Priority #4 - My Home - The Leftover Challenge

Over the past couple of years, we have gradually increased the amount of food we buy organically.  While on a microcellular level it may be improving our health, it is not improving our budget.  The downside of buying food without preservatives is that they have no preservatives.  They spoil quickly and that is just money in the trash can.  I have tried to come up with some ideas for kitchen loss prevention.

Retail loss prevention is a set of practices employed by retail companies to preserve profit. Profit preservation is any business activity specifically designed to reduce preventable losses. A preventable loss is any business cost caused by deliberate or inadvertent human actions, colloquially known as "shrinkage".  

As an effective home manager, I need reduce these preventable losses by any means.  Here are some of my ideas.

COOK LESS:  With The Grand Duchess in her own apartment, there are only four of us at home now.  I look for recipes that serve 4-6 people.  Although cooking less at one meal may mean that I have to cook more times in a week, it also reduces food boredom so leftovers don't just sit in the refrigerator because we're tired of eating them.  If I make a recipe that serves 6, whatever is leftover goes into Friend Hubby's Pyrex lunch dish for the next day.  If 4 servings doesn't seem like it will be enough food, then I try to stretch the meal with more vegetables, cornbread, or a salad.  

SHOP MORE FREQUENTLY FOR FRESH FOOD:  When I lived in Europe, none of my neighbors had a refrigerator as large as my military issue American fridge.  Theirs were the size of the mini-fridges we send our kids to college with.  Every day I saw them get off the buses, walk to the corner market, and head home with just one or two small bags of food.  A trip to Costco will show you the differences in our culture.  Many of us have not just one refrigerator, but either a second one or a freezer as well.  It's great in the winter not to have to leave the house for much of anything, but unfortunately, forgetting what's in the freezer can result in freezer burned food that no one wants to eat.  Here are a couple of ideas to help you with inventory.

Put a chalkboard on the freezer.  

Put a wipe-off board near the freezer.

There is one store in particular where I like to buy the majority of my produce.  Since I am as of yet a very poor gardener, I refer to this store as my backyard garden.  Rather than buying a lot of produce when I get paid, I just go to the store when I need it so I can get the freshest produce and know that I am going to use what I buy right away.  I don't buy ALL my produce organic.  I have an app on my phone to remind me which fruits and vegetables are on the "Dirty Dozen" list and which are on the "Clean 15" list by Environmental Working Group.

If you are afraid that you're going to run out of money before you're able to buy produce again, then factor a store gift card into your produce budget, that way you've put that money aside and it's not going to get spent on something else.

Here is a chart to help you know how long you can safely keep food.

An chart of the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. 

PRACTICE FIFO:

FIFO is an acronym which most commonly stands for first in first out. 

Friend Hubby is a stickler for this.  No boxes of cereal get opened before the first box gets eaten.  The pantry shelves are stocked so that the oldest jar of spaghetti sauce or can of baked beans gets used first.  In addition, fresh vegetables get cooked before frozen vegetables do.

MUST-GOs:  Fridays are for MUST-GOs.  What are MUST-GOs?  Everything in the refrigerator MUST GO.  From one Friday to the next, we keep track of what has been put into the refrigerator.  Most of it is still within the 3-4 day safe period so those get eaten before Shabbat meal is cooked.  This is a good habit and helps to prevent science experiments from reproducing in your refrigerator.

CRYSTAL CLEAR:   I missed out on these bowls at Costco last year. I have been disappointed about it all year. They are back today and I pounced on them. I am tired of having to put the whole crock pot in the refrigerator because I don't have anything else big enough to store leftovers in. I also feel that having translucent dishes will help us not to throw away food because no one knows what's in there and how long it's been there. We've got a big meal coming up and we're not going to want our leftovers to taste like the aluminum pans. Plus, $15 for 8-piece Pyrex is a deal.

I hope you save tons of money with these ideas!  

Blessings!

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Rosh Chodesh, Head of the 5th Month

Over this weekend, the new crescent moon was sited in Israel.  This signals the beginning of a new biblical month.  In the millennial reign of the Messiah, all the earth will worship YHVH on these appointed days.

These Scriptures mention the New Moon.

The fourth month, for our family, involved great transition.  My good friend Sister Do Bee mentioned the word chaos.  That hit the nail on the head for me.  On Shabbat, I mentioned Genesis 1:2 ISR98, "And the earth came to be formless and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohim was moving on the face of the waters."  The greater the chaos, the greater demand to come to order.  That is what I am sensing that YHVH wants to do in my life in this season, bring it to order.  This saying has been floating around Facebook this weekend.  I think it accurately describes the place where I am standing.  I'm expecting beauty at the end.

Instead of highlighting only one priority in this, my monthly blog, I figured I would say something about all of them because I feel like every area of my life needs attention right now.

Priority 1 - My Elohim
My prayer life has grown in the past month.  I am thankful for that, but I have been neglecting a Bible study that I had joined.  Facebook stopped giving me notifications and I stopped doing it.  In addition to my daily Scripture READING, and following along with the study guides for Hoshana Rabbah for the current week's Torah portion, I need to make time to do this Psalm 119 study.  I want to make sure that I have the opportunity to apply the word.  It is in the application of the Word that it becomes real.  Those who don't apply the Word are spoken of in Scripture as those who are ever learning but never able to come into the knowledge of the truth.

Priority 2 - My Husband
Friend Hubby will be starting two new ventures within the next month.  I need to stay on top of his eating.  Now is the season to prepare breakfast burritos, mason jar salads, etc.

Priority 3 - My Children
My son's hours are getting like a typical college student.  I realize he feels more productive at night, probably because the house is quiet, but he is still going to need to get some exercise in.  He is also going to need to get his Eagle project done in the next 6 months before he turns 18.  I am going to talk to some of the advisors so I can help him to get a timeline together.

My youngest daughter is getting a head start on her academics for this school year, particularly algebra and chemistry.  She wants to learn more domestic crafts.  I would like to see her learn to sew and knit by patterns, not just off the top of her head.

Priority 4 - My Home
Friend Hubby and I have been doing a lot of talking about finishing projects we have talked about doing in our home.  For the past 6 months or so, I have been working 2 part time jobs, one as an employee and one as an independent contractor.  I had been mulling it over for quite some time and now feel that this is the season to step out on faith and leave the employee status behind.  The independent contractor position will allow me to be much more flexible with my time so that I can get some things accomplished.

I am also beginning to stock up for the winter.  Friend Hubby has informed me that the freezer is too full right now, so I think on my next shopping trip I will focus on the non-perishables.

Priority 5 - Myself
Since I won't have to rush to get to work in the morning, I can go ahead and get some exercise done at the beginning of my day.  I have been enjoying Leslie Sansone videos on YouTube.  My son put more in my stability ball so I would like to do some core work as well.  This week, I am going to go ahead and send off for my college transcript.  Friend Hubby will start class two evenings a week in a few weeks.  I should go to class at the same time as he does so he doesn't miss my presence.

I am also excited to begin writing to a few pen pals.  There is a group of Facebook for Modern Day 50s housewives.  I think it's going to be fun.  Maybe in the future we can do a recipe exchange with the pen pals as well.

I also want to do a definite upgrade to my wardrobe to include more skirts, matching partial head coverings (I have seen some styles and I just want to use my creativity to do my own thing).  I also would like to make some modest feminine looking tzittzit.  All the colors, all the coordination!  :-)

Priority 6 - Ministry
There are a couple of things I would like to do.  Sister Do Bee would like to have a craft day.  Maybe I can host something like a crafting bee and everyone can just bring their work in progress.

I would like to do a live Bible study, maybe at Chick-fil-A with some ladies, leading them through the study of Psalms like the online group has done.  Social media is getting old we me.  I think I need more physical interaction.

This looks like a lot to accomplish in one month.  Since I am putting it out there, I am eagerly anticipating all of things falling into place that this month will hold.

Rosh Chodesh Sameach!  



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Priority #4 - My Home: From Dreams to Reality

Recently, Techno Teen has developed an interest in residential floor plan design.  He has been drawing pictures of what house he wants to design for Friend Hubby and I when we retire, what our house would look like if we won the lottery, etc.  

So, for fun last weekend, we decided to visit some model homes.  My husband and son fell in love with this one:  

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Allow me to show you around and highlight some of its features.  This is the master bedroom.  Outside the scope of this photo, to the far left would be the entrance to the bathroom.  To the far right, the private entrance from the master bedroom to the covered back patio.  It has large windows to let in natural light.  The color scheme ranging from beige to brown is calming, comfortable and inviting for an evening sanctuary, free from the hustle, bustle, and stress of the outside world.  It is on the first floor, far away from the noise of the teenagers who have staked their claim to the upper levels of the home.    

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This is the media room.  The windows are completely covered so you have movie-theater darkness when the door is closed.  There are three pairs of plush comfortable red microfiber upholstered chair with an end-table between them, a projector screen, and surround sound.  I would hope that the art work would be safely secured to the walls because the volume level at which my husband and son would watch their action movies would have them crashing to the floor otherwise.    

***

This is the well-lit family room with its high vaulted ceilings.  On the left, there is a built-in bookcase for all of our favorite family reads (likely most of them would come from the Sonlight list).  

To the right of the fireplace is the built-in armoire for the television that can be hidden from view.  This is where I would likely watch television (on the rare occasions when I do watch it) because my ears are much too sensitive for the volume level of the above-mentioned media room, and also because the men in my house would probably have a set-up that would have the same amount of buttons needed to launch a missile just to turn it on.  We don't call him "Techno Teen" for nothing.  When he goes camping, I don't watch TV at all because I can't remember all the buttons he told me to push.  I just need one button that says, "ON."  

Back to center, we have the fireplace.  Ahh, the fireplace.  When we moved here from Okinawa, Japan 13 years ago and were going over the specifics for getting our new home built, we had a fireplace in the plans and then at the last minute said to one another, "This is Texas, what do we need a fireplace for?" and took it out of the plans.  Thirteen winters later, we still regret that decision.  

To the far right is a breakfast bar where I could see my son having his tank of cereal every morning.  It overlooks the kitchen.  If the photo continued to the left, you would see the door for the covered patio pictured below.  

***

This is the covered outdoor patio.  To the extreme left out of the picture is the door that leads from the breakfast nook (not pictured in this blog).  Spanning from left to right you see first the private entrance from the master bedroom onto the patio.  Next to that there is a propane grill, mini-fridge, and sink.  Friend Hubby and I learned years ago that the best direction to build a home in Texas is facing east so that you have the shade of the house covering your backyard in the afternoon.  The neighbors whose back yards are opposite ours NEVER go into their back yards, while everyone our side has a different cookout going on every weekend.  

***

This is the kitchen.  To the far left, obscured by the plant, is the other side of the breakfast bar.  Don't you just love the extremely large island with its own sink?  Since everyone in my family cooks, we could all cook at once in our own designated space without breaking into a brouhaha.  There is a double oven and microwave on the far back wall and the gas stove top has six large burners.  We haven't cooked with gas in over 20 years.  I love the large refrigerator.  There is, what looks like, a butler's pantry in the little room next to the ovens.      

***

This is the master bathroom.  Because it is a model home, they did some changes to it.  At the end of the room where you see the matching towels hanging, that would be the entrance to the closet, but it is not there because it opens on the other side of that wall to the showroom.  The door to the left of the towels is the water closet (toilet room for you Americans, LOL).  

***

I love the wrought iron and wood combination of this beautiful staircase.  The floor is a combination of wood and stone tiles.  In the back you see a hallway.  To the left on this hallway is the master suite, to the right leads to the family room and kitchen.  My favorite room in the house can be seen on the far right of the photo.  On the floor plans, it is the living room, but it reminds me of a room in my great-grandmother's house called "the sitting room."  When I was little, there was no TV in that room.  That was the place where she sat quietly and read the newspapers.  I sat in there the day we visited the model home and put Princess Butterfly out of it because she was talking too much.  I told her, "It's the sitting room, not the talking room."  

***

This bedroom was claimed by Princess Butterfly as hers.  It is a Jack and Jill bedroom where there is an adjoining bathroom that is not accessible from the hallway between them.  This is the larger of the two.  I was told that My Diva would get the smaller one since she has almost finished college and would only be visiting.  :-)

*** 

And finally, the game room.  Our game room is our school room, so I suppose this would be the vision when they are all graduated.  To the right of the picture there is a wet bar for snacks.    

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REALITY CHECK:  This is probably the most accurate depiction of our game room at the moment:  

Although it is only a cartoon, it really is pretty accurate.  In the foreground is my desk (ooh, I didn't see the coffee maker in the front --- but I digress).  In the background, you see Princess Butterfly's desk, and yes, the floor looks like that too.  To the right, you see Techno Teen's desk, and yes, even with the box organizers from IKEA, on the desk and on the floor.  LOL

Is it any wonder that we go into model homes and long for their comfort and order?  I try to remind myself that it looks like that because no one lives there, but that excuse doesn't hold water because I know of friends and family whose homes more resemble the model than they do ours.  

"She makes for herself coverlets, cushions, and rugs of tapestry..."  Proverbs 31:22a

SO much work to do over this summer.....

Blessings! 

Priority #4 - My Home - Thanksgiving

This was the Thanksgiving that almost didn't happen. Friend Hubby is the head chef for this yearly meal and for weeks now he has been saying he just wasn't feelin' it. We have been on the edge of our seats in anticipation. Finally, while we were sitting in the car, he called a friend who has been gracing our table for many years and told her that Thanksgiving was on. What? I had to hear about it through an eavesdropped conversation? You know he was soundly rebuked for that. LOL! We had just been to the military commissary and I think all the prep displays got to him. We're just thankful it did! It would have been a sad year without it.

We understand that it is NOT one of YHWH's feast days. We are not trying to replace Sukkot or the Feast of Booths with this American tradition, but this is just a celebration of gratitude, like the father of the prodigal son held. It is a time to catch up with old friends, laugh and play games.

When we were in Okinawa, our entire church went camping for Thanksgiving. What GREAT memories we have of that! We hope to start going camping every year for Sukkot. That will be a wonderful new tradition to begin.

Our Thanksgiving menu has long been the merging of two cultures. Friend Hubby is from the east coast. Traditionally, his Thanksgiving consisted of baked macaroni and cheese, collard greens, candied yams, rice, and of course, turkey with sweet potato pie for dessert. I'm from the midwest and our Thanksgiving included corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie as well. We compromise, adding elements of both, along with my homemade cornbread dressing that is the nemesis to my diet every year.

I have a friend who is Vietnamese, married to a Jamaican. Her Thanksgiving menu is entirely different from ours.

Where are you from and what is your menu?

Blessings,

Priority #4 - My Home - FlyLady and the Month of Av

Romans 7:18-25

For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]

For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing.

Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].

So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.

For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature].

But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh].

O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death?

O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

I am not able (or I am not disciplined enough) to do FlyLady the way FlyLady is supposed to be done. I am beginning to realize that working from home at my computer is mentally and physically tiring and I can't do everything my mind tells me it wants to do.

I have been very productive on my job lately, mostly because of blogs dealing with productivity. It has been very awe inspiring keeping in front of my eyes on a daily basis ideas that help me to stay focused and get it done.

Now if I can do that for work, can't I do it for housework as well?

This week began the month of Av on the Hebrew calendar. Isaiah 66:23 AMP says that in the kingdom where our Messiah Yeshua reigns, "And it shall be that from one New Moon to another New Moon and from one Sabbath to another Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the Lord."

I have certainly learned in this past year (and have been abundantly blessed by it) to mark my week from Sabbath to Sabbath. I have learned to set my year from Torah cycle (Simchat Torah is where Deuteronomy ends and Genesis begins again), I think that marking my months from New Moon to New Moon will be a blessing to me as well.

So rather from switching zones from week to week, I think I will concentrate on one room month by month. So for the month of Av, I want to transform our school room for the new school year. I have middle-schoolers now. It is in bad need of an upgrade. It needs to reflect their maturity and higher levels of learning. Since I work in the room, it will also need to be functional as my home office as well.

In garden news (heavy sigh), my untreated wood on my square foot garden, along with the only thing in the backyard getting water besides the dog bowl, has attracted termites. They have destroyed all my watermelon vines. Sooo. I'm going to Lowe's to buy some termite sprinkles and sprinkle it all around the base of the outside of the box then wait a few weeks. When I get ready to plant my indoor seedlings, which have already begun to sprout, I will dig up all that soil and start again fresh with new soil. I will probably put more soil in to make it deeper.

Blessings!

Priority #4 - My Home - Way too much Mary, Not nearly enough Martha

Okay. So I have looked over my last few posts in the area of home and realized, that I am not putting in as much effort as I should in the appearance and upkeep of my home. I am logging lots and lots of hours spent in the study of the word, but if I don't learn to apply it in a practical sense, all my efforts will be lost.

We were recently with a family member who traveled to help her daughter get settled in her new home. She was tireless (literally), hanging up pictures, arranging cabinets, fixing things, arranging, and organizing. I have been to the 3 homes this relative has lived in. They are always immaculate, and well decorated. Granted, I would have loved for her to stop her business for more than just the time it took to eat dinner and sit and visit. She's always fun to talk to, but I can see within myself where I need to pick up the pace a bit. Do I want to have lived in this beautiful home the Lord has blessed me with and only gotten use out of it on holidays?

A recent meditation on the books of Psalms and Proverbs drew my attention to the phrase, "righteous will flourish."

Proverbs 11:28 AMP, "He who leans on, trusts in, and is confident in his riches shall fall, but the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall flourish like a green bough."

Proverbs 14:11 AMP, "The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tent of the upright shall flourish."

Psalm 92:12 AMP, "The [uncompromisingly] righteous shall flourish like the palm tree [be long-lived, stately, upright, useful, and fruitful]; they shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic, stable, durable, and incorruptible]."

Psalm 72:7 CJB, "In His [the Messiah's] days, let the righteous flourish and peace abound, till the moon is no more."

The word for flourish used there is the Hebrew word, פָּרַח or parach, which means "to bud, sprout, shoot, bloom." I confess, I have not bloomed in my home as I should. By blooming, I mean that I feel there should not be a single room in my home that has not been touched by my creativity and energy.

To start, I have jumped back on the FlyLady wagon again this week. It has helped. I have finally gotten rid of all those socks that were faithfully sitting in a basket in the family room waiting for their mates to finally join them. I'm afraid they have perished in their waiting. I've dusted the livingroom and cleaned the water spots from the last rain storm off the atrium door in the family room. Proverbs 13:19a, "A desire accomplished is sweetness to the soul..."

So, pray for me. I hope to have some success stories for you in the future.

Blessings!

Priority #4 and #5 - My Home & Myself - Working it out.

Our Shavuot Feast was quite a blast. I think we made it our own and it is the beginning of establishing new traditions. Unfortunately, because of the computer problems I had last week, I was not able to take the day off as planned (the day after a festival is usually a Shabbat so that one can rest from the festivities), and so ended up sticking close to home so I could work in the afternoon.

In the morning, I got myself up and out of the house to work in the yard. I hand watered the front lawn that has seen much better days. It's just SAD. We got a postcard from the HOA telling us to encourage SOME growth. It's just so hard with the drought going on. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg at the water department. At the same time, while I was watering, I saw so many cigarette butts in the yard. With all the wildfires going on, it is definitely a concern.

Next I moved into the backyard and worked on my little square foot garden. Just SAD! By the time anything started to grow, the heat swallowed it up. My lettuce bolted before I even knew what in the world bolting was. I moved it into flower pots into a shadier part of the yard. No, I don't know why. I just did it. (sigh)

We finally pulled something up today that looked like it might have become a carrot, if we let it continue at its current rate of growth, in about January 2012. (sigh) My collard greens look so pretty (and small), but I'm told the 100+ degree heat we've been having will swallow them up. (sigh)

The tomatoes that we started from seedlings seem to be doing pretty well. We're starting to get some little yellow flowers. We've been cross pollinating them with a Q-tip, just in case the worldwide shortage of bees happens to be in our area. Boy Wonder and I took the smallest one today and put it in the Topsy-Turvy and hung it from the old swing-set. We'll see if it works.

I dug up my crop failure of carrots, spinach, and tomatoes that didn't survive transplant and put ONE watermelon seed in each square. Then I reserved a couple of books at the library on the subject of preserving and pickling watermelons. I'm going to benefit off of something in this garden, dog-gone-it!

For the future, I did find a nice planting calendar that the Texas A&M Aggies put together probably just for my benefit (be it known to all concerned, we are Baylor Bears and Texas Longhorns around this house). It is a nice chart that will tell me what to plant when so I don't end up having another season like this one. (sigh)

So, after all the stress of yard work, I thought I'd unwind at a yoga class at the Y. I haven't been to a Thursday class in quite a while, this was a new teacher. UNwind is quite the opposite of what we did! I can't tell you how many times the thought went through my head, "You want me to put my leg where???"

Sleep and I are about to become really good friends right about now.

Blessings!

Priority # 4 - My Home - Ummmm.

I am late writing this blog. I have been doing really well blogging first thing in the morning, but I procrastinated today because sadly, I really don't have a lot to say about my home. My home is rather large, but in the decade I have lived here, I really don't feel as if I have really given it the attention I would like. I have always admired FlyLady's methods, but never stuck to them. Perhaps I need to join a FlyLady support groups or get a FlyLady accountability partner. Working from home 40 hours a week, homeschooling, and helping my husband who pastors a small home-fellowship community is challenging time-wise. I hate to say I don't "have" time, because the truth is I don't "make" time.

I was at a friend's house recently. She has 3 very busy children and she works, more than part time, less than full time outside the home. Her home is immaculate (even the children's rooms). Each room has it's own theme with accessories to match. *sigh*

It is said that if we aim for nothing, we'll hit it every time. One of the things I have tried to teach my children is the principle of "little by little." I remember how proud at least two of them were the first time they put something expensive on layaway and paid for it faithfully, little by little until they paid it off. They were so proud of their accomplishment! If I can pick up blogging again and try to stay within the time parameters of 15 minutes a day, surely, I can pick a room and work on it for 15 minutes a day and accomplish SOMETHING!

"Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and are numerous enough to take possession of the land." Exodus 23:30 AMP

Blessings!

Priority #4 - My Home - Shabbat Shalom

Over the course of the past year or so (longer for Friend Hubby) we have been on a journey to explore in depth the Hebraic roots of our Christian faith. In our experience, our studying has led us to being more family-centric (not that we weren't already family oriented, as most who know us in the flesh know), but I am a person who likes to be busy. I fill our family calendar up to the max. Over the course of the past few months, we have been making a greater attempt to keep the sabbath. The original sabbath, not the one changed by the early church to distance itself from the Jews who became a most hated people in the early days of the institutionalized Christian church. My daughter loaned me a book to read this weekend called The Fruit of Her Hands by Michele Cameron. There is an exchange in this book between a Jewish young girl and her Christian nursemaid who is about to be married.

I wanted to attend her wedding. But she knit her lips together and would not tell me when it would be.
"But I want to come -- I can walk before you with a basket of spring flowers!"
"Up the aisle in the church, Shira?" she asked, eyebrows raised.
"Why not?" I persisted.
Jeanne sighed. "You would upset everyone, Shira -- I shudder to think what my husband's family would say, seeing a Jew in front of the Holy Mother and her Blessed Son."

ROTFLOL! Hellooooo!

While we are very clear that no "act" can purchase our salvation for us, we also believe that the Torah (Old Testament) is an instruction manual. It is a message from our Father teaching us HOW to love Him. As Christians, we have picked over which portions of the Old Testament apply to us. We want to claim all of the "I will"'s without going through the "If you will"'s.

That said, we have begun to embrace and sanctify the sabbath in our home. Because this is not a habit for us yet, every week, we see room for improvement. My goal is to have all the housework and laundry done, be caught up on my lines (I'm a medical transcriptionist), and have a meal prepared for Friday night's dinner, Saturday's breakfast and lunch. After lighting our candles and having our communion meal of challah bread (no it doesn't have to be challah, like I said, we are just learning and trying new things), and grape juice, we have great discussion with our children over the past weeks' Torah portion. A couple of websites we have found helpful in our learning have been

http://www.toraportions.org

and

http://www.hebrew4christians.net

Granted, we do live in America and not Israel, so life does not completely stop for us some Saturdays. Our son is in karate, our daughter works in fast food, and all of our children are in scouting. We are not always able to keep completely still for those 24 hours but we are making as much effort as possible to try!

Each week, I am understanding more fully the phrase, "Shabbat Shalom (sabbath peace)."

Blessings!