Sukkot 2013

Well, if we have the 3-room tent (condo) out, it must be Sukkot again. :) Sukkot is all about living in temporary dwellings for a week to commemorate the Israelites living in the desert for 40 years before coming into the promised land. While it may look like we had an elaborate setup, I can only imagine that it wasn't too different from how they did it 3500 years ago. They were carrying their entire households with them wherever they went. For our family, we also choose to celebrate the birth of Yeshua (Jesus) and commemorate God coming to dwell in temporary form among us.

We camped at Hagan-Stone Park in Pleasant Garden again this year, but couldn't get the nice, big group site that we had last year. Fortunately, there was an individual site large enough to fit our tent and other constructs. 

This year we decided, since we were in an individual site rather than off by ourselves, to forgo building a true sukkah and instead put up a couple of screen tents to preempt the swarm of yellow jackets we had last year. We even had a separate kitchen tent. 

Emma helped me untangle the lights to decorate the dining tent.

We lost count of how many times Emma fell out of her chair over the course of seven days, but it was at least 10. She never sat still for long and wound up tipping her chair over many a time.

We borrowed a cornhole set from friends and the kids thought this was the greatest thing ever.

At one point, Gabe started "defending" the hole and a new game was born that combined baseball and cornhole.

Emma started being "helpful" and pushing any bags she could find right into the hole.

Perhaps the favorite "toy" of the week was the dirt.

The kids whiled away several hours digging and piling and scraping the sand together.

Emma took many opportunities to practice her standing as she dumped sand on Ezra and Gabe by the fistful.

Other fun discoveries included worms,

caterpillars,

which later in the week became cocoons,

sticks (show here are Ezra's jet and gun,)

and stumps.

Ezra displaying his wings as "jet-boy".

Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin were kind enough to come visit for a morning while Rebecca and I ran the Mudbug Run again this year. More pics from that in another post.

Naps were a fairly regular occurrence as they were usually wiped out in the afternoons.

Even Irene had a great time.

Sadly, it wasn't all fun and games... Ezra had a mishap involving a camp chair and the bridge next to our site...

He and Gabe were stacking chairs into towers and Ezra decided to climb one.

 Unfortunately, he fell, hit his face on the rail and tumbled into the ditch below, hitting his head.

The aftermath. The cut on his forehead wasn't large, but it was deep, so after a little cleanup and a sandwich, Rebecca took him to our pediatrician.

He put some Durabond (glue) in there and made him as good as new. Mostly, anyway. Dr. Cooper said Ezra was the best patient for this kind of this that he's had in months. He lay quietly still while the doc washed out the cut and glued him up. 

And then, on a walk the very next day, Ezra was being "jet-boy" and, because his hands were trapped behind the stick, fell on a root and cut his chin open. We didn't go to the doc for this one. 

This was Rebecca's and my favorite part of the day.

Kids in bed, stars overhead and a good fire to sit next to.

Our nutty kids.

But they can be sweet, too.

Even Emma.

This year, we had wonderful weather for most of it. It only rained one afternoon and night, though it rained hard enough for me to take the kids home for that night for fear of a flash flood. 

Reflections on Sukkot (from Rebecca): It is customary to read Ecclesiastes so I spent time there. I also spent time thinking about the day to day provision the Israelites experienced in the wilderness and reading in Matthew 6. As we were camping each day, we experienced a simpler life. We didn't have our beds to sleep on each night, we didn't have a refrigerator or pantry full of food choice, we didn't have all our toys or books, we didn't have the TV, computer or other such pleasures. Each day we got up with the sun and went to bed with the sun. God was really speaking to me about trusting him for our provision. Not worrying about what tomorrow will or won't have. Each day has enough trouble of its own. And all those extras don't matter like having one another and knowing God. The other thing I kept thinking about was the day when Messiah will return. Oh yes, come quickly Lord! Come dwell among us again. In the meantime, thank you for the time you spent on earth being our living Torah and dwelling so intimately with us. I am thankful for the Spirit that lives in me and that you would choose to include this Gentile in the blessings of your chosen people. I am blessed to call the One True God of Israel my own!

Passover - The Feast

We celebrated Passover itself by joining 3 other families out at Drew and Lacey's house in Pleasant Garden. It's been a tradition among the group to buy a live yearling lamb and slaughter it on Passover. This was my first time actually participating in the event and it was very impactful. 

Catching the bugger wasn't easy. If you look in the woods, you can find us lagging behind.

Once we did catch him, it was all over for the poor guy.

I didn't take pictures of the rest of the event, but I can say that actually participating in the slaughter of the Passover lamb is a deeply moving experience. To hold on to that lamb as it breathed its last breath is something I'll never forget. It's one thing to know where your food comes from, but it's altogether different to be the one taking that life. Olivia knew what was going to happen and she wanted to watch the whole thing. It wasn't easy for either of us. It was a stunning illustration of the sacrifice Messiah made for us. Olivia described the situation as "very serious and sad." I'm proud of how well she handled it. We watched closely and Matt, Drew and Lane set about butchering the lamb for roasting on the fire.  We talked of how Messiah didn't fight or run when it was His time to be sacrificed for us.

The rest of the day was a wonderful time of fellowship and food (Middle Eastern style, mmm...) as we spread a traditional Passover Seder over several hours. Each of the dads took one of the traditional Four Cups and said a prayer and a reading for each one. We included elements like hand washing, bitter herbs, charoset and added things like the washing of each other's feet in the example of our Messiah. We ended our evening with the painting of the lamb's blood on the doorpost. Then it was an evening of the kids watching "The Price of Egypt" on an incredible homemade large projector screen and enjoying some fantastic desserts, like chocolate covered matzah and homemade baklava. The kids slept in their sleeping bags and we all had our shoes and coats close. The acting out of the night of Passover is a great way to make it really come alive and to remember it as a "perpetual ordinance" throughout the generations (Ex 12:14). The next day was a wonderfully restful Shabbath.

As you can imagine, when you get 4 families with a total of 15 kids together, it can be a bit chaotic, so to reinforce some of the traditions, we repeated a few of the stories, blessings and the four cups at home the next evening. The kids are at a very concrete age but we tried to talk about the amazing symbolism of the seder meal. Ex 6:6-7: God says, I Will Bring You Out, (sanctification) I Will Deliver You (deliverance), I Will Redeem You (redemption), and I Will Make You My People and I Will Be Your God (hope). What an incredible work our God started in the history of his people and continued to the day of Messiah and continues even now!

The days of Unleavened Bread continued into the next week as we remembered our God's work with the very tangible reminder of not having leavened bread in the house. It took some creativity to make meals without leaven. Rebecca came across a fun children's book called A Sweet Passover that talked about eating Matzah each day of the week of Unleavened Bread. It had a recipe for Matzah Brei which is sort of a take on french toast or pancakes using matzah. The kids enjoyed it. We made matzah sandwiches, matzah ball chicken soup, and even crushed matzah for the breading on chicken nuggets. Our friends made some delicious matzah kugel. It is wonderful to have a time of remembrance that lasts into our "normal" daily lives beyond one short day or two. Of course, we look forward to the next delicious loaf of risen bread to be baked in our home too. ;)

Our family includes the celebration of the resurrection of Messiah into our week of celebration and remembrance ("do this in remembrance of Me"). It is his example of selflessness and sacrifice that we want to emulate in our daily lives. The "Last Supper" is a Passover seder. Yeshua was the perfect image of the passover lamb, "without spot or blemish." He not only died but then rose back to life as he overcame death. Just as God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, Yeshua brought us out of our slavery to sin. And so, of course, there is no better response than to rejoice. As Gentile believers in the God of Israel, we are so very thankful that God would bring us into the covenant relationship he started so long ago. Our God is a Living God! 

Passover - Cleaning out the Leaven

Part of preparation for Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread is clearing out your house of all yeast. It symbolizes the removal of sin from our hearts. We did the traditional game of hiding bits of bread around the house and letting the kids go find them all. Normally this would be done with a candle, but our kids with open flames? Not so much... Note to self: write down all the places you hid the bread so you can find them if the kids can't... I still can't be sure we aren't missing one piece.

Passover - The 10 Plagues

This year, for Passover, we decided to make the 10 Plagues of Egypt fun for the kids. (I know...plagues aren't supposed to be fun...) Rebecca read each plague to them while I set up an illustration of each one.

The First Plague: The Nile turned to blood.

"Phew! That water stinks!"

Plague 2: Frogs. They got to imagine what it would be like stepping all over frogs and dealing with them in our beds and kitchen. Olivia spent a couple of hours making origami frogs with no idea the reason behind it.

Plague 3: Gnats!

Plague 4: Flies

We talked about how 6 flies could make 6,000,000 in just a couple of days.

Plague 5: The Death of the Livestock. The animals lying down are the ones in Egypt that all died while the others and those in Goshen.

Plague 6: Boils! The actually did bother  a couple of the kids. The double-sided tape was itchy.

Plague 7: Hail! Foam practice golf balls worked as a great illustration.

Plague 8: Locusts! We didn't have enough grasshopper toys, so we spread cereal on the  floor so it would be crunchy, like a housefull of locusts.

Plague 9: Darkness!

Certainly one of the most entertaining plagues, at least for us watching the kids bump  into everything.

Plague 10: The Death of the First-born of Egypt. This is what Passover is really about. We talked about how God gave the Israelites protection from death by the shedding of lamb's blood and how Jesus was a Passover lamb for us, giving us protection from spiritual death by shedding His blood for us.

"The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt." Exodus 12:13