Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets)

Leviticus 23: 23-24 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

Numbers 29:1 Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall also have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work. It will be to you a day for blowing trumpets.

This is the Jewish New Year, year 5772. Today (actually beginning at sundown last night) is a day for remembering. The biblical command is to blast the trumpet or shofar. It is an amazing sound if you have never heard one. And not so easy to do without a bit of practice! :) It is a memorial of God's grace to Abraham when he substituted the ram for Issac. And this being a foreshadowing of Christ substitution for us! (Genesis 22) The blasting of the trumpet is also a call to us. To think about the God's call to us. It is a deep sound, amazing if you haven't ever heard one. One day Christ will return with the sound of a trumpet. And on that day, we need to be ready to respond to his call. In Christ we are forgiven of our sins and will be able to stand in that day! I pray we are all ready! 

This day is also a celebration of the worlds' birthday. It is God's amazing creation through which he speaks to us. We celebrate his great work! (Genesis 1) There are other significances to this feast. We are just beginning to learn about our Hebrew roots and this Jewish God and Savior we serve. I encourage you to learn more about it! It is an amazing way to see and understand God.

Other ways that we will celebrate the feast of trumpets:

reading scripture

eating apples in honey, sweet bread, pomegranates

taking a nature walk and casting crumbs into a stream

the kids have paper mache trumpets
celebrate with friends

Micah 7:19 He will again have compassion on us;
He will tread our iniquities under foot.
Yes, You will cast all their sins
Into the depths of the sea.  

Recommended Reading:
http://ffoz.org/blogs/2011/09/rosh_hashanah_admonishing_the.html

Apple Picking

We took the kids apple picking again this year. It was a blast! It had rained for the 2-3 days prior, so it was a little wet, but we made it through without too much mud. :)

Ezra got the hang of it very quickly

Gabe helped O find the best apples.

Enjoying the harvest

The boys gnawed those apples for quite a while.

There were a couple of tire swings back at the barn for the kids to play on.

Back home, it was time to turn our 17 pounds of apples into applesauce. We gave our peeler/corer quite a workout.

Ezra wanted to try it out, too.

Too bad this isn't a scratch-n-sniff blog!

The Boys

Ezra seems to have given up eating the crayons and decided to join Gabe in coloring.

Gabe's Stomp Rocket

Aunt DD bought Gabe a wonderful gift for his birthday: a Stomp Rocket! We brought it out to the front yard and all manner of excitement ensued. All the kids loved putting the rockets on and stomping on the bag to make the rocket sail into the air. Ezra didn't get the stomping part, but loved to put the rockets on the launcher.

More Views of Baby #4

Rebecca went back to the doc last week for some more ultrasound pictures. The first time, Baby #4 wasn't in the right place for the tech to see the whole spine and the cord attachment. This time everything was great and they officially changed our due date to 1/11/12.

Trains!

We took Gabe to the North Carolina Transportation Museum for some train fun for his birthday. He gets super excited when we see trains or ride near or over train tracks so this seemed like the perfect place to go. All aboard!!

We started out by riding the train. It is an out and back ride because this was a maintance and repair facility of the Southern Railway Co. It was built in the 1890s. Here is more info if you would like.

Then we stopped off at the Round House to see a collection of engines and cars.

Then we took a ride on the Turntable. It is the largest working one in the country.

Happy Birthday, Gabe!

Hey Gabe, how old are you?

Happy Birthday!

Gabe spent his day playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Climbing up to the tree house Grandpa built. Grandpa has put together a really fun tree house with multiple levels. He started with one and then has steadyly been adding aditions as he get creative ideas. So fun!

Getting a push from Sissy. Gabe is still small enough to sit in the baby swing. He is a small statured child.

Brushing Apache before a ride. This was a big deal as Gabe is normally very standoffish with the horses and just prefers to watch them from a distance. Today he was excited to help.

Riding around the yard. He really enjoyed himself. His bravery was such a change for even just a couple months ago.

Posing with Sissy

While Gabe was out playing in the yard with Grandpa, Mommy and Olivia decorated a train cake

Boy was he excited! "Is that MY train cake?"

Picking out his piece

His Thomas the Tank Engine Laptop! He was beside himself when we told him we had to put it down to eat his cake! :)