Twenty Three and Soaring

Hope Scribbles

2010-03-19T06:34:00.003-04:00

Please feel free to stop by and read my NEW blog:

www.hopescribbles.wordpress.com

So Long, Farewell ...

2008-08-24T12:51:00.003-04:00

After a wonderful year of blogging, I think the time to stop blogging has come. It's sad, saying goodbye to an activity I've enjoyed so much - and through which I've learned so much and made some dear, sweet bloggy friends. I'm just not keeping up with life ... and blogging is one more thing to try and do every day. I've thought and prayed about this - and talked with my parents - and there are things I know God wants me to do with my life. Although blogging is fun and does real good, it's not something God specifically wants me to do with my life. I know other girls have voiced a specific call from God to blog ... and that's truly right and wonderful. But that's not me ...

So, I'll leave this blog here on the bloggysphere as an archive, but won't post again ... at least, not in the foreseeable future. If anyone stumbles upon it, I hope and pray it will be a blessing!

My 24th Birthday - Time to Move On

2008-06-15T12:39:00.005-04:00

Today it's one who year since I created my blog and wrote my first post!

Also ... it's my twenty fourth birthday! I'm in a curious limbo between hardly noticing I'm officially a year older and hardly believing I'm really twenty four years old! But ... oh well ... honestly, being twenty four does not (yet!) feel the tiniest little bit different from being twenty three ...

However, being twenty four makes me think it's time for a change ... time to move on. Honestly, can I write a blog called "Twenty Three and Soaring" when I'm twenty four? I've thought of keeping the name and updating my profile information ... changing the name to "Twenty Four and Soaring" ... or changing the name to something totally different.

But none of those options feels "right."

I like my blog. But I think I've outgrown it. So I'm moving on. On out of blog-o-land? I've considered it, but I think I'll miss blogging. So ... welcome to my new blog!

A big "thank you" to everyone who's read my blog and walked the last year with me through my posts! It's been such a fun and exciting adventure, blogging and making bloggy friends! You can't imagine how privileged I feel, to know that many people read my posts and that some people are encouraged. That's awesome to know, it really is. Thank you so much, dear people who read my blog!

Since it's my birthday, how about ... letting me know who you are and what your favourite book is? That would be fun! (But no pressure if you'd rather stay anonymous. That's fine!) Otherwise ... to start you off ... hello! My name in Elizabeth and my favourite book it (at the moment!) "When God Writes Your Life Story" by Eric and Leslie Ludy. And you are ... ?

Link: Doorsteps

2008-06-15T12:01:00.001-04:00

There's an awesome post at the IDD blog! Check it out!

A Mountain Climbing Kind of Girl

2008-06-12T14:08:00.007-04:00

When my family and I went to Israel in December, we went to Masada ... a mountain beside the Dead Sea. It has a tumultuous history, but it was peaceful and beautiful when my family and I were there. To get to the top of Masada, you can ride in a cable car ... or climb The Snake Path.

I chose to climb The Snake Path. To be honest, I'm not a mountain climbing kind of girl. But I'd wanted to climb Masada for almost ten years and here was my opportunity, so I provided myself with water and chocolate chip cookies (essential for keeping up a climber's strength) and ... climbed. I took this picture at the beginning of the path up ...

To begin with, it was easy. When I was a little girl, I spent hours and hours climbing the hills and rocks around my grandmother's home. But after a while ... it was hot ... I was tired ... I wanted to stop and rest ... I thought I couldn't take one ... more ... step.

The climb stopped being fun.

It became a test of endurance.

The only way to get to the top of the mountain was to climb ... up ... one step, another step, one more step ... up ...

And ... eventually ... I got to the top. I didn't look great. But I felt wonderful! The sense of achievement and satisfaction was indescribable - I had climbed Masada ... I had accomplished a ten year old goal ... I had "conquered" the mountain. And the view from the top was awesome ... breathtaking ... indescribable!

Later, I climbed - walked, ran, jumped! - down the mountain. Before shopping into the visitor's center and running to catch the bus (which was late, so we had to wait anyway!), I took this picture - of Masada, the mountain, "my" mountain! I've climbed it and the climb changed me ... into a mountain climbing kind of girl?

Yesterday, I was thinking ... there is a "mountain" in my life at the moment. This "mountain" is comprised of challenges and difficulties and things God is trying to teach me. Probably, when I get to the top, I'll find the climb has changed me.

But at the moment it's not fun.

It's a test of endurance.

I'm tired ... I want to stop and rest ... I think I can't take one ... more ... step.

Does this sound ... um ... familiar?

When I climbed Masada, the only way to the top was up. As I climb the "mountain" of challenges and difficulties in my life, the only way to the top is ... up. It doesn't matter whether I'm a mountain climbing kind of girl or not! I need to keep climbing ... up ... one step, another step, one more step ... up ...

I know that ... but yesterday I was tired and stressed and I told God, "I can't do this ... and I don't want to do this ... please, don't make me do this!"

And then I thought of Masada - which, although I'm not a mountain climbing kind of girl, I climbed. I thought I couldn't do it - but I did it. I got to the top.

It was as if God smiled and reassured my heart, whispering, "Yes, you can do this! Come on ... and just trust Me. Remember, you can do this ... you can climb mountains!"

I'm not climbing the "mountain" alone ... I'm following my Jesus ... up ... one step, another step, one more step ... up ...

And He says, "Yes, you can do this!"

I believe I'll get to the top of the "mountain." The feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction will be cool. The view will be out of this world. But the knowledge that my Jesus knew I could do it and helped me to do it ... that will be the greatest and sweetest thing.

And maybe ... just maybe ... it will turn me into a mountain climbing kind of girl.

Lessons from Christy Miller

2008-06-11T07:28:00.008-04:00

I'm guessing that in many ways, I fit quite neatly into "a box" - I'm a Christian girl, I'm quite conservative, I was homeschooled, I wear long skirts and dresses, I have long hair, I live at home with my parents, I'm committed to courtship. And so on ...

(Actually, in many ways, I don't fit neatly into "a box," but that's a whole other post ...)

So when, while researching the world of contemporary Christian novels, I came across the Christy Miller books by Robin Jones Gunn, I thought I knew what I was getting into. Honestly (yes ... it is embarrassing to admit this!), my expectations were ... seriously ... low.

And seriously ... wrong.

Why? Because in Christy - a teen girl who goes to highschool and youthgroup, wears jeans and shorts, dates and isn't specifically saving her first kiss for her wedding day - I found a kindred spirit. I'm still surprised! I'm one kind of girl and Christy is another kind of girl, right? In many ways, yes. In many ways, no ... because Christy is "a Christian girl," too. Sure, like me she has joys and sorrows, triumphs and failures. But above and beyond those things (which unite all of mankind), there are the things which unite believers - things like love for God, overflowing into love for other believers and compassion for "the lost" ... like me, Christy tries to live a life pleasing to God and yearns for a deeper relationship with God, wanting to become the women He created her to be ...

I believe my standards are important. I'm not planning to compromise them - I'm not sorry I was homeschooled. I'm not sorry I spent my teen years wearing long skirts and dresses. I'm not sorry I spent my teen years dreaming about Prince Charming rather than wondering who liked who and waiting to be asked out on a date ... and I'm not sorry I'm committed to courtship and saving my first kiss for my husband on our wedding day!

But ... I'm sorry I spent my teen years looking at the Christy Miller's in my life and judging them for going to highschool/youthgroup ... wearing jeans and shorts ... dating and (occasionally) kissing their boyfriends. I'm sorry I used my standards in the wrong way, to divide me from girls who were kindred spirits - because, like me and like Christy, they loved God and tried to live a life pleasing to Him, yearning for a deeper relationship with Him and wanting to be the women He created them to be ...

It's important that we walk "the straight and narrow path" and rise above our cultural expectations to follow our Jesus - but it's important that we don't judge and condemn the Christy Millers in our lives. We might have more in common than we realise (or want to admit) and we might - just might! - learn something from walking and talking with them ...

Because, ultimately, it doesn't matter how long we were homeschooled or how long our skirts and dresses are or how deeply we're committed to courtship ... ultimately, we're just like Christy and her friends - because like them, we're "God-lovers," right?

Link: Beauty in the Mistakes

2008-06-02T11:29:00.003-04:00

There's a beautiful article posted on The IDD Blog today ... can you see (and accept) "beauty in the mistakes"? Seeing (and accepting!) beauty in the mistakes I make is not something I'm typically very good at ... I prefer to aim for perfection and tend to agonise over everything but perfection! However ... being human and (moreover) making mistakes on a reasonably regular basis, the ability to see beauty - even embrace beauty - in the mistakes I make, in any and every area of life, is possibly an art I need to cultivate!

Just Pray ... As Life Goes On

2008-05-29T12:56:00.006-04:00

It was this time last week that I "accidentally" stumbled upon the tragic news about Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter. I logged into one of my favourite "cosy" places online and there a friend had shared a link to the story. I don't know Steven Curtis Chapman personally (I mean ... I don't know him and he doesn't know I exist, but his music and lyrics fill my parents' kitchen for some time, six days out of seven!), but when I read the news ...

I felt devastated ... and then I felt overwhelmed by the reality that the devastation I felt on hearing of the death of a child I didn't know was nothing compared to the devastation the child's parents, siblings and friends must be experiencing.

Between this time last week and this time this week, lots of people have been praying for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. I have been. And maybe some of you who read my blog have been. And ... you can read the story. You can share your condolences. You can join a Facebook group.

But ... ultimately ... life goes on.

So ... I guess I want to say ... keep praying for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. For them, a new journey has only just begun. I believe that God, who knows the plans - "for good and not for evil" - He has for each member of the Chapman family in heaven and on earth, will be strong for the family and will walk with each of them every step of the way.

But ... speaking as one who has experienced grief (though nothing like the Chapman family is experiencing) ... it's hard when life goes on and everyone ... well ... sort of forgets. Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife and children need our prayers for as long as we can remember them and remember that life goes on, but broken hearts don't mend as fast as life goes on. And prayers help.

Can God support Steven Curtis Chapman and his family without my prayers ... without your prayers? Absolutely. But one of the many ways God may choose to support the Chapman family is through prayers. Prayers of people like me ... like you ... who don't know them, but share their faith in the God who "heals and rescues and restores" and care enough to remember them and ask Him to heal and rescue and restore their broken hearts.

While I was out and driving around in the van today, I was listening to Declaration ... comprised of songs that are so familiar - Live Out Loud, God is God, Magnificent Obsession and Carry You to Jesus. Remember the words?

I will not pretend to feel the pain you’re going through
I know I cannot comprehend the hurt you’ve known
And I used to think it mattered if I understood
But now I just don’t know

Well, I’ll admit sometimes I still wish I knew what to say
And I keep looking for a way to fix it all
But we know we’re at the mercy of God’s higher ways
And our ways are so small

But I will carry you to Jesus
He is everything you need
I will carry you to Jesus on my knees

There's more ... but this is the point: I can't "feel the pain" and "comprehend the hurt," but I can "carry [the Chapman family] to Jesus" ... to the One who can ... and does ... feel and comprehend. The One who will mend their broken hearts. The One who is, I am sure, longing to heal and rescue and restore.

Pray.

And while you pray for a family you don't know, remember to pray for the people you do know, who are brokenhearted and hurting ... even if you don't know all the details or understand all the pain.

Just pray ... as life goes on.

An Attitude Adjustment

2008-05-27T14:43:00.011-04:00

One of my oldest and dearest friends, Anne, just got married. And I just saw pictures of the dress and the ceremony ... and the happy couple. As a result, my attitude is "just a wee small bit" ... you know ... not so great.

Anne and I have been friends for ... years. We started writing to each other when we were very young teenagers, after two hours of talking. Anne lived in FL and I lived ... somewhere else, "far away." Our families met "by accident" and that was just the beginning ... the things my friend and I had in common began with the facts that we were both the eldest daughters of the large families, that we were both homeschooled and that both our fathers liked their daughters (us!) to dress modestly ... and ended with the fact that "someday," we both wanted to get married, have large families and homeschool our children ...

Looking back over Anne's letters, I can see that desire threaded through our correspondence and our friendship ... like a golden thread woven into a beautiful fabric, it's there in almost every letter - overtly or subtly. Were we "obsessed" with the idea of marriage and motherhood? I don't think so. We both wanted to get married ... so we talked about it, just as girls who want to be doctors or astronauts talk about going to college and medical school or applying to NASA.

(If that's what you do to get a place on board a spaceship ... I really have no idea at all!)

"Way back when ..." Anne and I were sure that the desire to get married was a natural desire and a gift from God, that being a wife and a mother was a high and noble calling and that we were called to be wives and mothers "someday" ... so our future husbands would appear in our lives, initiate a courtship and claim our hearts (strictly in that order!) in good time. And good time was ... we thought ... somewhere between our eighteenth and twenty-first birthdays ...

Ten years, around one-hundred letters, more or less twenty-five 'phone calls, two visits, one painful test of friendship and loyalty, many tears and smiles and countless prayers later ...

Anne - MRS Smith - just got married.

She's got a diamond engagement ring and a golden wedding ring.

She's worn a breathtaking wedding dress and a misty bridal veil.

Most importantly, she's stood before God with Dan (the sweet and godly man God has given her) and pledged to love him all the days of her life, before sealing the promise with their first kiss.

And ... like I said, my attitude is not so great. Not for a moment do I wish Anne was not in love and not married to her sweetheart. No ... but I wonder, when two girls (two friends, no less!) wanted the same thing, why has God granted one her heart's desire ... and not granted the other her heart's desire?

I'll never know ... until, maybe, I get to Heaven. And then I have an idea they'll be other things on my heart, like ... God! Until then, it's probably better not to ask ... why hasn't God granted me my heart's desire too? But even if I don't ask that question, there are other questions ... did I not want marriage and motherhood "enough"? Am I hopelessly immature and "unready"? Am I too plain and quiet to captivate a man (the "right" man)?

And why, anyway, do some girls get married at eighteen and others at thirty-eight ... or never?

And beyond the questions every single girl asks when her friends get married (right?), there are deeper questions still ... why did God give my friend the man of her dreams less than one week (six days, to be precise) after the "painful test of friendship and loyalty" that robbed me of my hopes and dreams? Why did He grant Anne her heart's desire, when He can never grant me my heart's desire? And what good can He bring from disappointed hopes and broken dreams?

It's enough to make a single girl avoid each and every wedding between now and ... her own wedding!

But I was thinking ... maybe I need an attitude adjustment. It's not fair that Anne should have just got married and I should not have just got married. But life isn't fair. And God never promised it would be ... or should be. There are times to cry because life isn't fair ... and there are times to stand up straight and look to God and remember ... remember that He created me and redeemed me ... remember that He has plans for me, to give me a hope and a future ... remember that He has promised to work everything together for good.

Life isn't fair. But my life is not at the mercy of "chance" or tossed hither and thither by "accidents" or "coincidences" ... ruled by what is (or is not) "fair." My life is watched over by my Heavenly Father ... the One who has plans for my and has promised to work everything together for good.

Those plans ... apparently they include celebrating my 24th birthday with my family and friends, but no "special guy."

And that promise ... there's no small print to absolve God from keeping that promise, because a broken heart is too "complicated" or too "wicked".

I am not single because I am too plain and quiet ... or because homeschooling ruined me and my social life forever ... or because I don't wear mini-skirts and make-up ... or because I don't look for and flirt with guys ... or because I am immature and "unready" ... or because there are more women than men in my generation ... or because the very-few-and-far-between single men in my generation can't be bothered to pursue a wife ... or because God has forgotten me and the desires of my heart.

I am single because my God, my Creator and Redeemer, has ordained that on May 27th 2008 I should be single. I may, sometimes, be surprised and hurt that I'm "so very old" and not married. Honestly, I never planned to be "almost" 24 and single. But God is not surprised. He's always planned for me to be "almost" 24 and single.

Why?

I don't know why ... I just know God is God, my God, and this is what He has ordained ... I am single for His reasons and purposes ... for Him. I also know that He understands the hurt and sees the tears. And that maybe ... just "maybe!" ... I am single because God has things for me to do now. Things that are beyond my dreams, but within His plan. His perfect plan. Not for Anne's life, but for my life.

It's difficult to let go of the questions and the hurt.

Anne has just got married and ... I ... haven't.

But God is God and I am single for Him.

And this is an attitude adjustment I can live with ...

Link: Sand Castles

2008-05-27T13:19:00.001-04:00

Today on YLCF there is an amazing post ...

"I feel sad. Earlier I felt I could cry. It is so hard sometimes to be satisfied in where God has placed me. To be content. Have you ever been 26 years old and still so very single? Never had a kiss stolen, never held hands with a man in mutual affection. I've never been chosen by a man. I've been waiting a long time ..."

Waiting for Prince Charming?

2008-05-23T09:16:00.004-04:00

"Some day my prince will come ... some day when my dreams come true!"

For as long as I can remember, I've thought of my future husband by two "terms of endearment" - My Future Husband and My Prince Charming. This week, I was reading The IDD Blog (which I highly recommend, if you're young, female and unmarried!) and was challenged by this statement:

"I'm not waiting for Prince Charming."

Since I just happen to love things "princess-y," I imagine I'll continue to refer to my future husband as My Prince Charming. The habit of 23 (almost 24!) years is hard to break ... and in my vocabulary, this phrase is a term of endearment for the young man I don't yet know, but will "someday" (by the grace of God) marry. But even as my heart and lips shape the words, I'll remember that My Prince Charming is not perfect ... because he's a man. But that's okay (if for no other reason, than because I'm not perfect ... I'm a woman, with all the strengths and weaknesses that entails) and by the grace of God, my future husband and I will have a strong and happy marriage, springing not from a fairy tale, but from the loving hearts of two ordinary people who love God and want to honor Him in everything - even (especially?) their marriage, when "dreams come true."

Two Points of View

2008-05-23T09:15:00.003-04:00

I'm a listener, a talker, a reader and a writer ... all very good reasons why these quotes (by authoresses I respect) make me laugh:

"Never use a long word when a short one will do."
Louisa May Alcott

"If you have big ideas you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?"
Lucy Maud Montgomery

Personally, I agree with the creator of Anne Shirley ... what do you think?!?

Well ... Hello Again!

2008-05-23T09:02:00.000-04:00

Well ... I ended up taking another unplanned bloggie break, didn't I? My life is usually busy, but for the last nine (or is it ten?) weeks it's been way more than "busy." Thankfully, however, I'm anticipating it being less busy for a while now ...

Anyway ... just for the record, I'm hoping write and post more frequently again. I keep saying that. But I'm really hoping this time. Sure, I want to enjoy more time off-line, but I'm hoping I can do that and blog more frequently.

We'll see ... anyway, I hope you all who read my blog have a lovely weekend!

Praying for Steven Curtis Chapman and His Family

2008-05-22T13:02:00.010-04:00

I don't usually post news items on my blog. I like to think that my blog is a little corner of the Internet where people will be encouraged, not depressed. But today I read a piece of news I think I should share on my blog ...

This week, Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter died. You can read the story here. Maria was Steven Curtis Chapman and Mary Beth Chapman's sixth child and youngest daughter - she was an orphan, adopted from China and given a family and a home by Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. When I think of my family (especially my little sisters), then of Maria and of her daddy's songs, such as When Love Takes You In and Cinderella, I want to lie down and cry for the Chapman family. But that won't help them ... so instead, I'm praying for them. That will help them. The God that Steven Curtis Chapman loves and "makes much of" in his songs has Maria safe in Heaven and is watching over the Chapman family on earth. So ... you pray for them, too, okay?

Link: "Just a Girl Through and Through"

2008-05-08T17:40:00.002-04:00

I wanted to share with you an article that I think many of you will appreciate:

"Inside the heart of every GIRL, I believe, is the deep and passionate desire to one day, the day of her dreams, be the most perfect and beautiful wife and mother possible. To love, and to be loved. To cherish, and to be cherished. To enjoy life to it’s fullest, and to do so with the one prince, whom her heavenly King has picked out for her, since before the foundation of the world.
As time goes on, my heart’s desires for those things only get stronger and more definite.

I hope…
I pray…
I dream…

And life goes on. But my heart yearns for the day when God will unfold before me the plan He’s had for my womanhood, before I was even born.

I’ve often wondered why ..."

Want to read more? Go here! This is such a sweet blog ...

A Quote - What Do You Think?

2008-05-08T17:38:00.002-04:00

"If your vision doesn't scare you, then both your vision and your God are too small."

Brother Andrew

An interesting quote!

Spring Rambles

2008-05-08T15:27:00.003-04:00

Spring has really arrived ... and I'm loving every drop of golden sunshine and every breath of blossom-scented warm air. It feels so good to wake up to sunshine pouring into my bedroom ... to wear a pretty summer skirts again ... to drive with the car/van windows open ...

The last few weeks (alright ... the last few months) have been so busy! It's been hard to find time for anything ... blogging included. In fact, lack of time aside, I must admit that blogging has been low on my list of things to do simply by virtue of being an online activity. I appreciate the Internet in many ways, but I've recently been feeling tired of being online and participating in online activities. No ... I haven't suspended my Facebook account or withdrawn from one online group or refused to consider joining another online group or stopped browsing on Amazon or deleted my blog, but I've decreased my blog-hopping. It doesn't seem fair to lurk when I don't have time to comment ... and three minutes of blog-hopping makes me more tired than thirty minutes of book-reading. Not that I'm criticising blogging or devaluing my bloggy-friendships ... honestly!

No, recently, it's been time to be, not online, but ... real. To live. To make bread by hand and kneed the sticky dough on a floury surface, before greasing a tin and pressing the bread into it ... to work on a wedding present for a close friend, feeling the smooth crochet hook in the fingers of one hand and the rough yarn in the fingers of the other hand ... to go for a walk in the rain and sit and read the sun, feeling the pitter-patter of the rain on my hair and cheeks or the caress of the sun on my hair and my lips. It's been good. Sure ... because the last few weeks have been busy, I haven't accomplished everything I planned to accomplish and I'm tired. But ... I must admit, it's been nice to leave my computer off for days at a time and I've enjoyed every touchy-feely-golden moment!

Something I've managed to do while driving hither and thither and doing this and that is ... reading! It's something I always want to do more of, but in the last few weeks I've finished reading through the Bible (I read through it in 30 days and am planning to write a post about the experience!) and read seven or more other books. I'm impressed with myself ... no, not really; I'm grateful for each and every opportunity to read! I've discovered some interesting things ... the first and foremost one being, I think, that as a rule (of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but don't the exceptions prove the rule?!?) old books have an innocence and sweetness that modern books do not have. An interesting discovery, in my opinion. I hope you all think so too, because I'm planning to write a post about that too!

Anyway ... this afternoon I have the house to myself and the car in case I want it, no one to look after and a few hours to do whatever I feel like. Of course, I should work. But I'm tired and I can't remember the last time I had an afternoon like this, so I'm going to make the most of it - nap, read stories and write letters. Perfect ... especially on a beautiful spring day ...

Your Ideal Christian Novel

2008-04-17T15:23:00.004-04:00

I just checked my blog stats and I am ... humbled and touched to discover just how many people read my blog regularly, even when I don't write and post anything remotely interesting. Wow! Thank you ...

In an attempt to post something more interesting, I am going to ask you all who read my blog a question. Please do answer it - just take a few minutes and leave me a comment, telling me ...

What do you like in a Christian novel?

Realistic and/or convincing plots, intricate characters, imaginative and interesting 'time and place' descriptions, excellent story telling, inspiring faith, good moral ... ?

And ... what do you dislike in a Christian novel?

I'd really love to know what you all (as many of you dear people who read my blog, really!) like and dislike ... what your 'ideal' Christian novel does and does not comprise of!

Is that more interesting? I hope so! It is for me, anyway!

By the way, next week I'm planning to have a little holiday and do little more than go for walks, read books (I ordered some new ones from Amazon and am I excited?!? Some of them have arrived and some of them are still expected ... and I can't wait to read them!), watch movies (I'm planning to watch 'Amazing Grace' with my mother), write letters ... and maybe write some interesting blog posts. That would be ... nice, wouldn't it?!?

Why Am I Not Surprised?

2008-04-08T11:06:00.002-04:00

Take the Quiz here!

Whenever (which is ... um ... not very often!) take a Jane Austen Heroine quiz, I get told I'm like Elinor Dashwood! I never get told I'm like someone exciting like ... Elizabeth Bennet or Marianne Dashwood! Oh well ... thankfully, my identity and worth are not dependent of which Jane Austen Heroine I'm like ... !

I'm Famous!

2008-03-28T13:58:00.001-04:00

Anyway ... this made me giggle! Thanks, Ana!

I'm Reminding Myself ...

2008-03-28T13:35:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I have to remind myself to slow down and ... breathe!

I don't want to waste one moment of my life. God has given me my life and there are so many people to love, so many things to do, so many books and letters (and blog posts!) to write ... for Him. But sometimes I try way too hard not to waste one moment ... and then I forget to listen to my heartbeat - I miss 'the wonder of the here and now' and 'the miracle of the moment.'

So ... today I'm reminding myself to:

"... breathe it in and breathe it out

Listen to your heartbeat
There’s a wonder in the here and now
It’s right there in front of you
And I don’t want you to miss
The miracle of the moment!"

Stephen Curtis Chapman

In Case You Were Wondering ...

2008-03-24T13:35:00.003-04:00

I'm still writing. And until I've finished writing, posts on this poor little blog of mine will continue to be scare. Just in case you were, you know, wondering. But I'd hate you'd to think that I'd forgotten about this blog. I haven't ... so I thought I'd write this post to let you know that I haven't. And one day - hopefully quite soon! - I'll have finished writing and will have time to write lots of posts and share lots of pictures and actually BLOG again!

I hope you all (whoever you may be, who read my blog) have a good and blessed week!

A Quote from 'Amazing Grace'

2008-03-17T12:40:00.007-04:00

William Wilberforce: No one our age has ever taken power before.

William Pitt: Which is why we're too young to realise that certain things are impossible - so we will do them anyway.

In the movie, this exchange takes place after William Pitt became Prime Minister of England. He became Prime Minister at 24. So I guess the guys are supposed to be between 24 and 26 at this time.

That's one reason why I like it.

I'm 23 at this time. So ... I figure that I'm still "too young to realise that certain things are impossible" and therefore I "will do them anyway" too. I may not get a chance to change the world for good, as William Wilberforce did. But maybe, with God's help, I can change my world for good. Starting at this time - this moment - before I realise that "certain things are impossible!"

Yes ... I like it!

(Note: I find this quote inspiring, but that doesn't means I'm rubbishing the efforts and achievements of older people - or their wisdom and knowledge of how things can and can't be done. It's just that I'm 23 at this time and I want to make the most of it!)

Artificial Intelligence?

2008-03-11T07:49:00.004-04:00

I don't know about your computer, but my computer has very artificial intelligence! It's got a facility that allows me to find and replace words in a document. It's a very useful facility. Well ... usually.

Today, however, I wanted to replace 'Mark' with 'Lawrence.' It didn't occur to me that my computer would find and replace every example of m - a - r - k in my document.

So imagine how surprised I was to find 'misspelled' words like this:

"... her reLawrences were sensible and intelligent ..."

"I'm going to the superLawrenceet!"

The first word is suppose to be 'remarks' and the second word is supposed to be 'supermarket.'

As I said, my computer has very artificial intelligence. Thankfully, I realised what was happening before I engaged the find and replace facility to change 'Tim' to 'Liam' ... or imagine:

"Sorry, I can't stop! I'm running out of Liame ..."

"Perfect Liameing is essential!"

Smile!

2008-03-10T11:19:00.006-04:00

This made me smile - these are the words I use most often on my blog ...

Hmm ... !

(Curious about what words you use most on your blog? I followed a link from this blog to this website ... click the blogger thing on the website and there you are!)

Two Weeks of My Life - In Pictures!

2008-03-06T14:45:00.011-05:00

Hello! I know it's been forever (um ... two weeks) since I last wrote and posted anything on my blog. I've really missed writing and posting articles and pictures. Life has been busy beyond belief ... I've intended almost every day to write and post some thoughts on busyness, but I've been too busy to do so!

I guess that if you read my blog regularly, you know that I write. I've got a deadline looming - in two weeks. It's important to meet the deadline, so things like blogging and writing letters have been temporarily abandoned. Hopefully, in two weeks, I'll have time to blog and write letters again! In spite of writing and writing (and writing and writing ...), I've managed to find a few odd minutes to ...

... cook! Thankfully, I enjoy cooking - because I've do a lot of it ... ! Salad (and homemade dressing) is one of my favourite meals to cook. (Cook? Hmm ... prepare is probably a better word. I don't cook salad!)

... go shopping and find a wedding present for a friend, who's getting married in May. I love this photo frame and I know she will too! We actually saw it together, over a year ago, when my friend was staying with me and we went shopping. I'm so happy to have found it again and I'm looking forward to giving it to her soon!

... finally find a calender for 2008! I've been lost without one, but it's taken me over two months to find one I like. Since the calender will live on my bedroom wall for a year (during which time I have to look at it first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening), I think it's important that I like it!

... watch 'Amazing Grace' with some friends. I discovered the film over a year ago, when I found a postcard advertising it in my local Christian bookstore. I've never seen it until this week, however! I'm glad I've seen it. (Although what I thought of it is a whole other post!)

... start crocheting an afghan. I love this pattern, it's so easy and quick! And I love crocheting, of course!

So ... there you have it - two weeks of my life in pictures! I hope I'll get a chance to write and post some more articles soon! I have so many ideas and I want to write about! But if I don't get a chance to blog ... you can think of me writing and writing ...

Happy Thursday, people!

This Week

2008-02-21T12:52:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to write a post every single day this week, but it hasn't happened ... until today, anyway! This week has been busy ... good, but busy too! What have you all who read my blog been up to?

I spent an evening with a friend at the beginning of the week. We talked and talked! We enjoy each other's company, but we've never had a whole evening to talk before - usually we talk at church or at a dinner or party at my house! The lovely thing was, having a whole evening to talk stimulated conversation - we talked about everything - God, the Bible, Israel, books, movies, Jane Austen, her wedding ...

It was one of the best evenings I've spent with a friend ever! I've discovered that she's not moving out of the area after her wedding (in August), which is nice! And I'm honored because I got to see the contents of her 'wedding box' - in other words, her Hope Chest! She unpacked it for me and showed me crockery and candles and kitchen clothes! It was so much fun!

Yesterday, one of my sisters and I went shopping. We haven't gone shopping together forever, so it was lovely spending time together and ... you know ... just shopping! I found a denim skirt in one shop - adorable and a really good price. Unfortunately, I guess it wasn't made for someone with hips. But ... oh well ... actually, I'm getting tired of denim skirts. I want summer to come quickly so I can wear pretty skirts again!

(Actually, I wear denim skirts in the summer too, but during the winter I wear heavier ones with chunky hand-knitted sweaters. I love this style at the beginning of winter, but at the end of winter ... well ... I'm eager to wear pretty skirts and light tops again!)

I've had a busy day today, cooking and writing mainly. I took some of siblings for a walk in our favourite park this afternoon - we looked at the early spring flowers, which are so beautiful! I should have taken my camera, but of course I forgot until I was in the van and driving to the park ... ! There were some other home-schooling families at the park, which was nice!

I hope you all are having a great week!

Aunt Jane Advises ...

2008-02-14T19:14:00.004-05:00

"To you I shall say, as I have often said before, do not be in a hurry, the right man will come at last; you will in the course of the next two or three years meet with somebody more generally unexceptionable than anyone you have yet known, who will love you as warmly as possible, and who will so completely attach you that you will feel you never really loved before."

Jane Austen, to her single niece, Fanny Knight. After Jane Austen's death, "the right man" did "come at last." Fanny married him when she was 27 years old and had nine children! She lived into her 80s, a mother and grandmother (and probably a great-grandmother too).

Aunt Jane advises: Don't give up hope, girls!

And go here to look at some beautiful illustrations from Jane Austen's novels!

A Time Like No Other

2008-02-14T16:47:00.010-05:00

"So breathe it in and breathe it out

Listen to your heartbeat
There’s a wonder in the here and now
It’s right there in front of you
And I don’t want you to miss
The miracle of the moment!"

So ... today is Valentine's Day and you may be as single as single can be. There may be no special guy in your life to give you twelve red roses and an engagement ring. It's hard ... I know it's hard and I grieve for your pain and your tears.

But ...

Today - this very moment - is an amazing and awesome gift from God.

It's all the time you've got.

It's a unique and powerful moment in history.

This is a time like no other.

It's 'the miracle of the moment.'

God has good and beautiful plans for your life. If His plans for your life include marriage, there's a guy out there somewhere who is being raised up and prepared to be your husband. God will bring you together in His perfect time and write you a unique and breathtaking romance. But ... good and beautiful as these truths are, I think there's a bigger and better truth!

God created you. He loves you. And He's give you today - as single as single may be, yes, but still - He's given you this very moment.

Treasure it and live it to the full.

Maybe your heart is full or broken and you have to shed some tears ... do so, knowing that God will collect your tears in a bottle and bind up your broken heart.

But when you've dried your tears, treasure 'the miracle of the moment.'

Perhaps this seems so important to me because I was in Israel so recently. In Israel, there's this incredible sense of expectation and urgency in the air - as if everyone and everything is waiting for God to do something big ... something beyond our wildest dreams!

Having experienced that expectation and urgency, it's impossible to forget that each moment is a gift and a treasure - to be lived for God - regardless of whether it is February 13th or 14th or 15th! This Valentine's Day, realise that this is a time like no other - that God is at work in your heart and in your life and in the whole world! It's wonderful and it's exciting!

So take Stephen Curtis Chapman's advice ...

It’s time for letting go

All of our if only’s
‘Cause we don’t have a time machine
And even if we did
Would we really want to use it?
Would we really want to go change everything?
‘Cause we are who and where and what we are for now
And this is the only moment we can do anything about

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There’s a wonder in the here and now
It’s right there in front of you
And I don’t want you to miss
The miracle of the moment!

There’s only one who knows
What’s really out there waiting
In all the moments yet to be
And all we need to know
Is He’s out there waiting
To Him the future’s history
And He has given us a treasure called right now
And this is the only moment we can do anything about
And if it brings you tears

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There’s a wonder in the here and now
It’s right there in front of you
And I don’t want you to miss
The miracle of the moment!

And if it brings you tears
Then taste them as they fall
And let them soften your heart
And if it brings you laughter
Then throw your head back
And let it go, let it go
You gotta let it go
Listen to your heartbeat

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There’s a wonder in the here and now
It’s right there in front of you
And I don’t want you to miss
The miracle of the moment!

Stephen Curtis Chapman

Books!

2008-02-14T16:45:00.011-05:00

Maybe it's just the book-worm in me, but I love reading about books that other girls have found encouraging as they journey through singleness! This is a list of the books that I have found encouraging ... most of them are available from Amazon and other good book sellers. Of you might find copies of them in your local thrift store! Please comment and add your thoughts on these books or the list of books that you have found encouraging on 'the journey through singleness'!

***

I Kissed Dating Goodbye - Joshua Harris - THE classic 'how not to date until you're ready to get married' book - not for readers under 18 without parental permission/guidence.

Boy Meets Girl - Joshua Harris - Another classic, this time 'how not to date in order to get married' book. Isn't it in this book that Joshua Harris 'invents' courtship? DEFINITELY not for readers under 18 without parental permission/guidence.

When God Writes Your Love Story - Eric and Leslie Ludy - I love this book! Encouragement to 'give God the pen' of your love story and wait patiently for Him to write you a unique and beautiful love story in His perfect timing! I don't remember anything unsuitable for younger girls.

Authentic Beauty - Leslie Ludy - I only discovered and read this book last year, but it's one of the BEST books I've ever read! It explains purity and feminity in a clearest and attractive and exciting way and invites the reader to develop an amazing and awesome relationship with God! I have an old edition of the book and sadly, I DEFINITELY don't think it's for readers under 18 without parental permission/guidence ... unless a teen girl has been through high-school and knows what teens get up to there.

Wait for Me - Rebecca St James - I like this books because it's got such pretty pictures and is written around my favourite song, 'Wait For Me'! It presents a clear and comprihensive case for purity before marriage, although it's not as strict as some people would like or as deep as others would like. Probably not for readers under 18 without parental permission/guidence.

Let Me Be a Woman - Elisabeth Elliot - This is a great book and contains some amazing thoughts about singleness. The only thing is, there are some chapters I skipped over as an UNMARRIED young lady. So I don't think it's for readers under 18 without parental permission/guidence!

Quest for the High Places - Natalie Nyquist/Klein (It's still published under Natalie's maiden name - Nyquist - at HeartThoughts Publications; I've never found it on Amazon.) - Without a doubt, this is one of my favourite 'singleness' books and one I recommend unhesitatingly to any and all young ladies who are committed to courtship and over ... say ... 16. (Natalie does NOT, as Joshua Harris and Leslie Ludy and Rebecca St James do, refer to less-than-pure behaviour in a way that could distress or dsiturb very young girls, but she does address topics that very young girls might not understand - such as healing from broken relationships and freedom from false standards.) It's an amazing book - written especially for girls who are committed to courtship, but benficial (I'd guess) for any Christian girl waiting for her 'Knight in Shining Armour'. Read more about it here!

Before You Meet Prince Charming - Sarah Mally (I've found it on Amazon or you can find it at Tomorrow's Forefathers.) - Without a doubt, this is another if my favourite 'singleness' books! It's one I recomend unhesitatingly to any and all young ladies - regardless of whether they are comitted to courtship! And it's a book I won't freak out over if one of my future daughters pulls it off the shelf and starts reading it when she's 10 or so! It's SO good! I've written about it at (great!) length here and here and you can find out more here too!

A Young Woman After God's Own Heart - Elizabeth George - This book isn't really about singleness, it's about being a girl and living life for God. I love it because it's so sweet and practical! Again, it's a book that I recommend to any and all young ladies. In fact, if I had to recommend ONE book ... this would probably be it! Find out more about 'A Young Women After God's Own Heart' here and here and here ... and about Elizabeth George here

Journey of the Heart - Jeanie Castleberry (You can find it at Castleberry Farm Press and HeartThoughts Publications; I've never found it on Amazon.) - This is one of the most real and refreshing books I've ever read about singleness. It's a novel, about a young woman in her early twenties. I don't want to say more than that, for fear of spoling the story ... it's SUCH a good book! You can read more about it here (scroll down the page until you find it) and here and here. Enjoy!

Friends recommend Pearl of Beauty, The Princess and the Kiss, Passion and Purity, Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? and others! What about you?!?

Companions on 'The Journey of Singleness'

2008-02-14T16:45:00.010-05:00

Just last week, I invited any ladies who read my blog to share their thoughts on what they enjoy most about singleness and how they can encourage other single girls. Ana, Anne and Jennifer shared some great thoughts, that I'm excited to post and thus share everyone who reads my blog! If you're a single young lady and you're reading this, know that you're know alone - but have companions on 'the journey of singleness'!

Ana said:

"What do I enjoy most about being single? A couple things that kind of all relate ... the time I get to spend at home, with my family. And the time I get to spend alone, with God, "without the cares of a married women" (1 Cor. 7:34). Once I am (if ever I will be) married my time with my family will be, obviously, lessened. So the importance of building up the relationship with my family NOW and not waiting until later days cannot be stressed enough. And as I've said before, the time I get to spend reading, praying, studying and such would not be perhaps as frequent if I were married. Because when married the cares of the house, meals, husband, children, laundry, shopping, etc., etc. haven been shifted from my mother to me (and also, while at home, I can learn from my mother how to be better at all the those things)."

Anne had a slightly different yet quite similar perspective to share and said:

"Life as a single... hmm. Probably the thing I enjoy the most about being single is being able to care for the things of the Lord unreservedly. I'm so thankful that at this time of my life the Lord has allowed me to visit other countries and see the needs on mission fields. I'm grateful for the chance to be spontaneous and to be available to help others in need. But most of all, I think of all the spiritual lessons the Lord has taught me through this season, and as I look back on the years after high school, I know I wouldn't want to do it any different way."

And Jennifer had a point-of-view that was slightly different again. She said:

"What I enjoy about being single is being able to prepare. It is so nice to be able to dream about the day you will have your own family and home. We should use this energy we have from the hope that is within us to prepare for our futre as a wife and mother. Plan things you want to do for your husband, your children, and neihbors. Study the Bible to see what a godly wife is supose to be and how you are suppose to raise your children. Think about the meals you want to cook and how you can make them healthy. Start practicing diligence, thriftiness, and patience. Learn to go against your will, and try to be happy and in a good mood as much as possible. (A mother can really set the mood of the house!) But don't just think about it, write it down! Start a notebook so that when your husband is being uncarring, your children don't seem to appreciate what you do for them, and you just don't feel like trying . . . you can pull out your notebook and read the words of encouragement that you wrote to yourself. All of this is possible because of waiting!"

Ana went on to add:

"My encouragement, if it could be so called, to younger, single women is this ... don't get discouraged! God has a plan, (at all times!) not just when times are good and flowing smoothly, but at the times when desires for a man fill us so that we think we would burst, when tears fall uncontrollably for the "one" (if you know what I mean) yet to appear in our lives, when our hearts break because of longing and when we call out in the middle of the night and receive no answer from the man of our dreams. To repeat: God has a plan and His plan is for our GOOD, NOT evil or displeasure. God does NOT take pleasure in seeing us miserable, His pleasure is to make us like Him and we cannot be like Him UNLESS we are tried ... purified, and sometimes that's with unfulfilled desires for marriage. Believe me, I know!"

Jennifer pointed out:

"Just think, if we heed to others advise and really, truely, and earnestly prepare for our future with much prayer, we will have a greater chance at a WONDERFUL marriage!"

Thank you, Ana, Anne and Jennifer - I appreciate your words of encouragement and wisdom! ladies, if you're reading this and you have any thoughts to add, please leave a comment! Ladies only, please, of any age - single or married!!

Announcing: A Valentine's Day Links Extravaganza!

2008-02-14T16:29:00.005-05:00

One of the fun things I've done is browse and search the Internet for links I could share on my blog on Valentine's Day. The Big Day has arrived and I've got a collection of links to share and take your mind and heart off roses that aren't for you ... hopefully one or more of these links will bless and encourage and uplift and amuse you! Enjoy!

Doesn't the picture of this eclair make your mouth water?!? Click here for the recipe! (And if you make it, don't forget to leave a comment at SundayThroughMonday to let Melanie know how it turned out!)

***

Crystal Paine of Biblical Womanhood is holding a Valentine's Day Contest! Go and check out some of the beautiful and thoughtful ideas other young ladies had for celebrating Valentine's Day and blessing other people! If the voting is still open, vote for the idea/project you think worthy of winning the Contest!

***

While the rest of the world exchanges red roses and cute cards, do you feel in need of a little especially-for-Christian-single-young-ladies encouragement? If so, check out The Burning Candle! It's a resource many single young ladies appreciate ... I admit, I haven't read every single word on every single page, but it's part of the YLCF website, so I'm confident that you'll find it refreshing and uplifting!

***

"Don't waste [your maidenhood], or wish it away, or settle just to be done with it. Don't count its trials as a curse, or treat its relative freedoms too lightly. Above all, cultivate your relationship with Christ--'attend to Him without distraction'--for it will not only be your stay in waiting days but your husband's crown 'when the desire comes.'"

Check out "June Brides"!

"The gift of being able to recognize the blessings of God--cloaked in shadow as they may be--is in itself a gift. But it does help to keep ever in mind that this season of your life may very well be the most formative in your relationship with Him, your reliance on Him; that the ability to ‘attend to Him without distraction’ is so rare and precious and will bear rich fruit all the rest of your life."

Learn to recognise "Sweetness in Singleness"!

***

Maybe you're suffering from 'Valentine's Day's Blues' and would like empathy as well as encouragement. If so, read "Solitair Blues" by Gretchen Achesons of YLCF (she wrote this post when she was single!) and "Non-Wedding Blues" by Me! I highly recommend Gretchen's post. It's one of the most moving and empathetic-but-encouraging posts about singleness and singleness blues that I've ever read. I've read it dozens of times, but it tugs on my heart-strings every time I read it again! Another post that tugs on my heart-strings every time I read it is "When I Was One and Twenty." (And if you're feeling 'strong' and want to read the latest update of Gretchen's 'story', read Gretchen's 2008 Valentine's Day Post ... it almost reduced me to tears, it's so sweet!)

***

On the subject of sweetness and romance, what do you call this?

***

If you're worried that you'll be single forever, maybe this will remind you that God isn't asking you to cope with a lifetime of singleness today.

***

And if you're feeling emotional, maybe this will give you a fresh perspective ... I found it very challenging (in a good way!) and encouraging!

***

But, you know, ultimately the only time we have is the time we're already living at this moment. So go and read "The Time is Now" and remember to live today, even if it's Valentine's Day and you don't have a Valentine. God knows that and He'll give you strength and joy!

Content But Not Complete - Part Four

2008-02-14T14:49:00.002-05:00

"I think one problem is that we fail to understand the difference between contentment and completeness. In some senses, we will never be complete until we reach Heaven. But we singles have a special kind of “incompleteness” because half of us – our spouse – is missing. And when we fail to recognize that and separate the two ideas, we get frustrated because contentment seems to elude us. We still feel that something is missing."

Read the rest of "Content But Not Complete - Part Four"!

Single for Valentine's Day - Parts 4 and 5

2008-02-14T14:23:00.006-05:00

Read "Part Four - Submit" and "Part Five - The Checklist" of Ana's series!

Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T13:12:00.007-05:00

Valentine's Day has officially begun ...

Happy February 14th!

***

My favourite 'wedding song' (excuse the ideas Joshua Harris wouldn't approve of!):

L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore can ...

Love is all that I can give to you
Love is more than just a game for two
Two in love can make it
Take my heart and please don't break it
Love was made for me and you!

Nat King Cole

Single for Valentine's Day - Part 3

2008-02-13T14:53:00.002-05:00

Read Ana's article, "Surrender"!

Articles on Preparing for Marriage ...

2008-02-13T14:17:00.005-05:00

"So that’s my first piece of advice for a good marriage: Believe that it exists in the grace of God. Believe that God intends for you to be married unless you have a very specific calling otherwise. Believe that it can be a ‘dream come true’ of oneness and closeness and fellowship and downright fun!"

Interested? Read "Preparing for Marriage - Part One" ...

"A contented, grateful, happy heart is one of the best gifts that we can give to our husbands. It is a critical foundation block of a heaven-on-earth marriage."

Read "Preparing for Marriage - Part Two"!

To read the thoughts of a young wife and mother on preparing for marriage and motherhood ... and the realities ... click here.

And to read about 'a lady's education', click here, here and here. (These links are to a blog I do not read regularly, so please be aware that I do not know or endorse everything the writer posts on her blog. I just thought these posts were fun and thought-provoking!)

And to read Crystal Paine's thoughts on 'the cure for pessimism' and how to prepare for marriage, click here!

Enjoy!

Prince Charming's Bride

2008-02-13T11:57:00.017-05:00

"'To be loved and chosen by a good man is the best and sweetest thing which can happen to a woman, and I sincerely hope my girls may know this beautiful experience. It is natural to think of it ... right to hope and wait for it, and wise to prepare for it, so that when the happy time comes, you may feel ready for the duties and worthy of the joy.'"

Little Women

We all dream of marrying Prince Charming ... but do we realise that the girl who marries Prince Charming is his bride? Yes, he is her prince. But she is his bride ... his princess ... too. And just as Prince Charming's bride has high ideals and precious dreams about him and their future together, so Prince Charming has high ideals and precious dreams about her and their life together. So ... should unmarried young ladies prepare to be godly wives and mothers? Should they prepare to be Prince Charming's bride? Should they prepare to be their beloved future husband's princess?

I have to admit that preparing to be a godly wife and mother is something I've thought about vaguely, but never actually engaged with or acted upon. Of course, I've always known that a wife and mother should know how to cook and clean and watch children. But as the eldest of a large family, I learned how to cook and clean before I was ten years old and watching children is something I've known how to do for longer - since my first younger sibling was born - before I was three years old!

As I wrote in a post earlier this year, I am my future husband's future wife. And as such ... shouldn't I prepare to be my husband's wife? I want to marry ... Prince Charming!

I want to marry a man who's heart is on fire for God and has a vision and passion to live for God and do His will all the days of his life. I want him to be noble and courageous and self-controlled and long-suffering and strong and gentle. I want him to be a gentleman. I want him to be a good husband and father. I want him to be ready and mature for marriage and fatherhood ... and whatever ministry God calls us to as a married couple. If I want to be Prince Charming's bride (and I do!), shouldn't I prepare to be his bride?

Lanier Ivester, of YLCF, writes:

"True love and beautiful marriages really do exist. And the dreams God allows us to dare to dream in our girlhood are, I believe, where such marriages are born ..."

Girls dream ... of marrying Prince Charming, among other things! I know some strict people frown on dreaming, but as long as it's natural and innocent dreaming and not fantasizing, I don't think dreaming is wrong. As Lanier said, maybe "it's in the dreams God allows us to ... dream in our girlhood that [true and beautiful] marriages are born" ... especially if the dreams we dream, of marrying a good and noble husband and of being a godly wife and mother, inspire us to prepare for the days when our dreams (God willing!) come true ...

Girls go to college to learn how to be Personal Assistants and Teachers and Nurses. But they don't go to college to learn how to be wives and mothers. (When I was younger, I resented this!) They don't go to college to learn how to run a house and make a home, how to keep to a tight budget, how to cook good food, how to love and sympathise and understand, how to read widely and talk intellegently, how to cuddle and soothe and instruct, how to smile and laugh and just have fun. Maybe those of us unmarried young ladies who dream of being wives and mothers 'someday' son't need to go to college.

But I think we do need to prepare.

If we dream of being a wife and mother 'someday' and have a desire and a vision for that, I think we should take our 'training' as seriously as a minister or doctor or teacher takes his training. We should prepare to be, not just good wives and mothers - but excellent wives and mothers. We should prepare to carry the privileges and responsibilities we long to have. We should prepare to be Prince Charming's bride ... so that when he comes and sweeps us off our feet, carrying up away to live happily ever after in a house with a front porch (with a swing!) and a picket fence outside and baby-toys and homeschool-textbooks inside ... we're prepared.

No ... maybe we'll never be fully prepared for the awesomeness of womanhood and wifehood and motherhood. But we can be partially prepared!

We may then, as Marmee said, "feel ready for the duties and worthy of the joy." And if "the happy time" never comes and we never get married and have children? Derek Prince's wife, Ruth, wrote:

"For those willing to spend the time and effort, willing to 'pay the price,' preparation for marriage will bring uncounted rewrds. Whether or not a woman ultimately marries preparation for marriage can enable her to find fulfillment in life."

We cannot predict what God will do in our lives ... but if we feel He has called us to be wives and mothers 'someday', we need to let "the dreams God allows us to ... dream" inspire us and we need to prepare for the days when our dreams (God willing!) come true. How?

Develop your relationships with God ... I believe this is the most important way you can prepare for anything and everything. Don't be content with an 'average' relationship with God, but go all out for the best and closest relationship with God. I know that my relationship with God (and I'm still working towards 'the best and closest') is where my strength and guidence comes from 'today' and will come from 'someday' - without it, I hope I could be a 'good' wife and mother. With it, I hope and pray that I'll be an excellent wife and mother - one that delights in God as she lives the life He has called her to live in the way He has called her to live it - walking with Him.
Faithfully do what He has called you to do 'today' and cultivate contentment even if what He has called us to isn't what we 'like' ...
Cultivate your character, learn self-control and perseverence and allow the Holy Spirit to bear Spiritual Fruit in your heart and life.
Learn - housekeeping, homemaking, budgeting, cooking, childcare, first-aid ... and anything you have an interest in - social graces and friendship skills, Hebrew, French, art, music, writing and history in my case! Knowing how to play the piano (for instance!) may not help you to be a better housekeeper, but it will help you to be a better homemaker, wife and mother - as well as a better friend and minster's wife or church member!
Live! It sounds so simple, but I know I'm all-too-good at allowing discontent and fear to clutter up my heart and life and stop me "living out loud" - living the life God has given me to the full every moment of every day. "Live out loud"!

Don't just dream of marrying Prince Charming. Prepare to be his bride!

Content But Not Complete - Part Three

2008-02-13T11:51:00.002-05:00

"When I was in my early teens, it was easy to think of singleness as a special season to be welcomed and enjoyed. Ten-plus years later, it doesn’t seem so special. I’m getting quite tired of it, in fact. Is singleness really a gift?"

Read the rest of "Content But Not Complete - Part Three" ...

Just Wondering ...

2008-02-12T15:27:00.001-05:00

Has anyone else having problems with their blogger spell-check ... mine won't work!

Single for Valentine's Day - Part 2

2008-02-12T15:09:00.001-05:00

Read Ana's article, "You're Being Watched!" Enjoy!

Content But Not Complete - Part Two

2008-02-12T14:58:00.000-05:00

"The reason God gives for creating woman in the first place is to be a helper for man. We are the completer of the man – his “other half.” That’s so much more than a cute phrase! It really gets to the root of why we want to be married. We want to be joined to our other half! It’s not okay to desire marriage. It’s more than okay – it’s good and right and pleasing to God. He is glorified when His creatures fill the places for which He created them. When you long for marriage, part of that desire is the longing to fill your appointed place in the universe. Rejoice that you have that desire!"

Read the rest of "Content But Not Complete - Part Two" ...

Articles on Waiting

2008-02-12T11:44:00.001-05:00

Waiting for marriage (or anything else)? Read the thoughts of Chantel Harding, from YLCF, here and here!

Princess in Waiting

2008-02-12T05:55:00.001-05:00

Princess: (noun) the daughter or granddaughter of a king or queen; the consort of a prince; a non-reigning female member of a royal family.

Waiting: (noun) a period of waiting - a pause or interval or delay; (adjective) serving or being in attendance.

For single young ladies, I believe that the description 'princess in waiting' is apt. The Bible tells us that those who believe in Messiah are God's children. The name for a female child is a daughter and the name for the daughter of a king is a princess - thus, as children of The King of Kings, girls who believe in Messiah are princesses. (Princesses in disguise, as one of my friends once said; I love the idea of being a princess in disguise!) And waiting ... we single young ladies know the meaning of waiting! If we are unmarried, but hoping to be called to marriage 'someday', we are in "a period of waiting". And as children of God, we serve Him ...

Consider a princess ... born to a king and queen, she is raised by them to represent the royal family. A princess is, in many ways, not her own. She 'belongs' to the royal family and to the country. She lives as an ambassador for the former and she serves the latter. There are so many parallels between a 'real' princess and a daughter of God! Doesn't God raise us up to represent Him? Are not we not our own? And are we to live as ambassadors for God in the world and are we not to serve (following the example of Messiah - who was 'The Servant of All') others - in the church and in the world?

We have such an awesome responsibility!

And while we are waiting ... ! Although I hope each and every one of us is not 'just' waiting, whether we work or study or serve our families we are still ... waiting. We're experiencing "a pause or interval or delay". We should use this wait for good - as a princess, we have so many responsibilities and opportunities to do good and serve others. Let's not waste any of them - not only do we represent The King and have a desire and a responsibility to reflect glory and honor onto Him, but we have responsibility to use our time wisely - to not 'just' wait, but to wait for the glory and honor of our Heavenly Father and King!

However, although there are responsibilities to being a princess, there are privileges too!

Of course, most princesses spend some time with their elbows on their windowsills and their chin in their hands, gazing at the stars and thinking about a prince - who will ride up to the castle and whisk them away to the happily ever after. But what if a prince doesn't comes ... what if other princesses are inundated with suiters and princes and you are ... not? It's difficult and painful. I know ... I am not one of the 'other princesses' and I have never been inundated with suitors and princes. It's so tempting to be overcome with feelings of inferiority - after all, why do the 'other princess' get inundated with suiters and princes while we ... wait?

The wonderful and reassuring thing about being a princess is that ... you are a princess. It's who you are ... and nothing is going to stop you being a princess. A princess is a princess, regardless of whether or not she is inundated with suiters and princes. Don't be overcome by feelings of inferiority (says I ... this is a lesson I'm am still trying to learn, after five years). Your identity and worth rest in your Heavenly Father and King - not in your suiters (or lack of suiters). And it is God who has called you to wait - not because you are inferior to the 'other princesses', but because He has a unique and wonderful plan for your life - and for some reason best known to Himself (and you maybe never know what it is), His plan for your life includes some time as a princess in waiting.

Fellow Princesses in Waiting ... let's each and every one of us strive to be the best princesses we can be and to wait in the best way we can!

Links to Ana's Corner

2008-02-12T05:55:00.000-05:00

"Ever since I can remember I've always wanted to be married. When playing house I would meet the special man, he would sweep me off my feet, he would (of course!) talk to my 'parents' (who would probably happen to be imaginary) and they would totally love the idea and my love and I would be married without a second thought ..."

Can you relate?!? If so, read the rest of Ana's article here!

Ana is planning to publish (as time allows) a series called 'Single For Valentine's Day' during this week. 'Go here to read 'Part One - Choose'!

It's Okay to Believe in the Dream

2008-02-11T22:05:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking, recently, about how universal the desire for love and marriage is. It's a desire that is woven into the mind and heart and soul of every person, it seems. It's a desire that can be traced through history, from age to age and country to country, bridging all the millenia and every culture and language on the face of the earth. It's a desire that has brought life and death and joy and sorrow - that has changed the life of every person ever born for good or bad and that has caused kingdoms to rise and fall. It is a desire that has amazing and awesome potential!

And ... like the rest of humanity, we single young ladies from conservative Christian homeschool/courtship families/communities desire love and marriage. We long to believe in what one writer calls "the dream of marriage." We long to believe in the possibility of meeting a good and godly young man - of falling in love - of getting married - of creating a loving and stable home with our husband - of bearing and raising children - of living 'happily ever after.' Many of us single young ladies have grown up longing and preparing to be 'Proverbs 31 Wives and Mothers.' Some of us have played and talked and dreamed about it. And yet ...

A lot of us are over one-and-twenty now. Our grandmothers and mothers were wives and mothers by the time they were twenty one ... or twenty three ... or twenty five. But we aren't. We wonder whether we ever will be wives and mothers ... we wince slightly at the idea of meeting a good and godly young man and wonder whether God has 'forgotten' us and our dreams ... we wonder whether we can - or should - believe in "the dream of marriage." We long to do so, but ... as friend after friend meets her 'Prince Charming' and gets married and has children ... as we experience the larger-than-life ache of loneliness or agony of broken dreams and broken hearts ... as we watched the numbers of abuse and divorce cases - in Christian and non-Christian marriages - rise around the world ...

Is there any reason to believe in "the dream of marriage"?

I'm not married, but I say ... yes! I'll be honest and admit that I sometimes wonder if God will ever write a fairy tale romance for me ... if He has my 'Prince Charming' out there 'somewhere' ... if I will be a good wife and mother 'someday'. But ... I believe that I can - and should - believe "in the dream of marriage." It's okay to do so ... and God? He created and blessed love and marriage in Genesis - in 'the very beginning', at the creation of humanity and the dawn of history. Love and marriage are good! The desire for love and marriage is a desire God acknowledges and understands - why else (when Adam was living in a perfect world!) did God create Eve and give her to Adam - thus fulfilling the desire for love and creating marriage?

I'm not alone in believing this; in an article I'm planing to post a link to later this week, Lanier Ivester, of YLCF, says:

"True love and beautiful marriages really do exist. And the dreams God allows us to dare to dream in our girlhood are, I believe, where such marriages are born.

That’s not to say the course ahead will run smooth by any means …

But it’s worth it. It’s worth it to have faith in something so beautiful that only God could have thought it up in the first place. It’s worth it to learn to wait on Him and hope in Him and to find, after all, that He is the Lover of your soul. It is worth it—all the longing and disappointed hopes and even heartache that may lay before you—to be able to one day stand before the person you love best in the whole wide world, wearing a white dress and veil, and to look up at him and say, ‘I have waited for God and I have waited for you.’"

Don't fantasize about love and obsess over marriage, but do believe that love and marriage were created and blessed by God. Do believe in "the dream of marrige." It's okay - even this week, when the world is full of red hearts and cute cards for your friends and not you - to believe in the dream. And it's okay to pray and hope that in His perfect timing, God will make the dream come true ... for you too!

Content But Not Complete - Part One

2008-02-11T16:50:00.000-05:00

"How do you feel about singleness? More importantly, how do you feel about marriage? If you are getting a little older, you may also be getting a little discouraged. Perhaps you’ve experienced a broken dream or relationship. Probably many of your friends are married and having children. We single girls can get caught in the middle. On one hand, we have the intense (and growing!) desire to get married and have children ourselves, but nothing is happening. On the other hand, we’re constantly told to relinquish those desires and embrace the gift of singleness. We try so hard to let go, to turn away from our deep desires, and yet they remain ..."

Read the rest of "Content But Not Complete - Part One" ...

This is the first part of a series of articles that blessed and encouraged me - when I read them last year and re-read them this morning! I'm planning to post links to the rest of the series later this week sometime!C

Articles ...

2008-02-11T16:39:00.000-05:00

"Valentine’s Day, that towering tribute to the glories of Love, usually has one of two likely effects upon us: we revel in its emphasis upon our joy, or we endure it—wondering, perchance, if one can perish of sheer loneliness."

Ever wondered this too?!? Read the rest of this article here ...

Or perhaps you're wondering, "What’s the fun in Valentines Day if you don’t have a sweetheart?"

Read the answer to this question here!

Welcome to 'Singles Awareness Week'

2008-02-11T10:22:00.001-05:00

Hello! Happy Monday ... and welcome to 'Valentine's Day Week' (otherwise not-so-fondly known as 'Singles Awareness Week') at my blog!

As I said at the end of last week, this time of year can be 'a bit of a downer' for single young ladies. As the rest of the world celebrates 'love' and 'romance', rejoicing in couplehood and exchanging cute and adorable cards, it's tempting for single young ladies like us 'rejoicing' in singleness to feel discontended and discouraged and depressed. For us what is (for couples) a positive and fun time of year becomes a negative and sad time of year.

So ... what are we going to do about this negative and sad time of year?

We could allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with feelings of discontentment and discouragement and depression. In a way, this is the 'easy' option ... but I don't think it's the best option! I think there's another option - if not the best option (I don't claim to have thought of that yet!), a good option! That is ... drum roll, please! ... let's take this negative and sad time of year and turn it into a positive and fun time of year. That is what I am attempting to do and I invite you to join me ...

How?

Well ... 'how' is largely up to you, actually! Here are some ideas to get you started ...

Pray. If you usually find this a negative and sad time of year and desire to turn into into a positive and fun time of year, pray about it. Ask God to work a miracle in your heart to give you contentment and encouragement and joy.
Reach out and show God's love to other people ... to your family, first of all! (Give your parents and siblings cards, visit or call your grandparents ... go here for more fun and cute ideas!)
Talk to your family and friends ... plan to do something positive and fun together! My sisters and I are having a Tea Party next Sunday, to which we have invited all the single young ladies and girls we know - we're going to wear tea-party-ish clothes, drink tea and eat cake, make elegant conversation and have great fun! (Hopefully ... I'll post pictures on Friday and Monday - a week today.) You don't have to have a tea party (of course!) - but ... why not have one?!?
Crystal Paine of Biblical Womanhood is holding a Valentine's Contest for unmarried ladies and girls. Go and check it out! (I just discovered Crystal's contest today and it's only open until tomorrow - Tuesday February 12th!)
Blog! I imagine that a lot of 'extra' people will be online this week, so blog about Valentine's Day and how you're turning it into a positive and fun time of year! Blog about singleness (in a positive way, of course!) and about God's love and goodness ... some people haven't heard or thought of God and for them this time of year is more than 'just' "negative and sad." I'm planning to post a number of articles this week about singleness (not because at "not yet four and twenty" I think I 'know everything', but because I think we single young ladies need to encourage each other!) as well as a lot of links and quotes and other fun stuff!

And ... if you do any of these things, leave a comment or email me - twentythreeandsoaring@gmail.com - and I'll consinder posting your comment or thoughts or linking to your blog!

This is probably as good a time as any to state ... I'm going to be posting a lot of links to articles this week. Each of the articles has blessed and encouragemented me one way or another, but this does not mean that I endorse or support the articles. Please use discrection and (if you're under 18) parental guidence when reading articles and being online!

Interact!

2008-02-08T10:44:00.000-05:00

So ... you know how sometimes God is in His Heaven and all is right with the world and although you're busy, you're managing your schedule successfully, keeping up with everything you have to do (and everyone you have to stay in contact with!) and enjoying life? And at other times, God is presumably still in His Heaven, but nothing is right with the world and you're schedule is non-existent or out-dated because you're so busy, but although you're busy 'all day, every day' (running from the moment you wake up until the moment you collapse into bed again), you never get to the end of your 'to-do list' and are too exhausted to 'enjoy' anything other than a nap?

I'm assuming most people are familiar with these two experiences ... sadly, my life is characterised by the latter description at the moment, which is why I've been neglecting my poor little blog. (I just want you all to know that I have a good excuse for doing so!) Hopefully I'll get lots of sleep (writing this, my eyelids are feeling quite heavy - how sad is that in the middle of a busy Friday?!?) over the weekend and my life will again be characterised by the former description. I hope so, anyway!

Recently, I read an interesting article about blogging. (I figure I have a lot to learn and I love reading about how other people blog and why!) One of the things the article recomended was INTERACTION - "Interact with your readers by asking them questions ..." I love interecting with my readers, so this advice struck me as good. Especially this week. You see ... next week (next Thursday, to be exact) is Valentines Day ... which for a single girl is a bit of a downer. My family and I don't celebrate the day, but a lot of my friends do ... and to be honest, the last three Valentines Days have all been hard for me, what with one thing and another.

So ... I thought, lets try to make next week a really good week. I am a single girl ... I know some of my readers are single girls ... and Valentines Day makes single girls feel quite excluded and lonely. That's quite negative ... so lets take that negativity and make it positive! I've got a whole bunch of posts and links, which I plan to share on my blog next week - including (hopefully!) pictures of the prepararions my sisters and I are going to be making for our Valentines Tea Party next Sunday. For one of the posts, though, I need the help of my readers ... which is a good excuse for INTERACTION! I'll ask you a question ... and hopefully you'll all answer it!

Single ladies only - what do you most enjoy about being single and what encouragement do you have to share with younger single girls?

Married ladies only - what did you most enjoy about being single and what encouragement do you have to share with single girls of all ages?

Please leave a comment, answering one of these questions ... and I'll consider including your thoughts in one or two of the posts I have planned for next week. I think this will be fun!

Until next week ... have a great weekend!

Peter Rabbit

2008-02-06T12:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning I was driving in the country when a baby rabbit ran in front of the car. It hopped out of the hedgerow on one side of the road and - without bothering to 'look left, look right, look left again' - hoppittied across the road. Seriously - I've never seen such a small baby rabbit crossing the road alone and I've never seen one hoppittying in quite that way. It was halfway across the road - and a bare yard away from the car - when I saw it. I thought ...

Well, no, I didn't think just then ... I stood on the break. I gripped the steering wheel - as if that would help. I willed - almost prayed - the car to stop. I was vaguely aware of cars behind me - too close behind me to appreciate me doing an emergency stop for anything less than a child or a policeman in front of the car. But there was a baby rabbit in front of the car and my one thought was that I couldn't squash it.

The brakes locked and the wheels skidded down the road - vaguely, I wondered whose car was making such a noise, screaming and screeching. The acrid smell of burning rubber filled the car and - glancing in my rear-view mirror - I saw two sets of black tire marks on the road. Behind the tire marks, the other cars were stopping - in a hurry. I lost sight of the baby rabbit and swerved into the middle of the road.

Anxiously I stopped the car and – feeling as wobbly as un-set jello - whispered, "Where is it? Is it alright?!?'

The baby rabbit - quite unabashed - hoppittied out of the road. With a bob of its little ears and tiny tail, it hoppittied into the hedgerow.

My mother - white to the lips - gasped, "It's okay ... you missed it!"

Adrenalin washed over me and I absently debated throwing-up or fainting as I put the car into first gear and drove on. Glancing in my rear-view mirrow, I assured myself that there was no squashed baby rabbit on the road. There wasn't ... and neither was there a pile-up of cars. Cautiously, they followed me on down the road - respectfully giving me plenty of space, in case I did another emergency stop.

Driving on, I thought of the baby rabbit. Perhaps as it was 'just' a rabbit, I should have driven on rather than risk a pile-up. But every feeling revolted at the idea of deliberately - or accidentally, for that matter - squashing a live creature. Even a rabbit - and especially a baby rabbit. I decided that if anyone questioned the wisdom of doing an emergency stop for a baby rabbit hoppittying in front of the car, I would tell them that I couldn't squash Peter Rabbit. That should effectively quell any criticism.

Could anyone (apart from Mr McGreggor) deliberately squash Peter Rabbit?

I've Been Tagged!

2008-02-03T10:04:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged by Jennifer at Maiden in Waiting! I've never been tagged before (I mean, not online!), so this should be fun ...

The rules for this meme are: (1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules on your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

I love chocolate.
I have lived in or visited in five different countries: America, England, France, Holland and Israel.
I have my Quiet Time every morning, sitting at the kitchen table, before the rest of my family wakes up.
When I'm browsing the Internet, I rest my left elbow on my desk and cup my chin in my left hand; my right hand is free to work the mouse and keyboard.
I write right-handed and eat left-handed.
I don't like talking on the telephone.

And I tag ... Krista, Chantel, Ana, Janel, Anne and Mandy!

And so ...

2008-01-28T11:29:00.000-05:00

I've got a lot of letters to write (to friends who have been waiting for way too long for a letter) and a writing project to complete, so I probably won't be posting anything on my blog during the rest of this week. I debated telling you all this, but ... well, I always wonder 'what happened' when a blogger just ... disappears!

Think of me writing letters and finishing my writing project this week ... and if you care to pray for me, prayers for quickness and wisdom in finishing the project and knowing what step to take next would be very greatly appreciated!

And so ... 'talk' to you all later!

(Picture from Ana's blog ...)

Anticipating Homeschooling Mommy-Hood

2008-01-28T11:11:00.001-05:00

Today I was browsing in the children's section of the bookshop (looking for a nice book to give to a friend's child, just in case you're wondering!) and 'oohing' and 'ahhring' over all the sweet and adorable books! There were some outstandingly lovely ones, I noticed ... and some outstandingly interesting ones too!

As the oldest daughter of a homeschooling family, I've been brought up being homeschooled by my parents and helping to homeschool my siblings. It's a major part of my life and identity! And homeschooling is something I (usually!) can't wait to do with my own children ... imagine teaching them to read and write, introducing them to the beauty of creation and the joy of natural-history, exploring times and places far away through history and geography ...

Looking at some of the outstanding interesting books today, I found myself looking forward to 'someday' when I have my own children and am their mommy and teacher! I'm looking forward to having some sweet little ones and being a young mom ... but more than that I'm looking forward to having some curious and eager young ones and being a homeschooling mom. Assuming (for the sake of this post!) that God has marriage and mommy-hood planned for me one day ... homeschooling mommy-hood is going to be great!

And so - of course! - is being able to browse the children's sections of the bookshop and bring home treasures for the family homeschool library!

On the Streets of Jerusalem

2008-01-27T13:49:00.001-05:00

Click on the pictures to see them 'bigger and better' ... and enjoy them!

Due to the fact that our 'plane from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv was delayed by a whole hour, my family and I arrived in Israel at 3.30 in the morning - not 2.30 as we had planned. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, although it didn't feel like a blessing at the time. We got out of the airport and looked for a taxi at around 4.30 in the morning - finally finding a sh'rut (a combination of a large taxi and a small bus) to take us from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Or perhaps I should say that the driver of the sh'rut found us! He bundled us into his sh'rut with a few other people and took off for Jerusalem ...

'Took off' describes exactly how my family and I felt - the sh'rut driver evidently did not believe in wasting time and drove like the wind - in the middle of the road, more often than not! (Thankfully there were few other vehicles on it!) Looking out of the window, it was hard to believe that I was actually in Israel - it was quite dark outside and didn't look very exciting. Then, as we wound through the hills to Jerusalem we passed palm trees, hills and grass and rocks, an army checkpoint with soldiers and guns ... it was very different from here at home!

We arrived in Jerusalem at 5.30 in the morning. The streets of Jerusalem were dark, lit only by orange street lights. I was surprised that they were not deserted - we passed ultra orthodox Jewish men and women, making their way to and from their homes and the Western Wall. Still ... the streets were quite deserted enough! We took some pictures of the streets - of the Citadel of David, too, as we passed it on our way from the Jaffa Gate to our hostel.

The sh'rut finally rumbled and shuddered to a stop outside our hostel. The driver opened the door and bundled us out, taking our luggage out of the back and asking for payment. Then he drove off and left us ... so we rang the doorbell, expecting someone to come and let us in quickly. Alas - they did not do so! And to cut a long (and cold and tiring ...) story short, they did not do so for almost two hours. For almost two hours, my family and I stood on the streets of Jerusalem and waited ...

Surrounded by our suitcases, befriended by two stray cats and stared at by two policemen, one postman, one baker and an increasing number of men and women making their way to the Western Wall.

Finally, at 7.30 in the morning, when it was getting light and the street where my family and I were waiting was coming alive and waking up, someone from the hostel came and let us in. We were so happy to go inside, have showers and change our clothes, eat some breakfast!

And then we went out to explore!

We walked along ancient and narrow streets ...

We walked outside the Old City, along the street that leads from Jaffa Gate to Jaffa Street - pausing to look back at the Old City!

And we walked along modern streets ...

I think my family and I fell in love with Jerusalem that first morning - not when we were stranded on the streets in the middle of the night, but when we were exploring Jerusalem later - seeing and experiencing and absorbing as much as possible of this awesome and beautiful place.

Twenty One Books: 'Pride and Prejudice'

2008-01-27T12:54:00.001-05:00

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife ..."

So begins one of the most famous novels in the English language - 'Pride and Prejudice', by Jane Austen.

'Pride and Prejudice' is so well known by so many people, it's hard to know how to describe it! It is a novel - written, therefore, primarily for entertainment. It doesn't contain any 'perfect' characters or a 'good' moral. It's just an ordinary story about an ordinary family comprised of ordinary people - who all experience a lot of ups and downs before some of them finally reach 'happy every after' ... an 'happily ever after', incidentally, that is really refreshingly realistic!

Just in case you've never had the pleasure of reading or watching 'Pride and Prejudice' ... it begins when Mr Bingley moves into Netherfield Park. His nearest new neighbours are Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five daughters, who already live nearby in Longbourne Hall. No sooner has she heard that Mr Bingley has moved into Netherfield Park, Mrs Bennet decides that Mr Bingley must marry one of 'the girls' - Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty or Lydia.

Mr Bingley meets 'the girls' at the next local dance. He likes Jane Bennet, the eldest girl, who is 22, beautiful and charming. Elizabeth Bennet, who is 21, pretty and lively, is happy that her sister has attracted Mr Bingley - but is not-so-happy because she has (apparently) repelled Mr Bingley's proud and disagreeable friend, Mr Darcy. In Elizabeth's hearing, Mr Darcy tells Mr Bingley (who has just urged him to ask Elizabeth to dance with him) that Elizabeth "is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me ..."

Mr Darcy's pride has been offended by the three younger Bennet girls, who are young and giddy. They display "a lack of propriety" that deeply offends Mr Darcy and persuades him that marrying one of them would be quite disastrous - for Mr Bingley or ... anyone else!

Elizabeth believes in judging on first impressions - and her first impressions of Mr Darcy are less-than-favorable. She promises her mother never to dance with him (a promise she is, incidentally, obliged to break) and decides that he is "the last man in the world whom I could every marry!"

And the story goes on from there ...

So why do I think every girls should read 'Pride and Prejudice'?

I've met few girls who haven't watched one or other of the movies and the book is better than any of the movies ... it's got a depth and texture that none of the movies capture or portray (although the A&E version does come close to doing so). The plot and language flow beautifully and there are lots of little touches that have to be read and experienced in the imagination, not watched on a screen. I am not usually an advocate for reading a book just because it's "one of the most famous books in the English language."

But I am an advocate for reading 'Pride and Prejudice' for that reason!

And in addition ... some people dismiss 'Pride and Prejudice' as 'just a romance'. I suppose - technically - it is a romance. Boy meets girl - and after many trials and tribulations they live 'happily every after'. Is that a romance? Well ... I think so! But 'Pride and Prejudice' is more that 'just a romance'. It's a story about ordinary people - about real people ... people who have strengths and weaknesses, experience moments of triumph and moments of failure, people who laugh and cry.

'Pride and Prejudice' is one of the (many!) books that has shaped my ideas of life and of womanhood (who else had longed to be a Jane or Lizzy ... hoped never to be a Lydia or a Charlotte ... vowed - against all odds! - never, ever, ever to be a Mrs Bennet or Lady Catherine?!?). It's one of the books I'll never forget and always love. It's one of the books I turn to for comfort and cheer - it's so unchanging and so happy, it never fails to reassure me and make me laugh again!

Perhaps that another reason why I think every girls should read 'Pride and Prejudice' - because it's happy! The sun is shining throughout and 'happily ever after' is the certain conclusion! It's been described as 'the ultimate Cinderella story' and that - in my opinion, makes it worth reading!

My copy of 'Pride and Prejudice' was given to me by my mother when I was eleven years old, in 1996, just before my twelfth birthday. As you can see, it has Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet from the A&E movie on the front cover and is very well-read! I've very fond of it ... mostly because my mother gave it to me on a special occasion and partly because Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle will always be my 'ideal' Mr Darcy and Elizabeth.

(Incidentally ... I feel so old when I hear teenage girls describe Matthew MacFadyen and Kiera Knightly as their 'perfect' Mr Darcy and Elizabeth ... I've a nasty feeling it's "a generational thing!")

Snapshots of Amsterdam

2008-01-23T12:39:00.002-05:00

Click on the pictures to see them 'bigger and better' ... and enjoy them!

When my family and I went to Israel last month, we flew to Amsterdam, Holland ... and then to Tel Aviv, Israel. Due to circumstances beyond our control and not our fault, my family and I missed our flight to Tel Aviv. So there we were - stranded in Amsterdam when we should have been flying through the night to Tel Aviv. I don't think any of us were thrilled by this; we didn't have anything personal against Amsterdam - but we wanted to be in Tel Aviv (or on our way there, anyway!).

Since it was their 'fault' (due to weather conditions ... it wasn't really their fault, but it certainly wasn't our fault either!), our airline arranged for us to stay in a very nice hotel overnight - at no cost. It took a long time to arrange the hotel rooms and vouchers for food and drink; also, since our suitcases were somewhere beyond 'Security', Airline Travel Packs - containing (giant!) t-shirts to sleep in, soap, shampoo and conditioner, toothpaste and a toothbrush and (I loved this!) shoe polish to shine our shoes! By the time we left the airport in Amsterdam, it was very late at night.

Because of this, all the airport shuttle buses to and from our hotel had stopped for the night. Unfortunately, we didn't realise this until we had stood around in freezing temperatures outside the hotel for ten or fifteen minutes. When we did realise it, we hopped in some taxis (glad the travel insurance would pick up the bills!) and headed for our hotel. The last time my family and I missed our connection (no, we don't make a habit of doing so - it was over five years ago!), our airline arranged for us to stay in a very sad hotel - under the busiest of all the Chicago flight-paths, I think!

Because of our previous experience, my family and I were all dreading a tiny, dirty, freezing hotel - which, even if it was European and exciting would also have been ... miserable! Imagine our surprise ad joy when we arrived at our hotel and found it large, clean, warm and ... quite lovely, actually! The foyer had a gleaming tiled floor and plump leather seats. There was a real fire burning in the huge fireplace and the air smelled of woodsmoke and polish. It was really very nice!

My family and I slept for hours, got up in time to catch a shuttle bus back to the airport and then sallied forth in taxis into 'downtown' Amsterdam for a few hours, since we had some time before our flight ...

I have to admit, I thought Amsterdam was going to look beautiful and picturesque. In some ways it did - the streets were cobbled and trams (a form of public transport between a bus and a train) ran up and down the middle of them ...

The houses were all tall and thin, topped with beautiful Dutch architecture.

There were canals - real ones, running this way and that way through the centre of the city ... with boats on the water!

And there were other oh-so-Dutch things ... shops selling the biggest round cheeses I have ever seen ...

And wooden clogs beautifully painted with little pictures of windmills!

My mother's father's family came from Holland less than one hundred years ago, so it was awesome being in Holland ... even if Amsterdam looked grey and brown one December afternoon! There were people and bicycles everywhere - some of the bicycles beautifully decorated with flowers and vines!

It was freezing ... sadly, my family and I had packed our winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves in our suitcases - which were locked away somewhere in the airport, beyond 'Security'. So perhaps we felt the cold more than most people. It was so cold, walking down the street was like walking into a steady blast of cold air. The fashions there in Amsterdam seemed a little more extreme than here at home and there were girls walking around wearing above-the-midrift sweaters, the shortest of short mini-skirts and transparent nylons ... apparently they are used to the cold!

We caught a double-decker train back to the airport. I've never ridden on of those before, so it was quite exciting!

We arrived at the airport safely, checked-in and went through 'security' again ... only to discover that our flight had been delayed a whole hour. That seemed like bad news, but was actually good news ... if our flight had not been delayed, we'd have arrived in Israel a whole hour earlier and being stranded on the streets of Jerusalem at 4.30 am would have been ... not fun! But that's another story ...

Announcing ...

2008-01-22T11:50:00.003-05:00

It is said, "You are what you eat." And that's true, to some extent. But it's also said, "You are what you read." And that's also true - to a much larger extent. I strongly believe that what we read - what we fill our minds and hearts with - shapes us and makes us who we are.

The role of parents and teachers and friends in shaping children should not be overlooked or minimized, but neither should the role of books - and of the heroes and heroines found within them. As a child and teenager, the books I read shaped me - I read them, thought about them and dreamed about them. Sometimes I wrote stories about them - or about characters very like the characters I was thinking and dreaming about. The heroes and heroines within the books I read became my heroes and heroines - my role models - my examples of right and wrong; also my examples of goodness and truth and honour. I am - and always will be - grateful to my parents for providing me with books that provided excellent examples of goodness and truth and honour.

It was from Ballet Shoes that I learned to dream big dreams - and enjoy being a sister; from The Ordinary Princess that a princess can have brown hair and be quite 'ordinary' - and that some princes like those things; from The Silver Sword to what great lengths a sister's love for and commitment to her siblings might be required to go; from An Old Fashioned Girl and Sense and Sensibility about love and loyalty within romance and friendship; from Persuasion ... and the list goes on and on! I strongly believe that my ideals - of goodness and truth and honour and so much more - have been shaped by the books I have read; especially those I have read over and over (and over and over!) again ...

Reading the transcript of Hugh Hewitt's reading list, I found the following quotes:

"But one of the things I, at least, think most people should do in the time that they spend on this planet, is have a sense of the greatest that’s been given to us. A life itself is the greatest gift, to have an immortal soul is extraordinary, but in beginning to understand what that means, I think you’ve got to turn to the greatest writers who can give you some sense of what it’s all been about, why you’re here, what it means and where you’re going. And that means you’ve got to delve into the great writers."

Professor David Allen White

"We need young men and women with souls that are good, true and beautiful. And if we’re going to form souls that are good, true and beautiful, we can’t begin with our own souls, because all of us are in process, too. The great writers know how to shape us morally, to get to goodness. They know how to help us find the big ideas, the truths that never change from culture to culture. And they know most importantly how to make us beautiful, so that we don’t fall into the trap of thinking only things that work matter. We need beauty in our lives as well."

Professor John Mark Reynolds

It's in reading (and re-reading) the following books that I have gained 'some sense of what it’s all been about, why [I'm] here, what it means and where [I'm] going' ... beyond the sense which I found in my relationship with God and in reading the Bible - of course! So ... the 21 books I'm going to share with you are just 21 books that I have read and re-read - books that have shaped my heart and character. And - by extension - my life. Books that will - I believe - 'form souls that are good, true and beautiful' ... and which will be compulsory reading for my daughters 'someday'!

***

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Good Wives - Louisa May Alcott
The Ordinary Princess - M.M. Kaye
Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfeild
Felicity's Story Collection - American Girl
Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
Rilla of Ingleside - L.M. Montgomery
A Little Princess - Francis Hodgson Burnett
An Old Fashioned Girl - Louisa May Alcott
Emma - Jane Austen
Heidi - Johanna Spyri
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Stepping Heavenward - Elizabeth Prentiss
Persuasion - Jane Austen
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm - Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Orczy
The Children of the New Forest - Captain Marryat
The Railway Children - E. Nesbit
The Silver Sword - Ian Serraillier
Something Fresh - P.G. Wodehouse

***

Now tell me ... what do you think? Do you think the role of books in shaping the minds and hearts of people - especially children - is over-estimated or under-estimated? What books would you have excluded or included from this list?

Um ... !

2008-01-18T10:06:00.000-05:00

Those of you who were expecting a post about BOOKS this week may have noticed that it hasn't been written or posted ...

I'm having problems with the camera; I took some pictures to go with the post and they seem to have got lost somewhere (on the camera or in the computer? Good question!). And there's no way can find or re-take them before the weekend 'officially begins', so ... expect the post about BOOKS (with b-eee-uuu-tiful pictures!) next week, okay?!?

And in the meantime, have wonderful and special weekend! I'm (God willing, of course!) going to my cousin's wedding and having breakfast with good friends and shopping for books. I'm looking forward to it!

Non-Wedding Blues

2008-01-16T09:30:00.003-05:00

This last weekend, a couple I know got married. And this next weekend, my cousin and his girlfriend are getting married. One of my closest friends is getting married in May. An acquaintance is getting married in June. Another friend is getting married in August. And my sister's best friend is getting married in September. (And those are just the couples who have already chosen a wedding date.)

My little corner of Facebook is flooded with pictures of the recent wedding ... and quite honestly, I've avoided looking at them. Happy (oh - so happy!) as I am for the couple, I know that looking at pictures of them on their wedding day - exclaiming over how happy he looks and how beautiful she is - is not going to alleviate Non-Wedding Blues. (Will I look at them some other time? I don't know. Maybe!)

I know that getting married is about more than a wedding. It's about more than a happy groom and a beautiful bride. It's about more than a ring and a kiss. (One of the advantages of singleness is the time to observe and think - I'm not married, but I know more about marriage now than I did when I was an idealistic and starry-eyed eighteen-year-old. And that's a good thing, I think!)

But ... no less at the serious and steady age of 23 than at the idealistic and starry-eyed age of 18, my heart misses a beat when I think of a wedding ... a happy groom and a beautiful bride ... a ring and a kiss. And of me being The Bride. And of making a promise of eternal love and faithfulness. And of being a wonderful young man's wife and helpmate.

And no less does the requirement to wait for romance and marriage to blossom in my own life occasionally ... just very occasionally ... provoke Wedding Blues.

Because there is a requirement to wait for these things to blossom in my own life.

I know that God has plans for my life and I know that His plans for my life today do not include a wedding. They don't even include a romance or an engagement. Then don't include getting to know a wonderful young man ... holding his hand or gazing into his eyes or sharing my heart with him. On the subject of 'love and marriage', God has said, "Wait." And most of the time I am happy to wait.

I know that today I have God ... how much do I know Him and how deeply do I love Him? And I have my family to love and my friends to encourage. And I have things to do - which I may or may not be able to do when I am married and which I am called to do today. The world really is beautiful and life can be wonderful. I don't intend to waste either by moping ...

But ... you know how Non-Wedding Blues grip your heart and make it ache?

Perhaps some people think that Non-Wedding Blues = moping, feeling sorry for oneself, etc. But those of us who have suffered from them know that "Non-Wedding Blues" is a light-hearted way to describe real heart-ache ... real dreams and desires submitted to God and laid aside today. Obedience - sometimes easy, sometimes agonising - to the call to wait.

I only know one way to really alleviate Non-Wedding Blues. Putting a Stephen Curtis Chapman CD in the stereo, turning it up and singing ... that helps. So does baking or exercising or reading. And deciding to be cheerful and being it through gritted teeth and teary eyes ... that helps too. But when the CD ends and the activity is over and a little sibling sees through the cheerfulness? What alleviates Non-Wedding Blues then?

God.

He has given girls the whatever-it-is that makes our hearts skip a beat when we think of a wedding. He's put the desire to be a bride (a radiant and beautiful one!) and a wife and a helpmate into our hearts. And He's called us - each and every one of us who is still single - to wait today. He feels the heart-ache. He sees the tears under the cheerfulness. And He both understands and cares.

And there's more ... because when we've told Him about the ache and the longings, we're be aware of Him helping us in an amazing and awesome way. A random quote I collected somewhere (I have no idea where or when, but it's scribbled down on a piece of paper in front of me on my desk!) reads:

"God empowers and equips us for what He has called us to do."

If God has called you to wait - today - He will empower and equip you to wait ... today. Just as if He ever calls you to get married and blesses you with the privilege of being a bride, He'll empower and equip you to be obedient to that call ... and to be gracious to hundreds of wedding guests when you just want to be with your groom!

If you're afflicted with Non-Wedding Blues today, remember that you're not alone (I've got them too, today!) and that G-d can and will help you. He wants to do so. So ... ask Him to empower and equip you ... know that He will do so ... and then go for it. Live the life He's given you today and do the things He's called you to do today. Enjoy today ... and maybe waiting too.

And rest in the certainty that if romance and marriage are in His plan for you, He'll cause them to blossom in your life in His perfect timing. Then you will be The Bride ... and you'll be able to flood your corner of Facebook with pictures of your wedding. (That's not a good reason for getting married, of course; but it's a side-affect I'm anticipating with much joy and glee ... when Non-Wedding Blues are a thing of the past!)

The Draincovers Have Hebrew On Them!

2008-01-14T13:14:00.001-05:00

In Israel, even the drain covers have Hebrew on them ...

I really miss being in Israel. (And not just because - as you can see in this picture! - I think it's simply unbelievably cool that the drain covers have Hebrew on them!) It's hard to explain why I miss being in Israel. There's something in the air in Israel - faith and hope and expectation and excitement ... almost as if everyone is waiting for God to do 'something' - holding their breath and straining their eyes in case they miss 'it'. I think that's what I miss most ... more than riding on buses and trains, eating pitta and humours and felafel, standing on the walls of Jerusalem and looking away over the endless blue hills to the Judean Desert. And ... as I said, I think it's simply unbelievably cool that the drain covers have Hebrew on them. I miss that too ...

So ...

2008-01-11T09:38:00.000-05:00

... this is what I'm going to do!

I'm still working on my 'great books to read in 2008' list. When I have completed it, I will post it here on my blog! As for my other list ...

As Ana suggested, I will (try to!) post one article a week about a book on my other list:

21 Books a Girl Should Read Before She's 21
(Or as soon as possible after she's 21!)

This is a list comprised of the best books from that list of 26 novels I mentioned! Hopefully, I'll post the first article about the first book next week. I think this is such a fun idea and I'm so excited about it! (I just hope you dear people who read my blog will thing think it's 'such a fun idea' too ...!) Thank you, Ana, for having - and sharing! - this idea!

Having a great weekend, people!

Golden Vegetable Soup

2008-01-11T09:20:00.000-05:00

This is a recipe that I recently 'invented' ... I really enjoy making and eating it - and hope you do too!

6 Carrots
2 Onions
2 Potatoes
2 Celery-Ribs
2 Leeks
6 Cups Water
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Clean or peel all the vegetables. Chop all the vegetables. Fry the onions in a dash of oil. When they are soft and golden, add the other vegetables. Fry the vegetables. When the vegetables have begun to soften, add the water. Bring the soup to the boil, then let it simmer for 30 - 60 minutes. When the vegetables are very soft, take the soup off the heat and allow it to cool. Blend the soup until it is smooth. Season with salt and peper to your taste. Re-heat the soup and serve with bread and cheese and salad.

Enjoy!

Just TWELVE Great Books?!?

2008-01-09T12:47:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to put together a list of twelve great books to read in 2008. I don't read as much as I'd like to and decided that it would be fun to post a list of twelve great books on my blog - then post thoughts and reviews of them when I have read them.

A nice idea.

Then my father suggested that I put together another list of twelve great books (including ones I have already read and am not going to read again this year) and post it on my blog to in order to share it with people and encourage them to read great books they might not have read yet ...

Another nice idea ...

But there are only 12 books on my list ... and because it is split into categories, there are only 2 classic novels on it. That's all very well ... but when I scanned my bookshelf and tried to decide which books to put on my list ...

I ended up with a minimum of 32 great books.

And 26 of them were novels that I think every girl should read, preferably sooner rather than later.

I've gone 'back to the drawing board' with my list. Somehow I've got to choose just 12 great books. Somehow ... !

This Side of Heaven

2008-01-09T12:18:00.000-05:00

I wish ... I was perfect.

I wish I never had an unpleasant thought.
I wish I never said an unkind word.
I wish I never did an ungenerous deed.

I wish I was ... perfect.

I know I am not going to be perfect this side of heaven.
I know it.
Really I do.

But I still wish ...

I'm 23 years old and I've been a Christian almost all my life. I should be better, live better, do better. Shouldn't I?

And yet ... I am human. And I know (really I do) that as long as I am human - as long as I live and breath this side of heaven - I am going to trip up and mess up.

Unpleasant thoughts spring to my mind ... apparently from nowhere.
Unkind words trip off the end of my tongue ... just like that.
Ungenerous deeds don't seem all that bad compared to ... robbing a bank.

I am human and ... God knows that and He has made a way for me to be reconciled with Him and walk closely with Him.

But every time I trip up and mess up ... every time I am guilty of a thought or word or deed that is not pleasant and kind and generous - that is not worthy ... every time ...

I wish (again) I was perfect ... this side of heaven.

My Travel Diary

2008-01-08T12:38:00.001-05:00

My family and I were on holiday over Christmas ... we haven't been on holiday together for over three years, but in the middle of December we packed up our bags and headed out of the country to ... Israel!

Israel is a country that my family and I have wanted to visit for ... oh ... a long time! We never thought we would be able to do so, but this year everything worked out for us to visit Israel for ten days. We jumped at the opportunity to do so and had ... a wonderful ten days!

I thought of sharing some pictures of My Travel Diary:

My Travel Diary! Before we went, I was convinced that I'd never fill the book. Then when we were in Israel and I was writing in it every night, I was sure that I'd fill the book and have to leave some things un-recorded ... due to running out of paper! In the end, the book turned out to be the perfect size - I have just a few blank sheets of paper left at the end of the book and have (amazingly!) recorded (more-or-less) everything. The book was a gift from a dear friend, filled with thick, creamy pages - lined on one side and blank on the other. It's the perfect travel diary and I loved filling it ... I've loved showing it to friends since I finished it and one day (God willing!) I hope to show it to my children and grandchildren!

I wrote on the lined side of every piece of paper and stuck ... well, anything and everything ... on the blank side. On this page I stuck pictures of Israel, torn out of a travel brochure ...

And on this page I stuck a tea-bag paper bag thing, the lids of some little pots of jam (jelly!) ... and an Israeli receipt, printed in Hebrew! This was the first (of ... um ... many!) Israeli receipts my family and I collected!

Cinderella at the Ball

2008-01-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

I can't remember whether I've ever commented on this on my blog before, but I love the story of Cinderella.

There's just something about the story ... it touches my heart and makes me melt inside every time I read it (or hear it ... or watch it). Funnily enough ... bearing in mind that I'm not really 'the romantic type' ... and I don't believe in 'love at first sight' ... and I don't think I'm 'The Cinderella Type' either. But ...

On New Year's Eve, my church held A Masked Ball. And I decided not to go. For three very good reasons:

My sister, who works for the church, was going in one of the family cars and staying overnight with a friend ... and I didn't like to ask my father to take me (and collect me) in the other family car.
I don't have a ball dress.
I don't dance.

So ... all-in-all, it didn't make any sense for me to go and I decided not to go.

Instead, I decided to have a nice, quiet, relaxing evening at home.

Good.

But ... do you know how bewitching and tantalising the very name and idea of 'a masked ball' is? Or what it's like to be (apparently!) the only girl on Facebook who is not going to a New Year's Eve ball or party? Or to love the story of Cinderella (and of 'Pride and Prejudice', for that matter!) and have (secretly) longed to go to a ball all your life ... and to have a ball taking place within a few miles of you ... but without you?!?

Anyway, there didn't seem much point in moaning and complaining, so I got on with my nice, quiet, relaxing evening at home.

My father came home from work and found, sitting in front of the sitting room fire, not crying - but framing a poster I bought for my room and wanted to hang up the next day. He sat down on the couch and looked at me thoughtfully. I looked at him enquiringly. And then - to my surprise - he said The Words:

"Cinderella, do you want to go to the ball?"

My father has never called me 'Cinderella' before, but he's so sweet and his offer was so kind:

"Would you like me to take you to the ball and come and collect you again after it?"

I assured my father that I didn't want to keep him up half the night, taking me to - and collecting me from - the ball. I also pointed out that I don't have a ball dress. And I reminded him that I don't dance (and added that there's very little point in going to a ball and not dancing).

But my father told me that if he didn't want to take me to - and collect me from - the ball, he wouldn't have offered to be my chauffeur for the night ... and that I have lots of pretty skirts and tops ... and that I didn't have to dance with anyone, but could just chat with friends.

So ... 'Cinderella' went to the ball!

The 'transformation' took a little while ...

As I told my father, I'm more of a denim-skirt-and-fun-sweater kind of girl than a ball-dress-and-glass-slippers kind of girl. But eventually I was all dressed up in one of my 'pretty skirts and tops' - and a very pretty hair slide and the bracelet my parents gave me on my sixteenth birthday and a pair of high heeled shoes (I don't know why, but high heeled shoes always make my feel pretty and party-ish!). My mother and my sisters made me a mask - blue, with sparkly bits, in the shape of a butterfly.

Maybe it was the excitement of being Cinderella or going to A Masked Ball or fulfilling a life-long wish ... but I think I looked quite nice!

And I had a good time!

(Just for the record - in case you're wondering! - Prince Charming was not at the ball. Unless he was disguised as one of the guys I see every Sunday ... or was un-gallant enough not to ask me to dance ... !)

I chatted with friends and watched the dancing. I saw the New Year - 2008! - 'in', hugged all my friends and wished them a happy new year, drank alcohol-free 'champagne' (the ball was held at the church ... no, the 'champagne' didn't taste great, but that's good - no one at the ball will be tempted the try 'the real thing' and be snared by alcohol!), pulled party-poppers ... and watched the (very pretty!) fireworks. My father came and collected me at a quarter past midnight and - once again feeling like Cinderella, as I slipped away from the ball, I hurried home to bed and 2008.

The next morning, I still felt like Cinderella - after the ball, returning to every day life wearing a denim skirt and a fun sweater ... but remembering the thrill of the transformation and the fun of the ball ... not to mention the kindness of the fairy godmother.

Since Prince Charming wasn't at the ball (presumably he was engaged elsewhere ... or - like Mr Darcy - he was 'in no humor to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men'), he missed meeting - and dancing with! - my sweet self and has (to date) failed to turn up on my front door step with my glass slipper in his hand. When he does come, I'll be sure to let you all know ... in the meantime, I'm actually quite happy to wait a little while ...

For him and for my glass slipper!

Well ...

2008-01-04T08:43:00.000-05:00

I had planned to start blogging regularly again this week, but it just hasn't happened ... ! I'll hope to start blogging regularly again next week instead! I'll try, I really will ...

Always assuming there are some brave and persistent people still reading my poor little blog, have a great weekend and stay posted for some interesting posts sometime soon! I really do have a whole ton of posts and pictures I want to publish, I'm just short of two valuable things right now:

Time
Energy

Oh well ... it could be worse, I could be short of inspiration too.

But such, afterall, is life!

What'da Ya Know?!?

2007-12-31T16:38:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, even in 2007 - on the eve of 2008 - Cinderella actually gets to go to the ball afterall! Isn't that exciting?!? I think so ...

... and a Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T13:06:00.000-05:00

I wasn't going to start blogging again until 2008 had actually begun, but it's New Year's Eve and I can't resist the temptation to wish anyone who may happen to stop by my blog today ...

A Happy, Wonderful and Blessed New Year!

I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to 2008. I had a wonderful December (oh ... the posts I plan to publish as soon as I have some special pictures on my computer, ready and available to upload onto my blog!) and am looking forward to 2008. I'm sure it will have its trials and heartaches, but I'm also sure it will have its blessings and joys too!

Until We Meet Again ...

2007-12-14T09:20:00.000-05:00

Unbelievable as it seems, it's exactly six months tomorrow since I started blogging!

Wow! I've loved it ... it's been so much fun and a real blessing. I look forward to at least another six months of blogging, God willing, in the New Year and beyond!

However, as of today I am not blogging for a week or two ... until after Christmas, anyway. Life is just so busy right now and I want to be able to enjoy it, without feeling bad because I haven't blogged forever. So I am not going to be blogging, but living (and enjoying it!). I'm looking forward to blogging again after Christmas, so until we meet again ...

Happy Christmas!

I'm praying that each and every one of you who reads my blog has a blessed Christmas, filled with peace and joy, good times and fun moments!

Mary: The Handmaid of the Lord

2007-12-14T09:10:00.000-05:00

When I was thirteen, Mary – Jesus' mother – was my heroine and role-model. Because she had been chosen by God to be Jesus' mother, I admired Mary tremendously and wanted – with all the ardor of a thirteen-year-old – to be 'just like' her. I read a magazine article that suggested that Mary was thirteen when she became Jesus' mother, due to the early age at which Jewish girls got betrothed and married in New Testament times. That thrilled me! I could read the Biblical accounts of the angel's visit to Mary and his announcement of Jesus' arrival, of Joseph an Mary's journey to Bethlehem and of Jesus' birth ... thinking, “Mary was just my age when this happened!” and wondering, “What was it like? What did she think? How did she feel?”

In the ten years that have passed since I wanted to be 'just like' Mary and dreamed of her life and experiences, I haven't really thought of Mary much ... and when I have thought of her, I've done so with a smile, remembering my thirteen-year-old admiration for her. But now I am twenty-three and Mary is once again my heroine and role-model. Come on a little journey with me and find out why ...

It was an ordinary day in Nazareth and Mary was going about her ordinary business. She was quite young – maybe only thirteen or maybe older, in her late teens or early twenties. Her age doesn't really matter, since the Bible tells us all we need to know – that she was a young woman, unmarried, a virgin. As a young unmarried woman in New Testament times, she would have lived with her family ... her parents if they were alive, some other relatives if her parents were dead. She would have had a full and busy family life ... helping to keep house, cook, wash and care for a family. If she had little siblings or little nephews and nieces, she would have helped to look after them, loving them, teaching them, amusing them.

Mary would have had friends, older women and young women her own age, Jewish women who loved God and tried to obey His law. They would have met in the synagogue on the sabbath and festival days, in the market and at the well. They would have encouraged each other in loving God and their families. They might have been closely related to each other or just friends ... they would definitely have formed a strong and supportive (and maybe critical too) community. Mary would have learned from her family and her friend, learning how to love God and how to obey His law ... from the older women she would have learned how a women thinks and feels and how she should behave and live her life.

Since God singled Mary out to be Jesus' mother, I think it's safe to assume that she learned well ... that she truly loved God and tried to obey His law, that she really knew Him and had a healthy relationship with Him, that she behaved and lived her life in a way that pleased Him. Perhaps it was all this that led Joseph, a carpenter, to betroth Mary to him as his future wife. In New Testament times, a betrothal was an binding as a marriage, so Joseph and Mary were – at the beginning of Luke – already committed to each other for life, requiring a legal divorce if one or other of them 'changed their mind'. Everyone in the community would have recognised Mary as Joseph's future wife and how she behaved and lived her life would reflect on him as if she was already his wife. Perhaps Mary was actually preparing for their marriage and waiting for Joseph to come and make her his wife and take her to their home.

And then – while Mary was busy, maybe helping to keep house, amusing little children or praying – an angel appeared to her and said, “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” Mary was – as I think I would have been! - 'troubled', trying to figure out what sort of greeting that was! The angel continued, “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

Can you imagine how you would respond if an angel appeared to you and told you this? I can ... and I'm afraid that I might not respond very graciously, probably squeaking, “I beg your pardon?!?” But Mary did respond graciously and she didn't (apparently!) squeak! She asked one practical question about how she could have a baby when she was unmarried, a virgin. The angel answered her question and Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” And then the angel left ... and everything happened as he said it would, Mary becoming pregnant and giving birth to a baby boy ... and becoming Jesus' mother.

I read this story – which is so familiar and so special – again recently and was once again impressed by Mary, although for different reasons than I was ten years ago! The phrase that really jumped off the page and impressed me was, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord ...”

Think about it ... the angel has just given Mary life-changing news, telling her that she has found favour with God and that His will for her life is that she gives birth to the Messiah of Israel and the whole world! For generations, Jewish women had dreamed of giving birth to the Messiah ... and now Mary had been chosen for that amazing and awesome privilege and responsibility! A lot of people have talked about the social stigma Mary willingly suffered to be Jesus' mother, being a single mother in a strict religious community where her story of the angel's visit and message might be disbelieved and where the penalty for adultery was death. But there are other sacrifices Mary willingly made ... imagine how her family would have felt when they discovered that she was pregnant ... and remember that Joseph would have 'put her aside', had the angel not appeared to him to confirm Mary's story and assure him that the baby was from God and was the Messiah.

All those things aside, imagine Mary's feelings ... when I was 13, I might have thought myself equal to being Messiah's mother, but now? The very idea of such an awesome responsibility makes me feel so inadequate and incapable!

Think of the doubts and fears that may have raced through Mary's heart ... doubts and fears like, “What if no one believes that the angel appeared to me and told me that the baby is from God and is the Messiah? What will my parents, grandparents, siblings and friends say? What will Joseph say? Who will look after me and the baby? What if I'm not a good enough mother?” Maybe these doubts and fears did race though her heart or maybe they didn't, the Bible doesn't tell us one way or the other! What the Bible does tell us is Mary's response: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord ...”

The word that the King James Version translates 'handmaid' is a Greek word, 'doulos', meaning 'slave-girl'. In New Testament times, a slave-girl belonged to her master or mistress and her life revolved around that man or woman. A slave-girl had one life, one job, one responsibility ... to serve and obey her master or mistress. And – given the news that God's will for her life is to be Jesus' mother – Mary says, “Behold, I am God's doulos ... or slave-girl ... or handmaid.” In other words, “I belong to God ... my life revolves around Him ... my life, my job, my responsibility it to serve and obey Him. So if He has chosen me to be Jesus' mother ... so be it, may His will be done, whatever the cost.”

This has impressed and inspired me. But it's also challenged me! And there are two reasons for this ...

The first is that when the angel appeared to Mary with news that would change Mary's life and require great sacrifice (of her social reputation, her family and friends' trust and respect, her physical health and strength, her time and energy, her maternal love and concern), Mary said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord ...” She asks one practical question, but she doesn't voice any doubts or questions about God's choice ... about any of the things she would sacrifice or about her own ability and suitability.

The second reason why Mary's story challenged me, is because I believe that her ready response to God's awesome call shows her heart attitude. Of course, when the angel appeared and gave Mary God's message, she had to choose between living life her way and living life God's way. Maybe she took that decision 'just like that', without previously thinking about it. But I don't think she did ... I don't think she described herself as 'the handmaid of the Lord' 'just like that' ... I think she described herself as 'the handmaid of the Lord', because that's who and what she considered herself to be ... because she lived her life as 'the handmaid of the Lord' and would have done so even if the angel had never appeared to her and delivered God's message.

And those two reasons combine to make me think long and hard about myself, my relationship with God, my attitude to God and His will for my life. First of all, when God reveals His will for my life, do I question Him and doubt myself (and His ability to work in and through me in spite of my failings and shortcomings) or do I say, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord?” And secondly, do I live life as 'the handmaid of the Lord', so that when God reveals His will I am already living in submission to Him and am ready to say, “Be it unto me according to Thy word ... ”?

How do I live as 'the handmaid of the Lord'? I have been asking myself this question for some time ... finally I wrote in my diary, “Maybe living as 'the handmaid of the L-rd is about being all God's and being set apart for Him. But what does it mean to be all God's and set apart for Him? I doubt that anyone (least of all me!) can truly plumb the depths of the answer to this question, but ... I think that in part the answer to this question is that being all God's and being set apart for Him means ... breathing in and out for Him; feeling, thinking and being for Him; being firstly, lastly, wholly and only His. Finding the meaning of myself and of life in and because of Him. Being – every moment of every day, His, His 'handmaid'.”

I suggest that you go and read about Mary ... look her name up in a concordance and read everything the Bible has to say about her, remembering that she found favor in the sight of God and that she described herself as 'the handmaid of the Lord'. Then prayerfully ask yourself, “Can I say, 'I belong to God ... my life revolves around Him ... my life, my job, my responsibility it to serve and obey Him. So if He has chosen me to be or to do ... whatever ... so be it, may His will be done, whatever the cost.'?” Don't be afraid to ask yourself that question and don't be afraid to answer it honestly. Don't be intimidated if you struggle to say those words whole-heartedly. So do I ... so do most of us, I suspect! But tell God you want to be His 'handmaid' and ask Him to show you how to live as His 'handmaid', every moment of every day of your life!

And remember Mary ... I don't think any woman is too old to have a heroine and role-model or two, whom she admires and respects, consciously or unconsciously modeling her life on. And Mary is, I believe, one of the best heroines and role-models you can have!

I Wonder Why ...

2007-12-12T12:10:00.000-05:00

... things that are good for me, like Good Green Vegetables and Good Honest Work, don't 'call' to me the way things are are not so good - but oh so nice! - 'call' to me? Things like ... chocolate and a lazy afternoon cuddled up beside the fire, reading a good book. Sigh ...

My 'Wait for Me' Ring

2007-12-12T11:27:00.001-05:00

So ... I was thinking this could be fun!

This is a picture of my 'wait for me' ring. I know a lot of girls and young women my age and older/younger have a similar ring ... called a purity ring, a chastity ring, a 'true love waits' ring ... or something like that! I call my ring my 'wait for me' ring, because Rebecca St James' song 'Wait for Me' is so beautiful and expresses a lot of the thoughts and feelings I have about my ring and about my future husband. If you're reading this and you have a similar ring, why don't you leave a comment sharing a little bit about your ring - what it looks like, when you got it, what it means to you?

My ring ... well, it's silver, with a little amethyst stone. I got it when I was 22, to replace an older - and plainer - ring that I got when I was 14. I still have my older ring, but it's broken and I can't wear it now. For about a year I didn't think I'd bother to replace it, because it was just a ring and I was 'all grown up' and I might never get marries anyway and ... well, what with one thing and another, it wasn't at the top of my priority list and I didn't bother to do anything about it. Anyway, then started thinking that I would like to replace it after all and then I saw this ring ...

When I was 14, every single girl I knew had a ring like this and for the longest time I was the only girl who didn't have a ring. I wanted one, but my parents didn't feel the time was right for me to have one - because to decision to 'wait' - in honour and purity and patience - is not one to be taken because of church 'fashion' or peer pressure. I was very young and my parents didn't want me to consider a ring a guarantee that I wouldn't make mistakes or get hurt - as some of the girls I knew considered their rings. But, eventually, I got my ring ... and eventually, eight years later, I replaced it.

I wear my ring almost every day. I don't consider it a guarantee that I won't make mistakes or get hurt. Almost ten years of life have taught me that ... but though these ten years have been difficult and painful at times, I appreciate my ring so much more now than then. But my ring is a reminder:

That if God plans for me to marry and has a guy out there for me, well, I am his future wife and I need to wait for him - as I hope and pray he is waiting for me too. Some people might scoff at the idea of a ring being a reminder of such a thing, but it is ... sometimes when I'm out with a group of friends and am talking andd laughing with (or even at!) guys, I'll catch sight of my ring or feel it pressing against my fingers and remember ... to be a little extra feminine and reserved, because I'm my future husband's future wife.

And one day ... well, if God plans it so, one day my future husband will replace my 'wait for me' ring with his engagement ring and wedding ring.

And that will be unbelievably and breathtakingly awesome!

How about you?

***

Wait for Me

Darling did you know that I
I dream about you
Waiting for the look in your eyes
When we meet for the first time
Darling did you know that I
I pray about you
Praying that you will hold on
And keep your loving eyes only for me

Cause,I am waiting for
Praying for you darling
Wait for me too
Wait for me as I wait for you
Cause, I am waiting for
Praying for you darling
Wait for me too
Wait for me as I wait for you
Darling wait
Darling wait

Darling did you know I dream about life together
Knowing it will be forever
I'll be yours and you'll be mine
And darling when I say
Till death do us part
I'll mean it with all of my heart
Now and always faithful to you

Cause, I am waiting for
Praying for you darling
Wait for me too
Wait for me as I wait for you
Cause, I am waiting for
Praying for you darling
Wait for me too
Wait for me as I wait for you
Darling wait
Darling wait

Now I know you may have made mistakes
But there's forgiveness and a second chance
So wait for me
Darling wait for me
Wait for me
Wait for me

Rececca St James

In Defense of Domestic Daughters

2007-12-05T16:51:00.001-05:00

I wrote this some time ago and found it today. It made me smile, so I thought I'd post it on my blog and hope that it makes someone else smile too!

Who was it who first perpetrated the lie that domestic daughters are somehow unnatural and lazy?!? I have no idea!

Someone asks me, "So ... if you don't go to college and you don't go to work, what DO you do?!?" I blush. I open my mouth. I close my mouth. I twist my fingers round and round. I gaze at my shoes. I feel like a 14-yr-old again ...

I'm a domestic daughter faced with the accusation of unnaturalness and laziness and I - who whirl through every day in a small tornado of domestic activity - cannot think of anything that I 'do'. Or rather, I cannot think of anything 'important' and 'valuable'.

I'm just ... domestic.

Unsurprisingly, my defense of domestic daughters tends to leave my audience untouched and unmoved, not to mention unconverted!

A little while ago I discovered the following extract in a book, c.1914. I think it's wonderful:

"And what do you do, Miss Pixie?"

She stared at him blankly and said, "Now if you had asked me to say what to do NOT do, it would have been easier. Have you any sort of idea what it means to keep a home going with big ideas and small means ... ? If you have, you can imagine the list. Dusting, sewing, mending, turning, making, unmaking, helping my sister Bridgie, amusing the children, soothing the servants, humouring my brother-in-law Dick, making dresses, trimming hats, covering cushions, teaching the alphabet, practising songs, arranging flowers, watering plants, going to shops, making up parcels, writing notes, making ..."

He held up his hands in protest, "Stop - have pity on me! What an appalling list. I am overcome with the thought of so much activity!"

"I'm domestic!" said Pixie.

How I wish that I could answer people's questions that convincingly! That pretty much says it all, although things have changed in almost 100 years and my day looks a little (!) different from Pixie's!

Maybe one day I'll find the courage and confidence to counter the lie that I'm unnatural and lazy with the truth. I do more in one day than I can keep track of. I do important and valuable work. I'm doing what God has called me to do for Him today. I'm ... domestic!

Happy Weekend!

2007-11-30T09:32:00.000-05:00

According to my stat counter, some people are still visiting my blog. And according to the two lovely comments I received this morning, some people are still actually reading and commenting on my blog! Yay!

It's nice to know, because the poor little thing has been dreadfully neglected this last week! It's not that I'm too busy or tired to write and publish posts right now ... oh, no, it's just ... yes, well, guess again! I am too busy and tired to write and publish posts right now.

But ... I have so many posts planned ... posts such as:

Quotes by C.H. Spurgeon on Life
Mary: Handmaid of the Lord
In Which My Sister and I Have A Big Adventure and Take Part in a Real Miracle
Princess Complex ... ?

I actually have a list of posts, stuck on my fridge door with a yellow duck magnet! And hopefully I'll get to write and publish some of these posts soon! In the meantime, I thought that I would wish any and all readers of my blog a happy weekend!

Another Random Quote

2007-11-30T09:30:00.000-05:00

"God asks no man whether he will accept life. That is not a choice. You must take it. The only choice is how."

Harry Ward Beecher

A Random (but Really Great!) Quote

2007-11-30T09:21:00.001-05:00

"If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well, and if it is not worth doing thoroughly, wise men let it alone."

C.H. Spurgeon

21st Birthday Party Pictures

2007-11-25T06:17:00.000-05:00

A long time ago I promised to post pictures of my sister's 21st birthday party ... she had a '50s Party and my sisters and I all wore '50s costumes - circular skirts ...

One month and one week after the party ... here are the pictures! I'm sorry that there aren't as many as I had anticipated, but ... well, I think this will give you an idea of what the circular skirts looked like and everything. They (the circular skirts!) were so much fun to wear!

The skirts ...

My skirt ...

And another view of my skirt (and my apron)!

The Absolutely 'Bestest' Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World

2007-11-23T10:02:00.001-05:00

Have you tried making these cookies yet? Anna posted the recipe on her blog some time ago and I'm so glad she did! Head over HERE and find the recipe, then make go make a batch of these cookies. They smell wonderful and they taste even better than they smell ... especially eaten warm and soft from the oven or with a steaming mug of hot chocolate (my personal favourite!) or coffee!

Mmm ... !

His Future Wife

2007-11-23T09:49:00.000-05:00

Other girls, who made this connection long ago, will no doubt shake their heads and smile at my naiveté . But although I've always wanted to be a wife and a mother and although I've always dreamed and talked about My Future Husband (it's a term of endearment in my vocabulary, reserved for One Special Guy!), I've never thought of myself as anyone's future wife.

And then, one day recently, it suddenly hit me:

If God's plan for my life includes marriage, then there's a guy somewhere in the world who is My Future Husband. A real guy. And I'm his future wife. And that's scary! I have no idea who he is or where in the world he is. Right now, that doesn't matter. But the indisputable fact remains that if God's plan for my life includes marriage, I am some guy's future wife ... I am My Future Husband's future wife ... I am his future wife.

The next logical thought was:

What am I doing to get ready for being some guy's future wife ... for being My Future Husband's future wife? One day, My Future Husband will (God willing) be the most important and wonderful 'HE' in my life and heart. What am I doing to get ready for being his wife? The answer was that apart from saving my first kiss for him, I'm not doing much to get ready. Oh.

I happen to think that saving my first kiss for My Future Husband is important (don't get me wrong!), but I think there's more I could – and should! – be doing to get ready. As the years roll by and no young man comes calling (roses and diamond ring at the ready) it's easy to get cynical ... to wonder if any guy is ever going to be 'seriously' interested in quiet little me ... or if My Future Husband has already come and gone and I missed him ... or if God is calling me to singleness.

I don't have a Hope Chest, because for as long as I'm unmarried there is a possibility that God is calling me to singleness. I don't want to reach old age with a Hope Chest full of things that I packed away for when I was a bride ... and never unpacked again, because I never was a bride. I'm waiting until I'm courting or engaged and then I'll buy and fill a Hope Chest. And I'll love every moment of it!

But a Hope Chest is a comparatively easy thing to fill in a few months or years. I can purchase china and embroider pillowcases in that time. A heart and character worthy of My Future Husband and a store of love all ready and waiting for him ... those things can't be purchased and are impossible to create in a few months.

So I've been thinking about some ways in which I can get ready for being his wife. It's so easy to get blasé about being a wife and a mother. For those of us who have already put in over twenty years of daughter-hood, housework and homemaking, sister-hood ... we assume that getting married and entering wife-hood will be quite easy and great fun. (I know ... I've thought this for a long time now!)

And yet ... imagine the awesome privilege and responsibility that will be mine when some guy – My Future Husband – kneels down and asks me to marry him. It will be a privilege to love and encourage him. It will be a responsibility to never make him sorry he asked me to be his wife.

I want to be ready (or as ready as possible!) for that moment ... I want to have a heart and character worthy of him ... I want to have a store of love all ready for him. I want him to know that I saved my first kiss for him. I want him to know that I thought of him and prayed for him before I knew who he was or where in the world he was. I want him to know that I cared enough about him and about being his wife, that I got ready for him and his love.

So until the day when My Future Husband looks into my eyes and tells me he loves me, I'm praying for him and waiting for him; I'm thinking of him and dreaming of being his wife; I'm enjoying today, but looking forward to tomorrow ... with him. Forever. Because although I don't know who he is or where in the world he is, I know that if God's plan for my life includes marriage, My Future Husband is out there somewhere. I know that God will bring us together in His perfect timing. I want to be ready for him. Because his is My Future Husband. And me?

I'm his future wife!

Knitting

2007-11-22T12:04:00.001-05:00

Knitting is a tradition in my family ...

My mother knits. My grandmother knits. Her mother knitted. And I suspect that her grandmother knitted too! In fact, family tradition claims that my grandmother was three years old when she knitted her first sweater. She was riding on a train with her mother (my great-grandmother) and there was a G.I. on the train too. He 'fell in love' with her ... 'grown up' at three years old, clicking away with her knitting needles as she knitted her first sweater, chattering and giggling, eating the sweets he gave her! (On a side note, I sometimes wonder who the G.I. was and what happened to him!)

I was ... er ... a just little older than three years old when I knitted my first sweater! I can't remember whether I was thirteen or fifteen, but I know I was somewhere in my early - mid teens. I've been knitting more or less ever since, but although I am 'a good, strong, plain knitter', colorful designs and fancy stitches and complex cabling are beyond me (at least, for now!). But ... I enjoy knitting anyway ... the click of the needles, the rhythm of knitting and purling, the growth of a sweater or scarf or hat. And this is my latest project, which I hope to have finished by the end of this month.

A photocopy of the pattern (which I can mark and make notes on, without spoiling the original) and some of the completed knitting ... the back of the sweater, I think!

The pattern again, with some of the knitting on the needles. The sweater is warm and chunky, hence the size of the wool and of the needles. I love the way this picture looks ... the knitting on the needles and the ball of wool!

A close-up of my knitting ...

"This Day"

2007-11-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the sky was bright and clear
I could see the sun and I could hear the song.
Faith flowed like a river free and deep
And grace was not so hard to be believed.
But that was yesterday ...
And what was close enough to touch
Now seems a world away.
So what about this day?

This day all His mercies are new.
This day every promise is true.
Father, help me to believe,
Give me faith I need to know You ...
And trust You this day.
This day ...

Who knows what tomorrow’s light will bring?
Tears to cry or maybe songs to sing out loud,
But only God can see that far away
And He made us for living day by day,
‘Cause He wants us to see ...
That the God that He’s been every day of history
Is who He is this day.

This day all His mercies are new.
This day every promise is true.
Father, help me to believe,
Give me faith I need to know You ...
And trust You this day.
This day ...

‘Cause You are the same yesterday and today and forever.
Through every season Your truth and Your grace never change.
Oh, Lord, I do believe that the God that You’ve been every day of history.
Is who You are this day.

Stephen Curtis Chapman

"Queen of Tomorrow"

2007-11-21T06:22:00.002-05:00

A little while ago I wrote a long and rambling post about sponteneity and seredipity. In it, I said:

"I found ... [a] lovely book about Queen Elizabeth II. Since she's a woman I admire tremendously, I'm thrilled with the book ... published in the 1940s in England, when Queen Elizabeth was still Princess Elizabeth, in her early-twenties, newly-married and childless. The biography is old enough that it's very un-sensational and respectful. Both things that I approve of in biographies! The books also contains some lovely pictures and was very cheap. What more could I ask?!?"

The book is called 'Queen of Tomorrow'. (And that is what first caught my eye, because I saw it and thought, 'But no one knows who the next Queen of England is going to be yet!') I've enjoyed looking through it, although I have not had time to actually read it yet! I was (and am!) so pleased with this book that I decided to share some pictures of it on my blog. Enjoy!

The front cover ...

and the title page.

"Before You Meet Pince Charming": Take Two

2007-11-19T13:29:00.000-05:00

I received this comment on my blog over the weekend:

"I ... noticed that you are reading 'Before you Meet Prince Charming'. I've seen this book recommended many times and was wondering how you liked it??"

It's not often that someone asks me how I like a book I'm reading, but I'm always ready to talk about books, so ...

I really like "Before You Meet Prince Charming"! I enjoy reading it and find it very encouraging and helpful. It's a book I have no reservations recommending and endorsing!

There are 12 chapters and an epilogue:

Desire the Very Best Marriage
Dangers With the Dating System
Guard Your Heart
Could He be the One?
Romantic Dreams
When God Says Wait
How Parents Can Help
Have a Life Purpose Bigger than Marriage
Dreams Must Die
Reserved for One
Delighting in the Lord
Know that God Arranges Marriages
Epilogue: After Years of Imagining

When reading a lot of books about singleness, purity and relationships, I find myself depressed, condemned or embarrassed (depending on the way the issue of emotional / mental / physical purity is handled) and ... confused! Reading "Before You Meet Prince Charming" didn't depress, condemn or embarrass, or confuse me ... which is nice! No book is 'perfect', but this book is good. The highest praise I can give this book is ... I am happy for any of my younger sisters to read it and I'm looking forward to letting my daughters read it one day, if God ever blesses me with a husband and children (well ... daughters!).

Reading it for a second time, I think my favourite quote is this:

"If your single years are spent simply waiting around for Prince Charming, feeling sorry for yourself, and dreaming about being married, your life will be miserable. But if your days are spent serving the Lord, each day will only get sweeter as you abide in His presence, more joyous as you see his plans for you unfold, and more fulfilling as you learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive."

"Before You Meet Prince Charming" (Chapter 8 - Have a Life Purpose Bigger than Marriage)

Click HERE to read my earlier thoughts about "Before You Meet Prince Charming", written when I read it for the first time!

A Quote

2007-11-11T13:04:00.000-05:00

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see."
John Burroughs

I found this quote on Janel's blog and ... what can I say? I felt I had to share it on my blog too!

What makes You Think I Might be 'Busy' Right Now?

2007-11-11T07:49:00.001-05:00

The fact that I haven't posted much worth reading recently?

The fact that I haven't posted as regularly as usual recently?

The fact that I haven't posted anything at all recently?!?

Before I started my blog, I thought it was easy. One just started a blog and posted something every day and ... well, there one was, a blogger! If only it was that easy ...

Of course, starting a blog is easy! (One might almost say 'too easy'!) Posting something every day isn't that difficult. But posting something worth reading every day is a challenge and being a blogger ... well, I have a blog, but I don't think I qualify as a blogger. And that's okay, because I think there are more important things to be in life. Really, I do!

Anyway ...

Over the summer I wasn't too busy and I had time to write a lot and post lots of things that I gather some people thought worth reading. Right now ... right now I am 'busy'. I suppose a lot of people would look at my life and wonder why I'm so busy! I'm still not going out to work. I'm haven't started studying for a degree. I'm still as single as single can be. But ...

Every day is full of things to do and I am 'busy'. My head is full of things - interesting and exciting things, in my opinion! - to post and my fingers are itching to type and edit and format. But when I have to choose between serving my family or posting something ... finishing a ministry project or posting something ... getting a decent night's sleep or posting something ... I'm sorry, but posting something has to wait.

And I feel really bad about that!

But ... anyway ... right now I am 'busy'! So ... what am I going to do? Well, not much. I'm not going to close my blog. I'm not going to neglect my blog. I'm not going to take 'a blogging break'. I guess I just want those of you who read my blog regularly to know that I'm still here ... I haven't (as the writers of some of my favourite blogs have done in the past!) faded away and lost interest in life or blogging!

I know I won't be blogging much over the holiday season (say ... December 15th - January 1st) because my family and I are going to be more than busy ... they'll be shopping to do, presents and cards to organise, food to cook, trips to make, family members to visit and cheer. You get the idea! But until then and after then (and maybe even a little bit during 'then'!) I'm planning to keep blogging ...

Thank you, dear people who faithfully read my blog and generously leave me sweet comments!

A Long Post About Spontaneity and Serendipity

2007-11-06T13:34:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a perfect fall day ... the sky was clear and blue from side-to-side, the sun was shining and sparkling on the rain that had fallen during the night, the leaves on the trees and the ground were red and gold and brown, there was a little breeze that blew the fallen leaves hither and thither ... making them dance around the yard and across the road. Of course, it was a Monday morning and there was a lot to be done, but something got into my mother and my siblings and I and we decided that we simply couldn't waste such a beautiful and perfect day.

So we decided to practice a little spontaneity and serendipity ... in short, to make the most of the beauty and perfection surrounding us!

What is spontaneity and serendipity? Spontaneity is something "of one's own free will, impulsive or unpremeditated". And serendipity ... well, that's a word I only recently came across, which seems to me to be loaded with delights just waiting to be discovered! According to my father's dictionary, serendipity is "the faculty of making happy chance finds ... a famous man coined the words from the title of the fairy tale 'The Three Princes of Serendip', whose heroes were always making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of."

Having decided to practice a little spontaneity and serendipity, my mother and my siblings and I decided that a walk in a local park would be the best way to practice these ... er ... virtues. (Are they virtues? I don't think they're vices ...) We all bustled around, pulling on shoes and coats and hats and gloves. Then we bundled into the van and set off. If you imagine that the park is at the top of the left-hand side of a V and that my house is at the top of the right-hand side of the V, you'll have a pretty good idea of the sort of drive we had to take to the park ...

Now, acting theoretically in the spirit of spontaneity and serendipity (but in reality in the spirit of wanting to have as long as possible at the park, before heading home to cook lunch), I decided to take a 'short cut'. Instead of taking the main road down from my house to the bottom of the V and then up from the bottom of the V to the park, I turned off the main road onto a little road that cuts across country from the left-hand top of the V to the right-hand top of the V. It's worth noting that the main road is in good condition, but the little road is ... well, it's in poor condition, it crosses the railway line at a crossing rather than over a bridge and its mainly frequented by tractors and other farm traffic.

Undeterred by all this, I pursued the 'short cut' ... bombing down the single-track road, admiring the trees on either side and the grass in the middle. My mother commented on the pot-holes in the road and my siblings commented on how exciting and fun taking the 'short cut' was! I rounded a sharp corner a little two fast, squished over the the side of the road to let a truck pass me and crossed the railway line at the crossing (with my eyes squeezed tightly shut). I enjoyed the beautiful day and view. And I congratulated myself on practicing spontaneity and serendipity. It was so much fun!

Then I rounded another sharp corner. I was immediately obliged to do an emergency stop, because right in front of me was a little yellow sign. It said, 'Road Ahead Closed' and there was an arrow, pointing down an even 'littler' side-road and marked 'Diversion'. A few yards beyond the sign, there was a little group of workmen in yellow coats, busily making a hole in the road. My mother and I looked at each other and debated ... should we go back (and lost lots of time) or follow the diversion (and risk getting lost) ... and since I was driving and got to take the ultimate decision, I decided to follow the diversion. Once again, I congratulated myself ... and it was still so much fun ... I think ... !

The new road headed back toward my house ... imagine being halfway across the top of the V and turning right up in the middle and driving out the top of the V. That's what we did. I drove carefully, avoiding the million pot-holes and admiring the view. It was gorgeous ... the view, I mean! Trees lined the road, their branches overhanging it, the sun shining down through their golden leaves and the breeze tossing the fallen ones along the road in front of the van. Beyond the trees, there were the rolling hills, green and gold and red and brown. And beyond the hills, there was the sky, clear and blue. It was beautiful!

Finally my mother said, "I think we're going in the wrong direction."

My youngest sister said, "But it's so much fun!"

I pulled into a handy gate-way, all ready to turn the van around and head back to the main road. We consulted a map and decided to follow the diversion, which took us down yet another side-road, back down towards the bottom of the V. Again, the view was gorgeous. I was tempted to drive slowly, just to look at the trees and the leaves! Finally we reached the cross-roads where - beyond the men making a hole in the road - where we should have joined the road again and headed right on across to the left-hand top of the V. And then, as I turned the indicator on and pulled the wheel round, my sister said, "Stop! This road was closed at the far end last week!"

So what did we do? We practiced a little more spontaneity and I drive on down the road to the bottom of the V. Then I turned back onto the main road and drove right back up to the left-hand top of the V. And - finally! - we arrived at the park. As I pulled into the parking lot and parked the van, my youngest sister said, "The moral of the story is, 'Never take short cuts!'" I smiled. I really did. And I thought of the gorgeous views. Then we all went and rummaged in the second-hand book-room (yes, there is one of those in the buildings at the entrance to the park!).

I found two favourite books from my childhood and one lovely book about Queen Elizabeth II. Since she's a woman I admire tremendously, I'm thrilled with the book ... published in the 1940s in England, when Queen Elizabeth was still Princess Elizabeth, in her early-twenties, newly-married and childless. The biography is old enough that it's very un-sensational and respectful. Both things that I approve of in biographies! The books also contains some lovely pictures and was very cheap. What more could I ask?!?

So the book was (and is!) a blessing ... rummaging in the book-room and finding it was a very good reward for practicing spontaneity and was (I believe ...) practicing serendipity. So was enjoying a walk in the park. Jane Austen has written a lot about the beauties of nature and of this time of year in the country. Walking in the park, I was inclined to agree with her most descriptive and lyrical passages! (It must have been on just such a day that Anne Elliot went for 'a long walk' with Captain Wentworth and the Musgrove family, in 'Persuasion'.) And finally, since it was time to go home and make lunch, we all piled back into the van and I drove home.

I decided not to take a 'short cut' this time. And we got held up again on the main road ... by more men making another hole in a different road. As we waited for the lights to change to green and let us pass the workmen and their hole, my youngest sister said, "Of course, the moral of this story is, 'Always take short cuts!'" And I smiled. And giggled. And laughed. And so did everyone else in the van. When we set out to practice a little spontaneity and serendipity, we got a little more than we bargained for. For it was more than worth it.

It was so much fun!

Cookies and Candies

2007-11-04T11:24:00.001-05:00

This morning at church, a baby was dedicated. Her parents promised to raise her within a strong and loving Christian home and the church promised to support and encouraged them as they do that. I know the parents slightly and remember them mainly because the father is one of the happiest people I've ever met. I know that sounds a bit odd, but really ... this guy is always smiling and always enjoying life. Oh, I'm sure he has his 'blue' moments, but probably not very often. He's just too busy loving life ...

I remember meeting this family once this last summer, at the grocery store. It was the middle of July, but it felt more like the middle of November. The weather was cold and gray and wet. And I was tired and right in the middle of a deep 'blue' moment. I saw the family coming from a distance, the father and mother each holding a hand of their little girl - dancing along between them - and the mother carrying their baby. The father was laughing and the mother was smiling. Their little girl was giggling. Their baby was gurgling. They were so happy ... they lit the grocery store up!

They stopped to say hello and we chatted for a few minutes. They had just stopped by to pick up cookies and candies. They were on their way to a local adventure/amusement park ... even though it was cold and gray and wet and there were sure to be a million other families at the park. And they were happy ... happy to be together, to be picking up cookies and candies, to be going to the park. The weather didn't matter. The million other families didn't matter. They were happy. And after they had left me, I realised that I had 'caught' some of their happiness too ...

Attending their baby's dedication this morning, I found myself remembering that. And thinking guiltily that there are times when I demand quite a lot to 'make' me happy ... rather than just being happy with what I am and what I have and where I am and rather than just loving life ... I pick and choose and want 'more' or 'better' or 'different'. Maybe, rather than demanding quite a lot to 'make' me happy, I should 'choose' to be happy. Even when it's cold and grey and wet. Or whatever (I am only too well aware that there are many worse things in life than inclement and depressing weather!).

The point is I don't need 'this' or 'that' to 'make' me happy ... I have God and all the many blessings He has given me right now. So right now I'm 'choosing' to be happy.

A lingering question is, would cookies and candies help?

Hmm ... !

What Could Be Better?

2007-10-31T14:46:00.000-04:00

I haven't been so well these last few days and only got a few hours sleep last night, so naturally I decided that the best way to recover would be to clean my bedroom today.

Hmm ... okay, so maybe that wasn't the best way to recover ...

But my bedroom did need cleaning, so I did do it. And 'though I says it as shouldn't', it now looks very nice! I do like keeping my room clean and tidy, but there are times - for instance, over the last few weeks when I have been so busy getting ready for my sister's birthday - that I don't have time to clean it and it gets just a little bit messy. Then I have to have to roll up my sleeves and tie back my hair and don an apron and get to work with a duster and the vacuum-cleaner. It's quite hard work, but several hours later - voila! - my bedroom looks nice again!

Today I combined cleaning with sorting, throwing out lots of old papers and odds and ends that I don't need or want, which just clutter my bedroom up and add to my stress when I have to clean it. But I haven't trashed all the old papers. The ones I've kept are all literary efforts, stories and 'books' that I've written during my life, starting when I was four years old. They're too precious and funny to trash, so I've kept a whole pile of stories and exercise-books, full of adventurous girls and brave boys. I've always loved history - especially English history - so most of the stories are set way back sometime, when girls had to be adventurous and boys had to be brave ...

Presented with redoubtable challenges, my girls and boys always rise to the occasion and 'come through with flying colours'! For example ... my favourite plot when I was 14 or so was of a young girl defending her father's castle from the enemy, while he was away fighting for 'king and country' and her mother was stricken with childbirth or smallpox. The girl always had to hold the family and household together, caring for her younger siblings and rallying the servants and soldiers. In the end, just as the enemy was about to breach the castle walls, the girl saved the day (somehow!) and was raising the standard when her father - and a young cousin or some-such, exactly the 'right age'! - came galloping over the hill to the rescue!

I smile now, but when I wrote these stories I was in earnest ... pouring over my exercise books and chewing my pens in concentration, looking all the historical details up in my history books and consulting my father or his dictionary whenever I wanted to use a word I didn't know how to spell. I think I must have got the inspiration for my dashing adventures and resourceful heroines from all the old English children's books I read, published between WWI and WWII and full of 'duty' and 'honour'. I loved them and read them over and over again. My favourite was 'The Girls of Gwynfa'. Very cool.

Some other old papers I've kept are letters! Since the age of ten, I've had lots of wonderful friends who just happen to live miles and miles away. We've written letters back and forth and I have piles and piles of them, mostly neatly folded away in their envelopes, sporting stamps not seen for a long time and postmarks from the early '90s. Some of the girls who wrote these letters have graduated from university and embarked upon careers, others have married and had babies, some are still living at home to serve their families and develop their talents. My friendship with some dates way back to my pre-teen years and my friendship with others is a recent blessing. A few, I haven't heard from in years and now we're writing back and forth again ... a smaller number, I don't know anymore, although I don't think I'll ever forget them.

The letters are such a wonderful reminder of girlhood ... of the days when homeschooling projects and modesty and courtship were the most important topics in the world, when my friends and I covered pages and pages of note-paper ... with round girlish handwriting and very definite opinions on everything from family-planning and child-rearing to Jane Austen and environmentalism! My friends and I talked about everything and were never shy about airing our opinions - whether or not we knew anything about the topic on hand. Glancing back over the letters, I always end up giggling over something (and usually more than one 'something', at that!).

So ... today has been quite a nice day, filled with cleaning and sorting ... and happy moments and carefree giggles! A clean room, a cup of tea, stories written with all the ardour of the early teen years and letters from dear friends, far and near. What could be better?

Schedules

2007-10-24T09:36:00.000-04:00

Okay ... if you're reading this post, I really want to know what you think about ... schedules!

My parents are not really too keen on schedules (not that they don't approve of them - they do, I guess they've just never found one that worked for them or something!), so I've never had one before. But my life is so busy that I am just not getting to do half of the things I have to do. And I'm getting frustrated! I'm working right now on streamlining my life and what I have to do, cutting out those things (like too much time on the Internet) that are stealing my time and organising what's left - what I really do have to do.

And I'm wondering if having a schedule would help. That way I could spread the things out over the week, rather then trying to squash them all into a day or two ... or forgetting half of them. And I could keep track of events and activities during the day. And I could hopefully make better use of my time ... and succeed in actually giving my sisters piano lessons and writing letters to my friends.

I'm already very 'into' lists ... I have one every day! And I do budget and manage my time. Please don't think I just drift through life doing whatever I feel like doing whenever I feel like doing it! It's just that my budgeting and managing isn't working too well at the moment and I think it's time for a change! But a schedule ... ?

If you're reading this, please leave a comment and tell me what you think of schedules ... whether you have one or not, why you do or don't have one, how you get through everything you have to do ... that kind of thing! Of course, you don't have to leave a comment ... ! A lot of my mother's home-management books say every woman has to have a schedule to accomplish anything on time and in order ... and a lot say every woman should avoid schedules, because they're too rigid and restrictive!

What do you think?!?

Early Morning Happinessess

2007-10-24T09:29:00.000-04:00

Waking up early ...
Having the house more-or-less to myself ...
Being able to read my Bible and pray in the cozy kitchen rather than my chilly bedroom ...
My freshly-washed bare feet pattering across the floor ...
My freshly-washed wet hair dripping down my back and plopping onto the floor ...
Being able to spread my Bible and devotional books and diary all over the kitchen table (which in the early morning is less cluttered than my desk is!) ...
A glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice ...
Classical music playing in the background ...
The sun rising outside ...
The frost sparkling as the sun rises and catches the icy crystals ...
Reading my Bible ...
Praying ...
Noting down in my diary the things I think God is teaching me and wants me to remember ...
Knowing that I'm there and God is there ...
Knowing that I'm alive and ready to start another day!

A Letter from One Daughter at Home to Another

2007-10-22T12:09:00.001-04:00

I just read an excellent post on Anna's blog, about adult unmarried daughters living at home. Anna concludes:

"I believe that we, as adult unmarried daughters, have a unique opportunity to show today's self-centered world what it really means to honor and cherish our parents, to serve cheerfully and put our family first. We can show what it's like to be productive, industrious and creative; self-sacrificing, loving, and faithful; serving, generous, delighted helpers to our parents and siblings.

This vision of daughterhood is beautiful. It's powerful. Let us seize the chance and live it – for the glory of God."

I was so encouraged!

So then I skimmed through the comments the post had elicited ... and I was not so encouraged.

Some of the comments were so negative! I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinion ... but ... I don't know why, but the negative comments really upset and frustrated me ... maybe because I'm sleep-deprived ... or because I'm getting a cold ... or because some of the negative comments put into printed words the insinuations and accusations that I - an adult unmarried daughter living at home - have heard so many times before and am so completely tired of.

Seeing the negative comments in black-and-white printed words was ... tough ... it's one thing to hear the words, it's another to read them, something which makes them more powerful and memorable. They left me feeling alone and inadequate, wondering if all the things the negative comments suggested were true ... wondering if I am just waiting for Prince Charming to come ... or if I am refusing to grow up and take some responsibility ... or if I am not working or being productive ... or ... or ... or ...

If you're an adult unmarried daughter living at home, this is for you:

Dear Sister,

Hello!

I wish I knew who you are and what you're like ... how you embrace your life as an adult unmarried daughter who lives at home ... what joys and sorrows we share and what lessons we've learned and doubts we've contended with that would bridge the differences between us and unite us.

I've been an adult unmarried daughter living at home for five years now. When I was eighteen, I thought and prayed long and hard about whether I should leave home and attend college. My parents and I concluded - individually and together - that God didn't want me to do that, so I settled down to serve my family and continue my education at home. Five years later, I still serve my family and work from home. And ... it's not easy or fun or glamorous, but I know I am exactly where God wants me to be, doing (or trying to do!) exactly what He has called me to do.

So many people think that when adult unmarried daughters live at home, they are choosing the easy option in life and refusing the face the 'realities' of society in the twenty-first century. And yet ... don't all of us who live at home - who have chosen a denim skirt and a hand-knitted sweater over a college gown and a dimploma! - know that we have NOT chosen the easy option?

It would be so easy to leave home and go to college ... to do what our contemporaries and our society expects of us ... to just be 'normal', for goodness sake! And yet ... God has called some young women to go to college and be a witness for Him in the classrooms and halls of the world; He's called some young women to pursue a career and point people to His goodness and love in the offices and coffee shops of the world. But He hasn't called us to that. He's called us to be a witness for Him and point people to His goodness and love in less popular environments ... in the kitchens, schoolrooms, family-rooms, mini-vans and back-yards of the world. In the homes ...

Living at home requires a daily decision to live for God in the place He has called us to live ... a place that is not often recognised or universally appreciated. He's called us to serve in the homes and families in which He has placed us and to which He has called us. There are many arguments for and against adult unmarried daughters living at home, but ultimately, those of us who live at home do so for one reason - the same reason: because God has called us to do that ... not for anyone or anything other than HIM.

And it's hard ... most people think we're wrong ... that we're refusing to grow up ("You can't live with Daddy and Mommy forever!") or that we let our parents 'impose' on us ("Do they MAKE you teach your little siblings?"). Most people don't realise the maturity and strength it takes to stand firm against the pressure of societal 'norms' and the opinions of family and friends. Most people don't understand the willing and cheerful sacrifices of time and love that God calls us to make daily.

The family is under attack as never before, as the battle of good against evil - God against Satan - grows in intensity. The family - and therefore society - is largely crumbling before the attack, producing broken homes and hurting people. I believe that as we stand firm against the attack and against the pressure of societal 'norms', we will need God's help ... to believe His call, to listen for His affirmation over the world's mockery and criticism, to ignore the lies of Satan as he tries to convince us that we're wrong and wasting our lives.

But, dear girls, it is so worth it ...

For however long God calls us to live at home and serve our families, there are blessings in abundance!

I do not think any adult unmarried daughters living at home (at least, not the ones I am privileged to know!) have much 'free time'. I know I don't have much of that commodity ... I work a long day, full of home-making, teaching, writing! But the few spare moments that I do have, I am free to dedicate to something good and worthwhile ... reading a home-making book or a history book, practicing the flute, writing to friends or writing posts for my blog, reading and studying my Bible, praying, writing in my diary and EVEN gazing at the moon and stars and wonder what this awesome life God has given me is for ...

There is, I think, an important thing for those of us who live at home to grasp and hang on to ...

This time that God has called us to live at home and serve our families is both an important and once-in-a-lifetime phase of our lives AND a training ground for everything else God has planned for our lives. It's not just a waiting time, to be scrambled through as quickly as possible ... I believe it is to be lived (and even enjoyed!) to the full. But it's not an end-in-itself either ... I believe it is to be recognised and used as a preparation time, in which to grow closer to and more like God, to learn and explore and discover.

One day we'll look back at this time and I hope and pray that each one of us will remember a home beautified and a family served ... but also time spent making the most of AND preparing for the destiny God thought of when He created each one of us ...

If you're reading this because you too are an adult unmarried daughter living at home, be encouraged! God has called you and He won't forget you. He has plans for you right now while you peel potatoes and give math lessons. And He has plans for the rest of your life! Stand firm in Him and His call to you,

With much love in Messiah,
Elizabeth

I Love This Quote Too!

2007-10-19T07:07:00.004-04:00

"[One thing about writing I wish other writers would understand is] that the ultimate goal should not be publication, but should be to glorify God. That as soon as they write 'The End' on the manuscript they have accomplished their goal. Publication is just the gravy."

Deanna Gist

Since I have only had articles and stories published in magazines and on websites and not yet had a book published, I find it hard to agree whole-heartedly that publication is just 'the gravy' ... if I write a hundred books and never get any of them published, I think I'll struggle to believe that I've succeeded in using my writing to really glorify God! But maybe that will change when I (hopefully) get a book published! And in the meantime, I love the way this quote points out that the 'ultimate goal' of writing is not publication (or proving to anyone that I can do it or becoming 'popular' and 'famous') ... it's to glorify God. And that - I hope and pray - will always be my motivation and my goal.

Now THAT'S What I Call Romantic!

2007-10-19T07:07:00.003-04:00

I've somehow grown up romantic at heart ... and I have no idea how I've done it!

I know that a lot of girls get all mushy when they see a young couple holding hands or something. And I must admit, there's nothing like a young couple holding hands ... and gazing into each other's eyes ... and smiling at each other ... and whispering to each other ... and generally behaving as if they think they're the only people on the face of the planet ... to make a single girl feel - well - single. But although I'm sure it's wonderful to be twenty-one and in love and newly married, I can't helping think it must be more wonderful to be seventy-one and in love and very married.

The other day I saw an elderly couple in the grocery store. They were holding hands and generally behaving ... well, they weren't behaving as if they were the only people on the face on the planet, but they were both behaving as if the other was the most important person on the face on the planet. And I got all mushy! I pushed the shopping cart up and down the aisles randomly, gazing blankly at the shopping list and thinking, 'Wow ... now THAT'S what I call romantic!'

They love each other and they know it. They've gone through all sorts of ups and downs together, they've raised children and grandkids together, they've lived life together. And they're still holding hands and living life together.

So I was thinking ... if God wants me to get married and brings Prince Charming into my life, I am going to love each and every moment of our friendship and courtship and engagement. I am going to throw myself heart and soul into loving him and being my best for him and preparing for our wedding and our life together. But all along, I want to remember that the best is yet to be ... marrying my best friend is only the beginning, living life with my best friend and growing old with my best friend is still to come. And one day, when we're both very old and wise and mellow ...

Well, one day we'll go grocery shopping together and we'll hold hands and we'll both behave as if the other is the most important person on the face of the planet. And I hope I'll remember how special our wedding day was, but I also hope I'll remember that this is better.

That this is what I call romantic ...

A Racing Car Driver or a Historian?

2007-10-19T07:07:00.001-04:00

Yesterday afternoon some homeschooling friends came round ... three children and their mama. William, Jennie and Michael are old friends, since I worked as a mother's help (for their mother) and baby-sitter (for them) for years. William is 13 now ... he was six when I first knew him and it's so much fun having long and serious discussions with him, remembering that not so long ago all he wanted to do was run around and chase ball and make a lot of noise! Jennie is quite a young lady now and Michael ... well, Michael has a special place in my heart, I must admit. I remember his mama telling my family and I that she was expecting him and I remember seeing him for the first time when he was a few days old, holding him for the first time when he was not much older, in addition to plying with him day after day when I was working as a mother's help and baby sitter.

Yesterday, while my mother and the children's mama chatted and some of my siblings played with Jennie and Michael, William and I had a long conversation. We started talking about books and history. William's parents are bringing him up to be a gentleman and he is very protective of his mama and sister - just like his daddy is. He's also quite protective of my sisters and I, I've noticed. Our conversation about books and history was punctuated by remarks such as, "Well, I like this book, but you wouldn't ...", "I don't recommend you read this book ...", "This book would give you the creeps, I don't think you'd better read it ..." Very sweet! We moved on to talk about writing ... I write stories and articles, he writes stories and plays. I think we share some literary aspirations, although we write about totally different subjects: I write about girls, William writes about boys. Enough said ...

Finally we talked about possible career options. William is currently undecided between being a racing car driver and a historian, although he is leaning towards being a historian. I was somewhat distracted while he was explaining his reasons, because I could hear my mother and his mama discussing my new skirt on the other side of the room. (William dismissed that: "Oh ... clothes! Women always talk about clothes. I don't know why!") William concluded, "Anyway, I think I'd rather be a historian." Absently I agreed, "Oh, I think I'd rather be a historian too!" There was silence for a moment ... then William seemed to realise what I'd said and his eyes grew wider and wider. Shocked, he gasped, "Well, Elizabeth, I think you'd rather be a historian too. I think it would suit you better than being a racing car driver would!" Judging from his shock, I'm not sure if William was imagining me driving a racing car or his father has told him that Nice Girls Don't Do That.

But ... it was funny! I mean, I do honestly think I would rather be a historian than a racing car driver, so ... well, it's nice to have a consensus of opinion (of at least two people!) on that point!

I just LOVE This Quote!

2007-10-15T15:29:00.000-04:00

This is one of the best ...

"God's women, down through the centuries, have enjoyed a freedom the world will find difficult to understand - the freedom to be and to do that which God intended."

Ruth Bell Graham

Notes of An Assistant Party Planner - Part 3

2007-10-15T14:38:00.000-04:00

Here are the promised pictures, for anyone who cares to see them ...

Pink paper table-cloth and dotty paper plates and napkins. If you don't think these are very '50s-ish, pl-l-lease don't tell me ... !

Jammie Dodgers ... say no more!

The pattern my sister is using to make the '50s skirts ...

One of the '50s skirts ... it needs hemming, but otherwise it's done! Underneath the over-skirt, you can see the net petticoat. The skirt is very full and the net petticoat makes it 'swish' ... a lot of fun!

The party-planning is going quite well right now ... today I made the birthday cake (double chocolate chip ... with chocolate fudge icing that I'll make and add right before the party, when the cake is out of the freezer and defrosted). I also made (just in case anyone's interested!) six loaves of onion and cheese bread and 7 - 8 pints of leek and potato soup. Why the sudden burst of culinary activity? Well ... as if my family's and my life wasn't interesting enough already, the local government has decided to turn off all water on our street this week, every day between 8am and 8pm. My sister's birthday is on Wednesday (all day) and her party is on Saturday (late evening). I haven't quite figure out how I'm going to make the muffins, etc., without running water, but no doubt I'll think of something. It could be worse ... as is probably evident, our stove is working again; just imagine trying to make the muffins without running water or a stove. Personally I'd rather not imagine it or try it!

If you happen to think of me (and our water supply!) this week, you might like to say a little prayer, to the effect that I'll get through all that cooking and baking ...

Oh well ... such are the joys of life!

Notes of An Assistant Party Planner - Part 2

2007-10-11T12:44:00.000-04:00

My sister's assistant party planner (aka ME!) has been so busy planning the party, that there hasn't been any time to blog about planning the party. Is that sad or what?!?

That said, I have to admit that planning the party hasn't actually been going so well ... my sister is out at work so much, it's been hard to find time to sit down and really talk about the party ... next week, after all. Plus, I've been super-busy (finishing making my sister's birthday present ... shh!) and my family's stove hasn't been working. Being super-busy, it's been hard finding (or making) time to plan ... and being without a working stove has somewhat taken away the motivation to plan food I can't bake and freeze after all ...

So ... next week I'm really going to be planning the party. Hopefully the stove will not have stopped working again. (Oh ... yes, the use of 'again'? Well, it stopped working, but the stove men fixed it. At least, they though they fixed it. And so did we, until the stove stopped working again. So they fixed it again. And it stopped working again. Basically, that's been going on for a week now, but I hope it's stopped now!) If the stove does stop working again, I guess I'm going to have to bake The Birthday Cake, the chocolate muffins and the jammie-dodgers on a friend's stove. Or something like that ...

One of my other sisters is making the skirts, so at least that aspect of the party is going to be great! Me being super-busy (and pre-occupied trying to provide food for a large family with a stove that stopped working every time I needed it), I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I'm planning to take some tomorrow. I've done enough party planning to take some pictures, I promise! The party planning I've done will hopefully save me from doing something I dislike, next week ... throwing parties at the last minute!