A Full Heart

Well, here I am, over 9 months later! I have been wanting to get back into the blogosphere for quite some time now, but haven't been able to manage it. This was partly due to just plain old busyness, but also due to a dry spiritual season in my life.

In January I was able to set a number of goals for myself, both spiritually and practically. I love goals, and I love being organized.

I don't love when I can't meet my goals, or lack the discipline to be consistent! And by mid-April, that's where I found myself. Falling short....in every area. All of my goals seemed so unattainable and I pretty much gave up on them. I'm starting to see that I tend to be a bit of an extremist, an "all or nothing" kinda gal. (This is a separate topic that I hope to flesh out in some later times) So yes, all that to say, blogging went by the wayside as well!

Anyhow, this past summer has proven a season filled with many joys and trials. The Lord has been doing much in my heart and drawing me closer to Himself in the process and I've felt compelled to blog again as I want to remark on His great faithfulness and goodness to me.....

I hope to do this over the next few posts, which, Lord willing, will be throughout this week.

A High Calling

Lately I've been feeling really overwhelmed and discouraged about all of the things that I am neglecting to do, yet so desperately want to be able to do.

I want to see my Mom and Dad more. I miss them. I want to spend more time with some of my unbelieving relatives, so that I can have opportunity to share the gospel.

I want to be able to serve more in the church, and minister to individuals and families.

I want to invest more in some of my friendships.

I want to be creative, and scrapbook and work on my cookbook, and bake more. I want to do these things so my girls have special memories and family traditions that they can pass on.

I want to read more, write more, exercise more and relax more.

Now, these things are good and so many of them are profitable for me and others in so many ways. However, I have been needing to remind myself, that right now, these are not the best things for me. They are not my primary calling.

As I've been thinking through all of my goals for next year, all that I want to accomplish, I've been trying to remind myself of God's calling on my life right now. I'm going on a mini retreat next month (as per advice from Shopping For Time) to pray, plan and organize for the upcoming year, and I want to have a godly outlook and perspective when I am doing so.

I humbly recalled Tedd Tripp's book, Shepherding a Child's Heart, and these words struck me anew:

You must regard parenting as one of your most important tasks while you have children at home. This is your calling. You must raise your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. You cannot do so without investing yourself in a life of sensitive communication in which you help them understand life and God's world. There is nothing more important. You have only a brief season of life to invest yourself in this task. You have only one opportunity to do it. You cannot go back and do it over.
You live in culture in which there are opportunities for you to do things unheard of in history. You are presented daily with scores of options for investing your life's energies and creativity. There is more than you could ever do. You must, therefore, prioritize.
Parenting is your primary calling. Parenting will mean that you can't do all the things that you could otherwise do. It will affect your golf handicap. It may mean your home does not look like a picture from Better Homes and Gardens. It will impact your career and ascent on the corporate ladder. It will alter the kinds of friendships that you will be available to pursue. It will influence the kind of ministry that you are able to pursue. It will modify the amount of time you will have for bowling, hunting, television, or how many books you read. It will mean that you can't develop every interest that comes along. The costs are high.

Parenting is a high and weighty calling. I need to remember this when I feel as though I'm not "doing" enough, or accomplishing as much as I desire. At this point in my life, I am called to raise my children up in the discipline and knowledge of the Lord (Eph 6:4).

Teaching our children to live for God's glory is a task of eternal significance and we must never diminish the importance of it. God is honoured in our parenting and in our faithfulness to our families. All of our other desires are good and important also, but they must never contend with or distract from our calling right now. So don't feel discouraged if you can't "do it all".

Christmas Memories

I've always loved the Christmas season and since having children I've wanted to start creating special memories for them that they'll remember always, and possibly even pass on to their children.

I thought I'd pass along one such tradition that we've begun since Susannah was first born. This idea is not mine originally, and I know of many other families that do the same thing. We've all found it to be quite fun!

Every year for Christmas we buy an ornament for each of our daughters that says something unique about that past year...whether it's something they've really loved, or an ornament that reminds us of a personality trait, anything special to them really.

I was struggling with what to get for my youngest daughter Caitlyn. She just turned one and though she has quite the personality, I couldn't find any ornaments that were suitable to express this tangibly. I wanted to get her a monster ornament, because I always call her my little monster....she's always getting into trouble, and being exceptionally mischievous, and looking incredibly adorable while doing so! I figured it would not be easy to find a cute, appropriate monster though. My sister-in-law suggested "Animal", from the muppets which I thought was a great idea, but alas, I'm not sure where to find this!

After much thinking and reflecting on the year, I found the perfect ornaments for both Susannah and Caitlyn. Susannah and Catie were each given a stuffed beany baby when they were born that they both absolutely love, and will not sleep without. Susannah has Ellie the Elephant, and Caitlyn has TipTop the pink Giraffe. So, I was searching the Etsy site and stumbled across a shop by the name of Kimberly Creations that has the cutest little clay ornaments and the seller happened to have an elephant and a giraffe! I messaged her and she is custom making them for me to match the colours I need. I think they are just so adorable, so I had to share! This is them, except the giraffe will be pink.

Joy in the Sunshine

It seems like I've been reading and learning a lot about suffering lately. I've read much of the trials and hardships in the life of Elizabeth Prentiss. I've read blogs written by Christians who are enduring sorrowful times yet demonstrating great joy and trust and delight in God. I've been hearing much of the great work that God has done and is doing in the lives of His saints, as they endure the storms of life. I rejoice in all of this, and am so amazed by God's grace and faithfulness to work in His people during these times. People seem to grow and delight much in God during these seasons of their lives.

I've been pondering these things much lately, as I'm not currently suffering, nor have I experienced vast amounts of suffering throughout my life. Sometimes, I worry that a storm is bound to strike soon. I think that since I haven't suffered as much as some others, that my turn must be coming....after all that is how so many people seem to grow in grace.

So do I sit back and wait? Is true joy and delight in God, only experienced fully when I suffer?

Throughout Scripture and the historical church, we do see that God does amazing things during periods of great hardship.

The apostle Paul endured intense adversity and testifies to the grace of God in the midst of it and even counted it all joy. So many of the great reformers and the heroes of our faith sustained much tribulation and we know some of the wonderful work that the Lord accomplished through this.

Without a doubt, God uses affliction for the good of his people, and suffering plays a vital role in the lives of Christians. It will come in some form to all people that live long enough!

I think as Christians we need to anticipate suffering and be prepared for it. However, I think we need to be careful not to glorify suffering. This is not the only means that God uses to accomplish his purposes. We can still delight in him and hope to grow in grace during the seasons of sunshine, not just the storms.

As many have probably experienced, it can be so easy and tempting to become complacent and self-reliant in times of ease. It seems that when we suffer we seek after Christ desperately, because so much of this world loses its appeal.

However, in his letter to the Philippians, Paul writes:

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

Paul needed to learn to be content no matter what his circumstances, whether he was low, or whether he was abounding. Don't wait for times of suffering to draw close to your Saviour, but draw close always. Pursue Christ, seek after him relentlessly and earnestly, in all seasons, and you can do this, through him who gives you strength. May God grant grace to delight!

The Heart That Hides

Awhile back I mentioned that I wanted to do a series of posts on my favourite quotes from one of my favourite books, Stepping Heavenward. You can see the first post here. Well it's been some time, but here's another one. On the second page of the novel, young Katie is heading downstairs to enjoy her birthday breakfast with her family and she arrives a bit late. I'll include the whole scenario to give you the full effect!

"....I was quite startled to hear the bell ring for prayers. I jumped up in a great flurry and dressed as quickly as I could. Everything conspired together to plague me. I could not find a clean collar or a hankerchief. It is always just so. Mother is forever poking my things into out-of-the-way places! When at last I went down, they were all at breakfast.
"I hoped you would celebrate your birthday, dear, by coming down in good season," said Mother.
I do hate to be found fault with, so I fired up in an instant.
"If people hide my things so that I can't find them, of course I have to be late," I said. And I think I said it in a very cross way, for Mother sighed a little."

Well this scene is one that I can imagine quite vividly, for I have experienced and responded this way not a few times in my life! A frustrating situation, wounded pride, and an unbridled tongue are definitely things that I am well acquainted with. Now I must confess that this dramatic scenario usually gives me a good chuckle when I read it, but I wanted to think through the heart condition in such a phrase as "I do hate to be found fault with."

We all hate to have faults, let alone have them discovered. Lately, I've been pondering the reasons that we may hate having our faults made known to us. To clarify, I wanted to use this to discuss the presence and exposure of sin in our lives rather than ambiguous "faults," but I figured this quote was an adequate springboard.

So, in one sense, it may be because we are truly and righteously grieving over the sin that we see still remains in us. It may be because we do not want our sin to reflect poorly on the gospel, and thus be a bad Christian witness. It may be because the person that corrects or admonishes us, is not doing so in love, but rather mean-spiritedly.

Quite sadly, I know that in the majority of situations, my desire to not be found fault with does not stem from pure motives, but rather from a proud heart. Being found fault with does not exactly facilitate a desire to be esteemed. Faults reflect poorly on me.

How do you feel or react, Christian, when someone sees your sin and offers correction or instruction? Would you rather have it concealed, so that you will be thought of more highly? Do you get defensive? Do you look for sins in the "faultfinder," so that you can discredit what they have said? Or do you honestly examine your own heart, to determine if in fact there may be sin present?

Or do you long to know of your sins and have them exposed, that you might be able to put them to death?

I think that our response and reaction to being "found fault with," really exposes the way we view our sin. Do we hate it? Or do we hate how it makes us look?

If we truly hate our sin, if we remember that Christ suffered and endured the wrath of God for it, we will not care that others might think less of us, but our first and utmost concern will be that this sin that remains in us would be mortified! We will long for Christ's glory, and we will know that he is most glorified when we are killing sin and are becoming more like him.

I don't think we are necessarily accustomed to this type of thing in our relationships but I know that I want to be the type of Christian that welcomes the exhortation and admonishment from other sisters/brothers. I want fellow saints to feel that I would welcome their instruction or reproof, despite the immediate discomfort I will most likely experience. What about you? Would your closest friends be comfortable approaching you if they saw sin in your life? Do you want them to be?

Now, obviously this post can go on for awhile, and deal with many other issues surrounding this sort of thing... how we approach someone about sin, what if a person is wrong when they approach me about sin, etc. However, for this post, I just wanted to look at a heart that hates "to be found fault with," because I know that so often this is my heart. May God change my heart, for my good and his glory!

Proverbs 9:7-12 Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

Goodbye Old El Paso!

Well, this month has been a lot busier than I anticipated and thus it has been awhile since I've been able to post! I'm not able to write much at this time either as it's been a long day and I'm about ready to get to bed. However, I did say that I'd be posting a recipe each week, so I thought I should at least get that up.

For those of you that enjoy tacos or chili, this recipe is for you. I was really excited when I came across this recipe and I thought some others out there might appreciate it as well. It is a taco seasoning mix, that actually tastes very similar, if not better than the packets you can purchase at the grocery store. I'm sure that it is much lower in sodium as well. I don't think I'll be buying the packets anymore.

I found this recipe in a book entitled Miserly Meals, by Jonni McCoy, that I bought at a Christian Bookstore.

Mexican Seasoning Mix

1/4 cup flour
2 T chili powder
1/4 cup onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
4 tsp salt
4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano

Put all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until less powdery (don't overblend). Use the "pulse" feature. Add more cayenne pepper if you prefer it hotter.

Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Three tablespoons of this mix equals one purchased packet of taco or chili seasoning mix.

This recipe is great for tacos, or to have on hand to add to a pot of chili.

Hope you enjoy!

The Cookbook

Growing up I can remember several staple foods that my mom served us regularly. These were passed down from her mom but the problem was that they generally came without recipes. Grandma would just tell mom what to do and over the years, mom would likely adjust and change some things. Well, then I got married and I wanted to cook some of the foods that I'd grown up with, but since there weren't any written recipes for many of these foods, mom and I would just chat over the phone and she'd give me the basics to accomplish the dish of choice.

This started me thinking that it would be a good idea to have these written down, so that I can pass these recipes down to my girls. Hence the reason that I've started to put a family cookbook together, an heirloom that I can pass on to my children and hopefully even further. Now, this is definitely a work-in-progress, so I wholeheartedly welcome any advice, tips, or even your favourite recipes!

I thought I'd just jot down some practical reasons for doing this, then I'll go through in more detail what this cookbook will include and purpose!

Practically speaking why make a cookbook?

1. It helps to keep me organized - I'm sure many women can identify with the number of recipes they have floating around the house in different formats such as, cue cards, ripped out pages from a magazine, paper printed from the computer from recipes found online, recipes scribbled down on scrap paper that you've received from a friend, etc. So I keep two folders - one that is labeled "TO TRY", and another that is labeled "TRIED, TESTED, TRUE". After a recipe has successfully made it from one folder to another, I then (when I find the time), type it up into a WORD template that I have for my recipes. I throw out all recipes that do not make into the second folder. Also, it's often good to go back to the "TO TRY" folder when it gets too big and purge, as often our tastes or circumstances may change and we realize we no longer want to try that particular recipe.


2. It's helpful for planning and saving time - During this season of my life it is necessary for me to plan my meals for the week, ahead of time. This way I only buy such groceries that I am going to use for the week and I don't have to scramble to come up with something for dinner on a particular night. So the cookbook is intended to be like a master meal selection... so unless I desire to be creative and try something new that week, I just have to look through one large cookbook with all of my favourite foods to come up with my meal plan.


3. It makes it easier to give recipes to other people - If an occasion happens to present itself where a friend or family member desires a recipe that you served them, it is quite easy to give them a copy of it, especially if you have it on the computer because then you can simply e-mail them the file.
   

What will this cookbook include?

At this point, my book is including all recipes handed over from family, friends and even acquaintances (my husband knows how much I like adding to the book, so if he eats somewhere without me and likes a recipe, he'll try and get it for me... or for him I guess!). It is also including any recipes that I have found in cookbooks or online that I have enjoyed. And, lastly, it also includes any of my own successful creations.

As a side note, for all you foodies out there, I've found it really useful (this tip is courtesy of Chef Michael Smith from the FoodNetwork) to keep a notebook in my kitchen that I leave open with a pen, and whenever I play around with a recipe or create something of my own, I jot it down, so that I won't forget it the next time I want to make it.

I'd also like this book to eventually include some written memorable moments and photos of cooking with my girls, as well notes of encouragement.

I'm also hoping to include photos of my recipes (this idea from my wonderful hubby), and Lord willing, they will be taken by my good friend Rebecca Wagler who takes lovely pictures. You can see some of her jewellery photos at her shop, The Ardent Sparrow.

So right now, this cookbook is on my computer and for now I print off the recipes (colour-coded by type of meal) and put them in protective covers in a binder, but I eventually hope to have a copy published on lulu.com. Check it out, it's really cheap and quite easy I think.

What is the purpose of this cookbook other than practicality and what is the purpose of this post?

For me, it has a couple of purposes and I'll just briefly list them as this post is way longer than I intended. Well, for one, I'm having fun doing it... it's a nice hobby for me, because it's helping in my homemaking duties, but I also really enjoy it. Another reason is preserving relationships, as I alluded to in my last post. It helps me to remember and pray for a lot of the people in my life. The recipes in it are from all of those people that I just love and I can think of them fondly whenever I am going through the book. Also, Lord willing, I hope to pass this cookbook on to my girls so that they can remember our family meals and the people that are or were important in their lives. Whenever I cook chicken paprikas, I think of my late Grandmother and my Mom. I've finally come up with a written recipe for this, so now I can keep this in the family as time continues.

Aside from the fact that I love talking about food related stuff, I thought someone else may like the idea. I got the initial idea from a friend and I've just adapted it to my preferences. As a mom, I love getting new ideas to do with my kids or for my kids or for my home, so I figured maybe someone else would enjoy this! Also, I thought that I would share a recipe from my book on this blog, once a week. And I would gladly welcome any of your favourite recipes!