Sweaters Into Mittens Project

Last week, my husband came home one day and asked me if I had received a call from the school secretary.  They had a little girl show up to school with very cold little fingers because she didn't have any gloves or mittens, and he thought that would be something our new ministry, "Yesh Tikvah Ministries", could help with.  I thought that was a great idea, too, and immediately went shopping for some little gloves and mittens to donate to the school.  Believe it or not, I couldn't find mittens at all, but only gloves.  I think mittens work so much better for small children.  They are so much easier for adults to help them put on, and they keep their little fingers warmer than gloves do.  So I had an idea.  We can make mittens out of old sweaters!

So, instead of shopping for mittens, I hit the thrift shops in search of sweaters to make mittens out of.  One of the shops was having a half off sale, so I bought a pile of sweaters!

And I started making mittens.

This has evolved into an entire project at Yesh Tikvah Ministries!  Over the next few weeks, we are collecting unwanted sweaters and making them into mittens. After winter break, we will be donating the mittens to the schools in our area to be given to the children who need them.

You can help us with this project!  If you have an unwanted sweater in your closet, you can donate it to us and we'll make mittens out of it.  Depending on the size of the sweater, we can get 3 or more pairs of mittens out of one sweater.  If you live in our area, we can come and pick up your sweaters, or if you live far away, you can mail them to us.  

You can email us at yeshtikvahministries@yeshtikvah.org to arrange a pick-up or to get our mailing address.

What About Christmas?

This is a post I wrote last year.  I decided to post it again because I think it's important.

I've been asked before if I celebrate Hanukkah instead of Christmas.  The answer is no.  I celebrate Hanukkah because it is such a meaningful holiday.  It is all about God's miraculous protection and provision, and it's a reminder to rededicate our lives to God and to stand up for what we believe in. You can read more about why I love Hanukkah here.  As for Christmas, well, that's another story...

I have many warm and happy memories of Christmas, both from when I was growing up and from when I grew up and had kids of my own.  My parents never told me there was a Santa.  We were always a "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" family, and my husband and I took the same approach with our girls.  Christmas was a happy, fun time for family togetherness, singing, presents, decorating, making cookies, and celebrating the birth of Jesus.

Then a few years ago I started to wonder about some things about Christmas.  Things like why is Christmas on December 25?  Is that really the day Jesus was born, and how do we know?  And why do we have a tree to put presents under, and boughs of holly and yule logs, and why do we kiss under the mistletoe?  Why do we make gingerbread men and go caroling? Why do we hang stockings, especially if we don't believe in Santa?  And where did the whole idea of Santa come from anyway?  Was he really an actual person?  I wondered where all of these traditions came from, and why do we all do them if we don't even really know what they mean?

So I did some research.  And I was horrified.  I found that most of the traditions that have to do with Christmas came from some ancient pagan ritual or custom!  Jesus was not born on Christmas.  He was probably born in September or October, but we don't even know that for sure.  December 25 was the date that the re-birth of the sun god was celebrated in several different cultures long before Jesus was even born.  In an attempt to convert pagans to Christianity and perhaps unite his kingdom, the Roman emperor Constantine decided to incorporate the festival of Saturnalia (Dec. 17-25) and the festival of the birth of Mithras (Dec. 25-Jan. 1) into Christianity. This was the beginning of Christmas.  Evidence of the depraved customs of these pagan festivals still remains today in the modern observance of Christmas.  This evidence is in the tree, the holly, the mistletoe, the yule logs, the gingerbread men, the caroling, Santa, and almost every other tradition you can think of that has to do with Christmas.  None of these things have anything to do with celebrating the birth of our Savior.

When I found out the truth about Christmas, I shared the information with my husband.  We then shared it with our daughters, and we made a family decision.  The decision turned out to be very controversial among our friends and family, but it is very important to us.  We decided not to celebrate Christmas.

Amazingly, even before we made this decision, we had been learning about God's holidays found in the Bible.  We were learning about Passover - the holiday that Jesus was referring to when he said "do this in remembrance of me".  We learned about Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.  We had begun celebrating some of these, and we were learning how full of meaning they are.  They each have significant historical meaning, they each have applications to our lives today, and they each specifically point to Messiah!  They are packed full of symbolism that is so detailed that it could only have been designed and placed there by God himself.  We also learned about Purim and Hanukkah, which commemorate God's amazing and miraculous deliverance of His people.  The traditions associated with all of these holidays are full of significance and purpose.  Through celebrating them we have learned so much about God's incredibly intricate plan and His wonderful love and mercy.  We have learned more about our Messiah Yeshua than we have ever known before!  Throughout the year, each time we celebrate one of these holidays, we are reminded of all we have learned, and each time we learn even more.

So, our decision to not celebrate Christmas was not a difficult one.  Throughout the Bible, God repeatedly tells his people to get rid of their idols and anything that has to do with other gods.  That's what we're trying to do.  We are choosing to honor God by celebrating His holidays that He instructed His people to keep, rather than trying to honor Him with customs and traditions that remind Him of things he hates.  Here's a little story to illustrate what I mean:

Once upon a time there was a man who was the father of many children.  This man's children wanted to do something very special in his honor.  They asked him what he would like them to do, and so he gave them a set of detailed instructions.  He told them the things he loved and the things he hated.  He told them what would mean the most to him, and also the things that he specifically didn't want them to do.  He told them that if they followed these instructions everyone would know that he was their father and they were his children.  He even told them that these instructions were also for their good; that they would be especially blessed if they carried them out.  But, in planning this special event, the children got sidetracked.  They listened to other children of other fathers.  They saw the things that the other fathers preferred, and they thought those things might work better to honor their father, too.  Eventually the instructions were set aside and forgotten.  When it came time for the event, it was huge and spectacular.  But it was nothing like the father expected or wanted.  It didn't include any of the things he had told them he loved, and it did include some of the things he had said he hated, and even some things he had told them specifically not to do!  Although his children loved him very much, it seemed as if they didn't care at all about his instructions.  It seemed more important to them to do what they thought was best.  And sadly, the children missed out on the good things that their father had built into the instructions especially to bless them. 

I think it is so important to do things God's way.  I think He is very disappointed when we choose to do things our way.  Sometimes it's necessary to change our ways to match up with His. When we do this we are blessed.

I will close this post with a challenge to you, dear readers.  If you are a believer in Jesus, and you try to live your life for Him, here is your challenge:

Research history.
Understand the reasons why you do the things you do.
Dig in and really study God's Word.
Pray.
Know what He wants you to do.
And then...do it.

Giveaway Day...Book and Vintage Sheet Fat Quarters

Congratulations to the winner...comment number 27: 

Su-sieee! Mac

Enjoy your new book and fat quarters!

It's Giveaway Day over at Sew Mama Sew again! I love Giveaway Day, and I usually enter a bunch and win one or two.  Last time, I won a book called "I Am Cute Dresses: 25 Simple Designs to Sew".  It really isn't my style.  I don't think the dresses are very "cute"...but maybe you will, so I'm passing it along to a lucky winner :)

To sweeten the deal, I'm also including four fat quarters; lovely little prints from my vintage sheet collection.

To enter, please go to my etsy shop, choose your favorite item, and tell me what it is in the comments below.  Be sure to include your e-mail address if you are a "no reply" commenter.  

U.S. entries only, please. Giveaway will close on Friday, December 13th at 5:00pm Pacific Standard Time.  Winner will be chosen randomly.

Handmade Hanukkah Gifts

Last night we lit all eight Hanukkah candles!  I love to see all of the candles lit, but I'm always a little sad, too, because I really don't want Hanukkah to be over.  I really love this holiday.  (Want to know why I love it so much?  Click HERE to read my post "Why I Love Hanukkah")

This year I made some Hanukkah gifts again, although not quite as many as last year.  I think it's just so nice to share a handmade gift with someone you love!

For my Mom and Dad I made this Hanukkah bunting to help make their holiday festive.

Dad wanted a friend for the sock bird that I made for his birthday, so I made this sock monkey for him.

For my mom and Robert's mom I made lavender scented soy candles in teacups.

And for Robert's mom I made this sweet little zippered pouch in the shape of a doxie.

For Rebecca: one of my "Violet May" ruffled shoulder bags featuring her favorite color.

And for Haley: a Bible cover made with different Star of David fabrics.

For Robert I made a zippered bag to carry his tallit to and from Shabbat services.

And Robert, Haley, and Rebecca all got reversible fabric bookmarks. Here's one side:

 and here's the other side:

I didn't forget the kitty cats! They each got a catnip filled fish shaped toy. They LOVE their new fish toys!

Haley and Rebecca both made some gifts this year, too, including some peppermint goat milk oatmeal soap that Haley made.  She gave "Haley's Goatmeal Soap" to her grandparents and to friends from the Messianic fellowship we attend.  Her goatmeal soap smells so good!

Handmade gifts are so fun to make!

Happy Hanukkah!

 

Our Thanksgivukkah

This year we celebrated a holiday that only happens once in a lifetime: "Thanksgivukkah"!  Hanukkah and Thanksgiving happened to coincide this year.  I think these two holidays work perfectly together.  They both are celebrations of our freedom to worship God, and both are expressions of thankfulness for God's miraculous provision.

So, we did some special things for our Thanksgiving/Hanukkah celebration this year.

We decorated our Thanksgiving table with a Hanukkah menorah, dreidels and gelt.

Haley made sweet potato latkes...a perfect blending of two traditional holiday foods!

Instead of the usual rolls we have on our Thanksgiving table, I made pumpkin challah.  Yum!

The pies turned out pretty :)

Everything was delicious, and after our turkey dinner we enjoyed an evening at home lighting the menorah, listening to Hanukkah music, watching "Fiddler on the Roof", and being doubly thankful for our many blessings!

All photos except the last one were taken by Haley.  

To learn more about Hanukkah, check out these links:

Why I Love Hanukkah

The Festival of Chanukah (from Hebrew for Christians)

Chanukah (from Aish.com)

Why Are Christians Celebrating Hanukkah?

Yesh Tikvah Ministries: There is Hope!

A couple of months ago, Robert and the girls and I officially started a ministry called Yesh Tikvah Ministries.  "Yesh Tikvah" means "There is Hope".  This is something that has been on our hearts and minds for a while, and it is finally coming together! We're so excited about it!

Here's the mission statement we came up with: "Our mission is to provide help and hope to those who need it: meeting physical needs such as food and clothing, and meeting spiritual needs by sharing the hope we have found in Messiah Yeshua and proclaiming His Truth."

We have three ongoing projects: 
Tikvah's Closet, where we collect gently used and new clothing to distribute to those who need it;
Tikvah's Pantry, where we collect food and distribute it to those who are hungry; and
Handmade Tikvah, where we make and donate handmade items.

We've also started a weekly Torah study that meets at our house at 2 pm every Saturday, where Robert leads us in study and discussion of the weekly Torah portion.

So far it's going great, and we're excited!  We've been able to provide clothing for five different families, and we've donated school supplies to families and schools.  We are getting ready to put together food baskets for Thanksgiving to give to a few families so they will have a nice Thanksgiving dinner.  We are working on a project through Craft Hope, making pillowcase dresses for girls around the world.  And we have a few regular attenders at our weekly Torah study.

We need more space to store the food and clothing, so we are making plans to remodel our garage for a Yesh Tikvah Ministries headquarters building.

Thanks to Haley, we have a website, a Facebook page, and a newsletter that goes out every week.  If you're interested, go to yeshtikvah.org and sign up for the newsletter...then go like us on Facebook!

Here are those links again:
Yesh Tikvah Ministries Website
Yesh Tikvah Ministries Facebook Page


This post is linked up with:

Sukkot Party!

Today is the last day of Sukkot, an eight day Biblical festival when we celebrate and thank God for His provision, and we remember when God's people lived temporarily in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt before they entered the land God promised to them.  During this time we spend time in our own temporary dwellings.  Our family sometimes goes camping, and other times we build a "sukkah" in our backyard.  You can read more about this holiday and why I love it in my post from last year "Why I Love Sukkot". 

In order to "dwell" in a sukkah, we eat in it, pray, read, and sometimes sleep in it, and we invite guests to spend time in it with us.  This year was extra special, because we had a party in our sukkah!  We invited everyone from the Messianic fellowship where we attend, and some other friends, too.  We ended up having 20 guests.

Haley and I had lots of fun decorating the sukkah.  We went a little crazy buying decorations... it was a very good thing we found most of them at the dollar store!

We made a pumpkin spice cake with two bundt cakes put together, and an ice cream cone to make the stem.  It turned out pretty cute!

A lady from our fellowship purchased a lulav and citron, the "four species" for us all to wave.  (For an explanation about this, you can read this article about Sukkot from Hebrew4Christians.com.

At the beginning of the party, some guests made more decorations for the sukkah while we waited for everyone to arrive.

Then everyone got to build their own tiny edible sukkah! It started to rain (oh no!!!), so we finished the tiny sukkah building project inside.

Rebecca's tiny sukkah

It stopped raining (yay!!!), and we all went out and sat in and around the sukkah to read some scriptures about Sukkot.

Then we ate in the sukkah.

And then Haley brought out her guitar and led us in some singing.

And we sat around the campfire for the rest of the evening.

A great way to spend a Sukkot evening! I think we'll do it again next year!

Lev HaOlam: Goodness from Israel

I am a big supporter of Israel, since I am a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and a follower of MessiahYeshua of Nazareth. Israel and its people hold a special place in my heart. Since I am "grafted in" to the commonwealth of Israel because of Yeshua (see Romans 11), I feel a special kinship with Israel.  When I visited the land of Israel it felt like home.  So, when I heard about the European Union's boycott on Judea and Samaria earlier this year, I wanted to do something about it.  (You can read an article about the boycott here.)  My family and I learned about a project called LevHaOlam, and we signed up right away!

By signing up with LevHaOlam, we are able to support Judea and Samaria by sending some funds directly there every month.  In return, we receive a box of wonderful hand-crafted, artisan quality products produced in Judea and Samaria.  It is so exciting to get a box of goodness from Israel each month!

So far we have received three boxes.

Our first box was the June box.  In it was a big box of organic herbal tea from the Samarian village of Ofra; a jar of organic honey from the Tzuf Harim beehives belonging to the founder of Lev HaOlam, produced from wildflowers that grow in the Judean Hills; a pair of coasters with beautiful scenic photos of Samarian landscapes; some delicious organic chocolate from Maaleh Hever, adjacent to the Tomb of the Patriarchs; a do-it-yourself mosaic kit,

and a Hebrew alphabet magnet set for the refrigerator!

In July, our box included a beautiful artistic picture of a Torah scroll which highlights Psalm 121:4; more organic chocolate; a magnet set with four magnets that say "Love", "Happiness", "Success", and "Health"; a handmade hot mitt from Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim in the Etzion Region in the Judean Hills; and a bottle of bittersweet chocolate liqueur from the Lavie Winery. It is named Lavie (lion) to commemorate the Tribe of Judah, on whose tribal land the winery is located.

I used some of the chocolate liqueur to make the best brownies I have ever tasted in my life. Seriously. Best brownies ever!

The box we got in August was equally as fabulous. In it was a package of Dead Sea Mud from the bottom of the Dead Sea; sun dried tomatoes from Tekoa Farm in the Northern Judean Desert; a handmade wooden message board, beautifully painted by an artist in the village of Hemdat in the Jordan Valley; organic "Milky Makeup Remover" made from avacado oil and citron water from the Samarian village of Itamar; a Mehalvad cheese cloth with a recipe to make traditional Israeli cheese called "lebane"; a Lev HaOlam hat;

and a Land of Israel Memory game!

Rebecca with the Land of Israel Memory Game

We decided Haley should keep the hat, because she looks so cute in it!

Haley in her new hat

We can't wait to see what will be in the next box from Israel!

If you would like to know more about Lev HaOlam, please click here to visit their website. Here is a short video about them:

Sunshine in a Box

Last month I signed up for "Sunshine Pen Pals", a fun exchange where you send a little box of fun stuff to someone to add a little sunshine to their day, and you get a box from someone, too.  You contact your person before you put their box together to find out what kinds of things they like, and then you use your creativity to come up with a box filled with sunshine for $15 or less. I thought it sounded like fun, so I gave it a try.

My partner that I sent a box to is a sweet lady from Maine named Katherine.  I had a great time thinking of things to go in her box, and I included some things I made in it.  If you want to see what I sent her, you can read her lovely post about it over at her blog, "My Maine Blog".

Yesterday I received my box from Heidi (you can click here to go to her blog). When we exchanged e-mails earlier this month, Heidi and I found out we have a few things in common. We both love old books and cats, we're both from the Pacific Northwest but we live on the east coast, and two of our favorite TV shows ever are Dr. Who and Psych. So, you can probably guess that I got a fantastic box from her! Haley helped me open it, and pulled the things out of the box while I read the hilarious card (complete with Dr. Who quotes and Psych references) with the explanation/inventory.  Rebecca watched and laughed with us. Here's what was in it:

Three "shiny tubes of deliciousness"

An old book to add to my collection. Its a super pretty green color, and I already started reading it. And of course it has the "old book smell".

She crocheted a hair bow for me in my favorite color (which "could also be a very cool bowtie", haha) and a cute daisy bookmark.

 Here's what she said about these things: "lotion for the smell of lavender, sea life erasers for whimsy, a daisy mirror because it called to me, pushpins because I was being impulsive".

Also, a jumbo kitty eraser! I love this thing.  It looks exactly like my naughty little stripey monster kitty when she was a baby!

Oh, and tea...the box was literally packed with tea! I love tea, and I usually drink at least one cup every day in the winter, and lots of glasses of iced tea in the summer. These are Heidi's "homesick" brands of tea from Seattle and Portland. Ahhhh, I'm in tea heaven!

Thank you, Heidi, for such a fun box of sunshine!!! I love everything!

If anyone is interested in joining the fun and signing up for next month's exchange, just click the button below!