Beautiful Homemakers

 Hello, Beautiful Homemakers! Today I've got a story, actually an old e-mail from 2018 from Craig Huey, about the Christmas Story: "Five Little-known Facts You've Never Heard about the Message of the Manger." 1.  A manger?  Or "the" manger?  Luke 2:7; 2:12; and 2:16  Why is this important? 2. Priestly shepherds would watch the birthing process of lambs, inspect them immediately after birth, and protect it from becoming injured or blemished after birth. How did they do this? 3. Migdal-Eder is a watch tower mentioned twice in the Bible as Tower of the Flock:  In Genesis 35:21 and Micah 4:8.  The shepherds could observe a flock of sheep from a high position, and bring ewes about to give birth into the base of the tower where there was... 4.  The feeding troughs weren't made of wood, but of ....   New-born male lambs that were without spot or blemish were wrapped in "swaddling clothes" to prevent them from thrashing around and bruising thems...

 Hello, Beautiful Homemakers! Today I am reading you Chapter 2 of Carolyn Haywood's Snowbound with Betsy for Homemaking Storytime.  I loved this book as a child and was thrilled when I found it for a quarter at a library sale, as online it was selling for $325 (this was in the late 1990s). I would often read only Chapter 2 during the busy days of December, because it's such a cheery little chapter.  I read the book to my son at least three times.  So I thought I would give you a little taste of it, too. Reading this book reminded me of another story I had heard, long ago, and then it brought to mind Emilie Barnes, homemaker extraodonaire, who wrote 80 books! As a teen, I was lucky enough to attend her "More Hours in My Day Seminar" twice with my mom in the 1980s.  She lived in Riverside, California, and made the rounds to different churches with her seminar.  I still have my notes on Christmas.  Maybe I can share those with you next year. In the video...

Hello, Beautiful Homemakers!  This is the perfect time to decorate or clean your house while listening to Louisa May Alcott's An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving: It's also a great week to think about printing out your Christmas card list and gathering supplies, and to buy Christmas stamps while you mail long-distance package.  For those who are interested, remember that Laine's service will be streamed on FB on Friday 11/22 at 1 pm PST.    Plan your menu and which dishes will hold what food.  Write a little list that you can keep in a homemaking binder to reuse year after year.  I have little index cards that I’ve cut into fourths that have the name of the food on it, to be placed on the correct dish the night before so that I do not forget to make something, or do not forget to take something out of the fridge that day. A typical Thanksgiving menu (for my non-American readers who don't know): Turkey Mashed Potatoes and gravy Green beans Corn Cranberry Sauce ...

Our dear sister Laine Amavizca, who wrote Laine's Letters back in the 1990s and early 2000s, passed away November 5, 2024, after a long illness. Laine was a godly encouragement to homemakers in the days before blogs became popular.  She e-mailed her letters to a group of women, and more and more wanted to be added to her e-mail list. I personally found her in 2006 after she wrote the article, "Why I Love Homemaking," which was published in the Above Rubies magazine , a free magazine written by mothers to mothers. (Nancy Campbell, Editress) Whenever I woke up in the very early morning, such as at 4 a.m., I would always think, "Laine is up reading her Bible and conversing with God right now." In her letter Holy Habits , she says, "He speaks to me through His Word, and I speak to Him in prayer." (At the end of this post I have an excerpt from, and a link to, the full letter.)   Where Laine's Letters can be found Eventually, with her permission, s...

Hello, Beautiful Homemakers!  Today we are finishing up chapter 11 of the 1922 original Fascinating Womanhood pamphlets, AND we are finishing Pamphlet 5! We will be discussing the next two secrets about men's peculiarities:  Their armor of reserve; and we will learn about his secret desire. Every Man's Secret Reserve:  "This reserve is the second characteristic which we wish to emphasize as highly important in influencing a man's attitude toward woman." "The man of finer caliber is equally reluctant to expose his intimate, secret hopes and fears to indifference or antagonism.  The prospect of callous underestimation or sinister inference is nothing less than appalling to him.  He therefore sternly subdues every impulse to seek sympathy or appreciation.  Nothing but the absolute certainty of receiving it [sympathetic understanding] will induce him to throw off his armor of reserve, and to give an inkling to others of the things that mean most to him.  E...

  We have begun Chapter XI of the original 1922 Fascinating Womanhood pamphlets (#5 of 8) called Peculiarities of Human Nature in Men. After the introduction I discuss the three-date rule: when to move on and when to accept date #4, and when to discuss wanting traditional roles in marriage, along with several other topics such as working (or not) after having children. Next we discuss the introduction of  "The Three Fundamental Characteristics of Every Man." In this video I cover Secret #1:  Every Man's Longing for Sympathetic Understanding Have you ever heard a man say:  "You don't really know me," or "You just don't understand me at all."  That is a lonely man longing for genuine, sympathetic understanding. This type of appreciation and understanding is desired from men of all ages , for single men and even for men who have been married for many years.  (You may need to look at your husband with new eyes! Don't forget that you can change...

  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?  ...