Welcome Hanukkah and our 8 dates of Hanukkah!

Our menorah from last year

        Well, tonight begins the first night of Hanukkah. I LOVE this holiday! It is Toby's and my second Hanukkah as a married couple and I'm really excited to celebrate.

The story of Hanukkah is one of bravery, faith, and standing up for the L-RD when no one else will. Hanukkah (the word itself) means "dedication". During this season, it's a good time to search YOUR temple and see if there is anything you need to get out, so that you can dedicate your heart FULLY to G-D. Another cool thing about Hanukkah is just the menorah itself! The middle candle is called the servant candle, or the Shamash, in Hebrew. This candle is used to light all of the others each night of the 8 nights. Think of the Shamash (servant) as Yeshua (Jesus). It is only He that lights the other candles (we are those candles) so that there is light to the world. How beautiful!!! I pray that G-D lights you all up during this time, so that you may shine forth and pierce the darkness with His truth! I'm getting goosebumps :)

Our Hanukkah lights!

A modern take on Hanukkah gelt (gold coin chocolates).

On another note...

       I know many others like Elsie and Naomi are in the business of doing "The twelve dates of christmas". Well, in this little nest, we are going to start, for the first time ever, "The eight dates of Hanukkah"! We are very excited and much in need of some date nights. After we light the candles tonight, we will begin our first date. My next post will clue you into what it is and how it went :)

Happy Hanukkah everyone!

~B~

Survey Saturday (on Monday)

Hello everyone!

Toby and I just got back from the MJAA conference with our family and it was a BLAST! We heard some amazing teachings, had a good ole time with our friends and had some amazing moments with G-D. 


Obviously, I was in no position to do the survey this Saturday, so here is the late Survey Saturday
via 'the little things we do'

1.   My most favorite "little thing" is     When Toby get to stay in our pajamas and watch our favorite movies and wind down with a glass of wine. It really doesn't take much for us to enjoy stuff, and that's one of our highlights!

2.   I give anything to   have a British accent. They are just so lovely and pretty sounding. Perhaps I will just pretend...hah .

3.  I can't believe    how many "Real Housewives of *whatever*" shows there are now It's basically wealthy women that still act like high schoolers with their other friends that they hate to love and love to hate. I have three things to say about these groups of women 1. get real friends 2. get over yourself 3. STOP INVADING MY TELEVISION ..

4. The one thing I'd like to achieve today is    to get my happy self fed and in bed because I am TIRED!

5.  The last thing I want to do today is   read my bible I need some spiritual food too.

6.  If I were writing my own blank today, it would say:   Hmmm...I suppose it would say "the one thing I learned about G-D this weekend is..."   .

7.  My favorite candle scent is    Anything with a "warm" scent like cinnamon, coffee, amber, or some holiday scent :) .

Have a good one!

~B~

G-D vs. the world: Marriage

The Chuppah from our wedding.

        These days, we can look at everything as "G-D vs the world". If we go to G-D's word, we see all the ways we are to live our lives. If we go to the world, we will find a TOTALLY different code of (non)ethics. Because of this, a lot of really beautiful things our Father wants for us get killed off. One of these casualties of war is...marriage.

        A friend of mine and I were talking the other day and as we carried on, we realized that we each had so many friends that had struggling marriages and many of them were new marriages. I'm not talking about a fight or bad day here and there (because that's normal!) I'm talking about unfaithfulness and bitterness and just plain giving up because it feels difficult. As believers, we should know better than this.
Now listen, I am a newlywed and I BY NO MEANS am saying that I know all these amazing things about marriage, but I do know what I've learned thus far and what G-D says about it, and because of that, I would like to talk about how G-D sees it in contrast to the world.

        So how does G-D see it?
In the Genesis 2:24, G-D says “Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will cling to his wife: and they will be one flesh.” A husband and a wife come together to create a new family, a new life. Clinging together doesn't mean hanging out at home and then having separate lives emotionally or physically, it means sticking close through EVERYTHING, good or bad. Even when things are tough for whatever reason, we have to remember the vows we took and what we promised to our spouses and to G-D. Love is wonderful but it is a CHOICE. In our marriage counseling, our rabbi told us that sometimes marriage is hard and if you trust your emotions and NOT G-D you'll want to do what the world would do. You have to choose to love that person, choose to stay, and choose to work through everything. Marriage is just too beautiful and G-D ordained to just toss it away.
       
Now how does the world see it?
         "If you don't like it, get out or get a new one." People marry, divorce, marry, divorce all the time these days! To make and break covenants like that breaks G-D's heart and it isn't easy on anyone else either. People have an image that marriage is rainbows and butterflies and that all your troubles should melt away when you get that ring. Well, that's not it. Like anything that is good and right, it takes work,and yeah, there are hard times. But if you go into it with care and the knowledge that you're in it to stay, it's the best work ever! I LOVE being married, and I believe that G-D will always renew my love for Toby and his for me. It doesn't have to fade away...you just have to put love and caring work into it.  

If you are a person who is married, keep on keeping on! Put your spouse's heart before your own. Wives, submit to your husband as you would to the L-RD (Ephesians 5:22) and husbands, truly love your wives as Messiah loves us and gave His life for us (Ephesians 5:25). and remember that, "no one should break apart what God has joined together." (Mark 10:9 CJB)

If you are a single person (particularly you ladies) keep WAITING for the RIGHT one and not the one that seems good right now. Don't make exceptions...not even small ones. Listen to the voice of the L-RD.When it's right He will tell you and then He'll confirm it over and over! Don't lose hope because the world puts such a negative image on marriage, love, and intimacy. Cling to the L-RD. It's within His heart that you will find the one that's meant for you. Daddy knows best :)
You married ladies I know, please feel free to comment and tell how the L-RD has strengthened your marriages! I'd love to hear it!!!

Be encouraged! Life is beautiful, Yeshua is coming, and we are blessed to b e G-D's kids!

~B~

Survey Saturday and then some

Well, first I was just like to say something very, very important...

HAPPY 1ST ANNIVERSARY

TIFFANY AND CRAIG!!!

My beloved cousin and her lovely hubby, I am SO happy for y'all! Marriage is the best (as you well know) and I can't wait to watch you guys grow together and in the L-RD over the years!

Wedding Party!

Getting married...and there's Toby's head to the left!

The blessing :)

 WE LOVE YOU BOTH!!!!

And now, the survey...via the little things we do

1. My favorite new blog of the moment is A Beautiful Mess. The Lovely Elsie Larson always has such cute ideas from fashion to D.I.Y.'s!

2. Something I am thankful for is SHABBAT! G-D knows that we as humans run ourselves silly (most times without need) during the week and He knew we would need a rest. But, more than that, He invites us into HIS rest! When Friday night comes I am SO ready to enter into the rest of the L-RD and it is beautiful!

3. Something that made me laugh this week was the episode of "The Office" Season 6 when Michael Scott is trying to make some girl like him by putting pictures of himself on a slideshow and showing them to her! haha!

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is some mustard yellow tights...LOVE.

5. I am excited about the upcoming MJAA Southeast Regional Conference!

6. If I were a color I would be Olive Green. It's earthy, laid back, and goes well with lots of other colors :)

7. My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is by Putting on comfy, sweatery clothes, curling up with my birdie under a blanket and watching a movie...like right now!

Have a good weekend!

~B~

(Late) Florida Trip!

        Well, it took about ten years, but I'm FINALLY posting the pictures and memories from our Florida trip!

We had the best time with our friends David and Lindsey, and had some lovely moments as just the birds too.

We took this trip right before Thanksgiving and the plan was to get away, recharge, and take some much needed time for ourselves...and we did just that. Toby and I love our little lives and we try our best to do everything to the fullest, but sometimes we just get tired, as we all do, and we need a break. So this was our break. G-D had some things in store for us and we didn't even know it :)

        Besides the hilarity and good times we had with our dear friends, we had some GREAT one on one G-D time while at the beach.  Have you ever just felt oppressed for no reason? Well, we have. I think a lot of believers think that you must be in sin or have some big pressing issue if you feel oppression but guess what, that's not always the case! Sometimes the enemy is crouching at your door, and sometimes G-D allows it to teach you something. Well, that happened to us one day. We both felt really weird and we were like "wait, this is our vacation! This isn't fair!" But in the midst of it, we talked all about the things G-D had done for us and how He has kept all of His promises thus far to us and He will keep the ones yet to come. It made us feel better. Then we got to the beach, and what do we see? A giant rainbow. A physical representation of His promise. We nearly cried. G-D totally allowed the oppression because that rainbow, that joy, WOULD NOT have meant what it did if we hadn't experienced some pain with it. If we didn't know suffering, we wouldn't TRULY know how wonderful joy is. If we were never sick, we wouldn't be thankful for health. G-D uses all of our situations for His glory and our benefit. It is a beautiful thing. That was, oddly enough, the highlight of our trip...just watching the L-RD hold our faces in His hands and lifting them upward! WHAT A GREAT G-D!

        So needless to say, the beach was beautiful, our friends were amazing, G-D was THE BEST, and we had a good ole time!

Our Shabbat meal on the road :)

A lovely gift from our hosts when we arrived

Our boys having fun in the thrift store

Bi-focals never looked so good.

You'd think a thrift store juke box would have classier stuff, haha.

The birds at the beach :)

Toby enjoying the waves, and blithely unaware of the stingrays
lurking a mere fifteen feet behind him.

So beautiful and relaxing. I miss it.

PERFECTION.

Reading the Hobbit at the beach. And yes, I did feel like I was sitting
on the shores of the grey havens. I even listened to Into the West :)

Bliss.

Livin' the dream, baby!

The Walking Dead, Season 1 anybody??? (Colquitt, GA; on the way home)

~B~

Survey Saturday (on Monday!)

        Due to a lovely bout of babysitting and the exhaustion thereof, I did not get around to my survey yesterday.

We had a great time playing Mario Kart, ambushing our little charges, breaking their beds, snuggling and being crazy with our friends' kids and it was fabulous! 

However, it is nice to be back at home as just us birds :)

Just a few weekend shots:

Mario Kart was our chief pastime.

The boys preparing to launch Mission Demolition on the unsuspecting kids.

So I sat on Shaina's bed and it suddenly broke, haha, so she and my birdie went to work!

And all was put to right!

Me and the littlest one, Lily, who I love. That's either chocolate or dirt around her mouth...

Sweet Shaina and I. Such a dear girl :)

And now the survey!
(Thanks Lauren from The Little Things We Do for posting!)

1.   The holiday season is  always exciting and full of yummy foods, family and friends, new things to learn and experience about G-D, and time off work and school!!.

2.   Snow makes me   Very happy and hopeful because in the South, snow is to the school and business world as a silver bullet is to a werewolf...ya gotta run and hide. Everything closes and its snowman building time for us! I love it :)

3.  The best comfort food to eat when it's cold out is  Any kind of soup, hot tea (or hot cider), and pumpkin cookies! Gosh I just love cold weather!

4. Winter is the best time for    SNUGGLING!! And wearing sweaters, tights and boots, getting bangs, and wathcing the Lord of The Rings trilogy (and reading them too)!

5.  I can hardly wait for    HANUKKAH!!!!

6.  When it comes to holiday gifts I prefer to   Just enjoy each other's company. I'm not really big on gifts because its just kind of like "oh that's nice!" but I'd rather make memories! But of course I will not refuse them haha.

7.  If I were to rate my excitement about the holiday season on a scale from 1-10, I would say I am at about a: A 7...I'm excited for sure, but I'm also just tired and ready for the break that is the holidays, so yes I am very excited but also ready to NAP! haha,

El Fin!

~B~

Farewell fall, welcome winter!

Well, Autumn is coming to a close, which always saddens me, but winter comes with its own beauty and festivities as well! Even though it doesn't officially start until December 22, I am already preparing to take down fall decorations ::sniff sniff:: and start putting up Hanukkah stuff! In my head, when November is done, so is fall, correct or not, hehe.

In light of this, I figure, what better way to welcome the coming festivities than to have a little DIY gift idea!

The lovely Elsie Larson from A Beautiful Mess came up with this fabulous idea:

DIY Thread Spool Wine Corks!

Photo by Elsie Larson from A Beautiful Mess

Go here for the full tutorial! 

I will definitely making these for some wine lovers I know!

Happy Winter, Y'all!

B