The Edge [of all] Journeys

This week has been a week of recovery, reorganizing and chores. After spending a week camping in the mountains for Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), we accumulated much laundry and extra camping gear that we now have to find a place to store! We went camping for a week in the mountains with about 80 or so other people for a majority of the week (including children). It was pretty cold. We ended up using all our winter stuff that I had packed and enjoyed many hot, hearty, one pot meals.

We decided to live out of our grab-and-go bags for the week. The four oldest children have their own packs and Bennah and I carried Joy’s clothes and a some extras for the others (just in case). We had done a massive thrift store shopping trip and was able to outfit all our children in good quality clothes for this camping trip and the winter season coming up. We bought sleeping bags and made do with our propane heaters and many, many, many Hot Pockets (hand warmers). We stayed in our tent for the first couple nights, then moved to a warmer, more deluxe dwelling: a pop up camper after it was offered to us by the hosts. The nights were pretty cold for the kids, although Bennah and Andrew didn’t mind sleeping in the tent in -10 (C) /20 (F) degree weather. It even snowed a few times during the week!

Sukkot is probably my favorite feast. It is the biggest and longest of the biblical feasts and it has so much significance to me, my family and our family of believers who celebrate this with us all over the world. Sukkot is a time to celebrate and remember when YHWH’s spirit dwelt with Israel in the wilderness, as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. After Israel entered into the promised land, Sukkot became more of a feast of in-gathering and celebrating the fall harvest since it occurred right around the harvest time. King Solomon dedicated the very first temple during Sukkot. It’s also a time to look forward to when Jesus/Yahushua will return and we will reign and dwell with Him in His kingdom. Yahushua was also born during Sukkot (scriptures says He came and dwelt among us. The word to dwell in hebrew is the same meaning as to pitch a tent or tabernacle). It makes sense that He would come to earth during a feast that is about looking forward to His return and dwelling with His people. In 1621, the first pilgrims celebrated Sukkot as a thankful celebration of their harvest. About 200 years later, it became known as Thanksgiving.

Anyhoo, we were excited about it. It was a lot of fun. I wore my hat for almost the entire time, but it was fun. The week was full of times of fellowship, shared potluck meals (in a heated garage, yay!), teachings, informal discussions, activities for the kids, and much tromping through the woods, breathing in the crisp, clean mountain air and catching snow on our tongues. All this with a spectacular background of snow covered Colorado mountains and golden aspens.