Once Upon a Time... The End... It Continues

Once upon a time...

a blogging journey was born...
as a young married woman and new homeschooling mom
sought to keep in touch with distant family and make new friends
by journaling her thoughts, her faith, and life experiences.
It was an amazing journey... one that cannot be described in few words.




The End...

After 6 years, prayer and contemplation and many life changes
the blogging journey had reached the end.

The end is now.

It is time to say good-bye to HsKubes' Haven at Home.

It's a strange thing to end a blog.
It is not a person and, therefore, it is not the same
as saying good-bye to a loved one...
but it is still a bittersweet departure,
as much of my life has been documented here,
as well as my heart, my thoughts, my faith... me.
I've been HsKubes long before I began blogging.
Seems odd to bring it to an end.

But for everything there is a season.
And the season for HsKubes' Haven at Home
has come to the end.


I am thankful for the friends I have met and made,
the experiences I have had and shared,
and the many lessons He has taught me.

But the time has come to say...

Good bye, HsKubes' Haven at Home.



Yet...


It Continues...

Perhaps not in the same exact way...
but as there have been many changes this past year and a half,
new changes have brought forth a new journey...
and a new blog.


Friends and family,
Thank you for spending the time you have with us here.


I invite you to join us at our new blogging home...


It Is Your Life



Shalom Aleichem!
~ Christina

Tradition Over Truth?

"And in vain {to no purpose} do they worship Me,
teaching as teachings {doctrines} the commands of men.
Forsaking {laying aside} the command of Elohim {God},
you hold fast {seize; hold to; keep} the tradition of men."
Mark 7:-8

What strong words from our Messiah.
How easy to read those words and assume
that they apply to others and not ourselves.

Over the past year and a half,
my Abba Father has revealed a lot to me...
a lot about myself... a lot about Himself...
a lot about His Word...
and a lot about the way I worshiped Him.

There have been a lot of bitter pills to swallow...
and a lot of bitter tears in doing so.

But I am thankful...
because Yeshua told us
that the Truth
can set us free.


I want to know Truth.

We need to know Truth.

We ought to want to continually check our belief system,
making sure it lines up with Scripture...
so that we may worship Him in spirit AND in Truth.

We need to understand WHY we do the things we do.
And WHY we believe what we believe.
May we not just blindly worship a certain way
because we have inherited those ways.


The heart is NOT the only things that matters.
Every religion is sincere in their heart.
It doesn't matter how sincere we are.
We can be sincerely wrong.
Our sincerity needs to line up with obedience.


It does not matter what it means to us.
It only matters what it means to HIM.
He doesn't want us to worship Him OUR way.
He wants to be worshiped HIS way.


“When {YHVH} יהוה your Elohim
does cut off from before you
the nations which you go to dispossess,
and you dispossess them
and dwell in their land,
guard yourself
that you are not ensnared to follow them,
after they are destroyed from before you,
and that you do not inquire
about their mighty ones,
saying,
‘How did these nations serve their mighty ones?
And let me do so too.’
Do not do so to {YHVH} יהוה your Elohim,
for every abomination which {YHVH} יהוה hates
they have done to their mighty ones,
for they even burn their sons and daughters
in the fire to their mighty ones.
All the words I am commanding you, guard to do it –
do not add to it nor take away from it."
Deuteronomy 12:29-32

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That being said... I am compelled to share.
For 30+ years of my life,
there are facts... truths...
that I did not know.


Like the facts, history, and truths
that surround one of the most beloved holidays...
Christmas


And just in case there are others that are unaware
AND have a desire to know...
I am sharing here so that others can have to choice
to know and pray.


IF someone does NOT want to know,
do not read further.

------------------------------------------

Christmas is NOT about the birth of Christ...
at least not the Christ that is spoken of in the Bible.
The Christ of the Bible was not born on December 25th.

December 25th has everything to do with
pagan rituals such as cutting down evergreens
& decking them with silver & gold;
and a day designated {before Messiah's birth}
as the birth of other gods
(research "Nimrod", "Tammuz", and "Mithra").


We have inherited lies from our fathers.
And we, many times, blindly follow tradition
simply because it is all we've known.


We NEED to research, study, pray, obey...
"Come out of her, My people..." Revelation 18:4-5


Prayerfully consider watching the following,
which presents the numerous facts
found in history
and various Scripture
regarding what our Creator has said...

--------------------------------------------




---------------------------------------------

Yes, He does know the heart.
But we do not... our hearts are deceitful.
I understand that christians may not be worshiping
the gods of the pagans {as I celebrated christmas many years
and did not worship pagan gods, but the One True God}...
BUT our Creator desires to be worshiped
the way HE has commanded
and has, specifically, commanded us to NOT worship Him
the way the pagans worship their gods. {Deut. 12:29-32}


OH, Abba, help us!
Reveal our own hearts to us.
May we be humble before You.
May we always seek a better way to worship You.
May we not hold what we've always known,
what we've been taught, our ways and traditions
above YOUR ways and commands.
May we seek YOUR way to worship YOU...
NOT our own way.
May we worship YOU in spirit AND in Truth.
Help us, Abba. Reveal to us. Restore us.

With sincere love for my fellow brethren,

Know. Speak. Guard. Teach. Torah.

"For He raised a witness in {Jacob} Yaʽaqoḇ,
And set a Torah in Yisra’ĕl,
Which He commanded our fathers,
To TEACH THEM TO THEIR CHILDREN;
That it might be known to a generation to come,
To children who would be born,
To rise up and relate {DECLARE; SPEAK} them
to their children, And place their trust in Elohim,
And NOT FORGET the works of Ěl,
But watch over {GUARD; KEEP} His commands,
And NOT be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation which did not prepare its heart,
Whose spirit was not steadfast to Ěl."
~ Psalm 78:5-8


Oh, Abba, help us to break the chains.
Help us to not be a stubborn and rebellious generation.
Reveal Your Truth to us.
Teach us Your Torah {instructions} ...
May we know it, understand it, walk in it...
that we may teach and speak of it our children,
that they will guard, keep, and walk in it.
May we be steadfast... faithful.
Teach and strengthen us, O YHVH.

Haven at Home Happenings

It's been a busy couple of weeks

and I haven't had (rather set aside)

as much time as I would like to blog.

It seems when I sit at the computer,

research and facebooking takes up much of my time

and it leaves little for blogging.

I miss blogging in many ways,

though there are things I do like about facebook.

Here are a few photos from our past weeks...



Homeschooling together in the dining room/kitchen...

I've always loved this :)

Our youngest (7) has become quite fixated

on catching yard critters and studying them.

It has made for some great nature studies!

She collected some snails a couple of weeks ago

and was delight to keep them as "pets"...

watching them slime across the jars, coming out of their 'houses',

feeding them, reading about them, drawing them...

It has been a joy to see our children

develop relationships with YHVH's creation...

even if they are snails. ;-)

We loved using our Nature Readers

to learn more about Yah's slimey creatures...

She illustrated the snails

and did some copywork...


"A snail carries its home with him so if there is danger he will be safe.

All kinds of snails look different.

Did you know that snails have one foot?"

We will work on the spelling

but love to encourage this type of narration :)

We, also, love to encourage reading aloud...

which we *try* to do daily...

And math copywork...

We, also, enjoy drawing and/or coloring illustrations

from the Torah portions we read.

These were when Lot, his wife, and two daughters

had to leave Sodom and Gomorrah

because it was destroyed...

It was interesting to study this passage together...

"But his wife looked back from behind him,

and she became a post of salt."

Genesis 19:26

"looked back"...

In Hebrew it is the word" nabat"...

meaning to "look intently at; by implication,

to regard with pleasure, favor or care...

regard, have respect..."

We discussed how we need to regard, find pleasure in,

and love the will, way, and things of YHVH

more than self and our wants

and that we need to be mindful to not look/turn back.

-------------------------------------------

The children enjoyed a little astronomy

over breakfast together...

They enjoyed making volcanoes with baking soda and vinegar

with the neighbor children.

The fun way to do "science" for the day. ;)




Hebrew copywork on the carpet...

coloring history at the kitchen counter...

More nature study when our youngest (the "pet finder")

found another insect to add to her collection...

a Jerualem cricket.

We were hoping to teach it

how to sing Hava Nagila and to do the Hora...

but there has been no success. ;)

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We, also, enjoyed reading our Torah portion

on Shabbat in front of the fire...



That was a blessing, to be sure!

"Show me Your ways, O יהוה {YHVH}; Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the Elohim of my deliverance;

On You I wait all the day."

~ Psalm 25:4-5


Blessings and Shalom!

All About Creation...

A couple of weeks ago,
(I'm a bit behind on posting)
we gathered with some friends
and visited the Creation Museum.

It was a blessing to walk through the days of creation
(and throughout the whole museum)
and see Scripture on the walls
referencing the events of creation and history...





By the Word of יהוה {YHVH} the heavens were made,
And all their host by the Spirit of His mouth
Psalm 33:6





Lift up your eyes on high and see.
Who has created these?
He who is bringing out their host by number,
He calls them all by name,
by the greatness of His might
and the strength of His power
– not one is missing.
Isaiah 40:26











At the time of our visit,
we were reading about Noah in our Torah portion,
so it was a special treat to visit the ark... ;)













dino print

















Tower of Babel



Rosetta Stone






You did found the earth of old,
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
Psalm 102:25



Blessings and Shalom!

As the Stars of the Sky

Last week, it was a blessing to get together with friends
to read a section of our Torah portion
and do a project!

We read how YHVH made a covenant with Abram,
to multiply his seed... as the dust of the earth.
How unfathomable that is!

Praise YHVH that He keeps His covenants...
ALL of them.


“And I shall make your seed as the dust of the earth,
so that, if a man could count the dust of the earth,
then your seed also could be counted."
Genesis 13:16


"And He brought him outside and said,
“Look now toward the heavens,
and count the stars if you are able to count them.”
And He said to him, “So are your seed.”
Genesis 15:5

------------------------------------------------

We illustrated what we read
using glitter and sand
(from our recent trip to the beach).














"... that I shall certainly bless you,
and I shall certainly increase your seed
as the stars of the heavens
and as the sand which is on the seashore,
and let your seed possess the gate of their enemies.
And in your seed all the nations
of the earth shall be blessed,
because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 22:17-18




"And if you are of Messiah,
then you are seed of Aḇraham,
and heirs according to promise."
~ Galatians 3:29



Blessings and Shalom!

Pacific Afternoon

Last week we took some time
to enjoy the ocean
and gather sand for a project.

Though the water was quite cold,
the weather was beautiful
and we enjoyed our time
in the fresh salt air!

"Let the heavens and earth praise Him,
The seas and all that moves in them."
Psalm 69:34



Blessings and Shalom!

Sukkot Snapshots

It's been a couple of weeks since Sukkot ended
and we took lots of photos...
but wanted to share a few here
that I compiled into collages.

It was such a delight to celebrate YHVH's feast days
with fellow believers this year!
Thank You, Abba! ♥


{click on the photos to enlarge}


The top two left photos are at our home,
when we hosted a game night fellowship.
The bottom left is from our afternoon of
shabbattin' in a sukkah at the seashore
(as are the top and bottom right photos),
and the one in the middle left is
when we visited friends in their sukkah. :)


We didn't do as much homeschool work
in the sukkah as I would have liked,
but we did do some...



We enjoyed reading Scriptures
and making mini Torah scrolls





We look forward to the spring feasts next year!

Blessings and Shalom!