The Secret

I've recently had a couple different friends tell me about a recent episode of Oprah in which she had individuals involved in a teaching called The Secret featured. This teaching is very misleading and very well may pull in individuals who are searching for God, but are not fully grounded in His Word. I'm especially worried as Oprah is endorsing this teaching and I know how many individuals in our country look to her for guidance. That in itself for many is a kind of worship.

This teaching claims to have been around for quite awhile (hundreds if not thousands of years) and is tied to the Rosicrucian Order. It claims to be "an inner knowledge of your own potential to achieve wisdom, strength, compassion and peace." (quoted directly from The Secret Organization website). This may appear to be something really good on first glimpse to some, however it is teaching us to rely on ourselves, our own inner knowledge. God's Word teaches us to rely on Him, not ourselves and our flawed logic and reason.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him,and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. (1 Corinthians 1:25)

On Oprah's show a Christian woman asked about the fact that this seems to be teaching us to rely on ourselves instead of God. Below is an excerpt from the show which I've taken directly from Oprah's website. Note, the person answering Maureen is Michael Beckwith, know as Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith, D.D. Visionary on the Secret Movie website. He is described on the site as a non-aligned, trans-religious progressive, who founded the Agape International Spiritual Center.

Maureen has a question many people want answered: "[My family puts] our faith in God, and it seems that The Secret teaches you to put your faith in yourself. And so I was wondering, is God anywhere in this?"

Michael says The Secret involves the laws of the universe and they, in turn, describe the nature
of how God works. "[Jesus] said, 'Pray believing that ye have that ye may receive.' That's The Secret in a nutshell," he says. "Pray believing and feeling and sensing that you already have it, and then you're available to receive it."

Michael says The Secret isn't about contradicting religion—it supports it. "It actually goes underneath the culture and explains to you the sacred laws that these wonderful teachers have brought to us," he says. According to James, The Secret is about supporting the great spiritual
traditions in a more modern form. "It really is just putting Christianity, Judaism, all the great teachings into a current vernacular," he says.

Once again, on the surface to someone not grounded in God's Word this probably sounds very appealing and logical. However to those of us who follow the Lord and live by His Word, warning bells should be going off with lots of flashing red lights!

I know this thinking is not anything new, the enemy has been whispering lies cleverly disguised as the truth (many times truth twisted into lies for his purposes) to us since the time of the Garden. The Lord has just put this on my heart for a matter of prayer. As I said, I'm especially worried because I know how many people look up to Oprah. I'm sure this "teaching" had a lot of followers already (they claim to have had DaVinci, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and many others as part of their following), however Oprah endorsing this will just spread these misleading teachings further in our society.

In addition, they have made a movie called The Secret which is now available for those seeking to know "the Great Secret of the Universe". What they call "the Secret to everything - the secret to unlimited joy, health, money, relationships, love, youth: everything you have ever wanted."

I fully believe we as Christians must keep an open mind since we are human and can never claim to have it all 100% correct (only God can claim that) however when searching for Truth, please remember to always take it back to God's Word for comparison and take it to God in prayer. His is the only true knowledge and way to hope, peace and love.

The Secret and Oprah

Contest

I wanted to share with all my blog friends a contest 5 Minutes for Mom is having along with Our 2 Peas in a Pod.

If you visit the 5 Minutes for Mom blog you'll see information about the contest. Our 2 Peas in a Pod is a Mom-owned store which has adorable jewelry for kids. They even are including things for Mom and items for boys now as well!

I have to say the items she makes are adorable and her new ladies collection is beautiful.

Check out the contest (it ends Feb 28th at 11PM EST, so hurry!) and check out the website if you are looking for some nice jewels!

P.S. Here is a picture of the bracelet for the contest. Adorable!

Work Update

Thought I'd post a quick note to say keep checking back, I'm not gone!

I started my new job this week and am keeping pretty busy getting up to speed before the busy quarter end starts. It is a bit weird for me to be the new person that does not have all the answers but I think I'm catching on pretty good. I think once I get the hang of things a bit more and we get past this first quarter end, I'll be able to settle in. I think I'm really going to enjoy it. The people all seem really great too.

Quarter ends are going to be pretty busy for this job and February is a quarter end, so you probably won't hear much from me starting next week through the middle of March. But I will be reading still and will be back to tell you about everything I'm learning.

I may be busy but God is still teaching me tons. Maybe even more right now.

See you soon!

More Jewish History

I figured I would share with you a few more things I've learned lately. I'm hoping I'm correct on all of these, however I'm finding in my search that a lot of different writings that I read sometimes contradict one another, so I'm not always sure about the validity of what I'm reading. But I'm still digging in and will share what I learn. I am praying for the Lord to lead me in my search so I'm trusting He'll lead me to the Truth.

At the time of Jesus' birth, the Jews in Galilee, Judea and Syria spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew. Aramaic is a Semitic tongue and at one time was as widespread in the Middle East as Arabic is now. Although it is one of the oldest continuously spoken languages in the world, it is today almost extinct. There is a project currently underway that began in 1985 to produce a Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon.

This information I discovered thanks to a book I've started reading called Rabbi Jesus by Bruce Chilton. I'm not sure how much I'll rely on this book. I'm only on the first chapter and can see already some of what the man writes may not align with my beliefs (it is kind of hard to tell yet though).

However, I'm going to continue to read with lots of prayer. I don't believe challenging my beliefs is a bad thing, because I know I probably don't have it 100% correct. However, I obviously want to be careful of what I read and make sure I'm asking the Lord for his guidance. I'll keep you posted on what I find with this book.

He wrote another called Rabbi Paul that I think will be interesting as well. The basis of his books are to help others understand the Jewishness of Jesus and Paul based on his studies. He is wanting to give an accurate historical portrayal of their lives and how things would have been done at that time. Since that is what I'm interested in learning about right now, his books are perfect for me.

Something else interesting mentioned in this book is the fact that those living in the small rural (and poor) villages such as Bethlehem usually could not read. I never really thought about this before, but it does make sense. Much of what they knew about God's Word was not from the written Word, but from their oral targum (Aramaic for translation). The villages would have a meturgeman who was responsible for memorizing and reciting oral Scripture.

He also speaks of the fact that many believe Joseph was a widower and some of Jesus' brothers mentioned in the Bible are actually his older brothers, from Joseph's first wife. James is one the author mentions as being Jesus' older brother born of Joseph's first wife.

Needless to say, this book brings up some interesting points. The first chapter has some very good stuff about the circumcision ritual at Jesus' time that I'll share later as I get my head around it a bit more. So far I would not recommend this book for someone who does not consider themselves strong in their faith. The first chapter deals a bit with the virgin birth and different theories around it. It could cause alot of confusion for someone who is not grounded in their faith and trust of the Lord to lead them. As I mentioned before, I think challenging what we believe is good, but we want to be careful to not move faster than the Lord wants us to or down a path that He is not leading us. I personally know what it is like to have too much thrown at you at once and the confusion that results. My faith has become stronger for it, however it was a tough road at times (and still is sometimes).

3 Things I am Most Thankful For

Okay, I'll play along. Rebecca tagged me and I can't say no :)

However, the three things I am most thankful for are the three she listed (in the same order too):
1. Jesus
2. My wonderful Husband
3. My three beautiful children

Therefore, to kick it up a bit I'll list the three things (other than these) that I'm most thankful for today.

1. God's protection over my family
Since I did not have to work today, I told my hubby he could stay home and get some work done and I would take the kids to school (my Tyler and two other children who also attend). On the way I was rear ended. Everyone is fine and my vehicle (a Tahoe) does not have too much damage. Unless you look real close you can't even see the damage, but Shaun said it appears the bumper did get pushed up under the vehicle a little so it may be a bit more than we originally thought. The other car though (a mini-cooper) had to be towed away. I was stopped and he was not going very fast, but the front of his car hit my hitch and smashed in the front of his car pretty good and put a hole in what was left of his hood. He was very nice though and immediately admitted it was his fault and his insurance company has already called me to start the process of getting my vehicle fixed. It just shook us all up a bit and made me very thankful I had traded my car in for the Tahoe and that I have a mighty God watching over me and my family.

2. My Friends
I am so thankful for all the blessings God has given me through my friends. The Lord has been teaching me a lot lately and one thing is how much I need to let others into my life and allow them to help me. I don't always have to be the strong one and it is okay to let others help me. I've learned how to ask for prayer more now when needed and not feel bad about it (at least most of the time). I've found lately that I have wonderful friends who really do care for me, because of me. They just plain like me, no matter how hard that is for me to believe sometimes! And I love them all dearly. Many of them I truely consider to be family!

3. My Family
(Okay, so I'm cheating. This is Rebecca's #2 and 3 combined) One of the things that I'm most thankful for is my family. My hubby and three precious children mean the world to me. Yes, they all annoy me at times and I have days I just want to grab the keys and drive off for awhile. But I know I would start missing them in a very short time and come running back. I can't imagine my life without them.

So now that I've fulfilled my tag (and technically a Happy Up for today too!) It is my turn to pass it on. Hmmm?!? I tag Tanya and Johnny! I know you both read this periodically so you can just comment when you'd like. :) And since I usually go overboard on everything I tag Julie (haha) and Chrissy as well. Now you can do the Happy Up, Chrissy!

Last Day of Work

Today was my last day at my current job. Officially I gave notice for tomorrow to be my last day, however the office is moving this weekend. We all finished packing today and they gave everyone the day off tomorrow. On Monday morning they will all be driving to the new office. I will be driving to a new office as well, but not one that includes all my friends from work. I'll be driving to a new office with new people.

Regardless of the issues I've had at my current job, there are a lot of peers I have who I care about deeply. I've been at this office for over 6 years now and three of the others have been there with me the whole time. All those I care about I will stay in touch with, my new office is not too far away and we'll do lunch and other get togethers. However, I will not be seeing them everyday any longer. You spend so much time at work that it becomes your home away from home and the people become your second family (disfunctional at times, but still family).

I'm very excited to start my new job on Monday and truely believe it is time for me to leave where I've been the past 6 years, however I'd be lying if I said leaving was not bittersweet. Obviously there are things I won't miss, but many of the people I will miss seeing everyday.

The Area VP of Finance wrote a very nice email saying goodbye that he sent out to the entire department that really touched me. He had written about how much things have changed since I started there in Sept 2000. Personally, I was not a mother yet! That seems like a lifetime ago.

If anyone from my old job happens to read this, please know I will miss you greatly. I'll stay in touch but it won't be quite the same. You have all touched me in some way and helped me to become who I am today.

Happy UP - Monday 2/12

Share Time again!!!

Here are some of today's Happy UPs.

1. Only one more week of work.
As I've mentioned before, everyday at work lately has been confirmation that I've made the right decision. Today I actually worked up the nerve to give a letter to the top guy in our department detailing the exact reasons why I am leaving the company. I was very worried about it and felt a bit guilty because it very well may cause problems for a couple of people. However, every day I'm becoming aware of other things going on in the department and realize it is important that someone let the top management know what is happening. If my words cause changes to happen in the department to make it a better work environment for others, then I've achieved my goal. If not, at least I can walk away knowing I've done everything now that I could. Also, I'm getting more and more excited about my new job. My new manager is already communicating with me more and making it clear that things will be better there. I just wish I could take some others with me that I respect and care about. But they will be in my prayers.

2. Appreciation
Since I gave my notice last week, I've received so many encouraging emails and invitations for lunch it is a bit overwhelming. It is nice to know that others appreciated my work and efforts.

3. Warm Bubble Bath
Okay, this is an anticipated one. It is raining pretty hard again right now and it is a bit chilly in the house. Once I get the chills the only way I can get rid of them is a nice hot shower or bubble bath. I guess I should be saying a Hot Bubble Bath instead of warm. I have a good book I'm reading and I'll go relax and get rid of my chills once I'm done with this post.

4. My House Church
Once again I must say I love and cherish the relationship I have with my church home family. Juan is coaching a Pony league baseball team in which most of us have a child participating. In addition, my 6 year old cousin will also be participating. I don't get to see my aunt and uncle very often so this is great. Shaun and I were worried about my new job and his work and if we would be able to take Tyler to all the games and practices. My family is so wonderful and has assured us they'll help in anyway needed. I'm hoping that will not be necessary, but just in case it is, we know Tyler will be able to make it and people who love her will be there with her. We will basically be having church at every game and practice. I'm so excited!!!

5. Good Coffee
My mom recently had a Pampered Chef party and I told her I would help out and get a couple little things. They have some coffee they sell that I don't buy very often because it is not exactly inexpensive, but I splurge on it once in awhile. It has vanilla, cinnamon and hazelnut in it and is delicious. I'm drinking some right now!

6. Referrals
One of the girls from my current work told me today her mother had a friend who saw one of my Uppercase Living catalogs and wants me to do an Open House for her. That means lots more networking. I love this stuff and although I don't know that it will ever take the place of my "normal" job, it is a great way to meet new people and do something I enjoy. Plus I get a discount on the items for my home!

7. Blog Roll
A new blog I've been visiting daily just did a brief introduction of her blog roll and I was listed on it! She had some very kind words to say about this blog and it made my day! It also gave me the idea to do my own Blog Roll Introduction, so keep your eyes pealed! It is coming soon. Thank you Rebecca (Blogging Obsession).

Well, there are a bunch more, but these are the main ones for now. I guess my last Happy UP is this post. Just writing this down and posting it is a Happy UP because I get to remember all the good things that happened today!

Review - Minor Protection Act

As promised, I'll fill you, my blog friends, in on the most recent fiction book I read. It was Minor Protection Act by Jodi Cowles.

When I find books that are good I tend to get involved in the world of the characters. I found this book filling me with righteous anger, really firing me up at times.

You see my house church has discussed in the past how we believe some day in the near future (possibly our kid's generation) those who really follow Christ will be forced to meet in house churches in this country. Our religious freedoms as Christians are being compromised by those who preach "tolerance". Obviously their idea of tolerance is tolerance for those who agree with them, but that is another topic. We've talked about how this may come about by the government censoring churches regarding certain topics in order to keep their tax exempt status (already being done) among other things. Jodi's book brings up another way this could happen that we haven't even thought about.

Ten years ago, if I had read this book I would have said this would never happen in this country. Now I am not so sure.

Without giving away too much I'll tell you that the story follows a young lawyer who has won media attention for a trial involving parents of a high school girl who commits suicide. Upon her death they read her journals and determined her death was the caused by her friendship with a Christian classmate. Her journals detail her arguements with him regarding her sexual orientation.

The boy has already been sent to prison for 15 years and is considered the girl's murderer under a recent Hate Crime law, when the girl's parents sue his parents. The reasoning is to prove a point because he had been (in their thinking) raised in a hostile and bigoted environment that breed violence and intolerance.

The young lawyer wins the case and catches the attention of the President who is wanting to pass the Minor Protection Act. This act would make it legal for the government to remove children from the homes of parents who are breeding terrorism and violence through their religious teaching. However, unbeknownst to the lawyer, the President has his own agenda and things begin to spin out of control. Christianity as we know it may be wiped out within one generation.

Jodi does a great job of helping you to relate to the characters. If you are parent you will agonize with the characters regarding the choice they are being forced to make. Do you stand up for your faith, put God first as you've pledged and risk losing your child forever? Even worse, the child(ren) you may loose would be raised in a family with beliefs and morales in direct opposition to what you have been teaching them regarding God and right and wrong. What choice would you make?

If you are interested in this book, you can find it on Amazon.com

Happy UP - Thursday 2/8

I figure I'll keep this up some more. I had really good responses before so even though I'm not going to commit to everyday posts regarding Happy UP, I'm determined to do the exercise everyday until it becomes second nature. I'll then share them with my blog friends periodically.

1. Confirmation
Some very unpleasant situations at work today became a Happy UP because they confirmed one of my earlier decisions. Last Friday I had mentioned something was finalized. Well that something was a job offer with a new company! I gave my notice this last Monday (after 7 1/2 years) and the Lord has been opening my eyes to things that are confirming my decision over and over again.

This whole process has been of God. I don't think I've ever had something this big for me, go so smoothly. I had my church house pray for me one Tuesday. I received a call about the opportunity the next day, asking if I could come in on Friday. I already had the day off for a field trip with Tyler's class and was free in the afternoon. After that they said they'd call me in a week. Instead I got a call on Monday saying they wanted to see me that Friday for a second interview. I had some time off coming so I was able to make it to that one as well. Then on Tuesday the next week I received the informal offer and by Friday afternoon I had my formal offer. The recruiter I was dealing with said it was the fastest he has ever seen this company move on a new position. I guess you can move pretty quickly when God is behind it :)

2. Massage
After a long week of month end, an almost anxiety attack on Monday prior to giving notice and then dealing with management the rest of the week since I've given notice, today's massage was wonderful! I've not been to get one since the end of November and my shoulders and neck have been protesting. It was also nice to talk with my friend Tanya again. She was actually with me having lunch when I first got the call about the opportunity which will now be my new job as of the 19th!

3. Rain
Although I did not especially enjoy driving in it in the dark tonight, I was happy to see the rain. You see, as I mentioned yesterday I am originally from Washington State and I actually get depressed a bit if we go too long without rain. I love the smell in the morning right after a good rain.

Bonus
I could not narrow it down to three big ones so here is a bonus for today!

4. Baseball for Tyler
The other kids Tyler's age at our house church are all going to be on a baseball team to be coached by one of the father's of our church. I did not inquire as to Tyler playing because we actually live in a different town and I was not sure that she would be able to play. The coach just called me and told me that Tyler CAN play so we will be going to sign her up on Saturday. I think I'm more excited than her. She's been wanting to play baseball and now she can be on a team with a bunch of kids she already knows and it is one more way for our church house to spend time together!!!

No Children - No Marriage

Washington State (my state of birth and residence until I graduated from college) has a ban on same sex marriage, which was upheld last summer by the state Supreme Court. A group called the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance has proposed initiative 957 which would require heterosexual couples to prove they are able to have children in order to get a marriage license. If the couple does not produce children within three years, their marriage could be subject to annulment.

The group says they are trying to make a point because those opposed to same sex marriage say marriage is for procreation.

I understand they are trying to make a point, however I think they are misunderstanding and/or simplifying the reasoning to why many are opposed to same-sex marriages. While the ability to procreate is a part of it, it is not the entire reason. Also, they are missing the point that two opposite sex individuals are created to procreate. Some are not able to due to physical issues, but the reality is two individuals of opposite sex can do so. Two individuals of the same sex can never procreate and it is not just because of a physical problem on the part of one of them. They were not created to procreate with one another. Of course the bottom line for me is God's opinion on it.

Anyway, I just thought this was pretty interesting. If this had was passed prior to my getting married we could have had our marriage annulled. Our daughter was born after we'd been married for 6 years. Although at the three year mark we had moved out of the state.

The Alliance admits the initiative is absurd and plans to use it to weaken the ruling regarding the ban on same sex marriages. (see second link below) They also said the three years was arbitrary and they had thought about requiring procreation prior to marriage for the initiative but did not want upset fundamentalists too much. They just wanted to get people talking about it, so I guess I'm playing into their hands, huh!?!

Here is some other information regarding this if you are interested:

Wash Initiative would require married couples to have children - original article I read regarding this.

Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance, I-957 - the alliances website page regarding the initiative

Seattle PI, I-957 Article - more in-depth article on this initiative

Proposed Initiatives to the People - this is the official state listing of 2007 initiatives. Scroll down to number 957 to see a summary and to access the entire text in a pdf file.

Happy UP - Day 7

Officially, today is my last Happy UP day, at least for now. But I've decided to keep at it unofficially. I'm going through quite a bit right now and making a point to focus on the good things in my life definitely keeps my persepctive right. It more importantly keeps my focus on God and the blessings He has given me.

1. Finished my book
Okay, so this is bittersweet. When you get your hands on a good fiction book you can hardly put it down and can't wait to see what happens next to your new friends. Yes, I did call them friends, because if the author has done a good job I feel like these individuals have become my friends. It is great to get to the end of the book and see how it all turns out, but it is also bittersweet because it feels like you are saying goodbye to friends. That may be part of the reason books I really enjoy I keep and reread every so often. This one will become part of my reread file! I'll do a more thorough review of this book later in the week. (Minor Protection Act by Jodi Cowles)

2. Talk with a good friend
I spent some time with one of my house church "family" members and we had a very good talk. I love getting together with my church family and talking about whatever happens to be on our hearts and minds at the time. This person is someone who is very special to me and I enjoy spending time alone with her talking. It is always so refreshing.

3. Tyler
Last week Tyler brought home her 2nd Qtr report card. She is in kindergarten and they have her doing the advanced curriculum. She is struggling a bit more than the others in the advanced curriculum, however the teacher believes she will be bored with the normal activities. We had a parent-teacher conference last week because her teacher wanted to make sure she did not appear to be overhelmed and frustrated (she is not) and I wanted to find out what we could do to help her. The only item she struggles with is reading some words and seplling out words on her own because she sometimes drops letters when she speaks. (I was only learning the alpahbet in kindergarten, now they are reading three and four letter words halfway through the year!) We've sat down and talked to Tyler this last week to make sure she is not overly frustrated and have been working with her to practice her reading. My happy up is seeing her response. Yes, she gets frustrated at times, but she is determined she is going to "get it" and just keeps trying and I've already seen improvement in the last week. It is a joy to have her ask me if she can read to me or ask me to give her words to spell for me while we are driving in the car. I have to say a large majority of my Happy Ups involved my three little "monsters" as I sometimes refer to them. They are monsters at times, but they are my monsters who I love very much and am very proud of!

4. Baby Laughs and Daddy
Okay, I have to add a fourth today. As I'm writing this post my husband is playing with our 9 month old. He is making him laugh so hard! I love the sound of baby laughs and love to watch my husband interacting with our kids. He is such a great daddy!

Jewish Day

Some of the next few posts regarding Jewish roots will be things I've touched on briefly back when I first started this blog and was looking at the Feasts of the Lord. So if you've been with me since then you may already know some of this. I'm just diving into it more now than I did before. If you know of something I've not touched on please share. I'm still learning and by no means know it all (and may not even get it all right!). I also have so much I'm learning right now that I won't be sharing every little tidbit, so I'd love your comments!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The U.S. along with most of the world is based on Roman time, in which the day begins at midnight. The Jewish calendar however is based on God's time in which the day begins at sundown. This is reckoned by the fact that six times in Genesis 1 God describes as day as "the evening and the morning". That is the evening hours are mentioned prior to the morning hours. (v. 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). In addition, the Lord commanded the Jewish people to celebrate Yom Kippur from evening to evening.

It will be for you a Shabbat of complete rest, and you are to deny yourselves; you are to rest on your Shabbat from evening the ninth day of the month until the following evening. (Leviticus 23:32)

Therefore, as mentioned in my previous post about Tu B'Shevat holidays actually begin at sundown when the new day begins.

Sundown is usually determined as being when three stars can be seen in the sky. This obviously means that the new day will begin at different times from day to day, week to week and even place to place.

Based on this and the fact that the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) is the seventh day (our Saturday), if we were to celebrate the true Jewish Shabbat, we would begin our celebration/rest at sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday.

Happy UP - Day 6

1. Good Book
The fiction book I am reading right now is really good! Yes, it is fiction but it really gets you to thinking. It is the Minor Protection Act by Jodi Cowles. I'm almost halfway through it so far and can hardly put it down. I recommend it. Jodi also has a blog you can check out: WhereisJodi I'll share more about this once I'm done with it. The way it is going now, that should not take too long.

2. New Book
I got the other book I blogged about the other day. I just got home with it and I'm very excited to get started on it. I'll be sharing my thoughts on it I'm sure. The book is called Restoration: Returning the Torah of God to the Disciples of Jesus. Check it out on First Fruits of Zion. The person who gave me this book (thank you, you know who you are!) also gave me a copy of an article from Messiah magazine that looks very promising entitled My Big Fat Greek Mindset. The first part of it is as follows: "If we read the Bible with a Greek mindset, we inevitably misinterpret it because the human authors of the Scriptures were Hebrews, not Greeks. The eternal, inspired words of the Almighty are clothed in a Semetic worldview, not the garb of Greek philosophers." A very good point to ponder!

3. Celebration
I had a birthday party to take Tyler to today so I was a bit late for Celebration this month, but I did catch most of it (minus only the eating and fellowship at the beginning). These once a month get togethers with our network of house churches is always a Happy UP. I get to see people I haven't seen in awhile and I always learn something. I truely love my church family!

P.S. For those of you who may be reading this, I think Traver had a great idea. Let's do the PJ thing!! It would definitely mean we are a true family and would be relaxing! :)

Tu B'Shevat

Isaiah 55:12b

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

The 15th of Shevat is the Rosh Hashanah (New Year) for trees. In our current day it is a sort of national Arbor Day for Israel that is celebrated in various ways including tree planting ceremonies to beautify the land of Israel and dontations made to the Jewish National Fund for the promotion of horicultural improvements in Israel.

Why do I bring this up, you may ask? Well, today corresponds to the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar. Technically, the 15th of Shevat began yesterday (Friday, Feb. 2nd) at sundown and will end today (Saturday, Feb 3rd) at sundown. (I'll share a bit more about the Jewish day in my next post).

The Jewish calendar has more than one "New Year" which may seem weird to us western thinkers at first, but is makes a bit more sense if you think of how we have our calendar year (Jan - Dec), our school year (Aug/Sept - June) and businesses often have fiscal years that do not end in December.

Tu B'Shevat which literally means the 15th of Shevat, is the only Rosh Hashanah that occurs on the full moon. All the others begin on the new moon. (Note: Jewish months are lunar, more on this later as well). Historically this has been a day for tithing produce from fruit trees. It also traditionally marks the first day of Spring in Israel.

Here are some more links if you are interested in learning more about Tu B'Shevat

Tu B'Shevat - Judaism 101
Tu B'Shevat - Rosh Hashanah for Trees (Hebrews4Christians)
Chabad.org - Holidays (Tu B'Shevat)
OU.org - Tu B'Shevat

Happy UP - Day 5 (a little late)

Okay, so I know it is officially Day 6 now, but I'm just now posting yesterday's Happy UP.

1. It's Official
I can't tell you what is official yet (I will soon though) but I can say it is finally official. I've been trying to patiently wait for this for a bit now and it is good to know that all is good and I can move on to the next step now. (More to follow next week.)

2. Friday
This is always a Happy UP. It means I get to spend the next couple days with my family. That is always a good thing.

3. Black & White Mochas
Nonfat of course! I was feeling a bit slow and tired this morning so when others were heading across the street I asked them to pick me up a Black & White mocha from Starbucks. I love the white mochas, but I was also craving that normal chocolate taste so the Black & White mocha is perfect! It was very yummy and got me through my busy morning of month end close stuff.

Happy UP - Day 4

1. New Lunch Spot
I was introduced to a new place for lunch today that is yummy delicious and pretty healthy (at least more so than other places I sometimes go). It is called the Pita Pit and I had a very yummy pita sandwich there today. Chicken, olives, lettuce, mushrooms and swiss cheese all rolled up into a pita with a touch of ranch. Mmm! Mmm!

2. Openings!
My friend Tanya, who is a massage therapist called me today with an opening in her schedule. Now I get to go in to see her almost a whole week earlier than I had originally planned. This is really good because work has been a bit stressful and I'll be going in right after month end is over. She can work all those kinks out of my neck and shoulders from sitting in front of a computer all day at work!

3. My studies
I've been learning about the Jewish calendar the past couple days and will be posting about what I've learned this weekend. It is all very interesting! It is almost 8PM now and I just got home from work so I'm going to grab some grub and then get some more studying done before I crash. Tomorrow will be busy at work as well, so I'm not sure if I'll get a post done about it tomorrow, but I promise you'll see something before the end of the weekend.

Well, it's been another productive and Happy UP day! How was yours?