Sterling's Party Rules

So, we had a Halloween party last night. Whew! It was fun and my daughter and her good friends did a great job setting it up. We had nachos and chili dogs along with all kinds of candy and goodies.

I had a parent call and ask if there was going to be an adult overseeing the party. She was also wondering if there was going to be alcohol served. No, there were no drinks or drugs! There were 3 or 4 couples that were really wanting to makeout though...We all had to tell them that we want everyone to have a good time, but we weren't going to have any of that this evening. It is sad to realize that these young ones are having sex. Ugh. It is hard to think of your future when you are that young and that the decisions you make now may follow you for the rest of your life.

The music was loud and the dancing was great. There are some talented kids. I put together a food relay race that was a hit. What I do is wrap up various foods in tin foil and the teams send up one member to unwrap and eat the food and then on down the line. We did the boy against the girls and the boys won :D

I have to thank Victor who stayed in practically the whole evening. He is really good with young ones and a good watcher. Since we had everyone from 'soup to nuts', and that is right up his alley, I thank God for him!

Here are Sterlings Rules for the Halloween Party:(yes, she sent these out to all her invitees)

1) No one dies

2)No one gets pregnant

3)No drugs or alcohol

Yep, good times in the 'hood.

Feast of Tabernacles San Antonio, TX

This is part of my beautiful family. We are waiting for the Night to Honor Israel to start at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio.

What a time we had. This is the first time we took Simon and Sterling. It was fun introducing them to everyone. We have such great friends that work with Christians United for Israel. Many of them also travel and to get us all together is a feat to be sure!

On this NTHI Elie Weisel was the keynote speaker. He is a great voice speaking out against hatred and racism. I don't have his quote exactly right, but he said "Racism is about humiliation. I stand against humiliation no matter who is about." I am so glad I got to hear him. I've never heard a Nobel Peace Prize winner before.

CUFI gave away 9 million dollars to various Israeli charities that night. We gave $500k to Elie's foundation. His foundation had invested all of their money with Madoff and it all was lost...

During this celebration there are rides, booths, food, music and fireworks. It is a great time for the San Antonio community. Every year we HAVE to eat a big 'ol smoked turkey leg-mmmm. The meat is so tender and delish :D

Well, I came home with a cold. It isn't that bad, but my thinking is disjointed and fuzzy.

A Pleasant Enough Day, Until...

Well, here I am riding my very nice cruiser bike on a beautiful Autumn day. I like to ride through the Fab 40's neighborhood and, right now, it is especially nice with all of the leaves changing.

As I head back home I take 39th St. to get back into my neighborhood. I pass the light rail station and go through the tunnel. Up ahead a man is walking toward me on the sidewalk. He steps from the walkway into the street and into my pathway. He doesn't look at me. He is looking at the houses across the street. As I approach, I notice that he is reaching into his pocket and he takes out a knife. He unfolds it and it turns out to be a serrated hunting knife. I suddenly have the thought that this man is going to take a swipe at me as I ride by!

It all happens in seconds. I speed up and go around the guy, leaving as much room as I can. He never takes a swipe, but as I get a few yards a way, I turn around and he is looking right at me.

When I get home I call the police. I give them a description and my number. I decide that since I need to walk my dog later and this is the route I take, I should try to find this guy and tell the police where he is. I am going to jump into my car and take a look myself.

As I am heading out, I get a call from the police. They say they have picked up a suspect and want me to ID him. I go to where they have detained the guy-yep, it is him. Then they show me the knife-yep, it is the weapon. I get a feeling that the man is a parolee and no stranger to the police.

Well, I am glad that no harm came to me or anyone else. I had to tell Victor who is out of town right now and he was NOT happy. He called a bunch of people so that they would check on me and had a nice visit with Aladrian. Everything is good. I don't feel fearful or anything like that. I actually walked Bradley and all was well.

I know that God is watching over me and feel great confidence in that knowledge. I do feel that these things happen because the spirits know that we stand with Israel and her people. It is a battle in the heavens. Nothing can touch one of His own without His explicit permission.
I have a hope and a future.

Btw, the man was a white male 5'10", balding with sparse dark, close-cropped hair. Slim, muscular build. He had a black, flame tattoo on his shoulder.

Blessed are the Peacemakers

I like Victor's new job. Sometimes I get to go with him on his travels. This weekend was a trip to Arvada, CO to visit Faith Bible Chapel. We've known George and Cheryl Morrison for a few years now through CUFI. They are wonderful pastors and have a huge church of over 6,000. Victor spoke at their new church plant pasored by Gary and Joanna Beasley.

There were two services there and it was their first Israel Awareness day as a new church. Later in the evening was the Night to Honor Israel at the big church. We enjoyed getting to know the Beasley's and found we knew a few people in common. They used to live in S Lake Tahoe.

The two sevices were great and Victor sold a case of books. One of the Morrison's daughter's friends said she finally 'got it' in understandng Israel after Victor's message that morning. Good stuff.

The third service was held at the big church and was their spanish speaking service. Adan and Marta Aguirre pastor that one. Victor used a translator and the message was overwhelmingly received. I don't know what it is, but in the Spanish churches have such an affinity for Israel. It is always so encouraging! The church has people from 24 countries represented. Adan said that there are language differences and even some offensive words depending on where you are from, yet the people realize that they have to go with it because they are in America and the differing words from the many countries represented are not all bad in this new context.

Pastor Hagee was the keynote speaker for the NTHI. Before the evening began, I got to tell him 'Thank you for hiring Victor!" He gave me a hug and said that it was the best decision they've made-I love it!

Things have been great since Victor has become the East Coast Director for Christians United for Israel. There are many talented and amazing state and city directors working all along in that part of our nation. I'm proud that he is smoothing things over for some folks where there have been some 'iron sharpening iron' moments. There is room in this great field of work and cooperation and understanding will go a long way. It is exciting to imagine what is up ahead. Can't wait to see :D

I Love These Connections

Being a woman of faith, I love to see the many puzzle pieces of life come together in amazing ways. It happens all of the time and, I'm sure that I only see a very little of it.

While in Iowa at the Night to Honor Israel, there was a woman speaker from Israel who represented Israel's welcoming department for Ethiopian Jews who make 'aliyah'. The woman, Shirah, explained how they help the newcomers acclimate to their new life. After all, they come from a land that is centuries behind Israel and the learning curve is HUGE. (I'm always intrigued by these stories and amazed at the Hand of God and His promise of gathering His own from the North, South, East and West)

The next day at the airport heading back to Sacramento, we saw Shirah again. She was kind of impressed that I remembered her name because we actually hadn't met the night before. I just remembered her name from the introduction to her speech.

We got to talking and I told her that a year and a half before, me and Victor had been invited to a home gathering of Kennesset members who were visiting California. They had been all over and even got to meet the Governor. At this meeting, a man named Shlomo Mullah spoke of how he walked from Ethiopia to Israel with his friends when they were 15 yrs old. It was quite a hair-raising expedition, as you can imagine. Well, Shirah says "Shlomo is one of my very best friends!" It was soo cool! I love that. Right then we connected and it was such a neat moment. I want to say 'small world', but I know that it really is a BIG world.

As I think of the meeting with Shlomo, I remember the question I asked him after he spoke. I said "When you came to Israel and the rabbis from your village in Ethiopia came to Israel--And your rabbis met the Israeli rabbis, did they find any differences in their faith or practices?" He looked at me and said "Well, no. Everything was the same except we didn't know about Purim (because they were exiled by Babylon before Esther's story) and we sacrifice a lamb during Passover."

To me this is so significant in the mending of fences between Christians and Jews. We Christians owe such a debt to the People of God! If they hadn't faithfully protected the Word, We'd still be under the tyrany of all kinds of crazy beliefs. I, myself, would be soo miserable. They gave me my precious Messiah-thank you!!

In His Corner.

Sunday we took the grandkids to the Pumpkin Farm. Beautiful weather and just a great day overall.

Bradley is our dog. We've had him for 3 years and he is one of the best dogs ever!

So, with Samuel, Ella and Bradley, Victor has got a really good fan-base. These three are totally devoted to him and it is very sweet. We all could use unwavering love, couldn't we?

One of those 'why's?'

There is something I've been thinking of lately. It is something that has an answer, I just don't know it fully. I know that greater minds than mine maybe have this figured out-I am stumped.

Remember recently when Jaycee Lee Dugard was found? She is the young woman who was kidnapped from S Lake Tahoe in 1991. She was found to be living with her captors, a woman and a man. The man had a long history of being a rapist. The woman was his sick accomplice.

Jaycee had grown up in a horrific situation to be sure. Actually having two kids from this evil man.

I'm so glad she was found. She is reunited with her family and can begin healing-and, hopefully getting normalized.

Here is the hard part for me: I am a huge believer in prayer. I've had so many prayers and hopes answered. Why, then, did it take so long for Jaycee to be found? I'm sure that many of God's people were praying for her, but WHY?

Oh, I know that this is a sensitive subject. I know that He has His reasons. We 'see through a glass darkly' and all.

Is it like the 'Chaos Theory' where scientists found that even in chaos, there is an order?

I hope this isn't too simplistic...

I'm not even sure I like how I've gotten this subject down in this blog...



Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts.