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1 year and going strong

Today was my get it done day! Finally feeling better enough to tend to some home duties Yay!.

I got all the dishes done, bedroom picked up, 5 errands run, 12 cups of flour ground, 3lbs of chicken cooked and frozen, 3 loaves of banana bread made, and 6 loads of laundry done. Then three pairs of pants got ruined, two of them belonging to my husband, due to a pesky burt's bees that somehow made it into my laundry. Oh man, I felt like such a bad wife, one of them was a really nice pair of slacks we just splurged on last weekend, and the other was my husband's favorite gortex climbing pants. Arrrgg...that put a big stop to my efficiency. I panicked a little, I had already dried it in, and you see, I ruined my husband's work shirt with an ink pen when we first got married, and it was a big deal. Never came out,and I tried everythinggg. He was not too happy.

Guess what though?! With lots of prayers, and research,and phone calls, and goo gone, and dawn, soaking for about 9 hours, and lots and lots of scrubbing, and a few cycles through the washer. Its almost all gone! Praise Yahweh!!! HE is too good to us.

Well, this post is about a week late, but I've been under the weather. Adam and I celebrated one year of marriage, last monday on October 25th! :)

I can not believe it has been a year, and at the same time I can. I feel like a different person, and yet I don't. It has been an amazing year, and such a journey. Thinking back to that day is just too much fun, and I am in awe of how Yah orchestrated everything so perfectly, and made my dreams come true. It is truly incredible the wedding we had with the amount of money and time we had. What a blessing to have the family and friends we have, the creativity,and the generosity of The One we serve.

This was my mikveh, the morning of the wedding. I did it for symbolism of entering this new life with my husband. My mothers, and close women were there, and they read scripture over me and prayed, it was so special.

My father decorated the chuppah, and my brother sang the song I walked down the aisle to.

 We did the traditional circling of the groom ,which, to me, symbolized the breaking down of walls between us. Each circle getting closer and closer.

We also, did the tradition of breaking the glass. To us, this symbolized that no one may ever drink of that cup again, just as no one may ever be a part of our marriage or drink of ourselves, but our spouse.

Our sister in law and her mother made our beautiful cake.

  My best friend took all of the pictures and hand painted our breathtaking ketubah, which is a marriage contract that states our commitment to one another.

Every part and aspect of my wedding and getting there was filled with lessons and sweet kisses from my heavenly Father. 

Baruch Hashem Adonai!

I am sitting here wishing I had homework or a class to go to, when I have a ton of class prep and choreography to get done for work. Hmm...perhaps if  I view my work, as homework it will be more palatable?
So strange.
I am feeling slightly people deprived, and my husband only left this morning, and I'll see him tonight. Its not like I haven't had any human interaction today either, I had a private lesson this morning. I guess it is specific people deprivation, like my mother, or Allie, or Katie, or my family, or someone I can just meet with for a few hours, and some tea, and some discussion. I have all these things I want to mull over with someone of significance, and the phone just won't do. I am also missing my old scenery, I would like to go walk over to my favorite fountain, and sit on that bench and read like I used to. Or I could just walk around the streets of Chicago and get plenty of people watching in. I know there are places I could drive to here, but I don't really want to drive.
I guess I am feeling restless.
Lets go see if  I can attack that "homework", and the laundry, and the dishes, maybe even a workout. Hopefully that ambition shows up soon.
P.s. I love my husband. Praise Yahweh!

Repentance

I cannot believe it is October.
 Day of Atonement this year was different for me, my first time not having something to go to or someone to spend it with until the evening. I approached it differently, listened to some teachings, and read alot of the Word. Still, I felt unprepared for it, I discovered my xanga is still up, and this post from 4 years ago really rang true this year.

"Monday, October 02, 2006

Currently Listening Wild Like Children By Tilly and the Wall see related So today is the Day of Atonement. also known as yom kippur. Leading up to today, was the 10 days of awe,  traditionally a time of deep inspection of all the areas of your life. I didnt really do that this year. I have to tell you. Today I was just face down. I will never understand why He is so merciful. How can he see the depths of my heart and love me the same?   What shall we say before You, the one who dwells on high and what shall we declare before You, who resides in the heavens? Do You not know all the things, both the concealed and the revealed? You know the mysteries of the universe and the hidden secrets of every living soul. You examine the heart of man and  prove all our thoughts and aspirations. Nothing  escapes you, neither is anything hidden from your sight. publicly or privately knowingly and deceptively by offensive speech by oppressing a fellow man by evil thoughts by lewd association by insincere confession by contempt willfully or by mistake by unclean lips by violence or impulse by defaming thy name by foolish talk Forgive us all sins, O God of forgiveness and cleanse us. Mold our lives and souls in genuine repentance that we may in truth present ourselves as living sacrifices to serve you and do as you command. I want so much to be genuine." I think Yahweh is teaching me about preparedness, I pray that I am not slow to learn, that I am moldable.

Yom Teruah

The sun is about to set on my celebration of Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets.
What a blessed day!
http://event.cbn.com/RoshHashanah/
My mother shared this video with me of a christian church celebrating Rosh Hashanah, and  I really enjoyed it. It has some good worship lead by Paul Wilbur and some beautiful dancing, Hebraic annnd ballet! That really touched me, I cried, and I said to myself, "alright we are moving there so I can dance with those people!", haha, it turned out they are just a christian ballet school. Still, it was encouraging, and it was lovely to me. Then I was able to join in on some Hebraic dancing at our gathering last night, and it was wonderful. I so enjoy worshiping in that way, I feel my mind tends not to wander, as sometimes it does when I am just singing.
 I am so in love with my Father, come quickly Yahweh.
“Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of  Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest to you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.” Leviticus 23:23-25

Chag Sameach!
Yom Teruah Link Up 

Basil = love

My husband is amazing. Flat out, amazing. Annnd, he listens to me... Wow, I'm so blessed.

I don't know how many weeks ago, I casually mentioned how I had wanted to start an herb garden,but decided to postpone it because, at the time we thought we were moving. Then the other day, I lamented over how now we weren't moving, and I should have planted that herb garden.

Well, I came home from work to a beautiful basil plant. With a cute little pink bow on it, and some fertilizer.

In one of my first letters to my husband, I talked about how I don't like getting flowers because it is such a waste of  money, and I always think about all the other things that money could have been spent on. My father would always buy my flowers, every performance I had, no matter how many times I told him not to. I would even get mad at him! I realized, though, that it was one of his ways of showing me love, and came to expect it. Once my husband and I started courting, I wondered why he never gave me flowers, he showered me with every other kind of usual gift like candy, poems, bracelets, songs, but not flowers. Eventually, I remembered and let him know it was perfectly okay for him to give me flowers, as long as they were cheap.
But a basil plant... he knows me so well...

So much better than flowers!

Day 8 of the cleanse! Yay, fish and raw cheese,yummm, so tasty. This has been more difficult than I thought it would be for me, there is no way I would have been able to do it alone. One of the reasons I think I have been struggling, is not having enough servings. Starting the cleanse the same week as starting my full time schedule at both studios might not have been the best planning, but I know it has done some good.

Cleansing

An apple a day...wait,scratch that, apples all day, and nothing else.

Or in my case watermelon, all day.

My husband and I have been wanting to do a cleanse since we got married. He just  finally graduated last week, and I am thrilled!!!

With the Holy Days approaching quickly, we decided that it would be a perfect time to start a cleanse. Preparing our bodies, as we prepare our minds and hearts. However, it was kind of a last minute decision yesterday, as we realized just how quickly they are approaching! So I spent most of last night, after work, freezing and preserving anything that is not allowed,which thankfully, we did not have to throw out much. 

We decided on Jordan Rubin from Garden of Life and The Maker's Diet's 10 day summer cleanse. Reasoning being, that it is, only, 10 days (yay!), my Mother-in-law and Father-in-law do his seasonal cleanses, and sing it praises, also my husband benefited greatly from Jordan's 40 days cleanse when he was severely ill several years ago.

The first day is supposed to be a "mono diet" of one type of fruit, ideally water-based.

My goodness, it is ridiculous what babies we've become. I'd say we did well through the first half of the day, but this evening has been hilarious, all of our talk of food we'd like to eat, and headaches, and hunger. It has also brought up how spoiled we are, and how much we take for granted, how we both want to be people who strive for betterment, and how much we are grateful for one another.

Husband picked apples for his fruit and I picked watermelon, at dinner we seriously contemplated swapping dishes.

I have been feeling very weak and have a headache, part of which, I think, is due to not eating the full 5 servings prescribed, or the amount of water. I don't think it would have been appropriate for me to whip out a bowl of watermelon during my 4 hours of teaching, though...

Looking forward to sleeping, and then tomorrow I can eat different fruit, and salad!

Variety is such a blessing!!!

http://www.gardenoflife.com/ - this gives a pretty good overview of what it will be like