tag:www.lilypress.com,2007://2 2007-02-09T02:30:34Z Movable Type 3.35 tag:www.lilypress.com,2007://2.82 2007-02-09T02:23:36Z 2007-02-09T02:30:34Z

Last week, my mom wrote me (Alice) a list of food items I should know how to make before I leave home. At the top of the list was homemade chocolate pudding. The recipe I used was from our 1956...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com Blanc Mange is French for "White Food." The taste was better than any other pudding I have ever tasted. Here is the recipe: Chocolate Blanc Mange Mix in saucepan.....2/3 cup sugar, 3 tbsp. cornstarch, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 2 squares unsweetened chocolate, cut up (OR 1/3 cup cocoa). Stir in gradually...2 1/4 cups milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil 1 min. Remove from heat. Blend in 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Chill. Serve in sherbert glasses topped with fresh fruit, grape or other fruit juice (I think this is for the vanilla one), or whipped cream. Delicious, too, topped with vanilla ice cream. AMOUNT: 4 to 6 servings. ]]> tag:www.lilypress.com,2007://2.81 2007-02-09T01:59:45Z 2007-02-25T02:09:13Z

We realize that our Lilypress website has not been updated in a long time! This long absence has been due to... Micah's wedding last February... Hannah's wedding in August... Naomi's volunteer work as a missionary on the border of Mexico......

Lily Press www.lilypress.com Hannah's wedding in August... Naomi's volunteer work as a missionary on the border of Mexico... And the arrival last week of our very first nephew/grandson! He was six days too early to be born on his parents' first anniversary! Our house is a lot quieter than it was a year ago. We will try to post more often from now on!]]> tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.76 2006-07-19T04:18:54Z 2006-11-27T03:18:04Z

Last week Naomi had a chat online with Jana Baldridge, a dear friend from Wisconsin. Both girls are currently volunteering at Christian ministries in Texas and were having similar questions about their work. They have taken advantage of these opportunities...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com Last week Naomi had a chat online with Jana Baldridge, a dear friend from Wisconsin. Both girls are currently volunteering at Christian ministries in Texas and were having similar questions about their work. They have taken advantage of these opportunities because of Paul's admonition that singleness is a gift to be used for the body of Christ and his injunction that we be "wholly concerned with the Lord's business". However, this doesn't mean concerns don't arise and this chat addreses some of them, in an informal way. (Meaning, we weren't planning on posting this while we were having it! What you see is the original, un-cut, and unedited version. Okay, I did change one spelling error, but I won't admit whose it was. Read at your own risk!) me: Hi! How are you? Jana : I'm doing pretty good. :-) How are you? me: Great! Are you getting a big storm tonight too? Jana : Ha! Nope...ours came last night. Goodness. It was a nice downpour too. Soaked my shoes walkin' to dinner, LOL. me: Wow! What fun! Did you have an okay 4th of July away from home? Jana : Yes, it was pretty good. I actually have all this week off from work. Hurrah! me: Really? That's nice! Are you getting homesick? Jana : So, I went into town with some of my friends to watch the parade....ALERT held a cookout for the guys/staff....and Big Sandy had a nice fireworks display. me: Oh, that's nice. Jana : Not really. It hits once in awhile...for the most part, I keep too busy to be homesick. Not sure if that's good or bad, but... :-) How was your 4th? me: Don't you just love having "family" away from home? I think that's the nicest thing. I understand! It was great . . . my best holiday away from home so far! I went to a parade by myself in the morning (ha!), bought a hot dog at a gas station and ate it on the curb, and then later went to a big cookout at the pastor's house and then fireworks. I've only got another month here until I go home for Hannah's wedding and then have to decide if I want to come back again. That's the part I don't like - always deciding where to go and when! :-) Jana : Are you committed for a time in El Paso? (that is where you are, right?) me: Right. . . no, I can come and go as I please! They want me to stay for 10 years, they said, but they'll settle for anything. That was nice :-) I sometimes have this dichotomy of the quiet home life and active ministry away from home and wonder which I really should be doing. Maybe this back and forth is the best thing. Do you have that problem or have you worked it out? Jana : Hmmm...Good question! me: lol Too bad - I was thinking maybe you'd settled it and could help me out. :-) Jana : What you should be doing....meaning, what you feel like the Lord/parents want you to do, or what people will say? me: Umm. . neither of the last two. I guess I mean where I as a Christian woman ought to be Jana : Oh, I see. A Christian, single woman with no hopes on the horizon for marriage, right? :-) me: If God created women to be a help to men and flourish in the sphere of the home, what implications does that have for me? lol - right - does that change anything? Jana : I was just asking what I've been asked personally, LOL. me: Obviously I don't think it excludes the kind of stuff we're doing or I wouldn't be where I am, but how exactly does it fit? Jana : I've been kinda wondering the same lately. me: People keep saying "I hope you meet a nice young man - and SOON!" That cracks me up. I always add, "But I AM happy NOW!" Jana : I guess I feel that being at ALERT for this time -- however long it is -- will prepare me to better serve with my husband. Hmmm...that didn't come out right. me: I understand . . and I agree. I am learning so much - and I'm sure you are too Jana : Oh, for sure!!!!! me: but then. . . are we losing anything at the same time? Are we forgetting how to be content with washing dishes and mopping floors? Are we convincing ourselves that THIS is real ministry and therefore being a mother isn't? In any way are we getting affirmation from being told we are helpful and doing good work instead of being content to BE Jana : And I really feel like that someday my husband and I will be serving in a ministry setting and all this office work and leadership skills will be much needed. Oh no! I feel like being a mother is a real ministry. God just hasn't called me to that right now. I wouldn't say it's the highest kind of ministry....well....hmmmm.... me: lol Jana : Uh..... me: I feel the same way about future ministry - that any skills I am getting now are most likely going to be helpful. Jana : In all honesty, I didn't get your last sentence. Sorry -- I've been sleeping most of today. :P :-) me: That's nice! I mean. . . as women who plan on being home, we have to receive our "fulfillment" from being and not from doing. We are valuable because we ARE and we serve God in quiet obedience. So does being away like this and being so actively involved in other (but also valuable ministry) tempt us to think "oh yes, now I am really doing something great" that is going to, in the long run, make us less content (or feel less important) being at home? Jana : It can.... And I've struggled with that in the past. me: I don't know. . . I just have a bit of cognitive dissonance once in awhile. Does just not getting paid make this valid woman's work for us? Jana : I don't think getting paid has anything to do with it's. It's your motive. me: Of course, we have impeccable motives :-) Jana : LOL me: But is this actually woman's work? Jana : WELL....Is there a defined woman's work? me: we're far removed from the "home sphere" I don't know. I think there is. Jana : Where is home? Always with the family? me: Uhh Not necesarily Jana : Or can family be other people besides dad, mom, siblings? I'm just asking. :-) me: Good question. Maybe the question is who are we called to serve at this time in our lives? Jana : Yes! me: and I guess I have no trouble saying we can serve wherever the need and opportunity arise but I just wonder if in any way this could be inadvertantly hindering our future lives Jana : It could, yes. My parents and I discussed this indepth before I came back to ALERT full time. me: I know how easy it is for me to slip into thinking 'saving souls' is the real work and then slowly that is going to make me unhappy at home What did you conclude? Jana : Accountability has been a big key. Making sure I keep my parents updated on what's going on, the ins and outs of my job and the people I work with, friends, and having them be able to tell me if they think my focus is getting off. Honestly, I'd be happy to go home. me: And what would you say your focus is? Jana : I'm happy to stay here too. :-) me: I KNOW - that's what I keep saying - I'll be happy to go home any time! But does that make it okay? Jana : LOL! Goodness, girl.....:-) me: lol Jana : My focus.. me: I'm so philosophical, I know. :-) Jana : (give me a second) It goes back to what I said before: learning office/communication skills that will better help me serve with my husband someday. My day to day focus is to work alongside my boss and coworker to help families who stay on campus -- whether for a night, for Family Camp, or a huge 600 person conference -- the best possible. I mean...the best possible stay. Meeting their needs... Serving them as Christ would. me: OK So that would be similar to what I'm doing, I guess - facilitating groups, creating a good atmosphere - that's funny. Hospitality is definitely in the woman's sphere, I think. So maybe we're fine. :-) Jana : And I love it!!! Stretches me beyond what I think humanly possible.....but I love it. Love it because God has called me. LOL! Yeah, maybe we are fine. :-) End of discussion. ;-) me: LOL Okay, phew, just checking. Jana : Really...you pegged a good point re: hospitality. me: I guess maybe the guidelines would be - we need to go home if suddenly we aren't willing to go home. We need to go home if we're getting addicted to people's approval. We need to go home if there are things at home that are more pressing. Would those be good guidelines? Jana : Sounds good to me. I would add too -- Might want to consider going home too if you're........okay, my brain isn't coming up with any words. :P Uhhh.... Well, never mind. I guess it falls under "people's approval". me: lol I know the line, because I've crossed it in the past :-) And I guess it's good to go home often enough that we "test the waters" and our contentment levels Jana : Sounds like a good chapter for your book. :-D And to keep the home ties alive. me: Yeah. My poor book. It's either dying a long, slow death or waiting for a glorious resurrection :-) Jana : That's hard to do when away....keep in touch, be apart of the family, yet so far away. I like the ressurection idea. ;-) me: Yes - and I seem to be either very homesick or else so busy I can't think about it. Jana : Okay, that's another reason why I need a laptop for my birthday.... me: One is probably a coping mechanism for the other Ha ha Why - you're going to help me write? :-) You can be my official editor. I can e-mail you everything I have so far and you can butcher it Jana : And too...I've found you can't truly focus on your work, if you're always worrying about home life. Your heart can't be in two places. Oh, I'd love to help write and butcher. me: At least I got "my story" all typed out from my talk. Really? Great! As soon as I get home, I will flood your inbox. Actually, maybe I should mail them to you on disk. Did I send you my talk notes? I'm going to turn it into a chapter or two Jana : Yes -- looked fabulous, girl. Really and truly. me: Aw, thanks. I forgot to say we had a book for sale, though. I'm SO not a businesswoman. Jana : LOL! me: Well, I guess I'd better go find some dinner. Jana : You need a man to do the business end anyway....;-) me: Right! Jana : Yeah, and I need to get back to the house. Soooo nice to chat with you, dear!!!!!!!!!! me: Oh, you too! I need friends like you! Jana : Miss you....wish we weren't so far away. ;-) me: You understand my problems :-) Jana : HA! It's nice to have someone who understands mine...and can voice them, LOL. me: Yeah, I do too. Too bad we're not in the same city. tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.75 2006-06-30T05:51:16Z 2007-01-26T02:35:07Z

You know what one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten is? “Are you a nun?� This has happened more than once, believe it or not. I know that may look like a strange question and to tell the truth,...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com You know what one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten is? “Are you a nun?� This has happened more than once, believe it or not. I know that may look like a strange question and to tell the truth, I’ve always been puzzled by it and even slightly annoyed. I realized today, however, that this is really a compliment. I’ve been in the acquaintance of a number of girls lately who don’t look like or act like girls. They are muscular, dress in gender neutral styles and colors, act macho, hate feminine activities, and basically are attempting (consciously or un) to be men. This bothers me to no end, but I don’t always take the time to think through why. Most Americans are easily swayed to believe that in many areas, men and women are fungible – that means they could be swapped for the other without consequence. I disagree! I think women are BETTER at cooking, cleaning, nesting, etc., and that men are BETTER at lifting, being stable, making money, etc. My efforts to look and act like a girl lead me to wear skirts, jumpers, and dresses more often than not, and the more I am surrounded by non-feminine females, the more I want to look different. I was thinking about nuns and realizing that they live and dress the way they do because they believe God is their husband and they live and work only for Him. Isn’t that how we should be as single women? We don’t dress to attract attention (especially of men), we don’t hold ourselves in a way that would make us look important, we don’t try to do “men’s jobs� in order to somehow impress them with us. On the contrary, I think true men are far more impressed with a feminine woman! (We need to remember, though, that our motives come through in our behavior. If we are acting feminine only as a facade to try to attract a man, that will also be visible.) Nuns have set out to obtain holiness in their actions, demeanor, and dress. What a high compliment for us to be mistaken for one who officially has given her life for this cause! Isaiah 54:5 says, “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.� What an honor and a privilege we have to be daughters of God and part of the bride of Christ. After thinking about this, I looked in the mirror this afternoon to analyze what I had on. I wondered, “Do these clothes visibly say ‘I belong to the Lord and He is my husband?� Do they speak to people about my pleasure in being a woman? Do they say “I am not a man�? If not, I should probably change. Of course, we don’t need to look frumpy or unkempt (in fact, we ought to look the opposite – pleasing!). But we do need to look (and act) like a girl, like one who has been bought with a price, like one who has been called to give her life for the service of Christ – and is thankful for the privilege of doing so. tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.74 2006-06-23T08:39:23Z 2007-01-26T02:37:04Z

While not a book I’d unreservedly recommend, I have been recently enjoying Donald McCullough’s Say Please, Say Thank You: The Respect We Owe One Another. It’s sort of an “I’m not Emily Post and neither are you, but we can...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com While not a book I’d unreservedly recommend, I have been recently enjoying Donald McCullough’s Say Please, Say Thank You: The Respect We Owe One Another. It’s sort of an “I’m not Emily Post and neither are you, but we can still be nice to each other� expose on modern manners. The best chapter so far is number 8, on the topic of meals. Here’re a few excerpts: “My oldest daughter recently celebrated her twenty-third birthday, and for me the day brought forth many memories of her growing from childhood through adolescence into young adulthood. . .When we spoke on the telephone she said she had been thinking about her most memorable birthday. . .what stood out in her mind was the ladybug cake her mother made on her sixth birthday. ‘There was just something about that cake,’ she said, ‘that made it so special.’ Well, it doesn’t surprise me that her recollection of a favorite celebration had to do with food. For most people, meals are like mountains on the landscape of memory; food and drink and conversation have formed peak experiences, summits standing tall against the terrain of the ordinary. . . “Of all the wonderful gifts of the Creator, near the top of the list is the joy of eating. God, I presume, could have made us with neither the biological necessity nor the aesthetic pleasure of consuming nourishment. But I don’t think it’s entirely metaphorical when the psalmist says, ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good. . .’ “Sharing meals serves a very important purpose in helping us become more fully human: it helps strengthen the bonds of community. In an almost mysterious way, food and relationships are intimately connected. . . “There are at least two reasons why eating establishes community: it makes possible both sacrifice and delight. In sharing a meal something is given, often with great labor or cost, and something is received, often with great pleasure. The giving and receiving, the sacrifice and delight, are two essential movements in the dance of human community. . . It seems to me there is an element of self-sacrifice when we take it upon ourselves to feed others. . . and in response to giving comes receiving, in response to sacrifice comes delight. So if you prepare a meal for me, it’s my responsibility – my solemn duty – to enjoy it. . . “If we lose the art of sharing a meal with others, we will deprive ourselves of the self-giving and delight that are central for the creation of human community. If food is simply fuel, a pit stop at the golden arches will do just fine. But if it’s more, then we need to make space in our lives for eating that is neither cheap nor quick, an eating that not only fills our stomachs but ennobles our souls.� I’m sure this stirs thoughts in your mind similar to those in mine – thoughts of desserts and meals made and received and shared with precious people. I remember one of the first times as an “old� person that my mom took me out – just her and I. We went to Antoinette’s, a pretty uppity (at least in my mind at the time – I hadn’t been there before nor since) ice cream parlor. I was used to getting a Dilly Bar (Dad bought 5, we picked the color), but on this trip, we got to order off an ice cream menu and sit at a table. I don’t remember exactly what we ate, but I do remember it was huge and it was chocolate and I felt so grown up and special to be out with just my mom. I also remember the last meal my sisters and I ate with my grandpa before he died. It was some sort of hotdish, I think, and he could hardly hold his fork, but he knew who we were, and that was all that mattered – sharing food together for the last time. It’s funny how when you get thinking, so MANY memories revolve around food! I remember how we used to drive two cars to church – one with older kids to Sunday school, and one with younger ones in time for church. If we rode home with Dad afterwards, we were occasionally treated to a bag of Combos to share, purchased at a gas station where he bought the Sunday paper. We’d relish them together in the back seat, debating over the proper method of consumption – bite it in two hunks or one hunk, or suck the filling out and then wait for the outside layer to dissolve in our mouths. I remember (a more recent memory, but still a beautiful one) being with my grandma in Arizona and enjoying the supreme pleasure of Retirement Land, where you could get Whoppers for $1 at Burger King. We even had a coupon one day and got free fries and onion rings, all for only $1. We did this more than once and every time spent most of the meal watching the other people and priding ourselves in what cheap dates we were and what good food we could find for $1. I bet I could write 20 pages on all the wonderful meal memories I have – buying a hot dog and pop on the street corner or at Charlie’s diner with Alice for $1.50 each; helping to lay one of the famous Valine outdoor spreads of grilled chicken, cheesy potatoes, Chinese salad, fruit, and green beans; making my tortilla soup and curling up with a World magazine to pine away a relaxing evening here in El Paso; sharing a meal for two by candlelight with Micah on his kitchen chairs in the dining room; eating a breakfast of cereal mixed with nuts and chocolate in the car on the way to Minnesota, always envying Micah who managed to eat his cereal out of the bag and saving the chocolate for last (why was mine so often the reverse of that?); sharing a meal with Josh and Noelle down in San Antonio, with the prior phone call (“Let’s eat together – I have meat, do you have salad?� “Yes, but no tomato� “I’ve got half of one; I’ll bring it!) – truly a SHARED meal!; Martha’s famous slice-the-bag-like-an-icing-bag egg salad, passed up with love on bread from the back seat of the car; going to Applebees with Hannah and taking her advice that when you’re out with a sister for a treat, it’s okay to get the big sundae; helping hotdish at any family crisis – ah, so many good memories enjoyed with the added pleasure of sacrifice in giving and delight in receiving. It’s true that Jesus lived with this philosophy. After all, he was always sharing meals with people – sinners, tax collectors, his disciples, Judas – and in fact, before He died He established a meal that we are commanded to celebrate until He returns. Each Sunday when we partake of Communion, we are receiving the supreme sacrifice with supreme delight, in the company of thousands of the faithful in Heaven, crying “Holy, holy, holy!� In each of our meals this week, let’s take time to slow down and thank the Lord for the sacrifice He’s made for us – a sacrifice that our weak efforts to give of ourselves in mixing and baking only feebly imitate. Let’s not complain about meal preparation, but embrace it as a chance to demonstrate God’s love to our families. When someone cooks for us, let’s remember our responsibility to receive with joy. And let’s treasure the memories we have of shared lives and shared meals as we continually “taste and see that the Lord is good!� tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.73 2006-04-22T00:39:55Z 2006-11-27T03:18:04Z

After reading several blog posts and comments by younger mothers bemoaning the absence of older women to advise them as Paul suggests in Titus 2, I started thinking. Yes, mentoring is a Biblical idea and yes, we do have specific...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com After reading several blog posts and comments by younger mothers bemoaning the absence of older women to advise them as Paul suggests in Titus 2, I started thinking. Yes, mentoring is a Biblical idea and yes, we do have specific instructions for older women in their relation to younger women. But if there aren't any, there's nothing we can do about it. We now are facing a similar problem as single girls at home. Wouldn't I love a mentor? Wouldn't I love someone who has done this before, grown old and been married, who could reassure me over and over that this would turn out okay and give me advice on how to spend my time and other useful things? YES! Wouldn't we all? But the fact is that there aren't any, or at least very few, and once again, there's nothing we can do about it. However, to look on the other hand as I so love to do, perhaps it is better this way. After all, this way we have mystery. We have the adventure of the unknown. We have the chance to follow with trepidation the footsteps of Moses, Joseph, Abraham, and Mary . . . meekly walking the straight and narrow pathway of obedience that few find. The paths with solid brick walls around them, sign posts, smooth pavement, and ice-cream-stands-for-goodness'-sake are boring. They've been traveled, they're easy, and they don't require any guts at all. Wouldn't we rather walk on the unmarked trail, putting up posts as we go to mark the way, getting our shoes dusty, and deciding where the best place for pavement would be to smooth the way for others? I think so. So to those of you who for some reason or other are lonely, don't despair. That means you are on the right path, trod by thousands of pilgrims and strangers before you. Watch for the faint footprints and take cheer in them. Listen for the encouragement of the great cloud of witnesses. And keep walking. At the end is a chorus of angels. tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.72 2006-03-15T03:57:01Z 2006-11-27T03:18:04Z

These aren't related. At least I don't think they are. Abraham: In my Lenten devotional (and the liturgical calendar), the Old Testament reading for yesterday, the second Sunday of Lent, was the story of Abraham and Isaac. Kierkegaard's Fear and...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com These aren't related. At least I don't think they are. Abraham: In my Lenten devotional (and the liturgical calendar), the Old Testament reading for yesterday, the second Sunday of Lent, was the story of Abraham and Isaac. Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling was recommended as a resource for pastors and is apparently on this topic. I think I should find it somewhere. Anyway, I am fascinated by this story, one that made me cry when I was little. (I was convinced God might tell my dad to kill me and it took my parents significant time to convince me otherwise.) This story presents a view of God that makes us uncomfortable. Why did God do that? How did this event affect Abraham's relationship with Isaac? Isn't trusting God supposed to be about having "signs" that we're in His will and feeling all nice and warm about believing? Apparently not. Apparently sometimes it is cold and harsh to be obedient. Sometimes we come breathtakingly close to abandoning everything we ever wanted and we have no assurance whatsoever that we might not be asked to give it up. Sometimes our hands (dare I say it?) DO come down with the axe on our Isaac. Sometimes we have to watch glum-faced while our sacrifice goes up in flames. Sometimes we don't know. And we don't see. And there simply are NO footprints in front of us. But I guess this isn't bad. I guess this is the way of faith - of trust in the unseen and unknown and unheard, because Isaiah 43 says, "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." He watches and He knows and we don't and somehow that kind of faith is important to Him. Trust in the dark and the light will come. I guess that's how it works. And on feminists: Grandma and I watched the Today Show this morning and the author of The Mommy Wars was on, answering e-mails people had sent. Some of them were from stay-at-home moms asking for advice on how to answer their friends and others were from ladies who wanted to re-integrate into the workforce and needed advice. This lady was laid back and answered each according to their philosophy. I think it's good we're at least moving in the "I'm okay, you're okay" direction and I'm fascinated by the fact that these issues are coming again to the forefront of the public discussion, but I am still puzzled over the fact that most people are against any mention of duty. I can be a homemaker if I want to, but if I should dare to say I ought to, then I am in troubled waters. We can serve our husbands and fathers because we choose to do so, as long as we don't say we think it's our job. This is too bad. It reminds me of what I quoted earlier this week from the book I'm reading: duty and happiness are forever separated and it is incomprehensible to people how they could ever be anything but mutually exclusive. Grandma and I were discussing this morning the trend to days at the spa and the beauty parlor and the massage parlor and people's claims that we need time to do "girl things" away from home. We were musing on the question of whether doing dishes and sweeping floors and dusting and doing laundry would be just as therapeuticly "feminine" if only people would stay home and do them. We decided that to us, they are. tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.71 2006-03-14T03:40:16Z 2006-11-27T03:18:04Z

After spending nearly two weeks here in Arizona in the retirement trailer court, I’ve learned quite a few lessons I thought worth sharing. *You can always look for animals in the cloud formations and in fact, this is quite a...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com After spending nearly two weeks here in Arizona in the retirement trailer court, I’ve learned quite a few lessons I thought worth sharing. *You can always look for animals in the cloud formations and in fact, this is quite a good use of time. *Any day you can get out of bed and breathe, see, walk, hear, digest, and go somewhere is a good day. *The weather is an interesting phenomenon and worthy of all the attention you wish to give it. *Music is one of the chief pleasures of life. *Food is another one of the chief pleasures of life. Any casserole is a good casserole and any dessert is a good dessert. Talking about these is another good use of time. *There is something to be learned from each person you meet. For a young, single girl who sometimes gets blue about it, I especially learned things from the widows in the park here – including my grandma. I sat at a concert of love tunes with them on Saturday night. Love songs sometimes make me sad, because of my lack of a lover, but they don’t make these ladies sad at all. They remember past love, enjoy watching the love of other people, and celebrate love in general instead of feeling sorry for themselves. They don’t waste time grasping for what once was or what could have been, but they concentrate on living each day now to the fullest. They enjoy each other, share stories, golf, sing, and LIVE. I was looking around the auditorium last night during a “rhythms in blue� concert at all the people there – all over 55 and most over 70. I’ve been watching these people for the past two weeks and paying close attention, trying to savor each crooked smile, each wrinkled face, each time-and-work-worn hand, each limping walk. These people are precious. They have walked through time, experienced years of heartache and care, worry and fear. They know what it is to hurt, to cry, to mourn, to rejoice, to love, to lose, to win – what it is to live on this earth. As eternity steps closer and closer to them, its light shines in their minds. They don’t worry about being famous or popular or having what they want or getting ahead in life or what they will eat or drink or wherewithal they shall be clothed. They are concerned with people – how each person is feeling, what they are doing, where they are from, and who their grandchildren are. They are in touch with what really matters and they trust the Lord to take care of them, which they have no problem believing He will do, because they’ve lived and seen it and know now that He is faithful. Younger people have a harder time with this, I think. My generation is concerned with success and fame and fortune and being smart instead of wise. We think older people belong in nursing homes and we don’t value their wisdom or experience. I think we should. We should honor them for the lives they have lived, the trials they have come through, and the strength those trials have given them. We should listen more and talk less. We should watch and learn. We should revere these twinkling eyes and dancing feet for the love they have known – and have yet to give. Thank you – to my grandma and to all the other older people who have shown me what a joy it is to be a seasoned saint. tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.70 2006-03-12T04:50:27Z 2006-11-27T03:18:03Z

This book, although written by the feminist Glenna Matthews, nonetheless has taught me a lot this week. I found it at the library here in Phoenix and discovered that some feminists may be working toward the same goals as...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com This book, although written by the feminist Glenna Matthews, nonetheless has taught me a lot this week. I found it at the library here in Phoenix and discovered that some feminists may be working toward the same goals as we are. The author starts out discussing the roles of women in colonial society. "Cooking was a purely utilitarian function and not a highly prized skill: there is no evidence to suggest that women thought in terms of 'culinary art.' Rather, they would put a meal to simmer over the fire in the open hearth and go about their other business. Hence, for a variety of reasons, in 1750 domestic chores were likelier to be approached as matter-of-fact routines than as occasions for displays of female prowess or possessing ceremonial meaning. The colonial home, then, was both essential and mundane, mundane because it had no transcendent functions. What is more, nothing in the culture reflected glory on the woman in charge of the home. Literary heroines of eighteenth-century British novels, for example, were noteworthy for their purity and gentleness and not for their domestic skills." Toward the 1850s, however, things changed. According to Glenna Matthews, the Revolutionary War with its tea protests and such showed that the voice of housewives did, in fact, count for something in society. In addition, people discovered that it was in the home where children learned to view the world, mainly through the instruction of their mother, as the influence of the patriarchal society lessened. Education of girls began to be esteemed and with it all functions of the woman at home. Recipe books and ladies' magazines became popular as women started to see domestic expertise as a worthwhile skill. Catherine Beecher, an author of the time, said, "There is no subject so much connected with individual happiness and national prosperity as the education of daughters . . .The difficulty is, education does not usually point the female heart to its only true resting-place. That dear English word home is not half so powerful a talisman as the world. Instead of the salutary truth, that happiness is IN duty, they are taught to consider the two things totally distinct; and that whoever seeks one, must sacrifice the other." The author then goes on to note that in today's society, household skills are not valued (but marketplace contribution is) – hence, no one wants to do them. If we were to bring back honor for domestic prowess, then men and women would both want to participate and we could have a nice, neat 50/50 split and all the work would get done. I disagree with the results she wants, but I love her premises, and that's why this book has been so enjoyable to read. Unlike women of colonial times, I think home life is full of "transcendent functions" and has eternal impact on the lives it touches. Like the women of the 1850s, I agree that happiness is in duty. It's funny that feminists really don't care if some women are housewives or mothers – their only stipulation is that the women choose for themselves to be there. We daren't say that it is our duty to be at home! Suddenly that makes us somewhat less than free agents, the ultimate virtue in the feminist mind. I think the women of the 1850s (the time of the "cult of domesticity") had it right – happiness is in duty and whoever seeks duty will inevitably find happiness. tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.69 2006-02-20T22:37:06Z 2006-11-27T03:18:03Z

“Do you know how you can imitate the Apostles in their fatal sleep? You can suffer your young days to pass idly and uselessly away; you can live as if you had nothing to do but enjoy yourselves; you can...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com In My Father’s House has a potent message for any girl and that is this: take responsibility for your own life.]]> It is a sad tale I hear from girls, waking up in the morning ready for minute-by-minute instructions from Mother, working in the kitchen with the cacophony of “no, not like that� and “now do this� echoing behind them, asking “Mother, may I practice the violin now?�, eagerly anticipating a momentary reprieve in which they can sneak in a few pages of reading, always dodging around Mother’s watchful eyes to do “what I really want.� If you are 12, this way of living is not so bad, but if you are 20, this lifestyle is leading you into future years of distress. The transition from being a little girl in your father’s house to being an adult woman is a delicate one and one that is made much smoother by the constant working together with your parents. I’ve debated which comes first – acting like an adult or being treated like one. Regardless, there are several things we as daughters can do to aid ourselves in the growing-up process. First of all, we must recognize that we are responsible for our own lives. We choose to do or not do something; we choose to behave in certain ways. The way we live is the way we have chosen to live. We are held accountable for our own choices. Secondly, because of this we must “become thoughtful� ourselves. This means we must understand the reasons behind what we do. Do you dress in a feminine way? Why? Because your parents say so or because you hold the same convictions? Why do you live at home? Because you have no other choice or because you have chosen this choice above others? Think. Understand. Study. Learn the why behind the what. I’m not saying you should make drastic changes in your lifestyle because you suddenly decide you don’t agree with your parents, but I am saying that you need to know why you do what you do. If you disagree with them on something, then your choice is to submit or not to submit (and the obvious choice is right there); choosing not to think about it or have an opinion is not an adult option. Adults know why they do what they do and take responsibility for their own choices. Robertson says that neglecting these things has the potential to send us “headlong to evil� and here’s why: the world is full of contrary arguments. Eventually you will run into some of them and if you have no basis for what you believe, you will cave in under pressure. We need to be strong now and always, holding firm our beliefs. Third, we must take initiative in household responsibilities. This means that Mom shouldn’t have to ask you to do the dishes; you live in the house, so you should jump up and have them washed before anyone needs to ask. You can and should keep the grocery list current, the laundry washed, the floors clean, etc., without having to be reminded or questioned about it. (Of course you already keep your own room tidy and your own bed made!) By the time you are of adult age (say, 18 or so), your mother should not have to look over your shoulder all the time, whether it be in the kitchen or elsewhere. If she’s having to, it’s for one of two reasons; either you are not trustworthy to stay at your post or you do not care enough to know how to do things right. Moms want things done right and you ought to be able to be trusted to do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do it and to do it right. If you can’t, get remedial help! Ideally, you should have entire areas of the household management as your duty. At my house, I do the coupon cutting, the girls and I almost always do the shopping, Hannah does the laundry, Martha is responsible for kitchen maintenance and Alice the bathrooms. We take turns with the grass mowing and other odd jobs. In order to have a system like that, it’s understood that we know how to do our jobs well and that we will be faithful to do them. We are adults. Fourth, we must take initiative in our own spiritual and educational growth. If you want to study something, get books from the library. If you have an interest, search out ways to develop it. If you want to become more faithful at prayer, do it! Your parents should not have to come to you and convince you to read certain books or learn certain things; you should be going to them with proposals. This is not 3rd grade and we don’t need to be led by the hand. However, you do need to learn things and so if you’re not coming up with things on your own, your parents will be forced to baby you. You are responsible for who you are becoming and for what kind of woman, wife, or mother you will be. Marriage doesn’t make you grow up. Work does. Fifth, we must not avoid difficult situations. No one likes getting their hands dirty, but being a mature adult woman requires that we do some dirty work. So the book is tough to understand, the child is sick and throwing up on you, the person you’re helping has seizures, the opportunity for service means you’ll be away and might get homesick, the people you need to interact with are emotionally draining, the older people you want to visit are crabby and yell at you. OH WELL. When we shy away from the places, people, and opportunities that might be less than fun, we are destined to remain immature children. The only way to grow and mature is to be squeezed a little bit. Pressure molds us into adults and the better we get at dealing with hard things, the more grown-up we become. I’ve done several difficult things recently. I’ve sat with my grandpa during his time with cancer, sometimes at the clinic watching the blue chemo iv drip into his body, other times trying to help him breathe and being ready at his request to take him to the hospital. I’ve worked with people with disabilities, learning to deal with feeding tubes, watching them turn blue during a seizure, cleaning up bodily fluids of various kinds. I’ve been away from home for sundry reasons for many weeks at a time. I’ve been places where people are yelling at me through no fault of my own, where nothing I do seems right to them, where I am berated for my beliefs and lifestyle. These are in no way difficult when compared to what other people go through, but we have to start somewhere. All of these things have made me stronger and older and have given me a more realistic outlook on life. If your life is a particularly easy one, try to do some volunteer work where there are people with real problems! You can’t exactly complain of a bad hair day when you’re sitting next to someone who’s lost theirs to cancer. We can’t afford to “live as if we had nothing to do but enjoy [our]selves.� If we desire to be godly women, to be servants of the king, to be able to stand our ground for the kingdom, we need to be adults. This means we must think hard, work hard, pray hard, and do hard things. We don’t need to be babied or coddled. Having a husband is not going to make us instant adults; in fact, if we don’t learn how to be responsible for ourselves and our schedule and our activities now, we will be hopeless when we get married! How do you expect to run an entire household if you can’t even manage to get up in the morning and empty the dishwasher without being prodded? We don’t want to be left “unprepared. . . hurried, confused, [and] scarcely able to stand� because of our refusal to “learn what is good� and do it. Our lives are easy compared to most, but we still have plenty of work to do. If we want to live and function as the adults that we are, we need to work at being responsible, becoming thoughtful, taking initiative, and doing hard things. Maturity requires purification, refinement, and molding, but the end result is that we as daughters “may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace� (Psalms 144:12). tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.68 2006-02-20T21:28:53Z 2006-11-27T03:18:03Z

If your daughters ever spend time caring for young children, I highly recommend you purchase them a copy of this book. When our oldest was just a newborn, I came across the book "Teach Your Baby" by Genevieve Painter....

Lily Press www.lilypress.com If your daughters ever spend time caring for young children, I highly recommend you purchase them a copy of this book. When our oldest was just a newborn, I came across the book "Teach Your Baby" by Genevieve Painter. I picked it up for next to nothing at a used book sale and used its ideas regularly. It is not a book of theory or a book that advocates teaching your children to read when they are two, but just a listing of ideas for stimulating and interacting with young children, up to the age of thirty-six months. The only thing many people can think of to do with babies is to over-stimulate them by bouncing them around and getting them to squeal. Here is a solution to that problem. Following are some examples of the ideas included in this book: For four & five month olds: Attach bells to his booties so he will notice his feet and reach for them. Six to eight months old: Sit him on your lap facing you. Put your forehead against his and say "Boom". Take your head away and do it again. Soon he will learn to move his head toward yours when you play this game. Nine to eleven months: While both of you sit on the floor facing each other, shake a small toy until his eyes are on it. Move it along the floor slowly until it is behind your back. See if he crawls around you to find it. Now place a large pillow between you. Again shake the toy until it holds his attention. Move it slowly across the floor until it is behind the pillow, out of his sight. See if he crawls around the pillow to find it. In another variation of this game, catch his attention with the toy and move it slowly across the floor until it is behind him, and see if he turns around to reach it. Fifteen to twenty months: Put a white, a gray, and a tan cloth in front of him, leaving some space between them. The cloths must be plain colors so they don't distract him. Hold a toy in your hand so that he can still sese a small part of it and move your hand along a path under each cloth. He should see your hand between each cloth as it moves along. Leave the toy under the last cloth. See if he looks under the last cloth. Do this several times, leaving the toy under a different cloth each time. Thirty to thirty-six months: Cut two sets of circles - two large, two medium, and two small - out of cardboard. They should all be the same color so that you do not confuse teaching color with teaching size. Put one set of circles on the table. Give the other circles to him one at a time and say, "Put the little one with the little one." "Put the big one with the big one." "Put the medium one with the medium one." There is an introduction to this book that I have never read, and schedules for daily interaction with your children which I have never used. However, the ideas themselves are priceless. There is a copy of this book in each hopechest in our house. You can find copies of this book for sale at www.alibris.com. One version of this book appears to have pictures, which makes it much more costly. We have the cheap version. tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.67 2006-02-02T09:27:32Z 2006-11-27T03:18:03Z

A few months ago I found a pattern online that would soon become my favorite quick project for the winter. It is called Mrs. Beeton Wrist Warmers. Mrs. Beeton is considered a Victorian England’s equivalent of Martha Stewart. This project...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com ]]> tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.66 2006-02-02T06:18:25Z 2006-11-27T03:18:03Z

We have recently tried our hand at making potica (pronounced pah-teet-za), a Serbian sweet bread. Our mom grew up familiar with this delicious item, but was only able to eat it at the homes of “rich people,� due to its...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com This is the filling cooking on the stove. We pull the dough slowly out farther and farther. The dough is pulled far enough when it hangs down on all sides (this can be used to make cinnamon rolls, which no one is hungry enough to eat after having potica). Then the dough is sprinkled with cinnamon After that, the filling is spread out (or rather, spooned out), trying as hard as possible to cover every inch of the dough. Cut the excess dough off the sides of the table Roll up the dough into a long long log. All finished! Then this is cut into bread-pan-sized pieces, baked, and sliced. Mmmm! ]]> tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.65 2006-02-01T22:55:03Z 2006-11-27T03:18:03Z

Seldom do I come across a book on topic as broad as singleness that I recommend to others. In fact, of the dozens of relationship books for teens and young adults, very few do I find worth a read, let...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? by Carolyn McCulley is a great exception. This book addresses facets of singleness that other books I've read have not - God's purpose for singleness, how to deal with our emotions concerning singleness, how we can imitate the Proverbs 31 woman while single, and what should be filling our time. Miss McCulley is not embarrassed to ask the hard questions - "What if I don't get married?", "How do I fill my empty Friday nights?", and "What should I do with my yearning for children?" - and she does all this with senstivity and solid Biblical wisdom.]]> Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? You will be exhorted to contentment in your present state, prodded to trust in the Lord more fully, and inspired to live a complete and active life of service in the body of Christ.]]> tag:www.lilypress.com.websitetestlink.com,2006://2.64 2006-01-23T18:44:24Z 2006-11-27T03:18:03Z

I was reading Matthew Henry's commentary on Matthew, chapter 18 this morning. In the first part of the chapter, Jesus takes a little child and sets him in the midst of the disciples, telling them that they must become as...

Lily Press www.lilypress.com "Whatever kindnesses are done to such, Christ takes as done to himself. Whoso entertains a meek and humble Christian, keeps him in countenance, will not let him loose by his modesty, takes him into his love and friendship, and society and care, and studies to do him a kindness; and doth this in Christ's name, for his sake, because he bears the image of Christ, serves Christ, and because Christ has received him; this shall be accepted and recompensed as an acceptable piece of respect to Christ." Then MH gives the verse (Mat. 25:35-40) where Jesus says, "I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink," etc. This was making me think about the people that I know in my life. Someone once chided me with the remark that all of my friends were either stupid or foreigners. This made me mad at the time, but this morning I was thinking that perhaps that was a compliment. Perhaps spending time around the sick, the needy, the dying, the poor, the lonely, the foreigners is the way a Christian ought to spend his time. After all, in the epistles a godly widow is one who is said to have "washed the feet of the saints" - if this is in our job description as women, perhaps it is good if we give it some thought and take care to accept the humble ones and serve them as kings and queens, as we would serve the King of Kings were He there in their place.]]>