Show and Tell Friday

Posted on May 4, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Kelli at There’s No Place Like Home hosts the “Show and Tell Friday,” asking “Do you have a something special to share with us? It could be a trinket from grade school, a piece of jewelry, an antique find. Your show and tell can be old or new. Use your imagination and dig through those old boxes in your closet if you have to! Feel free to share pictures and if there’s a story behind your special something, that’s even better! If you would like to join in, all you have to do is post your “Show and Tell” on your blog, copy the post link, come over here and add it to Mr. Linky.“

Over 25 years ago as a college student I first heard the well-known story of the five missionaries who were killed by the tribe of Indians in Ecuador known then as the Aucas (later it was discovered their name for themselves was the Waodani) with whom they were trying to make contact. I read the book Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot, whose husband, Jim, was one of the five, which tells of these men, how they came to Christ and then to Ecuador, the events leading up to this moment, and the miraculous way the Lord opened the door for Elisabeth , her young daughte Valerie, and Rachel Saint, sister of Nate Saint who was another of the men, to go live with the same Indians who killed their loved ones and to bring them the gospel.

It’s a story that has been impacting lives for years. My life was one of them. To read of the faith and devotion of these men and their wives, the willing sacrifices they made, the way the Lord ministered to them and to the Waodani, and then to read about Waodani becoming brethren in the faith and growing in the Lord — I just don’t think I can convey everything the Lord has done in my own heart as a result.

Elisabeth’s book tells of a photographer for Life magazine named Cornell Capa who came out with the first responders to search for the men in the jungles after their deaths and the edition I have includes several of his pictures. It may seem an odd, silly thing, but I have always wished I could get a copy of that edition of Life.

Well, last Christmas I received a copy of it from my oldest son, Jeremy. We each make “Christmas lists” for the others in our family so that we have some idea of what to get for each other, but Jeremy likes to come up with something “just right” for the recipient that is not on the list. He had heard me speak of this and searched the Internet to see if he could find it. He had to buy a whole bundle of other issues that this one was in, but he ordered it and gave me the copy from January 30, 1956, which has a the ten-page story and pictures of this incident.

This is a treasure to me not only because it is a piece of history from an event that touched my life in so many ways, but also because of Jeremy’s thoughtfulness in getting it for me.

By the way, if you are interested in reading more about this story, besides Through Gates of Splendor mentioned above, several other books have been writen. Rachel Saint wrote The Dayuma Story, but the only copy of that I found searching the Internet shows Ethel Emily Wallis as the author: I don’t know if this is a republication of Rachel’s book or a completely different book. I read Rachel’s: I haven’t read this one. Another of the widows, Olive Fleming Liefeld, wrote Unfolding Destinies. The most recent one is End of the Spear by Steve Saint, son of Nate Saint. (I reviewed the film by the same name here.) These are just the ones I have read: there may be others I don’t know of. I have read most of Elisabeth Elliot’s other books since then as well.

You can visit Kelli’s place to see more “Show and Tell” stories or share your own.

Thursday Thirteen: Prayer

Posted on May 3, 2007 by Barbara Harper

With many of us praying for Heather throughout the day, and with today being the National Day of Prayer, I thought I’d share a few quotes about prayer.

1. Pray when you feel like praying.
Pray when you don’t feel like praying.
Pray until you do feel like praying
(Author unknown)

2. “Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, ‘above all that we ask or think’. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!” — Andrew Murray

3. “Work as if everything depended upon your work, and pray as if everything depended upon your prayer.” — William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army)

4. “Closet communion needs time for the revelation of God’s presence. It is vain to say, ‘I have too much work to do to find time.’ You must find time or forfeit blessing. God knows how to save for you the time you sacredly keep for communion with Him.” –- A. T. Pierson

5. “We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism…To your knees, man! and to your Bible! Decide at once! Don’t hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God, quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying, and cowardly excuses. Enlist! ” — C. T. Studd

6. “I myself, for instance, am not especially gifted, and am shy by nature, but my gracious and merciful God and Father inclined Himself to me, and when I was weak in faith He strengthened me while I was still young. He taught me in my helplessness to rest on Him, and to pray even about little things in which another might have felt able to help himself.” — James Hudson Taylor

7. “Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him.” –-James Hudson Taylor

8. “The reason why many fail in battle is because they wait until the hour of battle. The reason why others succeed is because they have gained their victory on their knees long before the battle came…Anticipate your battles; fight them on your knees before temptation comes, and you will always have victory.” — R. A. Torrey

9. “Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart” — Martin Luther

10. “Isn’t ‘no’ an answer?” — Amy Carmichael

11. “Pray often; for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan” — John Bunyan

12. “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks.” — Phillip Brooks

13. The trouble with our praying is, we just do it as a means of last resort. — Will Rogers

Bonuses: “There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees.” — Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, 1862

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” — Corrie Ten Boom

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

And the winner is….

Posted on May 3, 2007 by Barbara Harper

The winner of the book give-away for Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker by Lynn Bowen Walker from my interview with her is…

(Trumpet fanfare…)

Bet!

Praying for Heather

Posted on May 3, 2007 by Barbara Harper

As many of you already know, Heather is having surgery today to remove a brain tumor, a tumor that she was at first told was inoperable. Please pray for her and her family throughout the day as you think of them.

Janice created this button and has the code for it on her blog if you’d like to display it. It links back to the place where updates will be reported about Heather’s progress as it is known.

Kelli has organized a prayer chain if you’d like to participate in it.

Wordless Wednesday: Don’t cry over spilled milk

Posted on May 2, 2007 by Barbara Harper

See 5 Minutes For Mom or the Wordless Wednesday HQ for more.

Also, see the next post for an interview with author Lynn Walker and a an opportunity to win a free copy of her book Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker!

Interview with Lynn Walker

Posted on May 2, 2007 by Barbara Harper

Back during the Fall Reading Challenge, I saw on a couple of people’s reading lists the book Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker by Lynn Bowen Walker. That sounded right up my alley! Though I enjoy being a homemaker and have wanted to be one all my life, like every job, there are days when I feel uninspired, challenged, and tired. There are plenty of great tips and ideas even for super-homemakers. I let my family know it was one of the things I would like for Christmas, and I received it and started it in January. I am loving it!

A few weeks ago Lynn e-mailed me and asked if I wanted to be part of her 30 Blogs in 30 Days blog tour. Did I ever! She also sent me a copy of her book to use however I wanted to. I decided to give it to a commenter on today’s post, so, if you are interested, leave a comment on this post and I will draw a name Thursday morning.

I’ve enjoyed communicating with Lynn and asking these questions:

1. You mentioned in the first chapter that you read many books about homemaking but none seemed to meet your needs, so you wrote your own. What was missing from the books you read?

I love reading about homemaking. And many of the books I read were great as far as they went. But most of them focused so narrowly on just one part of being a homemaker, and I needed help in all kinds of areas! I wanted to know not just how to be a great mom, but also how to manage my time when there were so many requests to volunteer, how to get dinner on the table when I wasn’t home in the afternoons to cook it, how to cope with the drudgery of doing the same old chores when I’d rather be trying a new cheesecake recipe 🙂

I also wanted not just information on what to do, like how to clean and organize, but encouragement to help me want to do it. When I understand from the book of Proverbs that God values the character quality of diligence, for example, that helps me to drag out the vacuum cleaner a little more often.

2. What do you think is the greatest need of homemakers today?

That’s a tough one. I think so many of us go to school and prepare for a career in the work place, whether it’s being a teacher, an accountant, a chemist – then we find ourselves home, raising a family, and we don’t really know what we’re doing! So I think training would be nice.

But also, and probably more important, would be encouragement. We are doing the toughest job in the world, one that demands 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no vacation, no sick days, no tangible paycheck, not even the chance to go to the bathroom by ourselves sometimes (!), and our culture says we “don’t work.” That’s discouraging! It takes real effort to value what you do when no one around you seems to value it. I would really like to tell women who are keeping their homes, loving their husbands, and raising their children, good job! Keep it up! What you are doing is important. By building a strong family and providing a place where people can come to have their needs met, what you’re doing is really making a difference in the world.

3. What’s your least favorite homemaking task?

Probably mopping.

Most favorite?

That would be baking. Preferably something chocolate.

4. Can you tell me about the process of writing this book? When did you first consider it? How long did it take you to write once you started?

The book actually started more than ten years ago. When my youngest entered kindergarten, I joined a writers’ group, where we met monthly and exchanged manuscripts. At the top of each manuscript we were supposed to say what kind of work this was – “This is the beginning of the third chapter in my memoir,” for example – so everyone could get a context for what they were reading.

I noticed that month after month, I kept submitting things where I wrote at the top, “This is another article for a women’s magazine on the importance of the job of homemaker.” After a couple of years it finally dawned on me: being a homemaker was my passion! And it bothered me that we were so under-represented in books and magazines. I wondered if maybe God was directing me to do more than just write articles; maybe He wanted me to put my passion for homemaking into a book.

It was probably seven or eight years later before the book was done. I can’t remember exactly, but I know my boys were in elementary school when I started, and as I was finishing it up, our eldest headed off to college.

5. What is your writing schedule like? Just in bits and snatches as you can, or a regular system?

I had to write Queen of the Castle in short snatches of time, between driving the kids to where they needed to be and doing everything else that fills the committed homemaker’s day. I learned to jot down notes in my lap as I was driving (do not try this if you can possibly avoid it!). I wrote while in the bleachers at school waiting for the Washington D.C. informational meeting; I wrote in parking lots waiting for Little League practices to end; I wrote in the corner of the wrestling mat in the muggy gym, in the midst of sweaty boys. It was a rare treat when I had an hour to actually sit at the computer and write.

But that’s one of the things that has made me so thankful about this whole process. God so graciously allowed me to be a devoted homemaker and mom, and not miss a minute of my kids’ growing up years, yet still gave me the opportunity to write a book. How cool is that? What an amazing God we serve. I have no idea how He managed that!

6. How do you keep track of the quotes you use? I have little pieces of paper sticking up out of books to mark passages I want to go back to. 🙂

The little sticky notes in books is a wonderful method! I also photocopy quotes I like from library books. My favorite method is to copy quotes onto 3 x 5 cards, and to make sure I note where I got the quotes from in case I want to go back to the source later.

7. I like the weekly format. Often with these types of books, I read straight through and get all excited, but at the end of it I don’t retain much. This format helps me think on the chapter for the week all week. In fact, in light of this interview I tried to read ahead, but felt I was cramming in too much at once and decided I’d rather stay with the format as is. How did you decide on this format?

I’m glad you like it, Barbara! I like the weekly format, too, probably because I’m very distractible and very forgetful; focusing on just one thing at a time works for me  I also like knowing right where to go when I need ideas for a St. Patrick’s Day dinner, or a refresher on how to make that Thanksgiving gravy!

The format kind of evolved over the years, I’m not quite sure how. I originally thought I might do a “365 days of homemaking” approach, but soon realized if I did that I’d end up with a thousand page book!

8. I like that you mentioned that every woman is a homemaker whether she is single, has children or not, etc. Sometimes ladies in these various situations feel left out or avoid what they think of as “mom blogs” or “mom books” or get-togethers when there is really good, helpful information there. How would you encourage us as women to come together as women rather than segregating into “moms” and “singles,” etc.?

Because I go to a really small church, we don’t have enough women to form a college group; we don’t have enough singles to form a singles group. We all just meet together as ladies, so I’m sure that’s impacted my thinking. We did a “homemaking” Bible study a number of years back which I co-lead, and one of the real joys of that for me was seeing women who hadn’t considered themselves homemakers before realize that even if they lived alone, they had a home, they used it to minister to others, they were indeed homemakers. Our homes are vehicles God has given us where we can minister to others, no matter our marital situation, or whether or not we have kids.

9. Do you have another book project in mind?

Nothing definite. I love homemaking and I love to cook, so any book project would probably have to include those two. If anyone has any ideas, I’d love to hear them!

10. Who are some of your favorite authors?

I love to read essays and I love to read humor, so any authors who marry the two, I devour! Some of my favorites are E. B. White (who wrote Charlotte’s Web but also wrote lots of essays for The New Yorker), Bill Bryson, Calvin Trillin, Dave Barry. I also love to read essays about homemaking, so those writers would be Beverly Nye, Peg Bracken, Phyllis McGinley, Laurie Colwin, Erma Bombeck, and Gladys Taber.

11. Do you have a web site? If not, do you think you might in the future?

I don’t, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever be ready to make that technological leap. I just got a cell phone and still can’t quite figure out how to retrieve messages. Of course I’m married to an electrical engineer, the daughter of an electrical engineer, and my two sons are both studying electrical engineering. God has a great sense of humor.

12. How has your family responded to your book project and publication?

Book? Did Mom write a book? 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks so much, Lynn, for visiting and allowing me to ask these questions. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. And thanks for the encouragement and inspiration. You can find Lynn’s book in many bookstores, at Amazon.com, and Christianbook.com. Or you can try to win a free copy here! Just leave a comment on this post. You don’t have to have a blog to enter. I will draw a name Thursday morning and post the winner then.

The contest is closed. Congratulations to Bet on winning the copy of this book.

Works-For-Me Wednesday: Themed Birthday Parties

Posted on May 2, 2007 by Barbara Harper

The first WFMW of every month is a themed edition, and this months theme is birthday tips.

When my older guys were little, we didn’t really have a themed party beyond maybe the plates and cake decorations matching. One of their favorites took place at a state park that had a little stream they could play in. On the invitations I expalined what we’d be doing and the need for appropriate clothes, and Jason (who was turning 6) delighted in telling invitees that they’d be able to get wet and dirty. 🙂 And some years we just went to some place like Discovery Place in Charlotte or just a place near by with video games, go-carts, and such and let them invite one friend.

I don’t think a theme is necessary — the kids care more about playing and cake. But over the last several years we have had a few themed ones that were really fun to do, and I wanted to share three of them with you.

1. Lego party

I saw this idea in the Family Fun magazine (which has a yearly focus on theme parties. This may be where I got the idea in the first place. They have tons of wonderful party ideas on their web site if you can get past all the ads). One of the games was building a tower out of Legos as high as you could within a time limit. At the time stores sold little $2 Lego sets we used for favors. The cake was the best thing, though, for a cake-challenged person like me. It was made to look like a giant Lego — just a regular 13×9 cake with eight cupcakes on top, spaced like the little round interlocking parts on top of a Lego, and frosted all the same color. All of my guys LOVED Legos, so this one was close to my heart.

2. Army party

For this one I made invitations on the computer using a military-looking font and clip-art of army guys, couching everything in terms like “Your presence is requested to complete a mission: celebrating Jesse’s birthday.” We got cheapy plastic camouflage helmets at the Oriental Trading Company. My husband acted as “drill sergeant” and put them through some funny drills (I think tossing water balloons back and forth trying not to break them was one, shooting something with water guns was another), then took them on a short hike through the woods. Our local grocery store bakery didn’t have any kind of army-looking cake in their book, but when I told the decorator what I was looking for she said they did have a kit for that, so the cake had little hills and roads and army tanks on it. Many of the guys wore camouflage pants.

3. Detective party

This was fun but did take a little more thought. I did the invitations on the computer again with clip-art detectives, magnifying glasses, etc. The bulk of the invitation was normal but part was written in code. We cut footprints out of black construction paper and placed them outside. We used gold foil-wrapped chocolate “coins” to represent the “loot” that was stolen and hidden. I came up with 3 clues to lead them to the coins. That was hardest — I was trying not to make it too hard, but they figured it out pretty easily. We had little detective hats, sunglasses, pads, pencils, and I think maybe magnifying glasses. We played one game that was a variation on what you might have done at showers — showed them a tray of items, let them look at it for a minute, then covered it — then they had to list as many items as they could remember (because detectives are supposed to have good powers of observation. 🙂 ) We also had one of my older sons walk through, then asked them questions about what he had one, how tall he was, etc.

Since my youngest is 13, that’s probably the last themed one. When they get to be teens, they seem to prefer pizza and cake with not much formal planning. But it was fun while it lasted. 🙂

Go to Rocks In My Dryer for more birthday tips or to join in the fun. And don’t forget my interview with Lynn Walker, author of Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker.

Contests! Giveaways!

Posted on May 1, 2007 by Barbara Harper

The 5 Minutes for Mom site will be hosting a number of contests and giveaways between now and Mother’s Day. And the very first one is an Apple iPod Nano and chocolate combo! Click here for general information, rules, etc., here for the iPod Nano contest, and watch 5 Minutes for Mom for more contests over the next couple of weeks. You don’t have to have a blog to win; you just comment on the posts for the contests you are interested in.

And don’t forget tomorrow (Wednesday, May 2) I’ll be interviewing Lynn Walker, author of author of Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker AND I will be giving away a copy of her book to a commenter on that particular post. So I hope you’ll come back and visit then! 🙂 You don’t have to have a blog to win. I’ll be drawing names Thursday morning.