Here is a collection of old and new pictures…I was just playing around–no spectacular photography, just the babies!
(Children are a Heritage can be found on the By Heart Scripture Songs CD. This song is copyrighted…use only by permission.)
“A housewife depends on her husband for a meal. There is no check on what he can do to her, and even if he beats her she can’t leave him because she’ll starve to death. She has nothing but his good graces to keep her alive. Look, males are not saints. They’re human and prey to the same faults as women are. Your system gives males completely unchecked power and makes women helpless.”
This comment from a reader reflects a common misconception of God’s order and design of marriage.
It sounds like a reasonable argument, and therefore one of the reasons given for the importance of women pursuing a career and forsaking the traditional role of homemaker.
This comment is a great example of a deeper issue…the need of a Savior. The above comment certainly has validity, if the housewife and husband aren’t believers, governed by an absolute law of truth.
The “check” for a husband and wife is not their own whims and desires; the check is the Holy Spirit of God in their lives. It is acknowledging that God’s ways are right and being willing to submit to His plan.
Isn’t this the whole crux of the matter? Isn’t this why feminism and humanism and relativism are driving our culture? Because if the Word of God is not your starting point, if a husband and wife relationship is not held together by God’s grace and mutual love, if we are not living out the ultimate tenet of the Christian faith–“love your neighbor as yourself”, then it doesn’t make sense!
Apart from Christ, none of what I talk about here makes sense. Apart from Christ, yes, a husband could take only what he likes about the Scripture “wives, submit yourselves to your husbands”, and become a brow beater, thus distorting the whole face of Christianity.
But in Christ, you have a mutually dependent relationship. The husband loves his wife and lays down his life for her. The wife respects her husband, which drives him to serve her all the more. She does depend on him (according the Scripture, dependence is a GOOD thing!) for taking care of her, and he depends on her for creating and maintaining the home, nurturing his treasures (children) and for many, many things like friendship, counsel, and intimacy.
He doesn’t want to be without her, and she doesn’t want to be without him. He thinks she is a jewel, and she thinks he hung the moon.
(Yes, I know, even Chrstians struggle with this picture, but mostly because we are so infected with feminist thinking ourselves!)
In Christ, a husband and wife is supposed to be a picture of Christ the Groom, and His church, the Bride.
It’s a beautiful thing.
Thank you Kit, for creating the need to make this point.
We just moved into a new house, and I am enjoying finding frugal ways to decorate. Since furniture is so outrageous, I don’t know that I would go buy all new furniture even if we could; I really enjoy making the most of what God gives us.
So, we needed a coffee table. We live in a fairly rustic home, so I wanted something different and rustic. I had bought 2 or 3 old window panes a few months back from a man who sells “junk” out of his front yard. They were REALLY old…paint chipping, and even parts of it rotting on the bottom. Nevertheless, I had a “vision” for this old window pane.
I got my children to start sanding and sloughing off the chipped paint. Then, I found some wooden table legs that we had never used, and drilled them to each corner. I took the paint we had painted our walls with, brushed it on the old window pane, then followed right behind it with a paper towel. The finished look, I thought, was perfect.
The window cost $5.00.
Check Biblical Womanhood for more great Frugal Friday tips!
I thought it might be fun to interject some pics today…we are so truly overwhelmed and blessed with God’s goodness to us, I just wanted to praise Him publically.
Our new home!
Without going into boring and irrelevant detail, the Lord provided us the opportunity to move out of our little (albeit cozy!) house, and into a much larger, beautiful house. Not only is it a great house for our growing family, but it has built onto the end of it (the right side in the picture) a dining facility built to seat about 100 people–a feature we are hoping to use as a family business and ministry! (Not to mention, by the time I’m a grandmother, we will need the seating capacity to hold our family for Sunday dinner!)
We are still moving and finishing, so it’s not complete…
Under the apex in the living room, I had envisioned this for a long time. Vinyl lettering looks much better than my first idea to hand-paint it myself! (Sometimes my ideas are much more lofty than my abilities 🙂
Cute picture of baby Kyla!
A work in progress…this is our bedroom. I took an old dresser that needed “something”, and gave my 6 and 8 year old a bucket of paint, brushes, and some paper towels and said “have at it”. The results, were, well, interesting at least. But I kind of like it! Some people pay a lot of money for furniture that looks like this!
This is the center of most of our activity…cozy and warm. There’s another living area on the other side where our piano is and our family library will be soon…(I hope!)
An old fence panel we had in our yard adorns our dining room.
Three of the girls share this room…they’ve enjoyed making it pretty!
This is half of our laundry room–thank God for cubbies! There are even more underneath the shade and on the other side of the room. Still haven’t found the right containers to keep everyone’s laundry orderly, but when I do, watch out!
Our only attempt at a “hurry and take it” Christmas picture (thank you Evan!) The lighting was the pits, so I think it turned out well considering. Although I didn’t actually make it to the Christmas card stage 🙂
This is the dining room–“The Cedar House” is what we’ll call it, as the walls are natural, cedar planks half way up. A great place for a party!
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
I’ve really enjoyed mulling over your comments/experiences from the last post. I’m constantly struggling between “speaking the truth in love”, and being allowed a little “righteous indignation” when it comes to responding to comments about our large family.
Someone mentioned the difference between genuine curiosity and just rudeness. That distinction should definitely be made. I LOVE genuine curiosity; I love to debate, and I love every opportunity to “change the world”, so when someone is simply inquisitive, I’m in hog heaven.
“Press on, dear ones. Those who have never seen a garden harvest would surely scoff at the sweaty man digging around in the dirt!”
By the same token, I almost welcome the rude remarks, simply because I want to be able to use every opportunity to plant a seed, and ultimately turn the tide of thinking among Christians.
But just how to do this? Just how to make thought-provoking “come backs” without an air of pride, or without returning the rudeness?
I have thought a lot about the way Jesus handled questions and accusations. It is fun to try and imagine what HIS response would be….”You hypocrites! Know ye not that the Scriptures say ‘ be fruitful and multiply’, and ‘the fruit of the womb is His reward?’ “
Or…”It is written, (you brood of vipers), as arrows are in the hand of a mighty warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.”
Keep in mind, he wasn’t speaking to pagans!
Well, I don’t know if I’m that bold, or even want to be. Other times, Jesus was much more gracious in His responses. But it’s food for thought, since the adage of the day is, after all, “What would Jesus do?”
I guess the reason I think so much about this particular thing is because I know we didn’t just arrive where we are (children are not a blessing) over night. Someone once said that if you hear anything enough times, you will eventually believe it.
Maybe, as mothers and fathers who embrace the blessing of children, it’s all about withstanding the ridicule and even “rejoicing in our persecution” in order to speak the truth until people believe it. Maybe, a simple quotation of Scripture is sufficient. If it is spoken in love, we know it’s the truth, so there you have it!
Press on, dear ones. Those who have never seen a garden harvest would surely scoff at the sweaty man digging around in the dirt…so let us labor for the harvest!
I guess I’ll be repeating myself til the cows come home (forgive the southern idiom 🙂
“Most people stop after two, Kelly,” was the matter-of-fact comment, spoken of course with a smile (because that makes it OK), from a dear friend of mine, and, believe it or not, pastor. I hadn’t seen him in a while, and more than once during our visit he reminded me (with an innocent joke) how bizarre and weird our choice to let God be sovereign over our family size was.
Every time I witness other believers joking about the large family, my heart hurts. Not because they have hurt MY feelings, even though usually I am the brunt of the jokes, but because it is a constant reminder of the true condition of the “church’s” heart toward children, and ultimately toward God and family.
Am I saying that he was wrong for not allowing God to give him unlimited children? No, because that is between him and God. Am I saying he’s wrong for not upholding the clear teaching of Scripture about the blessing of children, especially as a pastor “to whom much has been given”? Yes, I am.
If my God says children are a blessing, then as a believer, I must reinforce that with my words, my actions and my testimony. If a pastor has been called to “feed my sheep”, then he must feed them biblical truth. There is no allowance, ANYWHERE, in Scripture, for Christians to poke fun, humiliate, or even question another Christian family who has decided to receive all their children. Even if you don’t choose it, you have a responsibility to uphold what the Bible teaches about it.
What a stark contrast to the wedding blessing spoken to Rebekah upon marriage: “May the Lord bless you and make you the mother of thousands and ten thousands!” (paraphrased slightly)
Or the psalmist: “Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table.”
Is this the heart we communicate when we get bug eyes and say “are you done?!”
So, yet again, I urge you to ask God to give you his heart concerning children. If the Bible is true, then children are a blessing. And if they are a blessing, let’s ACT LIKE IT!
I scribbled this thought down one day when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed at God’s goodness…
“How could not the station of Motherhood, the very utterance of the word, evoke such wonder, such awe, such honor, as to render every human in its hearing speechless!
For my very ability to hear the word, to ponder its meaning, exists only because I was given birth…by a mother…brought into the world through a series of miracles not even science can explain.
What privilege! What incredible prestige that God gave me, a woman, the special office of bringing new life into the world! Despite sickness, discomfort and pain, I, a mother, ultimately get to embrace the overwhelming honor of ushering forth a human being! Perpetuating the very existence of civilization!
Lord, I must pray for humility as I ponder what an awesome position I hold!
May my heart break to see a disdainful glance thrown at a mother…Surely, Lord, you grieve at every comment not loaded with jubilation, spoken of an expecting mother!
From here on, I adamantly renounce the world’s hatred of your precious gift of children…your tender office of motherhood, and your miraculous ministry of nurturing the next generation.”
I’ve pondered life and death a lot lately. As we get older, we face the reality of death more often–ironically, it’s part of life. Even tonight, I will go stand beside the casket that will hold a dear, life-long friend of our family. We will shed tears, yet we will rejoice. For our dear brother has shed his body of pain and is now rejoicing in the very presence of His Savior–Hallelujah!
Contemplating death should make us contemplate life. And what of this life? It is really short, isn’t it? When it’s all said and done, 70 years, or 60, or 50, or even 85 years, is not that long. We have but a brief time in history and then we’re gone. And that makes our lives here crucially important…we have one chance, one moment, one lifetime to impact the world.
Perhaps this is why I’m so passionate about speaking to women concerning their families. You have but one life to love your husband, heart soul and mind…one life to create a home where those around you can come for refreshment, encouragement and love…one life to tenderly shape the characters of your children, preparing them as soldiers for Christ as they lead the next generation…one life to write an encouraging note to a friend who is hurting…one life to extend your hand to the poor…one life to paint a picture of Christ’s love.
I ran across this poem I wrote some years ago, and it was such an urgent reminder. I hope you take it to heart!
The Tapestry of Life
“A life is said to start with a breath, and end with a sigh,
But I say a life never dies.
And what despair belongs to the one who has resolved that it is so–
That one’s spirit can be confined to a span of time!
No, I say each new life is part of a tapestry–the strands before it,
Woven with its own new cords, and unfinished still.
A great-grandmother’s shapely fingers find their way back
To stroke the ivory piano keys, youthful and painless,
They play with ease.
The dimple I can barely see in the photo of harsh reality,
(Some relative I don’t know from a life lived long ago,)
Is in my mirror now.
A yellowed letter heaves a long-awaited breath
Each time I open it to catch a glimpse of yesterday,
Words defy death.
One blends into another, seamlessly,
Life into life, tear into tear,
Day into day, and year into year.
And what of this life, yours and mine?
It’s true the time we have to weave is short,
But already I can see the threads–my heart, my passions, my love–
The words still unsaid,
Intertwining on my children’s looms with the tapestry they weave,
What sweet revelation before I leave!
Typically, they’re called “New Year’s Resolutions”. You may have your own personal name for those habits, commitments or changes you want to start with the new year. I don’t know about you, but as soon as the Christmas Holidays pass, I have this overwhelming zeal for “starting fresh”.
And it’s good–even crucial, to look back over the past year, ask the Lord to reveal areas of weakness, and then purpose to make changes, improve, persevere. I have so many thoughts of things I want to do differently, or just be more faithful in, that I thought it would be a good idea to blog them…both for my own reference, and hopefully to encourage you out there to devise your own list.
So…here are some of the things I intend to implement into my New Year:
- Speak kindly to my children and husband, begging the Lord to rid me of my impatient spirit, so that I would continually have “the law of kindness on my tongue”. (This is a hard one for me.)
- Seek to love my Savior more deeply than ever, knowing that when I love Him more, I love others more.
- Being more reverent to my husband, even when I think I am right 😉
- Opening my home to those around me, believers and non-believers alike, and showering them with blessing and love.
- Establishing a routine time for exercise.
- Getting up earlier, to have more time (or any time) with the Lord before the children wake. (I am so not a morning person 🙁
- Disciplining my time spent on the phone and computer. This, I think, is crucial to being an effective mom as there are so many areas to work on in the lives of my children. Just focusing more on them.
- Better eating habits.
- Saving all our change for some agreed upon purchase.
- Actually following the beautiful schedule I am forced (by my nature) to design every January.
This is a start…there are others that pop into my head throughout the day, but I will focus on these ten things for now.
Let us know what your resolutions are–we need inspiration! And then, may we all resolve with an iron will to carry them out! Happy New Year to you!
Daja sent this article demonstrating some incredibly cool ways she was a wise steward during Christmas. Often living on one income is just a matter of looking at things differently, and being determined to make it happen. Where there’s a will, there is always a way (not just a trite cliche!)
CLICK HERE for her clever ideas!
(I can’t wait to be back full swing…we’re still playing rat race!)
We are moving this weekend…I guess you figured out that I’ve been busier than usual. I’m actually convinced I may have lost my brain entirely, and might possibly never find it again.
See, I’m not bad at multi-tasking…I can type out a blog post, listen to my 6 year-old’s reading lesson, nurse the baby and listen out for arguments all at the same time. My husband can’t comprehend it, but then again, if the kids are watching a movie, and it can be anything, he is instantly engrossed and the house could burn down around him and he wouldn’t notice. God made him that way…you’ve probably got one too 🙂
But trying to finish construction on a house (so many things to remember and think about), AND prepare for Christmas, AND fill product and CD orders (which are coming in heavily–‘tis the season!) AND love my children, AND pack up the house, AND…
anyway, it has just done something to my brain. Really. I’m so disoriented I’m scared to leave the house.
I “ran to town” for a couple of errands yesterday (we live so far out of the city limits, that when you “go to town”, you really have to knock out several things at once to make it worth the gas.) Once I got there, I realized I had left everything I needed to bring at home (including the baby, although, don’t panic, she was with my oldest 🙂
I went to our church’s Christmas party dressed in a formal, silk skirt (one of the few times a year I get to really dress up). On the way there (of course we had been crazy all day), I told my husband, “There’s something I forgot…something I meant to do, but I can’t remember what”. At that moment, I remembered what. I had slipped on some shoes to run outside real quick (that’s another story…my potty-trained son decided to have an accident–and I mean a rush outside holding him at arms length–hose him down kind of accident), after I was already dressed of course, and yes, I forgot to change my shoes. Luckily, they were black so they matched, but they weren’t the right shoes with formal attire!
Please don’t think I’m suggesting that I am any busier than any of you hard-working ladies out there…I’m suggesting that I’m the biggest scatter-brain that ever walked the planet 🙂
Bear with me…