Russell Family Blog

An Introduction

2010-01-18T16:24:00.001-06:00

Though the person I want to introduce you to is not in my district, he is a great man running for an office in your district and wanting to represent you at our State capitol. Matt Krause is running against Charlie Geren for the District 99 Texas House of Representatives. I encourage you to look at Charlie's voting record. You will see that he is rated a low 59% conservative for his performance in the last session and an even lower 55% over his career in the congress. Charlie has voted for restricting and criminalizing free speech, he has voted for taking power away from elected officials and letting bureaucrats play political games with our children's education. H has voted against letting parents decide how and where is best for their children to learn, against 'choose life' license plates that would have funded programs to counsel pregnant women on options other than abortion.

Matt Krause believes Texas government should be smaller, more efficient, and operate like a business. Matt will bring common-sense, responsible conservatism to Austin. As Matt will tell you, he is a Christian, Husband, Father, Conservative, and a Republican. And in that order. Matt will not sacrifice principle for politics, and he values results over rhetoric. In his work as a constitutional attorney, Matt defends the core principles that Texas was built upon—the sanctity of human life, the traditional family, and religious liberties.

If I still lived in Fort Worth, I would be voting for Matt Krause. I believe he will do a great job in Austin representing the people of his district. I believe he knows the constitution and will work to preserve it.

The Republican primary is March 2nd. We all have less than 6 weeks to get educated on who we will give our vote on March 2nd. Please spend some time getting to know your candidates and most assuredly get out on March 2nd and let your voice be heard.

fyi: the last day to register to vote for this election is February 1st. So please make sure you are properly registered (if you have moved, please make sure you are registered in your correct county.)

NOvember

2009-12-15T21:34:00.000-06:00

Click Here for the November Newsletter.

Russell Math lesson, my little family

2009-12-15T21:24:00.000-06:00

It’s math time at the Russell house. I often think I have a small family. Really when people say I have a big family, I think, no really I do not. I think of the three that are in heaven and the ones that I would welcome into my home if the Lord saw fit to send them and I think my family is small. I look at other families my size and think they are big, but mine is not so big. But, I know my blessings are big! Then I think of the smaller families who think my job is so big… and perhaps it is a bit bigger than your average family. Do you have any idea the logistics of running a home where 9 people reside? The clothing issues alone are enough to make your head swim.

Consider these numbers for a week at the Russell house- (Let me say here, I am extremely grateful for my washer and dryer! I have no desire to do my laundry the way my grandmother, Mae Sadler did for most of her child rearing years, nor do I even have it as bad as my mother did raising the 7 of us)
126 socks to match (Where do all the missing socks go?)
63 pairs of pants (check pockets for crayons, army men, play dough and food, first!)
63 shirts (not including undershirts or just "I think I'll change in the middle of the day' shirts! And those of you who know Hannah, know this number can grow rapidly.)
63 pair of underwear (though boys at certain ages think one pair should work for a week… this is not an option)
21 misc. articles of underclothes (unmentionables)
31.5 pairs of pajamas (you CAN wear them 2 nights in a row)
add to that sheets: 7 beds changed a minimum of once a week.
Towels (I am trying to convince the children that it is indeed important to hang them on the nice towel racks so they can dry and be used for a second day… but they prefer to lay them on the floor, add to this an occasional comforter and blanket along with kitchen towels and wash cloths, jackets and sweaters and you begin to feel like an in-house laundry mat might come in handy! Has anyone thought of the idea of disposable clothes?

If the laundry isn't enough, think about the dishes!
At the very least you begin with-
315 pieces of silverware
189 plates and bowls (that's if everyone only uses one at each meal, when is the last time that happened?)
189 glasses (leaving out the ones for sips in between meals)
pots, pans, baking dishes and the containers that you eat the leftovers out of (as if that is an everyday happening- usually it's either there aren't any or they die some horrible moldy death in the fridge...)

And then you get to the meals. Does anyone out there actually feed their family what the food pyramid says to feed them?
For us that would be 284 servings of fruits and vegetables a week!!!! We would need our own orchard and a garden the size of a baseball field! Milk = 189 cups of milk per week, that is almost 12 gallons per week. We need to get a cow or two!
Meat would be almost 22 pounds per week. Then the grains! 378 oz per week, which is almost 24 pounds! Then once you get all of these foods you have to prepare them into good nutritious meals. Add in a picky eater or two and it’s enough to make your hair turn gray. (please, no comments about the gray in my hair)

Sweeping… Kitchen is done at least three times a day and living areas 1-2 times. I could figure out the square footage, but I think not. Then there is vacuuming and mopping and… the toilets… Let’s not talk about the toilets. It is enough to say we are blessed to have them inside the house and not outside. But they do need maintenance and cleaning on a regular basis.

Now on to education-
We still have 5 that we are schooling at home. I must admit that I sometimes follow way too many rabbit trails when we do unit studies and get burned out when doing it by the books…. So I tend toward the unit studies thought it takes us a while to finish a unit. But the numbers alone might show you why we have chosen this method though it sometimes gets crazy.
Consider for yourself what it would be like to teach 30 subjects at separate grade levels if I followed a traditional curriculum. It would look something like this-
(all taught on 5 separate levels)
10 spelling tests
25 science lessons
25 math lessons
25 English lessons
25 history lessons
25 Bible lessons
plus sports practices and games, coops, church, etc.

Did I mention that I have a toddler, in case it has been too long since you have been blessed with one of those… if it gets quiet, there is a problem! If it gets loud, there is a problem. If by chance the toddler and the 5 year old are gone at the same time, it may take you hours to recover the bathroom from the mess they made while experimenting with baby powder, tissue paper and water!

So, now, you may ask what it is that I have to be thankful for with all that work to do? Well, I'll tell you my friend. It's like this-
Scripture tells us "That my father owns the cattle on a thousand hills" so I know we will always have food to eat!
Also, remember that story about the sparrows, that God arrays them in splendor? So know I don't have to worry about clothes for a while- like forever, I guess...

As for a roof over my head? "He shall cover me with His feathers and under his wings shall I trust."
If everyone in the family learned just one scripture a week different than everyone else in the family we would be at 468 scriptures a year! I wonder how long it would take us to learn the whole Bible at that rate? Oh, now my head is churning… I think we can do it! Where do I start? Gonna go play with the numbers and make some plans and chase that rabbit for a while!…………..

So the next time you begin to feel overwhelmed, come back and look at this list. You never know when you might be blessed in this way, too! But until you are, enjoy how quickly your housework can be done!

I know that I often look to my many friends who have more children than I do and I maybe should, but I don’t think about how much work they have to do, I think about how incredibly blessed they are, because I know I am so incredibly blessed with my little family!

What is more beautiful than the fresh fallen snow?

2009-12-08T18:22:00.004-06:00

What is more beautiful than looking out the window this morning and seeing a blanket of snow with still huge snowflakes falling? After spending some time on God’s Word and meditating on the beauty of the fallen snow in scripture. (See verses at the end of this note.) Then enter each of the younger children. First our little Hannah, she goes over to the window and sees the snow and starts to dance and sing a song. “Thank you Jesus for the snow, the beautiful, beautiful fluffy white snow… la la la” And then looks out again and just giggles and says ‘Daddy, it is really snowing.. a lot”. Daniel crowds in giggling with his sister wanting to get in on whatever has her signing and dancing and then you see him glance out the window and he sees it. His face is full of wonder as he stares out the window and you can see his eyes and his expressions as he is trying to process what he is seeing… he is only two and thus does not remember ever seeing snow before. He stands there looking out the window and his face, his eyes grow big then curious then excited as he assimilates what he is seeing. Then he points and exclaims “snow!” though it sounds more like ‘no’. He spends a little more time watching the huge snowflakes fall and then he and Hannah burst into song and dance again about the beautiful fluffy white snow. They decide to go get Jordan and Stephen. First Jordan comes in and as soon as she sees the snow she grabs my arm and says “Look Momma, snow, it is snowing! Jesus does answer prayer! I prayed for snow really I did and look, it is here! Can I call Riley, she needs to know that God answered our prayers.” Then she sits down to look at the snow for a while. In comes Stephen. He looks out at the snow and is in awe. “Mom, look how much snow there is, usually it would take days to work up to that amount of snow. Yesterday, there was no snow and today there is all that snow and it is still coming down in huge flakes. Did you know that it could snow that much when it was not snowing yesterday? If it continues to snow today then we’ll have to dig our way out. But if I had a troop of men, you wouldn’t have to worry because we would have no problem digging a tunnel from here to the mailbox and then if you needed us to we could dig it to the store. If you wanted us to we could dig a tunnel to the playhouse so the children could play. But if it is going to be this snowy we will need provisions and warm blankets……. His story goes on for a while, then he looks up at me and says “It’s beautiful, isn’t it mom.” And then goes back into his army story. Sarah pretends she is too old to get excited about the snow, rolls over and snuggles deep into her covers. But quickly she is roused out of her cocoon and when she sees the snow she smiles and I can see the smile radiating as it goes into her soul.
I didn’t get to see Jonny’s response to the snow, he is working away from home this week in Graham. But when he got up he called me and queried “Did you guys get snow” with a hit of anticipation in his voice. I told him about his siblings reactions and he encouraged me to put Stephen in some jeans, boots and a hat and get pictures of him. You could hear in his voice that he wanted to be here to bombard his little brother in a great snowball fight. Sadly he tells me they didn’t get any snow in Graham, but that they were expecting some tonight or tomorrow, but it would not help them on their job, so he didn’t know whether to wish for it or not. Joshua’s was the response of many men going to work this morning… first a deep breath and almost a sigh then “I hope the roads are good, I’ll be careful, gotta go I’m running late.”
So what is more beautiful than the snow? Watching my children’s reactions when they first see the first snow of the year. Thank you Lord for the snow and for the experience of seeing my children’s reactions to the snow. And for your Word, your living and active Word. Like a blanket of snow, it comes down and covers me and waters my soul as it melts into my spirit and blankets me with white and light. May I in return bud and flourish and yield seed.

Job 37:6
He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'

Psalm 51:7
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Proverbs 25:13
Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the spirit of his masters.

Proverbs 26:1
Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.

Proverbs 31:21
When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

Isaiah 1:18
"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Isaiah 55:10
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

Why are we politically active?

2009-12-08T17:06:00.003-06:00

In the last two years our family has become consistently more politically active. We have enjoyed learning more and more about the way our government works, more about the grassroots movement, more about the history of our great nation, and more about those who have been elected to serve us in our government. Now much of our ‘free’ time is spent being ‘politically active’. We stuff envelopes, knock doors, attend meetings, promote candidates, make phone calls, write emails, study issues and study those seeking election to public offices. We pray for our leaders and their families, we pray for those seeking political offices and their families. We have read and re-read the constitution and still need to read it again. The kids have memorized the preamble, the bill of rights, the presidents’ names and verses about civil government from the scriptures. We have enjoyed reading some great books and stories about some great heroes in the history of the United States. Our nation was founded by Christian men and on biblical principles.

Why are we politically active? We believe it is imperative that conservative God fearing Christian leaders gain and hold access to the high places. George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without god and the Bible.” We are “We the people”. When our forefathers penned those words they had us in mind. They worked to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity. We are that posterity and we must work to hold the blessings of liberty for our posterity. We are involved in politics for our children and their children.

Sadly, I have heard too many people who have given up because they think that it is a losing battle. I choose to differ, I agree with Abraham Lincoln when he stated: “The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe just.”

Many years before our republic was formed Plato mused “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” Then years later as our great nation was but an infant one of our founding fathers George Washington proclaimed: “It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones.” I think it is time to stop being indifferent it is time to stand up and fight. So now the question is… what can I do?

We the people, the Christian conservative Americans need to get out – get educated and vote. We must get educated on who is running for the different elected offices and we must vote. We must educate others and get them out to vote. It is not good enough to simply talk about it we must do it --- VOTE!

Abraham Lincoln noted “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” We can do this destruction through our apathy. We can no longer sit back and wait for others to pick up and then run with the ball. We the people, one nation under God must run with it!

We must implore those elected to public office to consistently judge their actions and decisions by the living word of God. Andrew Jackson, incredibly a democrat, rightly proclaimed “The Bible is the rock on which our republic stands.” We know our history, we know this to be true. We have no doubt our God is able, why do we sit back and act like He is not able? After-all, “With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

We must with resolute hearts fervently pray for our nation and our elected officials and their families. “If my people which are called by name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heals their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Did you know that it was customary when our nation was new for pastors to preach an ‘election sermon’. In one such sermon Daniel Foster (1790) encouraged the people to steadfastly pray for their elected leaders. He assured them as I do here to each of you, that it is truly your duty to pray for your leaders.

So in conclusion, we are politically active for the sake of the generations to come, our children and our children’s children. And simply stated the things we can do to affect change are.. vote, educate ourselves, others and our elected officials and it is imperative that we pray. Now the question is will you join us in our fight to gain and hold the high places?

Mixed Emotions

2009-02-24T17:46:00.003-06:00

My dad and mom (Jim and Paula), my oldest brother, Richard is missing. then from left to right: Michael, me, David, Loy, James (Jimmy) and John Mark.

I just got home from Oklahoma where I went to my Uncle Bill's funeral. My uncle Bill was a good man who loved his family greatly and provided and protected them. So for that reason, I am sad. But my Uncle Bill was a Christian, he loved his savior and is now with Him and for that reason I celebrate. He left a beautiful wife of over 56 years, two children, 4 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren and for them I am sad, they will miss him greatly. I had the wonderful opportunity to visit with cousins that I had not seen for years, for some it has been a couple of years and for others it has been around 20. And for that I rejoice. I look forward to getting together with them and renewing our friendships. I hope we can get together for a reunion that does not include a death.
5 of my 6 siblings also made the trip. It was good to see all of them.

December newsletter

2009-01-28T14:07:00.000-06:00

Finally got December ready. It is two different pdfs, sorry about that.

December part 1
December part 2

My boy

2009-01-20T17:09:00.003-06:00

Here are a few pictures of my smallest boy, Daniel Josiah. He is such a little blessing. He doesn't talk much, but he makes himself heard. He makes car sounds, animal sounds and sounds of joy with he laughs. His eyes are strikingly blue though that does not really show in any of these pictures. I was counting today and realized he will be 2 years old in only a little over 2 months. It does not seem that it could be true, but I know that it is. (And along with it will come Joshua's 19th birthday.) Am I really that old? I guess it is true, I am. But boy oh boy am I greatly blessed.
I know that I have let my blog get behind as I have been busy with the new year. Perhaps here soon I can catch it up a little. I am also a bit behind in my photo journaling. But yesterday I starting trying to catch up on that. Life is just busy with schooling, church, and Darrel being out of town.

Life gets busy

2009-01-03T21:37:00.003-06:00

We are sort of on a company binge. We have new friends, the Beamers and we have had them over 3 times in less than three weeks and we had some other friends Friday night and we are having two families tomorrow. Keeps things busy but lots of fun.
Darrel and Jonny worked on Jonny's new truck.... Darrel's old red truck. Jonny has decided to fix it up. He got two new tires and a battery and now it is in the shop getting a new transmission. Jonny is so eager for it to get out of the shop so he can do some more things to it. I of course love them working together.
The kids have basically lived in the playhouse since we got home from Lubbock/Slaton. They love it! Tomorrow cold weather comes so they are bummed.
I started trying to eat better on January 1st. I pray the Lord will help me with self control.
I know I need to post pictures, and I will when I get time.
We start school on Monday so that needs my attention tomorrow after the company leaves.
Company plus my family will mean 6 adults and...18 children... and the weather will be cold so the kids can not go out... what was I thinking? It will be fun and I will get lots of exercise cleaning up after they leave.

Update on playhouse

2008-12-17T09:16:00.002-06:00

Sunday was 83 degrees and so after church and lunch the boys worked until sun down. (CRAZY thing is Monday was a high of 28 degrees)

Christmas letter

2008-12-17T09:03:00.002-06:00

After running out of ink... twice and getting postage and.... oh the list goes on, but anyway I do believe that today is the day that the Christmas letters will go in the mail.
Christmas Letter 2008
Joshua designed the pages for us.
I am very sad that I do not have a family picture this year. Perhaps we will soon get one together. In my mind I am very sure that we need one before Darrel leaves in early January for Ohio and Israel.

Has anyone told you Merry Christmas today? Merry Christmas Ya'll!!!!

November Newsletter pdf

2008-12-17T09:02:00.000-06:00

Click here to get the November Newsletter.....

Playhouse Update

2008-12-08T09:41:00.005-06:00

Darrel went back to work and the playhouse is not complete. It really really disappointed him, but he knows that he and the boys worked hard. The windows will not come in until tomorrow. They plan to work on it on Friday as it is Darrels AFO.
A new family visited the church yesterday and really wanted some fellowship, so they came over for the afternoon (2-8) while the guys worked and then stayed for dinner and fellowship. So you may see a few faces that you do not recognize in the pictures.

Playhouse

2008-12-06T22:38:00.003-06:00

For Christmas the boys and Dad are building a playhouse out back for the younger kids. Actually if you ask the kids they are all building it. It has been a fun adventure so far. Day one of the actual building (after days of planning and re-planning and a large trip to the lumber yard) was digging the holes. The ground was solid! They had to rent a machine to help them. But the machine had problems. Then there was the cement..... it's done so let's not talk about it anymore. Day two.... after shooting about 20 nails, the nail gun died! So we had to track down and borrow another one. Day 3 we get a surprise visit from Grandmother, she and Sunny came to see the progress on their way from Plano to Lubbock. It was nice to hug her neck, though the kids were very sad she didn't stay and eat. But she needed to get back on the road for the trip home to Deedo. We now have the frame built and one side has two panels up! It is looking great. The boys and dad are working very hard and are disappointed that they don't see any way to finish it before Darrel has to go back to work on Monday. One thing they may not have noticed is how much fun the kids are having playing in and on it right now. I think they could stop where it is and the kids would have a blast playing for a long time. I believe tomorrow is the rest of the siding and the top deck. The windows do not come in until Tuesday.

Daniel and Sunny

2008-12-06T22:24:00.002-06:00

Grandmother's little Sunshine came by for a short visit to see the play house and Daniel and Sunny enjoyed looking out the door together looking for our dogs.

art class

2008-11-14T17:54:00.003-06:00

Stephen did very good paying attention and following instructions until the last 30 minutes and he was still very well behaved, but he was tired of focusing. 2 hours is a long teaching time for that little guy. But I was very pleased as he paid attention and was not wiggly.

Jordan enjoyed getting to create a 'piece of art'.

Hemmed in Prayer

2008-11-12T09:01:00.004-06:00

I enjoyed spending a little time praying for little Tanner James who is scheduled to be born in mid-December to my friends, Sean and Mallie. It is always a joy to me to hem the things I make in prayer. I pray for different aspects of the child's life as I put together the different little things that I make for him/her. During the middle of this project, my large embroidery hoop broke! So that brought up a whole new group of things to pray for. (bummer is I have a pile of things that need to be embroidered. )
This is the big gift. They are doing his room in cowboy and I just fell in love with this little quilt. I like the way it came out with the cute pocket from some old jeans. Then I added a couple of burp pads to match with little pockets from some the kids old jeans. If you were too look closely you could tell when my embroidery hoop broke as one of the names on the pocket of a burp pad is not perfect. I had to hold it together as it did the stitching.
This fleece blanket is really for Tanner when he sits on his dad's lap watching Dad's favorite football team. I did a new thing around the edge, I crocheted it. It was fun to learn a new technique. It makes a nice edge but it does cause the edges to sort of curl like a fitted sheet. It will still be snuggly and warm.
Burb pads or rags or cloths. Different people call them different things.

Venus and Volcanoes

2008-11-11T16:24:00.002-06:00

Simulating the volcanoes on Venus....
This was our first try. I think will try it again and again...... and again. The kids molded the mountain and then we painted it. It is the kind that they can use over and over. Can you tell that it did not smell too good? Little Johnny (Mulcahy) was holding his nose and saying how bad it smelled.... vinegar and baking soda.......

Peculiar

2008-11-09T20:34:00.004-06:00

My three oldest kiddos are on a ministry team called Peculiar Party Ministry Team. The team does puppets, choreographed dance, ventriloquism, mime, and other things along that line. Each week they lead the kids in our children's church in their worship time and they go out to other places and do performances. They have a couple of videos on You Tube. (Click the blue word video to see one of them.)

Legacy Graphics recently took their pictures with their friend (puppet). Here are a couple of them.

a post from Joshua

2008-11-07T15:15:00.000-06:00

Consecrated Lord to Thee
By Joshua Russell 10-24-06

Take My Life and Let It Be A song by Frances R. Havergal.

Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee; Take my hands and let them move At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be Swift and beautiful for Thee; Take my voice and let me sing, Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be Filled with messages from Thee; Take my silver and my gold, Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my moments and my days, Let them flow in endless praise; Take my intellect and use Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will and make it Thine,It shall be no longer mine; Take my heart, it is Thine own, It shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store; Take myself and I will be Ever, only, all for Thee.

Consecrate the Church
This is a song of surrender and submission to say “Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee” means take my life Lord, purify and use me. To offer your self up as a sacrifice is the meaning of Consecration (Consecrate - to dedicate something or somebody to a specific purpose ~ Encarta World English Dictionary.)

"Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the LORD, the God of Israel, has said, "There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst." (Joshua 7:13)

Today’s Church must rise up and Consecrate it’s self unto the Lord. We must remove all sins from our midst not because it is required for salvation, but for three other reasons, which I would like to discuss in more detail, these are 1.) As an act of Gratitude, 2.) To enable us to stand before our enemies, and 3.) To prepare for tomorrow.

Reason 1: As an act of Gratitude
If you have truly accepted Christ into your heart how can you help but be Grateful for all that He has done for you? He gave his life so that you might live what more can you do than to offer up your life as a living sacrifice and consecrate yourself unto the Lord? If you are Grateful for your salvation and the grace given to you then should you continue sinning? If you are already forgiven of all your sins (past, present, and future) should you worry about continuing to sin? These are question that every Christian must ask himself / herself at some point in their life. I believe that the Apostle Paul stated it very clearly when he said

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? [2] May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2)

So what shall we say then? Will we say that since Christ has given us grace we will “live life to the fullest” or will we say, “Father not my will but Yours”. What will you say?

“So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27] that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:26-27)

Christ has cleansed us of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) by the washing of the water with the word, so that He might present to Himself the Church in all her glory. Who doesn’t want a perfect and spotless bride? A bride that is holy and blameless. For this reason we must sanctify ourselves though the Word of God, that we might become the holy and blameless bride of Christ. Ask any bride-to-be on the night before her wedding and she will say that she wants everything to perfect for her wedding. She will want her dress to be perfect and beautiful, and she will want herself to be perfect and beautiful. So I ask again, What more can we do than to offer ourselves a living sacrifice and consecrate ourselves unto the Lord?

Reason 2: To enable us to stand before our enemies
Imagine: it is 1314 A.D. and you are in the army of Robert the Bruce, you are fighting for the rightful King of you country, however you do not have on any armor and you are carrying several burdens. You might wonder how you are able to stand and fight while carrying these burdens, and you are right to wonder because you can’t. A knight can’t go into battle loaded with stuff and without his armor. Neither can a Christian go into battle and fight the evil one while loaded down with sins and without his spiritual armor.

This is the second reason why the Church must be re-consecrated unto the Lord. If we as a body are going into battle carrying our sins and leaving our armor how can we expect to stand strong against the wiles of the devil? We are instructed in Romans 6 to put on the full armor of God.

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." (Romans 6:11)

We are not called to put on only the parts of the armor that we chose, rather we are called to “Put on the full armor of God”. When arming for battle a knight would not put on his armor on-top of his court attire (worldly baggage), rather he would remove all of the things that would get in the way and hamper the efficiency of his armor. Likewise we as Christians must put aside the things of this world that way us down and keep us from going in to the entire world to spread the gospel (Mark 15:16). So today’s Church must set aside the things of this world, take up the armor of God, and consecrate itself unto the Lord

“But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness you are blessed AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, [15] but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:14-15 emphasis mine)

When you stand before an enemy you must do so with courage and with power. Imagine: the smallest weakest guy in school standing up for what is right against the biggest strongest guy in school. Would the big guy think that the little guy was very dangerous? Of course not he would laugh in his face and ridicule him in front of the entire school. Now imagine that the little guy is ready to make a defense against everyone who asks him to give an account. Imagine he knew karate and so could beat the big guy. Now consider your average Christian, they don’t know what they believe, they are apathetic about what their faith. They are sort of like the wimpy guy that doesn’t know karate, they don’t have a chance whenever someone challenges what they believe. They are not “ready to make a defense to everyone who asks them give an account for the hope that is in them [paraphrased]”, today’s Church must learn what they believe and be able to give an account of it to whoever asks.

Reason 3: To prepare for Tomorrow
The meaning of sanctification is.

SANCTIFICATION - The act of consecrating or of setting apart for a sacred purpose; consecration.” [Noah Webster 1828]

So in order to become consecrated we must go through the process of sanctification and set ourselves apart for a sacred purpose. In part 1 I discussed that how consecration (sanctification) should be done as an act of gratitude, in part 2 I talked about how we must be consecrated (sanctified) in order to stand before the enemy, remember how I talked about the knight without armor and loaded with stuff and how he can’t do battle? Now in part 3 I would like to talk about the reason for sanctification, which is the process of consecration.

As an example of sanctification consider the refining of gold. The gold starts off as a lump of ugly useless rock, and the refiner takes it and puts it into the fire (trials and hard times). While in the fire the sludge and grime (our baggage and stuff) are separated from the gold, it is then put in to the fire again and more sludge is removed this process is repeated several times (we go through hard times throughout our lives) to ensure that all the sludge is removed. Next the partially refined gold is refined in water (Eph. 5:26) and it is then 99.99% pure (our lives will never be completely pure until we are with Christ in eternity)

So you see how the process of sanctification takes a lifetime and even then is not complete no matter if you live to be 200 years old you will still not be completely sanctified. For as long as we are still in our physical, carnal bodies we will not be completely sanctified, however we must continue to “read the Bible, Pray every day so we can grow, grow, grow” we must continue to strive for purity and holiness because that is what it takes to be a living sacrifice. We, the body of Christ, his Church must prepare ourselves for tomorrow. For we are the bride and tomorrow is our wedding day, we must cleanse and prepare ourselves for our Savior and Lord.

If we want to be ready we must consecrate ourselves unto the Lord and dedicate ourselves as living sacrifices. So the question I ask you is this, Are you ready for the Lord to do wonders?

“Then Joshua said to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.'” (Joshua 3:5)

letter to my children

2008-11-06T21:50:00.000-06:00

Dear Daniel Josiah;

This is actually a letter to all my children, but I want it to be addressed to each of them personally. Dear Joshua, Dear Jonny, Dear Sarah, Dear Jordan, Dear Stephen, Dear Hannah Ruth and Dear Daniel Josiah.
First, I want to start this letter by letting you know that even though we just had probably the biggest/most important election of my lifetime and it seems we did not win the race for president. God is still God and He still reigns supreme! He still listens to the prayers of His people (Proverbs 15:29, Proverbs 15:8, Proverbs 28:9) and they are still effective. (James 5:16) As of today our pledge and our coins still say ‘Under God’ and “in God we trust”. Psalms 91:2 says ‘I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” And we do trust in Him. “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15) There is such incredible peace in that knowledge. At times like this I feel an overwhelming need to run to my Father and rest in His arms like Daniel comes and nestles into my arms when he is hurt or tired. Our heavenly Father is our refuge, He is our fortress, He is our shelter. (Psalms 27:5, Psalm 61:4, Psalm 91:1) There is such peace in just knowing that is true and unwavering.
Our family sacrificed yesterday for the election (Mom, Dad and Joshua worked the polls from 6am –8:30pm and Jonny and Sarah stayed with the little ones and cared for them and kept them safe.) We have worked for this election for several months as a family, attending various fund raisers, County meetings, putting out signs, stuffing envelopes, making phone bank phone calls encouraging people to get out and vote, writing letters, helping with a candidate forum, and much more. I do not want you to think we did it in vain. Obama becoming president does not mean our work was not worth it. I received a note from Huckabee and he said “Politics is not an event but a process. We sometimes lose the events but it never gives us the right to stop being faithful to our principles that enlisted us in the process. We shall live to fight another day.” And I must agree. We do not have the right to stop being faithful to our principles. We did not work this election because we wanted to get to say that we were on the winning team. We are involved in this process because we have strong founded convictions and we believe that it is our duty to stand for these convictions. Just because Obama is president does not mean we can stop fighting for the lives of the unborn. They still need to be protected. America still needs to stop the bloodshed and stop killing the most innocent. Just because Obama is president does not mean we can stop fighting for family values with things like the definition being between one man and one woman as the Bible describes.
Now we may have to work even harder than ever before, but that is ok. For we know that we do not work for men but for our heavenly Father. Colossians 3:23-24 We must not sit back and be complacent or sit back and simply complain because we did not win, the fight is not over! I must continue to fight because I need for this nation to be a God fearing nation for you, my son, my daughter, my grandchild.
So what will we do now? We will pray. God’s Word has not changed. We are told in II Timothy to pray for our leaders. It doesn’t say if we like our leaders we should pray for them or if we agree with our leaders we should pray for them, it says we are to pray for our leaders and like it or not, Obama is becoming the president of our nation. More than any other man in this nation at this point in time, he needs salvation. We need him to find Jesus and receive the gift of salvation. Christ died for Obama, he just has to receive the gift and we NEED him to receive the gift. Our nation needs him to receive the gift. Our world needs him to receive the gift. We MUST humble ourselves and pray for Barak Hussin Obama.
In closing, let me once again remind you. Joshua, Jonny, Sarah, Jordan, Stephen, Hannah, Daniel, God is still God and he still rules from His throne supreme.
With love and devotion,
Your Mom

Verses used in letter to my children.

Proverbs 15:29
The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Proverbs 15:8
The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.

Proverbs 28:9
If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.

James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Joshua 24:15
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Psalm 27:5
For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 61:4
I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah

Psalm 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Colossians 3:23-24 23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

October Family Newsletter

2008-11-02T13:45:00.001-06:00

If you want to read or look at my Family Newsletter/photo journaling type thingy. Here is the link for the pdf.

2008 Candidate Forum

2008-10-27T13:37:00.010-05:00

'Vote for my better tomorrow' Hannah Russell, 4

Singing the National Anthem: RFF Kids: Lily Huse, Jordan Russell, Jillian Sorah, Cody Littrell, Bailey Littrell, Colby Lowrance, Riley Huse, Emma Hewitt, Victoria Moffett, Allie Hewitt, Drew Littrell

Color Guard performed by Boy Scout Troop 1136

Three of the young people who asked the questions to the candidates: Landon Bruce, Jonny Russell, Taylor Huse

Rep. Phil King, Texas House of Representatives, District 61

Candidates for Texas House of Representatives, District 61 from both parties answering the questions: Charles Randolph and Incumbent Phil King

Pastor Joe Bruce of Real Family Fellowship leading the audience in prayer over the candidates as instructed in I Timothy 2:1-2

(this is better as they are praying, but it is a little blurry.)

During the meet and greet some of the candidates and some of the young people from RFF had an impromptu jam session.

Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, District 12 Terry Smith and young citizen of Parker County, Joshua Youngblood

'Vote for my better tomorrow'. Daniel Josiah Russell 18 months

The meet and greet went for over an hour as local citizens got to know the people running for offices in our precinct, county, State and nation.
Darrel Russell (citizen) Clint Hall and Tom W. Clayton both running for Precinct One Commissioner (not pictured: George Conley)

Princess Hannah Ruth

2008-10-13T22:44:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderfully fancy celebration in honor of our little princess Hannah Ruth who will be turning four on October 19th. A decree went forth inviting all the little princesses to come and celebrate with Sir Darrel of Russell at the Russell Chateau in the fifth hour after noon on Sunday. Each time a new princess arrived they were announced and taken to the royal festivities. The Royal festivities included photos by the Royal Photographers (aka Joshua and Queen Mom), making of a scepter, making of a Princess of the King bag to carry all your accessories and of course making of a royal tiara with the Royal helpers: Sarah and Jordan. They also had a royal banquet of hot dogs with all the trimmings grilled by the Royal grillers: Joshua and King Daddy. The royal grounds keeper (Jonny) had the grounds looking... royal and thus all the little princess and prince's could run and jump with joy. They rode the royal horse (rocking horse) drove the royal chariot (little people car) and burst the royal pinita. And most certainly they were tempted with delightful cupcakes and ice cream sundays. It was an all around fancy delightful time for all the little princesses.

Registering to vote is EASY

2008-09-28T17:39:00.001-05:00

Registering to vote is EASY. Just click here: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/reqvr.shtml

You don't have to leave the comfort of your home, just verify your registration status online and if necessary, print out a registration application, sign it and mail it by REGULAR MAIL. Your registration form canNOT be submitted electronically.

Your conservative friends will be happy to verify their registration or to use this easy way to register before the deadline on October 6th.

Am I educating?

2008-09-20T16:36:00.000-05:00

If I learn my ABCs, can read 600 words per minute, and can write with perfect penmanship, but have not been shown how to communicate with the Designer of all language
....I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can deliver an eloquent speech and persuade you with my stunning logic,
but have not been instructed in God's wisdom....
I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I read Shakespeare and John Locke and can discuss their writings with keen insight,
but have not read the greatest of all books -- the Bible -- and have no knowledge of its personal importance
...I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I have memorized addition facts, multiplication tables, and chemical formulas,
but have never been disciplined to hide God's Word in my heart
....I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can explain the law of gravity and Einstein's theory of relativity,
but have never been instructed in the unchangeable laws of the One Who orders our universe .... I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can classify animals by their family, genus and species, and can write a lengthy scientific paper that wins an award,
but have not been introduced to the Maker's purpose for all creation,
.... I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can recite the Gettyburg Address and the Preamble to the Constitution,
but have not been informed of the hand of God in the history of our country
.... I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can play the piano, the violin, six other instruments, and can write music that moves men to tears,
but have not been taught to listen to the Director of the universe and worship Him,
... I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can run cross-country races, star in basketball and do 100 push-ups without stopping,
but have never been shown how to bend my spirit to do God's will,
... I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I can identify a Picasso, describe the style of da Vinci, and even paint a portrait that earns an A+,
but have not learned that all harmony and beauty comes from a relationship with God,
.... I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I were to graduate with a perfect 4.0 and am accepted at the best university with a full scholarship,
but have not been guided into a career of God's choosing for me,
.... I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

If I become a good citizen, voting at each election and fighting for what is moral and right, but have not been told of (or believe) the sinfulness of man and his hopelessness without Christ,
... I HAVE NOT BEEN EDUCATED.

However, if one day I see the world as God sees it, and come to know Him, Whom to know is life eternal, and glorify God by fulfilling His purpose for me, THEN I HAVE BEEN EDUCATED!

August Newsletter

2008-09-07T19:19:00.001-05:00

The August Newsletter is finished and online. So if you are interested or really bored you can download it and read it or look at the pictures.

The Rest of the Story or... the story behind the story

2008-08-28T19:12:00.003-05:00

I didn't want to post these silly stories with the Archaeology post, but they have to be told.
The day that Jonny dug the hole for the project Hannah found it and came running into the house. She said "Momma, Jonny is going to bury me." I of course said oh no he is not and she responded with yes, he is, I found the place and it is just my size. The other kids came in and said she had laid down in it and thought for sure it was just her size. Jonny took her out and told her he was just practicing digging good holes.
A few days later Jonny had filled the hole in and it was ready for the project. Stephen and Jordan came up while I was talking to one of the neighbors and asked where Ginger was, I told them I am sure she was at the neighbors and they insisted that she was not, they had called for her and she was not anywhere. They started acting weird and then they came up and said, Mom, it's ok, you can tell us... we found the grave where Jonny buried her. Without laughing I assured them that she was not buried in that 'grave' and we went off to find our dog and assure the kids she was alive and well.
So I guess the moral of the story is, if you want to draw a LOT of attention to an area, dig a hole and leave it there for kids to discover!

Archaeology

2008-08-28T17:45:00.013-05:00

Today was a fun school day. We are using a plethora of curriculum including: Mystery of History; Creation to the Resurrection, Eagles Wings A Complete Guide to Celebrating our Messiah in the Festivals, Greenleaf Press books including Famous Men of Greece, An Activity Guide to the Old Testament Days, several books I got from Israel; including Food at the Time of the Bible, Life at the Time of Jesus and the books that we got from each place we visited, along with several library type books. (Make sure you watch the you tube videos at the bottom of the post if you have time.)
After reading the intro to quarter one and lesson one of Mystery of History, we did an activity that I based off a project in the Activity Guide to the Old Testament Days "Dig your own Archaeological site". We still need to do a wrap up and the kids will write reports (varying with their ages and abilities, but I am excited and so I will write my report here.
We read a book "Archaeologists Dig for Clues" by Kate Duke. It took us a couple of days to read this as it was full of information and could not be read and assimilated by my younger ones in one sitting. In the back ground, Jonny was preparing the site for me. First he dug a rectangular hole that was about 2 foot by 4 foot. Then we got two different terra cotta type pots, broke them into a few pieces and Jonny buried them in sand in the hole and then covered them with a layer of dirt to make it look like the ground prior to the digging. Then Joshua went out and placed the grid using stakes and twine. Then the Archaeologist and volunteers went out to do the dig.
I first explained to them about the grid and we played a game of where is the grid and I would call out a location "A3" and they would find it or put Daniel into it.
I was amazed that I did not even have to explain much about this and Stephen new where they were immediately. Then I explained how to dig in order to preserve the integrity of the site and then they went to work. They were each so excited when they found a 'treasure'. Stephen was a little dismayed when everyone had found one or two before he found one, but then when he found one he was doubly excited. Though he cut his finger on the find. After finding what they thought were all the pieces and cleaning them off and logging them on their grid paper the pieces went into the house so they could be reconstructed into their original shape. Or as near to that shape as we could get with a hot glue gun. (Though a few hours later I was brought a new found piece with much excitement!) We will probably read the book again and they will do some sort of report to wrap it up, but that will be tomorrow.

Musical video clip

2008-08-25T14:13:00.002-05:00

I am not sure how to do this but I know one of the clips form the musical video is online on you tube so I am going to put the link here and hope it works so you can go and see it. Joshua used the churches equipment to video it and I am guessing that Landon Bruce put the clip online. Jordan is in the stomp part of the clip and Stephen is over in the choir part. It's all pretty cute.
Real Family Fellowship musical - Joseph form the pits to the palace.

instructions for last post on newsletters

2008-08-25T14:06:00.002-05:00

I guess I should have put a reminder on that last post on how to retrieve the newsletter.
Simply click on the link (like the word June) and it will download a pdf of the newsletter. Then you can open it and read it or look at the pictures or make a dart board or line the bottom of your hampster's cage.

Enjoy

Newsletter finally linked and online

2008-08-25T14:03:00.002-05:00

I finally got links made so I can put the June and July newsletter online. July was graphic heavy so I had to divide it between two links.

June
July part 1
July part 2 (Includes my trip to Israel)

Shalom,
LeAnn

Heads Covered

2008-08-08T10:16:00.003-05:00

In Israel, one of the families that we meet and spent one day with was Ariel, Meital and their little angel, Tohar (means Purity in Hebrew). Ariel just got a promotion at work to a.... I think a Captain. I may be wrong on the rank, I do know it means he is no longer in volunteer service but he is now paid. His wife, Meital makes head coverings. They are observant and thus she must wear a covering all of the time. (Only married women must wear the coverings) Anyway she and one helper makes them and sells them in various upper end shops around Israel. They sell for 130.00 Shekels. Darrel got four of them (at a much discounted rate) for Sarah, Jordan, Hannah and myself. They are very pretty. When Hannah wears hers she says she is a princess.

While with this family on Friday in Jerusalem, at one point little Tohar reached up to her daddy and said "Abba". It was so touching. I know I must have been staring because Ariel felt he needed to explain that Abba was daddy or father in Hebrew. I have so many times heard the analogy of our heavenly father who we call Abba picking us up into His arms when we lift our arms to Him and call him Abba. So to see this little Hebrew child, named Purity, raising up her arms and calling her Abba and he picking her up in a loving embrace was a beautiful sight to see. I've pictured it before in my mind, but now I will forever see this memory when I think of this analogy. Beautiful! Have you asked your Abba to pick you up today?

Day 9 Jerusalem part 2

2008-07-27T04:51:00.000-05:00

After going to the Garden Tomb we drove around and saw a few of the sights, we went to the Garden of Gethsemene. It was located opposite the temple, across the Kidron Valley on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives. After the Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus engaged in fervent prayer in the Garden of Gehtsemene. He underwent a great inner struggle, knowing that the hour of his betrayal was coming soon. It was here that Judas betrayed Jesus to temple authorities who place Jesus under arrest (Matt 26:36, Mark 14:32-50, Luke 22:39-53, Juhn 18:2-12) The name Gethsemane is used only in Matthew 26:36 ande Mar5kr 1:32. It means ‘oil press,’ also suggesting the presence of an olive grove. More than anything else Jesus realized that he must say yes to the Father and bare the weight of the sins of all mankind. He prayed three times and was pressed to the extent that he was sweating great drops of blood. It is interesting to note that olives are pressed three times. I got a couple of olive leaves off a tree here. ☺
We saw the Mount of Olives.
On Sunday of the last week of Jesus’ life, He descended from the Mount of Olives to cries of ‘Hosanna’. On Tuesday of the same week, after answering questions from the religious authorities He taught his disciples about the end times while seated on the Mount of Olives. Matthew 24:3, Mark 13:3, Acts 1:12 There is now a huge cemetery located here.
From here we also saw Stephen’s gate, also known as Lion’s gate.

We then drove back to the hotel. We went into Tel Aviv to eat and had a hard time finding anyplace that was open because of Shabot. We found an Italian place that we had eaten at last Shabot, but they had changed their menu and so we decided not to eat there. We then found a Mexican food place, yes I said Mexican food. ☺ It was actually pretty good for Israeli Mexican food. The salsa tasted like picante, which I am sure it was. A young guy and girl sat next to us. He was here on the Birth Right tour and she was here visiting family. They head meet on one of the sights and had hooked up for the night. (sad) He was an interesting guy, personality reminded me of my nephew Jeremy. But was lost. He went on and on about not being able to eat any meat that he had not killed himself but when we finished eating he asked if he could have our leftovers! It was weird and funny. We wanted to get a taxi back to the hotel (because the dark streets did not feel safe) but when we finally found one, he wanted 40 shekels which was at least double what we should pay so we got out and said no thank you.
Darrel stayed up rather late working for work from his computer.

Day Seven part Two En Gedi, Masada, Dead Sea

2008-07-27T04:29:00.001-05:00

It was very hot here being in the dessert. Today’s temperature was 109. All the places we went today were along the Dead Sea or in the Dead Sea area. The Jordan River is the only major stream flowing into the Dead Sea. There are no outlet streams but because of it’s dehydration rate it is receding 80cm per year, this is alarming both the Israelis and the Jordanians and they are now looking into what they can do about it. Ezekiel 47:7-10, 18 tells us of Ezekiel’s’ prophecy regarding this body of water and the Israeli and Jordanian desire to build a channel from the Red Sea, gulf of Aqaba in order to bring it back to past levels…..
In Numbers 34:3 and Numbers 34:12it is called the Salt Sea.
Deuteronomy 3:17 and Deuteronomy 4:49 call it the Sea of the Plains.
Joel 2:20 call it the East Sea and Zech 14:8 call it the Former Sea.
We then went on to En Gedi. It was quiet a hike up to the upper springs, but on the lower part we enjoyed some of the flora and fauna of the oasis. We saw the ‘Christ-thorn jujube’ it is believed that this is what was used to make the crown of thorns placed on the head of Jesus Christ. Its Latin name is Z. spina-christi. We also saw many Ibex; these animals live in herds and are famed for their ability to climb steep hills that provide them with refuge form predators. They look similar to a deer. We also saw a lot of Rock Hyrax. They are also called conies; they live in rock crannies or in thickets. They live in groups and are remarkable climbers. They feed on plants some of which are poisonous. Despite the fact that they are mammals, their body temperature is not constant, changing according to the temperature. Therefore on cold mornings it is possible to see them sunbathing on top of rocks before resuming activity. They are pregnant for 7 ½ months. They are small like a big rabbit but look somewhat like a badger. We saw lots of dragonflies and beautiful birds and a little mouse. Thankfully we saw no black vipers or leopards both of which also live there.
This vital oasis was allotted to Judah’s tribe for an inheritance (Joshua 15:62). The area became known for its palms, vineyards, and balsam (Song of Solomon 1:14) In 2 Chronicles 20:2, En Gedi was called Hazazon-tamar and was involved in several Old Testament events. Kedorlaomer conquered the Amorites here (Gen 14:7); when David fled form Saul he found refuge in the many caves of the region (1 Samuel 23:29, 1 Samuel 26); and in Ezekiel’s vision of Israel’s restoration, fishermen would catch fish from the Dead Sea from En Gedi to En Eglaim (Ez 47:10).
The springs were beautiful though filled with people. One group from Birth Right Israel was here at the same time we were. This is a program where the Jews in Israel pay host Jews (ages 18-26) from other countries to come here and have a ten-day visit in the holy land. Sadly, these young people use the trip as a party trip instead of a learning trip. Although I am sure they learn a few things as they visit all the wonderful places, they also dress inappropriately (g-strings and Speedos being normal attire), party and drink (legal drinking age here is 18). We have encountered many while in Israel..
After a big bottle of water to cool us down we got in the car to drive up to Masada.
The heroic though tragic stand of the zealots of Masada in 73 AD is probably the most well known story in the long history of Israel. Herod’s stronghold is set on a wide plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. A few coins minted during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus were found during excavations and are all that remain from this king’s reign. In 40 BC Herod fled from Jerusalem, taking refuge with his wife and family at Masada. Leaving them there he continued on his journey to Egypt, finally reaching Rom. Chosen to be king of Judea in 37 BC Herod returned to Masada together with two Roman legions. He built himself huge palaces with wonderful mosaic floors and magnificently decorated walls. Enormous storehouses and massive fortifications were also added to the complex. When Herod in 4 BC Masada passed to his son, Archelaus, but soon it was taken over by Roman rule. Masada became an armed Jewish encampment when it was take over by zealots in 66AD. Many survivors fled from Jerusalem after its fall in 70 AD Taking refuge atop Masada they banded together holding out against Rome until 72 AD when the Tenth Roman Legion with roman governor of Judea, Lucius Flavius Silva stared to attack this final Jewish stronghold. They laid siege to the fortress. After failed attempts to breach the wall, they built a circumvallation wall and then a rampart against the western face of the plateau, using thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth. The zealots held out for another year until 73AD when they (1,000 men, women and children) chose to commit mass suicide rather than be captured by their enemy. (This part I think was a bad decision, a wrong decision.) But one woman and five children did survive the mass suicide/murder by hiding in the southern cistern. They have found the pieces of pottery that were used to cast lots to see who would be the last ones standing. First the men were to kill their wives and children, then the men drew lots to see who the last ten would be and then of the ten the one who would be last. Each making sure the ones before him did what they had promised to do. Then when the Romans broke in all they found were burning buildings and the dead bodies. They did not destroy the mass storehouses of food because they wanted the Romans to see that they were not starving, they chose dead over slavery. (This they found out from the woman and children who hiding in the cistern.)
We opted to take the cable car to the top of the fortress and spent hours climbing around on top in the 109 heat exploring all the ruins (we also had an audio tour and loved it.)
We enjoyed joking about the dovecotes which is where they kept and trained pigeons, this being their pigeon building. (Only Real Family readers will understand this joke) They did have the high place here at Masada and they also had their pigeon building. ☺
We were all pretty tired when we left here, but we were set on going to the Dead Sea and floating in the refreshing water. The first beach we found was closed. The second beach was opened, but the changing rooms were closed and unlike many others on the beach we were unwilling to change out in the open…. Debbie and I did however get into the water. It was very warm and the beach was all white salt, the rocks near the edge were rock salt rocks and we could see pillars of sand out in the water, they looked like ice bergs. I guess you could call them salt bergs. I got in to above my knees and it felt wonderful. The sand under the water was soft. But the guys were VERY hot being on the beach and not in the water so we did not stay very long (109 degrees on a snow white beach near the water). I didn’t dry off my legs, just got into the back of the car. The salt dried on my legs, my legs felt very…. Oily. 1 ½ hours later when we got to the hotel and I wiped off the dried salt my legs were so very soft and even the next day they looked oily soft. It was a great feeling.
We were really tired when we got back so we opted to shower and then have room service. Everyone’s was good except mine and the meat was raw, but I didn’t mind the potatoes were enough after a full day of hiking and walking in the heat. It was a GREAT day!

Day eight Tel Aviv off day

2008-07-27T02:45:00.000-05:00

Today was sort of an off day we walked around Tel Aviv for a few hours we ate at Darrel’s favorite falafel stand and for the first time we spent a little time in the hotel. I read, Darrel worked and took a short nap. Then we went to the boardwalk and ate while watching the sunset on the beach. Tonight was Debbie’s last night here.

The sales men here are very aggressive. You think door to door sales men are persistent in America, you have seen nothing. They will not let you walk away, it is a fine art or holding you captive while you are begging to get away. You say no thank you they say, yes I understand, I give it to you for 10 shekels, I get it to sell to you. You like it, no? Here I show you a nice necklace, you like it, yes. And it goes on and on. The secret is don’t make eye contact in the first place, once they see the white of your eyes, you are trapped!

One interesting store/place we went into was the Israeli Bible Society. They sell bibles in all the different languages and they provide Bibles and other Christian materials free to Jewish people. We got a booklet that is the book Matthew for Darrel to give to one of the guys here. We are praying that it will be as the Bible said and be a seed planted, it is the word of God and thus it is living and active.

Israeli money. They have copper coins and they are the less than a shekel and they have silver coins and they are 1, 2, 5 and 10 shekels. Their smallest paper bill is a 20. One shekel is equal to 0.289746 US dollars. Though at the hotel where we exchange money we are getting a lot less for our dollar. The copper coins are called ‘agorot’. They are 10, ½, 1, 2 and 5, though they stopped minting the 1 agoro so they are not possible to find.

Day 10 Dead Sea

2008-07-27T02:11:00.000-05:00

We went back to the Dead Sea today. Since we were not able to get in and actually float last time, we decided to go back again. This time we went to Kalya beach or Qalia as they spell it. It was really quiet different from the on the other day. The sand looked like regular sand instead of salt and there were not salt rocks or salt pillars in the water. There was however lots of people and lots of good dark Dead Sea mud! It was amazing how hard it was not to float. Actually you couldn’t help but float, but the water seemed to want to push you into a laying/floating position. But even when you were with your feet below you, you floated when staying completely still in the water. The water is 8 times as salty as the ocean. And believe me it was salty. They say the mud can cure arthritis and aching muscles (I hoped it would help my blisters ☺) but it did feel like acid aftershave. Any cut or rashed area burned. But it was well worth it! We loved it. I of course covered myself in mud…. Twice. I let the first batch stay on for probably an hour and it dried hard as a rock. Darrel of course did not want anything to do with putting the mud on him. I did get him to feel of it. It was incredibly soft and pliable and warm. I thought it felt great in my hands and on me. I did run into a few difficulties though. While looking for some mud I hit a soft spot and immediately sunk down to mid thigh it was like quick sand, I had a hard time getting out and Darrel not daring to get in the mud just laughed at me. Then another time I had put on my shoes and one leg went in about 8-10 inches and came out without my shoe! I found it but the mud did not want to give it up, I had quiet a fight to retrieve it. Again Darrel just giving me this… you got yourself into this mess, you can get out sort of smirk. My skin does feel good and tight and soft now…. Except for the sunburn and it feels good and tight and soft and burned.
It was neat to go down below sea level and go around the curve in the road and see mountaintops that were below sea level. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. It was interesting to see the landscape change so quickly. Jerusalem is pretty, lots of trees and then you go another 15 minutes and it looks much like New Mexico, rocky mountains and fur trees and then it becomes just rocky mountains near Jericho and then dessert. And all of that within 25 minutes of Jerusalem. We saw lots of camels, sheep and shepherds, goats and goat’s herds men. Lots of Bedouins, they are Muslim nomads. They live in the dessert or near dessert areas in makeshift shacks and they move around to graze their sheep, goats or camels.
Since we were very close to Palestinian areas on the highway to the Dead Sea we went through military checkpoints, but as soon as they heard our accents they waved us through. Though some of the young soldiers (18-21 years old, mandatory service for all Israelis), carrying M-16 type rifles were friendly. One came up to the car and the first thing he said when he heard our voice was… “I’ll trade you my gun for your car! It’s very nice, yes.” He was cute. Wanted to know how much it cost and how fast it was. (Darrel’s rental car is a Mercedes Benz C-120 sports car) I’m glad it is not red, I wouldn’t be able to contain him.

We walked down to the pier to have dinner and the waves and sunset were beautiful. There was a guy down there entertaining people by juggling and telling jokes and walking on his hands, reminded us of Pastor Joe ☺ and Jonny wrapped up in one guy. He loved it when the audience participated. He was really good though we could not understand a word he was saying…. Actually we did understand two words: Las Vegas and Obama. Who knows what he was talking about, but he was entertaining to watch.

Have I mentioned that Obama is in the newspaper every single day. On the front page everyday there is his smiling face. Tel Aviv is a very liberal city so I am sure the articles are positive though I wouldn’t know since they are all written in Hebrew. Tel Aviv is the gay/lesbian capital of Israel, so we have seen a little too much of that. I could tell you stories, but…. I think I will pass writing them down on here. Tel Aviv is a big city much like New York. I think it is dirty and such … diversity. On one corner you have two nearly naked girls holding hands, on another is a rather large guy in a Speedo, on yet another corner are hesetic Jews covered from head to toe with clothing, girls wearing head coverings and guys sporting lots of hair, draidles (little locks of hair hanging down in front of the ears) and black suits with white shirts and black hats and on the last corner are Arabs with the women only showing their eyes or their faces the rest of them covered in mostly black and the men with their robes and heads covered. Darrel and I are in the middle gawking at them all. ☺☺☺

Back to Obama, he was in Jerusalem yesterday, the same day that we were there. Though he was their earlier in the morning. I have the newspaper article that tells of his visit. They have a picture of him at the Western Wall. They say he put a piece of paper in the wall, onlookers tried to find the one he put in, but the one they pulled out thinking it was his was written in Spanish. Sadly, I have no doubt it was a curse and not a prayer as it was not offered to God.

Psalms 122 Our prayer while we have been here

2008-07-27T02:02:00.000-05:00

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD."

2 Our feet are standing
in your gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.

4 That is where the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,
to praise the name of the LORD
according to the statute given to Israel.

5 There the thrones for judgment stand,
the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure.

7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels."

8 For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be within you."

9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.

Day Nine Jerusalem

2008-07-25T15:50:00.000-05:00

We are going to Jerusalem today. I started out reading Psalms 122 but ended up reading several before and several afterward. It is so beautiful. 133 talks about brotherly unity, and I think about how the Jews and Muslims both live within the city walls right now.. 129 says to me let go of your past and let the blessing of the Lord be upon you. 128 Every time you sit down to eat there are olives; I have seen dozens of varieties. It is as frequently seen on the tables at restaurants as catsup in America.

I wrote the above before we went to Jerusalem this morning. We meet an Israeli that Darrel works with named Ariel, his wife Matal and their baby girl, Tohar (purity). Tohar is adorable she is one month younger than Daniel, made me really miss my baby. They are observant Jews. Matal wears a head covering and she makes them and sells them in some of the higher end stores in Israel. They are really very pretty. We went to the Jerusalem market. I bought some wheat so when I get home, I can make some bread with wheat from Israel. I probably drove them crazy asking them questions about their faith, their culture, their country, etc. It is fun to relate with them since they speak English as a second language. Sometimes Ariel had to look in his i-touch on a dictionary to find the right word for one of my questions. It is really quite amazing how well they speak our language. I wish I knew theirs even half as well. They are such gentile and gracious hosts. It was such a pleasure to get to know them and spend some of the day with them.

After navigating through Jerusalem, we found our way to a parking area near the old city and went to the Garden Tomb. On the way to the tomb we had to pass through some of the Muslim quarter, not a real safe feeling for Christian Americans, but Darrel and I agreed that this was one of the best places that we have gone while here. It is not incredibly impressive like Masada or as beautiful as En Gedi or the Mediterranean Sea but it was a wonderful place. It was full of scripture. They do not say that it is for certain the place where Jesus was crucified and buried, but they show how it fits the descriptions we have in the Bible. I’m not sure if I can express what I feel about our experience there. We walked around and saw the sites, Golgotha (the hill that looks like a skull) where they believe He was crucified, the tomb where they believe He was buried and rose again. Then we walked around and watched as people from different countries came and they had a church service, took communion, prayed over each other, sang worship songs and read the Bible all in their native tongues. You couldn’t help but think…. This is what heaven will be like with every tongue praising the Lord. But as we witnessed speaking in tongues sounds the same in every language. ☺ We then found a quiet place and worshipped our risen savior. We prayed for those we love, for the peace of Jerusalem and for each of our children by name. We sat and we or maybe it was just me, cried. We spoke promises over our children and gave them back to the Lord again. It’s hard to explain how powerful the presence of God was in that place. We enjoyed a nice visit with a lady who volunteers there for a month three to four times a year (she and her husband who is a guide live in England), she told us of when Collin Powell came to the garden and when he came out of the tomb he was weeping and he went to a bench and got on his knees and stayed there for a while weeping and praying.
I am tired, so I may post more at a later date on this one.

Day Seven Part One Qumran

2008-07-24T14:58:00.001-05:00

Today was a very full day… full of lots of walking and hiking and climbing. It felt like all uphill… both ways… but I know it wasn’t. But it was a great day of exploring this wonderful land it’s rich history.
We drove as close as the highway would take us to Jericho, but it is in Palestinian territory so we were not able to see it, but I did take a picture of the area it was in out through the car window. It was fun seeing all the camels in the dessert on the trip to Qumran. We looked for one that we could hire to take us for a ride, but I don’t think the guys were much into the idea.
Our first stop was at Qumran; my children would know this as the place that Jathom was taken by the monk who rescued him by acting like a fool. It is most widely known for being the place where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered.
Let’s see if I can put the story in a nutshell for you. It all began in the spring of 1947 (my dad had just turned 11 but that is another story). It was the beginning of another ordinary day for Muhammad Adh-Dhib and his tribe of Bedouin. Little did he know what the day would have in store for him. A group of Bedouin from the Ta’amireh tribe were on their way from Transjordan to the black market in Bethlehem. The purpose of the journey was to sell a herd of ‘contraband’ goats. Normally such a route would not have been used but due to the political scene in Palestine at the time, they needed a route that would avoid them getting caught. Muhammad noticed that one of his goats had wandered off up the steep rocky cliffs while he was seeking fresh water and tending the other goats. He immediately set off to retrieve the stray goat. Bedouin are renowned for their ability to track down stray animals through the hills and deserts of the wilderness. While searching he came across a small opening in the rocks and became curious and proceeded to throw rocks into the cave. When he did he heard a sound of breaking pottery. Thinking he may have discovered hidden treasure, he returned to get some help from a friend. They both returned to the cave excited and hopeful of what they might find. Inside they found fragments of broken pottery littering the floor and large earthenware jars all along one side. They removed one of the lard bowl like lids and found some dusty old parchments with strange writings on them, all of which were wrapped up in linen cloth. Muhammad nor his friend knew how to read so the writings had no meaning to them. They took their findings into Bethlehem and someone there recognized them as an important find. After a few years of haggling and maneuvering to gain control of the scrolls they announced their find. The actual scrolls are now in the Israeli museum in Jerusalem. Knowing that there must be some type of community close to the caves that held the scrolls, archeologist started looking for signs of life and found Qumran. Qumran was a monastery once occupied by the Jewish Sect known as the Essenes. We walked up on the Qumran Watch tower over looking the Dead Sea and enjoyed learning about the water system.
It was very hot here being in the dessert.
We then went on to En Gedi.

Day five Acre/Akko (I know they are out of order!)

2008-07-24T10:27:00.000-05:00

Today we drove up North to Acre or Akko as it is sometimes called.
Standing on the hill which still bears his name, a little over a mile east of the present day Acre, Napoleon hand his eyes fixed on History as he directed his army’s siege of the walled city in 1799. Unknown to him, history was curled up beneath his feet, some 4,000 years waiting to be exposed. Archaeologists have now stripped back layers of the past and have exposed one of the oldest settlements in this part of the world. It was first mentioned in writings of the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III. Acre/Akko appears in the Bible. The city was part of the territory designated to the tribe of Asher, but as Judges 1:31-32 tells us “Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or…… So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.” 200 years later, Akko is mentioned as part of King David’s empire along with a strip of coast extending to Tyre. David’s son, Solomon, handed this territory back to Hiram. A major landmark in Acre’s history was Alexander the Great’s unopposed conquest in 332 B.C. Julius Caesar visited it in 47 B.C.
The city is now inhabited mostly by muslims, Israeli Muslims. We toured a Turkish bath and were … I don’t know if entertained is the right word, Darrel says ripped off by a cheesy video production of the bath done very much in a revisionist history of the bath and the area done from a muslim point of view with Al Jazzar being the just ruler (looping off of ears, noses and heads is afterall a very just way to deal with someone you do not like, at least their history believes it is just) and jews being sneaky and not to be trusted. We had some good falaful and chips (French fries) and enjoyed some ice cold fresh squeezed orange juice.
We also went and saw an old templer’s tunnel, built to take water to the city by the templer knights.

Day six Sea of Galilee and Baptism in the Jordan

2008-07-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

Today was a day of both disappointments and blessed revelation. Today we went to the area between us and the Sea of Galilee and to the Sea of Galilee, which is now called Lake Kenneret.
The first place we went was to Megiddo or actually Tel Megiddo. This is also known as the battlefield of Armageddon. It is a beautiful valley full of bountiful crops of citrus fruits, pomegranates, melons, cotton, olive trees and others. We went up the hill (Tel means hill) to the ruins of Megiddo. From on top of the hill you can easily see the whole Jezreel valley which is Armageddon. You could see how the armies from Russia and China will come in from the North East and move down the valley on their way to Jerusalem. I really don’t know how to describe how I felt up there looking out over the valley. I could imagine, though I know my imagination is not vivid enough to even begin to explain what it will be like when the ‘blood runs as deep as the bridle of a horse’. On top of that hill, I prayed again for the salvation of the Jews, specifically the ones that we have come to know and love and the ones in strategic places of influence to other Jews, I prayed for those I love, my family and my friends and their families that no one in their realm of influence would be in that valley or on this earth for that matter during that time. I prayed that we and they would take and hold the high places (like Megiddo) both physically and spiritually. Then I looked over and I saw a single palm tree sitting there in the baking hot sun being an oasis of shade in this dry hot place and I saw Darrel and I there being that oasis. Over 10 years ago the Lord gave Darrel a very clear vision of his/our future and it involved an oasis. I think that is why He chose to show me how we are to be and we are an oasis. I cried like I have not cried in a long long time. I can’t go into it in depth here, it is too deep, but I can tell you God was on that hill in the high places and He reigns supreme over Israel and the world.
They were doing a lot of excavations on Tel Megiddo and we stopped and talked to a couple of kids that were working. One from Connecticut and one from Louisiana. They were college students and they came there for seven weeks to work in the excavations. What an opportunity, I would have loved to have been allowed to get in there and get my hands into the dirt looking for buried treasures that tell the story of the history or that place. The bible was the inspiration for excavators to turn over the first spade of earth at Megiddo in 1322. Megiddo is mentioned eleven times in the Bible including its conquest by Joshua (Joshua 12:21), its reconstruction by Solomon (I Kings 9:15), and as the location of the death of the two kings of Judah: Ahazia at the hands of Jehu’s soldiers (2 Kings 9:27), and Josiah after his confrontation with Pharaoh Necho II (2 Chron. 35:22). (This of course was a heart tug for us as we named our seventh child Josiah, after the Child King who sought the ways of the Lord.)
We enjoyed going to the granary at Megiddo which was a 7-8+ deep granary that was built during a rebuilding of the city around 721-705 BC. It was fun to imagine the Red Hen Sisters going there to get their grain to make their bread. (hee hee ☺) the granary could hold approximately 12,800 bushels. We also saw Solomon’s stables and thought of how Danene could bring her horses here and stable them so we could all go riding around the area. We went into one of their water systems that they dug out and filled with water (rain) and used to provide water to their city on the hill.
We had considered getting a tour guide to drive and take us on this day, but were very glad that we did not. At Megiddo we were passing a group and stopped to listen to the guide for a few minutes and it made us very angry. He was saying how many people including himself believed that Josiah had not really found the scrolls of the torah, but he had instead written them himself to serve his purpose and the same was true for others in the Bible.

We went through Nazareth; it is a far cry form the Christmas card pictures of a land with grazing sheep. Though it is the setting of Jesus’s younger years and the home of Mary and Joseph, it is now a gritty town. It is 1/3 Christian 2/3 Muslim and only a handful of Jews. We passed by Mount Tabor the site of Christ’s Transfiguration. (Luke 9:28-36) We went through Tiberius.
We then went to Tabghe. This is in the area where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes on the hillside to feed the 5,000. (Matthew 14:13-21) We went to the Mount of Beatitudes, but they were closed for the afternoon hours and we had a full schedule and could not wait. (Matthew 5) I did get out and get a few pictures including some looking down the mountain to the Sea of Galilee.
We went to the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter which commemorates the of the catching of fish on the other side of the boat, (John) but the other guys had on shorts that showed their knees so they were not allowed to go in, so I went in looked around and saw the rock that was supposedly where they had the meal after this big catch, went to the beach and put my feet into the sea and went back up where they were waiting.
We went to Capernaum but again their knees were showing and so they would not let us in. I did not leave them and go myself; it would have taken too long for them to be waiting in the heat. And Darrel had been here on a previous trip so I knew I cold look through his pictures.
We ate lunch right on the beach at the Fish Restaurant Kfar Nahum. Darrel and Jerry had Saint Peter’s fish. They simply gut the fish and cook them whole. Though not my favorite, I did look the little fellow in the eye and taste of him. He was not bad, though I looked in his mouth and found no coins to pay the bill. Debbie and I had chicken k-bobs. We went down and put our feet into the sea.
We went to Yardenit. The gospels say that John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. So I took my own John (Darrel John) and he baptized me in the Jordan and I did the same for him. We both had to make ourselves go ahead and do it. It was hot and getting dressed for the baptism and then redressed and messing with all of it made us hesitate. We went and looked in the river and the catfish were huge, some were easily 18 – 24 inches….. But I knew I wanted to do it, so we forged ahead. When we got into the water, the mood changed, it was all about what was happening. I loved that there was no one else around except the people who were with us (Jerry and Debbie). Darrel talked to me about what we were doing and then prayed over me and then dunked me under. When I came out from under the water, I felt so refreshed and clean and renewed. The sun seemed to shine brighter and yet it was much cooler. Like the breeze of the Holy Spirit rushed through there and descended upon us. Although we had both been baptized before we talked about how it was an outward expression of an inward decision and being obedient and doing it in front of those who are not Christians could be a witness to them. But honestly, when I came up from the water, I knew it was for me and my relationship with Christ and truly a part of that is me being a witness to others of the greatness of my savoir. I felt cool and refreshed all the way home. And it was a long drive home. A funny thing that happened was when we were in the river there were lots of little bitty minnows. When I went into the place to change I felt something tickling me in my shirt, when I took it off a little fishy fell into my shoe. I named her Jordan and let her go free. Also on our way to Yardenit we were the closest we would probably ever be to Jordan the country. It was just maybe two miles away. We could see it through the windows of the car.
Today I read Deut 8:1-20. I was actually going there to read verse 8 where it talks about the different fruits and foods of the area, but ended up wanting to read the chapter. Just the first verse alone is beautiful… “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers.” Do you see the promise in there? If we do what He commands, we will live and multiply and possess the land! Do you just want to yell “How Great Is Our God?” I do! Then the second verse comes and it is equally as deep. “An you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Ouch, am I ready to be humbled, to be tested? Do I want God to know what is in my heart? That is where I want to be, but am I there. Verse 3 and 4 go on in that same manner tell us to remember the time of testing and to know that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord, not just bread alone. Then verse five tells us “ thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.” Then again a reminder to keep his commands in verse six. Verse 7 “For the Lord your God is brining you into a good land, a land of brroks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills a land of wheat and barleyu, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you shall eat food without scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. Oh it just keeps getting better and better it goes on to give a warning for me to beware that after I eat good and multiply and am satisfied that I don’t become proud and forget the Lord my God who brought me out from my land of Egypt where I was a slave. He brought me out of that and kept me in the wilderness and brought me into the land of milk of honey. I love this verse 16:”In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. (Things don’t always look good or feel good when we are in a wilderness but that doesn’t mean they are not good for us!) Otherwise, you may say in your heart, My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.” Then there is a reminder to keep his command and not to go after or worship or serve any other gods because if we do we will surely perish. We need to never forget that it does not have to be a guy with a fat belly to be another god, TV can be a god, stuff can be a god, money can be, anything that we put before God can be a god. Makes me meditate on my priorities and where I spend my time and my energy. Sometimes you can get so busy doing for god that you are not doing for God. Anyway, I loved that passage today, I am going to go and read it again and maybe have some figs or pomegranates or honey and wheat….. Deuteronomy 8 1-20.

view out of our window

2008-07-24T08:06:00.002-05:00

I don't think I have blogged about the view out our hotel room window. We are on the tenth floor, though we are suppose to be on the 12-16, they were full so we are here. It is a nice room so we do not mind (I'm thinking I would stay at a motel 6 as long as I got to come and be here.) OUr windo faces the coast of the mederteranian Sea. It is beautiful. There are beaches all along the coast. Just to the north is the Hasidic beach. It has walls around it so they can have separation from the world around them. The men and women swim on alternating days. The boys must swim with the men and girls with the women. On their way to the beach they must get really really hot as they are covered from head to toe to hand. Beside that and closer to us is a public beach, for the hotel. They have a surf school down there so you can usually see people learning to surf. It is a lot of fun to watch. I know Jonny would just have a blast surfing and probably be really good at it quickly. Today it is a little hazy but some days are very clear. The water is a beautiful blue green and goes on beyond the horizon. The Sunsets are very pretty over the water adn can be seen from our window/balcony. When you go out on the balcony and look down you can see the hotel pool. It is usually full of people from as early as 6:30 am it has a hand full of swimmers swimming in the lanes (exercise). They also have a nice big pool for the children. At night they light it with blue lights, though it is closed it is beautiful from the balcony.
Right now I can see a couple of sail bots and a couple of kayaks out on the sea and lots of swimmers and the surf students up closer to the shoreline. The water is really very warm.

Israel Day four

2008-07-21T10:46:00.001-05:00

There is another guy from Lockheed working here in Israel, last night his wife came in to visit him for a week. Today they went sightseeing with us. We went to Jerusalem. It is about an hour drive East/South East of our hotel. You drive uphill much of the time as it is on the top of Mount Moriah. I took things to read so I did not have to enjoy the wonderful driving, last time I had a hard time pulling my fingernails out of the leather seats of the Jaguar that we were riding/driving in. ☺ Some of my reading material included: "After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him." (Genesis 22:1-3)

"Then Solomon began to build the house of The Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where The Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. He began to build in the second month of the fourth year of his reign." (2 Chronicles 3:1-2)

Mount Moriah means "chosen by Jehovah". It is an elongated ridge with the southern end of the ridge at the intersection of the Kidron and Hinnom valleys. The northeastern ridge is the present Damascus Gate of the Old City. The Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem as well as the Dome of the Rock, a Moslem shrine, are located on top of Mount Moriah. The Mount of Olives is just east of Mount Moriah.

The angel of the LORD commanded David to set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, after the destruction of Jerusalem was halted. King David bought the threshing floor from Ornan the Jebusite, an inhabitant of Jebus (early name for Jerusalem) and the descendants of the 3rd son of Caanan, and paid full price for the land with six hundred shekels of gold by weight. 1 Chronicles 21:18-30 )

King Solomon built the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah is where the LORD appeared unto David the father of Solomon, in the place David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. (2 Chronicles 3:1)

We went to the Western Wall. The Western Wall (Hebrew Ha-Kotel Ha-Ma'aravi), also popularly known as the Wailing Wall, is all that visibly remains of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by Roman Legions in 70 A.D. Measuring some 160 feet long and 60 feet high, it forms part of a larger retaining wall of the Temple Mount.

The Western Wall is constructed of limestone blocks, one of which measures more than 13 feet in length, and has an estimated weight of 628 tons. It is the greatest stone ever quarried by man - nothing of its size exists anywhere else, including in the great Pyramids of Ancient Egypt. Just beside it is a stone weighing 407 tons, and there are others over 100 tons. Modern engineers express amazement at how such massive stones could have been placed as they are.

For nearly two thousand years, since the destruction of the Temple, the Western Wall has been the focal point for prayer of Jews in Israel and throughout the world.

We had to wash our hands before entering the women’s side of the wall, Darrel and Jerry did the same to enter the men’s side, plus they had to cover their heads. Although I truly know that God is not anymore at the wall than He is anywhere else I go, I prayed for those I loved while at the wall. I also prayed for the Jews that they would open their eyes and see that Jesus was and is the messiah. I prayed for the muslins that are being lead away by a horrible cult. When you leave the wall you walk backwards out of respect not to turn your back on the wall. It is sad to think that day after day Jews go there to pray to God though they are not really praying because they do not believe that God can hear them until the temple is rebuilt. It is wonderful to know that God does hear us because of His son and our savior.

We wanted to go in the tunnels behind the wall and see the cisterns, etc. But they do it by reservation only and are booked. They do the tours even at midnight so we figure our chances of getting in were null.

We went through Damascus gate, Jaffa gate and Zion gate. We passed the Dung gate and the New Gate. We walked through the Muslim quarters and through the market streets, they were vendors on the sides of the streets and the streets are very narrow with walls on each side that go straight up and so with the vendors it was were two people could barely fit through. They had everything for sale in there. Trinkets, toys, whole lambs, goat heads, intestines, etc…. clothes, menorahs, things made out of olive wood, anointing oil, you name it they probably had it. We were glad to get out of there. Plus we sort of got lost in there and so we were glad to find our way out.

We explored all though the tower of David. Several groups of Jewish school children were there. They were so cute. Darrel and I loved the history and enjoyed reading all about it; the couple with us were tired of it after just a short while.

For lunch we ate in Jerusalem. They had schwarma and I had falafel. Both were really good. It was a very HOT day! The hottest day so far. We walked miles and miles.

We went to Christ Church. That was very neat. They had a service going since it was Sunday and they were so gracious to us. We listened in on the beautiful choral singing of the congregation for a few minutes. Then the hostess told us about the church and their ministry in Israel. They are praying for and working toward the salvation of both the Jews and the Muslims there. They also found a tunnel under their church that leads to the temple mount. They are only allowed to go so far in it, so they are not sure if it is in good structural shape the whole way, but it was neat. They are located on part of the land where King Herod’s palace use to stand. I would say if you are going to Jerusalem you should to go Christ Church and talk to the people there. They have a wonderful grasp on the Lord’s work in Israel and it was a joy to visit with them.

We went to where David is supposedly buried and they have put a little prayer room there. (men and women divided of course and you must pay to go?) We went to the upper room though who knows if it was the actual upper room that Jesus was in for the last supper. But it was an upper room in Jerusalem.

We were very hot and very tired when we left the city. We drove home, took showers and ate in the lobby of the hotel, though they did not have any real choices for a main dish, we loved the watermelon. We talked to the kids and went to bed. We are starting our day by leaving our hotel rooms at 7am. I want to get to see and do as much as I can while I am here.

God bless you,
Shalom

Day Three Caesarea

2008-07-21T09:07:00.000-05:00

We drove up to Caesarea today. I do not like riding in a car in Israel, all the drivers are CRAZY including the one driving our car…. Oh, that is Darrel. Oops, I will be ready for my big van and Springtown traffic when I get home. Although the people here are very friendly, they all honk to tell you hello and in case you didn’t hear it the first five times they will honk again. Very Friendly.
During Jesus’ lifetime and well into the New Testament stage of Bible History, Caesarea was a major Roman political center in occupied Israel. It is located on the shore of The Mediterranean Sea, on the road from Egypt to Tyre, about 75 miles northwest of Jerusalem. It was built between 25 to 13 B.C. by Herod The Great, who named it after Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor most famous for ordering the census (Luke 2:1) that resulted in Joseph and Mary traveling down from Nazareth to Bethlehem where The Savior was born.

It was originally established as an anchorage by Sidonian king Abdashtart in the 4th century B.C., when it became known as "Strato's Tower." The Hasmoneans took possession of it in 96 B.C., however Pompey brought it under Roman rule in 63 B.C.

Mark Antony presented the city to Cleopatra, however when Octavian (later known as Caesar Augustus) defeated Antony at Actium, it was put under the control of Herod who built it up and renamed it after the Caesar. It then became the capital of the Roman province of Judea, the headquarters for the procurators (governors) and the Roman troops.

Caesarea is mentioned frequently in New Testament events:

* Peter first took the message of the Gospel to Gentiles at Caesarea, while in the house of Cornelius, the centurion in what was known as the "Italian Regiment" (Acts 10:1-48). While there, as Cornelius was about to bow down to Peter, the apostle made it clear than he was merely a servant of The Lord, like the rest. (Acts 10:26)

* Philip the evangelist lived in Caesarea with his four daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:8-9).

Not long after his conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul sailed from Caesarea to his native Tarsus (Acts 9:30). He passed through the city during his second and third missionary journeys. Later, he was held prisoner in the city for two years (Acts 24:1,27), where he was put on trial (Acts 23:31-26:32) before his voyage to Rome.

It was at Caesarea that Herod Agrippa I was struck down by God for his idolatrous blasphemy (Acts 12:19-23) Neat story, you should read it.

Today, the site of Caesarea is still known by its ancient name, Kaiseriyeh, but there are only ruins remaining.

It is a beautiful port city or should I say it was as you can tell from the ruins. It was…thought provoking to walk into and around the hippodrome, the place where many Christians were tortured and killed as part of the ‘games’. We went to King Herods Palace, to the governors palace where Pontius Pilot would have lived when he ‘washed his hands’ of the crime against Jesus of Nazareth. We chased a huge lizard through some of the ruins, walked on top of some of the walls. Wanted to get our feet into Herod’s pool but they had it chained off, though locals were on the other side fishing and swimming and having a good time. I did however go down to the seaside and get my feet wet in the tide at the foot of where the pool was and picked up some seashells for the kids. For lunch we had lamb chops, grilled chicken, hummus and mint lemonade. It was wonderful. The day was extremely hot and we walked several miles climbing up and down on the ruins, we had a great time together, learning history and walking where those who penned the Bible walked. We went through the amphitheater and were amazed by the incredible marble and granite work in the columns and buildings.

Jaffa

2008-07-19T14:01:00.001-05:00

This morning after Darrel went downstairs to work out and we had breakfast (free with our room) we walked about 3 miles to the Bezalel open-air market and to Jaffa. Bezalel market reminded me of the mercado (market) in Mexico and the open market days in the Netherlands. Sort of a very crowded flea market/farmers market. They set them up only one or two days a week and you go there to get most of your fresh produce and fresh baked breads. They also have a variety of things like hats, t-shirts, souvenirs, etc. It was fun to listen to them do their sells bit in Hebrew. They would compete with each other and do ‘yells’ together; you could tell they were having fun while working. It was also interesting to watch the people haggle for the prices.
We then walked over to Jaffa. According to historians, Jaffa was named after Noah’s son, Japheth, who built it after the flood. In Hebrew it drives from the Hebrew word ‘yofi’ which means beauty. Archaeological discoveries and ancient documents support that it existed as a port city some 4,000 years ago, serving Egyptian and Phoenician sailors in their sea voyages. Historians believe that Jaffa is the only port in the world which can boast uninterrupted inhabitation throughout it’s entire existence The earliest known written reference to Jaffa is found in inscriptions on the wall of the temple of Karnak at Thebes. In it, Thutmose II, who ruled from 1490 to 1436 B.C., boasts of capturing a number of cities of Israel, including Jaffa. It is told of how Thutmose’s minister of war went to Jaffa and took with him 200 human sized jars; in them they hid soldiers and slaves with ropes. He told the governor of Jaffa that he had run away from Thutmose and brought all these riches with him in the jars, so they brought them into the city. Once inside the minister killed the governor and all the soldiers came out of the jars and they took the city. Through Bible History, the city was in turn taken by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans in which it was included in the kingdom of Herod The Great. The Bible mentions Jaffa several times. Although in some of it’s translations it is called Jaffa, Joppa, Japho, Jaffe, or Yafo.
The biblical account mentions that the cedars from Lebanon for the construction of King Solomon’s Temple came in via Jaffa’s shore (2 Chronicles 2:11,16). Remember Jonah running from God’s calling, he took a boat out of the Jaffa port and soon was swallowed by the big fish! Simon the Tanner lived in Jaffa, and it was here that the Apostle Peter performed a miracle of raising Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:36-43) In Jaffa Peter was divinely led to 'think out of the box.' The story in Acts 10:5-23, finds Peter on the rooftop of the House of Simon the Tanner, where he had his famous vision (Acts 10:12-13), that led him to preach the Gospel to the gentiles at Caesarea.
After the Israelites entered the Promised land under Joshua, the tribe of Dan received Jaffa but it was later lost to the Philistines. King David re-took Jaffa in his time, and when Solomon succeeded his father as king, he developed it into Israel's major seaport.

After learning about Jaffa and walking through the old city we enjoyed some beautiful views of the beach and the port. We watched surfers, swimmers and fishermen. We then went back to the hotel, cooled off and had a little rest. We then went for a walk in Tel Aviv to find a falafel stand, but it was shabat and we did not make it there before it closed down. On the way back to the hotel we did find an Italian restaurant and had some of the best alfredo we have ever had! Back to the hotel to talk to the kids, Darrel did a little work and we went to bed. My clock is still a little off so I slept until 3 am and then could not go back to sleep. Shabat Shalom!

Trip to Israel

2008-07-18T14:59:00.000-05:00

The flight over made me feel a little more than selfish. I flew first class from DFW to Chicago. They give you your own little ‘area’ with a chair that reclines to a complete bed position, a little seat area where a friend can come and sit and visit, a tv screen and a large selection of movies, games, flight info at your fingertips. They offer you warm cashews and almonds, any drink you could want, and a nice meal if you want it. The transfer in the airport was pretty easy as I only had to move down 4 gates. During the flight from Chicago to London, I had a business class seat. I had a lady beside me. She was very nice, her two children were in coach. They were taking her son to Cambridge to do a summer program there for high school students. She said her son did not want her to ride with him as all the other students would be on the same flight so she sat where she normally sat (business class), but then at the last moment she decided to take her 7 year old with her. So she had to get him a ticket in coach. They were from Santa Barbara, CA. The flight was nice, though her getting out many times (she was near the window) to check on the boys, take the 7 year old back, go to the bathroom from 5 cups of wine, not only reminded me that my children were at home and not with me but also made it a little hard to rest. But, it was not uncomfortable and the food was excellent especially the chocolate ice cream with chocolate graham cracker crust at the bottom and fudge sauce and raspberry cheese cake chunks on top. As you can tell, I suffered through it. Our plane was a little late taking off and getting to London and the London airport is not real user friendly. No one tells you where to go, you just follow people and hope you are going to the right place. I went from terminal 2 to terminal 4 via stairs, long halls, long tunnels and a bus. Then when I got to terminal 4 I had quiet a time finding and being sure I had found the right place. As I had 2 minutes until posted departure time and no one was there to man the gate or answer my questions. I called Darrel and he assured me all was well. When they opened my doors to go down the tunnel to get on the plane it was actually a tunnel to go get on a bus. We took the bus to the airplane out on the tarmac and climbed up the stairs to the plane. When they saw my ticket was first class, they took my bags, took me to my seat, offered me a drink and slippers and asked if I wanted a sleep suit? I must have looked puzzled because she then explained they were pajamas. I noticed her asking others if they wanted sleep suits and they said yes, but no one changed into them. So I asked her, she said you can take them with you. So I said sure I will take them (so now Sarah has a new sleep suit) They come over to your private little cubby hole and unwrap your pillow and blanket and show you how to use the recliner/bed chair. This airlines was not American Airlines, it was British Airways and though their plane was not as nice as the American plane the staff were so much nicer. They catered to your every whim. I was able to sleep for maybe two hours on this flight. They had a very fancy meal, but it was a little too… fufu for me, I asked for just a plate of fruit, they kept asking if I wanted more.
Flying over the Mediterranean Sea just before landing in Tel Aviv was beautiful, you could see yachts and sailboats floating through the incredibly blue water. Landing at Tel Aviv I tried to follow Darrel’s instructions, but called him for clarification when I ran into a snag. I was blessed at each point, when I got to the passport check a line opened up so I didn’t have to wait, for luggage I took a potty break and then waited only about 5 minutes (usually at least an hour) and I simply walked through customs no one stopped me or checked anything. It was wonderful to see Darrel’s smiling face.
We came to the hotel put up my luggage, Darrel worked for 30-60 minutes and then we went upstairs to the lounge for free dinner and then went for a walk in Tel Aviv. Came back and had some watermelon and went to bed. We are open the 10th floor and can see the sea and hear the waves. It is beautiful. After not having but maybe 3 hours sleep on the planes, I slept pretty good. Though I miss my babies, Darrel is so glad to have me here.

A Learning Experience for the Russell Family.

2008-07-08T14:07:00.006-05:00

Though we were just alternates this year and were only seated to vote a few times, we still feel that not only did we take a stand for what we believe we also were influential at the convention. No we are not anywhere near the big dogs, but we did have some influence over some of them, or at least God did and were just the vessel that the Lord used to influence them.
Happy Birthday Angie. It was really fun to be involved in our friend Angie Huse’s birthday. She had her birthday on the last day of the convention. Someone, I shall mention no names but someone was able to get them to announce Angie’s birthday from the caucus floor and the whole deligate/alternate caucus sang ‘Happy Birthday’. Then at lunch we walked to mall and had lunch, someone secretly ordered her a birthday cake and when it was ready, we surprised her and sang happy birthday there in the food court. Then for dinner we went to Benihana’s and though it was an interesting experience with 23 people squeezed into seating for 16. And after the dinner there was another cookie cake, this time with a book of matches as the candles and another rendition of Happy Birthday.
Also on the last day of the convention we took all the kids up to see what it was like at the convention. They had been at the hotel during all our meetings and were glad to get out.
Jonny worked as a page during the whole convention and on the last day was even moved to a lead position.

While in Houston at the convention, a reporter from the Weatherford Democrat asked us a few questions. She asked us and several others to send her photos of the convention. I sent her about 8 photos and they printed four of them along with her article about the convention.

Her article was a pretty good representation of the facts about the convention. Though she was a democrat and not a republican. I was impressed to see that she wrote without a negative bias.

I would say that during the convention our favorite speakers were first and foremost, Mike Huckabee, but also included David Barton (Wall Builders), Tim Lambert (THSC), Newt Gingridge, Michael Williams (Railroad Commissioner) and even Paul Perry (running for National Chairman).
Well worth the wait. We and the Sorahs had planned to attend the Texas Eagle Forum Banquet. But it filled up before we called for reservations. Sadly the Sorahs had about 100 people in front of them on the list. We were however the 2nd ones on the waiting list. We were able to get in, but not until close to 8pm. It had started at 7pm. Basically all we missed were some songs and some of the eating time. The dinner was eloquent or fu fu as Darrel would call it. Each course looked like a work of art. We sat at a table for 8 and enjoyed getting to meet some of the other guests. But the best part far and away were the speakers. Not even mentioning the ones who gave short speeches when introducing the main speakers, we throughly enjoyed the featured speakers: Phyllis Schaffly and David Barton. Phyllis looked and spoke as if she were the queen of England, so refined and well spoken, yet beautifully Christian and graceful. She spoke on........ Next was David Barton, president of Wall Builders. He did an historical presentation on the War on Terror. He is very well spoken and an incredibly knowledgeable historian. He is also a delegate from our County (Parker) and is now a delegate to the National Convention. We also had the honor of meeting a man who was in the pentagon on 911, his office was completely destroyed by the plane and explosion and everyone in it was killed, but he was down in the hall at the water cooler and he lived though he was burned over a large part of his body and spent much time in the hospital.
Excerpts from Speech given by Michael Williams at the Texas Republican Convention.
..."I know the liberals think Americans are finally coming their way… that suddenly working families are for higher taxes and bigger government. But the election of a Democrat Congress is not an endorsement of Democrat ideas. The fact is Democrats campaign as conservatives so they can govern as liberals. The problem is Republicans started doing the same thing, so the people chose the real thing."..

..."As an African-American from the South, I am proud of the fact that someone who looks like me will be a major party presidential nominee for the first time in our nation’s history.
What Senator Obama has done is extraordinary. His nomination speaks well, not only of his own personal political skills, but of the America that exists today.
But Americans will not fall for identity politics over good ideas or slogans in the absence of substance or for promises and platitudes that are the wrong policy prescriptions."...

..."Change is just a slogan when the ideas are the Democrat leftovers of the last 50 years. When it is the same menu as McGovern, Carter and Mondale: higher taxes, bigger government and a steady diet of class warfare and expanded welfare."...

To read the rest of the speech go to:http://www.texasinsider.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3877

A full week for the family The convention actually started on Thursday, but on Wednesday they had grassroots training from 8am - 6pm and Darrel went to it and Jonny also had a meeting because he was a page at the convention. We drove from Springtown to Houston on Monday, Tuesday was the Battleship and monument. Wednesday was the training. Thursday the convention started at 12, but the exhibit hall opened at 8am.
Be Careful of your influence At one point early on Thursday they were debating whether the GOP was following it’s own rules. We had heard rumors about those we respect supporting opposing views. So we went out to find them and ask them. We found Tim Lambert of THSC and asked him to clarify his point of view. He did. But he was perhaps supporting some one we did not support and so we told him we did not support him. He said he did not support him either. I felt that I was suppose to say something to him about making sure others who respected him knew that he did not support this person. So about 30 minutes later it was Tim’s turn to speak from the convention floor. He spoke for a while then he said, someone questioned me today about my stance and they said..... and he quoted exactly what I said. At that point, I knew that 1) I needed to be careful of my words, because people might repeat them to over 7,000 people like they did that day and 2) I had an incredible amount of influence and needed to make sure I was consistently pointing toward the Lord Jesus Christ with my words and actions.

Sarah goes on business trip.

2008-07-08T14:00:00.003-05:00

Darrel had to take a short trip to Los Cruses, New Mexico so we decided sort of as a thank you for helping with the children while in Houston, we would let her go with him. She has a friend there, Chaylene Downing that we meet several years ago when we went there for 6 weeks. We also went on another trip there for 4 or 5 weeks. And once when we went to the cabin we drove half way and met them in Alamogordo for an afternoon. The girls have kept in touch via letters and phone since before Hannah was born.
First Class Because the flight was full, Darrel was able to use points and move them up to first class.
First Class Because the flight was full, Darrel was able to use points and move them up to first class.

Surprise! The Downing parents knew that Sarah was coming, but they did not tell their kids. So Wednesday night they told their kids they were meeting grandparents at Cracker Barrel for dinner. Darrel and Sarah got their early and got a table, so when they walked in, the kids were totally surprised! The trip was extended to Saturday morning, so Sarah got two full days plus the dinner Wednesday night with her friend. They went swimming at the hotel pool and just had a great time visiting.

Our Visit to the Monument

2008-06-19T19:23:00.002-05:00

The San Jacinto Monument stands 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument and honors those who fought for Texas’s Independence.
We enjoyed our visit to the monument, though we will want to go again. Due to the rain early in the day and the long tour of the battleship, we did not have it in us to do the full museum. We only did the bottom floor free museum which was wonderful, but we want to go through the full museum and go up the the star at the top and see the observation deck. That is on the calendar for August when we go to the THSC Conference in Houston.

A Short History of San Jacinto
In March of 1836, the war for Texas' independence from Mexico was not going well for General Sam Houston and his Texan troops. On March 11, Houston abandoned Gonzales and retreated eastward in advance of the numerically superior forces of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the President of Mexico. Houston's poorly trained troops were restless, eager for revenge after the Goliad massacre and the fall of the Alamo. Houston realized, however, that the Texans had little chance of winning over Santa Anna's much larger army without some sort of advantage.
San Jacinto Day reenactment.

On April 18, Houston arrived at Buffalo Bayou and found that Santa Anna had already sacked the small town of Harrisburg. Through a captured Mexican courier, he learned that Santa Anna had isolated himself from the bulk of his troops and had a force of about 750 men, slightly smaller than Houston's force of 820 men. Houston realized that his chance had come. On April 19, Houston and his men crossed to the south bank of Buffalo Bayou and marched east, setting up camp near Lynch's Ferry on April 20. An advance guard of the Texans captured a boatload of the Mexican Army's provisions at the ferry, providing food for the famished Texan soldiers.

A small party of Texans retreated back to Houston's position near Lynch's Ferry, with the Mexican forces not far behind. Upon his arrival at nearby San Jacinto, Santa Anna tried to draw the Texans into battle. Skirmishes continued into the late afternoon, when Santa Anna established a camp about three-quarters of a mile east of Houston's position.

In a brief skirmish at sunset, a detail of Texan cavalry almost met with disaster, stoking Houston's fears about his poorly trained, individualistic troops. As darkness fell, both armies settled into camp for the night. Houston ordered his men to eat and rest, while he stayed up all night worrying. Santa Anna, realizing that Houston's forces was slightly larger, built fortifications using saddles, baggage, and anything else available and hoped that reinforcements would soon arrive. Even though his men were exhausted, he kept them up all night on alert, believing that the Texans would attack at first light.

On April 21, dawn came with no attack and Santa Anna relaxed. At about 9 AM about 500 more Mexican troops arrived, to the chagrin of Houston and his men. Houston sent a small detail to destroy Vince's Bridge to delay additional Mexican reinforcements. At noon he held a council of war, at which no decision was reached.
San Jacinto Day reenactment.

That afternoon, Houston assembled his troops and laid out a plan of battle. The main force advanced quietly in a frontal assault, hoping for the advantage of surprise. Two other groups circled around to the left and right flanks of the Mexican camp. The Mexican troops had relaxed in the knowledge of their numerical superiority and many were eating and sleeping.

The Texas had advanced to within 200-300 yards of the Mexican position before they were discovered and the alarm sounded. The main group of Texans charged the camp, screaming, "Remember Goliad! Remember the Alamo!"" A pitched battle quickly ensued, much of it hand-to-hand at the Mexican fortifications. The two other groups of Texans attacked the flanks, quickly overwhelming the Mexican camp. Houston was wounded, but fought on with his men. In less than twenty minutes, organized resistance ended and many Mexicans were killed by revenge-driven Texans even as they tried to surrender. As the sun sets to the west, the battle ended, the marshes stained scarlet with blood. Nine Texans and 630 Mexicans lay dead or mortally wounded, a tremendous defeat for the Mexican Army.

Those with medical training did their best with minimal supplies to treat the Texan and Mexican wounded. The 700 uninjured Mexican troops were disarmed and placed under guard. A small number, including Santa Anna, escaped from the battle and headed westward to the several thousand troops waiting west of the Brazos River. Houston knew that if Santa Anna was able to reunite with the main body of his army, the war would continue, so he sent out scouts to search for the escapees the next day. By noon, Houston's men had captured Santa Anna, who was disguised as a private. Santa Anna ordered his troops to withdraw from Texas, securing independence for the Republic of Texas.

We successfully gave Jonny a Surprise Party

2008-06-08T21:35:00.001-05:00

While Joshua and Jonny are at camp we plan a surprise party for Jonny.

Full Day The boys got home and unloaded from camp, we had lunch, started some camp laundry and opened Jonny’s birthday presents. We then loaded up to go to the Drive In. Jonny was a little bummed because none of his friends were going to the movie. He had called a couple and they were doing things with their family that night.
Surprise WE arrived at the Drive in really early and no one was there, we had time to waste so we left and drove around Granbury and then went back to the theater, by that time we were the 4th car in line, but the two ahead of us were from church. We got out and the guys played football and we visited. Then another family came from church. Then a family gave Jonny a gift. He came and said Mom I feel bad, I think they found out it was my birthday and they gave me some of the movie candy they brought, I just smiled. Then I said... Jonny do you not get it, this is about you. This is a surprise party for you. He said oh, since they showed up, it is a party. I said no, we sent out invitations and more are coming. It is a surprise 16th birthday party. He said “No Way!”
Guests: Sorahs, Bruces, Hentz, Powells, Youngbloods, Huses, Sniders, Jessica and Hannah Johnson, Brittany, Victoria and Annie Moffett, Shelby Hewitt, Hamptons. and Rachel Beck.
Before the movie, the kids played frisbee, football, and tag. We got Jonny a Kung Fu Panda book and a t-shirt from the Drive In and we had all the guests sign them. We took lots of drinks and junk food and lots of blankets and lawn chairs. We ordered pizza and have it delivered to the theater. Pizza for 55 pizza is a good amount of pizza!
I think he had a good birthday celebration.

Jordan's birthday June 3rd

2008-06-08T21:34:00.000-05:00

Hot Dogs At Jordan’s party we had hotdogs (chili, mustard, ketchup, chips, grapes, lemonade, and fixins) We had a monkey pinata, though everyone thought it was a cat. We made sand bottle necklaces, all the kids signed her birthday shirt and we all enjoyed the food, fun and fellowship. Though it was rather HOT.
Who came to play? Emma and Allie Hewitt and family, Victoria Moffett and family, Jillian Sorah and family, Christina Lowrance and family, Mercades was brought by Rachel and Wyatt Spraggins and they also brought Riley Huse. And as for the Russell’s it was all of us except Joshua and Jonny who had gone back to camp before the party began.
Sarah organized a few balloon games. They did a balloon popping relay and follow the leader with balloon tricks. The kids just had a good time playing together. And the parents sad in the shade and enjoyed the fellowship. Daniel had a blast crawling and walking around everywhere. He pushed a toy car all the way across the yard to where the big kids were playing and he played with Amanda Joy while she was in his walker.

Anniversary June 1, 1985 - 2008

2008-06-08T21:33:00.000-05:00

23 years!
Though we spent the day very busy first with church, then lunch with friends (The Huses) then getting the house ready for company and packing the boys for camp, then having 30 plus people over for Jordan’s birthday party. We still enjoyed our anniversary together.
My Knight In Shining Armor I have always seen Darrel as my knight in shining armor. I often wonder how God loved me so very much to provide Darrel just for me. I really do stand in awe. I know I am not deserving of either of their loves. But am very grateful for both. Darrel is my hero.
Gloating Darrel had a great day... he got me a card and thoughtful gift and left it on the bathroom counter for me to find first thing in the morning. I had not put out a card for him. He was so proud of himself. I held my card for a couple of days so that he could bask in his gloating. It was fun. I will enjoy what he gave me... bath salt, aloe bubble bath and a wonderful bath washer scratcher type thing for showering and/or bathing. He said “You can lock the door and get away, even if it is just for a few minutes.”
Traditions The card that I got Darrel is one I had seen on a friends refrigerator like 8 years ago and loved. It looks like a marriage certificate. I looked for years and found it months ago.
A neat tradition that John and Loetta (Darrel’s parents) do is they have a box full of cards they have given each other through the years and each year they pick a card, add a few words for that year and re-give the card, along with a gift. I think it is a cute thing. Sort of like when my parents take communion, they break up their piece of bread and share it with each other. I love it!

Baby Amanda Joy

2008-05-28T15:18:00.002-05:00

We were blessed to meet baby Amanda Joy Moffett today. She is so petite and so adorable and it is just incredible how she knows and wants her daddy. She has an adorable little smile. She is ... around 10 months (reminder to self, find out her birthday) and she weighs about 14 pounds. Wears 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers, which are actually a little big around the waist. Oh, she is cute and cuddly and we are so excited she is here and not in Tenneessee.

Empty Nest

2008-05-28T15:07:00.002-05:00

Ok, I know my nest is far from empty, but it is incredible how the dynamics of a home change with only one or two people gone. It is really weird and very quiet around here. I don't really understand why it seems quiet when it is the big boys that are gone, but it is true, it is oddly quiet.
I have been asked many many times how I felt about Joshua going away for the summer and I answered honestly that I am ok with it. But... I must now be honest and admit that my heart hurt last night when I talked to him after his first full day gone and he sounded ... reserved. He is concerned about things... the people he will be working with, the work, the hours, etc. Any my momma heart wanted to go there and rescue him and make it all better. But, I know that I can not. And I know that I should not. God has Joshua there for a reason, His reason and I know He has great plans for Joshua. It will not be easy for him or for me, but it is needed. I know he will grow. I know I will grow through this experience. I mostly KNOW that God has him covered.
Jonny will be going for another week. The other intern was not able to make it and thus they are short and so he will be working next week. Originally next week was the week of our church camp and so he was not available for that week, but our camp was moved and so now he is available.
Side note: A large turtle came into the yard today. Hannah and Stephen wanted to keep him as a pet, but we just enjoyed him for a while and watched him go on his way.

Miscellaneous Things jumping around in my head.

2008-05-20T17:49:00.008-05:00

I’ve been trapped! I went out this morning and could hear the cry of a kitten. Later I went out again and again heard it’s cry. My compassionate side got the best of me and I searched for the little creature that needed rescuing. I found a cute little grey calico kitten up high in a tree in the neighbor’s yard. It was really high up and crying. I got Jonny to rescue it and we left it to go it’s way. It followed us, so we took it back to the neighbors, it followed us so we put it behind the neighbor’s house and ran, but it still followed us. It has been outside the house watching our every move and crying out for us all day. It was all a trap! ….. Now what to do? Will see if it belongs to a neighbor when they get home tonight. My allergies are getting the best of me with the trees and grass, I don’t need, I can’t have a cat! Even if it is a really cute little kitten.

Joshua and Jonny are painting the house. Not an easy task and they need to have it done so they can get the other things they need to do before they leave for camp on Sunday or Monday. The trim was light blue and we have to decide what color to paint it. Darrel wants green (when we stripped the blue off we found that it had originally been green.). Hannah wants pink, that is not going to happen. Jordan wants blue and Stephen wants it to be a rainbow. Jonny thinks yellow trip or yellow house with white trim. We have already painted it white so yellow will not happen. Joshua likes khaki or green.

Daniel had a fever for a couple of days and when the fever broke, he got a rash. It is really bad below his mouth, in his diaper and on his legs. It is also on his arms, feet and a tiny bit on his torso. I have no idea what it is. I have thought it could be yeast, heat rash, chicken pox, poison ivy…… All seem possible, but none seem right.

Joshua finally found his ‘new’ piano keyboard to replace the one that he got for his birthday to replace the one that broke. He found a 2,000. Yamaha at a pawn shop and they were asking 900.00 but he was able to get it for 550.00 Now he has a keyboard to take to camp and one to play. He has been very frustrated that the only thing he could play was our piano which is out of tune.
The pedal had the wrong polarity so Joshua and Darrel rigged it to work. They turned something upside down inside of the pedal and they used a paperclip soldered in place to do something. That way Joshua was able to use it the night he got it to play some songs at the end of the year social for EMACHE (our homeschool group).
Why the picture of Joshua on his 3rd birthday? Because he is cute and because I think it is funny that he had a Barney cake and now he has a Barney car. I know it is not really a Barney car, but it's fun teasing him about it. I have told him that we need to have the interior redone in green. :)

Prince Caspian

2008-05-16T21:30:00.004-05:00

We went to see Prince Caspian today. Our family all enjoyed it. Though Hannah was glad to have Daddy and Josh-e-a's lap close so she could jump in them during the intense scenes. She is only 3 and yet she got that Aslan represented Jesus before we even told her that he did. She said "Oh, he is like Jesus and Lucy loves him." "I love him, too." If you go to their official website there are all sorts of educational things you can download to preview or review the movie. (games, etc.) Stephen thinks he is the little mouse Reeceechep (spelling?) Hannah says she is Lucy and Sarah is Susan and Joshua is Peter and Jonny is Edward. That is until the end when the show had it's one "Red X" moment. (Red X is what Stephen calls it when people kiss) And Hannah said "Sarah doesn't kiss boys only her daddy. Right daddy?"

Baseball for Breakfast

2008-05-14T16:29:00.009-05:00

Friday night of the bookfair, Darrel, Joshua, Jonny and my brother John Mark went to see the Texas Rangers play baseball. They beat the Oakland Athletics 4-0. I think John Mark had wanted all of us to go, but I was unsure if the kids would last for a full game and didn't want to pay for all of them only to have them want to leave. So my sis-in-law and her girls went with Sarah and the little ones to go swimming at our hotel.

We had a good time and I think the kids enjoyed themselves.

Saturday morning while in line at the breakfast buffet, a man asked Darrel how big his crew was and Darrel told him we had seven children. The man seemed pleased that we had a large family. He asked if we would like to go see a Ranger ball game and said he worked for the Rangers and would like to give us tickets. Darrel said sure. Later that day, the tickets came. The man had given us nine 35.00 dollar tickets ($315.00).
So after the bookfair, we loaded up and went to the game. This was the first big game for Jordan on down and it was fun to explain things to them as we watched them play. We got to see a homerun (with fireworks), we enjoyed watching the mph being posted after each pitch and we were in a section where they come and ask you what you would like to eat and they deliver it to you. Hannah and Stephen loved the peanuts and Jordan loved the cotton candy. We all enjoyed watching the Rangers beat Oakland 6-4.

Joshua's new car

2008-05-14T15:06:00.007-05:00

Joshua has his first car. 2003 PT Cruiser, Touring Edition. Thanks Grand dad for finding it and helping to get it up here to him. Thanks Nana and Papa for helping to get it up here to him and thanks John Mark and Nicole for driving it up to Arlington for him.
He was all smiles when he saw it for the first time and continues to be all smiles every time he gets in to drive it.

It is such a nice looking car! And gets great gas mileage. He has enjoyed getting an air freshener for it and a CD holder and is looking for just the right trash can and decals to make it personal. (From a mom’s point of view, it’s really cute to watch him.) He took me to run errands in it yesterday and insisted that I drive it for the first time. He is so proud.

Homeschool Book Fair

2008-05-14T14:51:00.002-05:00

Why do you go to the homeschool book fair year after year?
1. To see what is new out there. We started homeschooling in 1993 and the choices were very limited. That first year I was homeschooling an 8th grade (my little brother) and my sons were 3 and 1. When going to school to get my teaching degree, although we were taught about different personalities we were pretty much taught that all children could learn the same way…. Sitting in a desk for hours each day with a few hands on things sprinkled in to stretch their legs. I now know that different kids learn in different ways and some have a hard time with just a few minutes sitting at a desk but can learn a wealth of knowledge when you think they are not even paying attention. I have learned that some of the smartest kids have ‘learning disabilities’. And I have learned that I enjoy something new being added to our schooling to keep me going as much as to keep them going. This year there were several new venders and sadly a few I am use to seeing were not there. My favorite new booths:
Generations of Virtue (Got the kids purity rings from here this year.)
Corps of Rediscovery (Oh, what fun, will be doing a unit study on Lewis and Clark this year)
Hank the Cow Dog (Who doesn’t love Hank? Can’t wait to go to the THSC conference and have him read to the kids.)
And my some of my favorite old booths are:
Championship Chess
Jim Hodges Audio Books He reads to my boys most nights
Joyful Living We are loving using what we have learned from Kristy these past two months.
I better stop there because I have lots and lots of favorites (I could mention: Konos, Teaching Text books, Institute in Writing Excellence, Doorposts, Eagles Wings, Grace and Truth Books, THSC, Lamplighter Publishing, Mantle Ministries, Texas Tech, Miller Pad and Paper, Sing N’ Learn, Rosetta Stone, … I better stop for real because the list goes on.) Now you see why I need two days to see it all.

2. To see old homeschool friends that I have not seen in a while. Some, I only see once a year at the bookfair. (It was great to see: Miriam, Janice, Alese, Marty, Kristy, Tim, Cindy, Cappy, Angie, Jeana, Karen (though she was on a mission and was not to be interrupted. Hee hee), Peterson, and more.

3. To see extended family that I haven’t seen in a while. Is it terrible that sometimes it is months between seeing family and we meet up at the bookfair. It was great to see Michelle and what a surprise to see Sherry. And wonderful to have my first Homeschool student, my little brother, John Mark and his wife, Nicole and daughters there.

4. To be reminded yet again, why we are doing this. To get excited again about another year. Do you not love the two 9 year old boys who run the registers for Lifetime Books and Gifts, completely by themselves for hours on end. Amazing!

5. Because my amazing and wonderful husband got us a hotel room with a pool so we could spend a family weekend away and they kept the baby so I could go to the bookfair! Now that is amazing and wonderful! We loved the baseball too!
So I guess I will see all of you homeschool bookfair junkies next year! Because it is not all about what you need.

2008-05-05T20:30:00.002-05:00

Do you ever have one of those ADD "If you give a mouse a cookie" type days. You know the kind, you go into the kitchen to get a glass of water and note that the sink is full of dishes so you do the dishes. You remember that you needed water and so you go upstairs to ask Joshua to dry and put up the dishes and you notice some undone laundry, so you get Jonny to help you and you get carried away and end up doing some cleaning, that is until you find a dirty spoon. Then you remember that you were doing dishes downstairs. (an hour and a half has passed and all you wanted was a glass of water.) You go into the room to ask Joshua to put up the now dry dishes and he is working on the webpage for the Red Hen Sister's bread and you look at a few things and then think.... hmmm we should make some bread, so you go to the kitchen and start to grind some grain, while it is milling you notice that the floor needs to be swept so you start to sweep and you sweep near the water cooler and remember that you haven't gotten that water yet. So you go to get the water and think "I guess this is what mom feels like when she chases rabbits and doesn't catch anything." So you pick up the phone to call your mom and when she gets on the phone you forget what you were calling about..... I am sure it is just hormones and the fact that Daniel decided to stay up last night and so I finally got him to sleep at 3:38am. And the little ones were up at 8am wanting mommy to play a treasure hunt game with them.
Now since it is one of those rambling type days, I certainly hope this post makes some kind of since, though I can't remember if it does.

2008-05-05T15:26:00.001-05:00

Red Hen Sister's is up and running, not with out it's falls, but it is baking.

2008-05-03T21:21:00.003-05:00

Finished my April Family Newsletter. It is a little different than the one posted when I first started blogging.

Russell Family News April 2008

Here is a picture of Joshua and Jonny in front of the entrance to the camp they will be working at this summer. Joshua will be on staff for the entire summer and Jonny will be an intern for 5 weeks. It is near Crosbyton.

"PT Purple"!

2008-05-03T19:02:00.001-05:00

We have looked and looked for a car for Joshua, to no avail. So we put Grand dad on the job and in one weekend, he found the car.

He will be making payments on the car, but he hopes to pay a majority of it off this summer with his summer job earnings.

It is called the Touring Edition Wagon. Joshua says he won’t call it cranberry, he will call it Royal Purple. I said just say it is the color of royalty and don’t say purple at all. Grand dad says it is ‘Barney’ colored. Joshua did like Barney when he was little, though he is a little embarrassed to admit it now. And he finds Barney more than a little scary now.

PT Purple! When the PT Cruisers first came out and for a couple of years we played PT Cruiser sort of like you use to play love bug. The kids would say PT and then the color of the cruiser for points. The one with the most points at the end of a trip was the winner. They got points for PT’s, love bugs and the little car that looks like a box, I can’t remember it’s real name, but I remember “Box car Red” earning them a point. Now Joshua will be driving a PT purple!
Not bad for a first car and it has room to grow with him. It will set 5 people. He is most worried about whether it will fit his piano keyboard in the back.

Random Bread Thoughts

2008-05-01T14:55:00.003-05:00

Sarah and I have made a little bread this week. 2 batches on Monday, a batch consist of 6 bread items. A bread item can be: a loaf, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls or garlic cheese rolls. The easiest being a loaf and the hardest being the cinnamon and garlic cheese rolls. They are each made by kneading the dough, rolling the dough out, covering with butter and then with the secret ingredients, rolling it up into a spiral log, cutting it into slices and then topping with a little extra of what is on the inside. On Tuesday we only had a little yeast so we made one 1/2 batch (all cinnamon rolls) on Wednesday we made one batch and today we have made one batch. (2 cinnamon rolls and four garlic cheese rolls.) In a little bit we will make a meal to go with the garlic cheese rolls we made for a friend who had a baby and take it to them along with cinnamon rolls for in the morning. We will make a batch tomorrow to sell at First Monday's in Weatherford. Depending on how that goes, we may make a batch on Saturday. Then on Monday we have one batch sold and due Monday night and Tuesday morning. And 1/2 batch sold and due Wednesday morning. Perhaps we will fill that batch up before Wednesday. Then we go out of town from Thursday through Sunday.

I think we have decided to change the name to 'RED HEN SISTERS'. The bread part of the business will be Red Hen Sisters Bread, but it will leave room for if any of them decide to make and sell something different in the future, like quilts or cheese or..... who knows. Joshua has lots of neat ideas for the website and the new graphics for the flyers and such. It will be fun to see what he comes up with. I have a ton of ideas jumping around in my head! I wonder which ones will make it out alive? :)

Joshua is working with Pastor Vince today on some sound equipment instillation and Jonny is working with Danene on the Ranch. Makes me think of how it will be this summer with Joshua gone all summer and Jonny gone for 5 weeks. Could be very interesting. :)

OH, I had something funny happen to me. I went through a drive through and the lady at the window, when she saw me said "We had a grandbaby." I said congratulations. She said, yeah Stormy did good though she was mad as a goat because they took it C-section. She said you would be mad she didn't go natural. But she tried. After two days of labor she was at a nine and the doctor said she wouldn't go any further, so they took her. The baby was 8 pounds 2 oz." At this point I thought, hmm she thinks I am someone I am not. Do I want to embarrass her? So I just said, how is the mom and baby. She said oh they are doing great. Gilbert was there, and actually so were two other x's. I had three x's all there during the labor. Isn't that a hoot. I said yeah that is a hoot. (thinking and it is a hoot that you are talking to a stranger thinking I am someone you know.) We talked about other people for a few minutes, people she assumed I knew but I had and have no idea who they or she was. Then I said well, congratulations on that Grandbaby, you love on her and I'll pray for God to bless her. She looked at me a little funny and said.... I sure will. And I drove off. As I drove off I thought, she is going to go tell her daughter she saw... so and so and they will wonder why so and so never contacts them about the baby. It's because I am not so and so. :) I laughed and laughed as I drove down the road. I'm sorry, I really thought it was funny. ....... Then I thought.... hmmm, maybe I do know her and it is me that has forgotten!!!!!!!! Now that is not funny, or is it?

God bless!

Knowledge is power.

2008-05-01T14:53:00.001-05:00

A friend called this morning a little shaken up by a knock at her door this morning. (To set the stage, her husband is out of town and she had been working on curriculum that morning trying to figure out what to do next year.) At the door was a man from the Sheriff’s department. Some neighbors had been complaining about their dog who is big and friendly and loves to dig holes under the fence and roam around the neighborhood. The man reprimanded her about the dog, gave her the law about dogs, fences, leashes etc. He then mentioned that he had also received a call that she homeschooled. She turned to her son and said “Well I guess we should start with this, Bob*(name changed) tell the man how old you are.” Bob* said “I am four years old”. She then told the man that Bob* was her oldest child and was not old enough to be required to attend school. The man said something like, oh, I’m sorry we must have some wrong information. She was a little shaken up when she shut the door. She was partly frustrated about the dog and all that that encompassed and party that her rights had been infringed upon with the questioning about homeschooling at her front door by a man in a uniform. She called me and asked what she should do. And what she should do once her son was old enough for school. I told her and now I am going to post it here as a good reminder for all of us. Caution: Do not let this scare you. God is not a God of fear. Knowledge is power and so I am just reminding us of some knowledge.

If someone questioning shows up at the door.
Be polite and friendly. Smile. Stay calm.
Get his name and business card.
Ask what prompted his visit or call.
Tell him, "My children are privately educated at home."
Answer other questions with, "I will be glad to cooperate as far as the law requires, but you will need to give me your request in writing."
Repeat the above statements as often as necessary. Do not be afraid of silence.
After he leaves, write down everything that occurred.
If you are a member of THSC call THSC Association, (806) 744-4441, as soon as possible to report the contact.

Do not allow him to enter your home or to speak to your children. The only legal ways into your home are with your permission or a search warrant. If you receive a written request, respond with a letter of assurance. If you do not respond to a written request in a timely manner, the school district can file truancy charges against you for lack of cooperation.

Reminder of the State Law for homeschoolers in Texas…
In order to be a legitimate home school, you must have a curriculum which teaches reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and a study of good citizenship, and you must pursue that curriculum in a bona fide (not a sham) manner. This curriculum may be obtained from any source and can consist of books, workbooks, other written materials, or materials on an electronic monitor including computer or video screens, or any combination thereof.

Lots of Bread and our BIG BIG God!

2008-04-29T20:28:00.003-05:00

I have some really good, really great, really exciting news. Do you ever marvel at just how big and awesome our God is? Today is certainly one of those days! Our friends Jon and Amy Moffett were given a baby today!!! Her name is Amanda Joy she is 9 1/2 months old and weighs 14 pounds. Her grandmother has been looking since before her birth for the right parents to give her to and today they chose John and Amy! It's a long and wonderful story but the ending is the most wonderful part. We have a new Moffett in our 'family'.

Now about the bread.... Yesterday, Sarah and I made 18 bread items. Darrel had sold 12 at work and we sold 4 others and we made two for our family.

Who will help me mill the grain said Sarah. Who will help me mix the dough? Who will help me kneed the dough? Who will help me watch it rise? Who will help me bake the bread? The answer to all of these were her momma. Who will help me eat the bread? The answer was everyone who smelled it! I tried to talk Sarah into changing the name of the bread business to The Red Hen Sisters Bread Co. Thinking the story would be very cute, but she would not go for it. She wants to change it to The Three Sisters Bread Co or Three Sisters Better Breads.

We worked for several hours. We made 6 cinnamon rolls, 3 garlic cheese rolls, 5 loafs, and 4 dinner rolls. We were very very glad when it was all done. (11:45- 5:15 and then packaged it all from 9 - 930 or so.) Daddy delivered his to the people at work and Joshua delivered two of the ones due today. We do not deliver, but he was doing some other things in town anyway. We will take a couple to church tomorrow night. (frozen)

Crazy enough, we made three more things today: 2 cinnamon rolls and one loaf. Then we ran completely out of yeast. (But Daddy came to the rescue and picked us some up on his way home from work. Yeah Daddy.)

So I will end this blog entry with this blessing upon you.

"Deut. 28:5 "A blessing upon your grain-basket and kneading bowl."

Be Blessed!

Graduation Invitation

2008-04-29T18:50:00.001-05:00

Graduation Invitation
Originally uploaded by darrelsgang

Here is the Graduation Invitation for Joshua's Graduation Ceremony.
Joshua designed it then we printed them at Sams as 4x6in color photos, then mailed them.

The Graduation Invitation says:

With joy and praise to God
Darrel and LeAnn Russell
announce that their son
Joshua Darrel Russell
has completed foundational studies
in preparation for the calling
God has placed on his life.
Please join us for a
Commencement Ceremony and Reception
on Saturday, May 31st, 2008
at 2pm at
Cornerstone Community Church
Springtown, Texas

My First Blog

2008-04-27T21:40:00.004-05:00

I think maybe I am ready to start my blog. Joshua has had it ready for sometime, but I have not had things ready. I do a 'family newsletter' each month. The intended audience is my children, I am writing it to give to them, sort of like a scrap book, just done on the computer. I will try to post that here each month. Here are the ones from the first of the year.
January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

April 2008

These are PDF's so they will be downloaded to your computer and then you can look at them on the computer. Grandparents may want to print them off, but that will take a good amount of ink. They are graphic intensive.

Let me know what you think.

2007-10-22T13:11:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note the acknowledge that I am now in Israel to start a 1 month work trip here. I intend to post pictures and observations here for my family and friends to read.

Test Post 1

2007-10-22T12:10:00.000-05:00

testing testing 1, 2, 3...