Monday, November 28, 2011

More Happennings


Festive Evening from Pinterest
click for a larger view
Please check the playlist, for additional pieces. One is a beautiful choral piece by Verdi, and also "Waldstein," a very pensive, favorite of mine.  There are now over 20 pieces to listen to, including a favorite hymn called "Who Am I"? so I hope you will turn it on and listen to it. "Were You There?" is a hymn sung by a Welsh male choir, and has wonderful harmony, so don't miss it!  If you click on the picture of the piece and then use the arrows in the window, you can go to some of the ones you want to hear.

When you click the start button on the video to hear the music, a square box appears on the bar beneath it. Click it and the arrows on the screen will appear, and then you can move the playlist to the ones you want to hear. Click the picture of the one you want.

For the lady who wanted to print "The First Year at Home," I will put a link on the article that will take you to print it, and notify you on this post.

For those who were interested in my story of "Little Henry," (there is a picture of him on one of my posts and a description of my relationship with him.)  Sadly, he was the victim of a hawk attack, and he is no more.  It was doubly sad for the children at church who enjoyed his crowing greeting as they entered the meeting house. I was so used to him being around, to everyone saying, "What about little Henry?" a quote from one of the Jane Austen novels, that I took the leftover crumbs from the communion bread outside to toss to him and had to stop in my tracks and remember that he was gone.  Life in the country has some losses, as you get used to the animals and then eventually have to part with them. A little boy at church said to me, "Don't worry, we will see Henry in Heaven."



(to be continued)

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

News and Notes


I've added Ronald Reagan quotes at the end of this page, and they rotate throughout the day. Some of them will tickle your funny-bone.  Please be sure and check Lovely Whatevers   because I will be adding more beautiful paintings of the Victorian era. Those artists were wonderful!  I also have found some scenic paintings by contemporary artists.

There are few more subjects coming up here, and as I get time, I will work on them:- Careful communication for homemakers, a proper perspective on living in this world, and the importance of rest and recreation at home.  There will be two new columns that feature the writings of two younger women, both in their 40's, and I think you know one of them: Mrs. Eliot in Australia, whom everyone likes. I hope to find enough of her comments worthy of a column just by her, which she has given me permission to do.


Monday, November 14, 2011

Playlist


Gustave_LĂ©onard_de_Jonghe_-_woman_at_the_piano_with_Cockatoo


Go Here to See My Complete Playlist. You can click on the particular ones you want to hear.
The Music Lesson
by Marguerite Gerard

On the left there is a playlist of some favorite music, including classical and hymns, which you can turn on when you read this blog.  You have to push the play button first, and then,  there is a little square that appears on the bar on the lower part of the window. If you click on it, you can go backwards or forwards and hear the tunes you like the best. Just click on the picture of the one you want.  Please look at the previous post for my favorites, and note that I have included "Northbound Train" from the final scene of the BBC movie "North and South."  I think it is similar to the other two pieces by Beethoven, that are included on the playlist.

Be patient for the next on the list to play, as there are pauses between the pieces of music.

The piece I chose was the only one I could find and it had a video on it already, from the film.

Also, I added Laudate Dominum, with Ave Verum by Mozart, so be sure and listen to these spendid chorale operas. If you are a beginner or just want to give your homeschool children a taste of classical, this is good exposure to some of the most pleasing sounds of that type of music.

The Music Lesson
by John George Brown
Included is Schubert's "Trout", a tune with instrumental variations. I always imagine watching a lively trout in a stream as it swirls around revealing its pretty colors. One way to learn about classical music is to enjoy it with the "view" in mind, of the composer. Beethoven loved the woods and often composed his music while on a walk. He tried to replicate rain, storms, and the calm over a pasture after a storm.  Think of snowflakes, or the wind blowing the autumn leaves, the fog lifting, the sun bursting from behind a cloud, or the ocean with the gulls and sand pipers and all the foaming waves. Think of an evening at home where everyone is sitting in their own place, drinking tea, or just play the music and then later, connect it with the memory of when you first heard it.  If you take your children outside and stand near a tree, particularly an aspen, you can "hear" it jingle a musical note or two.

 Some of the composers used traditional folk tunes for their music, and others were inspired by an experience.  Beethoven at first loved the things Napoleon stood for, and wrote an entire symphony in praise of him. Later, when he saw the wreckage of his armies around him, he declared him a tyrant and would no longer perform the music dedicated to Napoleon.  If you want to see a good film about Beethoven, produced by a German/English company, watch, "The Magnificent Rebel."  If you are in the U.S. it will not work on your player unless you use the special international play feature on your computer. Most computers and laptops these days allow you a limited number of "plays" for foreign dvd's.

Rubenstein's Melody in F is great for introduction in classical music, as it is predictable and grows from a simple melody, adding more sounds as it progresses. This is a great one to hear during Afternoon Tea with your children.

Playlist in order presented on the left sidebar:

1. Northbound Train
2. Beethoven - Triple Concerto in C
3. Beethoven - Romance #2 in F major
4. Acapella hymn - Til the Storm Passes Over
5. Mozart Ave Verum - choral
6. Acapella hymn - Who Am I?
7. Mozart "Laudate Dominum" from various Psalms
8.Schubert - Piano Concerto "The Trout"
9. Rubenstein - Melody in F
10. A Beethoven piece used in the 1995 movie "Pride and Prejudice
11. Another Beethoven used in Pride and Prejudice 1995
12.  O Mio Caro Babbino,  sung by Kiri Te Kanawa, of New Zealand
13.  Theme from 1995 movie "Emma" by Rachel Portman
14. Were You There? Acapella hymn by Welsh male choir.
15: Acapella hymn: God Leads Us Along
16.  "     The Love of God
17. "       Til the Storm Passes By
18  "       Softly and Tenderly .
19  "       Meet Me There
20.  Waldstein, sonata by Beethoven:  I always liked this because it seemed so soft and pensive in the beginning and the theme gets used in various ways, both loud and soft. It brings to mind a walk in autumn in wind, rain, soft sunshine.
21. Italian Athem by Verdi. You can find the words to this on some of the youtube posts.  I always loved the music to this and it reminds me of one of the princesses, known as "Sissi" (also made into a movie) who respectfully stood up during the singing of this song, even when it was not considered politically to her advantage at the time.

22. His Yoke Is Easy and His Burden is Light: one of the many songs from Handel's Messiah. Handel used only the words in Psalms and Isaiah for some of the songs in his "Messiah."
23. Sleepers Awake by J.S. Bach
24. Sheep May Safely Graze  by J.S. Bach
25. Comfort Ye My People, and  Every Valley Shall  Be Exalted,  both from Handel's Messiah, with words from the scriptures.
26. Serenade by Schubert, piano and violin
27. Serenade by Franz Schubert
28. Adagio in G minor
29. Meet Me There acapella hymn
30. Sheep May Safely Graze, Bach
31. Deux Arabesque by Debussy
32. Piano Concerto No. 21 by Mozart
33. Nocturne by Chopin
34. Beethoven Piano Sonata #3 In C Major, Op. 2, No. 3 - 2. Adagio by Daniel Barenboim
35. Iduema - Acapella song from The Sacred Harp

36. I'm Going Home - acapella hymn from The Sacred Harp - scroll down to the words. 

37. In That Great Gettin' Up Morning,   acapella 

38. Our God, He is Alive,   sung in  a Philippine language
39. Will You Meet Me in Heaven Someday   - Johnny Cash
40. Cowboy Logic -Michael Martin Murphey
41. Walk in the Light, sung by Boston Camerata


Lyrics to "Going Home" from the songbook "The Sacred Harp"
Farewell, vain world! I'm going home!
My savior smiles and bids me come,
And I don't care to stay here long!
Sweet angels beckon me away,
To sing God's praise in endless day,
And I don't care to stay here long!

(Chorus:)
Right up yonder, Christians, away up yonder,
O, yes my Lord, for I don't care to stay here long.

I'm glad that I am born to die,
From grief and woe my soul shall fly,
And I don't care to stay here long!
Bright angels shall convey me home,
Away to New Jerusalem,
And I don't care to stay here long!

(Chorus:)
Right up yonder, Christians, away up yonder,
O, yes my Lord, for I don't care to stay here long.

(Chorus:)
Right up yonder, Christians, away up yonder,
O, yes my Lord, for I don't care to stay here long

Saturday, November 12, 2011

So You Think You Should Go to Work

Victorian Mother and Her Three Children
Awaiting for Their Father's Arrival Home

Good Day!  I just read a good post on Blessed Homemaking, and wonder if anyone would like to read it here.  I think it is good to support these quiet, diligent homemakers by leaving encouraging thoughts. Many of them work entirely alone, with no neighbors or even church members who fellowship them or call them from day to day. Blogging is a way of connecting with like-minded people. I left a comment there and I hope you will, too.

I have been trying to clean a room a day, but rooms end up being a room a month!  Also, I have listed other things as "rooms" to clean. A closet counts as a room, as does a book shelf.  A hallway is a room, if it has things in it that need sorting, putting away, cleaning. Storage shelves in bathrooms and kitchens are also "rooms" and require a day or more to clean.

The purpose, of course, is to get my home where I can find something when I need it, and to free up more time for creative things and also for making new posts!


Autumn Charm
by Michael Longo

I am listening to a cd called "Romantic Moments" which features classics by Beethoven. My favorites are:

Romance in F for Violin (Beethoven)

Also, try:

Concerto in C for Piano, Violin and Cello, "Triple Concerto": Largo  --be patient because after some rather slow introductory notes, it turns into a wonderful, soothing piece.

 It is similar to the music in the final, train scene in the British production of North and South, where Margaret and Mr. Thornton's trains meet at the station.  I can't help thinking there is a bit of Beethoven influence in that final, violin concerto in that train scene.

Mrs. Q. put a link in her post for the story,  "When Queens Ride By," and one for Taylor Caldwell's essay on Womens Lib, and I would like to add another one here that is an essential sermon for the theme of women in the home: Peter Marshall's Sermon, "Keeper of the Springs."

When Queens Ride By was written for an essay contest back in the 1930's and was penned in the form of a play, which was read in many ladies Bible classes. I think it would be a great one for Women's Studies Classes in colleges and universities. Wouldn't that be a surprise to the teachers and students, to read something quite the opposite of what is being taught in those institutions!  It was made into a film on the Loretta Young show in the early 1960's http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0631065/ and was shown on television, but has not been released to the public. I have seen it, and hope that others may see it too. 

The story focuses on a young woman who is burdened with her life as a wife of a farmer. Her husband is have difficulty making payments the land, and Jennie is so worried about it that she is unable to concentrate on being a wife, mother and homemaker.  She furiously picks their produce so that she may sell it and help with the expenses.  She neglects her appearance, lets the housework go, and does not give her children the attention they need from her.  All her time is devoted to the farm work.

In the midst of all this, a man and his wife are passing by the farm and have some car trouble.  While her husband works on the car, the wife comes over to the fence to talk to Jennie. She quickly detects the stress Jennie is under and tells her a story about a queen who lived in a land where there were sometimes rumors going on about problems in the kingdom. She tells Jennie how the queen reassured her subjects and relieved their qualms.  The story causes a deep change in Jennie, and when her husband arrives home that evening, work-worn and weary, he beholds a beautiful scene.

When Queens Ride By is a simple, lovely story for women today, as they worry as much as women did back then. It reminds you to look your best and focus on the home, even more when your husband needs encouragement.



Women's Lib by Taylor Caldwell, a prominent author of the 1960's, is her analysis of the women's so-called "liberation" movement, which destroyed respect for women, and caused some men to become lazy and dependent on working women. It robbed many men of their manliness, as they abandoned their protective feelings towards women and diminished their desire to marry and provide for one woman for a lifetime.  She said the women's libbers ruined part of the attraction between men and women and destroyed for many people what the first woman, Eve enjoyed: staying home and taking care of a husband so that he could more easily go out and work and take care of her .

Afternoon Reflection


Keeper of the Springs by Peter Marshall, is a sermon about the important place women have in the home, and how the 20th century moderns tried to bring her down , away from that elevated position of wife, mother and homemaker.  It includes a story of a village that hired someone to keep the water from being polluted. The keeper of the spring would see that debris was removed at the beginning of the spring, before the water came down to the village. One day, the villagers decided they no longer wanted the expense of paying the keeper of the springs. The story tells what happened to the water, and compares it to women being removed from the home, causing the waters of society to be polluted.  

Included in this sermon is his point about women becoming more like men, which was used as the speech of his wife, Catherine, in the movie, "A Man Called Peter."   "The twentieth century gave women the right to smoke, the right to drink, the right to swear... It brought her down from the high place in which she stood as a woman, and lowered her...." (Read the entire speech within the sermon. It was spoken by Mr. Marshall from the pulpit but put in the movie as script for the character of Catherine.) You can watch this movie free online here, instant play http://www.1channel.ch/movie-67716-A-Man-Called-Peter 

It is good to be reminded of these theme articles, and to teach them to the next generation of men and women, and for more stories of this nature to be written for today.

Here is another good message from a homemaker http://thequiethome.blogspot.com/2011/11/encouraging-hug-for-homemakers.html , which looks like a good blog to add to your blogroll.


Sunday, November 06, 2011

Careful Conversation for the Home








Saturday, November 05, 2011

For the House


 

If you are looking for a painting to purchase, click the link and go to Susan Rios' website.


I would also like to tell you about this electric fireplace heater. It blows heat out that little vent at the bottom by the floor, which is really nice if you tend to have cold feet in autumn. A little set of switches just inside a panel on the front lets you turn the fan on high or low, and allows you turn the light that flickers, on or off.

In some stores, it also comes painted white, and online, there is a white one that costs a little more, but the heat comes out in a vent above the firebox. Both are nice, but this one is great for small rooms, even though it has a normal height of a real fireplace. The price has gone down to $179.00 with free shipping, but it may also be available in your local store.






A friend of mine bought one of these online at Walmart,  and said it was all put together. All she had to do is slide it out of the box and plug it into a wall. It was delivered postage free. This kind does not have the corner shelf attached, but you could still use it in a corner.




Sonata by Firelight
by Judy Gibson
(I'll be putting these paintings on Lovely Whatevers blog soon for those who want to order them.)

 If you don't need the heat, you can just turn on the flickering fire light.  I bought one of these at a local Walmart several years ago when they still had lay-away, and paid quite a price for it at the time. The cost of this particular model has gone down a lot.



Nearly Done


 I have recently signed up to be an affiliate for Walmart on my Lovely Whatevers blog, where I post pretty things for the home, but it has not been confirmed yet. In the meantime, I could not wait to show you this fireplace, because it has gone down in price to $179.00,  There are other fireplaces on this site, and some are as low as $69.00 which look like old fashioned stoves.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Quality-Craft-Electric-Fireplace/7768660

Go here for more styles of electric fireplaces:  There are also some inexpensive fire box heaters that you can insert flat inside a wall. I've seen these in homes and they are very nice, but you have to know how to cut a hole in the wall and do it right ;-)



Moonlit Haven
by Judy Gibson

The glow of light seen from outside a house is much warmer when it comes from firelight, than other types of  lights.

Grand Piano Room by Foxwell
This Site gives such uplifting ideas about how to decorate the mantel of a fireplace.  Use what you have, and include homemade things as well as heirloom pieces and things that have been given to you, as well as photograph collections. If you have one of these electric units, it gives you a mantelpiece that adds a "real home" feeling to your house.

More ideas for mantel arrangements here.

Click each month listed on my favorite, Enchanted Treasures for more mantel arrangements.
This is a lovely, elegent addition to any home, particularly if you do not live in the country. In some more populated areas, you restricted on anything smokey coming out the chimney. I can understand that a whole neighborhood full of fireplaces might cause some allergies and breathing problems, so this is a great alternative. Also good for those who have no fireplace, and adds interest to a plain house that does not haave many built-in features.
Just a beginner: I'm just learning about arranging the top of the fireplace. I got the two little torch lamps at Walmart (not expensive) and they take just a night light bulb for a very soft light. I chose them instead of candle light. I hope to change the arrangement every month or season and eventually make it look as good as some of the arrangements in Enchanted Treasures mantel of the month.

Friday, November 04, 2011

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Steadfastness at Home


One of the signs of a true commitment to something is being steadfast and confident, unmovable. There are some things which may challenge a homemaker or undermine her confidence:

Criticism.  If you are not doing evil in the sight of God, and if you are determined to do the will of God, there is no reason to let criticism stop you. If you are peer-dependent, criticism can have an effect on your mind, creating self-doubt. Spending too much time trying to convince others that the path you have chosen to follow is the good way, can be unhealthy, if it robs you of the time and concentration you need for keeping house. Debating and arguing can cause nervousness, lack of focus, and sleeplessness in some people. If you have written something on a blog or on paper that states your purpose and your personal creed, it is easier to let someone read it and think about it, rather than allow them to engage in too much controversy with you.

But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
2nd Timothy 2:23-26

 

In every era of time, there have been people who want to destroy anything that is good and lovely. If they saw happiness sitting on a fence, they would knock it down. If they saw virtue walking in a garden, they would corrupt it. If they saw innocence playing with the sunbeams, they would try to blot out the sunny spot. Some people are so unruly,  ill-mannered and poorly taught, that they feel it is their mission to criticise any progress, any creation, and any good idea.

Those who follow Christ are not supposed to argue, but they are supposed to teach. To teach, you must show, and tell. If you have older children who are critics of your role in life, they need to work right along with you and make life easier for you. When someone begins to argue, hand them a broom, or a basket of laundry.  Children will learn quickly not to argue with their mother if they are put to work as soon as they begin to criticise.

 "Mark those who cause division and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned ," the apostle Paul wrote to the church of Christ in Rome, "and avoid them."  Romans 16:17   Some women have found it to be more effective to show a good example of a homemaker being busy at home, than to defend herself to those who only wish to accuse or quarrel. Avoid situations that bring on stress or reduce your ability to concentrate on your home.





Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
First Corinthians 15:58

Pressure from others to find a job outside the home. Use any pressure, suggestions, hints and demands to "go to work" or "get a job" as signals to do something positive and beautiful in your home, for your family. One lady I know responds to such pushing by baking a pie. "If you keep talking like that, I'm just going to have to bake another pie!" she jokes. It keeps her from getting into a serious conflict, and lightens the mood of those who are insisting that she bring in some money.  She makes the home a better place.

Use pressure also as a time to list things that need to be done at home: Is the house clean, and orderly?  Can you easily locate things you need?  Are you completely satisfied with your housekeeping, or are you always wishing you could get "caught up."  If so, there is no time to "go to work" outside the home. Note:  a woman has already gone to work, if she is a homemaker full time. When someone attempts to quarrel about the matter, just mind  your own business and do something on your list, or catch up on some sewing or some other unfinished project.

Any pressure you feel from others, or any uneasiness they give you, can be used as a motivation to make some progress in your home. If someone makes a rude remark because you are wearing a dress, just sew some more and wear them more often. If someone makes a critical remark about  what you find to do all day,  treat yourself to something  that gives you rest and recreation, or something you have been wanting to do. Try not to spend much time feeling wounded or depressed. Reward yourself in some way by improving your home or doing something interesting.

When there is pressure from others, dig your heels in even harder and stick to your commitment
 to the home.


Taking Tea
by David Emile Joseph de Noter

 It is important to note that a woman at home already has a job, she does work, and she does help the family income, by doing many things herself that would otherwise have to be purchased or paid for at twice the price or more. A woman at home is a second income to her family. As she cares for the family posessions and cleans them and guards the wear and tear on things, she helps prevent more money going out to replace things. When a house is neglected, things can deteriorate, which costs money.  A homemaker is a guard of the home and and guide of the family, ever watchful for waste and inefficiency and constantly on the lookout for wise bargains.

If pressure is coming from the husband, the wife can use it as an opportunity to be a good help-meet to him by gently reminding him of her commitment to Christ, which comes first in her life, and of his duty to be the provider and to protect her from outside demands, so that she can be a good wife and homemaker.  If he is responsible for putting pressure on her to go outside the home to work, his own life and health will suffer, for under stress, a woman will not be able to truly serve him and give him the kind of home life he really needs. 

A homemaker needs to calmly explain that there is women's work and there is men's work. A 70 year old man that I know, who is a widower, says that while his wife was alive, they never got their two roles mixed up. "She was the wife, and I was the husband. She was the homemaker and I was the bread-winner, and we never got the two of them confused.  She did not tell me what to do in my work, and I did not tell her how to run the house." When a homemaker is being pressured to take on extra work outside the home, for money, she can simply explain that she is tending to the women's work, and that it is his job to tend to the man's work of providing for and protecting the family.

Radiant Path
by Greg Singley

 If he is pressuring her to "get a job" (note: she already has a job), or "go to work' (note: she has enough work to do at home) or "make money" (note, she already adds to the family finances by the little things she does to guard her husband's income and mulitiply it and make a dollar stretch), then he is surely injuring his own self. If he puts pressure on her to "work" (note: housekeeping, homemaking, raising children, showing hospitality, and looking after her husband IS work), then he loses the best part of her that would serve him and make his life more bearable at home. 

 To pressure a woman to leave the work already assigned to her by God (Titus 2:, Ist Timothy 5:14), is to assume superiority over God's word. To insist that  a woman go to work is to insist that she have more than one job. Homemaking is a many-faceted job, as it is, for it involves such things as being a purchasing agent, family banker, social director, manager of household duties, laundress, cook, nurse, dressmaker (if she sews and makes her own clothes), interior decorator, gardener and yard maintenance person, office worker (paying bills, correspondence) gift-giver, and more.

Evening Sun
by Mary Dipnall

 A homemaker will often look after the family car, taking it into the local shop for regular maintenance, washing it and cleaning it out. A homemaker will answer the phone, answer the door, answer the mail, and answer the email.  Some women are involved in sending Bible correspondence courses from World Bible school, to remote places on the earth. Others take time out to do needed things for the local church of which they are members.  When dedicated homemakers leave the home to enter the work place, the home suffers a great light and a great loss.

Learn to give good, sensible responses to those who would pressure you to leave the position of homemaker that you love: "Just let me finish up a few things, first," responded one woman I met. "Then I will get a job somewhere else."  She posted her list on a bulletin board and began to work through all the tasks she set before her.  There is always a long list, for when the routine work of meals, dishes and laundry are done, she has to go through old clothes and de-clutter her house, ridding it of things they no longer need, or keeping track of the family pictures and memory books.    "A man's work is from sun to sun," the saying goes, "but a woman's work is never done."  She should never have an extra burden of work heaped on her if she has a husband. A man should be the provider, a woman the homemaker.

If a husband is worried about money, he should try to cut back on expenses and not jeopardize his wife's ability to stay home. Many men get temporary, part-time jobs, when extra money is needed. As far back as many of us can remember, men worked, and women guided the house, even back when wages were very low and expenses were much higher than they are today. Many of us grew up on homes with fathers who proudly supported their families, and mothers who managed on whatever provision the men were able to supply.


Washing Line
by Helen Allingham

 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
1st Thessalonians 4:11-12
 


Changes in circumstances: It is always reassuring and somehow stabilizing to know someone who never changes her commitment to the home, even when there are upheavals in the family, changes in the income, re-location of the family home, or change of husband's job. These steadfast women keep doing what they always have been doing, and "abound" (increase) in their capable care of the house and the family. When they have to move from place to place, due to their husband's job, they set up housekeeping as quickly as possible, putting things in place as they were before in their previous home, and making people feel at ease even in a strange place.  She does not panic if there is a change in the family income or in circumstances, but stays steady on her course to be a happy homemaker.
 
Ministry : Sometimes when the husband wants to enter a church ministry, women fall under the pressure to work temporarily, to support them while they become ministers or missionaries. There does not seem to be an exception clause in the commands concerning women who become members of our Lord's body. Some women reason that since it is for the cause of Christ--for "ministry", then it is okay with God if they work outside the home and become providers while their husbands pursue ministry.  However, the women in the church were told to live differently than women outside the church, and as such, were to work quietly at home. While worldly women would be rushing to compete in the working world, the Christian women would be paying attention to the house, knowing that to neglect their husbands, neglect their children, and neglect housekeeping casts a negative light on the Word of God.  (Titus 2:5) 


A husband returning to school for specialized training in his particular field (or a new career) is also something that should be planned for: he should first make arrangements to give his wife and children financial security, and find some way of supporting them so that the wife can stay home. Even though it is temporary, it does not excuse them from rearranging God's plan for a man to be a provider and a woman to keep house.

Before a man goes into ministry, he needs to make provision for his family so that his wife does not have to work outside the home to support his ministry. The husband needs to find some source of support, so that his wife can get on with the business of being a good example as a wife, mother and homemaker, and influence other women to do the same.

.


In the Garden
by Helen Allingham

No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.


Housework that is never done. Homemakers should take daily messes and daily work into their stride, and treat it as normal, or they can become discouraged. Some women even reason that since they are not good housekeepers, they should go to work outside the home. While that can be expected of women who do not know the Word of God, it is not an excusable ignorance in Christian women, who need to be an example to younger women and an influence on the world outside of the Lord's church.  It is really sad to know that there are people who are "looking for a church" but when they find one that teaches the true gospel, they find also the women going out to work just like the women of the world. 
It is not necessary to flounder around wondering what to do to get your home in order and your work finished each day, because there is a host of help available.  Study about different aspects of homemaking and learn to be an expert in some areas, so that you may enjoy it more.  There are several free, on-line homemaking and housekeeping courses you can take, which will help you learn a routine for  managing your home, and there are numerous books you can purchase on the subject of home making. 

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
Ist Thessalonians 5:21






Kitchens Should Be Used
(photo of my house)


 Women are to guide the home, that the Word of God be not blasphemed or discredited. (Titus 2:5)  In order to "prove all things"  we must live them as though we believed in them, not just try them out until they become difficult or inconvenient.  Becoming workers at home is more than staying home. It takes a great deal of thought and planning. It means doing it with the whole heart.

I have attended ladies church lectures where the speaker suggested that it did not matter if a woman actually looked after her own home, as long as she saw that it got done. She could dictate from afar, such as the telephone, while employed somewhere else, and get someone else to do it.  Any woman could direct the home from a place of employment, but it would lack her presence and her personal touch.   We need to get our Ladies Day speakers to address the issue of the home, homemaking, caring for a husband training up children, and teaching wisdom from the home. Our homes are where we, as a nation are hurting. We need to focus on making home the center of family stability, of hospitality and evangelism, and of creativity.  It has been years  since I've heard an older woman teach these things in a Ladies Day Lecture. Women need to be encouraged to have a clean,neat house and to teach children to be well-mannered.  This takes much, much time, and cannot be done if the woman is not dedicated to her home.

Life as a homemaker is not all work. Homemaking is more than cleaning or putting things in order. It is estabishing customs and creating a culture, using your own talents and creativity, through leisure time. It is embedding your personality and presence in the home by your special likes and preferences. Sometimes being a homemaker is simply sitting still in your living room, just observing the atmosphere and being the lady of the house.

 
Those outside of Christ do take note of how Christians live, and look for hypocrisy wherever they can find it. If women claim to be Christians but do not follow His Word, it can be a bad influence. A good example is part of winning others to the way of life that is in Christ. We are supposed to care what kind of reputation we are giving Christ, the church and the home. If you believe in something, you can do nothing short of living it.
 
There is a good opportunity for ministry in the home. The family is the greatest mission field, and God has wisely set the woman in a place of influence and teaching for her children and for others in her sphere. Children need their mothers to nurture them and teach them the Bible and to help them relate it to their daily life.  It is here that a woman learns the most and gains the most experience in ministry, for homemaking itself is a ministry of love, done ultimately for the Lord.
 
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Spring Blossom
by Jon McNaughton



Steadfastness means unchangeableness. A woman who is dedicated to her home and family cannot be persuaded by all the winds of change in the culture around her. There always have been "wars and rumors of wars" and always have been threats of "collapsing economy", and there will always be changes in employment, moving to different locales, and changes in the lives of the family members. Through all this, a woman can stay the on the same course, to guide the home and maintain it. When someone says, "Now that you have no children at home, what are you going to do?" you know that your work at home will always be there and can respond that you'll be doing more of the same, with some special interests thrown in. You can confidently say that your work at home is not finished. There is no reason that modern women cannot live in the same confidence as the followers of Christ have done in other centuries. In many ways, we are richer today, and staying home is not the hardship it was for some people. We have an easier and more comfortable task than previous generations.


Note: I am not sure if this includes the comments, which are often full of gems worth printing also.

Stay as You Are