Homemaking
Archived Posts from this Category
Sat 23 Jun 2007
After reading some wonderful quotes at Neat and Dainty as a Flower, I picked up an old Grace Livingston Hill book called The Honor Girl at our church. I had attempted to read a GLH book years ago, but didn’t read past the first few pages. I couldn’t get into it and didn’t know what all the fuss was about.
I’m so glad that I read The Honor Girl and stuck with it past the first chapter. The book is filled with all sorts of homemaking scenes and examples of family loyalty that inspired me. I found myself wishing that the book was mine so that I could highlight it as I went. The homemaking descriptions of a teenage girl who was mature way beyond what most girls are today was amazing and encouraging to me. It highlighted the real beauty and importance of the work done in the home by women and how much men need a woman’s presence in the home. Her family loyalty, even at the expense of the poor opinions and critical mouths of others, shouted lessons seldom heard today. Today’s world screeches, ” do things in your own best interests,” but the lessons were the opposite in The Honor Girl. It says that it is a romance book, but there was very little romance in it.
Because of time, I won’t copy down the quotes here, but you may read some from this book and other GLH books at Neat and Dainty as a Flower. I strongly urge you to read The Honor Girl and share it with your teen daughters. I believe they will be inspired along with you. You can find used copies at Amazon.com .
 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14
Thu 14 Jun 2007
I wanted to share my testimony of how I became a stay-at-home mom and offer encouragement if you’d like to come home, too. I’m in no way trying to condemn anyone!
I was saved at an early age and grew up in a Christian home, where we went to church often. I attended a Christian school for four years (eighth-eleventh grade) and public schools the remaining years. Between the church, the school, and Christian camp once a year, I had the opportunity to hear some of the best preachers of our generation. The Word of God and the fear of God was deeply engrained into my heart and being. I am so thankful for all of that!
One thing I don’t remember ever hearing, though, was the teaching of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31, which tells women what God wants for their lives. Finding out what God wanted for your career and going to a Christian college was pushed very heavily. I graduated with honors (fifth in my class of 250), but did not go to college because of a lack of money. I worked as a cook, cashier, bookkeeper, a secretary, and a bank teller. When I was married, I continued working because it was expected of women. It was not something even thought about, just something that everyone did. My former husband and I found out quickly how stressful it was for me to try to keep up with the home and with my job as a bank teller. Although I loved my job and was very successful at it, I did not like the rat race of it, and, in all honestly, did not like the fact that I had two jobs- my paid one and the one at home. It was also stressful to him to help with the housework. In addition I was attending the local college. He decided that he would work and I would keep the house, a decision that I never regretted. It was not done as a conviction, but because it worked well for us. I also quit college after finishing a year.
About a year later, I got pregnant with my first daughter. Being at home I was able to listen to a lot of Christian radio, where I first heard of homeschooling and felt like that was what God wanted me to do. After she was born, I was very alone much of the time, up most of the night caring for her in those first few weeks. I spent a lot of time nursing her and listening to the radio all throughout the days and nights of her first few months. It was then I heard Elisabeth Elliot’s teachings on Titus 2 and mothers at home. Although my mother never worked, I had never heard it verbally articulated from the Bible as to why it was important, and also very possible in this day and time, for mothers to be at home with their children. For the first time I developed a biblical conviction about being home with my children and making a home for my family.
Seven years later I worked outside the home for about five months after my husband and I separated, but quickly saw my family and my home falling apart without me. My children were getting unruly because I was just too tired to deal with them, even though I worked part time. Again, I loved my job as bookkeeper and was extremely successful, but I saw how desperately my children needed me, especially after a divorce situation. I prayed earnestly for the Lord to allow me to work from home, and, within a week, God had answered and I was opening up a home day care. Even though it seemed impossible for someone like me in an impossible situation, God answered and made a way.
Even though my children are not small anymore (they are 14, 11, and 10), I still believe my children need me more than ever as they go through the “teen years.” I have been told that “you used to be so smart” and other things like that in relation to the fact that I’m not working outside the home now, and it has been painful to me to realize that some think I’m wasting my talents. I personally believe that investing one’s life into the lives of others is a worthwhile and noble effort; how much more if it is your family?
 About two weeks ago, the following quote was in our Sunday School book:
“The most important occupation on the earth for a woman is to be a real mother to her children. It does not have much glory in it; there is a lot of grit and grime. But there is no greater place of ministry, position, or power than that of a mother.” (Phil Whisenhunt, quoted in The Remarkable Women of the Bible by Elizabeth George, p. 84.)
Someone in our class said that she had worked when her children were at home and she regretted it. She said that she just thought she “had to”, but now knows that she did not really have to, that she had a choice. If any of you ladies want to be at home, ask God to do it for you, and, I promise you, He will. If a single mother can do it by God’s provision and grace, then anyone can. He is still a miracle worker today! People ask sometimes how I make it, and I can honestly say, it’s been the Lord providing through various means and many miracles. God’s people have been enormously generous and kind to us throughout the years also. It may take some time for things to work out and will probably take a lot of sacrifice, but it will be worth it all. Mothering is a true ministry, just as much as any ministry in the local church, and our Lord will reward you greatly in Heaven, and you’ll see much fruit on earth. For additional reading, I reccomend you to browse through the articles at Homeliving Helper. Theses ladies are much more articulate than I and offer much encouragement.
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14
Mon 7 May 2007
I love to hang clothes on the line and do so as often as I can, but not always. It thrills me to see them dancing in the breeze. I love many old-fashioned ways of doing things, but thought when I first got married that only poor people hung clothes on the line these days. It is a joy to know that many women today still enjoy this task!Stiffness is a problem when I line dry, and I’ve found that NOTHING softens laundry- not Downy, not vinegar- so I put my things in the dryer for 5-10 minutes and then put them on the line. They are greatly softened by this, I’m saving money, am not heating up the house in the warm months, and am getting fresh air and exercise!
From Home Comforts:
“To my mind, whether laundry on the line is unattractive depends on what kind of laundry it is and how it is hung. When I was a girl, hanging out the clothes was an art widely understood in the countryside. Family style was given some leeway, but there were nonetheless ways you did this and ways you didn’t; the rules were so clear that I remember one elderly lady stifling unseemly giggles when she saw the work of a novice….”“Many clothes will feel stiff after drying on the line, particularly if there is little wind to blow them soft as they dry. Towels, especially, tend to get boardlike and stiff on the line and need some tumbling to make them soft…”
“If you hang things carefully, they will often look smooth when they are dry, and you can minimize or avoid ironing. The best weather for line drying, if you have a choice, is warm, dry, and sunny with a moderate breeze. You need some wind to billow wrinkles out of the fabric and hasten drying…”
“Hanging clothes properly reduces wrinkles and makes ironing more easy. The wind smooths wrinkles (and softens and dries clothes quickly), so try to hang garments so that sleeves, skirts, and legs billow out in the breeze…”
“To prevent fading, dry colored clothes in the shade or turn them inside out, or both. White linens usually benefit from drying in direct sunlight, which gives them a gentle, natural bleaching…”
“Avoid putting laundry in a basket unfolded, and especially never leave it that way for a period of time, for this will cause much wrinkling and ruin the good effects of your careful hanging…”
“If you are line drying indoors, be sure to shake out the clothes vigorously before hanging them. This is necessary to reduce wrinkles and help them to dry less stiffly since you have no breezes to soften them.”
I rarely iron at my house! We try to fold or hang things just as soon as they come out of the dryer or off the line. If we can’t get to them right away, I lay the clothes in neat piles, not carelessly wadded up. My girls enjoy hanging out laundry and even have their own little line in their play area outside.:)
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14
Thu 26 Apr 2007
 
I first learned that housework has meaning by observing my grandmothers. The reason they made a fuss when they saw a granddaughter doing things in a “foreign” way is that they knew — in their bones if not in words — that the way you experience life in your home is determined by how you do your housekeeping.
And more….
This sense of being at home is important to everyone’s well-being. If you do not get enough of it, your happiness, resilience, energy, humor, and courage will decrease. It is a complex thing, an amalgam. In part, it is a sense of having special rights, dignities, and entitlements — and these are legal realities, not just emotional states. It includes familiarity, warmth, affection, and a conviction of security. Being at home feels safe; you have a sense of relief whenever you come home and close the door behind you, reduced fear of social and emotional dangers as well as of physical ones. When you are home, you can let down your guard and take off your mask. Home is the one place in the world where you are safe from feeling put down or out, unentitled, or unwanted. It’s where you belong, or, as the poet said, the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in. Coming home is your major restorative in life.
From Home Comforts: The Art & Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson, Chapter 1, p. 7
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. ~Psalms 19:14
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