summertime ramblings

The Hope is a beautiful song (Ha'Tikva)- probably the most stirring national anthem I've ever heard. Don't get me wrong, I love La Marsailles (probably misspelled) and The Star Spangled Banner, too- but there's something hauntingly desperate in this music- a longing that had to be fulfilled and held on to once achieved. YouTube has some good renditions of it if you'd like to hear it. Some with the English and Hebrew words side-by-side.
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So, our 4 new puppies are growing, in various stages of house training and leash training, and take up a large part of every day. Our neighbors probably think we're crazy walking the dogs at all hours of the night, but it works for us. We've been SO thankful for the cooler weather- June had gotten unbearably hot and humid. Maybe we'll be able to hit the New River Trail again this week.
I think I'm going to have to move the dogs' bath day to Thursdays, though- I don't know what I was thinking doing it on Fridays with so much to do for Sabbath prep. And we're not 7th day adventists, we just try to observe Sabbath because we can't find a single place in the Bible where God changed that. We observe Lord's Day, too; so you can see that Friday's chores are especially busy. Mad? Maybe. But, life's a barrel of laughs as it is without doing even more to annoy God.
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My DH has had an icksome run of luck these last weeks. Ministrokes, people he's close to dying all over the place, loved ones in the hospital, and unemployment. Please pray for him as he's still in really bad pain all the time to top it all off. And pray for us, too- shoot, I reckon all of us need prayer. I'll pray for you, dear readers, too.
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Friends of Israel- GREAT JOB! Y'all are spot-on with your books about Jewish culture, biographies, and the work you do to support a free Israel. Also, Trinitarian Bible Society- THANK YOU for making the Bible affordable for so many different languages. God bless your endeavors.
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We had a lovely visit with my cousin P. I love it the way that God works with His children. It can be years and years between visits, but there's such a real love and kinship that goes beyond earthly ties that is like cool water to a thirsty soul. I don't do facebook currently, so I hope I can start keeping up with my kith and kin through email. If any of you read this, leave me a comment (I moderate) with your email and I'll get back to you. Personal notes in an email box are rare these days, almost as rare as snail mail. I dunno what's wrong with us. Well, with me, I keep losing the addresses. :-( BUT I have a place for them now thanks to my Aunt J and her lovely card box & the ones that have gone in (3 so far) haven't gotten misplaced. I'm too scatterbrained for my own good.
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We've been watching the old BBC show Survivors. It's a remarkably good show for the '70s. I got to thinking that I'm not really good at anything useful in a survival-type situation. The kids told me that love was important. That compassion and kindness and care for kids and people would be something that would be just as important as the other stuff. I thought that was sweet of them. I reckon the Marys and the Marthas both have their places in a scenario like that. Oh, and I know how to make paper on a small scale.
We don't really think about it much, how very tech dependent we are. How would we make bread- from scratch- yeast? flour? etc. how would we make the yeast? Do many people have the slightest idea how to make flour out of wheat? Good grief.
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Well, DH is home from visiting his dad in the hospital. I'd better run now. Have a BLESSED day!!
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Rose

Oh, update: Bro-in-law is on his way home from hospital.