I Learned by Her Example

I expect that my eldest daughter will soon be engaged to her boyfriend and it's caused me to ask myself questions like "Is she prepared to be a good wife and mother?" "Have I taught her how to cook and clean well enough that she won't struggle in her first year of marriage?" "Have I set a good example for her?" "Will she make wise decisions for her family?"

I am so blessed to have been raised by a mother who loves the Lord and is committed to being a wonderful wife and homemaker. She never held formal classes on "how to be a good homemaker" but she taught by example every day as my siblings and I were growing up in her home.

Mom made it a priority in her life to bless others and sacrificed time, money and energy in building up the people around her, from the meter reader and mail deliverer to her neighbors and family. She provided daycare in her home to help my father with income while still being home with her children and somehow managed to make delicious dinners every night despite having had a house filled with other people's children all day. She somehow managed to care for her ill mother and other aging relatives while balancing her business and family life, too.

She was a Fun Mom. Hers was the Kool Aid House. All the kids in the neighborhood came to our yard to play and often times Mom would load up the station wagon and bring us all to the ice skating rink for the afternoon, or to the drive-in movie theater, or to Dairy Queen for ice cream.

My dad was gone a lot when we were little, working overtime or serving as a volunteer fireman or deer hunting with friends in the fall. I don't recall my mother ever complaining about the times when he wasn't home. Instead she'd say things like "Your dad sure is a hard worker!" Now, as a married woman, I know there must have been times where she felt unappreciated, lonely, exhausted... and she could have chosen to complain about Dad being gone, but she didn't. Instead she'd find ways of making those times fun for us kids.

She really loves her family and she loves being a homemaker, a mother and a wife. I learned by her day-to-day example of loving the Lord and serving others, to also love being a homemaker, mother and wife. Mom taught me how to be a Keeper at Home, To Love my Husband, To love my Children and To be Busy.

God bless her and pour His favor upon her!

How happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways! You will surely eat what your hands have worked for. You will be happy, and it will go well for you...May the Lord bless you from Zion, so that you will see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life, and will see your children's children. ~Psalms 128:1-2, 5-6

I pray that the generational example will be passed on to my daughters, too.

It Makes Scents!

Yankee Candle is having a 50% off sale on their fragrance tarts or votives--this weekend only.

If you've never experienced the joy of burning a Yankee Candle in your home, now is a great time to give them a try.

(Clean Cotton is my all time favorite but there are many exciting spring scents available!)

The sale is good in their retail stores or online.

Ginger Snap Cookies with Pumpkin Frosting

Cookie Ingredients:

• ¾ cups Butter Or Margarine, Softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 whole Egg
• ¼ cups Molasses
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cloves
• 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
• Additional Sugar

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and molasses and beat well. Stir together dry ingredients, and gradually add to creamed mixture. Mix well, then chill the dough.
Preheat oven to 350º. Roll dough into 1-1/4? balls and dip into sugar. Place 2? apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 – 12 mins. or until set and surface cracks. Cool on wire racks. Makes 3 – 4 dozen cookies.

 

 

 

 

Frosting:

 Ingredients

• 1 package(8-ounce) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup pumpkin purée
• 1/4 cup(1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar

Blend the cream cheese, pumpkin purée, butter, orange juice, zest, and vanilla in a large bowl using an electric mixer set at medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and creamy — about 5 more minutes.

No More Dingy Pots and Pans

If your aluminum pots and pans have lost their luster, try boiling apple peels in them to restore their sheen. To keep them bright after each washing, wipe them with lemon juice and dry thoroughly.

Cleaning Clothespins

Spring is just around the corner and one of the things I most look forward to is hanging laundry out to dry in the sun. Last year I failed to bring my wooden clothes pins inside for the winter, so now I have weathered, dirty clothes pins.
 
To solve my problem, I gathered the pins and put them inside a mesh produce bag, swirled them around inside a bucket of warm, sudsy water, rinsed them thoroughly and hung them outside to completely dry in the warm breeze.

They may not look like new but they are now clean and ready to use! I praise God for the warm winds of Spring.

The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. Ecclesiastes 1:6

Chai Pancakes

In its most basic form, chai is black tea that is brewed strong with a combination of spices and is diluted with milk and sugar. The spices vary from recipe to recipe, but usually consist of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, pepper and ginger. Chai tea is traditionally consumed hot and sweet. The sweetness is needed to bring out the full flavors of the spices.

Now imagine all the spicy goodness of chai in a hot, fresh from the griddle, pancake. This recipe exemplifies the rich goodness of the comfort spices offer.

Ingredients

• 2 whole Eggs
• 1½ cup Buttermilk
• ½ cups Brewed Chai Tea
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• ¾ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• 1 pinch Ground Cloves
• 1/4 teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Preparation

In a large bowl beat eggs. Add buttermilk, chai tea and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Mix well until mostly smooth. Let batter set for a few minutes.

Heat non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Pour one ladle of batter onto the pan, make sure it’s not too thick as I’ve had issues with the pancakes not cooking properly in the middle. Cook on the first side until bubbles that form start to pop. Flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook until golden brown. Repeat as required.

Dress with butter and lots of maple syrup… DELICIOUS!!!

Yield: 8 large pancakes.

My Return Home

I am a home body. I love nothing more than spending my day at home, free hang clothes outside to dry in the warmth of the sun, wash a sink load of dishes or bake a new recipe for dinner. I love being a homemaker. It is my calling in life.

There have been times in my marriage where I've worked part or full time outside my home and while I can do it for a short amount of time, the unease I feel of spending so much time away from home eventually catches up to me in the form of depression, anxiety and even illness.

Something is sacrificed when a woman works outside the home. Much has been written about the working woman--how she CAN have it all if there is balance in her life, if her husband helps with household chores and if adequate childcare can be found. I found that despite having a supportive husband and wonderful children, my ideals for my home soon went out the window in lieu of a paycheck and a job title.

Rather than laundry being a joy to me, it became a dreaded obligation done late at night so that we'd have something to wear the next day. Mealtimes became hurried and mundane. My children's behavior changed in subtle, but worrisome, ways. No longer was I a "keeper at home" but a miserable working woman who occasionally interacted with her family.

I read a statistic that only 24% of American women claim to be fulltime homemakers. Our society has made it terribly difficult to live on one income and I thank feminism and materialism for that. Stay-at-home mothers are pitied or condemned for not using their minds and talents in the workforce. One income households, except in unusual situations, barely qualify for the label "middle-income" and often sit just above or at the poverty level.

When I chose to return home, it was with the understanding that sacrifices would have to be made in giving up my income. I would need to be creative and resourceful with our finances. Even with creativity and resourcefulness, truly our hope only lies in the Lord's promise of provision:

Matthew 6:32, "(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."

Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Deuteronomy 8:18, "But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day."

Psalms 84:11, "For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

Deuteronomy 28:5, 11-12, "Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store... And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow."

1 John 5:14-15, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."

John 16:24, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."

James 4:2, "...yet ye have not, because ye ask not."

Matthew 6:8, "Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him."

Romans 8:32, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"

James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

1 Timothy 6:17, "...God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy."

Psalms 37:4-5, "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass."

Genesis 45:18, "And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land."

Ezra 9:12, "Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever."

Isaiah 1:19, "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:"
 
Genesis 45:20, "Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours."

Deuteronomy 8:7, "For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;"

Deuteronomy 30:9, "And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:"

Luke 12:28, "If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

The Lord is not quiet on the subject of caring for those who love Him and I cling to these promises when my human perspective threatens to send me into a fit of fear.

I am a Homemaker. I am responsible for our home. I am my husband's helpmeet and my children's mother. I praise God for the fulfillment I experience when I take my calling seriously and offer my day to Him. I have found through experience that there's no better way to live.

John 10:10, "...I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."