Shopping for Time

So, thanks to Ellen for suggesting the topics of preparedness and relationships. I started writing, and realized I have a TON to say!  It's gotten me rather bogged down and I was waiting to post something until I was finished with what I was working on.  Sorry.  It's probably going to be a two parter, and I'll just have to keep plodding along on it.

In the mean time, I wanted to share with you a book that I just finished called Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and Not Be Overwhelmed, by Carolyn Mahaney (wife of pastor/author C. J. Mahaney) and her three daughters. This book is significant in that, these days I rarely find time to finish a book.  I have quite a number of  wonderful and edifying books started, even half finished, but it's sadly unusual for me to actually finish a book at this stage of my life. But this book is different.  At just 94 pages, I decided I could push on through.  And has it ever been encouraging and instructive!

I realize that with a subtitle like How to Do It All and Not Be Overwhelmed, it might sound like a self-help book.  Rest assured, it's not so simple. With only six chapters and five main points, two of which being specifically focused on rising early and spending time in prayer, the guiding theme of the book is based on Ephesians 5:15-16- "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil."

While I often fail miserable at it, a personal goal of mine is to put relationships before tasks. Relationships is the secondary focus of this little rich little book.  Specifically, the authors (you never know just which one is writing when) suggest tools to help prioritize your relationships, God, husband, children, family, friendships, etc. and how to work at being intentional within each of those relationships so that you sow and reap the most from each.

While these relationships are to be our priority, it is easy to find the laundry creeping in the way of playing with my kids or calling a friend. Who wants to make dinner when you can plan Candy Land (again)? On their surface the mundane tasks of organizing the fridge, cleaning the bathroom, or vacuuming the living room for the second or third time in one day are not really tasks that inspire me to grow in godliness.  However, as is not unusual, a quote from C. S. Lewis was quite encouraging to me. "The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's "own" or "real" life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life-- the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one's "real life" is a phantom of one's own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it's hard to remember it all the time."  Ahhh. So true.  Should I not be thankful that I have a refrigerator full of (mostly) healthy food, indoor plumbing (unlike much of the developing world), and the blessing of children who just happen to crumb up the carpet?

I would be remiss if I did not mention perhaps the most indulgent and downright exciting suggestion the authors make: taking a personal retreat.  Ahhhh.  How glorious does that sound? A Personal. Retreat. I truly love to be with people, but my goodness, do I enjoy being alone! I fairly often have times when my husband and children are all out of the house, but this is the time when I run around trying to clean, or organize, or do any number of other busy works that scream for my attention. The Mahaneys actually suggest leaving your home for a 24 hour retreat to a hotel, or at least a few hours to a coffee shop (a few hourse just isn't long enough in my opinion) where you can first focus on prayer and reading, and then on prioritizing and organizing your life. I love it. The example they present is that of Jesus who often went away to pray and to be refreshed before he went back into ministry. It's not a matter of escaping life, it's a matter of being recharged and prepared for your life and ministry to your home and the people in it.  Oh how joyous! My husband has graciously agreed that this should happen, and I cannot wait till it can be arranged!

I will close with some of the Mahaney ladies' closing words. "In light of this wonderous gospel, the following exhortation from Philippians 1:27 is truly amazing. Here we are told to 'let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.' Isn't it mind-boggling... to consider that we who were once condemned sinners can now, by the grace of God, live a life worthy of the gospel? We don't evaluate our priorities, consider relationships, and simplify tasks merely to avoid being overwhelmed. We do it so that our manner of life would be worthy of the gospel. We do it because, by God's amazing grace, we can live a life worthy of the gospel."

Be encouraged today, as you seek to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called!

Wadda Ya Want?

There are just so many things that I want to get into this blog. But, where do I start?  Preparedness?  Faith? Relationships? Politics? Homeschooling? Parenting? Wifery? (Yeah, I know.  It's a funny word, but I swear it's a real word. Okay, so maybe urbandictionary.com isn't the most reliable source, but I am quite fine with their description-"A mature, homely (?), domestic, motherly and sexually attractive woman."  But I'm wondering why there's nothing in there about that husband part that makes you a wife... hmmm...) 

I realize that for now, the primary people who will be reading this blog are my friends and acquaintances. So, it's to you that I pose the question- Wadda ya wanna to talk about? What interests you?  I do not presume to have vast knowledge of any of these topics, but they are all things that are very important to me. They are things that I want to grow deeper in, or more proficient at, or (in the case of homeschooling) I've just stuck my toe in the water and would love some input from the others who are more proficient.

So, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.  Lets see where we go.

Red-Eye Canning

Canning season has begun! 

The mother of all pressure canners- Presto's 23 quart giant.

Some how I have managed to acquire not one, but two of the largest pressure canners on the market. The first I inherited from my grandmother, and the second a friend found at a garage sale for a mere five bucks.  New, these babies retail at about $120, and I have managed to put out only the cost of replacement parts. Such a sweet deal. 

We made these same pickles last year and they were amazing!

For some reason, I always end up starting this process much too late for common sense. It was around 9 pm this time. But, 12 quarts of pickles, 5 pints of green beans, and 6 pints of chicken stock isn't too horrible for five and a half hours, right?  It probably would have been an hour less, but being a novice at pressure canning has its disadvantages. Fortunately I already had a replacement gasket and once that was replaced things have been rolling along just fine.

Thankfully, my wonderful husband helped me with the pickles and got me started on the beans, and then it was off to bed for him since he has to work in the morning. 

It took forever to pressurize the cooker.  hopefully they're not mush...

Those poor green beans sat in boiling water for what seemed like forever while I figured out what was going on. I've always been rather reluctant to use the pressure canner for fear that it might blow up, causing one of those delightful geysers in my very own kitchen. I think I'd rather wait to visit Yellowstone for that geyser thing...  Fortunately, it's starting to sink in that familiarity is all it takes to not blow anything up with a pressure canner.

pickles- 12 quarts, green beans- 5 pints, chicken broth- 6 pints

The most exciting thing I tried this evening was my new Tattler lids. Who would have thought that somebody could make plastic reusable lids for canning jars?  Well, that's just what the Tattler people have done.  They've been in business for a couple of decades, and only now are many of their oldest customers starting to look for replacements for their Tattler lids.  From what I've read, these things just don't wear out. A little spendy up front, but well worth it if you can often enough.

Tattler  Reusable Canning Lids

And now, I am very thankful I took a nap today.  It is 3:40 in the morning, and I hear... my pillow... calli... zzzzzz

Small Beginnings

I've had this blog site for quite a few months, and have been too intimidated by it to do much with it.  For several years now I have watched as our economy, our society, and our world have run completely out of control and wished in my heart of hearts that I could do something to help other moms who are not unlike myself. It took me quite some time to accept the fact that all is not as it seems in our country. Things are not rosy.  Our economy is not turning up no matter how the media tries to spin it. At a time when our government should be putting itself on a fiscal diet it seems, rather, to be modeling itself after the likes of the New Jersey lady who wants to weigh a thousand pounds.

It seems like common sense to me that if the cost of living is going up and goods are becoming more scarce, then perhaps one should consider being physically prepared for such things. However, when I started educating myself on the topic of preparedness I was shocked by the amount of resistance I received from family and friends alike. To be perfectly honest, it makes me a little sad that when I start to tell someone something about being prepared for an economic down turn -  or even something as common as a natural disaster- I always feel the need to preface by denying that I own a tinfoil hat.

Aside from being mocked for thinking the economic failure of America is a real possibility, the second greatest resistance I've received is from people who believe that God doesn't expect us to prepare for disaster because he's going to take care of us. This concept has caused me no small amount of Bible, internet, and soul searching to conclude how God would have us prepare to care for our families, friends and neighbors. It was the scripture in Proverbs 21:20, from which I titled my blog, that really solidified in my mind the fact that being prepared is really a biblical concept. It is not a matter of resting on one's own strength and what you have done, but rather using the common sense that God gave you  and being prepared to be a blessing to your family, friends, and neighbors. Hopefully, as this blog grows I will be able to reach out to more than just my little sphere of influence to share with others how God would have us prepare for the brave new world ahead.