Teaching Boys to Be Men and Girls to Be Ladies

I really don't want my boys growing up to be like me.

Well, what I really mean is, I want them growing up to be manly, not girly like me!

But since the man of the house is gone working most of the day, the best way I know to help my boys grow up to be manly like their dad is to figure out manly things for them to start learning to do--like helping me switch the dryer door around to open the opposite way, and to tighten screws in the medicine cabinet where the door is starting to wobble.
Sure, I could have done it myself, but I want my little boy to learn to do this kind of task so that he will know how to help his wife when he gets married.

I want my boys to know how to help around the house and clean up behind themselves and even do a little cooking, 

 

but I really want them to learn to be men, too.

Real men--even though that might include feeding baby bottles to calves,

and setting ducklings free to swim,

and taking baby chicks out into the outdoors finally since the weather was warm enough today.

The two Samuels load this old submersible electric wire from our old well, so that Jonathan can meet somebody who wanted it.
Nice to finally have it wound up and off our property!

Nice to have two strong boys to do this task that this weak little mother can't do!

The boys empty the ashes, start the fire, bring in the firewood.

They eat up the enchiladas that their sisters made for supper!

Yes, I want my boys to be men. So today during school break while I was hanging load two or three of laundry, 

I supervised Danny using the cordless screwdriver to take apart the unsightly play house walls in our back yard so we can remodel that play house into a back yard tack and garden shed (high hopes that might have to wait a few more years!).

While I scrubbed walls and cupboard tops above the kitchen stove, Timmy was outdoors cutting scrap wood and stacking wood neatly.

Our girls are provided with opportunities to help others with babies, like those of our pastor's wife, Holly Walker,

up in Denver. Rose helps the baby "walk."

The girls knit and sew and cross-stitch. They brought up this new dishcloth and scrubbie the other day.

They help me clean and decorate the house. They go shopping for nice clothes (hopefully).
They are learning to be ladies.

And while it is true that sometimes real men help in the kitchen--
Timmy and Samuel made the omelets Saturday morning--

and girls sometimes shovel snow (Crystal likes to get some exercise first thing in the morning)

I still want there to be a definite gender difference between my girls and boys--

so that the boys grow up manly, 

and the girls grow up to be ladies.

I  know that is not politically correct, but I rather like the idea.

Goose Eggs and Lilacs--Simple Pleasures versus Status Symbols

I hope I'm not in a bad habit of expressing how much I miss lilacs and daffodils and trees and flowers--

but I'm afraid it's quite obvious!!!!

Therefore, gorgeous photos like this one that my niece Mercy took and then my sister sent us, means so much to me!!

But I hope I am also in the habit of being thankful for what I have--the two little bunches of daffodils out by our front doorstep, and the little spring scenes we see here and there... like this darling nest of goose eggs we discovered Sunday as we walked around the pond near our place of worship.

It was such a simple pleasure--after the time of worship and Christian fellowship and breathing in rich truths from God's Word.
I asked Jonathan if we couldn't take a few minutes to walk around the pond, just so I could enjoy the trees and the water--
and that is when the goose rushed off from her resting place and we discovered the nest!
We sent the children on a goose egg hunt after that!

Today I read that the New Testament "calls us to love simple beauties, not luxurious status symbols. This is so crucial. The world is begging us constantly to love status symbols instead of simple beauties."
That was from John Piper in answer to  a middle-class Christian lady who was afraid that she was living with a far higher standard of living than that with which she would want to face the judgment.
Piper wrote, "I don’t think it’s possible to take all that biblical teaching about money and find a clear line between wartime simplicity [as he had explained earlier is about sacrificing to the extreme for war efforts or gospel advance] and peacetime luxury. I don’t think the line is clear at all. Therefore, my approach both in preaching and in my own life is to return again and again and again, just like we’ve done now, to the relentless thrust of the New Testament toward loving, fruitful, others-oriented, sacrificial simplicity for the sake of kingdom advance."

"Riches are dangerous; that message is everywhere. Simplicity for its own sake is worthless because love is what counts. Doing good, and not going without — that’s what counts. I know there are people who’ve given themselves to way more simplicity than others, and they’re loveless, while people that have more are very more loving and good is coming from their lives.

Immerse yourself in the New Testament summons to love people, not money [italics mine.]. Learn with Paul the secret of such profound contentment in Jesus that you know how to be abased and how to abound."
These were wonderful thoughts from the following link:
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/do-the-biblical-warnings-against-riches-apply-to-most-americans

Yesterday evening we had another home-schooling family of eight children to our home for fellowship.
Another rich time of simple pleasure versus status symbol!
No status symbols here at our house!

The dad used to be in the military, and I was worried that our home might not be too great--certainly anything but every hair in place like the dad of this family! But we needn't have worried. They were a very gracious family, and it didn't take long for us all to feel at home with each other. The couple, she from Minnesota, had met each other at college in South Dakota and had spent many years of their marriage moving about all over the place wherever the military sent them,

from South Dakota to Alaska to Guam to North Carolina, to other places, to Colorado--

where they ended up attending church in a modified barn and meeting some crazy people named Lucases!

Carrie and Rose had made homemade icecream for us all with cousin Samuel helping. We had popcorn and chips and dip and a few treats out, and they brought deviled eggs and apple slices with the best cream cheese caramel dip!

It was so comforting to have another mother be so understanding of where I am in my journey of motherhood,

someone who understood the struggles of bearing your 7th and last baby at age 43 (she had her 8th at age 42)

and many other things. She asked me one question after another, and I hope she found understanding from my end as well, that she isn't alone in the struggle of being an older mother of many children, trying to home school the younger ones effectively while launching the older ones into college or real life. Her oldest is taking college classes in town.

I loved how the one thing one of their children wanted to copy us about was to make wooden cowboy boots with children's names like are on our livingroom wall! The dad asked how we made them, and I had gotten the pattern from my sister-in-law in North Dakota a few years ago, Timmy had jigsawed them, and we had all woodburned the names and details with a little kit from Walmart.

Simple pleasure rather than a status symbol, that's for sure!

Meet Winnie-the-Moo!

Meet Winnie-the-Moo!

That's short for Winchester, one of our newest additions to the farm!

Don't you love how the other calf is trying to get some milk, too?
The white one with black spots is Winchester, and the black one with white legs is --oh I forgot!
I'll have to ask the children later.
Okay, yes, this one is Oakley (for Annie Oakley). 

Timmy found them on Craigs List and we picked them up with our van.

(Then despite the tarp behind the back seat, I had to mop out our van!

We fell in love with these dear little bottle calves right away, and they obviously fell in love with us--or at least with our bottle!

We've had so much goat milk this spring that I have been making goat cheese, but now the extra milk can go into fattening up two bottle calves. 

Here milk is heating on the woodstove while the clean milk pans are getting sterilized with the heat on the back of the stove. And an iron skillet is warming to dry so it won't rust.

And the tea pot is on for hot tea or coffee.

And calves aren't the only hungry creatures around here!

Rose made the yummiest blueberry muffins the other day.

We had homemade pizza two nights ago, some of the best pizzas we've ever had!
It was cousin Samuel's idea.

That night, after I did the dishes, I prepared about two and a half dozen of our quail eggs for pancakes in the morning.

It takes about 2 dozen quail eggs to make a cup.

I thought this color of quail egg was unusual. Most of the eggs are mottled.

And here are a few pictures I'll throw in of the Monday before last when we had 26 people here for supper! We'd invited a family who were visiting in the area and whom we knew when they lived nearby a couple years ago, plus a bunch of their relatives since no one in the clan had a place big enough to have a mini family reunion.

So we let them all come out here for late afternoon horse rides and a delicious supper.

Rose kept very busy giving one horse ride after another to very eager children!

We still consider Liberty our Missionary Horse!

She has given us so many opportunities to have dear people come to our home and enjoy riding,

and it's been an opportunity to show the love of Christ to people who are struggling through life carrying many heavy burdens.
We have burdens ourselves, but lifting another's load makes ours lighter.
There was such a big bubble of joy that day in my heart as I was working in the kitchen, right in the middle of the crowd.
We were criss-crossing each other's arms at times, and squeezing around each other, trying to reach things and make supper! It was funny!
But it was such a good time, and the gratitude different ones showed us, almost in tears, was so worth it.

Simple Joys during Ordinary Days

There aren't very many totally typical, normal days around here, but today was one, complete with simple joys, including this photo my sister Dorcas sent of an apple blossom.

And I couldn't help appreciating other simple joys that made me glad, especially the moments of folding the warm laundry straight out of the dryer.

I don't know why it made me so happy, except that the living room where I was sorting and folding was quiet since all the children were out of doors for school break or elsewhere, and I hadn't realized my hands were a bit cold.

So the warmth of the fresh, clean laundry and the fragrance from the fabric softener just gave me a special thrill and sweetened my day in a rare way.

We have extra laundry now with restaurant uniforms and fireman's uniforms to wash!

 

In the last couple days, we've had one small disaster after another, but today the loads lightened, and there was something comforting about the stacks of clean clothes, this stack of what we call "goat rags," for washing the goat's teats before milking (requiring two rags per milking, or 28 rags a week)

and fresh, warm, clean wash cloths.

We're in the middle of a bit of spring cleaning, with these lamp globes freshly washed and ready to put back up.

And with my nephew Samuel here, my girls and I are keeping more food around handy!

Rose makes both boys' lunches in the morning, along with her dad's. 

Today I made borsch, our favorite stew, with organic beets Jonathan bought yesterday, and tonight it was sooo hot and savory with thyme and rosemary sprinkled in and dollops of sour cream on top.

We also had the second apple pie that the girls made from our homemade canned apple pie filling.

"Rejoice in the Lord always," says the Good Book, "and again I say, rejoice.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:4-7

Keeping Bowed, and Pointing to the Cross

On Easter Sunday, I saw a similar scene as this, and my family graciously complied to get our hands and fingers

together to form a cross.

To get a nice picture, we had to get some things out of the way.
We had to scoot all the table clutter away.
We had to get our heads out of the way (including noses and mouths).
And we had to pay close attention to what direction our fingers were pointing.

And to follow Christ and carry our cross, we very often have to get our curious, busy-body noses out of the picture,

and certainly our big mouths that are so quick to blab, blast, blame, blurt and bleep. 

We must get rid of the clutter of the distractions that are daily, worldly, and may seem innocent.

It's so easy to just point that pointer finger where it most easily goes--toward some idol we worship, toward someone to blame, or toward ourselves to take credit.

It takes God's grace to keep our words, actions, and attitudes pointing to the cross and touching other fingers, keeping in fellowship with others in the body of Christ, not just forsaking the assembling of ourselves together because we cannot agree with certain others on every matter.
Here we were a few weeks ago in Denver at Kids' Club, where Christian Walker is the "Good Shepherd" trying to find the "lost sheep" hiding in the back of the church
while the other "good" sheep are up by Holly safe in the fold.

It took us some effort to figure out how to position our thumbs and pointer fingers while keeping the rest of our fingers folded underneath.

It was hard to get my hand turned just right, and to remember to keep the extra fingers bent underneath, like a humble bowing before the Lord. 

"If we are truly following Jesus, we are not chasing miracles and spectacles like the crowds, but bowing our knees in reverent awe like the Roman centurion. We are not avoiding the costs of following Jesus at all costs, but rejoicing to be rejected, opposed, and afflicted with him. We are not clinging to the loves we had before we met him, but submitting every other love to our first and greatest love,"
wrote Marshall Segal of DesiringGod just a day or two ago.

This spoke deeply to me.