Q What are your personal strengths and weaknesses? And how have you grown in those areas?
A For the first several years of my marriage and in parenting I prayed for self-discipline. I studied it and read anything I could on it. I memorized verses. I stuck verses and quotes up above the sink, on the frig, on mirrors, in my Bible, by my bed. I had to learn to think ahead of this moment in time, this hour. I had to learn to think about supper before 5 o’clock. It slowly came. I’m not there yet. When life gets busy I drop good habits and bad habits are quick to jump in place.
Q How do you manage clothing, handing things down, switching seasons?
A I keep all the children’s clothes in the laundry room in tubs on shelves about 16 feet long. The girls Sunday dresses hang in their closets. The tubs in the middle shelf are for their current clothes and they do not have the lids on. The top shelf has out of season clothes and sizes that nobody is currently in. Changing seasons is always painful for a couple of months. Cold, hot, cold, hot. I guess I manage that bit of chaos by enduring it for a short season. It really helps to set aside a few days, once you’re sure the season has changed for good, and get completely caught up on laundry and change out the clothes and get everyone in the right size.
Q Can the ideas in your book be applied to a single parent household?
A Absolutely. The first twelve years of our marriage my husband traveled a lot with his work. He would be gone for weeks a time. I completely sympathize with home management alone. I didn’t work outside the home though so I don’t have that perspective. Simply assigning house work to days of the week gives direction, puts things into order and frees up time. Knowing what you’re supposed to do and when is freeing.
Q Can the book benefit small families or is it specifically for large families?
A I think this book is more for the mother of young children. By the time someone has a lot of children they have figured out so many things already. I would have loved this book when I had my first one, two, three, four children. Then life got easier.
The rest of the questions are spread between the blogs.
Life in a Shoe
Smockity Frocks
Raising Olives
Common Room
If you have a question for me -- go ahead and ask. I'll be answering questions here and at the other 4 Moms' blogs today and in the next week.
For one week you can get the book at Vision Forum for 40% off. The promo code is 4MOMS.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI know there was a season in your family when you needed to "home church". How did you structure that time of worship together? What encouragement would you have for someone in similar circumstances? Also, if you lived in a more remote area, without family and like-minded friends nearby, how would you try to meet that challenge and fill the voids in yourself and your family?
Kim,
ReplyDeleteWhere do you buy modest clothing for your girls? Can you recommend any places online?
Home Church-ing:
ReplyDeleteI don't think that it is wise to do this unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Hebrew 10:23-25
23Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
I have heard horrible stories of families that have done that and the father hearing from God that he should do ______ and ______. (You fill in the blank for a horrible thing.)
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
God will not ever say anything contrary to His Word.
There is danger without accountability.
We need each other. Look up the word meeting or gathering in the Bible. We are meant to fellowship with other believers.
If you have to -- go to a disagreeable church and be the salt and light there. Make it your mission field. Build up the other believers. Be the sharpening iron. Minister to the believers there. Glean what you can from the believers there so that you are sharpened also. We aren't perfect people and there is no perfect church. Teach your children the Bible when you're at home.
IF you cannot--let's say you're missionaries in a remote jungle. Or you have a person in your family whose health is comprimised (hopefully temporarily). Still connect with a church. Consider that body of believers your church and communicate with them as you can.
Structure your home service according to that church's service, the pastor's sermon texts, the songs sung, etc. Always include a time of confession using confession scriptures (generally found in the Psalms), a prayer of repentance (there are also Psalms for that), and a portion of scripture that speaks of God's forgiveness.
Whereever you are, seek out other believers and meet with them. If you have a health comprimised person in your home so some serious cleaning continually, wash door handles and insist that people use hand sanitizer as soon as they step inside your home. Keep your comprimised person in their own room or part of the home.
Keep the focus on Jesus in your home. Be like Jesus, speak like Jesus would, Love like Jesus does with each of the members in your family. Remind each person that Jesus is our best friend. And "He places the lonely in families".
Modest Clothing -
ReplyDeleteWe shop at second hand stores and at our local outlet mall.
Second hand stores require lots of digging and I have to have something really specific in mind and have the right attitude when we go to the second hand stores. I don't like to shop, I'd rather do twenty hundred other things.
At our local outlet mall I have learned which stores we have the best time finding apropriate clothing in and when I happen to be in that town I will stop and we'll run in and look at what they have. We can get really nice priced stuff on the clearance racks. If we like something in the front of the store we will come back in a couple of weeks or month when it's on the clearance rack. Unless it's really nice and we really like it then we'll get it. It's still lower priced than the retail mall. That's my strategy. I don't like to shop so I'm like a hunter. I know what we need and I know where to go and I zero in. ; )
We avoid the junior section of stores. It's so much easier to find modest clothing for little girls. grrrr.
In the misses section we have to avoid looking like old ladies. grrrrr.
So! I'll pull some stuff out of my brain in thinking back over the years.
We have skirts for the upper elementary years that we have found at Gap and Old Navy outlet stores. We have sewn some for those sizes that are still being passed down. I don't buy any blouses that advertise a store or have cartoon characters or the like. Or any (non) clever sayings. We aim for pretty. I do buy my girls jeans but they have to fit loose and no skinny legs or too low of a waist. Usually we get those at Theisen's -- Wrangler or Levi's. Sometimes we find nice fitting pants or jeans at Gap. By nice I mean not tight or flashy or drawing inapropriate attention to certain areas. That's why the Wrangler or Levi's from Theisen's work -- they are the ones made for work.
When we go out, the girls are generally dressed in skirts. We have found cute skirts for the older girls at Christopher and Banks. We have that store at our outlet mall. I can easily find clothes there for myself. We also have a Coldwater Creek, Eddie Bauer, Bass, and Van Huesen. Go to the back of the store where the clearance racks are and between the lot, I can put together an outfit and shoes for a really good price.
I keep clothes to pass down.
I have Swim Modest suits for the girls when we're in public. We do most of our swimming at my dad's farm pond though and we wear a one piece suit with swim shorts and a board shirt or an old T-shirt. Now is the time to look for those suits and swim shorts and board shirts on the clearance racks. Sometimes at second hand stores. Swimming in a pond turns everything dingy so I save the expensive stuff for elsewhere.
I hope this gives you some ideas. I guess though that you have to do what suits your location. If I lived in a remote ranch in Wyoming or New York City or Key West, Florida or Phoenix, Airzona my shopping would be a different story.