Fall of Damascus imminent? 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/05/world/meast/syria-violence/
Sunday - A series of massive explosions illuminated the dark sky over Damascus early Sunday, igniting renewed claims that Israel has launched attacks into the war-torn country.

Syria's government said the explosions were the second Israeli airstrike in three days. The latest target, officials said, was a military research facility outside the Syrian capital. A top Syrian official told CNN in an exclusive interview that the attack was a "declaration of war" by Israel.

Syrian authorities vowed to retaliate against Israel but did not specify what action they would take.

http://www.thetower.org/...assad-green-lights-operations-israel-threatens-missile-attacks

Tuesday - On Friday and Sunday Israel reportedly struck Iranian and Hezbollah assets based in Syria. ...IAF jets had conducted the air strikes from Lebanese air space, staying out of Syria – but nonetheless Damascus has been signaling that it may escalate the situation.  Most pointedly, Syrian state TV announced today that President Bashar al-Assad was activating Palestinian groups to retaliate against Israel.

Al-Ikhbariya announced that the government had given a green light to Palestinian groups to conduct “operations” against Israeli targets on the Golan Heights. Hezbollah-linked media, meanwhile, reported that Lebanon and Syria had established “popular committees” ready to fight Israel in the region.

...Assad, reported...to tell the Israelis that Damascus would react if Israel struck Syria again. Syria, they said, would consider any such act a declaration of war and would contemplate firing surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles at Israel.

Syrian sources told a range of media outlets that Damascus had deployed missile batteries aimed at Israel that could respond to any further Israeli actions.

aNNa'S NoTe:  Damascus is supposed to fall.  Jerusalem is to be attacked and controlled for three and a half years.  I'm seeing it all lining up before my very eyes...!

Overheard from the boy's room:

Hi-ho, hi-ho!  If any man hears my voice, and will open the door,
            I will come in, and sup, and go.  Hi-ho!

Apparently we do a lot of faerie tales and Bible verses, around here?

The Pouring Out

I have been crying out, this week.  We are forty days from Pesach, and I feel as far as I have ever felt from Him, and it's wrong.  It shouldn't be like this.  I study.  I pray.  I think of Him all throughout the day.  I teach His ways to my children, I count the Omer, I stand in the midst of Ascension Day (today, until sunset)... and yet I feel far from Him.  This earth couldn't be any more removed from Him, and here I am, sitting right down in the middle of it.  It's been horrible.

And when I get to that point?  That's when He reaches out and gives me a little boost.  It came this morning in the form of a picture a friend linked me to on FB... which sent me into my own archives for what I already had, but had forgotten.  Thank goodness for Him, because I can't keep track, otherwise.  Even things I wrote only weeks ago...?  I don't remember.  I'm so pathetically human, and I hate it.  But baruch ha'Shem Adonai, He steps in and sends a subtle reminder, knowing that if I really am contrite and seeking and crying out with a heart that wants and is desperate, I will see even the most subtle of hints.

That's all it was.  And in fact, I had seen this message earlier this week, but blew it off completely.  I figured as it goes, 20 meteors an hour are nothing, and I scrolled right on by it on my Facebook feed.  So the Lord put it right in front of me this morning, and... well, this time I looked at it.  And realized that there are two things about this that are vitally important, that I missed entirely!

First of all, it's May 4/5.  We are on the 40th day of the Omer, right now.  It's significant to faith/walk.  And as I said, it's not a huge meteor shower.  One every three minutes, and that's if you're looking in the right place at the right time... and believe you me, three minutes is a LONG time to wait in between, if you're not a die-hard stargazer.  Not to mention the chances of it being overcast - I have THE worst luck with stargazing conditions - to the point where I almost don't even bother, anymore.  ((On the other hand, one every THREE minutes?  THREE being another one of Yehovah's big numbers?))

But it's the Aquarid part that's important. When I saw that, I ran back to my archives, because I remember writing a post about the Age of Aquarius - just recently! - and it was something important... it was a post called 'He who will Pour Out'... and it being the Aquarid meteor shower, I felt it was very important to go back and find that post!  I wrote it January 4th, and it's here. (LINK)  But do you remember what it was about?  I didn't.  Which is why archives are so important.

Now, again - this is NOT astrology that I'm looking at, here.  I don't delve - AT ALL. The astrological things were stolen from Yehovah and twisted up into something evil... but originally, they were good and pure and set in the heavens by Ha'Shem for us, as a promise of things to come.  And that is SO important, especially right now, when my hope has been rock-bottom and I've felt a trillion light years away from Yehovah Elohim.  So I went back and took another look at that post... to see what the relevance might be, if there was any.

And THERE IS.  We have been - I believe - in the Age of Pices for two thousand years (the symbolism seen in the two fish, above).  Also seen in the symbolism of the two denari the Good Samaritan gave to pay the innkeeper until He returns.  The 'fish' have also been the symbol for Messiah followers since the time of Yeshuah. 

Now if the March equinox of 2013 is, indeed, the time when we move from the Age of Pices to the Age of Aquarius... could it be that the 40 days from Pesach to day forty are symbolic of that transition... as the 40 years in the wilderness (Israel), the 40 days in the ark (Noah), and the 40 days in the desert (Yeshua) are transition periods?  I would definitely have to say 'yes!'.  There were seven days from the March equinox to Pesach (another one of Yehovah's BIG numbers... and indicative of the 'completion' of something), and then we have the 40 days from Pesach to Ascension Day (forty being indicative of something transitional), and on Ascension day, there's the Aquarid meteors... stars falling from 'He who will Pour Out'?  That's some beautiful timing and symbolism, there.  And according to where I believe we are in Revelations (on the cusp of chapter 8)... it's time for the pouring out of the wrath.  Might this imagery, timing, and symbolism all be pointing to exactly that which I am watching for?  Exciting times, to be sure, if it does!

What does it mean?  I won't say, because I don't know for certain.  But I strongly feel that He wanted me to see this, that it's a promise that I am to grab onto and hang on to with all faith and hope, and that it's VITALLY important to what is happening (or what WILL happen).  So that's exactly what I'm going to do!

According to my friend Dori...

Iron Man May 3rd. Superman June 14th. Wolverine July 26th. Thor November 8th.
Then in 2014 comes another Captain America.  My kids will be stoked.

Whew!  BIG morning... it was the neighborhood sales in Brian's hometown.  Well, one half of them, anyhow - there are TWO big neighborhood/developments, and this morning was one of them.  FORTY garage sales later... !! ... I have water skis, Lincoln Logs, a bookshelf, pants/shirts for Isaac, yarn for Lydia, and LOTS of other things.  But excuse me while I collapse for a little while - that was a LOT of walking!!!  But I only do three big neighborhood sales a year.  One down... two to go!

uPDaTe:  Whew!  BIG afternoon... it was the neighborhood sales in Wayland.  Which I wouldn't have known, except that everyday for three months I've gone to the library site waiting for 'Warm Bodies' (the book, not the movie) to be returned, and TODAY it was down in Dorr... so we jumped in the car and drove out to Dorr to go and get it, and there were a few sales that wound us down to Wayland (where we stopped for lunch), and then proceeded to garage sale like CR-azy.  I got a computer chair, a casserole/lid set, renaissance dresses for Lydia and I (when we go to Clio for the festival at the castle), a Transformer puzzle for Isaac, a Bumblebee for Ethan, a Batmobile for Aaron, a grunkle for Owen... I'm DONE!!!

Nobody told me it was May... I almost missed May Day!  Almost - but then I remembered in time... and called the Dentist.  May Day is Dentist-appointment-making day, you know! 

Count with Me!

This year, we added... a lot of stuff to our schooling.  One of the things we are doing is learning to count to ten in a different language, every month.  It's one of my New Year's resolutions, if you remember: to be able to count to ten in ten languages.  But then I thought that if we did one a month, I'd meet AND exceed my goal, AND the kids would learn too!

So I made a flip-book of the different languages.  We're not learning to read the words in their own languages, or to write the numbers the way they do... we're JUST learning to count in that language.  The flipbook is done phonetically, to that end.  And honestly, that in itself is a challenge.  How many can you count to ten in?

So far, we've done:

(English) - Spanish - French - German - Sign -
Hebrew - Roman Numeral - Japanese - Russian

  We say the numbers everyday over lunch, and review every few days the other numbers... I'll call out 'Hebrew!' and they'll give me the numbers.  Or I'll shout out 'Uno!' and they'll take off with the other numbers.  And we watch a few YouTubes, the first and last weeks of the month, to be sure we're pronouncing it correctly.

Yet to go in our flipbook are:

Chinese - Norwegian - Italian - Arabic

Dutch - Greek - Hellenistic

So far?  The kids are LOVING it.  Today being May first, I think we're going to start on Dutch, since it's Tulip Time here in Michigan.  It seems to fit, don't you think?  I was thinking of adding the flipbook to 'Keep and Share'... putting it up here.  We shall see...

It hit 80 degrees, yesterday.  It was 75 when we recorded temps this morning at 10am... so I think it's going to be even HOTTER today.  Yikes.

 Bullet Blog 

• Good... afternoon?
• Hrm.
• Anyhow, it's nice now...
• but it HAILED this morning.
• Marble-sized hail!
• I was so geeked, I got the kids up...
• and when it stopped,
• we ran out and collected a bunch!
• They're in the freezer, to show daddy.
• I'm on sump duty, again.
• Brian says there's something wrong
• ...with the new sump.
• ((((((((shocker))))))))))
• So every hour on the hour, I check it.
• Highly annoying but whaddya do?
• Otherwise, I'm a sponge, today.
• S'why I don't know what time it is.
• The timer just went off - sump check time.
• ((hang on.))
• Okay, I'm back.
• Today, I'm reading... stuff.
• On-line.
• You just never know, with me!
• I stumbled on this site...
• ITS tactical.
• Most of it is... um...
• Let's just say I'm not a crazy person.
• But I think it's interesting, some of it.
• Like when a fire alarm goes off...
• ... DON'T sit up in bed.
• 90% of the deaths are people that sat up
• Instead, you roll off the bed to the floor,
• then assess the situation.
• I didn't know that - I would've sat up!
• So there ya go.
• Now you learned something, too.
• And are your car tires safe?
• Here's another fun one, if you'd like.
• I don't care about silencers
• ... or paracord wrapped knives.
• But I bookmarked two kewl knots,
• ... and learned about escaping zip ties.
• Hey... it's interesting stuff.
• I'm also working my way through a blog.
• Her name is 'The Homeschool Den'.
• This woman... wOw.  I love her stuff.
• I know, this should be a charcoal post,
• but I'm busy reading!  ((LoL!!))
• Yesterday a gal on FB asked a question:
• "What motivates you to exercise?"
• I answered that I grab my belly.
• I don't think that's what they were looking for...
• Okay, okay... but you needed a laugh.
• I need a new road atlas.
• Ours is... ho, man, you don't want to see.
• It's WELL used from our adventures.
• ... and the fact that I squish it between the front seats.
• There's a laminated one, but... it's $$$
• I'll talk to Brian about it, tonight.
• But ours is just shredded.
• And LAMINATED???  Too kewl.
• So is this.
• 4x8 plywood with paint/sand grout?
• LOVE it!
• This batch of baby chicks is just weird, FYI.
• They tap their beaks against our bathtub all day.
• All. Day.  And night.
• Our bedroom is next to it... it sounds like rain.
• Fifteen chicks, tap-tap-tap-tapping?
• (((((boggles))))))
• WHY?  I don't understand.  It's...
• Whatevs.
• I think lunch on the deck, again, today.
• What do you think?
• It's beautiful!
• ((Starts before 7, ends before 11, you know.))
• And it was fun eating outside, yesterday.
• Lydia is healing.
• First day bikes were out, she hit a pothole.
• While flying to race Isaac.
• She flipped and rolled.
• Poor girl is one big scrape, head to toe.
• Every sentence punctuate with 'ow'.
• Way to start the summer, guys...
• Is this long, already?
• No. Way!
• That's crazy... but good, right?
• Anyhow... yeah.
• I got stuff to go read, so...
• Until tomorrow!