His Wonderful Works....Part 5



 It's been a long and wonderful summer for us here at the Neals.  I love my front porch, I love the more relaxed mood, and I love projects in the summer.  So between my projects and my porch there have been no posts since June! :)
   These posts are a walk down memory lane for me.  I am doing them at the request of my husband.  He felt it would be good for me to meditate on all the wonderful blessings the Lord has given us.  He's right--it is good to remember the kindness, patience and goodness of the Lord as my Shepherd, my Teacher, and my Friend. (and so much more)
  In my last post I told how the Lord gave us our second child-Alicia.  What lessons He had for me in two little girls.  They looked different and their personalities were different.  Niki started talking in phrases at 15 months.  Alicia took her time in talking, but was pulling up in her crib early on.  She walked first, and her motor skills were advanced.  My mother had often told me not to expect the same thing from my second child as my first one, but now I was learning firsthand how different two children could be.
  Alicia's curious nature was always there.  She was always discovering something new.  Niki, on the other hand, would be walking behind me asking hundreds of adult-type questions.  I was absolutely enthralled with being the mother of two unique little girls.
  At this time I had been growing spiritually and began reading biographies of great Christians.  As a little girl my mother often read us stories of great Christians.  I remember Hudson Taylor, Johanna Veenstra, Mary Slessor and Nate Saint as some of the heroes that we had as children.  The sweet memories of these stories motivated me to start reading on my own. 
   I began to realize how important a prayer life was, how important reading my Bible daily was.  Part of it was because I had become a woman and the other part was realizing how important being a mother was.
  We lived in a small gray house that the church owned that sat in a lot adjacent to the church.  What sweet memories I have there!  I was learning the art of being a homemaker.  The floors were old grey tile, but I polished them with Future wax to make them shine.  I  spent time looking at  cookbooks so I could have a hot meal waiting for my husband when he got home from work.  I enjoyed decorating with items that had been given to me.
  I rehearsed in my mind things that my grandmother and mother had said while we were just chatting that now made sense.  My grandma had told me to always make sure my beds were made, my dishes done and my living room was tidy.  That way if company came I wouldn't be ashamed of my house.
  So what was the wonderful work in this time of my life?  Well, the Lord was just beginning the lesson of contentment in my life.  (And I had to repeat this grade for several years!)
  I had been given the gift of parents who had their value system straight.  Possessions had no hold on them.  My mother had told me she remembered reading a biography of Isobel Kuhn who said to always hold your possessions on an open hand to the Lord and to "never curl up your fingers on them."
  My parents were in full-time ministry most of their adult lives and they always had to pinch the pennies.  But you never sensed they resented it or felt they'd missed something.  They had found something bigger than having the right car, or the right house, or even the right clothes.  They had found how to have food and raiment and be very content. 
   Now we were living life on a tight budget with two little girls that needed clothes, doctor visits and food on the table.  I had a choice to make--resent it and fight it or learn what my parents had learned.  That lesson was how to depend on God and be thankful for what He provided.  I began to pray specifically for things like winter coats, shoes and grocery money for the week. 
  At the same time I was so very happy.  I had a husband who loved me, made me feel cherished, found joy in being the breadwinner and caring for his little family.  Our marriage was a happy one.  We had two healthy little girls.   I found that I could get more joy out of bathing a baby, or sitting under a shade tree and watching them play then in going shopping.  I got more joy out of fixing a new recipe than having a new outfit.  I found out that sitting on the porch with my husband after the girls had gone to bed and listening to the night sounds gave me more joy than going on the town for a night. 
  Although I didn't realize it this wasn't just my personality--it was a gift from the Lord.  I also didn't realize that this is the by-product that comes with carrying out your life in agreement with how the Lord designed the home and family.  When we do it His way it produces a deep contentment and joy in our hearts.
  How thankful I am now for the parents, the grandparents, the church and the husband God had so graciously given me.  All these had played a part in my being able to live in a tiny house with a tiny budget with very used furniture and hand-me-down clothes feeling like I was one of the richest women that ever lived!
  Today I look back with such gratefulness for all the wonderful blessings in my life that I took for granted then.  How I thank the Lord for the memories of the smallest beginnings in my life of I Timothy 6:6--"But godliness with contentment is great gain."
 
  

Our prayers are an influence in our home...

No one can intercede for the man of God, pray for his protection from the "destroyer" or set the mood by prayer like we can. This is spiritual warfare, and the battle is on for our husbands, our home, our families...
"Happy the man, called to go forward in any pathway of faith, who has in his life-companion ony sympathy and help....frail in health and only twenty-eight years in age, Mrs. Taylor's... hands were full with the care of four young children, yet from the moment she learned of her husband's call to the great, the seemingly impossible task of evangelization of inland China she became in a new way his comfort and inspiration. Her hand wrote for him, her faith strengthened his own, her prayers undergirded the whole work and her practical experience and loving heart made her the Mother of the mission..." -Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret
"Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses." (Neh. 4:14)
Our families have souls, let's fight for them in prevailing prayer today!

All day yesterday I thought of my dad who was sitting behind me in church, unaware that I was in front of him a few rows, unable to take part or enjoy church-- a place he loved with all his heart. Alzheimer’s is an ugly disease and although my dad is with us in body, the dad I always knew and spent much time in fellowship with is gone.
Last night my husband preached on casting a shadow on other’s with your life. He told how each of us cast a shadow rather we want to or not, and that it will always be a part of us. Then he told some stories about my dad--a man who cast a long shadow with his life. He used his life and influence for Christ.
As a little girl I knew that my daddy knew Christ and was going to heaven. That’s why I asked him to pray with me when I was afraid of going to hell. He put his paper down and prayed with me. I didn’t get saved that night, but I knew who to go to about spiritual matters.
When I got saved I heard a message on Calvary by a guest preacher my dad had at our church. I was scared to go to the altar, but I reached up and took my dad’s hand and asked the Lord to come into my heart and save me. Once again, I knew who I could trust and feel safe with when it came to the spiritual matters in my life.
Dad never entered a restaurant, gas station or motel without trying to find someone to talk to about their eternal soul. Dad cared about where people spent eternity and if they were with him any time at all they knew it.
I could tell story after story of people he “offended” with his straight-on approach about spiritual matters, I could also tell you page 2 -- when they hit bottom in their lives and realized they needed a Saviour they knew who to find to lead them to Christ. He cared and it showed.
I’ve sat and listened to people who dad led to the Lord and then got cold and backslidden. Some of them their marriages fell apart, some of them it was worse than that, they saw the chastening hand of God take loved ones. I’ve listened to them say, “Those were the best years of our lives when we sat under Brother Bob--and we didn’t even realize it.”
I’ve listened to my dad counsel people late into the night. I learned as a young girl that those who did what he showed them in the Bible went on to live productive, happy lives. Those who ignored what he showed them in the Bible ended up with a life that was shipwrecked. Dad had no idea that with my bedroom door cracked he was counseling his daughter at the same time.
I had to learn as a teen that my dad was as human as anyone else and once I wasn’t a little girl any more and could clearly see some of his faults I needed to learn to depend on God to meet my needs where my dad failed me. (Psalms 27:10) That was a lesson that led to some broken fellowship between my dad and I until I got close enough to the Lord to realize that my dad had needs too, and if I desired something from my dad I needed to give him what I yearned for.
I learned if I wanted his ear, I needed to give him mine. If I wanted some trust, I had to trust him. If I wanted his attention, I needed to pay close attention to him. If I wanted time--I needed to give him time.
I also learned maturity is taking the responsibility for my sinful behaviour instead of blaming it on my dad’s fathering skills.
Learning this lesson from my heavenly Father gave me a very close relationship to my earthly father. That closeness never ended. We had it right up to the day he didn’t know me any more as his daughter.
When my depression literally “fell on me” for over twelve years, my dad was the one who spent long hours on the phone with me. My dad was the one that came and stayed at my house for three days and would put those wonderful aging hands on me and cry out to God for me. I could feel the agony lift when he prayed for me. Once again, my dad was there for me when the spiritual life in me was so low I couldn’t even be sure it was there.
When mom and dad had their 50^th wedding anniversary celebration one person after another told how my parents lives had influenced their life. They told how dad “chased them down” with the gospel and how grateful they were. They told how dad put the fear of God in them about their eternal souls. They told stories of how he helped get their faith renewed, their vision focused on what really mattered, shored them up in the storms of their lives.
Letters poured in that thrilled my mom and dad to read of their influence in their tireless rounds of spreading the word of God wherever they could and encouraging soldiers in the fight for the Lord.
Servant, prayer warrior, fierce defender of the faith, fearless fighter and my dad.
Impetuous, outspoken, rushing in where angels fear to tread….yes, that was my dad.
Tenderhearted, quick to ask forgiveness, open before all….yes, that was my dad.
Real. Yes, that was my dad.
Years before the Alzheimers came my dad asked me to pray that he would finish right. I don’t know how many times as I’ve prayed that I’ve wondered how this is finishing right--but I trust the Lord it is, and daddy, I’m still praying for you to finish right.
When we used to go to fellowship meetings together they would ask daddy and I to sing “Home Sweet Home. Yesterday, I sang it to him. He used to join in on the chorus with me. When I asked him to sing with me yesterday he said haltingly, “Well, that might take a while.”
As I sung it I thought of so many other songs dad sang with us. He used to sing to us (we didn’t like this one because he took it very literally! )-“When I Take My Vacation in Heaven”.  He loved “Till The Storm Passes By”, “Power in the Blood”,“Keep on the Firing Line”, and “Is That the Lights of Home I See?”. We sang along with Brother Roloff as he would sing “Deeper Than the Stains Have Gone”.
Oh, how I miss my precious dad and his boldness. I’ve asked for a double portion, then wondered if a double portion of my dad would scare most Christians today to death! J
So, although you can’t read this daddy, all your friends and family can. I love you more each day I live. Happy Father’s Day from your “Palm Tree”-Tamara


　
　
　

Christmas day is over...but the Christmas season is not over for me.  I begin the days of Christmas as soon as Christmas is over.  I think the technical term for it is ephiphany.  Noah Webster's definition of ephiphany in 1829 was

EPIPH'ANY, n. [Gr. appearance; to appear.] A christian festival celebrated on the sixth day of January, the twelfth day after Christmas, in commemoration of the appearance of our Savior to the magians or philosophers of the East, who came to adore him with presents; or as others maintain, to commemorate the appearance of the star to the magians, or the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. Jerome and Chrysostom take the epiphany to be the day of our Savior's baptism, when a voice from heaven declared, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." The Greek fathers use the word for the appearance of christ in the world, the sense in which Paul used the word. 2 Tim. 1.10.
  The 1913 edition defined ephiphany as this:
 

[F. épiphanie, L. epiphania, Gr. 'epifa`nia (sc. (?)

An appearance, or a becoming manifest.
Whom but just before they beheld transfigured and in a glorious epiphany upon the mount. Jer. Taylor.
An epic poet, if ever such a difficult birth should make its epiphany in Paris. De Quincey.
A church festival celebrated on the 6th of January, the twelfth day after Christmas, in commemoration of the visit of the Magi of the East to Bethlehem, to see and worship the child Jesus; or, as others maintain, to commemorate the appearance of the star to the Magi, symbolizing the manifestation of Christ to the Gentles; Twelfthtide.

 I like the mention of it symbolizing the manifestion of Christ to the Gentiles--that's me!
 The celebration of ephiphany where the  The 12 days of Christmas was taken from--a gift given on each day.  At one time I celebrated the twelfth day of Christmas (January 6th) with a winter tea at my house.  I still love the idea of having a winter tea in celebration of the culmination of the celebration of Jesus' birth.
 I would make the tea Victorian and add a snow theme to it.  I love stringing white Christmas lights on white fleece, hanging crystal snowflakes, serving white chocolate cocoa along with the tea, making beautiful white snowflake cookies with crystal sugar on them and having snowmen everywhere...oh, I'm getting in the mood just thinking about it!
There are some wonderful ideas out there that can get you enthused~ here's one I found:
http://www.tea-party-circle.com/snow-tea-party.html







  You can even spin off of other party themes (this one is a wedding) and make it work for you.



We do make the wise men move across the living room to show up on January 6th.  It's important they get to be a part of the living nativity. 
  This year I have a desire to give something to someone each day between now and the 6th of January.  The last few days I wanted to give myself to my family that got together after Christmas to celebrate.  I had a wonderful time making bread bowls with my grandchildren and decorating sugar cookies with them.
 Today's gift was to give myself extra time with the Lord--a very refreshing gift to myself.  Although I wanted it to be an act of worship toward Him, the gift ended up being for me--He always gives when we worship Him in spirit and in truth.  I was in desperate need of a refill in my spiritual tank and I'm so thankful for today's gift.
  I pray that each day between now and the end of ephiphany that I will listen very carefully to His voice and give to others exactly what He desires me to give.  That each gift will be from Him to others using me as His instrument.
  Winter is a wonderful time--let's use it to bring honor and glory to His wonderful name and keep on giving even though Christmas Day is now history!

 

 



Day # 4 of advent...
Keeping the Christmas story central in Christmas...believe me, we have a lot of wonderful things going on during Christmas! Today, John and his dad got the porch at our house decorated. This is a first for us--decorating the outside of the house with anything more than luminaries. Grandpa Charles would approve of the job they did! (lots of lights)
Inside, we have my favorite Christmas decoration--our moving nativity. Mary and Joseph have their residence on one side of the living room while Bethlehem is on the other side of our living room complete with shepherds on a hillside.
About 10 days before Christmas Mary and Joseph have a soldier standing outside of their house and a tiny note attached to their door telling them they must go to Bethlehem to be taxed.
They have a donkey and a bedroll ready to go and they begin their journey across the living room to Bethlehem.
We have wise men on the other side of the living room that begin their journey too and arrive after Christmas.
On Christmas morning baby Jesus is in his place and all is well. A star burns over the stable and the shepherds are hovering around the baby and his parents. I love the whole thing.
During the ten days Mary and Joseph move during the night and are in a new place each morning. Each year a new person or thing shows up as a gift for the pocket calendar and makes our nativity scene just a little better for next year. It might be a palm tree, flickering campfires for the shepherds, or a new tradesperson for the city of Bethlehem. The whole nativity is a hodgepodge of homemade, Fontanini, my grandmother's sheep from her nativity set or Dollar Tree goodies but that's what makes it uniquely ours. Each part of it has a special memory and place in our lives.
John begins fretting if they don't move fast enough or don't get going as soon as they get their notice. I stay content knowing that the Christmas story is being carried out right in our living room and we're keeping it in front of the children each day. In front of mom too, when it's busy it's good to go into the living room and look at the whole scene and remember what all the celebrating is really about!

 

Day # 3 of advent....Grandma AllDean's porch looks so pretty with Christmas wreaths and lights...she turned me loose!
One of the ways I love to celebrate this season and keep my perspective is to have my very own silent night. Put on the Christmas music after the kids go to bed, light some candles, get some hot cocoa or eggnog and sit in a darkened room with the fireplace and Christmas lights and just relax and think about all that you love about this season. It can be a time or prayer, a time to remember, a time to go over your grateful list, but it's a good time to just give yourself the gift of a quiet time during a very busy season!
Tonight I'm thankful for the joy of children at this time of the year, the joy of my being a child of God, a wife, a mother, a homemaker. I'm thankful that the Lord has given me a love for every role He has given me. I'm thankful for the beauty of Christmas, for the "mood" that makes people more open at this time of year, for watching my children's excitement build, for the wonderful aroma of Christmas.....I could go on and on...thank You Lord for your coming to us bringing so very much joy into our lives!

Day # 2 of the wonderful "advent" (anticipation of the Lord's coming!)....keeping a diary of sorts of your advent season. I have diaries, journals, scrapbooks of all sorts and types. I am not religious in keeping them, but my children and grandchildren will be able to piece together (or maybe I can give it some continuity before I die) of my life. You might include what really spoke to your hea...rt during this season, a special picture on a Christmas card you loved, a prayer list of your Christmas requests from the Lord, an illustration of something engraved in your memory. Whatever suits your personality this is a wonderful activity to help keep your mind on what really is important at Christmas!

 

Day # 1 of Advent!

December 1st....lots of excitement begins at the Neal household....Ralph and Pixie are sitting on a big box of Top of the Stove cookies with Christmas chocolate chips in them (red and green) delivering their first pocket calendar gift...most importantly, this is the first day of advent-time to 1) prepare 2) expect 3) anticipate & 4) wait--by Christmas Day I have a goal of preparing my heart to be closer to Him as His second coming approaches, to expect great things from Him as I draw closer, to anticipate all He has for me during this time, the things He desires to teach me and tell me, and to wait in His presence for His voice and direction during this season!

Fall Musings....

  Here it is and September is almost behind us!  I can't believe that the month has gone by as quickly as it has!
  I began on September 1st getting my fall decorations out.  I love my wreath for the door and I love my mantel decorations.  I still don't have my dining room area where I'd like it to be, but that gives me something to look forward to!

  

      Fall makes me feel cozy and always gets me pulling out the cookbooks to see what I can fix that's comforting and makes my family feel/smell the change of the season.  I've been busy making pumpkin rolls which is one of our family fall favorites. 
      Here's the recipe for anyone that wants to try this delicious dessert!  It's pretty, you can wrap it in plastic wrap and then in foil and freeze it.  Just a little before serving take it out of the freezer and it always slices so much prettier if it's frozen!

Pumpkin Roll

  Beat 3 eggs on high speed with mixer for 5 minutes.  (This is when you're glad you have a stand mixer!)  Gradually stir in 1 cup granulated sugar.  (That's underlined because I forgot it more than once!)  Stir in 2/3 cup pumpkin and 1 tsp. lemon juice.

   Stir together:

   3/4 cup flour

   1 tsp. baking powder

   2 tsp. cinnamon

   1 tsp. ginger

   1/2 tsp. salt

   1/2 tsp. nutmeg 

  *For those of you on a tight enough budget you can't go buy ginger and nutmeg, you can up the cinnamon by a tsp. and it is still wonderful!

   Fold into pumpkin.  Spread in grease and floured 15x10x1-inch pan. (This is a smaller cookie sheet.  Be sure and really give it the greasing and flouring or lots of Pam.  You don't want it to stick!)

At this point you can top it with 1 cup of chopped nuts.  You need to press them down into the batter a little or they'll tend to fall out after you roll it up.  I don't put nuts in mine.

   Bake at 375 degrees for 13-15 minutes.  Turn onto a towel that has been generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Starting at the narrow end, roll the towel and cake together; cool.  Unroll and spread with the filling below.

   Filling-

   Combine:

   1 cup powdered sugar

   6 oz. cream cheese (I use a full 8 oz. package)

   4 Tbsp. butter or margarin

   1/2 tsp. vanilla (I use 1 tsp.)

  Beat smooth, spread over cake.  (Stay about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch away from the edges as it will spread when you roll it.)  Roll cake back up.  Chill. 

  I have added a section to the back of my cookbook called Fall Recipes I have so many that we love to eat in the fall!  One of our favorites is German Apple Cake.  We love it with Cream Cheese Frosting but it's also good with Penuche Frosting, Caramel Frosting or even the Browned Butter Frosting. 

   It's this time of year that I usually make UT Fudge.  Since our UT game days are over (the fans have all moved away!) I don't have as much fun making this for an event like I used to, but my family is still so in love with it.  It tastes like a Dreamsicle.

   I usually make a Maple Nut Twist this time of year.  It is a large breakfast sweet bread that you make on a round pizza pan.  You twist the outside edges of it and it's full of yummy cinnamon sugar and maple flavoring inside with a maple glaze.  My bunch usually all try to get the center out of it because it is so delicious.

   Also this time of year finds me making Pumpkin Doughnut Drops and sometimes even my Grandma Mettler's Long Johns.  Mmmmmmm.....

  Breadbaking is a given in this house but this time of year it gets better.  When you walk in a house on a fall day and the bread has just come out of the oven you can't resist going and cutting off the end of that warm bread, slathering it with butter and homemade strawberry jam or honey and slowly eating it!

  My mother's caramel corn seems to always show up this time of year too!  Can't do without an ice cream bucket full of that sitting around in the fall!

  We love soups and stews this time of year too.  Potato soup (in homemade bread bowls with lots of cheese on top) , Corn chowder, Chili, Beef Stew are just some of our favorites.

   I also make goulash with cornbread for my husband each fall.  He loves it any time of year but says it tastes better in the fall. 

   John loves projects and activities and last year we wanted to do this but my health didn't allow me much but the basics.  This year we're going to have a backyard campfire and try to learn to cook over the campfire.  I've already found the neatest afterdark craft we're going to have ready for our evening campfires. 

   It's found on this link and it is #9 of the projects.   I can't wait to see how pretty this is going to be in the dark.  We'll probably do several of them and make a perimeter around  our campfire area.

   http://toolsfortheimagination.com/2011/05/18/may-i-give-you-some-inspiration/

   I'm sure my older married children can remember how many times we took the rack out of my oven and put it over rocks on a campfire outside.  We even learned to cook breakfast in an iron skillet out there.  So much fun with kids.  Teach them some of the fun cowboy songs there are to sing or teach them the "Moose Song" that my grandkids like to sing with me!

http://www.campingdude.com/content/song/crazy_moose-1336.asp

     Well, that's my autumn musings for now...sure wish I could have everyone over for some of this fall food and atmosphere.  My husband just walked in and it's time for some vegetable soup with corn bread!

Love,

Mom

What Is Your Occupation?

  As a young mother I had my times when I had to sit before a receptionist at the hospital with a sick baby on my lap and answer questions before they treated him.  In the early years I remember them saying, "Do you work?" 
  "Well, yes at least 16 hours per day and sometimes more--like tonight." 
   I would get two responses usually, the head would go down with a slight smile of amusement or the cold glare of "come one now, let's answer this the way you should" and then it would be rephrased, "I mean, do you have a job?"

  "Yes, I'm a full time homemaker."
   That was carefully worded so they couldn't say, "Then you don't work."  That point had been established in the first question.
   Now the question is, "Do you work outside the home?"  Much better put.  But they still don't use the answer that I wish they would use--"What is your occupation?"

  That would be in interesting question to use if for one day people had to be completely honest.  It really got me to asking myself that question.  I would answer "I'm a keeper at home, or I'm a homemaker." but then I have to think about if I'm am truly occupying myself during the working day as a homemaker or keeper at home.
   I first looked up the words "occupation" and "vocation" in the word of God and found their definitions.  I also looked up the word where Paul told us to "occupy till he came".  I think the context there is "keep on doing what you're supposed to be doing faithfully till the Lord returns." 
   In Genesis 46 and 47 the occupation of Joseph's family was being discussed. Joseph had instructions for them on how to answer Pharoah in what their "occupation" was.  That word meant:
1. deed, work

    a) deed, thing done, act

    b) work, labour

    c) business, pursuit

    d) undertaking, enterprise

    e) achievement

    f) deeds, works (of deliverance and judgment)

    g) work, thing made

    h) work (of God)

   i) product

  You can see there that this was a work, business that had something made out of it or a product. It was a deed with a purpose. 

   When Jonah was asked what his occupation was the definition was slightly different.  His was a question involving more of a product itself or who had commissioned the work to him.  They were more interested with why he was one their boat and what he was headed to do that might be bringing on them what they were experiencing the terrors they were going through.

  

1) occupation, work, business

   a) occupation, business

   b ) property

   c) work (something done or made)

   d) workmanship

   e) service, use

   f) public business

   1) political

   2) religious

  Aquilla and Priscilla were involved in a certain trade.  When Paul lived with them he was able to earn some money because they were of the same trade or occupation.  That was the trade of the tentmaker.  That word occupation simply means "of the plastic art, or trade".  (Acts 18:3)

   Later, in Acts 19:25 men are having losses to their occupation because of people becoming Christians.  That word simply means "such as this".  It could be used by gamblers, people who sell Satanic items, liquor dealers, etc.  People who would be in an occupation "such as this" would take a loss if we had revival.  This happened to be silversmith who was losing business in making false gods.

   Now that takes me back to my occupation, or may I say in a broader sense what should the occupation of a godly woman be.  Webster's1828  dictionary lists occupation as "That which engages the time and attention; employment; business." or "The principal business of one's life; vocation;  calling; trade; the business which a man follows to procure a living or obtain wealth."

   This causes me to think about what occupies my time and attention and what is the product I desire to produce at the end of my life, what is the calling I have from God to spend the time He's given me?  They are sobering questions. 

  "What a terrible thing to have to answer, (If we had to tell the complete truth to the Lord.) "The thing that consumes most of my time is books, the tv, the internet, games, shuttling my kids to the babysitters so we can make money and have everything our neighbors have, working for another master who has a different goal for me than You have." 

  This thought is for me the "keeper at home" just as much as the "working mother" or the "aged woman".  Am I carrying out the occupation and vocation that God wants me doing that I will produce the product He wants to see at the end of my life?

   Proverbs 31:10-31 is the role model the Lord gave me for how He wants me to "occupy my time".  It's beena 37 year pursuit for me and I still have much to develop.  

   Let's look at what consumed my role model's time.

   *She spent time making sure her husband didn't need being spoiled (shamed) by what she did with her time.  I can think of a man walking into a home that has obviously been neglected-it spoils him and shames him.  I can think of a man finding out his wife has used up too much money out of the checkbook.  It spoils him.  He wants everyone to think good of him because of how his wife cares for his home, his money, his clothes, his children and him!  (The word spoil means to plunder or to make money by dubious means.)  He is the breadwinner but he wants (and needs) our assistance in seeing that what he's worked hard for isn't spoiled by us.

    *She spent time gathering supplies in to make things with her hands.  It said she went afar to get just the right merchandise to run their home smoothly. 

   *Every day of her life she did good to her husband and not evil.  (That takes time and a controlled tongue.)

   *She gets up before the sun to feed her household and her maiden.

   *She takes time to go find and purchase a field that she intends to plant a vineyard in.

   *She spent time keeping her physical body strong.

   *She has merchandise she's making to sell and that requires working after the sun goes down.  Today we call that a cottage industry.  There is nothing wrong with it but do you see where it is in her day.  Everyone else is down and she's staying up to work on it.

   *Nor only is she making merchandise to sell, she is covering the needy and she has her own household clothed with scarlet and herself with tapestry.  (This is fine clothing that had hours of needlework involved)

   *Her work obviously helps to make her husband be a man of reknown. 

   *She takes her fine linen that she's made and sells it and delivers it to the merchants.  (No, she didn't set up shop with the merchants.)

   *Because she opened her mouth with wisdom we know she had to have an active relationship with the Lord.  That takes time, it doesn't just happend.

   *She doesn't sit around eating the bread of idleness--this is a busy woman!

  * Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also and then God praise her-  I CALL THAT A PRODUCT WORTH SPENDING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE IN!

   Another lady whose priorities and time management has always captured my interest is "the widow indeed".  I hope I never have to turn to the church to take care of me, but I see here that this woman had lived a life that was so pleasing to God that He commands she's cared for.  What had she spent her time on?

   *She had one husband.  (Being a godly, biblical wife involves time seeking God's commandments for you and it takes time to live them.)

   *The widow indeed spends time in prayers and supplications day and night. (it says she's trusting in the Lord alone--that requires a lot of prayer)

   *It says she was well reported of for her good works.  That got my curiosity up- what did good works mean? 

1) business, employment, that which any one is occupied

a) that which one undertakes to do, enterprise, undertaking

2) any product whatever, any thing accomplished by hand, art, industry, or mind

3) an act, deed, thing done: the idea of working is emphasised in opp. to that which is less than work

  

     Here we are again with the things that we spend our time on and let ourselves become occupied with that produces the right product.  It also is called "work".
   *She was to have brought up children.
   *She was to have lodged strangers in her home.
   *She was to have washed the saints feet.
   *Relieved the afflicted.
   Sounds like a busy woman doing the right thing before God.

   The Titus 2 woman is my last role model that I seriously look to as a pattern God has given me for how He wants me to occupy my time.
   *I am to be discreet
   *I am to be chaste
   *I am to be a keeper at home (That little word 'at' has a position involved with it.  Some position words would be under, over, in, above, beside, by, etc.) You can't be "at Walmart" and be "at home" at the same time. You can't be "at work" and "at home" at the same time.  The word keeper involves the care of the home and the watchman of the home.  If we properly prioritize our days we can make our WalMart trips, our phone calls, our time on the internet, but we must never, never let them keep us from being the keeper at our home.  If we don't keep it someone else will.  Be on your guard!
   * I am to be good.  That word means to be useful, to be pleasant, to be agreeable, joyful and happy.
    If I'm fighting God's design for my life but yet I decide I have to or get in trouble with God and I grit my teeth and do it, I have skipped this one.  When we yield to the Designer and decide to live life the way He planned it to work best for us, we find great joy and happiness.
   *We ar to be obedient to our own husbands.  That word obedient means:
  

1) to arrange under, to subordinate

2) to subject, put in subjection

3) to subject one's self, obey

4) to submit to one's control

5) to yield to one's admonition or advice

6) to obey, be subject

   He is to be the one who is in charge, and I'm the subordinate.  I am to be subject to his wishes, I am to subject myself to his control, yield to his admonition and advice and obey and be subject to his wishes. 

   I have found that whenever I agree with God and embrace what He has commanded me to do He gives me wings and I find great freedom and joy in it.  Tr

 Try it--it's much better than being an angry woman with a sign getting your picture in the paper!

 When we refuse to take the occupation that God has given us as women in the Bible we are told in Titus 2:5 that the Word of God is blasphemed.  That is a serious thing.  It makes people take the word of God lightly because they see professing Christians taking their "occupation" lightly.  In Titus 2 He directs that at young women who will not take on their God-given occupation and are trying to get the fruit and blessings of a godly woman (I want my children to go to heaven!  I don't want my children to get involved in sin.  I want my marriage to last.) without carrying out the commands to women.

   The word "blasphemed" means :

1) to speak reproachfully, rail at, revile, calumniate, blaspheme

2) to be evil spoken of, reviled, railed at

  We're there.  So many people have no use for God's word.  They are confused at all the multiple messages coming from professed Christians.  But God is not confused and He's never wrong.  We have a map to follow and it is His word.

  He has much, much more to say to young and older woman but today I want to impress on you how you spend you time.  What your real occupation is.

  I tell the story of when I first learned to do heirloom sewing.  I loved it!  I was consumed with it.  I couldn't wait to get breakfast done so I could pull out my work for the day.  I got irritable with the kids while they were doing school because I wanted them to get done so I could do what I wanted to do.  I dreaded cooking supper, or doing laundry--anything that kept me from what I wanted to do--heirloom sewing. 

  One day, (after another frustrating day at home for everyone) it was just like the Lord said, "You're no longer a keeper at home, a home maker, you're an heirloom seamstress now."  Oh, my how that convicted, but I knew it was true.  That's why my duties as a keeper at home had become frustrating.  I realized I had become an heirloom seamstress that did homemaking on the side and I had to go back to being a homemaker that did heirloom sewing on the side.  When I obeyed the Lord our home became the sweet haven it had always been before that.

  What occupies your time?  What fruit is watching the tv going to give you in eternity?  What fruit is reading novels (and I'm not against either in their proper priority) going to give you in eternity?  But what about a very happy huband who praises you in the gates, or children who rise up and call you blessed?  Pour your heart and life into the occupation that God has given we women!  I'm old enough now that I see much fruit from my labor.  Prov. 31:30,31 says "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.  Give her of the fruit of her hands: and let her own works praise her in the gates."  Make that your goal!  Let that pull you through the days you think you can't keep doing it.

   On my headstone when I die I have instructed my children to put, "I HAVE NO GREATER JOY THAN TO HEAR THAT MY CHILDREN WALK IN TRUTH.'  III JOHN 4

  I hope that is able to sum up the occupation of my life and the product I desired to see.  That the children (physical and spiritual) that the Lord allowed Gary and I to raise for Him are all walking in truth.  That's worth it all!

******************

  Today you will influence someone---that's another word for leadership.  How are you going to influence them?  I ask the Lord daily to bring good influences into my children's lives and to protect them from evil influences.  Today-why don't we each make a choice to influence someone that there is joy and freedom in carrying out our lives as women by God's authority and God's design.  You never know who you may influence--it might be your own son or daughter, it might be the neighbor, it might be your mate.  But let's each one be an influence to do what is pleasing before the Lord!

Love,

Mom

  

Laundry Day!

  I remember my mother talking about Monday being her mother's laundry day, rain or shine!  She said her mother always cooked a pot of beans on Monday. (We were from the North and she made Northern beans!:) If it was sunny the laundry was hung outside, and if it was rainy she said their clothes were hung on the line that criss-crossed their small kitchen!  She said it was one of the sweetest memories of her childhood--something that they knew was going to be the same each week.    I remember the copper boiler in my grandparents garage that laundry was heated in.  We certainly have progressed when it comes to laundry!

  Their was a little quote that you sometimes see embroidered onto tea towels:
   Wash on Monday,
   Iron on Tuesday,
   Mend on Wednesday,
   Churn on Thursday, (some say Market on Thursday)
   Clean on Friday,
   Bake on Saturday,
   Worship on Sunday...
*Want to embroider some little tea towels to show this?  Go to http://tipnut.com/household-chores-towels/ and you'll find some beautiful ones.  Just download them in a file and save them for printing when you're ready to embroider!

  I believe in and love a life of order and so I like following the footsteps of homemakers before me.  My life is reasonably close to the little ditty above.  I do a large amount of our laundry on Monday.  I like to get as much done that day beginning with the towels used by everyone on Saturday. 
  Since our financial belt has been tightened in the last year I am making our own laundry soap.  I have found that whenever a change is required in my life if I embrace it I fall in love with it!  The other day I went by my laundry room and it brought back a sweet memory.  The smell of my laundry room was just like the smell of a laundrymat when I was a girl.  I would go there with my Grandma Nelle if she had a really large load and I loved the clean smell there.  Grandma said it was the Oxydol detergent.  Well, that's what my laundry soap smells like when the clothes are drying.  Other people might hate it but the Lord has given me a love for it!  You can wash 64 loads of clothing with one batch and it costs about .01 cents per load! 
  So, here's the recipe:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap (bars of soap like Zote or Ivory found in the laundry aisle of our Krogers)
1/2 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda)  This is also at our Krogers and it is Arm and Hammer but it's in a large box and is a white powder.  It will be on the laundry aisle, usually near your oxygen cleaners or other soaking powders.  This is a degreaser and removes dirt and other odors.  (I also use it on our bathtub drains when they get slow and it does a wonderful job!)
1/2 cup Borax (also found on the laundry aisle and it is a powder)  Our Kroger sells the 20 Multe Team box.  Borax us a whitener and a deodorizer. (It also will kill roaches!)

Here's what to do:
Grate the bar soap.  Make sure you grate it really fine.  Put it in a sauce pan and add 6 cups of water.  Heat it till the soap melts.  Then add the washing soda and the borax and stir it till it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.
Now pour 4 cups of water into a large bucket or a large pot.  Add your soap mixture to the bucket and stir.  Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.  Let the soap sit for 24 hours.  It will become a soupy gel.  Pour into containers.  (I use ice cream buckets.) 
  Someone said that you shouldn't use your old detergent containers because you need to stir it before using and they will spill over and make a mess.  I just stir mine at the beginning of the day and then measure it out. 
  This soap is not meant to make a lot of suds but it will clean! 
  Use 1/2 cup per load of laundry.  Enjoy the savings!!

    I have always enjoyed hanging clothes on the line and for Mother's Day my children bought me a clothesline for our back yard.  Our sheets always hang on the line because I love the smell of a bed that is made up of line-dried sheets.  Even Martha Stewart encourages using a clothesline!  I have always said that hanging out clothes and kneading bread are as good as a visit to a therapist for me.  They both are very calming.

  Tuesday is my baking day.  I make three loaves of bread almost every week and we share some and eat the rest!  I love baking and I thoroughly enjoy baking the bread and baking goodies for my family  and friends.  I love being outside with the kids and stepping into the house right after the bread has baked....what a wonderful welcoming aroma!

   Wednesday is my ironing day.  I focus almost entirely on the basic chores on Wednesday so we have a stress free preparation for church.  Since we're getting everyone's clothing ready for church it's a good time to press two or three shirts for other days.

   Thursday is my sewing day.  I sew on other days too but it seems I sew clear through to the evening on Thursday.  Many times I'll use the evenings to do my fun handsewing.  I love smocking and I love shadow embroidery so Thursday evening I treat myself after sewing on the "have to" projects!  Right now I'm sewing five little nurse's costumes for my cousin's grandhchildren.  I hope they enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed sewing them.  I've also been sewing several teddy bears lately.  That's fun, too because it seems no two turn out the same.

   Friday is my "beginning to clean" day.  I used to do all my cleaning on Saturday.  My husband would fuss at me because I also cooked Sunday dinner, did all the handwork for my Sunday School lesson and other pastor's wife projects on Saturday.  I kept telling him that I didn't have time on the week days to do my heavy cleaning.  Then I realized I was really being obstinate and decided to pick one major cleaning project for Friday.  I have since learned that I can actually get two and sometimes three projects done on Friday and we now do our (the kids do their rooms) vacuuming on Thursday!  I save dusting and cleaning bathrooms for Saturday so they are polished and pretty on Sunday.  Works like a dream!
  Saturday is my "get ready for Sunday" day.  I like a big Sunday dinner but I cook it on Saturday.  Everything is oven ready when we walk out the door and all I have to do is heat vegetables and dinner is ready.  At the end of the week I like looking at my chore chart that I made on Monday with each thing crossed off!  It is a very satisfying feeling.

  How I love, love, love being what God designed me to be.  Woman, wife, mother, keeper at home, laundress, cook, teacher, seamstress, and the spirit of my home.   When we yield ourselves to God's authority and God's design a great peace and satisfaction dwells within us.  It spreads to our family too! 
  Whenever I read Proverbs 31 I am painfully aware that after over 37 years of using her as my role model I still need improvement!  Early in my married years I decided that she would be my guide and I would do my very best to become skilled at each area the Lord held her up like a beautiful ruby gem to be admired.  It's been a wonderful adventure and if I died today I am a deepy fulfilled woman. 
  It is my prayer that each woman reading this will kneel before the Lord and ask Him to teach them their biblical role and to give them great joy in it.  That is what I pray over the women on my prayer list because I desire them to find the joy the Lord has given me.  May God grant each reader that joy!

Love,

Mom
  

Hit the Reset Button!

   Today is the Lord's Day, the first day of my week!  It has been a day that has cooled some because of the rain and this afternoon my precious husband and I sat and enjoyed a cup of coffee on the front porch and talked and listened to the steady patter of rain on the oak leaves.  So comforting.
   Each Monday I sit with my notebook and plan my week.  I give each day to the Lord in the mornings, but I am a firm believer in the old adage "Fail to plan-plan to fail."  I have found that even with fun things like reading to the children, taking a walk, playing a game together if I don't give it a specific time in the week it just won't get done!



   Tonight I sit and look at last week's plan.  At the top I have my list of my "streaks".  I got this wonderful idea from Sparkpeople.com.  You set a goal that you would like to have as a habit and then see how many days you can go without missing!  So I have there:
* 8 glasses of water  (then I put abbreviations for each day so I can circle them as I accomplish them)
*1200-1500 calories daily
*5 fruits/vegetables
*Walk-5 days/week
*Strength Train-5 to 6 days/week
  You could even include spiritual goals like memorize scripture, read Bible daily, go through prayer list daily, etc.  The idea is to get a good thing going and you won't want to miss!  It works for me.
  I look at last week's list and I thought it was workable when I made it.  However, I didn't plan on several "unplanned" events. (A doctor's visit I didn't plan on having in Nashville and then a sick day!)  In the past that would have thrown me for a loop and I would have stewed and fretted and been completely overwhelmed. 
  I also worked very hard at keeping up my month long staying on my diet and doing my strength training and cardio workout 5 times per week.  Much to my surprise after losing weight for about two weeks (and I know how to hang on to the fat!) I had gained 2.3 pounds this morning.  In the past I would have beat myself up and then out of frustration and anger had me a little binge party tonight.
  However, because I've gone through several experiences with depression I have learned that those responses only make me "feel" worse about the whole situation after the fact.  So what's the answer?
  Well, I call it hitting the reset button!  I love Lamentations 3:22 and 23.  "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
  If the Lord gives me a new chance every morning then I can do the same thing when I look at my very human failures.  Just hit the reset button and go after the goal again and again and again until I meet it!
  Every week of my life I look back and say, "I wish I had spent more time with the kids, I wish I had been more gentle in my reaction, I wish I had got more windows cleaned, I wish I had spent more time with the Lord, and the list could go on and on and on...."  If I focus on what I didn't get done I lose sight of what needs done for the Lord today! 
  It truly makes a difference when you get on the scale and see the number go up when you thought it would go down to become introspective and angry and decide who cares anyway? (at least for an hour or two)  However, it has changed everything for me to say "Well, how about that?  Maybe all that strength training is making muscle and it weighs more than fat!  Maybe I should add a few more minutes to my cardio, shuffle when I eat my snacks and see if I need to try some different foods to shake up my metabolism!"  Then I feel hopeful instead of condemned!
  It also made a difference when I looked at my list on Thursday morning (Tuesday and Wednesday being shot.) and said to myself, "Ok, let's put these down by priority.  What has to be done or we're not going to function as a family?" 
  I had planned on reading a large portion of a book to the kids and I did that as we drove home from Nashville.  I had planned on doing a lot of sewing and so I put the most important on the top and worked my way down.  I had planned on cleaning the living room windows, preparing a table for painting and getting the kids final grades ready to send to the school we're enrolled in.
  I was completely shocked when on Saturday not only had I completed almost everything on my list I also had Sunday dinner planned and ready!  My attitude definitely made a difference (Along with giving my family a pleasant wife and mother instead of a fretful one!)
  Here's some tips to help you be a happy homemaker instead of a fretful one:
1)  Be a Mary first--choose to spend time with the Lord if nothing else gets done! "But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:42)
2)  Break down your week's work into a plan.  I put what I want to get done for the week in one list and then break it down into each day.   I only write down one day at a time what I hope to get done and then what doesn't get done goes to the next day.
3)  Divide big jobs into workable pieces.  For example, I'm working on trying to get rid of excess out of our garage (half our life is still packed away!) and also am trying to get all the windows washed.  I have on my list a goal of 1 window per day and 3 boxes per day.
4)  Give each day to the Lord.   Think of placing it on an altar and giving it to Him and telling Him you want His will for your day and not yours.  That way if unexpected company shows up or your neighbor comes over and has an emergency where they need you, etc. your not going to fall apart because your planned day got changed.
5)  Plan time with your husband and children.  Ask the Lord to show you how to minister to them.  Keeping clean laundry in your husband's drawer and closet at all times is ministering to him.  A good hot meal on the table is ministering to your family.  Sitting on the porch and reading to your children is ministering to them.  Taking a walk with them is ministering to them.  Plan to do work together with your children.  I learned from my toddlers that they don't mind a job at all if mommy is right there with them making it fun.
6)  Learn to be a Pollyanna.  See the best in everything.  Don't just talk nice to your husband and children, talk nice to yourself!  Have little mantras you say to yourself like, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"  "Don't put it down, put it away!"  "Make every trip count!"  "Let's give that the 5 minute clean-up!"  "No, I won't let you in, devil!" (I say that when I'm tempted to get frustrated with my husband and say something I'll regret!)
7)  Remember that anything worth having has a price tag on it.  Ask yourself, "Am I willing to pay the price to..."  For example, "Am I willing to pay the price it takes to see my children trained for the Lord?"  "Am I willing to pay the price to make my husband pleased with me?"  "Am I willing to pay the price to keep my health?"
8)  At the end of your work week enjoy the Lord's Day.  It is the first day of the new week.  Make it a very special day for your family.  I love Sunday dinner.  I love my family looking forward to what's going to be on the table and what dessert I'll be serving.  I love the quietness of our Sunday afternoons and I love being with the Lord's people.  Start your week right by obeying Isaiah 58 and not doing what please you on His day but what ministers to others in a very real way.  At the end of the Lord's Day prepare to plan your new week and when looking back at last week put it behind you and
HIT THE RESET BUTTON! 
  I pray the Lord blesses you greatly in this new week!
Love,
Mom
 
  

A letter to my dad...

  Dearest Dad,

  Yesterday I saw the picture of you and I that was taken last year on Father's Day.  It brings tears to my eyes.  It brings back memories of your mother when she developed the illness that you now have.  I can honestly say I hate the disease of Alzheimer's and all its symptoms.   The dad I knew and loved is gone.  The dad who was boisterous, full of zeal, social, and so alive to life and people. 
  I just want you to know, dad, the disease doesn't make me love you any less.  It only makes me look forward to the day we can visit again in heaven and you'll be free of illness forever. 
  Today, as we're headed to Father's Day you've been on my mind.  I find myself walking back over the days of my youth and cherishing each moment that I had with you.  I never realized when I was in my carefree youth how much I'd hold on to those moments  in the future and go back over them again and again--like looking at precious snapshots that captured that moment in time.
   I remember my birthday party in Lake St. Clair, Michigan.  We lived above a garage very close to the lake.  It must have been my 4th birthday.  There was a little porch on the roof with fencing around it and we had my birthday out on that porch.  I remember your acting silly and blowing on the noisemakers.  It was a sweet memory of being the center of attention with my daddy being the one that was giving me all the attention that a second born could crave!  
  I remember the time you were laying in a windowseat reading your newspaper when I asked you to pray with me that I wouldn't go to hell.  You laid your paper down, knelt down and prayed with me.  I don't remember what you prayed--I do remember how much I loved my dad for calming my fears.   While living in that same house I stood in the church you pastored and after hearing a guest speaker preach on Calvary I reached up and took your hand, prayed and asked the Lord to come into my heart and save me. 
  I remember prayer being a major part of our lives.  You led us in prayer about almost everything--or so it seemed.  One night you had us down by the couch praying for milk because we didn't have any.  Our prayers were short and to the point.  I thought yours wasn't ever going to end.  While you were praying there was a knock on the door and to my amazement there stood our school principal with a gallon of milk under each arm. 
  "My parents cows gave too much milk today.  Could you use some?" 
  "God heard my dad's prayers, He heard my dad!"  Prayer has always been a major part of my spiritual health and I think it's no mistake that your prayers being answered probably laid the foundation to that part of my life.
  I remember a night you gave me a good hard spanking and I was thinking in my head, "I hate him.  I hate him!"  Then after it was over you said, "Now come here, honey." and you wanted to hug me and tell me you loved me.  Those hateful thoughts instantly changed to, "I don't hate him.  I don't hate him."
   I remember your taking me on a "date" with you.  Isn't it strange how every detail of something like that sticks in our mind?  I know the exact spot where the little corner cafe sat where we stopped to have a soft drink together.  It was a greasy spoon cafe on Highway 67between Albany and Muncie, Indiana.   I felt so big sitting at that counter with my dad.  After that you took me to a store and bought me a Bible story book.  I kept it for years and years and somehow it got lost in one of our moves.  But if it ever shows up I remember writing on the front flap the date.  It was a memorable night for a little girl to be with her dad.
  I remember the hikes we took when we lived out north of Parker.  As we marched down the road you would make us do cadence marching to the words:
  "You had a good home but you left-right, left-right...
    you had a good home but you left-right, left-right, left-right, left!"
  We would end up under the bridge sitting on the cement shelving cooling off, swinging our legs, and seeing who could spit the farthest.  (Why do I remember that Kristi always won?" :)
   I remember you taking the time to talk to us about dating lost boys.  You gave me a magazine from Back to the Bible that followed the life of a young woman and her letters to one of the preachers.  First, she was going to change him, next he promised he would come to church with her after they got married, and then the sorrow of their married life when he became a drunkard and a wife-beater.  I was thoroughly convinced and that was one sin that held no temptation for me.  Your spending time to show me the Bible and give me someone's testimony had a lasting impact on me.
   I remember my tumultous teen years when I felt I could not get you to understand me.  I read a book by Richard DeHaan about teens that greatly affected me.  However, I couldn't seem to get you to discuss my teen troubles.  I wrote you a long letter and left it on your car seat.  When I came out of work that night you were waiting in the car and we had our talk.
   I remember calling you from my home after I was married and had four kids to tell you how sorry I was I didn't honor you more and obey you more. I was sorry for hurting your ministry by being a rebellious teen so many times.   I was heart broken and you told me I'd been forgiven long ago for anything that had hurt you.  I was so distressed over it that I kept calling you and you finally said, "Now Tami, the cat's dead.  Go bury it and don't leave the tail out so you can keep checking it to make sure if it's dead."  Those words often echo in my memory and I often have to repeat them to myself when I need your wise advice once again.
   I remember calling your house to talk about spiritual things and you always had the time.  You always stopped what you were doing to talk to me.  When I went through the deep, deep valley of depression you kept telling me to "Look up--not in.".  You would quote scripture and remind me that if I looked in it would get dirtier and darker but if I looked up it would pull me out of the darkness.
   When I had a terrible week you and mother packed your things and came over to stay with me.  I remember you laying your hands on me and praying for me over and over.  Each time you did that the depression would ease.  What love a sacrifice.
  I remember asking the Lord to please not take you and mother from me because I knew you wouldn't fail to pray for me when others did.  Shortly after that she went to heaven and not too long after that Alzheimer's began claiming you.  I have made it without you on the other end of the phone but I haven't made it without hearing so many things you've said and taught going through my mind and being so thankful for the dad I was given.
   Dearest dad, what a wonderful legacy and heritage you bestowed on me.  You weren't perfect, you actually were impulsive, quick to move, slow to listen and you didn't fit the manuals that have been written on how to be the perfect dad.    I remember during one of my rebellious times (and after focusing on your imperfections) I decided I was going to show you by going into total rebellion.  I took a walk and as I walked around and around the block fussing and fuming at you I knew beyond any doubt you had David's perfect heart.  With all your heart you desired to please and obey the Lord and to the best of your ability you were fathering us in obedience to the Lord.  I couldn't follow through on my threat once I admitted that.
   If I had listened to you and obeyed you I wouldn't have many of the scars I do have.  I can't think of any advice you gave me that wasn't absolutely true.  I just didn't like your delivery and used that as an excuse to sin.  Any place you didn't "measure up" Christ would have filled in the empty spots.  It wasn't your failure--it was my failure to fully depend on the Lord to meet my needs.
   I wish you could read this and comprehend how very, very much I love you and how grateful I am for you.  You truly are a modern-day spiritual hero, one of the giants we should try to emulate and follow their footsteps.  I have often asked the Lord for your fearlessness in witnessing and your total unawareness of what negative things people thought or said about your love for the Lord and your Christian life.  I also covet the zeal you always had toward the Lord's people and the Lord's work.  Thank you so much for being my dad. 
   Since you can't read this I want to honor you before others and let the whole world know what a wonderful dad I have.  I love you, daddy!
 Happy Father's Day!

Love,

Tamara
  
 

Our Cierra Nichole...

  We got Cierra and John in February when she was three years old and he was 10 months old.  John, being a baby just snuggled right up and made himself at home.  Cierra wasn't so quick to adjust.  She was a beautiful brown haired little girl with dark brown eyes and she was also scared out of her wits!  I tried my best to put myself in her shoes as she stood in our living room looking around.
  She was very articulate and a quick learner, but she didn't feel like she belonged to us yet.  Whenever I would go somewhere and my husband wasn't with us she would ask me, "Why are you driving?  Why isn't he driving?"  Then when we got in the van she would lay over in her seat as if she was very distressed. 
  I tried trips together to Wal Mart to buy Dora the Explorer as rewards for being a good girl, I tried taking her on a "date" to Cracker Barrel, I tried letting her shop with me and push the little girl's cart in Kroger but each time it was just her and me she would end up talking very mean to me and we would repeatedly have to make trips to the bathroom.  (meaning she was very nervous)
   The day came we were to go before the judge and I stood in the bathroom brushing her hair and explaining to her what was happening.   I told her that "today we're going before a judge and we're going to tell him we want you forever."  I looked down as she asked, "You DO?" and saw hives on her little neck. 
  "Yes," I said, "forever and ever and I'll tell the judge that."  .
   "And I won't have to be on the street or in the ditch any more?"  she asked.
  "No, honey, right here with your daddy and me forever and ever."  She heaved a long sigh of relief.
   When we got to court I held her in my arms and told the judge we wanted them forever.  When we got home she bounced around the house like a little bunny rabbit full of joy. 
   She never asked why my husband wasn't driving again.  I can only guess that when I took her somewhere without baby John she thought I didn't want her and was taking her to another home.  She never laid down in the seat again.  She learned to love shopping with mommy! (and still does!)
  I call Cierra my rose in bloom.  She's turned into the most wonderful daughter a mother could wish for.  We have so much in common.  My mother told me more than once that Cierra looked more like my biological daughter than my biological daughters do!  We also have so many similar loves and interest--cooking, baking, sewing, designing, and yes, this year we even laughed and cried and enjoyed doing Algebra together!
  When we had her first birthday party she didn't seem to know what to do.  I had to coach her through the whole thing.  Let me tell you, by the next one she had it all figured out and knew exactly who and what she wanted! "I want a tea party, I want little sandwiches, I want Rachel and Haley and....."

  This year our daughter turned 15.  Her birthday is the day before mine so I always tell her that she was my birthday gift the year we got her and continues to be every year of my life! 
She is one of the most generous people I've ever met and so very easy to please.  I truly believe that if
I told her we couldn't get her a thing she would say that was fine.  I also believe if she thought someone needed something she was just given more than herself she would give it to them cheerfully!

  This year she decided she'd like to have some friends over, that she wanted a Peanut Butter Pie and a Butter Brickle Pie in lieu of the usual birthday cake and she wanted a big Mexican dinner--enchiladas, corn, salad, Spanish rice, Mexican corn bread and the desserts.  Then she wanted us to get guest passes for Tansi so they could go miniature golf, play volleyball. tennis, tetherball or ping pong.   Sounded good to us, the day was supposed to be a sunny day.
  Well, just as we got the dishes done the sky began to turn gray!  Then the rain began to sprinkle down.  Then we began to get heavy rain with hail.  I was at the sink thinking, "Well, I guess they'll have to do board games or the Wii."
  I stepped on the porch after finishing the kitchen to see what was going on!  (I could hear laughing.)
Well, the rain was pouring off the gutters it was raining so hard and a water fight had started. 

   I stepped outside and we all were laughing and talking and watching the rain.  I heard Sarah whisper something to Cierra and Cierra laughed and said, "I don't think so!" 
  I said, "What?"  Cierra told me that Sarah wondered if I she could get me wet!

  "Not and live!"  was my reply.

  Well, the water fight got so wild I decided the house was safer, so Sarah and I decided to go in the house and play some Wii.  Just as I was learning how to do it I got a phone call. (I am Wii dysfunctional.)  So I was trying to learn from Sarah and talk on the phone when there was a loud crack, the house went black and the phone went dead!

  I ended up putting the cordless up and going to my room to talk on the phone in there.  Next thing I can hear is Cierra screaming.  She was going down the hall and Sarah had jumped out of her room and scared her.  Well, that started hide and go seek in the dark house.  Cierra, Naomi, Sarah and John! 
I had to shut the door they were all laughing so hard.  I decided that I would only open the door if I heard a crash or breaking glass.  I only had to open the door twice! :)

   Now these are kids who are dripping wet and there is no electricity!  They all had their dry clothes for Sunday night but no way to dry there hair!  They had such a good time that as we were heading out to church (with very we heads) I realized Cierra hadn't even opened her gifts yet!
   "I don't care," she said, "I've been having too much fun to open gifts!"

   So the gifts, more pie and other goodies all had to wait till we got home from church but that was fun because we had another party!  And, this week the Snodderly girls are coming back so they can use those Tansi passes!  Sounds fun to me! 

  I am reminded of a scene in Anne of Green Gables when Matthew and Marilla are seeing Anne off to teach at Queens.  Matthew states that it was their luck when they were accidentally given a boy and Marilla answers, "It wasn't luck, Matthew--it was Providence.  He knew we needed her!" 
  That's how I feel about our Cierra Nichole.  She needed us, but we needed her more.  With her cheerful spirit, her generous heart, her willingness to help, and her wonderful creative nature she is such a blessing to this home. 
  I love you Cierra!  I'm so thankful you're ours!

Love,

Mom

Now how many kids do you know who would ask for a jar of olives and a bag of Skittle as part of their birthday gift? :) (picture at left)