http://www.lilypress.com/ en-us Copyright 2007 Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:23:36 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 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. ]]> http://www.lilypress.com/2007/02/homemade_chocolate_pudding.html http://www.lilypress.com/2007/02/homemade_chocolate_pudding.html Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:23:36 -0500 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!]]> http://www.lilypress.com/2007/02/long_absence_1.html http://www.lilypress.com/2007/02/long_absence_1.html Thu, 08 Feb 2007 20:59:45 -0500 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!) http://www.lilypress.com/2006/07/our_2nd_ever_lily_press_chat.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/07/our_2nd_ever_lily_press_chat.html Thoughts to Ponder Wed, 19 Jul 2006 00:18:54 -0500 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. http://www.lilypress.com/2006/06/you_look_like_a_nun.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/06/you_look_like_a_nun.html Thoughts to Ponder Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:51:16 -0500 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. . . http://www.lilypress.com/2006/06/the_sacrifice_and_delight_of_t_1.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/06/the_sacrifice_and_delight_of_t_1.html Thoughts to Ponder Fri, 23 Jun 2006 04:39:23 -0500 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. http://www.lilypress.com/2006/04/on_the_other_hand.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/04/on_the_other_hand.html Thoughts to Ponder Fri, 21 Apr 2006 20:39:55 -0500 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. http://www.lilypress.com/2006/03/my_thoughts_on_abraham_and_fem.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/03/my_thoughts_on_abraham_and_fem.html Tue, 14 Mar 2006 22:57:01 -0500 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. http://www.lilypress.com/2006/03/what_my_grandma_taught_me_or_w.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/03/what_my_grandma_taught_me_or_w.html Thoughts to Ponder Mon, 13 Mar 2006 22:40:16 -0500 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. http://www.lilypress.com/2006/03/just_a_housewife_the_rise_and.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/03/just_a_housewife_the_rise_and.html Thoughts to Ponder Sat, 11 Mar 2006 23:50:27 -0500 In My Father’s House has a potent message for any girl and that is this: take responsibility for your own life.]]> http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/avoiding_fatal_sleep.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/avoiding_fatal_sleep.html Thoughts to Ponder Mon, 20 Feb 2006 17:37:06 -0500 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: http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/i_bought_five_of_these_books.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/i_bought_five_of_these_books.html Book Reviews Mon, 20 Feb 2006 16:28:53 -0500 ]]> http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/wrist_warmers.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/wrist_warmers.html Crafts Thu, 02 Feb 2006 04:27:32 -0500 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! ]]> http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/potica_making.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/potica_making.html Everyday Life Thu, 02 Feb 2006 01:18:25 -0500 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.]]> http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/did_i_kiss_marriage_goodbye.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/02/did_i_kiss_marriage_goodbye.html Book Reviews Wed, 01 Feb 2006 17:55:03 -0500 "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.]]> http://www.lilypress.com/2006/01/give_me_your_tired_your_poor.html http://www.lilypress.com/2006/01/give_me_your_tired_your_poor.html Thoughts to Ponder Mon, 23 Jan 2006 13:44:24 -0500