Preparing for Baby part 2

Hello!!!!

     So it's time for part 2 of baby prep! With news from the doctor that might mean Amos' arrival next week, it's been very stressful trying to get things done. However, with the help of Jonathan's mother, I think we can get it done. My Mom comes in on Sunday and she will be here to help too which is wonderful. But anyway, let's plunge in!
     

     


      We have the changing table set up! I am still waiting on the knobs from the art teacher but as they say "you can't rush art", and they are a fast and easy install when I do get them. I am not worried about it. The diaper bag was a gift from some fellow missionary friends along with the changing pad and some mittens for the baby's hands. We are very grateful for the items and the diaper bag actually matches Jonathan's teaching bag perfectly! Right down to the hunts of red seen in pockets and such. We plan on picking up the crib at some point this week and that will make everything seem super real!

  Over in the corner where the crib will be (away from the breaker box, is my "flag wall". I currently have the Dominican flag, the Oklahoma state flag, and the CCU eagles flag. I still need to hang my USA and Israel flags (trying to find them in our boxes currently) and Jonathan's DR baseball team flag. I will buy and add to the collection (at some point) a Tennessee Flag, an Ohio flag, and maybe even Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay baseball flags....just depends.

 

 

        Over by the couch are our bookshelves. Now, I am not much of a book person (I did not inherit that from my family) but Jonathan is. I do have a few books like cook books, Jane Austen, ministry books and a couple of childhood favorites. But all told, less than a shelf worth. However, between the two of us, we have quite the bible collection! And that's totally fine with me!!! But instead of dividing my books-his books, I just made one side of shelves all books and bibles and the games he uses for our game nights. On the other side, I chose to use the shelves to display some of my things that make me feel more at home. Things like my things from Israel, my star trek glasses, my India doll and B-17 model, etc. (I have odd and unrelated tastes I know!) But these things make me happy to look at, so I put them out for a more "homey" feel. Fortunately, Jonathan does not seem to mind.

   

    Now onto the kitchen. You must excuse the dishes. Every time I get it cleaned up, I need to eat and then there are more dishes. So, yeah. This kitchen is in use....all the time. The kitchen curtain is made from embroidered hand towels, each baring the name of a day of the week, that I folded and draped over the rod. These towels were a wedding gift to my Grandmother who then passed them to Mom at some point, and I then took from her (yes, I am THAT person).

   

    The shelves Jonathan hung on the left are offset from the wall slightly so the leak when it rains does not effect them. However, I have placed cans and bottles there that can get wet and be okay. My laundry stuff is then below the shelves since the washer is under the counter. The shelves on the right are my spices, bagged pantry items (flour, sugar, corn meal, oatmeal etc.) and things that cannot get wet or they will be ruined. The basket on the top in the back is our medicine basket. As far away from kids as possible (my niece and nephew visit sometimes so that's the reason its up there). The lanterns are for the power outages and then I keep my mop, broom and dustpan in that corner. This house is not square so that corner was wasted space and I am just trying to utilize it.

 

  My upper cabinets now hold my dishes. I bought some dish dryer racks from Ikea and put them on the bottom shelf to vertically store my dishes to prevent mildew, The second shelf holds all the tea and coffee cups and the top shelf is overflow china and plastic cups/travel cups.

The smaller upper holds my mixing bowls, pitchers, tupperware and things I don't use very often like my grater, and such.

      Under the counter the coffee peculator and my tea kettle are stored. On the counter I keep all my cooking utensils and knives in glass jars. We also keep the blender out because I have been making a lot of smoothies lately.

 

   



Jonathan saved these pieces when he hung the wood sides on the cabinets to make shelves. I am glad he did! The top shelf holds the tea set we used at our bride and groom table and the bottom shelf holds all our tea, coffee and hot chocolate.











 

     And just to finish everything off is the island. There is nothing special about it, just thought I would include it, especially since Kempurr decided it was a good time to sunbathe on it...while I was taking pictures of my kitchen, Jonathan has our drinking water out because I can't bend over and it is normally stored in a lower cabinet. Once the baby is here it will be returned to that location. Our fresh veggie basket (and fruits...not pictured) will be hung from the ceiling over the island....hopefully this will be done Saturday. Where Kempurr is sitting is usually where we eat (when the table is collapsed) but it happened to be in a sunbeam so she took over the spot.

      Well, that's it for the prep for now. There are a lot of doctors appointments this week to see if a C-section is needed but I will hopefully know that answer Thursday evening. I hope to post next week but if not, it's because Amos is on his way! Until next time, may Adoani bless you and give you peace.

The Fall Feasts

            I do not have any new updates on preparing for baby as I am still in the process of redoing the kitchen. Maybe next week! Instead I want to address a couple of things that I have a feeling may be causing some curiosity, and that is the fall feasts.

            The month of Elul is upon us which is the month of repentance and preparation leading into the fall feasts. Great, but what are they and why talk about them? Well, hopefully this post will answer that question.

            The fall feasts are the feasts mentioned in the Torah (the first 5 books of the old Testament) that take place in the fall. There are also spring feasts, the most well-known of which is Passover. It is argued that when Christ came the first time he fulfilled the spring feasts and he will fulfill the fall feasts with his second coming. I am not going to open that whole bag of worms this week, but rather just tell you a little bit about each of the upcoming feasts and their significance.

            The first feast to take place is Feast of Trumpets or Yom Teruah; although, sometimes it is also called Rosh Hashanah. It marks the beginning of the Jewish New Year as well as the beginning of the 10 days leading up to Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur which is the holiest day of the year. Silver trumpets and Shofars are sounded on this day as a call to repentance between you and God and to get right between you and your fellow man.

            The next feast is not actually a feast at all, but rather a day of fasting. It is considered the holiest day of the year to the Jews. It is the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. This is the day that the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, and sprinkle the blood on the altar to ask for forgiveness for all the sins of the people of Israel. It is also the only day of the year where the name of Adonai was spoken aloud and only by the High Priest. The scapegoat and the sacrificial goat where used on this day. The one goat was sacrificed and the scapegoat carried the sins of Israel spoken over it into the desert and died. The people fasted all day, repented and turned back to Adonai. This statue is forever so Jews still fast all day on Yom Kippur (unless pregnant or medically unable too).

********HERE IS WHERE I AM GOING TO INTERJECT SOMETHING*********

            I used to fast on Yom Kippur. I did for years. However the last few years I have not (nor will I this year) and let me explain why. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. Animals were sacrificed on our behalf for the atonement of our sins so we could still be in communion with the heavenly Father. I understand that and agree with it to a certain point. Christ/Jesus/Yeshua/Jehovah/etc. has come down and given his life for us, becoming the atonement and therefore fulfilling the most important of the feasts. The curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was torn completely upon his death. This indicates to me, that there is no longer a division or sacrifice necessary to gain forgiveness or to connect with the Father. If this is the case, why is it necessary to fast and repent and all of that on Yom Kippur. We should do that year round. That day no longer holds the same significance if you are a believer than if you are a Jew. I can repent and seek mercy at from the Father any day, without the need for sacrifice or a High Priest because I have Christ who has done all of those things. No longer does an animal have to carry my sins for me. The sacrifice of Christ and what he has done should be proclaimed all year around, not just on Yom Kippur.

            I am going to get off my soapbox now as I could go on for a long time, but I think I made the point so there is no need to keep saying it.

***********BACK TO THE POST***********

            The last feast is Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths or Sukkot. This is an 8 day celebration in which people live in "Sukkahs" or "Booths" (or tents/temporary dwellings). This is to practice for the wedding when Christ returns. It is during this time that Simchat Torah occurs which is where the final reading in Deuteronomy is read, and the first reading in Genesis is read, to show the ongoing cycle of the Torah. The Torah is read through ever year, beginning and ending during Feast of Tabernacles.

            Hanukkah occurs in December (usually) but is not a commanded feast so I did not include it here.

            Although, I do plan on decorating for and acknowledge these feasts, I want to caution (?) those that observe these feasts intently. I have no problem if you do that and firmly believe you are supposed to. But at the same time, remember those that are watching and interact with you. I chose to not make a big deal about it down here for several reasons. 1) Its unknown in the culture here. There are very, VERY few Jews and they kind of keep to themselves so the Dominican Culture is not familiar with Jewish laws and customs. So, even though I do not hide my beliefs, I do not flaunt them either. 2) The most important thing is to spread the Gospel. If you get all wrapped up in the Feasts and their customs, you might miss a chance to witness and ultimately, these feasts are all about Christ. Not how well we can fulfill the traditions, customs and laws associated with them. I would rather stand before the Father and answer for not adhering to the feasts than to stand before Him and explain why the Feasts prevented me from sharing the Gospel or encouraging someone in need. To me, the Salvation of souls surpasses even the most important Highest of Holy days. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying blow off the feasts or that they are not important. I am just saying, don’t let them blind you. And that goes for everything, not just the feasts. It could be everyday life or Christmas or something else. I don’t know what distracts you, but whatever it is, don’t let it be something that causes you to miss someone that God has put in your path to minister too; even if it is nothing more than paying for a coffee for them.

            Until next week; May Adonai bless you and grant peace to your homes.

Preparing for baby part 1

Greetings!

            So, the doctor has said our little one can come any time after Sept. 23^rd. I am hoping and praying he waits until my Mom gets down here on the 25^th. I am personally hoping for the 27^th but we shall see. His original due date was/is October 9^th, so that is quite a big window for possible delivery. However, it will happen in Adonai’s perfect timing.

            That being said, I am starting some serious nesting. I was on bed rest for 10 days, and this is my last week of work until I go on maternity leave, which will give me two weeks to finish everything. 2 weeks!!!!! That is no time at all, especially since I am moving so slow now. But, we have gotten some stuff done and will get more done in the next few weeks.

We went to Ikea on Sunday to get a timer for Jonathan and to check the price on something….yeah. Anyway, we did get some baby stuff there! I have needed some bins to store stuff like baby powder, lotion, diapers (when we buy some) etc. Everything I had found though has been super expensive so I haven’t bought anything. But at Ikea we came across this boxes that I think are for pictures but are sturdy and super cute! They are blue and tan and look like vintage trunks. I love them!

We also got some knobs for the changing table. The art teacher at our work said he would paint some owls on them for us! I am excited, the knobs I was going to buy were $3.50 each on amazon and not exactly what I wanted. These knobs were 100 pesos (about $2 for 2 knobs) and they will be custom painted to go with our colors and theme. Yay! 

 During all our re-arranging of things to make room for baby stuff we did discover a problem. Due to the rain and constant humidity, rust, mold and mildew is a problem. My main cabinet for dishes has really bad mildew (I hope mildew and not mold), so we had to take it off the wall, clean it and move it away from that spot due to a leak. This means I need a new solution for my dishes storage. However, thanks to Ikea, we have some ideas! My dishes cabinet is kind of off by itself so it looks a little strange to the eye. We are going to re-purpose and relocate it (probably for the baby once it’s cleaned up) and replace that cabinet with shelves. The shelves will become my pantry for cans and things like that can get a little wet and not be a problem. Then the cabinet(s) that I am using as a pantry right now will be re-purposed for dishes storage. I will store the dishes spaced apart for air flow and hopefully that will solve the issue. We just have to take measurements and finalize how we/I want to do that. However, due to the salt air, I do have to replace some of my silverware and knives that have rusted as well. But! Ikea had purple handled silverware on sale so we took advantage of that and grabbed a box. Super excited!

    Jonathan also grabbed two little wicker tray things to make beds for our cats, one of whom is for sure prego and the other could very possibly be prego as well. He is going to suspend them off the ground so Jefe can’t reach them. As long as he knows what he is doing that is fine by me! So our trip for his timer (which we did get) turned into a bit more than the one item!

            I am hoping to get more baby stuff this week and then will have a more detailed post about what we got, as our list is still fairly long of needed items. However, the boy has clothes! He won’t be naked, that’s for sure!

            As for the rest of the house and prepping for baby, I have a kitchen curtain to hang, couch cushions to be covered and some pictures to hang. But other than fixing the issue in our kitchen, we are doing pretty well. Our island still needs to be painted, but I doubt that will happen before Amos’ arrival. We shall see. I will be working when on maternity leave but only a little as I really need to slow down and take it easy. I had contractions again on Monday; I think from the heat (love power outages) and activity most of the day Sunday, and not a lot of sleep that night. So health first, then nesting; but hopefully I can do both.

            Until next week, may Adonai bless and keep you.