Just for Little Ol' Me

There are days around here when I have to remind myself that I asked - okay, BEGGED God to give me the opportunity to be a stay-at-home-mom.  I really harassed God about it, too. 

So when I go into a Christian bookstore and see a book that lists page after page of ideas for things for me to do that will give me some "ME time" I just get worked up.  Or listening to Christian radio the other day and being sweetly reminded by one of the speakers to "make time for just YOU."  Ugh.  I can't stand it! 

For one thing, I am a fallen, sinful woman.  It is easy for me to focus on myself.  It is easy to find hobbies with which to occupy myself.  Even if I didn't have enough imagination to come up with a hobby to fill my time with, I'm sure I could find something on t.v. to watch.  The last thing I need is for someone to give me ideas about how I can take the focus off what I'm supposed to be doing.  (Man, do I sound like a huge grouch, or what???)

Well, grouch or not, what I NEED as a Mom is encouragement to make my husband, kids and home the focus of my life!  I already struggle with wanting to get to my knitting or scrapbooking when I have a million other things to do without hearing the modern-day mantra, "Make time for just YOU."  God never tells us Moms to make time for our hobbies.  Not when we have responsibilities to take care of that He has given us!  The Proverbs 31 woman was not praised for her skill in cross stich or decoupage.  The Titus 2 woman is encouraged to be "busy at home...so that no one will malign the word of God (5).  I love what the notes in my Bible say about this passage....

"This is the purpose of godly conduct - to eliminate any reproach on Scripture.  For a person to be convinced God can save from sin, one needs to see someone who lives a holy life.  When Christians claim to believe God's Word but do not obey it, the Word is dishonored.  Many have mocked God and His truth because of the sinful behavior of those who claim to be Christians."

When we Christians sound just like the world in regard to the role of motherhood - that it's something that we need to get away from, even for a short while - we aren't convincing any non-Christian to revere God's word when it says,

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.  Happy is the man who has a quiver full of them."  Psalm 127:3-5

And we certainly aren't making it any easier for the daughters and sons we are raising to revere parenthood when we complain in front of them to other adults that "the kids are driving me crazy" or "I just need some time away!"  Like Paul wrote in Philippians, we are given a task to do by God, and we can't spend our time wondering what else we can do besides that task. Paul wrote in 3:13-14, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." 

Paul is specifically talking about becoming holy with this passage, but I think it can be applied here since we can never become more holy by making outside interests more important than the job He has given us to do while we're here.  I have to constantly pray and ask God to give me His vision for my role here at home as a wife and mother.  I can't keep the focus without Him, and I certainly couldn't be happy in my role without His encouragement.

Oooooof!

I got a kick in the stomach through a gumball on Christmas Day.  Or maybe a punch in the arm?  Either way, another lesson learned.  :-)

We don't chew gum here at our house.  Sounds silly to most, I know, but there are a few reasons why I would prefer my kids not to chew it:

1) sugar.  I know, I know.  We can't totally avoid sugar, and we don't go out of our way to do so, but it's easy to avoid sugar in something like gum - a nonessential.

2) aspartame.  The fake sweetener is just as obnoxious as the real sweetener.

3) food coloring.  I hate food coloring.  It is SO unnecessary!  Take egg nog for instance.  I looked at the list of ingredients on egg nog at the grocery store this month, and it has Yellow #5 in it.  WHY????  For what purpose????  I ended up making our own egg nog here at home, and it was also yellow because of the egg yolks.  So why do the makers and sellers of egg nog feel the need to add yellow?  The Feingold folks can give anyone a good education about food coloring. 

4) I read a short blurb about gum chewing that explained that when we chew, our brains receive the signal to tell our bodies to start producing the acid needed for digestion which can wreak havoc with our tummies.  My husband struggles with GERD already.  I see no need to add to his troubles with this, or expose our kids who might have the same weakness, to possible trouble for a stick of gum.

So that's my reasoning over gum.  What a scrooge!  It's a piece of gum, right??????  Oh, well.

So the big lesson learned..........I've told the kids that gum is not all it's cracked up to be and that their Dad and I have decided to opt-out where it is concerned.  The problem is that we would only discuss it in the checkout line at Target when the kids see the gum and ask if they can have some.  So I spent all of two seconds telling them no, that it's bad, bad, bad for them. 

Well, my daughter bought a big thing of gumballs for her brother for Christmas with her AWANA bucks at the AWANA store.  My husband or I were not there with her while she was doing her shopping, and she wrapped all her gifts on her own.  I didn't say anything when my son opened her gift.  I mean, come on, I'm not going to ruin a good gift-opening moment like that!  But as I thought about it throughout the day, I realized that the reason that my daughter gave those gumballs to my son was because even though my husband and I prefer that the kids not chew gum, we had never really explained why we thought it was not the best choice to our kids. Communication was lacking, which led to a lack of conviction on my daughter's part.

This made me think back through my life as a Christian gal.  I went through a loooooong period of lukewarm Christianity because, quite honestly, a lack of communication on the who, what, where, when's and why's of what Christianity is all about.  I was just told what sort of Christian I needed to be, which was great, but without a roadmap to get me there, I was floundering all over the place.  I had no conviction, which led to many bad decisions that make me cringe to this day.  If only........!

So those goofy gumballs have given me a fresh reminder that I need to be communicating with my kids about all this stuff rather than just telling them to "do this" and "do that" because it's best for them.  Works as long as they stay two years old their whole lives!  But they are getting older, and are going to need SOMETHING to base their decisions to follow God or reject God when they leave our home, and I had better be about the business of supplying them with that something!  After all, I am one who must give an account of my work.

Boring Women

I bought a refrigerator magnet when I was in college that said, "Boring Women Have Immaculate Homes."  I was VERY proud of that magnet for many years and thought it was very funny.

I don't think it's a cute magnet anymore and this week I finally threw it away.  What exactly is so boring about a woman who wants to do all she can to care for her family by providing a clean place for them to live?  True, I don't spend as much time as I would like visiting with friends, volunteering outside the home, and my life as a hobbyist-anything is practically non-existent.  Does that mean I'm boring?  If it does, then too bad.  ;-) 

Back when I was a new mom, oh so many years ago, I remember hearing James Dobson say, "If you're bored as a mother, then you're not doing it right."  Eeeek!  I have never been able to forget that, so anytime I start to feel the "I'm bored" attitude creep in, I have to check myself!  After all, am I doing the mommy-thang for ME or for my husband and kids?  If I'm bored with my duties, then there's a problem with me, not the daily duties that I have. 

A little further on that train of thought......same thing applies to my attitude towards the kids.  If I'm at the end of my rope and just "can't go on" because the kids have pushed every button I have, is it really the kid's problem, or my own?  Here's how I've come to view it:

1) I'm the adult.  I should have things under control enough to realize that in training my children that not every day will be smooth sailing, and I just MIGHT have to revisit the same issues a few times.  HA!  It's all part of the discipling/training process.

2) If I'm throwing a fit because the kids are throwing fits and misbehaving all day, then maybe the kids are learning their behavioral habits from me.  If I have a bad attitude towards the kids, then it's MY problem, not the kids.  If I can remember that, then all is well, because then I am constantly on my knees to God about my kids and about myself, and I can usually handle most of what comes my way in a calm, cool, and collected manner.  It makes all the difference!

My home is not immaculate, but I'm not ashamed to say that I strive for that worthy goal!  As mothers and wives, it is a privilege to care for our husbands and children and let them know even in mundane ways such as cleaning a toilet that they are important, worthwhile investments of my time.  I pray and beg God that one day my children and husband will arise and call me blessed (Proverbs 31:27-28)!  They will never do that if I spend my time in self-serving pursuits.

So Happy Together

One of the blessings of being a homeschooling family is that we can sit down and eat a nice breakfast together.  I've gotten real serious about this in the last couple of years and am constantly on the lookout for some good breakfast recipes.  Cereal just doesn't stick to the ribs like a good, warm meal does.  :-) 

 

Of course I have a certain criteria that must be met for it to be considered a good breakfast recipe.  Well, only two things.  They are:

1)  It needs to be something that I can stir up in 15 minutes or less.  I do not have time in the mornings to stand over the stove cooking up a huge concoction.

2)  It needs to be healthy and filling.

 

Here are a couple of our favorites.

 

Baked Oatmeal

The day before:

Stir together

6 c. oatmeal

2 c. milk

In the morning:

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together:

4 eggs

1 c. coconut oil

2 c. brown sugar

4 t. baking powder

2 t. salt

Stir in the oatmeal-milk mixture.  Pour into an 11x15 pan (I use my Pampered Chef bar pan) and bake for 25 minutes. 

YUMMMMYYYY!

 

German Pancake

1 c. flour (I use 1/2 c. wheat flour and 1/2 c. white flour)

1 T sugar

1 c. milk

6 eggs

1 t. vanilla

 

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine ingredients in a blender.  Liberally grease a 9x13 pan with coconut oil or butter.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

 

This one is so pretty when it comes out of the oven, but it will fall, so make sure the kids are handy when you first open the oven.  :-)  I usually make two of these for our crew.

 

If you have any breakfast recipes that you like, send them my way!