Zeke, Adalynn, and Lily Faith: April 2017

Passover and Resurrection Sunday

As I mentioned in a previous post, we've been studying about God's feasts and how we see Christ in them. This year, we chose to participate in some of the parts of the three spring feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits). This begins with Passover, which is eaten the evening of the 14th on the Hebrew calendar (keep in mind, the Hebrew days begin after sunset and go to the following sunset).

Then, there is a week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (“You shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statue forever throughout your generations” (Exodus 23:14). This year, the kids and I chose not to eat leavened bread during the feast, although Gregg did eat it, and that's okay! We believe this is not required because of what Jesus already accomplished, but it was neat to participate in this feast that points us to Him in every detail, and to know that Jesus participated in these feasts every year of His life on earth.

The Sunday after the Sabbath (Saturday) during Unleavened Bread First Fruits is celebrated. I still have so much to learn, but as we look at the week Jesus died, He would have died on Passover. This was to fulfill the prophecy that He is the spotless lamb, slain to cleanse us from our sins ("knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot" -1 Peter 1:18-19).

It's really incredible when you begin to study all of the details of these feasts and how Jesus fulfilled the spring feasts in every way!! There is debate among some about whether He died on a Wednesday or Thursday, but this chart gives you an idea of the timeline during the week Jesus actually died and rose. As I understand, it wasn't Friday (as we've been taught) because He had to be in the grave 3 days and 3 nights to fulfill the prophecy (Matthew 12:40).

When we look at the feast of Unleavened Bread, we see how the Hebrew people removed the "leaven" from their homes every year. This represents sin. The feast reminds us of the burial of Jesus and how He removed sin ("leaven") on our behalf.

The feast of First Fruits is very exciting because it represents the resurrection of Jesus! He was the First Fruits, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:20-21, "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead."

Over the past couple of years, in our home, we've tried to move away from saying "Easter" into calling it "Resurrection Sunday." As I've researched the roots of Easter, I've learned that this holiday dates back to ancient times not long after the global flood. To summarize (but I highly recommend you look into it for yourself!), one of Noah's grandson's. Nimrod, married a woman named Semiramis. Her son Tammuz was looked at as a "savior." People worshiped him and her as a fertility goddess. She was also called Ishtar, Ashtar, and Easter. The traditions of eggs and rabbits (bunnies) can be traced back to these practices and their worship of false gods. These traditions often have little, if anything to do with Jesus and His sacrifice. It's interesting to see how culture affects the way we worship and celebrate. We know the majority of people don't look at eggs and bunnies and think about ancient false gods, but now that we know, it does not feel right for us to incorporate them into our celebration of Christ's resurrection. We want to share these truths in love. We certainly don't know everything, but are just on a journey to honor God the best we can! Zeke is very bold in "correcting" people when they say Easter, so we've had a lot of conversations about how to do this in love and seek the Holy Spirit for when it's the proper time to share!

Below, you'll see Adalynn eating Matzah (unleavened bread) with hummus and Zeke eating a Matzah sandwich!

Reading his new book by Priscilla Shirer. He finished it that morning before we left for church. He's a reading machine!

All of us after church. Gregg had worked a midnight shift and only slept 2 hours! He's such a trooper!

Outtake!

Other special times

We finished our homeschool group for the 2016-2017 year this month. It was a fun year and we are thankful for the new friends we made and all that we learned. We have also had some fun play dates with our friends from CC, in addition to a visit from Wynna, which we always love!!

As the weather has been changing, it has brought with it some severe storms and tornadoes, but are incredibly grateful for the miraculous protection from God! He is our refuge and our strength!!

Matching sisters!

Last day of CC

Shopping at Publix after CC

Beautiful day!

Staying safe during a storm

Lily Faith didn't know what to think about our "storm shelter!"

Sweet brother

Before the Night of Worship one of Gregg's co-workers (and friend) organized for our community

Play date with our friends, Samuel, Danny, and their mom, Adriana

A beautiful day!

My mom was here when they came over for lunch and to play

Beautiful girls!

Adriana and me

They wanted to swim before the pool was ready, so...

this was Mommy's alternative!

Before church one Sunday

Selfie with my girl in the mother's room at church!

Foot washing ceremony at church

Heading out for Zeke's end of year program for CC

Dinner at Chick fil A before the program

The kids getting ready to share what they learned

Zeke's class singing a few science songs

Daddy's truck is always fun!

Lunch with Sheeba and Michelle for Sheeba's birthday

Gregg's co-worker gave the kids this adorable vehicle!

Lily Faith ~ 11 months

Lily Faith is growing and maturing so quickly! She is 11 months today! She began pulling up around April 8th. She seems so close to walking, so we'll see if she'll be our earliest walker!

She adores her brother and sister, smiles for everyone, generally sleeps and eats well, and is still nursing (or drinking pumped milk) 4/day. She claps and says, "Mama and Dadda." She's still a little tiny thing, wearing 9 month clothing, for the most part! She likes to play with anything she can get her hands on, so we have to be very careful about what we leave out. Overall, she brings such peace and joy to our home and we thank God everyday for her!!