Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

How long have you and tradesman been together?

Tradesman and I have been together for 19 years. 16 of them of which we have been married. I have spent more years with tradesman than I have ever spent without him!

Are you going to try and have any more babies after losing your twins?

Honestly, we would love more children. If God chooses to give us more then we would be thrilled! The next best thing to serving Jesus in this life has been having our kids! We find them, outside of our relationships with God, to be the most fulfilling things in our lives.

Where do you live?

Because this was an anonymous comment that I did not publish I am not going to answer this in case you are a stalker, axe murderer! I hope you understand! :)

Are you going to homeschool your kids all through Highschool?

Yes! Why stop a good thing now? It works for us and our family. We honestly believe that God has called us to this, so now I simply remind myself when it seems I am not cut out for it or it's too difficult that there is no turning back! Our eldest will actually be gr.10 in the fall and I still like having him home! (well, most of the time ;)

What DID you have for breakfast?

I'm not telling.

Do you celebrate the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus in your house? What about Halloween?

This could be a BIG answer so I am going to try and keep it short. :)

We have changed how we do things over the years. There was a time that we did the Santa Claus thing. Our boys were little and we started to feel convicted ourselves about OUR focus on the true meaning of the season so we started to weed out that side of Christmas a little every year. We were never comfortable lying to our boys and telling them that there was a Santa, so we didn't . We would just play pretend and they knew from the beginning that tradesman was really Santa. We would still leave out cookies and milk and carrots for the reindeer all in fun.

The problem was that it was hard enough to keep our focus on the birth of Christ with all the shopping, festivities, presents and such, nevermind the big jolly fellow. Eventually, we decided for us and our family that it all had to stop. Our kids know the real story behind Saint Nicholas, so we try to focus on the gifts as a chance to bless others. Our kids receive 3 gifts each as Jesus was presented with 3 gifts from the wisemen. We also fill stockings for them with candy, toiletries, school necessities and silly little items.

We still decorate our home with seasonal things and put up a tree and such. We just avoid the whole Santa, what do you want for Christmas, reindeer, Frosty the snowman thing. We keep the kids out of stores, and activities that are focused around Santa during that season. We celebrate Advent and have made new traditions and new ways to celebrate. It has been a huge blessing for us and I have found that our family has been able to focus on the coming of our Saviours birth with so much more intention now. I do have a little ornament that has Santa kneeling with his hat in his hands at the manger with baby Jesus lying there. I love it and it sits right in the middle of my kitchen island and is a reminder to all of us of why we have no part in any of the regular Christmas festivities any longer.

As for the Easter bunny? Same kind of thing. No Easter bunny at our house. We do a sort of lent devotional every year and other things as well including resurrection eggs. We still normally do an egg hunt and chocolate bunny that weekend. However, we have decided that next year we will start a tradition of "Spring baskets and egg hunt" and do it a couple of weeks before Easter so that it is done and over with and we can use the 2 weeks leading up to Easter more reverently. We were just finding that the typical, traditional, Easter festivities invade on the true reason we celebrate and we just don't like it.

Halloween? We have used it as a way to evangelize the last 2 years. We give out tracts and candy in little bags and my kids go around the neighborhood and give out tracts to each door that they receive candy from. It's been great, the responses from people to the kids have been really neat. We were going to throw the whole Halloween thing aside until we saw it as an opportunity to spread the gospel. Next year tradesman and I will be setting up some hot apple cider outside and hoping to talk to parents as they come by. We will also be giving the book "One heartbeat Away" found here out as well. (powerful evangelistic tool) We don't do the spooky decoration thing and again keep our kids out of stores and Halloween activities.

How do you keep up with all of your children? I find it hard with just 3!

I remember those days! Trust me, it is SO much easier now. Once some of the kids get older, they are a great help around the house, and they help to entertain the little ones.

The kids always have someone to play with and despite the fact that there are more people making a mess, there are also more people to help clean it up!

The only real challenge I find is food. My life is all about the food prep now!
If I had an answer on this one, I'd let you know! ;)


There was one more important question that deserves a post all of it's own. That is coming up. Also many of you asked what was the big burden on my heart. I will share a little in a future post.


That was fun! If you have any more questions go ahead and send them to me at thepassionatehousewife@gmail.com and I will do another post just like this when there is enough.



Blessings!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Zeal

I am still working on my Question/Answer post - so for now I leave you with a quote by Charles Spurgeon that I just love and came across this past weekend...



"If you never have sleepless hours, if you never have weeping eyes, if your hearts never swell as if they would burst, you need not anticipate that you will be called zealous. You do not know the beginning of true zeal, for the foundation of Christian zeal lies in the heart. The heart must be heavy with grief and yet must beat high with holy ardor. The heart must be vehement in desire, panting continually for God's glory, or else we shall never attain to anything like the zeal which God would have us to know."

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Got Questions? Get Answers!


I have been neglectful of blogging these days because frankly I am in some serious thinking moods.

Honestly, I have so much on my heart these days and it is all rather big that spilling it here does not fulfill the purpose of my blog. And it could scare some of you away! :)

Tradesman and I have been on a very exciting journey the last two years specifically these last 6 months.(that does not mean always fun or easy... actually mostly not) We are not sure exactly where we are headed and what it will look like but God has given us a bit of a picture that is just too difficult to ignore.

I started this blog to encourage mothers in their high calling of motherhood and keeper of their homes. To embrace their daily lives with their husbands and children and most importantly to seek hard after God.

I love sharing my heart and often hold back, especially as of late. I cannot put up a lighthearted, silly post because I am just not in a lighthearted, silly mood these days. I feel a burden SO big, and I feel a passion SO huge that it consumes my every waking minute. I know that it is God who has bestowed this burden on me because it is Him whom I have pursued and it is Him whom I have devoted my life too.

I asked, He answered.


But, for today I have decided to open up the floor to YOUR questions.

Curious about something that pertains to motherhood, marriage, faith or anything else to do with this crazy family??

Send your questions to thepassionatehousewife@gmail.com or you can list them under the comments on this post. You can always click on anonymous in the comments if you're shy! :)

Ask away!

(except don't ask what I had for breakfast because I might be forced to lie)



Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Reaching the Bottom?

This is what the bottom of my hamper looked like today.


Do you still want to be my friend?

I don't see the bottom of my hamper ever often. The orange peel looked rather fresh though, go figure. The unidentifiable brown object beside the pencil...ya, not so much.




Yes, I realize that only one of the sections of my hamper I was actually able to find bottom. The other 2 are still bulging with clothing. What can I say I have 6 children and am married to a tradesman and I really like chocolate. Not sure how that last one plays a part, but I figured you should be informed.


I was thinking today while I was doing my laundry because well, that's when all my deep thinking takes place. Amongst the sorting, spot washing, sniffing, and tossing, I was dwelling on the fact that I feel just like that hamper as of late.

I feel like I empty out all the things that need cleaning to God. I give over my big pile of mess. I feel like I am getting to the bottom. I am submitting in the areas that I need to. I hand over my fears, my pride, my will.

Then there at the bottom just when I thought I was gaining ground in this "laundry" I find myself staring at... trash.

There are things that I and maybe you? just aren't able to let go of on our own. And unfortunately, these are the among the most unsightly things of all.

Thankfully, we serve a God of grace and mercy. He promises that He will never leave us to ourselves.

"He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it..." ~Phil 1:6

The truth is we will never be perfect here on earth.

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect" ~2 Samuel 22:33

It is God who is perfect. It is His plan and His way for us that are perfect.

The truth is that what we really need to strive for is simply...


Him.



Monday, June 7, 2010

Bless-ed Communion

I eat of the bread and drink of the juice, I reflect...

His body, His red blood poured out for me.

Bless-ed communion.

Has it ever tasted this sweet? Have I ever been this moved?

My body shakes, it trembles hard.

My Jesus... can I call Him that? Is it that personal, does He long for me like I long for Him?

I grip tightly the cup, his suffering full. I taste of it. I have sipped the suffering, I have paid a small price for this fellowship.

Heart aching, my lips part and they whisper grateful prayers.

Tears roll down my cheeks, I cannot contain them. I stare down and wonder, can they all see?

This joy. This joy inside of me that springs forth uninhibited, it cannot be slowed.

I am overcome.

He is Lord, I am His.




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