Twenty-four years ago, our lives changed. Forever. This little girl changed this young "couple" into a "family".
She was the sweetest little girl this side of heaven!
She became the "big sister" to quite a line-up of boys!
This was just the first of her five brothers.
The interesting thing is that her grandmother was an only daughter; her mother was an only daughter, and she is an only daughter. Perhaps she will break the cycle!
I would like to dedicate this post to my daughter and to all mothers and daughters.
When we have a daughter, we have the hope and expectation of the next generation.
We will pass on to them the knowledge of Christ and his great forgiveness of sin. But ladies, this is just the beginning! We also pass on our own philosophy of life which greatly influences the way they will go.
We need to teach our daughters to live in this world, yet be apart from the world's trends, fashions, attitudes and philosophies. We must teach them to affect the world by being truly and clearly set apart from the world and unto the Lord.
Unfortunately, there is a tendency to "Christianize" the ways of the world. Christian mothers often encourage their daughters to "get a good education" for the purpose of "making something of themselves" or so they can get into the workforce (after all, their husband might die someday!). They may imply that housework and being at home is what you do after you have really done something with that education. That sounds like feminism to me.
Instead, we should encourage our daughters to be educated for the purpose of being the best wives and mothers they can be. A good education includes practical knowledge, but without a good understanding of how to use it or what it means for the glory of God, and without spriritual wisdom, I would wonder about her so called "education".
We should be able to take the knowledge we aquire and use it for God's glory by passing it on to our children.
3 comments:
Dear Sharon,
This is such a lovely tribute to your dear daughter. She has grown from a precious little girl to a beautiful young lady. I am sure you are amazed at how quickly she has grown up! I enjoyed the sweet pictures so much!
I wholeheartedly agree with every word you wrote!!! It is very sad to see Christian mothers encouraging their daughters to get an education to make something of themselves, or to have a good paying job. It is feminism!!!
I just love what you wrote, "Instead we should encourage our daughters to be educated for the purpose of being the best wives and mothers they can be." That is so true! There are so many Christian women that get married without any knowledge of how to manage a home, prepare healthy meals from scratch, do laundry, clean, sew and the list goes on and on of all the things that homemaking entails! What difficult struggles these women go through trying to learn all of that, after they are married, and how many lament that their mothers never taught them any of those skills! How else could these skills be taught any where but at home under their Mother's teaching and by her example. On Ashley's blog she states, "I have chosen to stay at home and learn from my Mother who is an incredible Homemaker. I learn by watching her and hope to use what I learn in my future home." That is a lovely tribute to you! That is the very best way to learn Homemaking!
I was married for several years before I taught myself how to cook and all the homemaking skills I needed! I am amazed and thankful to the Lord for all I have learned over the years, and all that I continue to learn!
How very blessed Ashely is to have a dear Momma that has raised her in the ways of the Lord, and how blessed you are to see the fruit of your labor!
Thank you for this inspiring post!
Oh, I want to add that we were in a Antique store the other day and one of the ladies that owns the store told us someone picked up a little girl's toy iron and asked what it was. The lady told her an iron, and the lady inquiring said she had never seen one! She simply did not know what an iron looked like. Can you imagine?
I also read that a cookbook writer was shocked to find out that when career woman tried to cook and would read in a cookbook, stir by hand,they literally used their hands! They did not know to use a wooden spoon.
As sad as these examples may be it does not even compare to how a women's lack of homemaking skills will effect, not only her life, but her husband and children's as well!
Dear Paula,
I appreciate your comments! I often wish I could have learned the things my own Mother knew. She was such a good housekeeper, a good seamstress, great cook, and she had such success in the garden and with canning. I suppose most of us are playing catch-up! But isn't the Lord good to preserve this knowledge for us through the written word and people he puts in our path to help us learn?
I'm so glad Ashley wants to be a keeper at home. She will be so much better prepared to take on the responsibility of a husband, home, and children than I was. We have a lot of wonderful times together as we do things together.
Paula, you have certainly learned on your own rather successfully. Your family is really blessed to have you!
Dear Sharon,
It is wonderful all that your Mother knew. It is so sad that is becoming more and more rare! But, I see from you blog that you are excellent at all the skills your Mother had! Yes, I am thankful to the Lord, as you wrote,"that he preserved this knowledge for us through the written word and people he puts in our path to help us learn!"
I am so glad you and Ashley have such wonderful times together. What beautiful memories you both will have and a close relationship too!
Thank you for you kind words. I am blessed to have my family, and it is an honor to serve them. The Lord truly put a desire in my heart to learn homemaking and then he showed me what to do and what to read. I still have much to learn!
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