Ramblings of a Crazy Christian Housewife

2011-08-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

Time. . . .I realize that is a gift God has given me. Time to volunteer in areas I had been able to before. Time to spend with my children and husband. Time to work in a new field--healthcare. And most importantly, time to listen to His calling, His leading.

Unfortunately, I do not always treasure this gift. I want to know where I am supposed to serve, what He wants me to do. And I want to know RIGHT NOW!!! But that is not His way: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8. So I must wait on Him. Let Him guide me.

I want to know what He has in mind and I know that in time I will as difficult as the waiting may be. For now I have to content myself in growing where He has planted me. Allowing myself to be watered by His love and His unfailing, everlasting Word. Reminding myself to turn towards the Son.

It is a challenge because so many around me want to know when I am going to nursing school, and then are puzzled at hearing that I didn't get in. To many, that is a surprise and they expect me to turn around and look elsewhere for nursing school. But it is not a simple process. Even if I were to get into a program I would then have five years of college education with only two associate degrees to show for it.

How do I tell people who have heard me say numerous times over the past 10 years that I wanted to go into nursing that now I don't know if that is where I am meant to be. Even harder is to tell them where I feel I am being led. They don't seem to understand that I try to put God into the center of my life and to let Him lead me despite what my own self may want to do. (That said, I often fail miserably at this endeavor) If I told them I wanted to pursue staff ministry, it would confuse them. Perhaps even confound them and their faith--after all, women aren't supposed to be anything but teachers in the WELS (at least that is their misconception).

I want people to pray for me. To ask that the Lord clearly show me His plans for me. But how do I ask them to pray for me when I am afraid that they will not be supportive if the Lord is leading me to ministry.

God is our Refuge and Strength, an ever-present Help in trouble. Psalm 46:1
Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10

A turn of events

2011-04-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how often we think we have it all figured out: we know what path our life will take and how wer are going to get there. Yet very rarely does it actually turn out that way. There is a saying that goes, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans."

This has been proven true over and over again in my life. Early in my teenage years I was going to go to college, major in political science and rhetoric, go to law school and eventually go into politics. Later it was I was going to major in music and become a music teacher. These both were thrown to the wayside when God sent me a blessing in disguise my senior year: my son.

My husband (boyfriend at the time) and I drastically changed plans. Now we were going to get married. My expectation/hope was he was going to become this world-famous scientist--or at least a well-paid college professor--and I would be well taken care of. Well, guess what? God had a chuckle or two over that as well.

My husband left his doctorate program and eventually worked towards becoming a licensed science teacher for grades 6-12. (Being married to a school teacher does not sound as glamourous as being married to a college professor) And actually I think he is doing some wonderful things at the school he works at: he has revised two curricula and written new curricula for two one-year courses and a couple of semester-long courses. He serves as a mentor for the new teachers on staff. He also works alongside the administrator to help get things done. He may have had the plan to "do" science but he has a real gift for teaching students what it means to "do" science.

Then of course we started making plans again. This time I was going to college--for the second time--to get my nursing degree. I had a great first semester, and me second semester is going fairly well also. However, getting into the nursing program was not as straight forward as I had envisioned.

So now I am looking at my life and asking God what it is that He has in store for me now. I'm thinking that perhaps He is giving me time as a gift: time to work on some other things I have started but put off. This may be an opportunity for me to work on becoming a certified childbirth educator and perhaps look at other programs that would allow me to work with women.

As my son was telling me when he was going through confirmation instruction, God answers prayers three ways: "Yes" "Not yet" or "No, I have something better in store for you."

So it's time for me to keep my heart open to His guidance and see what He may have in store for me while I sit at number 59 on the alternate list. Perhaps I will get in this year, perhaps not. But whatever happens, I can be sure that God is in control and that I just need to follow Him. And if I get too far out there and start doing my own thing . . . . well, I know God has a sense of humor and is probably laughing and my human foolishness once again.

On Boredom....or Finding a Passion/Purpose

2011-04-15T06:17:00.000-07:00

I am on Facebook quite a bit and one thing I see so often is people posting things like "I'm bored--text me" and such. I can't help but ask myself, how is it possible to be bored. I always have something to do; even if I don't HAVE to do something I can still find something to do that engages me whether that be reading a book, playing piano, knitting, or even killing time with my favorite video game (tetris). I thought well, perhaps this is because they are younger and don't have the busy day to day stuff that I have as a wife, mother and student. But I realized that doesn't justify it because even as a teenager I still always had something to do. It may not have been something terribly productive--I don't know how many hundreds of solitaire games I played sitting in my bedroom--but I was always occupied.

So what is the difference? Perhaps it is that I have always felt a passion for something and this something kept me busy. Music was one, especially in my teen years. I would play piano as a stress reliever and time killer in addition to actually learning the pieces my piano teacher assigned. There was writing: I don't know how many notebooks I filled up writing pointless teenage melodramas. And many other things that I did that filled my downtime.

Where is the passion? What moves a person? That is what is going to keep someone from becoming bored. Find what it is that interests you and do it. Let that be the "go to" activity when nothing else is going on. Fill your mind, your hands, your heart with something so that in those moments when there is no one to talk to and nothing on the television you can have something to do and refrain from using the phrase, "I'm Bored!"

2011-04-08T09:49:00.001-07:00

Wow!!! I started this blog. . . how long ago? And it kind of got dumped by the wayside--and not the special wayside in Rock Springs, WI, that one would be okay to leave my ramblings at. But anyways here I am rambling. So, you may be asking why am I back? Or at least Liz is cuz she was the one who was religiously following by blogs. I don't know other than I realize once again I have so much I want to say to people and no medium to get it out.

Take, for example, my Anatomy & Physiology II project. Another student and I are working on a paper and presentation discussion the benefits of natural family planning and the research that is currently being done on the topic. 1) This is not as easy of a topic to find recent research on as, say, heart disease. 2) It's not a popular topic because everyone thinks the Pill is just so much easier, right? Interestingly enough, the lady I am working with used NFP years ago when spacing her children so she actually knew what I was talking about when I suggested the topic. She also sees the beauty in it. However. . . . . . . . .

She does the same thing my husband has been doing: "You know this stuff; you're so passionate about it. You need to teach others about this." Okay, but how? There are very few organizations in the U.S. that teach NFP or FAM (fertility awareness method) and many are Catholic and require you to be using the method also--which we are no longer doing. So I have my husband telling me that I really should get back into working towards being a childbirth educator AND an NFP instructor and now my classmate is telling me the same thing.

To top it all off I haven't heard back from the School of Nursing to see if I got in yet. If I don't perhaps that is God opening a door for me to focus on these other areas. If I do get in, then do these other things get put on the backburner once more or does He have plans of loading my plate even more. Sometimes I think I'm a plate at a Vegas-style buffet and He can't help but giving me a portion of this and a portion of that until my plate is almost over flowing--like the styrofoam plates you see people carrying at church potluck: where the goulash is touching the jello and the baked bean juice is running into the glorified rice.

There you go--I'm rambling again.

Anyways, God bless you in this time of reflection we call Lent!

Where have all the Princesses gone?

2009-11-03T06:19:00.001-08:00

I have come to the realization that we are losing a large piece of our oral/literary history. It seems to me that no longer are parents telling their children the beloved fairytales that generations have grown up hearing. Nor are they teaching them the nursery rhymes that have survived hundreds of years despite variations along the way.

Yes, our children know who Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Aladin are but it is thanks to Disney and their marketing and not the passage of these stories from parents to children that are keeping them alive. Why is this? These stories existed long before television and even long before widespread literacy. Do parents no longer see the value in passing down the stories?

My husband teaches at a classical school, my son attends there and my daughter will next year. Part of what the classical model strives for is a continued dialog between generations by sharing in the same experiences. This is part of why the children read "the classics". Their parents and grandparents have read them. People throughout the world have read them. It is a shared cultural experience to know the stories of Tom Sawyer, Black Beauty, Odyseus, etc. Also in teaching these stories to this generation ensures that they will not die out the stories can continue on and the culture will be richer for it, it will add depth to it.

In light of this I am endeavoring to focus January and February on teaching the children in my care Fairytales and Nursery Rhymes. I won't limit reading and telling these stories to just that time, of course but I will be focusing on them much more during that time. If you are a parent or someone who spends time with young children, will you join me on this? Help keep stories alive without them having to be made into movies.

A Lifetime to Love Learning

2009-10-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how much the attitude at home influences a child's opinion of learning. For some it is an obligatory task that must be endured from kindergarten on through highschool and possibly college but then it is over; you can go on to "live life". For others, the family gives lip-service to the idea of "life-long" learning but it is a teacher's job to instill that because the parents don't feel they are qualified to do so. There are other permutations of this but it is the rare family, in my opinion and experience, that truly embraces the attitude of living one's life to learn new things. This is the attitude we strive for in our home and the differences in that show up repeatedly in the goings on of our day to day life.

My daughter loves to learn and it is evident in the way she interacts with me and others and in her interests. She will still and listen to story after story. Will drop pretty much any other activity to listen to one. She enjoys talking about letters and numbers. Learning the phonems is exciting to her because she knows that it is bringing her closer to being able to read a book by herself. She makes up addition and subtraction problems (not that she knows those terms yet) when she eats grapes or M&Ms or is playing with blocks or other small toys. She looks over her dad's shoulder when he is reading a textbook or on a website and asks about the pictures. Flashcards, workbooks....anything that has to do with learning she can't wait to get her hands on.

This is so much like how her brother was when he was little too. We are now beginning to fight the teenage apathy he wants to have but I think he will lose that battle--school is just to challenging for him to be apathetic for long.

The conflict within me is this: Why is it so easy for my husband and I to develop this in our children and others seem so lacking in it? What do we have that others don't? We don't have lots of money, far from it. We have struggled in that area all our adult/married life. We aren't terribly highly educated, well, at least I'm not altough I wish to do so eventually.

My child psych professor made a comment that he could tell how a child would do in school based on the number of books in the house. Maybe that's it! If you've ever been in our house you would find that every room sans the kitchen and bathroom have bookshelves in them. We love to read. Fantasy, adventure, classics, some romance, science, anthropology, history--you name it we probably have at least one book on the subject.

But what made my husband and I such zealous learners? Certainly not our parents! Perhaps our teachers? Doubtful. But there is something in our family that makes learning fun and it part of our lives that I wish I could share with others. If only I knew what it was and how to share it.

Biblically submissive, really? Part 1

2009-10-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Many people disagree that a woman should be submissive towards her husband. They argue that it was only a cultural, or societal, norm in Bible times and has no relevance in our "advanced" society. I beg to differ. God's ways are perfect and although our worldly wisdom may not agree with the plan He has laid out for us that in no way negates the instructions He has given to us.

As early as Genesis, Chapter 2, God sets up the relationship of a husband and wife. God says, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." It is a helper that God creates. I don't know about you but if I'm asked by someone to help them and I agree they usually are in charge and I am under their direction. If you were to help a person move you wouldn't agree and then tell them where they should put all their furniture. You would aid them in moving the furniture to the rooms they desired it to be put in and possibly offer your input if it was asked for. So, a wife is to be a helper to her husband; not in control but working together with him and under his direction for the benefit of their family.

Later on, in Genesis Chapter 3, we read how this beautiful family structure becomes distorted because of sin. God says to Eve, "Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you." No longer is there going to be a perfect relationship between husband and wife. When I think of someone ruling over a land or people I don't typically have benevolent picture. Now that Man is sinful his headship over his wife will be fallible. He won't always have her best interests in mind as he should. He may exhibit poor judgement that will bring the family hardship. However, that does not change God's structure for families. He still calls us to live this way.

I will write soon on other verses from the Bible that also address the roles of husband and wife.

May God's peace hold you close!

An Introduction

2009-10-05T11:21:00.000-07:00

First of all, I'll set the record straight. Although I can be crazy and I'm definitely a Christian, I'm not--technically--a housewife. I would love to have the privilege of being solely responsible for my home but I am also a child care provider and that does not allow me to focus as much time on being a homemaker as I would like. I do in many ways consider myself to be a housewife/homemaker, however, because the majority of the day-to-day dealings with the home and the children do fall on my shoulders.

I have been debating over the past few months about starting a blog to discuss, explain, and, yes, vent about my life, my beliefs and the choices I (and my husband) have made in how to live my life. Several years ago, I came across a passage in the Bible from 1 Corinthians, chapter 7, that acted as a catalyst in my life. For many years, my husband and I existed together in a house but not always working together, in harmony, as a team. Since reading that first Bible passage, I have found others that speak to the way a wife is to act towards her husband and I have worked hard at putting them into practice, though not always with great success. However, I am convinced that changing our relationship into a husband-led marriage has increased our love and respect for each other and has brought greater stability into our home.

I plan to discuss my beliefs and struggles with being a submissive wife. I will also address Christian parenting, dating and who knows what else that may come up as I grow and learn during this season of my life.

May God's Peace be wrapped around you.