Makeover Time! ~ Cabinets

Today I have chosen to post an ongoing project as I can't wait until it is finished...literally!  This kitchen is so wonderful, I love it, it has character.  I like how the previous owners were creative in making the flat 1959 cabinetry have some dimension.  I don't however, like what they used.  It is too bulky for one...and it isn't wood...it is what I fondly call 'sawdust' board.  What happens when that wonderful pressed wood dust gets damp?  It swells...soooo...in a kitchen I actually cook in...that just isn't going to work.  We also had a wonderful old Jenn-Air range, which in many ways, I wanted to keep, but realistically it was better to replace it with a newer range.  Last on our list of changes is the counter top...obviously this will be with us for some time, but the small section near the range did get a makeover as the one that was there previously wasn't attached, was too short and too wide...so Carl made a new top that is just right for the tight space and it looks real nice. 

This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in.

Notice the small counter near the range.

Here is a close up of the cabinets and the water...steam in this case...damage.

I found The Lettered Cottage, Tudor Style Before & After online and decided that is what I wanted to do.  If you read how they did it, they used nice cabinet quality ply-wood, we opted for thin hardwood boards as it would be easier even though it is more expensive that ripping ply-wood.  After stripping all the paint off, I sanded it down and used Kilz primer/sealer on them before painting them.  We have a long way to go yet, the bottom cabinets are all painted, the drawers have all their 'pulls' but the cabinets are still waiting for their knobs.  We have all of the top cabinets to do still but, as it is gardening season now...it will have to wait a bit.

For the drawers I striped all the paint layers off, sanded them really well and put a coat of primer on them before painting...this is the bathroom drawer I am working on here...

Carl had a great time taking all the added 'wood' off...apparently...the cabinets used to be green.  I am in the process of stripping the door that is missing...it's on the counter...right ...there...

This is how far we are on this project, it will be many more months until it is finished as we need to get moving on the garden. 

Here is the cabinet top Carl made, it is a small area that doesn't have a lot of direct use, so we just used pine, the rest of the counters will possibly be copper...we shall see.  I have been sealing this counter weekly with Linseed oil.

Rest & Reflection ~ Offerings

The word offering in Hebrew is korban, the root of this word means specifically, to draw near...so to offer up something to Yahweh is to be able to draw near to Him.  That was the whole point of the offerings and still is the whole point of the offerings. How does this apply to us?  Understanding the offerings helps us understand Yahweh and how we should approach Him.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever...

Here is a little about what we have learned on offerings. 

Leviticus 1 - Olah offering - elevation offering, complete burnt offering, voluntarily given from the heart, what are we to give voluntarily from the heart to Yahweh?  Us.  All of who we are.  How?  By loving Yahweh and loving others as we love ourselves. Yeshua is an olah offering, he voluntarily laid his life down for us, he is our example of how to live Torah.  Yeshua said, "If you love me; you will keep my commands" (John 14:15, Romans 12:1)  

Leviticus 2 - Minchah offering - grain offering, voluntarily given from the heart, part offered, part kept by priests. Seasoned with salt, the salt of the covenant. (Lev 2:13)  Salt is very important here, we are to be salt to the earth (Matt 5:13, Mark 9:49-50)  Salt is a purifier a preserver, we are to be pure and preserve the Torah, the Gospel of Yeshua.   Yeshua is the grain offering.  Bread of Life. And He (Yeshua) took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying," This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me".  (Luke 22:19) 

Leviticus 3 - Shalamim offering - Peace offering, voluntarily given, shared with priests the persons bringing it and Yahwah, the Passover is a peace offering,  Fellowship offering.  Fellowship one with another, restore and build up the whole house of Yahweh...be at peace one with another...reconcile differences in walking out Torah.  Yeshua is our Passover, we have passed from death to life in Him. (Ephesians 2, Ezekiel 37:15-19)

These first three offerings have many choices, they are free will, from the heart, voluntary offerings.  Every offering of an animal was unblemished, the grain offering was of the best.  We are to bring our best before Yahweh, always, with a cheerful heart, not grudgingly.   

Leviticus 4 - Chat'at offering - Sin offering,  mandatory offering for unintentional sin...For all have sinned...(Romans 3:23) It is completely burnt up, in two places, the main part being outside the camp.  Yeshua is our sin offering (Ephesians 2, Colossians 1:14-29, Hebrews 13:11-12)

Leviticus 5 - Asham - guilt offering, mandatory, like sin offering totally burnt up in two places, the main part being 'outside the camp'.  For a status change from being guilty of sin to being restored.  If it was something stolen, damaged, lost, etc. it was to be restored and increased by one-fifth. Yeshua is our guilt offering..."Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing". (Luke 23:34)

These two offerings are limited in the choices as they relate to sin.  We are limited to our choices when we sin, there is a mandatory repentance to restore us to right relationship with Yahweh before we can approach Him with our voluntary offerings.  Again, every offering was unblemished, the best there can be. 

So much has been lost to us and is now being restored, very quickly.  I am amazed at how much is available to us in this time.

Shavuah tov! 


To learn more please visit:

 
Sheepfold Gleanings *
Torah portion 'comentary' for this week, Vayikra

119 Ministries *
Apologetics from a Hebrew perspective, very Berean.  "Test Everything" is their motto and their hope is that we all do our homework.



*(Any sites I link to does not necessarily imply that I agree 100% with everything they teach, we are all learning and none of us has all the answers.  You know?) 

Surrounded by Beauty!

I have a tendency to forget that life is more than being, it is also about doing.  Sure, I do lots of things during a day...most of them tedious, washing clothes, cleaning, making meals and such...I really enjoy reading and learning and peeling paint off bathroom counters! (a future post, maybe?)  That is just normal stuff for me.  The doing I am talking about is the doing I don't do...do you follow?  It's getting outside, in public...I don't do that too well.  This week, my goal is to get outside, at least once a day, for more than 30 minutes.  It's warming up, I can do that whether it is in the yard or not, I must get outside.  This is what I am missing hiding out in the bathroom all day...

Yesterday was beautiful and what was I doing all day?  I wasn't outside...not until my husband came home and booted Abigail and I out for a walk.  It was glorious to be outside and I wanted more...so, we went down to the river...the 'Mighty Columbia'...to take a peak at the VERY low water...there is a dam issue downstream...should I rephrase that?  SOooo....they let the water out.  Last year about this time it was flooding, this year...it looks like the tide is out!  Even though the water should be there...if there were no dams it would look very different...maybe something like this...who knows. 

 

I may not get many more pictures like this...

Or this...

 They are going to be on their own before I know it...I need to make the most of what I have left before they start out on their own journey...

alone.

~Blessings to you!

Makeover Time!

There really is a lot you can do with what you have.  It takes a bit of imagination, ingenuity and inspiration, but it is possible...really it is.  I am hoping this little post each week will help someone somewhere in the inspiration aspect.

Today's makeover time did cost a little money to finish up and I didn't take any pictures of the process...so...I will do the best I can at explaining what I did.

I received some inspiration on at Lowe's when we went there to buy a replacement light for the porch area.  As we were moving in, the ugly globe had gotten broke and it was just an ugly light bulb hanging from the ceiling of the walkway.  So...we were there and I was inspired by the pendant lighting...there were some there that I liked enough that I could live with, but I wanted something different, something no one else had and it wasn't a top priority anyway...I would have to wait.  Here is one at Lowe's that I liked aspects of:

At home I decided to browse Pinterest for ideas and found some really interesting lighting made from canning jars...here's one example from SaiFou.com

Not exactly what I wanted, but I could work with it...I could do a canning jar with some sort of top that made it look lantern-like...so off I went with Carl to the 'storage room' to look for some kind of a lantern type top for my soon to be canning jar pendant...although it probably would have turned out really cute...we ended up not doing that...we got distracted by my boxes of outdoor decor.

I make it sound as if I have tons of outdoor goodies...most of it is rocks...just sayin'...

I have a couple small candle lanterns and one of them caught our eye as a possible candidate for the pendant lamp.  So...we brought it out and took out the glass, sanded it down and painted it with Rust-Oleum's Hammered Metal Finish Spray in Dark Bronze.  Carl then cut a hole in the bottom and used JB Weld to attach a brace in the top for the light.  We then touched up the paint.

I wanted a 'frosted-glass' look, I don't like to see the light bulb so...I went down to the hobby store and bought some scrap-booking supplies...a protective sheet of plastic and couple sheets of semi-transparent 'rice' paper...for the glass.  Using the original glass I cut both to fit, and put the lantern back together layering the plastic, paper and the glass, the glass being on the inside.

We went to Lowe's and looked at the MANY varieties of replacement lamp pieces and cording were hoping to find a pendant lamp kit...but they only had one for track lighting...we decided we would wait for David.  Sometimes it is just best to wait.

Meanwhile I searched the internet for more ideas...it is a short pendant and I really didn't want a chain.  So I went searching on Pinterest again and found tatertots & jello DIY decorating and crafts idea to buy a copper pipe and paint it to match.
 
David and I went to Lowe's and were able to get what we needed, a ceramic lamp replacement piece, the copper pipe and a ceiling canopy.  We had wire already, but bought some round wire just in case, which we didn't end up using.

I was hoping the pipe could be threaded so the lamp would not hang from the cord, that didn't end up working out as the copper pipe was just too soft and it kept breaking off.  Carl painted it, we put it all together and hung it up!   Carl did a great job with this project! It's one of a kind and I love it!

 
Here is a before of the light that was over the sink. 

Hope this has inspired you today! 

Rest & Reflection ~ Differences

Spirit and Truth.

What is it to worship Yahweh in spirit and truth?

This is the question that has brought us to where we are now some 12-13 years from where we first started coming out of the church system, where we first started being cleansed from the doctrines and traditions of man and essentially being transformed from a Greek mindset into a Hebrew mindset.  It has been quite a journey...

Lonely?
              Yes.

Difficult?
              Often. 

Confusing?
             Sometimes.

Wouldn't trade it for anything!   So glad we asked this question...or rather were led to the question...it sort of just popped out to us, the verse that is and we asked it...what does THAT mean exactly?   It is so amazing to look back and see how utterly different we are from then.

This following God...Yahweh, it really isn't complicated.  It is us that gets in the way and makes it complicated with all the confusing things we have been programmed to believe.   It is just hard to muck through all the...well...muck...and there is so, so much of it to muck through at times. (Yes, I really did use muck three times...well four...)  Be encouraged, there are dry places where you will be thirsty...and places of hunger when you can't seem to find anything to munch on...then there are areas where you contemplate going back...but you are then reminded not to look back...there are those moments when you have to recite, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" over and over again because you feel so alone and times when making God what you want Him to be just seems to be easier than actually following Him because where is He?....this is the wilderness after all and it has been lived out before...more literally, but nevertheless, we do the same things they did, all the while saying...'if I was there I wouldn't have done that!'  Yeah...OK...I get it...

There are a lot of differences in the way people think in this world.  Strange customs, odd cultures and sayings that get lost in translation...western thought is basically Greek thought...some say Roman...OK...close enough.  We forget the Bible is actually Hebrew, not Latin...not Greek...it is Hebrew in it's entirety.  The difference in doctrines comes out of misunderstandings based on Greek thinking and a programmed antisemitism that is so deeply rooted it is impossible to see unless you are directly confronted by it...yes, I will admit it.  It happened to me, it was quite startling and I was seriously offended by myself as I had no idea that was possible of me, it was fear that brought it to the surface, I mean, really who wants to be associated with people that have been so abused through time?  Now I can say that I am a Hebrew, I may or may not be Jewish but Yeshua IS Jewish, not American and therefore to be like Him, I must follow what He did...I am grafted into Israel as I believe in the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.  He is Echad, One.  This is so much different than what I once thought was truth.  I am so grateful, Yahweh has led my family and I on this path.  I am excited for more differences as I continue to grow in Him. 

Today we learned a few things I would like to remember here, mostly for me as I am so forgetful but also for those who are searching and may find this helpful.  I'm afraid this will be quite random...

John 19:19-22
 Pilate also had a notice written and posted on the stake; it read,

YESHUA FROM NATZERET

THE KING OF THE JEWS

Many of the Judeans read this notice, because the place where Yeshua was put on the stake was close to the city; and it had been written in Hebrew, in Latin and in Greek.  The Judeans’ head cohanim (priests) therefore said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but ‘He said, “I am King of the Jews.”’”  Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

In Hebrew this meant something significant as the first letter of each Hebrew word was the Yud, Hay, Vav, Hey...which spells out the name of Yahweh.  It didn't matter so much in Greek or Latin...these priests wanted the saying changed in Hebrew so it wouldn't spell out Yahweh's name.  


The whole armor of Yahweh from Ephesians 6:11-18

This is not a Roman soldiers armour...like we have been ingrained with since we were children...nope...this is none other than the priestly garments, the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the spirit, feet shod with the preparation of peace...Isaiah 11, 49, 52 and 59 have references to this armour as well.  The priests were barefoot in the Holy Place, being grounded and shod with the 'preparation of peace', the Gospel, the Word of Yahweh. 

                                         (from http://www.messianic-torah-truth-seeker.org)

The Hebrew word kahal (qahal),  to gather as an assembly or congregation
Greek words ekklesia (a calling out of) and synagogue (a gathering) ~ depending on the 'whim' of the translators, these words have been used to subtly change the way we think.  i.e. 'synagogue of satan'...just means gathering of satan...the church in the wilderness...those gathered in the wilderness...either of these words being translated as 'church' is incorrect, making up doctrines that have done much harm and have deceived many.

Next year is the Shemita (7th) year, during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) there will be a lunar eclipse, it will also be a super moon, in Israel.  This is interesting...keep watching!

Links for today: 

Mark Biltz ~ El Shaddai Ministries

Sheepfold Gleanings


 What is it to worship Yahweh in spirit and truth?  Ask Him...He will lead you. 

~Shalom & Blessings