Happy 83rd Birthday, Dad!

. My father provided countless wonderful memories by reserving Sunday afternoons just for his family. In good weather we explored backroads, hiked & had picnics. Perhaps my love of the mountains & hiking stems from those days. In bad weather we popped popcorn or made smores over the gas range & sang to the accompaniment of Dad's harmonica. I remember that God's children are His treasure/jewels to this day, because we often sang "When He Cometh" based on Malachi 3:17. "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."
In more recent years I have taught a week-end women's retreat on God's children being His gems. Just before Christmas, I did a word study on Strong's #5459 - a Hebrew word transliterated into English as "s'gulah" - so I could include it in the neighborhood Bible Study as we studied Exodus 19:5. "If you listen diligently to My voice & keep My covenant, then you will be to Me a "s'gulah" (treasure) from among all peoples." "S'gulah" is a feminine, passive word from a root word meaning "shut up" or "wealth". It's translated as "jewel, peculiar treasure, special, precious." Eccl. 2:8 uses this word re. the peculiar treasure of kings. Deut. 7:6, 14:2, 26:18&19 speaks of Israel being God's peculiar or special people. I Peter 2:9 uses this same phrasing for believers. The sense of Isaiah 33:5-6 is that even as God is our stability in uncertain & treacherous times, the "fear of the Lord" (Strong's #214 - transliterated "owtsar") is the "treasure house".
Our nation has definitely lost this "fear of the Lord". We, God's children, dare not lose it. It is God's treasure house for His jewels. This is a precious theme & word study. I hope you can get the sense of it from my quick summary here.

. My father sat through a two hour assembly at Montana State University my sophomore year. I had tried to persuade him not to come. It would be agony for him. He had undergone hemorrhoidal surgery only the day before. When I was called from the crowd as the one sophomore woman to receive a special award for grades & other factors, I understood why my father wouldn't stay home. This is only one of a million or so times my father proved his great love for me. Much like my Heavenly Father.

. My father often showed his love through gifts. Yet the gift I remember the most, was the packing material he sent other gifts in on my first Christmas away from home. Understanding my homesickness, he cut off a few of the lower branches of the pine trees in our yard. He packed the more tender & less pokey ends of the limbs in a large box around a couple smaller wrapped gifts. To this day, I can not recall what those other small gifts were. I only remember the wonderful evergreen fragrance that filled my dorm room all through the holidays.

Gifts from AWANAS nursery - hugs & viruses

Ryan, who nearly died as a baby from severe food allergies, just turned two. He loves to copy the "big boys", who are also two. This is Lt. Eric Oberg's son.

Luke ( in the blue) & Alex are a couple of the "big boys", who love to play with their magnetic fishing poles. They are "posing" here.

Luke & Andrew enjoy the 5-minute lesson, coloring, pasting, music & snack in the middle of the AWANAS session. Behind Luke is his newborn sister, Katie.

January gifts have been unlike those in December. My bonding with the youngsters in the AWANAS nursery for two plus hours every Wednesday night, has brought its rewards of spontaneous hugs whenever we meet...in the the parking lot, during the church service when we shake hands with others, etc. Having to catch nasal drips with a kleenex every other sentence as I blog today, attests to the other "gifts" these dear ones pass on. So far it's just a head cold with a bit of diarrhea & stomach cramps that were short term.

New Beginnings in 2009...

Erik made the front page of our local paper, The Missoulian.


Quilt patterns on the snow in our yard.

Now that the holidays are past, I'm back into the weekly schedule of leading the Neighborhood Women's Bible Study, teaching the puggles in the AWANA's nursery, continuing my support of Louis's ministry in Beth Tephila, taking pilates classes to strengthen my core & keep the sciatica away, caring for our mini-farm & paying bills, etc.

The New Year has brought some fresh beginnings:

. One of the sons of our Asst. Pastor, Lt. Erik Oberg, left Tuesday the 6th of January with 120 soldiers of the Montana Army National Guard for a year long tour of duty in Iraq. Erik is the father of three. His youngest son, Ryan, is one of the puggles I teach. Erik is the detachment commander of the 639th Quartermaster Supply with around 50 of those 120 soldiers under his command. He showed his godly leadership at Christmas. He & his wife decorated a small Christmas tree with tags of all the names of the soldiers under him. Each tag also held some minimal facts about that specific soldier. They placed the tree at the back of our church, where folks from our church family could choose a young soldier to "adopt" for the year by taking his tag. In taking a tag, we were pledging to pray daily for that particular soldier. We can also write or even send care packages to that soldier as the Lord moves us. However, it is the prayer commitment that Erik & Sabrina were seeking to share with us. I chose a SPC Andrew A., who is single, 21 years old & from Helena - my hometown from the age of 3 until I was in 9th grade. I have asked the Holy Spirit to help me be faithful in my prayer pledge for Andrew. I plan to pray daily for Erik & the entire detachment, as well. One new responsibility before the Lord for 2009!

. The evening before Erik & his unit left Montana, my beloved Hebrew/Greek teacher, Chuck N., left this life for eternity with the Lord. You saw Julie, Chuck's wife, in one of my October entries about my trip to Spokane. The day after Julie & I ate lunch together at that Spokane diner, she & Chuck drove to Missoula to visit friends at Grizzley Peak - where they had lived several years & where I went for my Hebrew & Greek lessons. Chuck experienced seizure symptoms & spoke gibberish during that drive, so they drove directly to St. Patrick Hospital. Chuck had a grand mal seizure during his diagnostic work-up leading to a shoulder injury. He was diagnosed with four primary glial tumor sites in his brain with a terminal prognosis of weeks to months. Chuck suffered through surgeries, radiation & chemo. treatments and all the symptoms that his condition gave him with the faith of a mature & godly man. Julie has been with him & supporting him 24/7. He told us shortly after his diagnosis was made that his body was the Lord's & whatever the Lord wanted to do with that body was "ok" with him. His & Julie's sterling witness continued during his hospitalizations in Missoula & later in Spokane.

Although gibberish came out more often than not, Chuck was able to say clearly, "The Lord be with you," the day before he left the hospital to be driven back to Spokane. It was our last time to see him in this life. I look forward to reuniting sometime soon.

Chuck's passion for decades, next to his love for the Lord & Julie, was studying the Word in its original languages. He passed that passion on to several of his students. Whenever someone speaks negatively or with gossip, I often mentally compare them to Chuck who frequently replied to such behavior with, "I resemble that". How he surprised me the first time he said that, as I thought at first that he was going to say, "I resent that". It's amazing how Chuck's character was on display through comments like that & through his compassion for others. We will miss him & uphold Julie in prayer. She still has an elderly mother with senile dementia & other health problems to care for. I am praying for my dear friend, Julie, even as I have been since mid-October. I take this responsibility seriously.


. During the current warfare in Gaza & elsewhere in Israel, we have begun to receive "hate" phone calls. Our home phone number is the listed phone number for Beth Tephila in both the phone book & local paper. We count it a privilege to be identified with God & His people.


. Our snow alternated with rain mix has created interesting quilted patterns in the yard & on the roofs. Now the continued rain has created some treacherous ice fields in our driveway & the paths leading to our horse & sheep feeding troughs and to the chickenhouse. The flooding in the Seattle area & tons of snow in Spokane, make us appreciate our ice more than we would normally.

Happy Hanukkah 5769!

Happy Hanukkah 5769 from the Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana!

More Serendipity

Dr. Maddux, the cardiologist that cared for Dad at St. Pats., walked to the waiting room of the Cardiac Cath. Lab. within minutes of Mom & me arriving there. He reported that Dad's 12 lead EKG, blood work & angiogram were totally normal. In fact, my Dad had the injection fraction or cardiac output of a much younger man, with coronary arteries as clean as a whistle. He had not had a heart attack, but perhaps had experienced angina from some other mechanism than plugged arteries. He wanted to admit Dad to the hospital for overnight observation & more diagnostic procedures. We followed Dad to the 4th floor - the very cardiac ward for which I had been the Cardiac Clinical Nurse Specialist for 2-3 years after I moved back to Montana upon retirement from the Army Nurse Corps. Although I have not been back for 8-9 years, several nursing staff throughout the day & into the next recognized me & we were able to chat & catch up on our lives. This familiar setting put me at ease, which in turn caused Mom & Dad to relax.

Dad had an MRI of his chest which revealed only a small calcified spot in one lung, which was unremarkable. Dr. Maddux later told us that over half of all people over the age of 50 had something similar in their lungs...a small foreign body that entered their lung at some point & was isolated by the body layering it with a covering of calcium. A pearl effect? More blood work, physical exams & continuous EKG monitoring showed nothing out of the normal range. Mom, Dad & I were handed a gift of several restful hours to softly talk & pray together.

Before 9:00 p.m. I drove Mom to our home in Florence to spend the night. Our daughter, Esther, arrived just after we left & she had gotten off work at the nursing home. She kept her Grandpa company for awhile. No sooner than she left & the chaplain for St. Pats. stopped to talk with Dad & compare chaplain experiences. God just kept reminding Dad that he was loved & being watched over.

When we returned to the hospital Thursday morning before the doctors' rounds, Dad looked fairly rested & said he felt great. He no longer had to lie flat because of the cardiac cath. site. Soon his IV was also removed & Dr. Maddux came by & said Dad would be discharged before noon. He had found nothing major & thought Dad had experienced an isolated vagal episode. Dad would be referred back to his general practitioner in Hamilton for follow-up. God just kept sending folks by the hospital room door that either I or my parents knew. These visitors would act pleasantly surprised to see us & linger to chat a bit. Most had not come to the hospital to purposefully visit Dad. We guessed that we were placed there to actually encourage several of them. It was a wonderful morning that ended with Dad's discharge around 11:30 a.m. We drove back to Hamilton, renewed a couple prescriptions & got Dad settled into his lounger in the livingroom at home by 1:30 p.m.

Esther called during our drive, asking if I could come back to Missoula & help her finish cleaning the apartment that she had moved out of during our recent minus degree weather. We finished the cleaning & she handed in her keys a couple minutes before she was supposed to do so. Praise God that He even oversaw these details of our lives. I have been full of praise for His constant presence & straightening of our paths this week. I have had the sense that He allowed Dad some physical discomfort to meet the emotional needs of many others.

Touches of Serendipity

My past two days were filled with touches of serendipity - the dip of the serene into the common responsibilities of life. I sometimes call these God's hugs.

Wednesday morning started fairly normal. I had exercised for 2+ miles on the treadmill, which is also my prayer time; showered; fed Ari, our golden retriever & started breakfast. My day was fairly open until the evening, when I watch & teach the Puggles curriculum to four two-year old boys at the AWANAS nursery. At 8:20 a.m. the phone rang. My sister, Esther, was calling at my Mom's request. Mom had just sent Dad to the Marcus Daly Hospital in Hamilton via ambulance. Dad, who turns 83 in January, had sat down to the breakfast table, his eyes rolled back & he collapsed in his chair. Mom caught him before he hit the floor. She then called 911. As the ambulance arrived, Dad was coming to & complaining of chest pressure. I thanked my sister for calling, wrote a quick note to Louis, (who was still sleeping after a late night of work for DirecTV) & headed towards Hamilton in the car. I made it to the E.R. - about 45 miles away - in record time. I even beat my sister, who lives only about 20 miles the other side of Hamilton.

Dad had received two Nitroglycerin tablets under his tongue, but was still having some chest pressure, so the ER staff placed a NTG patch on his chest. He was hooked up to oxygen & the cardiac monitor, which revealed some minimal arrhythmias. An IV was infusing saline & an anticoagulant into his blood... the ER MD was preparing to transfer Dad by ambulance to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula. The Cardiac Cath. Lab. would be ready when he arrived to do an angiogram & whatever else they deemed necessary. Dad appeared to be at peace although uncomfortable. Touches of serendipity began:

. My father's brother walked into the ER to check on Dad. Robert still listens to the ambulance calls via a scanner, as he has been an EMT for years & years & his daughter manages the ambulance section & emergency dept. at Marcus Daly. He was eating breakfast when he heard the dispatch about picking up a patient at Dad's address. He quickly got on his coat & came to be with Dad.

. The Pastor who picks up Dad's hospital chaplain & hospice chaplain responsibilies when Dad is out of town, just happened to come to visit a hospital patient from his church & heard from the staff that Dad was in the ER. Before Dad left for St. Pats., he was able to turn over his caseload to this Pastor.

. My aunt/uncle from Idaho, had called our home to wish us "Happy Holidays". They had received our Christmas card the day before & just felt impressed to call this morning. They have never called us, but have always written us before. Louis gave them my cell phone number & I received the call just as Dad was being wheeled to the ambulance. I was able to assure Dad that Aunt Jo & Uncle Ralph would be praying for him like the rest of us. Dad was already on three different church prayer chains by now.

. I drove Mom home so we could pack an overnight bag for her & one for Dad, before we drove icy Highway 93 to Missoula & St. Patrick Medical Center. A winter storm was predicted for later in the day & was already dumping snow on Spokane, Wa. - due west of us. God slowed that storm down. It didn't arrive until Thursday night - about 36 hours later than expected & after we were all through with hospitals & back home safely.

My Mom & I always have funny things occur when the two of us are alone together. That happened again when we entered the ER at St. Pats. We asked to see "Alvin House" & said we were his wife & daughter. The ER nurse escorted us through two rooms & spoke to a patient behind some curtains. We heard a man's voice, that didn't sound like Dad, answer her. As she opened the curtains to let us in, we saw a dark, middle-aged man we have never seen before, laying on a stretcher. His eyes got as big as ours probably were. We quickly told the nurse that this was not who we were looking for. She said, "But this is Al Howe; isn't that who you came to see?" She became quite embarrassed as we repeated Dad's name & mentioned that he had been transferred from Marcus Daly Hospital. Because of her obvious embarrassment, Mom & I saved our burst of laughter until we were in the elevator headed for the Cath. Lab. where Dad was almost through with his angiogram.

(More to follow)
.

Hanukkah starts this year at sunset on December 21st & concludes at sundown on December 29th. Among Messianic Jewish believers it has been popular to teach that Yeshua was not really born at Christmas time but rather at the Festival of Tabernacles - Sukkot. Some are now supporting that Yeshua may have been born the first day of Hanukkah. In reading the gospels, the reader is struck by the frequent imagery of light clearly associated with Yeshua's birth. (Mt. 2:1-12; Lk.2:1-14; Jn. 1:1-9) The story of His birth appears to be intentionally told against the backdrop of this imagery of light. The prophets use similar imagery in texts that relate to Messiah's coming. (ie. Isa.9:1-7; 60:1-3) In the first century - as today - the most recognizable aspect of the Hanukkah celebration was the kindling of the lights for eight days. In "light" of this, it is striking to read Simeon's response to the circumcision & dedication of Yeshua in the Temple when He was eight days old: "My eyes have seen your salvation...a light for revelation to the Gentiles & the glory of your people Israel." (Lk. 2:30-32) On the eighth day the Hanukkah lights would have been at their fullest & brightest since all eight candles would be lit, providing a most appropriate setting for Simeon's statement!

Luke 1:26-27 is often cited as evidence of a fall birth for Yeshua, when coupled with calculations as to when Zechariah's priestly division was scheduled to minister at the Temple. If it is assumed that this verse refers to the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the calculations may well be valid. (It is also assumed by the advocates of a Sukkot birth date that the angel's announcement to Zechariah about John's birth & his conception occurred at virtually the same time, which is not necessarily the case.) However, the text of Luke 1:26 does not say "her" sixth month as it does is verse 36. Rather, it says "the" sixth month. In other words, this is a simple calendar reference such as frequently occurs throughout Scripture. When Mary arrived to visit her relative Elizabeth, Mary was pregnant. (vv. 40-44) The onset of her pregnancy apparently coincided with the angel's announcement "in the sixth month". Working from the most commonly used Jewish calendar in the first century- which approximates the one in use today - Yeshua's birth nine months later would have occurred in the third month, the month of Kislev. Hanukkah always begins on the 25th of Kislev.

There is also some interesting prophetic imagery related to this time of year in Haggai. Haggai 2:6-9 describes the Messiah's arrival as the coming of the "desired of all nations" who will "fill God's house (in this context, the second Temple) with glory," a glory such that "the glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house" (the first Temple, which Solomon built). These events are then connected with the events of verses 18-23, which are in turn connected to the day following the laying of the foundation of the second Temple . That event occurred on the 24th day of the ninth month; in other words the Messiah's arrival is connected with the 25th day of the ninth month. Using the calendar current in Haggai's day, the ninth month is Kislev, hence Kislev 25.

Hippolytus was a second century church leader who was also a calendar expert. His testimony - the earliest such testimony regarding Yeshua's birth outside of Scripture - was that December 25 was the commonly accepted date of Yeshua's birth. The simplest transformation of Kislev 25 (the first day of Hanukkah) from the Jewish calendar into the one current today is December 25.

Regardless of any agreement or disagreement over the precise date of Yeshua's birth, let's all celebrate His coming in the reality of Isaiah 60:1. "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is revealed to you!" Have a Merry Hanukkah & Happy Christmas! ( I borrowed this research & write-up from Rabbi John Fischer, PhD, ThD)

Florida Trip - Our first Quinces Ball

Our week trip to Fort Lauderdale was primarily to help our niece, Camila, with her Quinces coming-out affair/ball. The main ballroom at the Marriott Hotel was the site for the formal occassion. We spent our first three days, assisting Cami's parents with their last minute arrangements. Cami had already posed for the formal picture below a week before we arrived. This framed photo was on display outside the ballroom doors. Since the theme for the Quinces was "A Venetian masquerade ball", Cami & 16 of her high school friends had been practicing waltzing for almost a month on the week-ends with a hired dance instructor. Cami had chosen teal & gold for her colors. The next picture shows part of the table settings. There were 20 tables of ten settings in the ballroom for the 200 guests. Each centerpiece was unique & designed by Cami's godfather, Eladio, who is a florist. We watched him construct the centerpieces the day before.

The men all wore tuxes & the women formal gowns. I borrowed a gown from my sister-in-law, along with shoes & purse to match. She and I went for a manicure & pedicure the morning of the ball. This was my very first manicure or pedicure in my life. I felt quite pampered.

Cami waltzed with her Dad, as well as two high school partners, at the beginning of the evening.

A delicious dinner followed. Then Cami had relatives & friends light the 15 candles around her cake before the D.J. began the dancing that lasted until nearly 0100 a.m.

Here is Jerry, Louis' brother and family. Natalie, the older daughter, flew down from Welsley in the Boston area, to attend her sister's Quinces. Jerry & Nancy are both physicians practicing medicine in Fort Lauderdale. Camila is a Sophomore in High School.

Another Florida Trip First ...

Can you tell that Louis was pleased as punch to be attending his first professional football game & to be seated in the second row at the 50 yard line right behind the Dolphins' bench? His brother has season tickets for this spot & gifted us with the tickets to the Miami Dolphins vs. Oakland Raiders game while we were visiting in mid-Nov. He loaned Louis all the proper Dolphin duds, as well. The weather was perfect for football...in the 60's & low humidity for Miami. We participated in the cheering & "the wave". We could really hear the impact of the blocks on the field! Our location allowed us to watch Dan Carpenter, the ex-kicker from the U. of MT Grizzlies, who is in his rookie year with the Dolphins. Dan warmed up before each kick right in front of us. It was easy to see that he still wears his Grizzly shoe on his right foot, although his left foot was in the regular Dolphin shoe. His fieldgoal kick in the last seconds of the game, won the game for the Dolphins. I caught Dan in midstride with my camera, as he prepared to kick that last fieldgoal. What a great memory to take away with us!

Happy Veterans' Day!

Happy Veterans' Day! The results of the election may tarnish this day in the future. After 23 years in the Army Nurse Corps, it is still near & dear to me. A few of my co-workers have yet to retire. A couple of the children I taught in Sunday School are now military in Iraq & elsewhere. It's great that a couple of days a year are set aside to help us to remember to pray for them.

We celebrated this day so far by wrangling our big ram, who shoots blanks & our largest, most skitish ewe into the trailer & taking them to the cull market. They weighed 470 pounds together. Louis is now on his way to St. Patrick Hospital to talk with a Jewish man who just had Triple Bypass Surgery. He asked for a Jewish Chaplain & Louis received the call. Such unexpected "open doors" are cropping up more often now that Beth Tephila has been in the Missoula community for over ten years.

In less than 24 hours, we will be flying to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Our niece, Camila, is turning 15...which is a huge "coming out" time for daughters in the Hispanic culture of her Mom. It's as big as a daughter's wedding. We have been invited to a masquerade ball at the Marriott with 300-400 of their closest friends & relatives. We will be waaaay out of our comfort zone. Mixing with large groups who are drinking, dancing, telling off-color jokes & making superficial conversation is something I usually try to avoid. Our brother & sister-in-law would not take "no" for an answer. So I am now asking the Lord to keep my mind off my own discomfort by directing me to others in the group who appear to be left out.

Louis is excited about the trip, since his brother has offered tickets for seats on the 50 yard line to us for the Miami Dolphins vs. Oakland Raiders game. We have never attended an NFL or AFL game, much less had such wonderful seating. I'll take my camera along. Who knows what photo I'll be able to share with you.

Simchat Torah - Rejoicing in the Law

Today was Simchat Torah - the day to celebrate & rejoice in the Law as the Torah cycle is completed for the year. Our Torah study is restarted this next Shabbat with the first few chapters of Genesis/ B'reisheet. Orthodox Jewish communities often parade their Torah scrolls & dance around them during this celebration. Beth Tephila has just bought a Torah scroll, but since a new cover is being made for it, the Torah scroll has not arrived yet from New York. We are told it is about 150 years old from Poland. Hopefully, we will learn more of its history when we receive it.

After Al's 10-day, post-op stay at our home, he returned to Sandpoint, Idaho & I drove to Spokane to pick up Esther at the airport. She had spent a week in Tampa, Florida visiting her birth Mom & extended family.

The Fall foliage along I-90 was gorgeous. This is Alberton Gorge after just passing the homes of Alberton spread along the highway for a couple miles.

I-90 was a bit wet from the rain & snow of the day before. This day was in the 60's & showed off God's creation. The tamaracks (American Larch) were at the height of their color, as were the Aspen, Cottonwoods & brush along the Clark Fork River.

Since I arrived in Spokane about 90 minutes before Esther's flight was to land, my good friend, Julie, took me to a great breakfast/lunch place in Spokane off the Maple St. exit. As you take the exit, you turn on to Walnut Street & drive about three blocks north & see "Frank's Diner" on the left before going over the river.

We were seated in this train dining car next to a fake window, through which a conductor manikin grinned at us throughout our meal. Once we started catching up on each other's lives, I was able to ignore him. Julie had Eggs Benedict & I had an Oriental Chicken Salad. Both were delicious & medium-priced. The service was excellent.

Esther arrived safely & we repeated the beautiful 3 1/2 hour drive over two passes. Missoula was just getting dusky when we turned off I-90 onto the Reserve Street exit.

Autumn in the Montana high country

This photo of the "Three Sisters" was snapped from Lost Horse Creek Road during one of the last Fall hikes. This area is southwest of Hamilton, MT & gorgeous. The Women's Retreat speaker that we had at the end of September, Nelda Thomas, died at her home this past Friday. She lived only three more weeks after her diagnosis of metastatic pancreatic cancer & teaching at our retreat the next two days after her diagnosis! I'm envious that she is now seeing Yeshua face to face. I keep looking up. So should you.

Hag Sameach Sukkot! (Happy Feast of Tabernacles!)

The eight day Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) started last evening at sunset. Jews build booths or "sukkah" for this feast, which remind them of the booths in which people dwelt in Sinai enroute to the land of Israel. These men are carrying the lulav (branch bundle) & etrog (citron, like our lemon) which recall the ceremonies at the first & second temples during the Feast of Tabernacles. They have their prayer shawls pulled up over their heads, so they were probably caught praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. I borrowed this photo from an Israeli e-mail site titled "The Lekarev Report".

Yom Kippur - Holiest Day of the Year

Today was Yom Kippur. It's the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Like most religious Jews, we fast on this day. As Messianic Jews, we believe that sometime in the future on Yom Kippur, the remnant of Israel will turn in repentance to accept Yeshua as its Messiah.

Karen, a Jewish woman who just retired from her legal secretary position, started attending Beth Tephila on Rosh HaShanah. She grew up in a religious Reformed Jewish home, but has attended nowhere for years. She asks many questions about our belief that Yeshua is the Messiah. Karen says that she doesn't believe that, but she likes our friendliness & acceptance of her at our services. She returned on Shabbat & then to the Yom Kippur service today...& plans to come back on this coming Saturday. Please pray that she will continue to be drawn to her Messiah through us.

L'Shana Tova! (Happy New Year - 5769th since creation)

L'Shana Tova! We are already six days into 5769 (years since creation according to rabbinic reckoning). Much has happened since my last posting:

. my 59th birthday & making several batches of apple cider

. more gorgeous Fall hikes - Lost Horse Canyon Overlook & Camas Lake

. defrosting our freezer so we could find our frozen food once more

. lambs taken to market

. Teaching the first three sessions of the neighborhood women's Bible Study - "A Woman's Heart- God's Dwelling Place" - with 12 attendees.

. The Hallelujah Hikers hostessing a Women's Retreat on Flathead Lake.

. Teaching 3 Puggles sessions at AWANA. Did you know a puggle is a baby platypus? The 2 & 3 year olds in AWANAs are also termed "puggles". They are so fun to teach - about creation at the moment.

. More harvesting of garden produce & pears and processing/canning of these.

. Picking up a Fall cold virus.

. Rosh HaShanah & Tashlikh services kicking off the Biblical High Holy Days.

. Hosting some of the Tucker clan for a week as their wife/Mom/Ruth was dying up the hill from us. What a privilege!

Ruth went home on Rosh HaShanah. Her memorial service was yesterday after our normal

Shabbat service.

The missing ducks...

Upon rereading my previous post, I noticed that the photo of Georgetown Lake did not show the ducks well. Here is another photo I took of the lake. The ducks are swimming in the middle of the lake under the low-lying cloud.

Georgetown Lake & Lost Creek State Park

After exploring Granite, we arrived at Judy's lakehouse as it was getting dusky. Judy & her husband built this home completely themselves from logs taken from the part of the ranch near Philipsburg that Judy inherited. Her husband is a carpenter & electrician. The quality of their work inside & out showed they are both perfectionists.

This is the view of Georgetown Lake from Judy's boatdock. If you click on the picture, you can enlarge it enough to see the ducks in the foreground. We drove about 20 miles from the lake to Lost Creek State Park, north of Anaconda, for our next hike.

Unusual geologic formations, home to bighorn sheep & mountain goats; Lost Creek Falls & an old Forest Service road through a forested canyon were the backdrop for this wonderful hike.

We found a couple of old cabins to explore on this trail, as well. After finding what appeared to be rat droppings, we chose to stop our thorough exploration. :)

Crossing the ice-cold creeks was a highlight of our hike. Judy tried crossing on the couple of tree trunks that had been placed across the creek. The makeshift bridge was unbelievably springy, dumping her into the water shortly after I snapped this photo. The rest of us decided to roll up our pantlegs & wade across. Our feet were numb by the time we reached the other side.

Fall Hikes - Varied Terrain

As beautiful Indian Summer weather has returned, the hiking group traveled to
Philipsburg, once a mining town & now a farming community & tourist town. We "hiked" around this quaint town with its many historic buildings now housing gift shops, the sapphire gallery & the Sweet Palace candy store. I learned that sapphires & rubies are both aluminum oxide crystals. All the colors except red are considered sapphires, whereas rubies are the red ones. Did you know that the next hardest substance after diamonds is sapphires/rubies? They are harder than stainless steal. My birthstone is a sapphire, so I own a star sapphire ring. Guess I won't worry about scratching it anymore. I bought some chocolate truffles & a chocolate-caramel Bear Paw to take home to Louis, my chocoholic sweetie - even though the candy store is known more for its homemade taffy.

This building, housing about 30 swallow nests, looked like an old time saloon on the bottom floor & a boarding house or place for "ladies of the evening" on the top floor.

Philipsburg is located on the outskirts of the Pintler Mountain Range. We entered the foothills above Philipsburg to find the ghost town of Granite, where millions were made mining silver.

We explored the mills, the mining shafts and what remained of the town of Granite that once housed around 5000 people during the height of the mining days.

The buildings were not built to last long, but some tin-roofed shacks are still standing.

Apricots & more apricots

This last couple of weeks have revolved around giving away & processing our bountiful apricot crop. Our apricot tree is the first to bloom in the Spring. Often the blooms are blown off the tree or newly formed buds get frozen. Not so this year. I had to thin the buds just so they would have room to grow. Our tree yields two varieties of apricots: some larger, orange apricots & many more of the smaller, yellow type. They taste about the same, but the yellow ones tend to ripen first. We have learned to pick our fruit before it is fully ripe to beat the wasps, birds & other natural robbers. This year the grasshoppers not only ate almost all of our green bean plants, but flew into the apricot tree to eat the fruit while it was still green. As shown in the picture, we laid the fruit on tarps in a spare downstairs bedroom to ripen. We gave apricots to friends & family and I started canning 7 quarts at a time. I stopped at 50 quarts & began cooking & canning apricot syrup (7 quarts) & jam (2 quarts, 1 pint). All my deserts for the Beth Tephila meals on Shabbat have featured apricots... apricot crisp, apricot bars, plain apricots in bags to take home. Louis & I are fighting diarrhea from eating so many recently. Actually, I don't want to process another apricot for at least a year!!

Photo missing - Jewel Basin

Somehow this photo got dropped from my post on the Jewel Basin hike. This was the view into Jewel Basin when we topped the ridge. You can see the "China Wall" of Glacier National Park in the first main ridge of mountains dead center. The colors of the lakes reminded me a little of the pools around Mammoth in Yellowstone National Park.