Beautiful Homemakers

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT) Like many people, I took Yoga classes and used Yoga videos.  But one day when I was putting in my Yoga tape, I heard the still, small voice say, “Stop.”  Now I had just learned to recognize this voice, but I was still uncertain.  Did I really just hear that?  Or was it my imagination?  A few weeks before, that same small voice had told me to put my purse away – and I didn’t – and it was stolen.  I had been praying that I would begin to hear the Holy Spirit nudge me again, like when I was a child, and then, when He did, I had ignored Him.  I didn’t want to ignore Him again, but I also didn’t understand why He would say, “Stop.”  Stop what?  Stop stretching?  S...

Last year I read a very interesting book by Cassandra Aarssen called The Clutter Connection, How Your Personality Type Determines Why You Organize the Way You Do. The first time I took her test was on her website, Clutterbug.me , I came out as a “Butterfly.”  But when I read her mini online book detailing the four different organizing styles that are based on your personality, I thought I was a Bee who coveted being a Cricket!  (See her website for a quick explanation of the four Clutter Bugs.) I bought this book since it goes into depth on the four areas, with color pictures, and I wanted to know more.  I was skeptical of her test and felt that the questions weren’t clear enough, so I took the test several times on different days, and again after reading each of the four sections of her book. I felt that on many of the questions I could answer “Yes” to 3 out of the 4 scenarios.  So one time I did this on all the questions, and then added up m...

One Christmas several years ago someone on my Christmas list requested the book The Sacred Enneagram as a gift. I bought it and flipped through it and noticed the section entitled, The Contested History of the Enneagram .  Contested?  As in Questioned?  Challenged?  Disputed?  Yep. This piqued my curiosity, so I began researching the contested history, and boy did I find a lot that the author of the book, Christopher Heuertz, left out!   The enneagram is supposed to be from ancient times, but it is well documented that the enneagram first came into being from George Gurdjieff, an esoteric teacher. Scholars have verified this. And poor George died on  October 29, 1949. That means that the enneagram isn’t "ancient!"  In fact, for decades there weren't even any words attached to the enneagram design . George wrote that it was a diagram of “cosmic reality” – that you could see the universe in it because it had mystical meanings....

Being home has an impact on our children.  It provides them with a feeling of stability and security.  We teach them manners, character, our Christian values, what the Bible says, and how to live and spend our time.  With the internet, they need more watching than ever before, at all ages.  Long hours of time at home teaches them to be content, gives them time to dream, and models for them how a Christian home functions differently than the rest of the world.  We teach them how to care for the family home by doing chores with them.  We teach them how to be cheerful, and to be content with what the Lord provides.  We teach them financial principles.  We teach them how to make the most of what we have.  We bake with them, and teach them how to cook.  We kiss them, and we play games with them.  We read to them, and pray with them.  We are needed at home. God called me to be a homemaker and I love to be at home.  O...

  People often commented on my young son’s vocabulary and maturity when we were at stores, the library, and offices, and if they heard him read anything, they would remark on his skill level and reading style – the ability to the change each character’s voice properly with no stumbling over words or who was speaking, voice inflections, and enthusiasm. My brother eventually asked me, “What did you DO?  He’s 5 and reading at a third grade level!”  By 8 he was at an 8 th grade level, and at 13, he was reading at the college level. I answered, “I just read to him.  A lot.  Hours every day.” “How many books do you have in your house?” “I don’t know.  Let’s count them.”  We estimated 6,000 (and I have a small house, but there are several bookcases in every room). “But surely these aren’t the books you read to him?” “No, not all.  Not yet, anyways.” I related to him the story of going into our local library when JR was 3 and the libr...