Year of 5,000 Books

I have not done this before and probably will not do it again. However, I love a celebration! Whenever there is a reason to celebrate from Saint Patrick’s Day, which is decidedly not Jewish, to the Chinese New Year, I’m your gal. So it’s probably no surprise to anyone who knows me, that the party that begin last night at by new, interactive bog, titled “Casa de Naomi Reflections” has landed here. Since I am as passionate about what is going on there as I am about this blog and all you who follow it, I have decided to do a dual posting. This week I am posting the Grand Opening Message from the new bog. I hope you read it and decided that another blog is not one to many. If you do, visit http://CasadeNaomi.blogspot.com and join.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Casa de Naomi Reflections~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for meeting Naomi and me here. Pull up a chair and stay a while. While you are getting comfortable let me share that this Interactive Reflections Blog is for YOU!


Though one can garner blessings from visiting this blog without reading Casa de Naomi there are benefits to reading the text as we move through Naomi’s story so I have posted Chapter One – A Safe Haven on my websites home page. If you would like to read the first chapter, please scroll down to my website link posted in the right hand column, hit the icon, and read A Safe Haven. Since I will be sighting sentences from the novel with each posting, you might want to read the chapters as we work through them. Although Casa de Naomi is not available on the .com booksellers yet, you can order the novel from my website and I will send it to you as soon as I have the book.


When we consider why we might follow or join anything, each of us reviews our needs and the benefits accrued through participation. If you chose to form or become involved in a Casa de Naomi Registered Book Club, your group can use the material to further discussion. However, whether you participate in a group or not, you can experience the fullness of this and the other novels that follow by visiting this blog weekly, then reflecting on or writing down your insights.


I will post material every other week, and I am inviting you, dear friend, to email me through this blog, my website, Tweet PaulaWordsmith on Twitter, or email Paula Michelson though FaceBook with your thoughts, observations, and anything else you would like to share. I will post your comments and the feedback I receive every other week so that each of you can have a voice thereby making this an interactive, yet personal experience. Should you like your comments to remain anonymous, please let me know each time you correspond.


Before we begin, let me share that I look forward to getting to know each one of you and look forward to discovering what this blog will become since it is our interaction that will define and move this blog forward. Therefore, I feel that I can state with candor, that we are in this thing together and together, I believe we will create something lovely that each of us will value and share with others.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter One - A Safe Haven~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Safety is a fundamental need. Without it, nothing thrives. Since safety is the key issue in chapter one, that is where we begin our sojourn with Naomi. For while you read this Saga and participate in this blog you are choosing to experience Naomi’s life, issues, and her desire as the subtitle ‘The House of Blessing’ indicates, become a blessing and be blessed. My prayer for you is that all you experience here blesses you and prepares you to become a blessing when the time is at hand.


Text: Naomi knew she was in trouble the moment the immigration official had told her, he was taking her to Ellis Island.


• When have you been in trouble?

• Did you create the problem or was it foisted upon you?

• Did someone help you?

• If you received help, did the person expect something in return?



Text: She remembered leaving her family in the middle of the night without an explanation or a good-bye and tears threatened to fall.


• Have you ever left family or friends without telling them why?

• Have you ever felt trapped?

• Did you find yourself wishing for the problem to disappear?

• Were you able to handle the situation as it unfolded?



Text: Naomi gasped. Maybe God is watching out for me after all!

• When troubles come your way, do you engage in wishful thinking?

• Do you believe that behavior is neither good nor bad?

• If you had to face a horrid situation, would someone help you?

• Do you believe that consequences are just or random?



Text: “I used the handcuffs, just as you told me to. Do not worry. She is safe.”


• Are you safe because someone makes you feel or says you are safe?

• What might you have to give up or become to feel safe?

• When you are in danger, can you make yourself believe you are safe?

• Is life more important than the way you live it?



Scripture: Psalm 91:4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge (safety); his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.


Did You Know that when Messiah wept over Jerusalem and said he wanted to cover the inhabitants with his wings, he was referring to his the Tzitzit (fringe)on his Tallit(prayer shawl) referred to as wings within the scriptures. Numbers 15:38-40, says, They shall make themselves tzitzit on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they shall place on the tzitzit of each corner a thread of techeilet. And it shall be tzitzit for you, and you will see it, and you will remember all the mitzvot (blessings) of the Lord and do them and not follow your heart or your eyes and run after them.

Summary Question: When Tía helped Naomi enter America illegally, was she thinking of herself or the girl?

Thank you for dropping by. Please send me your comments so I can include them in my next blog, and if this weeks posting has proven to be of interest or beneficial, please invite your friends to drop by.