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Young girls and modesty

This subject has been on my mind lately as I have 4 girls of my own, the oldest of which is smack dab in the middle of puberty and is dabbling in finding a "style" of her own. I certainly have my own thoughts on this issue, but would like to share few things that I thought really beautifully encompassed what I feel is appropriate for ladies of all ages. Why try to put into words what someone else has, and so much better than I could have if I tried?

I do firmly believe that mommies and daddies must start right at the beginning with their little girls in teaching them about modesty. If your little girls are allowed to wear mini skirts that are so cute when they are toddlers, how are you going to take those away all of a sudden when they are twelve? If your little girl loves to wear, and is most comfortable in a little bikini swimsuit when she is four, I can guarantee you she'll not understand why it's such a big deal when she is 11. Why was it okay then and not now? I think we as parents have the greatest success in teaching our children principles when we are as consistent as we possibly can be with them all across the board. This applies to every other area of your life that you want your children to embrace as their own.

The first article I would like to share was written by a missionary lady I know.

I don't completely adopt all of her convictions as my own, but I certainly respect her

study of the Bible, and the thought she has put into developing her own standards of dress.

Her article can be found here.

This next website I found is a blog of another missionary lady who I have never met.

But she has a passion for a smart, beautiful, feminine, modest wardrobe, and has many blogs on this topic. She has lots of links to other great resources including places to purchase beautiful clothes, as well as ideas on how to put a great outfit together. I'll be letting my daughter peruse her website soon.

Click here to get to her blog and look through all her articles on "femininity and modesty."

The last article I'm linking you too is one that I blogged before. But it's just as good now

as it was then. I really LOVE this one. Click here.

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe

A couple weeks ago, I was sick..... in bed...... for the entire weekend. My sweet husband was in charge for 2 full days and part of the next and he was amazing. He even did the grocery shopping with some children in tow, while his mom stayed back with the littlest ones.

So on Sunday of that weekend, my thoughtful mother-in-law made some of this soup in her crock-pot and brought it over for us along with some other things. It was the BEST homemade version of this recipe that I have ever tasted!! This is the recipe that she shared with me.....

Crock-Pot Split Pea Soup

8 cups chicken broth (or 2 - 32 oz. cartons)

2 cups water

1/2 cup regular barley

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 cups carrots, finely chopped

1 medium onion (1/2 cup), finely chopped (I prefer green onions)

1 ham steak cut in 1 " pieces (I used the Jennie-O Turkey ham)

16 oz. bag of green split peas, rinsed but not soaked

Salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in crock pot.

(This picture does not show all the liquid that I did add.....be sure to add the water and broth!)

Cook on high for 6 hours or on low all night. It will get even thicker as it cools!!

Makes 8 (1 1/2 cups) servings.

So delicious!!!

Why large families just might be a little easier....

Now I hope you're not going to be annoyed that I'm going to include a link to someone else's thoughts. I know you came here to hear MY thoughts, and here I am sending you away. But it will be worth it. I couldn't put all this together. Let me share with you a few highlights:

Humility. My children have learned it’s not always their turn. They’ve accepted they can’t always get their way because other people have to get their way sometimes. They’ve learned that some children are better at certain things than they are.

Foreign language skills. You can learn a lot of Spanish by watching ten years of Dora the Explorer that you just can’t pick up in two. And now with the Diego spin off I’m practically fluent.

Laughter. The children have learned to laugh at the insane non sequiturs of younger siblings. They’ve learned that laughing just feels better when seven people are doing it along with you.

Competition. Do I really need to go into this? Everything is a competition in big families. The children compete over who reads faster, who drinks their milk faster, who gets to the bathroom first…etc. Everything is a competition and they’re all keeping score.

Balance. The floor of the front room of my home is a minefield of toys and childhood paraphernalia. Just walking through the room requires great skill and balance. I’m absolutely convinced my two year old will be a favorite for Gold on the balance beam in the 2016 Olympics. (She might have to lay off the cookies a little but I’ll deal with that later.)

Life isn’t fair. Sometimes you just give it to the baby because you want a little quiet. Not all the time. But sometimes.

Just say “No.” Being able to say “no” may be the most undervalued skill in this world. The need to be liked is pervasive. The need to be cool even more so. Having brothers and sisters teaches children to say “no” about 143 times a day. It’s a good skill.

Praying. They learn that nothing beats praying together as a family.

To read this great article in its entirety go here.

Field Trip!!

Usually, I try to schedule our family field trips on Mondays when my husband has his normal day off from work. But due to unforeseen police work obligations yesterday, we had to reschedule our "Monday Funday" to Tuesday. And what a glorious day it was too. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and since all the local schools were back in school from last week's "spring break" it wasn't very crowded. It was such a delightful day! Here are a few highlights from our trip to the Dallas Zoo:

This Saki Monkey was calling or singing or crying or something. The sound it

made was so unique and beautiful and you could hear it all over the zoo.

I had never heard a monkey call like that before and it made me wonder

what an entire jungle of these calling monkeys would sound like!!

No fruit today

I've noticed here lately that most people don't do much or any blogging on the weekends.

Nor do they do much blog reading.

In spite of this, I'm stepping out of the box and sharing a couple things that I've

read lately that really encouraged my heart.

Some days are so long, and so full of up hill battles in my little house full of children.

Some days I really feel like we make no headway at all,

that there is no progress, no growth or positive change in any way.

There are some days when I feel like I am wasting some of the talents the Lord

has given to me, to spend day after day after day training and working with little to no fruit

to show for it.

It can be so discouraging.

So the other day when I came back to these Scripture verses that I hadn't read in a hundred years, it was so refreshing and uplifting:

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom,

neither shall fruit be in the vines;

the labor of the olive shall fail,

and the fields shall yield no meat;

the flock shall be cut off from the fold,

and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength,

and he will make my feet like hinds' feet,

and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."

Habakkuk 3: 17-19

On days that are particularly stressful and full of yelling, belligerent children,

schoolwork that is not getting finished,

4000 pounds of laundry,

dishes up to my elbows,

and rain outside that keeps the children trapped indoors,

I always forget that the Lord is still at work.

What I see in my house is like a dormant tree in the winter.

Just because it looks "dead" doesn't mean that there is not life happening

on the inside that needs nourishment to produce the flowers

of spring and fruit of harvest.

The Lord has promised that there will be another season coming.

There will be flowers and a time of enjoying

the fruit of my labor.

In the meantime, I am commanded to.......rejoice.

How hard that is sometimes.

Apparently, my family is an anomaly in our church because of our size.

(I find it especially interesting that this is a fact in a CHURCH no less!!)

When we walk in together people have a comment on the number of children we have,

or how one child in particular is behaving at the moment,

or that they "don't know how we do it,"

or they smile as if offering some source of empathy.

A dear, sweet, precious older lady came up to me a while back,

and mentioned something to me about all our children,

and that she had written a poem

when she was in a season of caring for several young grandchildren.

She wanted to give me a copy of the poem,

and I share it with you here.

It follows up my previous thoughts quite well.

Scattered Toys

by Barbara Harvey

3/15/2000

Thank you Lord for scattered toys

around my living room.

They tell of little girls and boys

whose joy dispel the gloom.

I know of other folks my age

whose home are neat and clean?

They'd trade their empty lonely cage

and table tops that gleam,

for just one little dirty face

on one sweet little child,

to scatter toys around their place,

to laugh and cry and smile.

Sometimes I get discouraged, Lord,

with all the work to do.

The jobs that just can't be ignored,

and then I think of you.

Do you get tired of all my mess,

and my complaints and gripes?

Yet you clean me up when I confess

and make my black heart white.

Please give me, Lord, the patience

to face each day with joy,

and clean up all the messes

as I love each girl and boy.

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe

Mmmmmm....this is a good one.

Just after graduating from college, I went to live in Manchester, New Hampshire

to live at and work in a girls home for abused and neglected girls as a "child care worker".

It was an AMAZING experience, and one that I was so thankful the Lord allowed me

to enjoy before the responsibilities and commitments of marriage.

While there, I liked to peek into the kitchen now and then to see

what was cooking.

This recipe came from the cook at the Boylston Home for Girls.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

3 T. baking cocoa

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup milk

3 T. oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts (which I never include)

Topping

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup baking cocoa

2 2/3 cups HOT water

(In the 9x13" dish

I usually decrease the water to about 2 1/4 cps. to prevent boil over

in the oven....trust me....it's a mess to clean off the bottom of the oven!)

Mix the first 5 ingredients in an ungreased 9 x 13" baking dish.

Add the next 3 (or 4 if you use the nuts) ingredients and mix until smooth.

Stir the brown sugar and cocoa for the topping together and sprinkle over the top of batter.

Pour the water overall, but DO NOT MIX IN.

Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

(My oven usually has this baked in about 30 minutes.)

The cake comes to the top and leaves this lovely warm chocolate pudding on the bottom that when spooned over the top is like luscious hot fudge sauce.

Think one of those "Warm Delights" hot fudge cake bowl thingies.

My family can't get enough of this, and we go through

the entire dessert at one meal.