Cmomb’s Anniversary Chat
CMOMB’s
8th
Anniversary Chat with
Stacy McDonald
and
Jennie Chancey
Monday, October 22nd 4pm Pacific, 5pm Mountain, 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern
Pass the news along! Tell your friends!
Stacy is the thankful wife of Pastor James McDonald, the contented mother of ten children, and a soon to be first-time grandmother. Mrs. McDonald is also author of the popular new book, Passionate Housewives Desperate for God and Raising Maidens of Virtue: A Study of Feminine Loveliness for Mothers and Daughters. She has been blessed with the opportunity to teach women around the globe on issues relating to the roles of a wife and mother, homeschooling, and Christian decorum. Stacy and her husband, along with their children, reside in Central Illinois and operate Family Reformation® ministries, dedicated to the reformation of the Christian family. Please visit Stacy’s blog to gain continued encouragement in your role as a wife and mother.
Jennie is the wife of Matthew Chancey and the happy mother of eight children, whom the Chanceys homeschool. When not cramming lots of reading into “spare” moments, she enjoys playing with her children, sewing, traveling with her family, and contemplating the mysteries of God’s amazing universe. Jennie edits LadiesAgainstFeminism.com, a site which brings together writers from all over the world to expose the damaging effects of feminism and celebrate the beauties of biblical womanhood. She also owns the successful home-based Sense & Sensibility Patterns, begun when she was a newlywed to inspire women to embrace their femininity.
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If you want to share this with a friend, they will have to make application in order to be there. If you do recommend someone to join, please let them know their opportunity to get in is better sooner than late in order to secure membership in time.
Pamona’s Pectin
There is a product that is so much better than regular pectins. It’s called Pomona’s Pectin. I love this product! This is not only for making jams and jellies, but also pie fillings.
You can use all sweeteners (the only pectin of its kind that I can find), including honey. You don’t even HAVE to use a sweetener. This is great stuff! So versatile! Super great for those trying to cut back on sugar or those that cannot have sugar at all.
You can use it for both canned and freezer jams.
Basic Outline Of Discipline
I have been reading Withhold Not Correction. The last time I read it was about 18 years ago.
The author lays out specifics on the actual way to discipline, very similar to the Lindvall article/audio we have in the articles area at cmomb’s forum, but then he gave a brief outline, which I thought helpful and easy to remember:
These are the basic questions to be asked of the child to use this as a training moment.
What did you do? (specifically)
What does God say about this?
Was what you did right or wrong according to the Scriptures?
What happens when you disobey?
What must I do as a parent under God’s authority?
What ought you to do in the future?
We will, of course, have to adjust the details of such a discussion to suit the different ages and circumstances of our children, but the thrust of what we must say must be the same whether we are dealing with a child of fourteen months or fourteen years. Little children and big children, even grown children, must hear words that tell them why they are being disciplined by their parents, or by the Lord.
Anniversary
Several big events have occurred as of late. I turned 40 and my husband and I celebrated out 22nd Anniversary. We knew he’d be gone at the time of our Anniversary, so we took the opportunity a couple weeks before to go to our favorite restaurant. It was very good. We’ve never cared for the noisy atmosphere, but the food is excellent and the service superb. We are looking forward to many many more years ahead.
As for my Birthday…. I was thankful that it was peaceful and quiet. I truly dislike anything where I am the center and even moreso dislike “surprise” parties. Talk about stress!!!
Summer Baking
Have you considered how good cinnamon rolls are on a summer morning? Or have you considered the delightfulness (my own word) of baked bread or a roast on a hot summer’s evening? Ah! I know… I sounds NUTS! But consider it a moment! What a nice break from the salad fare!
We have enjoyed some of these delights recently by using one of these ovens that are portable. We place it out on our deck, so the heat doesn’t affect the home.
No TV, please. No Thank You.
We have not had a television since we came to Christ almost 18 years ago (next month). The only regret we have is that we didn’t use it for target practice, but instead, sold it at a garage sale. ~smile~
We have never regretted the decision to remove it from our home. We have found that we haven’t really missed anything.
We read the book, HOME INVADERS, which was a real eye opener for us at that time (we read it AFTER getting rid of the tube). Further, we wanted to have no appearance of evil in our home. It’s not just the language, it’s the content. The entertainment factor…the flitting of the pictures…gotta keep things going and entertaining. Since then, we’ve heard how bad television has actually gotten in the last 18 years.
Can small children actually distinguish between what is appropriate and inappropriate? I have not found that they can. They don’t have that discernment yet. And it might not make sense when one program is ok and another is not.
The television is a time sucker. I don’t know how I could get anything done! As it is, I have to be very good about limiting computer time. As for my children, we only allow 1/2 hour each day, except weekends, for something educational. A couple of them have their own web pages and have become very good at html and java. They are now working on creating graphics. We have only a couple games they may play *if* they earn their time (another half hour).
We replaced our television with a 30 gallon fish tank. It has been so nice! But no….we do not have our furniture all encircled around it.
We do not do videos, either. The children are all avid readers, to put it mildly! They are excellent at researching when they come across things of interest. They also take what they learn from audio tapes and books and create their own puppets and hold puppet shows. They have even made their own puppets. They checked out books, asked Mom and Dad what they sound like, etc. ~smile~
There are times when we would love to share educational things with the kids or especially good movies. We realize, however, that there are usually books that cover it all, anyway. Perhaps when our smaller ones are older, and are more able to discern, we could consider this. But right now, it wouldn’t work for us.
Oh yes! One thing we have missed! When we were visiting in Oregon several summers ago, some missionaries we support happened to have been in the state on furlough from Africa. We went to a church to hear them speak. While waiting, we realized they were going to show a video. After much whispering and private discussion, we whispered down the line of our 8 kids to “follow us”. We had been sitting in the front pew, btw. We left as quietly as our “Queen Mary” family could. Later, we heard that it was a good thing, as they work around natives that do not wear clothes! LOL Uh….my kids (boys especially) were NOT ready for that! LOL We were so thankful we left.
Unfortunately, so much of television, the bad pictures, the foul language, the attitudes, etc. flashes before your eyes before you have a chance to change a station…. the damage is already done. It’s too late. Images are sealed in the brain.
- The number of television sets in U.S. households in 2001: 248 million
- The percentage of households with at least one TV in 2001: 98.2%
- The average number of TVs per home in 2001: 2.4
- The projected number of hours that adults (age 18 and older) will watch television in 2004: 1,669 (This is the equivalent of about 70 days.)
- The percentage of people age 18 and over who said they watched television in the spring of 2002: 94.3%
- Older Americans (age 65 and over) were more likely to be glued to the tube (97 percent) than any other age group.
- The projected spending per person for cable and satellite TV in 2004: $255.18
- The estimated average monthly rate for cable TV in 2002: $34.71
- The number of stores that primarily sold televisions and other electronic equipment in 2001: 21,724
- The annual payroll for the 245,000 employees of 6,692 cable TV networks and program distribution firms in the United States in 2001: $11.7 billion
- The number of television broadcasting networks and stations in the United States in 2001: 1,937
— Source: United States Census Bureau, March 2004
Why doesn’t anyone say “I’m sorry” anymore?
My husband was out of town and stopped in at a fast food restaurant. They completely messed up his order, over charged him and delayed his day. They acted disgusted with him. By the time all was said and done, there were no apologies. Nothing.
Another day, he went into the Fish, Game, and Wildlife to get some hunting tags, which had a deadline to beat. The secretaries were nearly gleeful to inform him that the entire state of Montana’s computers were down. No apologies. Nothing.
I stood at the register, checking out with my purchases when the checker asked, “did you find everything today okay?” I said, “No, actually, I was looking for a such and such, but I don’t see where you have it.” She ignored me. Finally I said, “So, you reallly weren’t asking me because you were wanting to know? Why did you ask me if I found everything?” No “sorry you didn’t find it, maybe I could have someone check.” Nothing.
These are only a very small handful of situations that come to mind this morning, where there have been no apologies made when something goes wrong. There’s no compassion. No service. No caring.
We have told our children that even if they hurt a sibling on accident, the least they could do is apologize by saying something like, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. Are you okay?” and express some compassion and concern. This is showing love.
Is there no love in the world today? Is everyone so callous that their cares are only for themselves? What kind of society are we if we have no love?
Ephesians 4:17-32 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity
Fires Abound
As we began descending down the hill this morning, we looked across the valley to see yet another fire burning out of control. The flames were large, even from the distance we were at (about 10 miles). This fire is only about 3 miles from another fire, which has been out of control since the night before last.
Now, as we look out the other direction from our home, it appears that the entire horizon is on fire. The smoke is miles and miles wide from Hardin, past Pompey’s Pillar and heading towards Melstone or Roundup, MT.
The news tells us of another fire, which we can only see the smoke of occasionally, which is towards the Beartooth mountains where Yellowstone Park is. We did see another pillar of smoke yesterday, which was much smaller than the others, from that direction, but that was separate. I’m not even mentioning all the other fires, which have been started and put out in the past couple of weeks.
Here are a couple photos from the fire of 2003 that was about 500 yards from our home. Dennis and Benjamin helped fight this fire.
Rase And Me Hang’n Out
I asked my sweet 4yo son, Rase (pronouced Race) if he wanted to hang laundry on the line with me. He said he would so we went out together.
While we were out there with our hands reaching up to hang laundry with the wooden clips, he was saying how he’d rather do some other things on a hot day than hang laundry. I explained to him that I love hanging laundry because it’s so peaceful and quiet: I can hear the birds and I can pray if no one is with me talking. He said… (mind you, he’s hanging laundry with clips), “Let’s pray!” I said, “okay!” He said, “I’ll go first!” “Great,” I reply.
He proceeds to close his eyes and begin praying while trying to hang laundry at the same time (He must think I close my eyes when I pray out there).
So I said, “Wait! You can’t hang laundry and have your eyes closed.” So he opened them and prayed, “Thank you, God for this beautiful day so that we could have lots of fun hanging laundry.”