Learning to do new things...

I love learning to do new things. Especially things that have to with the arts involved in homemaking. How looming some projects seem at first; new vocabulary, new equipment, new skills. And above all, where will I find the time? Amazingly, once I'm over the learning hurdle; these new skills become just part of life and becoming efficient in them, a life long quest. Learning takes time up front but certainly saves time in the long run.

Years ago, I researched buying a grain mill and mixer, finding a source for wheat, and then book in hand going through the process step by step until I had successfully baked my own bread. After many flops, and lots of bread-crumb topped casseroles and salads with croutons, bread is baked here in our home each week either by me (rarely anymore) or one of the children. (I aim to teach them around age 9). We don't look at the how-to manuals anymore nor consult the recipe (unless we're trying something new).

Recently, I made cough syrup, which is something I've been aiming to do for several winters now. It was really quite simple once I had acquired the ingredients and watched a how-to video on the internet. Nothing smells better than fresh grated ginger...especially simmering.

Here's what:
1/2 lb. dried elderberries
1 cinnamon stick or 2 or 3 :)
5 whole cloves
2 cups water
2 tbs grated fresh ginger root
1 cup of honey
I also tossed in 2 pieces of licorice root
and a handful of wild cherry bark that I
had on hand.
Here's how:
bring all to a boil
simmer covered until reduced to half (20 to 30 mins)
strain through cheesecloth
label, store

I put mine in recycled brown glass bottles. Better to use glass than plastic and the dark glass helps preserve the properties of the herbs. Prior to this I had "Sambucol" syrup on hand. It is so expensive that I felt a bit stingy with it...definitely not willing to bestow the recommended dose (to all nine of us at home) on a a daily basis. This homemade version however, I KNOW costs less. Peter dutifully caught a cold just after I made this and either this stuff is working or wonderfully or it's not too bad of a bug. Time will tell this will become another must make item for me.

Next on the list to learn to make: Soy Candles!! We all love candles here. I recently bought several at a 40% discount and they were still around 11$ each!

My Great Big Beautiful Birthday Bowl

This being the day after Thanksgiving, our local little thrift store had it's annual "Day after Thanksgiving half off sale". Since we were around this year we went to it. It was Grace's idea. Her idea was, that if we went right away when it opened she could buy the huge old bowl that we saw last week for me, for my birthday. We did and she did. And now I have this beautiful huge fruit bowl to replace the three or four at-a-time bowls that I usually have around on my counters. I love it! When I thanked her she told me she'd like to inherit it someday...I had already thought of that.

Going places, thinking up and doing things, homemaking and just living with my daughters (and sons) is such a joy. I never imagined life would be so good, so blessed, so full!

I think this is the first request for inheritance I've had, means I'm getting older...that's what happens with birthdays.

Never regret growing older...it is a privilege denied to many!

Night and Day Care

She just loved little Peter

Sometime in my early twenties, I formed the conviction that day care for children and for the old-- was bunk--that people should take care of their own! I determined to be a stay- at- home- Mom and that as opportunity would arise I would welcome my parents and grands to live with us as well.

My Grandma and I had never been close. I spent two months with her and Grandpa the summer I was 13 but other than that her visits were short and somewhat seldom. She spent her time traveling and with her senior friends.

But, Grandma came to live with us when she was 89 and I was 42, for the last 6 months of her life.

My Mom and my Aunt Carol had been taking care of her for a few years but it was getting hard to leave her at home when she went to work. Grandma wasn't safe, left the water running and things like that. So we offered to have her live with us not thinking she would because we were outspoken Christians and Grandma had given up her faith some 25 years earlier. I didn't think she'd want to risk having us preach to her or trying to "lead her back to the Lord". So, I was shocked when she took us up on the idea. When my Mom called and said she'd be coming to us, Grandma got on the phone and asked in her old lady voice "Are you prepared to take care of me 'til the day I die?" Well, that was the idea. We didn't feel prepared, just willing. We had alot to learn.

  Ruthie pushing her Great Grandma outside

We got her moved and situated in her own room, across the hall from ours. She joined us for meals and took outings on the deck but mostly we visited with her in her room.

A special meal with friends

After some weeks she began to ask questions and make comments about how the family was functioning. How Jeff lead and we followed. How I directed and the children helped and obeyed. How everything seemed to work together and run (pretty) smoothly. She started to enjoy being part of it all.

Three months into our time with her she called to me in the night one night, crying and tossing to and fro from a bad dream. In her dream she was being put into a body bag and thrown out into a corn field. In vain I tried to console her. She asked me to pray for her to have the peace she once knew and I did, but it didn't help, so I urged her to pray for herself. She refused, claiming that there was a black spot in her heart and she could not pray. Finally, I convinced her to pray and ask God to take away the spot and help her... AND HE DID!!! She began exclaiming immediately "I've got it! I've got it again! I've got back the PEACE that I once had!" Following this she began feebly singing the old hymn "Love Lifted Me". When she had sung all she knew she had me sing it too! Once I had sung all I knew she made me bring the hymnal in and sing every verse! Finally, she told me to go to bed, that she'd be alright now, that I needed sleep. But before I left she made me promise to tell Jeff and the children to come into her room first thing in the morning so that she could tell them what had happened. Agreeing to, I left her there singing herself to sleep.

Grandma's prayer

The following day she had me call my Mom and ask her to FedEx her old New Testament to her immediately. And I did. Next day she was clutching it to her breast and crying over it for a quarter of an hour. Then with magnifier in hand she began reading it again and again.

       

Jesus was alive and well and working in her heart. Forgiveness was sought for some of the biddy things she had said and done, and of course it was joyfully given! Thereafter we spent many precious times singing with her and reading to her from God's Word. Romans 8 being her favorite chapter.

We'll never be able to count the blessings we received in that short 6 months with Grandma. We learned lots about elder-care, lots of family history, lots of patience and lots about God. He is faithful to begin the good work He begins in us!

I was sinking deep in sin,
Far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within,
Sinking to rise no more;
But the master of the sea
Heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me,
Now safe am I.

Love lifted me!
Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help,
Love lifted me....

The Young Mother

   The young Mother set her foot on the path of life. “Is the way long?” she asked. And her guide said “Yes, and the way is hard” “And you will be old before you reach the end of it.  But the end will be better than the beginning.” But the young Mother was happy and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years.  So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way and bathed with them in the clear streams, and the sun shone on them and life was good, and the young Mother cried, “Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.” 

     Then night came, and the storm, and the path was hard, and the children shook with cold, and the Mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said “Oh, Mother, we are not afraid for you are near and no harm can come”. And the Mother said “This is better than the brightness of day, for I have taught my children courage.”

     And morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the Mother was weary, but at all times she said to the children, “a little patience and we are there.”  So the children climbed, and when they reached the top, they said, “We could not have done it without you, Mother.”  And the Mother, when she lay down that night, looked at the stars and said “This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness.  Yesterday, I have them courage, today I have given them strength.”

And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth--clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the Mother said…”Look up. Lift your eyes to the Light.” And the children looked and saw above the clouds and Everlasting Glory and it guided them and brought them beyond the darkness.  And that night the Mother said “This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God”.

     And the days went on and the weeks and the months, and the years, and the Mother grew older and she was little and bent.  But her children were tall and strong and walked with courage.  And when the way was hard, they helped their Mother and when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather, and at last they came to a hill and beyond the hill they could see a shining road and golden gate flung wide.

And the Mother said:  “I have reached the end of my journey.  And now I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone and their children after them".  And the children said “You will always walk with us Mother even when you have gone through the gates.”

     And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her.  And they said “We cannot see her, but she is with us still.  A Mother like ours is more than a memory, she is a living presence".

I posted this in memory of my dear friend Rhoda who passed away recently. Tomorrow I will attend her funeral/farewell service and give copies of this poem to the three adult children she has left behind.

 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.

 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

taken from Proverbs chapter 31

Teaching Them To Love Their Children

A dear friend of mine died peacefully in her sleep a few nights ago. In our last brief conversation, I addressed the business at hand and then closed, telling her that I'd call her back sometime soon so that we could "catch up" with one another....
Handwritten notes from her have become treasures, as have the photos and the memories of her beautiful smile and sing songy voice!

But, I'm writing this to declare a tribute that one of her daughters shared with me. She was telling me how hard it will be to not have her Mom around, especially for her two daughters. How much her mother loved her four tiny granddaughters and how much it hurts to contemplate the future without their sweet grandmother involved in their lives. She had been at all of their births, helped out in those first few difficult days with the new babies; making sure her girls were recovering well rested and well fed. With tears she anticipated what the upcoming birthdays would be like without Grandma. It was just so painful to imagine that these little ones would not know their Grandma. And then with a deep breath of resolve and more tears she straightened her shoulders and declared "It makes me want to be just like my Mom so that they can know her that way".

What a blessing this mother has left for her daughters. No bad memories, no regrets!

Makes me think of the passage written by the apostle Paul..."follow me as I follow Christ". These girls have a pattern of godliness to hold on to. Their mother's ways will continue to bless and guide them in her absence, bringing forth more fruit for the Kingdom of Christ. What better way for an older woman to teach the younger women to love their children, as we are instructed in Titus 2, than by just doing it?

Our Times are in His Hands

Several months ago I attended a "sewing day" at a friend's house. I arrived a little later than the only other guest. Getting there was a challenge as I took only my little children so that they could play and left my older girls at home to keep house. And the truth is; I'm not too accustomed to handling my children all by myself anymore...car seats, carrying things etc. We created a small whirlwind when we entered I guess, what with snacks, sewing basket and machine. Maybe I looked a little harried, maybe I seemed worn out. I don't remember how many little ones I had along that day.
But I do remember the comment from the other guest, after we were introduced. She was an "older woman"...you know, the ones the Bible says should teach us younger ones to love their husbands and to love their children? ..."I know just what you're going through...I had four children myself!" I know she meant well, I know she was trying to offer support but her words didn't sit right with me.
Since about half of my children have reached adulthood...and their numbers are being added to rapidly, I have a keen sense of the fleetingness of time. Immediately I thought "What I'm going through?... Oh no! That's not it at all...it's not 'what I'm going through', it's what is slipping by way too quickly!" There is so much to do..so much to learn, so much to teach and so much to say.
They say time flies when you're having fun. I recently heard a woman refer to life as "long". It made we wonder..is she having fun? Is she happy? You don't often hear "life is long".

Lord, help me to remember that there is always enough time for what is important to you. And to take one day at a time, for that is all you give. I don't want to run ahead of you or to worry about tomorrow.



Teach me, O Lord, to number my days,
That I may apply unto wisdom my heart.

And satisfy early my deep yearning heart,
That I may rejoice always.
Three-score years and ten
Are all our lives may hold:
Fleeting years we spend,
A tale so quickly told:
And judgment greets us then
Our Maker we behold.

Teach me, O Lord to number my days,
That I may apply unto wisdom my heart.
Stanley K. Brubaker

Missionary Mom

This picture was the first confirmation that Hannah and James made is safely to the orphanage in Haiti. Sarah said would should name this one "Hannah is Home". Here is where her heart has been ever since her first visit in 2008. It's so good to "see" her there!





I just LOVE this picture of James and a friend...kicking back on the hood of a car.
About this picture he said "I have been able to sleep in some pretty uncomfortable situations". That's answered prayer to a Mom who has spent lots of time praying: that he'd get enough rest, that he wouldn't be too uncomfortable on the ground, in the tent, due to the rain etc... I confess I'm more of a prayer worrier than a prayer warrior but...God answers anyway :) And I'm multi-tasking!!!




This video shows some of the kids at HCH
playing church. I recognized the tune...
"He Hideth My Soul in the Cleft of the Rock"
God, please watch over these precious souls
and let them grow up to love and serve you!