I’m actually writing this on my new phone and emailing it to our blog for posting. Not even sure it is going to work but man is it forgiving on the automatic spelling correction. Love it. Just hannging out in Colorado and it’s time to get to work. Way behind on things that resemble blog updates and photo posting. Some day.
Sent via DROID on Verizon Wireless
I knew it was going to be an interesting evening when the horse escaped. Pixie was tearing out of the gate as if she meant business and I figured pretty quickly that she’d be way more difficult to catch if she got too far. I was just coming out from my cousins house when she made the move and I ran to block the path at the gate to her pasture. But she was already out, and instead of falling for my attempt to push her back she started hugging the outside of the fence and trotting south.
Good old buddy – a brilliant black mut that has some Lab in him somewhere – observed what was at stake and came running out to head her off. As he circled and turned her around I approached from the other side and blocked any potential escape routes. The 2 of us wedged her in, forced her back into her pen, and she was not happy about it. Even though Leon got some treats ready for her she still kicked up a storm at Buddy.
Later on we tried to shoot a skunk that has been pilfering the dog food in the garage. It snuck out as Jen pulled the other car out of the garage and potentially out of harms way. A few days later we got it though. We had it trapped behind a big sheet of plywood and the wall. I eased the plywood back ever so slowly. When it peeked around the corner Leon shot it in the head. It must have already released though because… man… you think they smell bad when you drive past a dead one on the road somewhere. Wow. It is quite debilitating.
Ok, so back to the night in question. Anyway. The wind turned vicious. It was nearly impossible to open the door to the heated shop (in which we had parked our trailer for our stay at our cousins) without going for a ride. It literally yanked my mom-in-law off her feet at one point. The door didn’t get shut all the way either at one point and the wind literally tore it off its hinges.
Try reattaching a door on hinges to the frame and some of the hinges back to the door while holding it open in Category 3 hurricane conditions. Fun times. It took several sessions (my first couple attempts were successful but not permanent as the wind had its way with the door again and again), but I finally got it. And I’m actually not exaggerating about the conditions. I know it was Cat 3 winds because at midnight we got a call from the nearby town (Winnipegosis) asking for help sandbagging. There’s a river that flows into the local lake (Lake Winnipegosis). Well, the winds were so strong and constant that they were actually blowing the lake water backwards up river and flooding parts of the town.
It was quite surreal. So we went and sandbagged for a bit. The next day the winds continued and the water displaced some residents, The Dredge, and a bunch of other stuff we found washed up around various fields that we went quading (4-wheelin) through a couple days later.
That was quite a day. People that have lived there all their lives said nothing ever close to that has happened before. I think there was some kind of flood in ’53 but hardly anyone remembered. Here are some shots from the next day.
Canada Flag shredded from the wind
Our friend's house in town. The "normal" river is way in the distance.
Driveway at the first place we sandbagged the night before.
Had coffee here at 2am. This was probably one of the worst-hit businesses.
Life is a river filled with self-reflexive microcosms. The Road.
Mostly it is a constant rushing, a blur of events carrying us incessantly forward, inexorably onward. Time.
But there are moments. An eddy in the currant snags the shore and strands time’s gaze. The river doesn’t stop, doesn’t even slow, but the inertia temporarily presses perspective into a recline between the water and the sky, and it feels like floating inside a transparent womb. There is no up or down, east, west, north or south.
There is no movement but constant motion surrounds. Weightless.
And then time’s tyranny takes account, finds a subject stranded, re-asserts its impatient decree. The womb shatters. And for a fraction of perception everything stops: motion, sound, pulse, vision… every gaze is frozen, pure, unfiltered, and collides into a choice: cling to jagged womb fragments or PLUNGE.
Such chatic contentions consume themselves before they even exist – time reverses upon itself for a span too short to measure and the decision is made before the choice has even penetrated the mind. Falling.
Down.
Then forward, into a vague familiar rushing. Momentums match and fuse. The shore fades away. It’s almost as if nothing changed yet something feels different… there is a dull throbbing.
Several shards of womb removed leave vivid scars of joy. Memories.
Older scars fade slightly.
The rushing intensifies and there is only the river. The Road.
Sky – Old Norse: Cloud
Aysh – Hebrew: Fire
Yachalel – Hebrew: to wait on, hope, trust in Elohim / YHWH
He spread a cloud for a covering, And fire to give light in the night.
– Ps 105:39
See, the eye of יהוה is on those fearing Him, On those waiting [hoping, trusting] for His kindness…
– Ps 33:18
As for me, I look to יהוה, I wait [hope, trust] for the Elohim of my deliverance, my Elohim does hear me.
– Mic 7:7
Born on Sep 28, 2010 during Sukkot (the Feast of Booths / Tabernacles) and through extraordinary circumstances, our precious little Punkin #6 has given us a challenge in the naming. There were so many weighty things that his name needed to carry, but it also needed to have the light-hearted nature of the excitement, adventure, and blessing that he is.
Baby Sky.
Sky Aysh Yachalel.
We wanted his name to both carry the character of his birth experience as well as the identity of what YHWH is showing us through the timing. There was also a sense of completeness and new beginnings as he is the 8th member of the family. The biggest themes that emerged for us through all of this were:
Humorous Prelude
This seemed insignificant at the time, but actually became a factor in Sky’s name. A few weeks ago we were having family cuddles in our bed and talking about possible names with the kids (keep in mind that we didn’t know Punkin #6 was a boy until he was born). They were all pitching in their suggestions and Jaiden said with serious conviction, “We should call him ‘Hot Fire Super.'” Before I realized how serious he was I started laughing uncontrollably until Jaiden began to cry. Imagine trying to explain to your 3 year old that you weren’t laughing at his idea, just at how he expressed it. That was a tough one. He was 100% convinced that ‘Hot Fire Super’ would be a perfectly valid name for his little brother. I guess it really isn’t all that strange after all, and in the end, ‘Fire’ became part of his name.
The Story
On Monday, Sep 19th, we had our first visit with the midwife who delivered our neice a few months ago. Back in May she told Renee’s sister that she’d love to help us if we were going to be in Winnipeg around Renee’s due date. We were blown away by her offer. Even though it was informal, and we didn’t even get to talk to her until we were already here, after praying about it in Pennsylvania we felt total peace about working our way to Winnipeg. We were also prepared to have this baby ourselves somewhere on the road if that was what would unfold.
On Friday, Sep 24th, some out-of-town friends and family joined us here at the campground as Sukkot started.
On Saturday, Sep 25th, we had a whole additional crowd of friends / spiritual family out here for Shabbat and fellowship. They stayed late and went back to their homes in the city that night.
On Sunday, Sep 26th, around 11pm labor started. We were really excited because we figured there was a really good chance of having this baby before our out-of-town family / friends had to leave for home late the next day. The plan was to do the whole thing here in our trailer at the campground with the help of our midwife. We called her around 2am just to let her know that early labor had started.
However, by the afternoon on Monday, Sep 27th, labor was still fairly slow and it became obvious that nothing was going to happen before they all had to leave. By 10pm things had picked up a bit and the testing began. We got in touch with our midwife and she had landed in an impossible situation. She was in the middle of another delivery and couldn’t make it out. She thought she could make other arrangements for us, but we’d have to go into the city. The alternative would be to stay here with the expectation that we would be having this baby on our own without the assistance of a midwife, and that initially felt scary in some ways and relieving in other ways. After praying about it with Renee and her mom we were determined to do this YHWH’s way even if it meant trusting Him completely in new areas and depths.
Then we had an idea. Kind of a long shot, and were were hesitant to pursue it, but felt like we should try. We met a sweet woman who came out with our friends on Saturday. Sitting around the campfire that night she mentioned that she had been a midwife before. She hadn’t practiced in a while, but we thought maybe she’d be willing to come over just to offer advice and experience in an informal capacity. I called my dear brother up here through whom we met her and asked what he thought. He said he’d call her and check. A few minutes later he called back and said she was super excited that we’d ask and she was gathering her things and would be on her way. We were so blessed by her reaction and willingness to come over and help.
We fully expected to have the baby some time that night, but Monday night turned into Tuesday morning. We had a wonderful time together that night – Renee, her mom, this dear new midwife friend who we had just met a couple nights before, and myself – but labor was not progressing as fast as we thought it should and by 5am we were all exhausted. We decided to rest and regain some strength, and one by one we started to snooze. Joy woke up around 6am and was curious to know what was going on. So I held her for a while and fell asleep with her in my arms. Our friend didn’t want to leave, but she had to get her 2 children off to school and we encouraged her to go, expecting to be in touch and return when things picked up again.
After a couple hours of sleep the contractions intensified and Renee started bleeding with each one. It wasn’t a lot, but it hadn’t been like that with any of our other birth experiences either. Our original midwife called to check in after she had a couple hours of sleep herself and we gave her the update. She was a little concerned (as were we) about the bleeding.
One of the complications in the whole arrangement that hadn’t been obvious at the beginning was that we were too far out of the city for insurance to cover our midwife. She couldn’t come out at all, like we were originally planning. But she graciously offered for us to come over to her home and she would check Renee and, if need be, we could have the baby there. She lived just inside the city and not too far from us, which was a total provision and much better than where we’d have had to go the night before.
We really did not want to leave our kids – the whole point was to do this as a family and include them, and that was hard – but the most important thing was to use the resources Father was making available to us to insure everything was ok. Our midwife was even able to arrange an immediate ultrasound for us. The primary concern was that maybe the position of the placenta and/or cord was obstructing normal labor progression and causing the bleeding. We were ready to pay out of our own pocket for the ultrasound, but the doctor didn’t charge us. Isn’t YHWH amazing!
And of course during this whole time so many people were praying for us as well.
The ultrasound showed that everything was perfect. It was only a matter of time after all (with maybe a little help from assisted water breaking). I figured the next difficult decision would be between going back to the trailer without our midwife or leaving the kids out and having the baby at her house (though I knew Renee’s mom was taking great care of them). But even that was solved nicely when our midwife offered and suggested that I go pick them up and bring them back.
We fully expected to have our midwife break Renee’s water to speed things up when I got back with the kids, but by the time I returned in about an hour, she was having constant contractions and hard labor. 45 minutes later her water broke on its own an I was catching my new son. I finally got to catch one!
Zach was so excited. He didn’t leave Renee’s side for a long time once she and Sky were settled in the bed. The different reactions were interesting. Bennah and Reayah have seen this all before and they were content to check things out and move on to other things, but the younger ones were fascinated.
YHWH provided – even down to the car seat. We had shopped around and even had one lined up through a site like craigslist, but they never got back to us about when/where to pick it up. Father had one waiting for us though. Our midwife had been given a few car seats recently around the time of her own granddaughter’s birth and was happy to get one of them out of her basement.
Overall, throughout the entire process, there were so many moments characterized by having to trust and wait on YHWH – Yachalel. And during it all – despite the uncertainties – we felt covered, protected, encompassed by His Presence as a refuge, canopy, chupah, sukkah – the cloud and fire – Sky Aysh.
He is the most precious little thing. He will be a constant reminder to us – and hopefully others too – especially as we continue into a future that is dark and uncertain, that YHWH is our refuge and our strength; our cloud by day and fire by night as we learn to trust Him completely and obey His leading.
Baby Sky.
In my previous post… was it only last night ??? wow… Anyway, I shifted gears a bit dramatically away from the travel-journaling side of things mid-post and conveyed a weighty gut feeling that our world (of supermarket-convenience-entertainment-excess-mostly-stable-western-1st-world-normalcy) could be colliding with its curtain-call destiny as early as this fall.
Rightly so, an astute reader and dear friend asked me why I think so. After all… fall is only a few weeks away. YIKES.
One of the things I love about the lifestyle that YHWH has placed us in for this season of our lives is that we live in our own little bubble in many respects – especially when it comes to news. We’re not surrounded by the normal daily inputs that would otherwise keep us informed with or without our own research. Sure, news is always a few keystrokes away, but I’m not bombarded with the latest popular news media fad and that is a blessing.
But I don’t think we’re all that unique in this respect – regardless of our fairly unique lifestyle. For the most part, and actually because of the popular news media’s attempt to bombard (and entertain) I think the vast majority of America is in its own bubble that is quite a bit different than reality. Sure, there are alternate news sources out there, but I don’t mean Fox News. Nothing wrong with Fox News. Well, other than the fact that it’s merely the opposing side of the Dialectic whose ultimate goal is identical to the side it claims to be opposing. But that’s an entirely different topic, into which it would also be easy to digress via the whole democrat / republican facade.
But really, my point with this meandering background that doesn’t seem to be getting any closer to answering the question I purportedly have set out to answer is that: some of my feelings on Normal (yes, let’s make Normal a character, and his) lack of longevity – perhaps even expiring this fall – are based on several poignant moments when I’ve surfaced out of my bubble recently to consult Reality in other parts of the world. These are really the kind of things that we must do intentionally, because there is a very deliberate attempt to entertain us into total disinterest beyond casual curiosity and program us into passivity.
2 years ago, in my self-centered view of the way Scriptural prophecy might play out in these End Times (which I still believe, as I have for years, are upon us) I had a powerful subconscious assumption that things probably wouldn’t really get all that bad in America until after the “Great Tribulation” – or last 3.5 years of man’s rule on the earth – had begun. The obvious trigger sign from the Book of Daniel is the emergence of the anti-messiah and his desecration of the temple mount in Israel. Although I have always wanted to be prepared for whatever – whenever – I guess I sort of figured that we had at least enough time to wait and watch for that to happen first, and once it did we’d figure out what to do next. So, it came as a minor shock to the presuppositional system (yes, made up word there) to ponder – what if America’s demise came well before that?
The prophets foretell of an End Times destruction of Babylon and the Daughter of Babylon. You can find all kinds of articles on the internet debating the application and identities of these entities. What stands out as conclusive in my mind is the description in Revelation 17-18 which layers the understanding of Babylon as a city that also represents a nation. There are many characteristics described in these 2 chapters that fit America, but the most significant factors that do not seem to apply to any other nation or city in the world are:
1) the city having sovereignty over the kings of the earth
2) the city that is a hub of the earth’s merchandise where some 27 unique commodities are bought and sold on a daily basis
The only place in the world that meets those 2 key criteria (and the other characteristics) is New York City as the home of the UN (#1) and the home of the New York Stock Exchange (#2) and by extension… America.
Scripture is clear that YHWH will not do anything without first revealing it to His servants the prophets. I do not believe this is limited to Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc… YHWH still speaks loud and clear to His people and still has prophets on the earth as at all other times throughout history. If you Google something like [prophecy america destruction] you will find what many prophets have been saying independently and in agreement about America’s destiny over the last few decades even back to the ’50s or earlier. Use your discernment. I personally tend to give more weight to the words given before 9/11 since everything since then is so heavily influenced by the events that have followed. However, every word consistent with Scripture is worth considering.
Ok, so that’s a lot to make you wade through before getting to my own personal thoughts regarding this fall, 2010. But it’s all context, and it all adds weight to my reasons below.
Indicators that fall 2010 might bring substantial changes to Normal:
It’s hard to appreciate that answer without understanding some quick basics. If you’ve never been exposed to some of these ideas before, they can be a little daunting and seem far fetched, but you don’t need an economics degree to appreciate truth and reality and I can recommend many incredible resources if you want to do more digging on your own. A primer… the facts:
Culminating into some sort of conclusion:
MY MAIN POINT is not to say that all hell is going to break loose in October 2010. It very well could be another year or two or three (though I highly doubt it). My main point is to shake the the cobwebs off my own mind, spirit, and heart and in so doing hopefully help you do likewise.
Do not fear.
All the mind-programing wizards in entertainment, the news media, government, corporate America (say advertising), the medical-drug complex, and education are busy massaging American’s into a state of pre-fear conditioning. The end game is control. But they lose all control when we through faith stand fast in acknowledging that only our Creator is truly in control.
Enter Luke 12. Probably one of the best chapters in all of Scripture to bathe your mind in daily. Psalm 91 as well. BUT. These are promises to those who have a relationship with the King of the universe. They cannot be used as religious talismans in a name-it-and-claim-it fashion by those who have no genuine, humble, reverent respect of YHWH and His nature.
Learn to hear His voice daily in your most seemingly mundane decisions. His sheep know His voice.
Practice daily obedience. Do what you know to be right.
If you know His voice and practice obedience then when timing is critical for your own survival you will hear His instructions clearly and respond immediately.
Moses spent 40 years in that process of learning to Hear and Obey – in Hebrew “Shema and Shamar” – which is actually a beautiful play on words and amazing word picture all to itself. “Shamar” means to guard or keep – as in guarding / keeping His Word / His instruction / His commandments. But it derives this meaning partly from a related word “shamiyr” which means “thorn” because in the wilderness a shepherd would construct a hedge of thorns around his sheep to protect and guard them from predators.
As we learn to HEAR and GUARD TO DO what our Shepherd asks of us, He will HEAR our petitions for deliverance and GUARD us as His precious flock… This October, next October and every October after that regardless of what is happening in the world around us. And actually, with the timing of the Fall Feasts this year – Trumpets is on Sep 11th so things could explode even well before October.
July escaped completely undocumented, even though we had a great big Garlic Adventure to Ohio and back to PA. Tonight I am typing this on battery power while we sleep several degrees off kilter in this welcome center / rest stop parking lot in NE Penn just shy of NY state. I don’t think we’re suppose to be here overnight, but when I went inside to find someone to ask, the only one around was a nice janitor lady and she said no one will bother us. I told her the story about how Joy dropped my phone in a cup of water and now the screen doesn’t work. She had asked what that little thing around my wrist was. I explained that it was a little LED flashlight that I use to read my phone’s screen whenever I need to. We wouldn’t have even stopped here but the Wal-Mart in town has been overtaken by township ordinances that state in scary big signs “no overnight camping.” I almost wanted to challenge that by setting up anyway and if anyone came I would have debated the semantics of overnight camping versus just parking… camping involves so much more it seems to me and it’s not like we would have tried to have a fire and roast marshmellows or anything. And, while the lady at customer service was apologetic and emphatic that it was not them (Wal-Mart) but the township and suggested that they were open 24 hours and hey we just might be shopping all night long, we figured we better not risk it and check out the welcome center instead since she also thought it might permit overnight. By the time we got here (just down the road) and everyone went to the bathroom and I called ahead to the next Wal-Mart an hour down the interstate to make sure they weren’t in local ordinance party-pooper land too, it was going to be quite late by the time we got there and sprawled out. So, we made a family decision split along pretty even lines to do the adventurous thing and subject ourselves to some guerrilla-style sleeping arrangements since I wanted to at least keep a low profile which means no slide-out and no leveling and Bennah had to climb over the bikes to get in bed, the other two boys are sleeping on the dinette (which turns into a bed of course… well of sorts anyway) and the girls are sharing the fold-down couch. And only the two little guys can squeeze through the bathroom door so everyone else has to use the porta-john that we normally keep in the truck so that we don’t have to stop at facilities every 15 minutes.
We’re on our way north and east.
I have many good excuses as to why things have died down quite a bit on the site here… and I want to publish this more boldly and dedicate an entire post to it – and I will likely write a lot more on the subject some other time (if I can make the time for it) – but:
Let that sink in for a minute.
What does it mean? My world? Your world? Everyone’s world? You’ve probably felt the general vibe out there that not everything is as it should be. Sure there are lots of things going on in the news that seem like they’re all somehow connected, but surely everything will go on as it always has. Everything will be alright… right?
If you – right now – wherever you are, whatever you are doing that is getting interrupted by reading this is – pause for a moment; ponder the possibility that this fall – October, maybe later – could be a cataclysmic fulcrum point in America’s history that changes her (and the world) forever; let this possibility sink into your mind and then prepare; prepare by praying; prepare by thinking – what would you do if EVERYTHING changed? if you could not work? if you could not get to your family? if you could not use your cell phone? if there was no electricity? where would you go? what would you do? how? why? start weighing your options, but realize the only option is to trust your Creator whom you might not know as well as you’d like… if you pause for a moment and contemplate what I am saying… you will be more prepared to handle what will be coming in due time than the vast majority who will be caught completely by surprise.
Is this doomsday talk / conspiracy theory / doom and gloom? Depends on your perspective. Heavenly judgment on wickedness and oppression is justice and deliverance to the humble and righteous. Analytically speaking, America’s economic survival is impossible. Spiritually speaking, men of God have been having dreams and visions of America’s destruction for decades. And I’m not talking about televangelist type “men of God” – I’m talking about the kind of men (and women) who suffer persecution for their faith in Messiah in other countries, the kind who come to America as missionaries because of how lost our nation has become, the kind would (and do) walk for months on foot just to acquire a single copy of the Bible.
Could I be wrong about this fall? Certainly. But whether it unravels this fall or later, I am presently convinced that 2 of the next most massive world events are going to be: the collapse of America and war in the Middle East with Israel in the center.
Do I have any inside knowledge? No.
But I will share with you a dream my 7 year old daughter had a few days ago. My jaw dropped when she began telling me about it. She was at the pool with a couple friends. The water started to slowly drain out of the pool, but it was happening fast enough that she noticed it. She said it was very weird. Her friends noticed it too, but what was so bizarre was that no one else seemed to even notice or care. They just kept right on playing, even as they sank deeper and deeper with the level of the water. She and her friends got out as quickly as they could and kept watching. Soon, all the water was gone and everyone else was stuck at the bottom of the pool. She had the impression of very grave danger in the dream. As she was telling me about it, she had no idea how significant it was.
But the first thing I thought of was: “…as it was in the days of Noah…”
Don’t let anything I tell you – or anything that anyone else tells you – become the basis for what you do. Ask your heavenly Father what you should do. And if you don’t know Him very well, well, that’s probably a great place to start. If you don’t know Him at all you need His Son.
And where did May go I might ask you? Well, at least that wasn’t quite so bad as I was expecting. It seems like 3 months have disappeared, but it has only been 1 + a bit since last post… of course, it HAS practically been months if you don’t count the latest posts which haven’t had a whole lot to do with what we’ve actually been up to here in Pennsylvania. And now the clock is already winding down to another departure probably by July… less than another month away. Yikes.
So, here’s the highlight reel. Another crazy thing is that I’ve hardly touched my cameras (relatively speaking), though I do have enough great video clips to cut a few more episodes of Joureys… like so many noble projects collecting dust on the back burners. But here are some of the things that have been filling our days here in PA (besides the work we do in our virtual worlds):
There are some amazing storms that blow through from time to time.
We've been feasting on strawberries. Renee and the kids have helped weed and pick, and every couple of days we get a new big bowl-full from the garden. This was an actual, single strawberry that Reayah found.
Our friends set their pool up over a week ago, and it was added to our daily routine.
Ever since our friends got three new cows, Joy has been smitten. Every single day, several times, we here the familiar refrain: "go see cows? i like cows!"
And of course there's all the farm stuff: I made an attempt at seeding a bit of pasture with grass, and Renee has been having a ball doing all kinds of planting and weeding and picking. Of course the kids are pitching in too.
No country farm would be complete without a creek. Even with the pool set up, this is still pretty much a daily necessity. The creek is so versatile it has hosted forts (under the bridge), dam-making, snake killing, rope swinging, splashing, wading, falling in, and so many other things over the weeks.
Flying down the long driveway hill on scooters is also nearly a daily event. The most common question (the younger boys have to ask first): "can I go down the hill 2 times?"
For more pics of our adventures here over the last couple months, check out my latest smugmug galleries, which I am once again finally getting caught up with (there’s roughly 35 pics in each, and they are still uploading, so if they’re not done when you check, you can always check back again later):
As far as other news… everything is new. We were planning to have left from here a long time ago, but this place has been so fantastic for getting work done (the kids are incredibly content having so much to do outside all the time), and there have been important things that YHWH has kept us around for. It has been a real blessing to have the nearly constant community and fellowship with our friends here.
There is still quite a bit of uncertainty about what will unfold day-to-day, but we’re planning to hit a garlic harvest in July and meet up with some of our dear Colorado friends there, and then head back and still make a run at heading up the East Coast after that. We’ll see… as we’ve discovered, everything is subject to change 🙂
