"L’Chaim!"

You can say that I have a strange appreciation for old movies.

With "Fiddler on the Roof" being one of them.

Hi Friends!

It's my birthday!

This very last day of April I am celebrating at the library typing to you all with a beautiful picture window reflecting the sun off of the grass and a book all about Van Gogh,

So you can safely assume that I am having the best birthday ever.

Family and friends have spoiled me reminding me that I am indeed the luckiest girl on earth with some of you dear ones even treating me to another cinnamon crunch bagel in the future!

I am just downright humbled.

Thank you!

I am really so very grateful for the blessing of "life."

For the every day normal-extraordinary.

For my husband sneaking a kiss on his way out the door before the birds or I have even stirred,

For the ability to meet with the Lord, sit with him knowing me better than I know myself and know his smile,

For sleepy hard-working teens excited about cream cheese on bagels,

For texts from near and far thinking that I am way more godly and fun than I actually am.

For "life."

For better for worse, I am a movie watcher.

I have dear favorites that have made huge impressions on me like, "Sarah, Plain and Tall" that maaaaayyyyy be the reason we have a Caleb and an Anna.

Just sayin'.

It COULD have been "Chubbers-horatio-alberto-bell,"

I mean, I was under the influence of some heavy medication.... so you just remember that Caleb.

If you're a "Sarah, Plain and Tall" fan you know.

The artsy part of me runs deep, going to sleep as a child with "Somewhere my love" wafting down the hall from my father watching "Dr. Zhivago" for the umteenth time.

I'm not sorry that I can spend all day at an art museum thanks to my Father's appreciation for any and every kind of art.

No art was "bad" or "good."

It was all to be appreciated in some way.

When I brought home a GARGOYLE I crafted from clay, glazed in a beautiful blue in junior high, with a very sad expression and gigantic nose, it was placed in the china cabinet next to my grandfather's carving from Mexico.

He's the reason I can look beyond the sad in Van Gogh and see a pastor's son with an amazing talent for spilling mesmerizing hues of blue that make your heart skip a beat.

So I guess you can ultimately fault him for the first song my oldest sang around the house being, "If I were a rich man," from "Fiddler on the Roof."

He got so good at playing the "part" that he would dance around the living room in full "Tevye" fashion, "Biddy biddy bum" and all.

Oh this makes me smile all the way to my toes.

What can I say? Sometimes I just hit it "out-of-the-park" as a parent.

And yes we were smart enough to get this on tape and yes I would love to accidentally play this as his soon-to-be bride walks down the isle.

This phrase "L'chaim" has been running around in my head lately bringing me back to this stupendous film. and sending me down the internet "black hole" to find some pretty interesting things.

Apart from being a catchy tune, This is what the Hebrew word actually means. It's a little bit to read but it's chock'ful of good!

"The Hebrew word for life has a special ending that is similar to the plural ending (im) but slightly different (ayim), specifically indicating that it is double, or a pair. The ending of the word chaim means specifically two lives, which speaks of God’s plan for our life here on earth, and the life to come.

It is interesting that the word for life is of a pair – specifically two of them. Not one life. Not a plurality of lives, but just two – divided by the Day of the Lord and judgment. Hasidic Judaism has (tragically) incorporated reincarnation into its orthodoxy since the late middle ages, and that view is common in Israel today, and among many Orthodox Jews worldwide. But the ancient Hebrew word itself testifies to the simple duality of life.

Hebrews 9:26-29 tells us that Yeshua “has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

Most Israelis don’t stop to think about the special double ending on these words, but in this rich language of the Bible, there is so much to testify about the truth of God and his ways.

When we discover our Messiah and redeemer, Yeshua, we pass from death to life and enjoy the double blessing of life that God desires for us. (oneforisrael.org)

This is the reason I write with a smile on my face!

What a life we have in Christ!

A life here on earth to live to the fullest through Christ and a life we can hardly comprehend to come!

And the icing on the cake of life is Ecclesiastes 3:11- "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:.."

A friend and I were just bemoaning how much we took for granted in our young, skinny years.

Mostly food.

We took what we could eat for granted.

We thought we were fat and unsightly when we were the cutest things ever.

But sitting here a brand-spanking new 48, I think that I'm more thankful than ever for exactly how God has made me and that is a wonderful birthday gift.

God is making me beautiful in His time, and I sure am thankful.

He is taking all of the pieces of my life that make me, "me," and modge podging them together on a very specific canvas of his own making to suit these pieces of me for his glory.

In His time, my appearance will just be a mirror of his own and that will be the joy and rejoicing of this heart of mine.

I didn't just inherit a love of art from my father, but his deep dark eyes, wavy crazy hair, his love of good Mexican food and his wonderful sense of humor.

You can tell I'm his all the way through.

And it does bring a little lump in my throat to know that I see me in my oldest's deep dark eyes and crazy wavy hair as well.

Don't worry, Isaac, the love of Mexican food will come.

And in the same way I want to look so much more like the Lord.

So that others around me recognize I'm his.

Today I wish you the blessing of a double life in Christ.

I mean!

That's reason enough for cake!

"L'Chaim," friends!