First Sabbath

We celebrated out first Sabbath as a family the end

of February.  Sabbath was something that had been

laid on my heart through conversation with friends,

a blog I follow, and a recent sermon at church.

It was time.

I collected bits and pieces from all the avenues Sabbath came to

us to begin to form our own.  Starting with a Sabbath desert.

The kiddos alternate picking the desert.

Our hope (we come close) is to begin Sabbath at

sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.

We light candles for our Sabbath blessing and for

each child present.  We also wash our hands

in a bowl to signify purifying our hearts.  I begin by

reading a Sabbath prayer.  Then Dev reads a verse

and Andrew blesses her, next Bobo, lastly

Cambria and I receive a blessing from Andrew.

Then we eat a yummy meal.  We have a white tablecloth and we

linger over dinner a little longer.  We share in a couple of readings

and if I have something to read them about what Sabbath is all about.

Then we have communion and lastly our desert.

After dinner just depends on the night.  One night we

took a walk, another was a card game, one night was

American Idol.  On this particular night, the kids did a

presentation for Drew on their imaginary islands.

On Saturday mornings of Sabbath, we try to have a nice

breakfast all together on the lanai.  Since we began we

have had Sabbath 2 times a month, this seems like an

attainable goal. 

Someone had my camera!

Bobo's first Christmas outfit.

 

The Saturday of Sabbath involves almost always

the beach.  Since beginning Sabbath this has

been such a highlight and I believe has gotten

us to the beach more.  The goal is to not

work too much, so it helps to leave the house.

Our friends told us Sabbath should give us a taste

of heaven.  So it isn't about legalism and rules,

instead fun and together.

The reason we wouldn't go to the other side and run

all our errands for the week isn't because we want

to be legalistic, but because usually that is not restful

and sometimes that doesn't involve us all being together

instead we usually try to "divide and conquer."

We are still plotting it out as we go (now in the month

of June) and what works best for our family.

We as parents cannot find complete rest especially

with a baby but we have certain intentions with the

24 hours.  It has helped to talk through the time and

make a plan instead of just falling into one.

So we are intentional and try to include togetherness,

some rest, fun, worship, and a little bit of a different

feel from the rest of the week.

So far, I think we would all say we look forward

to Sabbath.

(took Bobo and Dev here often as we lived across the street

when Bobo was born)

(Dev and Bobo on the same beach)

Its like a 24 hour holiday with the promise that we

all get to be together.

I don't want to say no friend time...we take

each time case by case but the overall goal is

to stay together as a family.

(so funny, she was sleeping on the bed and rolled

off right onto the pillow, I came over and had to take a pic).

We went to get hamburgers on this Saturday night which was

a fun way to end our first Sabbath celebration! 

Our next Sabbath

Funny faces!

A day at Ka'anapali Beach...we stayed a good part of the day

and then went and got dinner to have a picnic on the grass.

I love camping out for awhile at the beach.

Bobo loves to ride the waves that hit the shore,

charging at the wave.  I love how he is sitting like the older boys.