The IN SEASON Lifestyle Newsletter for October 2019

REMEMBERING OCTOBER

October of 2019 was such an active, festive, full and colorful month.

It brought us so much joy, contentment, fulfillment and fun. The whole month unfolded like a beautiful unexpected surprise package which arrived on our doorsteps and just kept on giving in so many wonderful ways for so many different and varied reasons.

What a pleasure it is to be able to share the abundant mix of this month’s heartfelt, seasonal articles and events from The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community with all of our blogging community.

THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS

The month started out with the long, loud, solemn blast of a shofar.

What a unique and different sound; unlike any other.

It is our call to wake up, to get ready and to be prepared for the days to come.

The very first day of October brought forth our Christian celebration and observance of The Feast of Trumpets (very similar to the Jewish holy day called Rosh Hashanah only with Messianic teachings.)

Was your feast wonderful this year?

We love to hear from our readers. I am always curious if it was the first year that someone decided to celebrate the Feast of Trumpets or any of the Holy Days of God.

What did God reveal in your time?

Were you waiting and ready when that trumpet finally sounded?

We hope The IN SEASON Lifestyle blog aided in some of that preparation and helped to get you into the mindset for a perfect and glorious Fall Holy Day season.

If you want to review our articles about The Feast of Trumpets; just click into any of these convenient links: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/first-day-of-forever-short-meditations-for-the-feast-of-trumpets-meditation-no-1-seasons/

THE RAM’S HORN – A FEAST OF TRUMPETS MEDITATION

THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS 2023

APPLES AND HONEY FOR THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS

https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/have-you-heard-the-sound-of-the-shofar/

Our family celebrated this year by gathering with our daughter and son-in-law and their little daughter.

The time was filled with the sharing of the sounds of the shofar, the dipping of apples in honey, and the pleasure of enjoying a delicious, sweet-intensified festive meal together.

There were lots of apples and pomegranates!

We thanked God for the blessings and lessons of the year that just passed by and prayed that He would see fit to bless us with a sweet new year.

We celebrated the Creation with a short story and asked everyone wondering questions at the end. The reactions were interesting, refreshing and delightful. It was rewarding to see how relaxed and open we were with each other as we shared our thoughts and ideas about the things that God was teaching us each and every day; especially those aspects of life that have associations with The Feast of Trumpets.

There is nothing so sweet as hearing your granddaughter wish for you to have a sweet new year while your family is gathered around an abundant table feasting on good food and listening to the stories of God’s people.

The Feast of Trumpets is always a sweet celebration of our faith and determination to stay on track with God’s ways in a world that is quickly forgetting their Creator. It is important for us to remember and pay attention.

We posted one blog-post with nothing but the sound of the shofar; hopefully you found it useful if you did not already have a way to bring this most important element into your feast time.

A CHRISTIAN CELEBRATION OF THE DAY OF ATONEMENT

The next event for October (after we completed the Ten Days of Awe) was a bit more somber as we began the fast for The Day of Atonement.

This day was a sweet day with God, who is constantly showing us which way to go next. Our Father is always opening our eyes to the human things we miss or overlook which must be corrected and then He begins opening our eyes even wider to point out the spiritual things that our souls are hungry and thirsty to receive. Atonement brings spiritual comfort and security into our lives.

Atonement feels like a warm blanket covering you with love. Much like that hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning that gives you that little extra you need to keep on going. Sometimes it is like a big comfortable chair you can climb into and know that this is your place and it will always be available for you.

Yet; atonement should never be taken for granted. Jesus gave everything he had to purchase our atonement. Can you imagine how that must have felt? I can’t. I know my human flesh could not have gone through that much no matter how much love it gave to anyone. Jesus did this for us.

It is always with awe and amazement that we arrive into this annual place of reviewing God’s grace and mercy toward us. True Atonement brings forth pure worship toward our Great God and acts of gratitude for providing the precious blood of our Savior; Jesus Christ so that we may live forever and forever live.

I hope you caught our articles on The Day of Atonement. One of those article goes into the many details of why we fast on this day.

If you want to review them; just click into these links:

https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/why-fast-on-the-day-of-atonement/

https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/a-review-of-leviticus-16-for-the-day-of-atonement/

https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/httpwp-mep8woph-ns/

CELEBRATING A LOVELY FALL SEASON

As October continued we were blessed with the beauty of a late fall.

Our twin daughters celebrated a birthday as we watched the leaves of the trees begin to fall. Where have all the years gone to? I look at their lovely faces and thank God for bringing them into my life.

We thought Fall would never come this year because we had received very little rain, but slowly those maple trees started their vivid shows full of reds and yellows.

Perhaps they were just being timid.

Who knows?

It is nice to know that the maples will always be beautiful even if all the other tree’s leaves turn brown immediately and fall off their branches from lack of rain.

I’m still watching our fall tree – it hasn’t reached the peak of its change yet. I always like to get a picture there with the grands when it happens. I’m sure that time is just around the corner now.

In the meantime; the house has taken on a whole new flavor – everything is fall – everywhere!

The Fall Family tree got put up again; and we are anticipating adding a new name to this tree soon.

FALL VISITS MEAN SLOWING DOWN A BIT AND CATCHING UP WITH EACH OTHER’S LIVES

It was a great fall blessing to have some time with the WHOLE family this year in October.

Our South Carolina crew came to stay with us during the week of The Feast of Tabernacles. We got to hear all the latest plans for this new little one that will join us sometime in early December.

There is no greater blessing than being a grandparent!

Even when we have to sometimes share it with others……

Right before the Fall Holy Days we were blessed with a visit from some old friends from out-of-state. We enjoyed a lovely dinner at one daughter’s house while we caught up with each other’s lives and watched our granddaughter get smothered with love and attention from one other set of grandparents. We love that she shares their love for her with us!

I even made Mississippi Mud Cake for the occasion!

Fall is definitely a perfect time for slowing down and making that extra time to enjoy the good company of family and friends.

We were blessed with several opportunities to do this in October.

I love when that happens!

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES CELEBRATION

Finally; October brought us to our season of joy!

We celebrated The Feast of Tabernacles.

This is my favorite time of the year and I wait for it eagerly each year that passes by.

No Feast of Tabernacles week is ever the same and each one has it’s own share of lovely blessings and surprises.

This year was extremely different in the beginning when, as often happens in life; God changed our plans a bit.

Because of my husband’s heart surgery we had to cancel our plans to travel; but we all gathered together at our home which we fondly and ironically call “the castle.”

Don’t ever worry when things don’t go as planned; God’s plans are always better.

We enjoyed the week immensely!

The time was so full.

The first of the week was a little quieter and slower than expected while my husband and I enjoyed some nice down-time and relaxation at home. He needed the time for healing and I needed the time for a little rest!

One of those days we spent going out to eat at one of our favorite local restaurants. We both love visiting The Little Donkey for a great meal.

This was the first time that my husband had felt like driving to a restaurant and eating out since his heart surgery! It did not escape us that these little luxuries of life were now even more priceless. We had a lot to be thankful for that night.

Here is a photo of our favorite dish at this place. Normally, we would never order fried chicken at a restaurant; but I’ve never tasted fried chicken like The Little Donkey serves. It is very tender, juicy, flavorful and spicy. The meat is cooked covered in a totally greaseless crust which has a perfect amount of crispness.

After all; it WAS the time for feasting. That started us on a pattern of feasting for the rest of the week.

When the whole family arrived safely at our doorstep; we feasted even more!

I cooked up a few new interesting dishes this year; one of them was called Cranberry Braised Beef Short Ribs and we served it with Mexican Corn. The ribs were quite delicious even if I did cook them myself! Not one bite was left to throw away. I’ll share the recipe on the blog at some point. Keep watching in our MONDAY MENUS topics.

We also shared a new and very good chili recipe during a nice cool day when the guys were indulged in watching a football game that they all wanted to see.

To my surprise I was able to come up with several glutten-free recipes that made the South Carolina grand-boys very happy. They especially loved the mini-blueberry muffins and the candied apples.

I ended all of our feasting festivities on The Great Last Day with a nice warm plate of won-ton apple dumplings which were shared in secret only between my husband and I after everyone else had walked out the door and headed for home.

Well; we had to have some type of comfort for ending such a beautiful week!

The apple dumplings didn’t cure our desire to linger longer in such a peaceful, joyful and harmoniums time; but time doesn’t wait for anyone and now I have to smile whenever I look back over the precious memories we all shared together during this feast.

The whole time was filled with storytelling, worship, prayers (thanking God for our many blessings from the past year’s harvest and asking healing to continue for my husband’s mending from surgery and our son’s broken ankle.

We also asked God to help us to know his will for our family for the coming year.

The rest of our time was cheerfully filled with sukkah building, kids decorating the sukkah, playing games and watching movies, feasting, a few special visitors arriving and saying hello, even sharing a day together on a working farm and enjoying the harvest with them as well as all of our days together!

Did you catch our Sukkah Stories we shared with you in the blog?

There was a series of five stories posted, and we are still working on two more Sukkah Stories for next year. Our family took turns reading them at the feast. We read them every year and usually add a new one each time we gather.

Each story is about a different biblical hero’s sukkah building experience. This traditional act, carried out by every character presented, has its own lessons to teach about our season of joy.

The stories are sometimes leaning toward an adult level, but the young ones seem to grasp more and more of their content every year as we repeat them over and over again.

You know; sometimes it seems we make things too easy for children. The grandchildren often repeat facts from these stories to me throughout the year. If you missed them; you can review them here:

THE SUKKAH OF JOSEPH, THE SUKKAH OF MOSES, THE SUKKAH THAT JACOB BUILT, ABRAHAM’S SUKKAH, ISAAC’S SUKKAH.

These stories were originally written because I wanted to know that our children and grandchildren would never leave a Feast of Tabernacles week without having received more of the stories of God. Since we do not attend with an organized congregational group of people; this helps us to keep focused on the worship. I hope to have the stories published soon, along with two more additional stories about David and Daniel. When that happens we will offer them for sale in The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store. Our mailing list members will receive a free copy. Have you signed up yet?

THE OCTOBER COMMUNITY STORE

If you haven’t looked over the October items in our community store – please don’t forget. There are many October products that you will appreciate. You may find them by clicking here: The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community Store for October 2019.

Don’t forget that you can click into other past month’s of community store products too. The links never grow too old to use. The Community Store can be found by checking under the “About” section of the blog and clicking into the tab for “Products.” We are an Amazon Associate and do stand to make a small profit on any products ordered but at no extra cost to you. Why not support the blog instead of clicking directly into Amazon? The process and the costs are always exactly the same.

SUCH A FULL FEAST OF TABERNACLES

As we noted above; the time we spent at The Feast of Tabernacles was amazing. We have already spoken of worship, prayer and storytelling, but there was also sukkah decorating by the grand-kids.

And we also enjoyed some special visitors dropping in and out (my Mom and Jason’s girlfriend.)

It is an old family joke; so I will have to fill you in on why there isn’t a pic of our son’s girlfriend yet. We always tell them if they are around for a whole year; we will include their photos in the family events. Poor girl has a long time to wait! We loved her though. She is as pretty on the inside as the outside and her company was much appreciated.

We also loved it that my Mom actually took the time to spend a whole day with us! (That is rare these days, she is more scheduled than the President.) She stayed for breakfast and lunch and two whole stories! That is a world’s record for her and all of the great-grand-kids and the grand-kids and grown kids were equally delighted!

So much fun and laughter in one house at one time!

I’m ready to do it all over again already.

There was a lot of planning for the future, catching up on each other’s lives, loving on the grandkids, interesting and funny conversations filled with laughter. I got two of the puppies to stand still long enough for a photo. I adore them; but dogs do not live in my house. They seemed perfectly content to occupy their time out in the sukkah, especially when the kids joined them there.

We had our son’s dog, our granddaughter’s new puppy and our South Carolina crew’s dog out on the back deck manning their posts at the sukkah.

I’m happy to report that Tady, Iris and Willie all enjoyed the feast.

I also enjoyed that they stayed in the sukkah and not inside my PERMANENT shelter; or there might not have been anything left standing.

Because my husband could not yet be walking long distances and moving actively for a whole day at a time; and because our son was also on crutches with a broken ankle; the guys stayed home and watched a football game. All stayed except for one daughter’s boyfriend – whose arm we twisted to go with us ladies, so he could take his camera and photography skills out for some family photos while the rest of us went out to see the fall events of a beautiful working farm in the area. I think he had as much fun as the ladies. He is a soccer fan anyway.

The place we visited was called Teshua Farms (in Hebrew it means My Deliverance), and we plan to give you a fun article soon about that place in our OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO column; hopfully sometime in November.

It was an amazing farm!

The kids loved everything we did there. They do have a lot more than pumpkin picking going on there.

So it is very sufficient to say; the feasts and festivals of October were amazing!

God surely met us in time.

He is always right on time – every year.

Here is a link to an article we wrote concerning why we celebrate The Feast of Tabernacles; just in case you missed it! THEREFORE; LET US KEEP THE FEAST! – A CHRISTIAN CELEBRATION OF SUKKOT – SEASONS.

A DIFFERENT TYPE OF CELEBRATION AND A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT IT

Now that we are at the end of the month; the whole world seems to be in Halloween mode.

Not me!

That was one thing I really enjoyed about Teshua Farms; I saw absolutely no evidence of Halloween in all of their fall festivities.

It was delightful!

We did post several articles giving our thoughts and ideas for Halloween though and you may find them here if you wish to know more: WHATEVER THINGS ARE LOVELY – PART FOUR – THE HAUNTING SUBJECT OF HALLOWEEN SERIES – PIECES OF THE PUZZLE, OUT OF EGYPT – PART THREE OF THE HAUNTING SUBJECT OF HALLOWEEN, WHO IS SATAN? PART TWO OF THE HAUNTING SUBJECT OF HALLOWEEN SERIES, THE HAUNTING SUBJECT OF HALLOWEEN – FIRST THOUGHTS IN A SERIES ON THE SUBJECT – PIECES OF THE PUZZLE

SAY HELLO TO NOVEMBER ALREADY

And so it is that we end this beautiful month of October and move on towards the wonders of November.

This is the time that I usually fill you full of hopes for what is to come. This time I’m only going to tell you that November is so full of ways to celebrate Thanksgiving that your head will start to spin!

Can there be too many ways to be thankful?

I hope not!

The visit to the farm has inspired my Thanksgiving thoughts too. Can’t wait to see what comes of that.