Sukkot 2011/5772

Sundown tonight marks the beginning of the Jewish feast of Sukkot. (Also known as Tabernacles because we are to "Tabernacle with God").

For forty years, the Jewish people traversed the Sinai Desert, following the Exodus from Egypt. During this time miraculous "clouds of Glory" surrounded and hovered over them, shielding them from the dangers and discomforts of the desert. Ever since, we remember God's kindness and reaffirm our trust in His providence by dwelling in a sukkah--a hut of temporary construction with a roof covering of branches--for the duration of the Sukkot Festival (on the Jewish calendar Tishrei 15-21). For seven days and nights, we are to eat all our meals in the sukkah and otherwise regard it as our home.

Sukkot is also called The Time of Our Joy; indeed, a special joy pervades the festival. People fill the synagogues and streets with song, music, and dance until the wee hours of the morning.

This time also represents our becoming one flesh with God (through Jesus Christ/Yeshua our Messiah) and is a "dress rehearsal" for the wedding feast when Jesus comes back for his bride!

Sukkot Blessing (in traditional Hebrew, Transliteration, and English Translation.)

Blessing for dwelling in the Sukkah

Baruch ata Adonai Elohanu melech ha-olam asher kedshanu b'mitsvotav vetsevanu leisheiv ba-sukkah. Blessed are you Adonai, king of the universe who has sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah.

This is how we celebrated Sukkot in our home today. We did this instead of our traditional workbooks for homeschool. Hannah was glad for the break!


Our Sukkah:

 Inside the Sukkah:

Crafts we did to decorate:

Hannah relaxing and enjoying her homeschool day:

Caleb having a blast:

Here is a good picture of a "traditional" outdoor Sukkah:





I hope you guys have enjoyed this look into our day and maybe learned something new!


To learn more about Sukkot/Tabernacles visit this website:
http://www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/4457/jewish/How-is-Sukkot-Observed.htm

Scriptures that reference Sukkot:
Deuteronomy 16:13-15
Zechariah 14:16-17

Hannah's School Work

Here is some of Hannah's work from today.

Here are all the sight words she can do (33 in less than 2 weeks!)...

A big thumbs up after we completed todays school work!

A hard day's work...or school!

Homeschooling went a little rougher today than I had hoped for. There was a lot of complaining, but we finally made it through! We got everything accomplished and even painted some pretty pictures. Tomorrow will be our last day of school this week. I've decided we will only do 4 days a week. Makes for a nice break! Here's to hoping tomorrow will be awesome!

This is Hannah's picture:

Here's mine:



On a lighter note...I made 3 more sales today! I have one more lined out for Friday with the possibility of more! The Lord keeps blessing and we're only getting started! Thank you Pappa!

Me + Hannah + First day of school = Success!

Our first day of kindergarten was a sweet success! I'm so proud of my daughter. She did so well. We got all of the work accomplished that I had set aside for today, plus some extra stuff I hadn't planned on. :) There was relatively little complaining going on which I'm thrilled about! I just pray that everyday goes as well as today did! (Or at least the majority of them!)

Here are a few of the "art" projects we did....

Here's to a great tomorrow!

A lot of firsts...

       There will be a lot of "firsts" this week. For one...this blog. I've never been one for writing, but figured since there are a lot of things getting ready to happen in my life, I might as well document them.
       The second "first" will be my daughter, Hannah's, first day of school...homeschool that is. It will be an adventure for both of us! I'm praying that some of my creativity will flow into her school work. She's going to need it since she gets bored easily.
        Another "first" is selling jewelry that I've handmade. I made my first sale today...two actually!  And I have requests for a few more! Yay! Praise God! I'm hoping to be setting up my Etsy shop this week. I'm praying that the Lord will bless this "business" exceedingly, abundantly, above all I could ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20)
        With all this excitement and ideas floating through my head, I'm hoping to be able to shut my brain off long enough to fall asleep. I need to be well rested tomorrow to teach and mold my daughter for her future.