A Time of Firsts

Being in Ottawa has been a whole lot of firsts for our family. First time the kids had been in snow. First time experiencing rain, snow, sleet and sun all in the matter of a few hours time. First time Ruth has taken ballet class. First time seeing a beaver in the wild. First time eating a beaver tail. First time watching the seasons. First time participating in Shabbat.

Which leads me to share with you about our dear friends The Gilmans. A family of 12, Alan and Robin’s oldest is 30 and youngest is 7. They are believing Jews and have an incredible family. They started attending Calvary shortly before our arrival. Their oldest daughter Sarah has been a missionary in Haiti since before the earthquake. Adult daughters Naomi, Devorah and Hannah are beautiful dancers and have gone through or are currently attending Ballet Magnificat, a Christian ballet school and company in Jackson, Mississippi. Adult sons Josh and Daniel live and work in Ottawa. Josh works as a reporter at the local news radio station and Daniel works on Parliament Hill and in school for his Masters. And their at-home children Jonathan, Tikvah, Abigail and Nathan are home schooled, play instruments and dance. I tell you all these details because I just adore their family and I want the Saul clan to experience the same unwavering commitment to family. It’s hard to describe the richness of their bonds but one word is so obvious – Jesus. An amazing, inspiring, consuming love and worship of Jesus emanates so brightly from each member of the Gilmans.

So this past Sunday, we attended Tikvah’s (who is also one of Ruth’s ballet teachers!) 13th birthday celebration. It is more commonly known as a Bat Mitzvah but since they are believe in Jesus it is called a Bat Hesed or “Daughter of Grace”. We ate dinner, sang worship, spent time encouraging Tikvah with words, dancing and song (courtesy of her brothers), prayed over her and then participated in some sweet Israeli folk dancing. Then the evening ended with just all out dancing and worshiping of the Lord.

As I mentioned earlier, a number of the girls are dancers and it is just amazing to see how they worship the Lord through dance. If you have a few minutes watch the videos below of the dancing. **Especially the last one which has Johnny pulling out all his breakdance moves.

And check out Alan’s blog Torahbytes for a commentary of the Word from a messianic perspective.