Homemaking Mishaps: Ironing boards

Since I am a new wife, there is much to laugh about in regard to homemaking mishaps. I am commited to loving home, and to being a homemaker as Titus 2 commands, but things don't always go perfectly.

John Dekker generously gave us an ironing board for our wedding present, even though he could not attend our wedding. We were thrilled to receive this surprise gift, as we really needed an ironing board! Learning how to use it, though, has been a troubled journey at times. You see, back home Mum's ironing board was always set up. She has a wonderful, large laundry. Thus there was no need to work out latches, height adjustments, sensible methods of collapsing the board, and other essential details. I, however, want to keep my ironing board in a cupboard. So I tackled the pedals and the notches. Things went OK for a while, but then I tried to lower it slightly while it was up. Lets just say that the iron ended up on the floor and the board on my foot. I have since discerned that greater care is needed. Five weeks on, I think I have finally conquered the ironing board.

Future installments of homemaking mishaps will include picture hanging, burnt offerings, and toilet cleaning. Some of it is embarassing, but it might be an encouragement to all the other wives who are still studying homemaking 101. Yes, other people are more inept than you are!

The photos we paid for

A little over a week ago Dave and I were happy to pick up our "official" photos from our photographer. Here are a couple of the pictures he did for us . . . two out of about 450! He also made us a slideshow.


I enjoy the way he made some of the pictures black and white.

Living plainly and serving God: Part 2

I want a life filled with a love of God, of people, and of God’s creation. A life where unimportant things are deemed to be just that, and do not interfere with the priorities of faith, family and community. A life lived plainly, serving God.

The first post on Amish life explored some ways in which the Amish lifestyle implemented Christian goals of taking dominion over the earth and loving one another. The goal was to consider prioritising what is truly important, even if it means doing without some things that seem good.

While Amish people implement elements of God’s truth excellently, they also gravely misunderstand what God intends for humanity. Their central misunderstanding concerns the gospel. While aspects of their lifestyle may be worthwhile models of the Creation Mandate and Great Commandment in action, they do not understand the Great Commission.

The Amish frown upon anyone in the community who claims to have been “saved”. They believe this claim to be a form of pride. Yet the Bible teaches that it is the opposite. Those who understand their sinful nature, and know that Christ’s death and resurrection paid for their sin, become new people in Christ who know that God is the one who has rescued them.

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together" Ephesians 2: 4 – 6a.

When God saves a person he brings them into the community of God’s people. Yet salvation is still an individual matter. Each person must repent of sin, and be freed from its effects through becoming a new person in Christ. This results in praise to God, not in pride about “achieving” salvation.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2: 8 – 9.

The Amish also misunderstand the Great Commission through withdrawing from “the world” to an extreme extent. Their practices indicate that they may misunderstand the nature of the human heart. When Jesus taught the Pharisees, he told them that what is “without” does not defile a person. Rather, wickedness comes from the heart.

“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness . . . pride” (Mark 7:21 – 22).

These human problems cannot be solved through altering the surroundings: wearing certain clothes, avoiding certain technologies, associating only with certain people. Altering surroundings may help, but it cannot solve the deepest human problems.

The Amish lifestyle remains, however, a challenge to those of us who live in the midst of a Christian culture that frequently mirrors the world. Those of us who understand the gospel in its fullness are called to be distinct from those who do not know God.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” Ephesians 2:10.

Sometimes cultures that do not understand the gospel show up those of us who do, through better living out aspects of who God created us to be. The Amish culture is one of those. Why don’t Christians have divorce rates lower than the Amish? Why don’t they work harder to maintain community? The gospel should transform Christians and make them more distinct than Amish communities.

Personally, my window on the Amish fills me with a desire to seek out a life that is filled with true bounty: the bounty of a livelong love, a flourishing garden, a fruitful womb, and a quiet appreciation for God’s simple gifts.

I want any children God gives us to grow up with an attitude of honour toward parents, a love for and commitment to the church, a rejection of desires that would cause us to live beyond our means, and a willingness to sacrifice individual interests for the sake of community.

I want a life filled with a love of God, of people, and of God’s creation. A life where unimportant things are deemed to be just that, and do not interfere with the priorities of faith, family and community. A life lived plainly, serving God.

University Options

I was interested to read tonight of a new higher education option for those in the USA. Doug Phillips reported on College Plus!. This program allows students to complete degrees faster, with less expense, and through a mentoring system. I look forward to many more such initiatives being put forward in future. I spent over four years at university completing a degree that I was never sure I should even have started. These were not happy years, as content of the courses and the lifestyle on campus were discouraging and confronting. I wrote about some of this in the post I came to the end. This is one excerpt from that post:

Without faith, people soon find more and more ways to justify unbelief and to scorn God. They trust in their own wickedness, and see man as the centre of history and thought. The idea that ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me’ (Isaiah 47:10) is a blasphemous twist of the truth that “I am the LORD, and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45:6).

It was a relief to come to the end of my BA. I still wonder about the usefulness of the time spent upon it. In the coming years, I hope that Christians across the world will increasingly embrace alternatives to an "education" that opposes Christ. There are better ways to spend one's time, and better ways to reach people for Christ. We just need to find them.

Wise words from a feminist

I receive an email newsletter from Women's Forum Australia, which contained this quote in the latest edition:

“If there is a god, what did the god put us here to do? One thing: have children. That’s it. And what do we do? We make it into the least interesting, unpaid, on-the-side thing you can do - societies are geared so that, really, you’ll have an easier ride if you just don’t have children. Perverse values.” - Marilyn French, author of The Women’s Room, cited in The Age, May 7, 2007, p9

It is interesting that a feminist who, it appears, makes no claim to a commitment to God observes the fact that our society is essentially anti-child and anti-parent. Not only that, but in being so it goes against who God created us to be. As Christians, we know that Marilyn French is right when she says that one of the things God created us to do is to have children: read Genesis 1:28.

Amish Life: Living Plainly and Serving God

I recently borrowed this book from the library . . .

It is a collection of images of Amish life in Indiana. Looking at beautiful picture books like this one is a great way to relax for 20 minutes or so at the end of a long day of housework and study.

Over the years I have read many facts and impressions about Amish life and faith. These forays into a distant, very different culture have deepened my questions about our own culture as well as about theirs. How can we capture a life that consistently prioritises the best things, the most important things?

The Amish have chosen a plain life, devoid of many of the trappings “the English” (outsiders) hold dear. Yet they have kept important things that “the English” have lost. They grow much of their own food, care for their elderly and their poor, love and welcome many children, and work together as families.

As Christians looking into the lives of the Amish, we should be able to see much that is admirable and much to challenge us.

The Amish divorce rate is very low. Our churches have divorce rates that are similar to that of those who do not know Christ.

While the Amish live and work with the same community for a lifetime, Christians often see nothing wrong with moving from church to church. Even worse, some do not see the need for fellowship at all.

The Amish cultivate the ground that God has given them, and reduce their impact upon the environment. Christians consume resources at similar rates to the rest of society.

While Christians commonly echo the attitudes to birth control that eugenicists and secularists popularised in the early 1900s, and even choose abortion or abortive birth control, the Amish life reflects the Biblical vision of fruitfulness and fertility.

While the Amish keep their elderly parents close to home and involved in daily life, Christians commonly think that paying their taxes in order to contribute to the pension or occasional visits to an old people’s home is sufficient care.

The Amish reject individualism. Christians commonly deem it to be acceptable. Even worse, they unconsciously give it the status of a part of the Christian faith.

The Amish reject education that will lead them away from what they perceive to be their primary duties. Christians often pursue education for its own sake rather than with careful consideration of how it will enable them to serve God.

While Amish women are equipped to be mothers and homemakers, many Christian women express feelings of inadequacy and lack of preparation.

The Amish take the time to prepare food and sit around their dinner table. The lives of many Christians are so busy moving from activity to activity, or so consumed with technology such as TV, that they rarely sit together to eat, let alone exercise hospitality.

I am aware of some of the problems with Amish culture and religion, and plan to write about those in my next post. For a moment, though, please consider the distinctives of Amish culture and how these compare to the dominant Christian "English" culture.

How do the Amish better fulfill the Creation Mandate, to be fruitful and multiply and take dominion over the earth, which is God's first command to mankind? How do they better fulfill the Great Commandment to love one another? What would be worth giving up in order to obey God better in these areas?

Crystal's new initative for passionate home economists

Crystal Paine of Biblical Womanhood has a new blog devoted to frugality. You can read about it in the Money Saving Mom welcome message. You don't have to be a Mum to appreciate what Crystal has to say there! Since I have become a wife, I've become more interested in frugality than I was as a single at home. Now I am responsible for shopping! On one hand we don't want to be obsessed or worried about finances. We want to enjoy what God has given. On the other hand, we want to save money if that can be done without greatly diminishing life's enjoyment! We also want to ensure that we continue to prioritise hospitality, which inevitably increases our grocery budget. When you are feeding 2 - 10 extra people for one or two meals a week, it is bound to cost something. I am excited that Crystal is so committed to helping women to be frugal. Much of her blog focuses upon couponing, which is not a big thing here in Australia, but I am sure the blog will still offer many tips for those who live here. Crystal is wisely passionate about helping other women to love home and family, and her new blog is one way that she exhibits this passion.