-fed by his pastor every week, and we're the ones who are in a cult? Hmmm......

I cried for a long while on that one. He just doesn't see it and isn't really trying, and I can't comprehend that.

Also this past week, I had a very lengthy "discussion" with a lady on FB. She accused me of all kinds of things (lovely Christian "love" going around), but ironically she is the one who was misinterpreting Scripture, not me. I used to believe as she did, but now I see the ENTIRE bible as one Truth! This is something I wrote on my status near the end of that several day discussion (on someone else's page).

YHWH's plan was never changed by Yeshua's life and death on earth. He didn't wake up one morning and say, "I'm sick and tired of my chosen people. I think I'll start a new religion and just let them do whatever the heck they want, that way I don't have to deal with this sin crap anymore." SMH

This was one of the Truths that the Ruach showed me. I asked myself, "If Jews and Christians serve the same God, then why do they worship Him in two completely different ways?" I sought out the answer and found the Truth, His Truth, and everything just started falling in place. No more confusing doctrines that contradict each other! Now I'm learning about things I never even thought about before, moving on to the real meat!

Even though some of these people (not all) really baffle me and even frustrate me at times, it is ironically teaching me how to love people more, regardless of their beliefs. The Ruach is showing me that He will reveal the Truth to some and not to others, so they just truly don't see it. I can't imagine that, but I know that it is true. I have no idea why He chose to reveal His Truths to little ol' imperfect ME, but I am so grateful and so humbled that He has.

So we will continue to learn new things every day (seriously, every day) and grow in our love and excitement to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, and if others don't "get it", I will love them anyway and pray for them. I so wish that the Ruach would lift the veil from everyone's eyes, but the choice is His, and I don't have to understand it. I am learning to accept it. And someday when we go back to the Land (promised land), I will be ready to leave everyone behind. I'm getting the hurt out of the way now, so when the time comes for the 2nd / Greater Exodus, or before, if the Ruach has us leave before then, I will have no doubts that my family and friends are just still blinded, and there is absolutely nothing I can do. I just pray the veil is lifted from many more before that time comes.

It is feeling more and more like a wilderness all the time.

Just consider one thing......what if what YOU believe is wrong? Just what if? We have always been taught to accept what our leaders tell us, and not to question them. I have learned to question *everything*, and my life has been flipped upside down, for the better! Please open your eyes. Please wake up. Please seek the Truth of Scriptures, not from anyone else, but from the Ruach HaKodesh. He will lift the veil if you allow Him to.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

I truly do love you all! <3

Lesson Learned!

Whether I have been right or wrong in the past, I can see now how I was so offensive to some people in previous years. These last couple of days I have dealt with a woman who is new to the Torah, so she still has a very Christian mindset. Though she seems to have a lot of things *right*, she is not open to correction and drives things into the ground, repeating things over and over and over as if I didn't hear her the first time. She feels the "need" to assure me that her intentions are pure, and that she is speaking in love. She has tried to help me understand that sometimes she can't NOT say anything.

Wow. Sounds just like me about two years ago! Oopsie! So glad I'm not like that anymore, though I am still growing (and always hope to be learning and growing more). Now that the shoe is on the other foot, I can see how it must have been so annoying!

So if you were one of those people who was annoyed by me, I am sorry! Please show me grace and forgiveness as I continue to grow. And for what it's worth, I've learned to just let people believe what they want to believe, 'cause they're going to anyway. ;) I am passionate about certain things, but you are welcome to disagree, and I won't try to change you!

Okay, so I admitted I have been annoying. You can stop laughing now.

It's a.......

No scrolling through, you have to read my post first! :)

I had an ultrasound today! I thought it was just going to be a quick one to check gender, but it ended up being maybe 20 minutes or so. It seemed like forever!

Measurements are exactly on the due date, weight is perfect (about 10 ounces), heartbeat was 154. Baby was moving a lot, holding legs together, just being modest and uncooperative. :)

I told Myles that I was going to cry either way, boy or girl, I just wanted to know! He didn't believe me, and just as he was responding, "Nah, you won't cry either way, unless you're already......" he looked at me and saw the tears in my eyes! I am so pathetic!

As the ultrasound proceeded, and she was getting measurements for a while, the longer we waited, the more I was REALLY wanting her to say it was a girl! We have one girl and four boys, so we just really NEEDED it to be a girl! But of course, I would be happy (and cry happy tears) either way!

She had a hard time seeing "down there", since the baby had its legs together most of the time, and the umbilical cord was also between the legs. Finally, just as I thought she was about to give up, she got one clear picture, and I must say, it wasn't obvious like my previous three! ;)

***STOP SCROLLING HERE UNTIL YOU READ IT ALL!***

Homemade Mayonnaise and Chicken Salad

I don't blog about food very often, because it is not my passion or something I am particularly *great* at, but this one needs its 15 minutes of fame.

I wanted to make this chicken salad with grapes, but it calls for mayonnaise, and the only kind I have has gelatin in it (and probably other ingredients we are no longer consuming). So I decided I would finally buckle down and make my own mayonnaise. I'd been threatening to do it for a few months now, and now I wish I had done it sooner. It was so easy and so delicious!

This is the basic recipe I used for the mayo, and below is exactly what I used. See the link for full recipe and to see how to ferment it and keep it longer!

1 cup coconut oil (I didn't have any other oil on hand, and I don't care for the taste of olive oil anyway.)
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 TBSP. kombucha (I didn't have any lemon juice or vinegar.)
1/2 tsp. salt (Himalayan or Real Salt is best!)

It turned out to be perfect!

Now this is the recipe I adapted for my chicken salad. I also added some roasted bell pepper (red) and some dried cranberries. With my homemade mayo, I just used the mayo and yogurt for the creamy part. And again, no lemons (or lemon juice) or vinegar, so I used kombucha. I have been wanting to make this for a while too, and it is everything I dreamed it would be!!! SO GOOD!!!

I also love that I was able to use, not only the homemade mayo, but organic, home grown, top quality ingredients. I am definitely going to make this more often!