Memorial Day Weekend

Elliott and I have been in North Carolina working for the tractor service since last Wednesday. Although we have mostly been cutting grass from nearly sunup until sundown, I was able to attend a friend's engagement party a couple nights ago and we both attended a Memorial Day party this afternoon before heading home.

While in the tractor cab, I was able to listen to the entire Pilgrim's Progress audio book, a segment about the conversion of St. Augustine from his Confessions, as well as several edifying, classic sermons by Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

I have a busy week ahead beginning with processing over 100 chickens tomorrow morning with my family and spending the afternoon getting caught up on all of the bookkeeping work that has been neglected while I was out of town. I took a lot of pictures of the scenery in the waterfront neighborhoods we work in, so I will try to post them tomorrow.

Five Reads for Friday

1. "Coming Home" from The Pioneer Woman (very, very touching photos of military homecomings)

2. "Passionate Housewives" from Tony & Shayna (quotes from the wonderful book, Passionate Housewives: Desperate for God, along with beautiful spring photography)

3. "Faithful in Your Calling" from A Sailing Journey (excellent thoughts on faithfulness in whatever realm to which God has called us, no matter how insignificant it may seem)

4. "All the Days of Her Life" from Overflowing Thoughts (thoughts on Proverbs 31:12 and "doing your husband good" before you even meet him)

5. "A Time for Intentional Homemaking" from Hope Road (a challenging new series on wise time management)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

My Latest Sewing Project: Route 66 Skirt by Marie Madeline Studio

Route 66 Skirt (hence the gas pump in the picture)

You should be able to click on the photo to see an enlarged picture with more detail of the skirt. I love the way it turned out... so long, flowing, and feminine!

Route 66 patterns and custom-crafted skirts available from Marie Madeline Studio.

Sewing Treasures, Projects, & Pattern Question

My mom stumbled upon the following yard sale treasure recently and bought it for me:
For only $2, someone was getting rid of this Rubbermaid bin (which is worth $2 even without the contents!) stuffed with lovely fabric. The woman who was getting rid of the box obviously had similar taste to mine, as she had many yellow and blue fabrics. There were spools of thread, elastic, and other odds and ends, as well as an old apron and a vintage Better Homes & Gardens sewing book that has many old tips and ideas, similar to the popular old Better Homes & Gardens red & white cookbook from the 1950's. It was a great blessing! I finished several sewing/monogramming projects recently. I monogrammed an apron as part of a gift for a friend's upcoming engagement party, monogrammed cloth napkins for Stephen and my future home, and completed a new summer skirt. I will post pictures of the skirt soon.

An upcoming sewing project is my "going away dress" to wear after the wedding reception (when Stephen and I are leaving as our guests throw rice). I found the following picture in a bridal magazine and love the classy, traditional look of the dress, but would never consider paying the almost $600 to purchase it. I would like to find a pattern for an extremely similar dress, so I can make a much less expensive version. When I was looking for a pattern for the sundress I made last summer, I mentioned it here and received several ideas and ended up using one of the patterns suggested. So, I am writing all of this and posting the picture in case anyone may be familiar with a pattern for a dress similar to this one. I had to take a picture of the magazine page, so it is kind of blurry and low quality, but I hope the detail is fairly distinguishable. I would greatly appreciate any pattern ideas or advice you may have!

Strawberry Season Recipes

As I've mentioned before, I absolutely love strawberry season. I have sweet memories of warm spring days spent picking in the strawberry field before heading to my great-grandmother's home on the far edge of the field and canning strawberry jam with her.

Over the past several days, I have been baking a lot of strawberry desserts so we could quickly use up the berries before they turned bad. After canning the jam for my wedding favors plus enough to last my family for the year, I made four strawberry pies, two strawberry shortcakes, and froze the remaining strawberries for fruit smoothies in the future.photo courtesy of Google Images

I use the following Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe for strawberry shortcake. It is extremely easy, moist, and delicious!

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 1/2 cups butter

3 cups white sugar
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan. In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy. Add eggs two at a time, beating well with each addition. Add the flour all at once and mix in. Add vanilla. Pour into a 10 inch tube pan. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Check for doneness at 1 hour. A toothpick inserted into center of cake will come out clean.
Strawberry Pie is another easy recipe that is a big hit in my family.

1 pie crust
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 cups of water
2 heaping tablespoons of cornstarch
1 box of strawberry Jello (doesn't have to be the Jello brand...)
strawberries

Prepare and bake pie crust. Stir together sugar, water, and corn starch and bring to a boil; allow mixture to boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in strawberry Jello. Semi-congeal. Add in strawberries (there isn't really a set amount- I just add enough until it looks good). Pour in crust and leave in fridge for several hours before eating.
freshly baked bread with butter and strawberry jam from a couple days ago

For strawberry jam (and other jams as well), my great-grandmother taught me to use the instructions inside the Sure-Jell fruit pectin box. Canning used to seem intimidating, but it has become a very rewarding project and I get to enjoy the fruit of my labor for many months afterward. Also, I think home canned goods sitting on a cute shelf in a kitchen is such a lovely decorating touch!

Five Reads for Friday

1. "Did I Get Married Too Young?" from The Wall Street Journal (good article and interesting statistics)

2. "Something More" from True Femininity (an excellent entry about last week's commencement address at USC)

3. "Motives Mondays" from I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls (lovely makeup tutorial series by one of my dearest friends!)

4. "Are You Judging Me?" from Joyfully at Home (very well thought-out response to critics)

5. "My Homeschool Graduation" (this is one of my own entries, but I thought it would be worth re-posting since we are entering the season of high school graduations!)

Strawberry Jam Wedding Favors

I spent the beginning of this week completing tractor work in North Carolina. While I was in the area, I took advantage of being near my favorite strawberry field during the peak of strawberry season!

On Monday, I was able to quickly pick about 6 lbs. before it became too rainy. On Tuesday, my grandmother and I returned to the field, where we worked right through the rain and picked 115 lbs. of strawberries in a couple hours!
I drove home later that day, unpacked, and immediately began the massive task of washing, capping, and canning the many strawberries. Sheridan was a great helper washing the strawberries. Unfortunately, she only stuck around long enough to have her picture taken! I spent all of yesterday and today canning the strawberries and am pleased to be totally done! God kindly blessed my efforts and I enjoyed hearing the "pop" of the successful sealing of each jar. I canned 150 half pints of jam with plenty of extra strawberries washed, capped, and ready for strawberry shortcake and strawberry pies. Mama sweetly offered to help me clean the huge amount of sticky strawberry coated dishes and messy kitchen after the work was finished.My reason for canning so much extra strawberry jam this year is that we are using the jam for wedding favors! I think that strawberry jam will be a creative wedding favor since the reception is going to be held on our farm and will have a casual, country atmosphere. I plan to use twine to tie pretty floral fabric covers over the lids and add a small card stock tag to each one (tied by the twine) printed with our names and wedding date, similar to traditional wedding favors. I hope this unique wedding favor will be something our guests will enjoy in the weeks following our wedding as they recall our momentous day.

I have such a delightful feeling of accomplishment. This is the first big completed wedding project!

Disconnect Between Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy

Earlier this week I wrote the following entry for the Women for God Bible study blog and decided I would like to share it here as well. I encourage you to visit the Women for God site to read the rich studies by the three other contributors.

Recently I have been thinking about the disconnect between orthodoxy and orthopraxy that often prevails within the church. James 1:22-25 convicted me of this in my own life:

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does."

Shortly after reading that scripture, I found the following entry, "Take the Initiative," in Oswald Chambers' daily devotional, My Utmost for His Highest:

"Add" means there is something we have to do. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save ourselves nor sanctify ourselves, God does that; but God will not give us good habits, He will not give us character, He will not make us walk aright. We have to do all that ourselves, we have to work out the salvation God has worked in. "Add" means to get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages it is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning, to instruct yourself in the way you have to go.

Beware of the tendency of asking the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative, stop hesitating, and take the first step. Be resolute when God speaks, act in faith immediately on what He says, and never revise your decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do a thing, you endanger your standing in grace. Take the initiative, take it yourself, take the step with your will now, make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you - "I will write that letter"; "I will pay that debt." Make the thing inevitable.

We have to get into the habit of hearkening to God about everything, to form the habit of finding out what God says. If when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we know that the habit has been formed. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we are not.

As believers in Christ, are we simply hearers or are we doers? Are we so cautious about avoiding exhibiting legalism that we don't even pursue "good works"? We forget that hearing involves action. According to James 1:22, if we do not take action upon our hearing, we are deceiving ourselves. We should be like Samuel in 1 Samuel 3:10, who responded to the Lord, "Speak, for your servant is listening" or Mary in Luke 1:38, when she immediately answered the angel, "I am the Lord's servant, may it be to me as you have said."

May our prayer be that of Hebrews 12:1-3, that we may run with perseverance as we fix our eyes on Jesus, emulating His obedience to His father's will unto death:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Stay at Home Daughter Graduation

Since I am approaching my "graduation" from stay at home daughterhood, as I will soon move on to my new career description as a stay at home wife, I thought it would be beneficial to reflect on these past four years.

The choice to live at home with one's parents instead of going off to college or to pursue a career is precisely what would be expected of an uneducated, lazy girl who certainly doesn't have a very bright future. This is often the case in many households across our country, among both young women and men, where adolescence is prolonged and responsibility is avoided.

However, a growing number of young women are choosing to live at home until marriage with the intention of wisely using their single years to further their family's vision, pursue entrepreneurial ventures, volunteer within their communities, thoroughly prepare for marriage and motherhood, and continue their education from home while still playing a part as a valuable, integral member of their families.

At the outset of this entry, I want to clarify that I realize there are circumstances that have warranted different situations and decisions for many young women who frequent this blog. Some girls would give anything for their parents to permit them to live at home and pursue preparation for their future occupation as a wife and mother, while other young women feel strongly that the college experience and/or degree is one of great value for their future. It is of the utmost importance for all of us to remember that we will find the greatest contentment, peace, joy, and spiritual growth exactly where God has called us, whether that may be on a farm in a small southern town, a university, or a mission field in Africa. I commend anyone who earnestly seeks and follows God's leading in their life. What a joy it is to be within God's will for our lives! We can have full confidence that He is using our situations and surroundings for our good and His glory.

Nevertheless, since there is already a multitude of encouragement and support available to those who choose the well-beaten path of the university education experience, this entry is directed toward those who are either contemplating or in the midst of the less traveled road of stay at home daughterhood.

At the time of my high school graduation in 2006, one of the first reasons I chose not to pursue college was that my interests had always been in real estate and I did not need a degree since I had already completed real estate school and received the credentials I needed to work as a real estate broker.

Ultimately though, the primary reason was that my greatest desire was to be a wife committed to furthering my husband's vision and a mother devoted to raising and teaching my children. It was obvious that the best training for this lifelong occupation could be obtained among my family in my own home and not among my peers in an institution. Although I did not consciously choose to avoid college specifically for this reason, it seems it could have been a great diversion if I had invested four years primarily in the pursuit of academics and autonomy.

When I consider that even if I had not pursued a degree, but simply endeavored to become highly successful in the real estate realm, I am not impressed with the likely outcome. At 18, I could have moved in with the most successful real estate broker I personally know-- a woman who does millions and millions of dollars in sales every year-- and spent the following four years "shadowing" her. I would now have a wealth of knowledge, four years of hands-on experience, and greater confidence when I'm selling properties. I would likely have a lot more money in my bank account and I would be well prepared to venture on to exciting new endeavors within real estate.

However, this would not have served me well in many areas beyond real estate. My desire is to be like the woman of Proverbs 31, who was extremely diversified in her gifts and abilities. She could flip real estate (Prov. 31:16), but she was also skilled in myriad tasks. As the well-rounded, productive wife and mother I aspire to be, it would not have been to my advantage to be fully focused on one avenue alone, to the exclusion of many others. By living at home for the past four years, I have been able to cultivate my interests and abilities in a much more diverse fashion.

Far from limiting me, being a stay at home daughter has broadened my horizons and given me many opportunities to learn as I work with my family.

The activities that have filled my years since graduation have been full of excitement and challenges. Since graduating from high school, I have been a part of the formation of a new business - our farm - and have been able to learn a lot about marketing, customer relations, organic farming, and nutrition. Along with my family, I have also been able to participate in the substantial home restoration project of fixing up an abandoned 100 year old farmhouse.

I have had the privilege to become well prepared and gain experience for one day educating my own children due to my responsibility of homeschooling my two youngest brothers for the past several years. My relationship with my precious sister would also not be as sweet as it is had I been living away from home.

I have been able to sit under my wise mother's tutelage and learn about being a godly wife and mother from a woman who excels in both pursuits. It is a rare treasure to have a godly mother who is willing to teach, challenge, encourage, and come alongside her young adult daughter, and I have been blessed beyond measure to have her strong influence in my life for the past four years.

I have been able to learn about cooking, cleaning, and shopping frugally for a large family, which will be an asset in my future marriage. My organization, discipline, and time management skills have been challenged (and are continually challenged!).

In my own personal efforts, I operated a peanut gift box business for several years, created and sold photography note cards in an art gallery, continue to regularly bake cheesecakes for a restaurant, prepared many baked goods for farm customers, ran an eBay enterprise, worked for my family's bushhogging business, attended courses on cake decorating and house staging, worked as a real estate listing agent for my family and clients, and researched and purchased two investment properties through foreclosure sales.

Contrary to the misconception that stay at home daughters are exclusively bound to their homes, during these past four years, I have had the culturally enriching opportunity to travel with my family throughout the country as well as internationally. This could not have been possible if I had the limitations of many of my peers.

Of infinite more importance than all of these pursuits are the character traits built during this season, many of which would not have had opportunity to have been developed had I lived independently. Through the criticism that I have received for living at home, (a very controversial and unconventional choice), I have learned about the importance of gaining fulfillment in God's approval instead of the approval of man. By living with my family, I have been able to grow in being a "team player" and had many opportunities to cultivate a servant's heart.

Furthermore, the independent spirit that would have likely grown in me had I been living hours away from my family has been kept in check since I have lived under my father's authority. I trust that this will make the transfer of authority from my father to my husband an easier task than if I had been accustomed to exclusively running my own life.

A concern voiced by critics was that I was wasting all of my time preparing for marriage, yet without attending college or at least making an effort to surround myself with eligible young men, all of my idealistic dreaming would be in vain. They concluded that I would not even meet a man who would want to marry me, a girl who didn't even care to go to college. Or, even worse, out of sheer desperation I would settle for whatever loser of a guy may finally come along. Of course, the Lord faithfully provided the most wonderful, perfect man for me through His means without any of my futile assistance.

This season of stay at home daughterhood will soon be ending for me, but I am overjoyed about the adventure ahead!

My experience as a stay at home daughter is not abnormal or exemplary. Many girls are choosing this less-traveled path and reaping a bountiful harvest of joy and contentment as they choose what is foolish in the eyes of the world. I believe that the Lord is raising up a generation of young women wholly dedicated to biblical values and traditional family roles; women who will be godly wives and mothers devoted to taking dominion of their spheres of influence in the home! It is exciting to watch as God turns many hearts toward the home and family, and the stay at home daughter movement is another exciting development in this monumental shift.

Five Reads for Friday

Inspired by a similar idea from Luci, at A Tranquil Heart, I am planning to begin posting a weekly entry listing five articles, blogs, etc. which I recently found to be encouraging, challenging, and/or inspiring.

1. "Say 'I Do' to the Name Change" from Girls Gone Wise (This article expounds upon biblically-based reasons for changing your last name upon marriage. Of course, I have always enthusiastically planned to take my husband's last name once I marry and I am already having a lot of fun practicing my new signature!)

2. "The Dating Game" from Joyfully at Home (a controversial topic addressed with grace and discernment)

3. "Honeysuckle Rose Jelly" from Aspiring Homemaker (always so very inspiring!)

4. "But What About the 'Good' Public Schools?" by Luci, featured on Ladies Against Feminism (well-written article on the flaws of the government education system)

5. "52 Weeks of Projects" from Where Your Treasure Is (a series of wonderful sewing and craft project tutorials... I have especially enjoyed the tea-related projects)

Also, a few lovely Elisabeth Elliot quotes on biblical womanhood which I have been pondering:

“And as the bird easily comes to terms with the necessity of bearing wings when it finds that it is, in fact, the wings that bear the bird – up, away from the world, into the sky, into freedom – so the woman who accepts the limitations of womanhood finds in those very limitations her gifts, her special calling - wings, in fact, which bear her up into perfect freedom, into the will of God.”

"There are those to whom being a woman is nothing more than an inconvenience, to be suffered because it is unavoidable and to be ignored if at all possible. Their lives are spent pining to be something else."

"It is the woman's delighted yielding to the man's leading that gives him freedom. It is the man's willingness to take the lead that gives her freedom. Acceptance of their respective positions frees them both and whirls them into joy."

Homemade Croutons

I like to "recycle" our old bread by turning it into croutons for salads. Especially with the summer on the way, homemade croutons are a delicious addition to a fresh garden salad!

I take old bread (pictured is a loaf of wheat bread that didn't rise very well!) and generously spread butter (it helps to melt and pour it), salt, and garlic powder.

I slice the bread into small cubes with our electric bread knife and bake or broil the croutons in the oven until they are hard and crispy.

The Engagement of a Daughter from a Mother's Perspective

The engagement of our firstborn brings with it a time of intense reflection. Thoughts of Meredith's childhood visit me daily as I consider the enormous joy she has brought into our lives. Scenes, like the one captured on video of Meredith as a toddler sitting on Timmy's back while on the bathroom floor working on leaking pipes, come into clear focus as if witnessed just yesterday. Among the snapshots in my mind's eye is a first grade girl campaigning for a Virginia Senator by encouraging passersby to honk in support as they drove down our dead-end neighborhood street. I recall the inner turmoil we experienced as she was influenced poorly by her peer group in her younger teen years and the joy we felt when she returned to the contentment and vibrant personality for which she is characterized.

Nothing could have prepared me for the emotions I felt when Meredith turned eighteen. It was within a week of my having turned forty. I surveyed the past and looked to the future and realized that with this one child, I was done. My work was over. Sure, I would continue to walk alongside her and share any small bits of wisdom I might have gained, but the everyday pleasure of having raised a daughter was pretty much over. I realized that this was the beginning of the end. She was the first but the boys would all follow quickly behind her and soon the most enjoyable job of my life would be over. I would forever close the chapter of parenting - something that has brought me more joy than I ever dreamed possible.

As we usually do, the plan for Meredith's eighteenth birthday involved shopping and lunch out. It occurred to me early in the day that I was unusually sad about her turning 18. I couldn't help but think about how quickly the years spent raising her had passed by. It seems I had just called Timmy at work yesterday to tell him we were being induced for labor. Hadn't we just brought her home from the hospital - this baby we called "Sergeant Carter" from the series "Gomer Pyle?" The years that seemed to drag on forever while praying that we could once again homeschool Meredith while serving as houseparents at a children's home, really were but a blink of an eye. The many moves we made as Meredith helped us find and fix up foreclosed houses all faded into a blur of chaotic memories of hard work mixed with laughter. Here she was, an eighteen year old, all grown up, finished, no longer a child.

I managed to hide my emotions involving the birthday shopping trip until Meredith commented on one particular item she was hoping to find that day - a new robe. As she began explaining how she thought a new robe might be nice, I was immediately transported to a Christmas morning when she was eight years old. I could clearly see her in my mind's eye opening her gifts wearing the last robe we had bought for her. I don't know why she never received a replacement robe when she outgrew that one but the sweet little girl on Christmas morning remained a vivid picture in my mind. While Meredith continued talking about the type robe she was hoping to purchase, I could bear the sadness no longer and broke down crying. Through the sobbing I could barely explain, "It seems like we just bought you a robe! You were eight years old such a short while ago. It all went by so quickly. Now it's all over."

As that eighteenth birthday came and went, I adjusted to the new season of having a young adult daughter and came to enjoy the new relationship as much as I had the previous one. Gone were the days of worrying about how she'd turn out. In their place came the joy of walking alongside a young woman who was firmly established in her own personal relationship with Christ. What a blessing to spend my days with a girl so filled with contentment and happiness as she grew in her walk with the Lord.

The only real issue that caused me pause was when young men would ask to meet with Timmy in regard to Meredith. As Timmy would seriously pray before meeting with each boy, then come home to share the details with me, my heart would be in a knot as I wondered if this would be the man that ushers in the next phase of our relationship with our daughter. As Timmy sought God earnestly for guidance in this most important job for which Meredith had entrusted him - help in choosing a husband - I was eager to be a listening ear while offering input as Timmy would discuss what he felt God was telling him in regard to each young man. As the chapter would close, I would breathe a sigh of relief. Whew - she's not leaving yet!

What an unusual mix of emotions for a mother - I want my daughter to marry and have a family more than anything in the world. But in her doing so, I'll lose the daily companionship of the best young girlfriend I have! Not having experienced a child leaving, I'm imagining it to be really sad although all my older friends say it is even more wonderful to have married daughters. Surely they're not all mistaken. To further convince me that it won't feel like a death is my own experience. My relationship with my mother is immeasurably more wonderful than before I was married. Why wouldn't the same be true when Meredith is married?

I remember clearly the Sunday that Meredith told me she needed to talk with me and asked if she could ride with me while I dropped off the milk we were delivering to a drop site. She told me that a young man had written to ask a relevant question at her blog. As was customary, Meredith did background checks on any young man before replying to their questions - no matter how worthy the question might seem. She believes that the focus of her online ministry is to young ladies and that young men are often better served by other ministries. However, in an attempt to be cordial she did answer questions from young men that she felt were like-minded.

She shared with me the question that the young man asked and the communication that had taken place since then. We agreed that guidance was needed from Dad and the big boys - Elliott and Oliver. Meredith and I have learned first hand that, as women, we are created with a much deeper well of emotions and we can be led astray by feelings if we don't have the valuable input from men who are much more logical and analytical. (Our men never get starry-eyed or dreamy as Meredith and I talk about love, weddings, and such!)

After discussing everything, it was decided that further communication take place between Timmy and the young man.

Over the next four months, calls were made, letters were written, and information was mailed from one country to another as Timmy and the young man became acquainted. Because of the extreme danger in an internet relationship, I can't even imagine the communication having been pursued on our part had this young man's history not been documented and publicly accessible dating back to his early years in school. In an age when cyberspace can pose a great threat, it can also serve as a guardian as it documents the details of our lives. As we learned primarily about the young man's remarkable walk with the Lord, a date was set for an extended visit and it became evident that God was sending this young man into our lives for a reason of His design.

In preparation for the visit, our family was in much prayer. Timmy prepared pages upon pages of questions that were relevant in his assignment of offering guidance to Meredith in selecting a husband. The first full day of the visit concluded after many hours of interviewing while Timmy and the young man spent time together. That night after everyone had gone to bed Timmy told me how the young man answered all the questions. I offered some input, Timmy added more questions, and I sneaked up to Meredith's room to tell her the answers to all of the questions. Although discussed previously, Timmy told me she needed to give him her list of requirements for a potential mate by the next morning.

At this point, it all became a blur of Timmy taking the young man out for more discussion, Meredith and the young man spending time together discussing what they believed God would have them look for in a mate, and me crying every time they weren't around. From the anxiety I saw in Timmy when interviewing the other young men who had come in the past to the peaceful confidence he had as he told me about Stephen, I knew in my heart - this is the going to be the one!

As the time together concluded, we all agreed that God had answered our most urgent prayer prior to Stephen's visit: that we would know beyond a shadow of doubt that we had heard from God - no matter what the answer was and no matter if we were happy or sad with God's answer. More than anything, we just wanted to know what God's will was concerning these two young people. We were willing to accept any answer. We just desperately needed to know that we had heard from God and God alone.

I can't begin to measure the peace that has accompanied Meredith's engagement to Stephen, but I can explain it. As Christians who are committed to God's plan for our lives, He reveals the paths we should take. "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" Isaiah 30:21 For those who strive to walk with God daily, He gives direction, then He gives us immeasurable peace when we're walking in His way. People often say that they can't imagine walking through the death of a loved one without a personal relationship with God. I can't imagine walking through the joy of helping a daughter choose a husband without a personal relationship with God. We can truly rejoice without any fear or hesitation because we are confident God has spoken regarding the union of Meredith and Stephen.

Timmy and I are so filled with happiness as we see this young, God-following couple preparing to begin their lives together. It is every bit as beautiful as the birth of a newborn to see this incredible miracle God has done in bringing these two precious young adults to one another. We are eagerly and most excitedly preparing for the marriage of our Meredith and this young man, Stephen, who is already bringing so much joy into our lives as he exudes the character of Christ in every way.

Before long, I'll see if what my friends say is true - that the relationship with a married daughter is even better than before. Until then, I am finding great comfort in the fact that I've not even seen a robe sized small enough for Sheridan. As robe sizes go, we've got a lot of years ahead to enjoy another sweet daughter bringing joy and laughter into our hearts and home.

Spring Civil War Ball

Last night was the Civil War Ball at our friends' home! Many people traveled over two hours to attend the annual event, yet we are fortunate to live only a few miles down the road. My friend, Abigail, along with her brother, Sam, drove up from North Carolina yesterday afternoon and spent the night so they could visit and attend the dance with us.
Prior to the dance, Abigail and I spent the afternoon brushing up my piano skills ("skills" may be too generous of a word!). I took piano lessons off and on throughout my childhood, but never applied myself to the extent I should have. Abigail is a very accomplished, award winning pianist and helped me with a "refresher course." She is allowing me to borrow her keyboard so I can continue to practice over the upcoming months. I'd like to be able to play simple hymns for family worship in our future home, as well as possibly gain enough basic knowledge so that I could instruct our daughters and discern if they are interested enough in piano to pursue private lessons from a real teacher. It is my goal to have one new hymn well practiced and ready to play for Stephen over Skype each week. I am very thankful for Abigail's great help in this new endeavor!

Abigail and Sam: During the evening, I enjoyed visiting with friends, taking pictures, and joining in on a couple dances with Sullivan and Harrison. Sullivan and Harrison are not the least bit afraid to ask girls to dance. Even one young girl told Harrison that she was "dancing with herself" during one dance, and instead of acting rejected, Harrison just walked right up to the next girl and asked her instead!

Sullivan and Lydia:
Oliver's dancing is notorious. In most pictures, he tends to be striking some awkward move or tripping over his partner's dress! He is very proud of his dancing abilities though, so he can't imagine why any girl would not like to dance with him. He wrote about the dance from his perspective on his blog.

The dance ended late in the evening and we all went home exhausted!

Churning Butter

On our farm, we are always experiencing either a feast or a famine when it comes to milk production. We occasionally go weeks at a time without one family member drinking one glass of fresh milk, yet during other seasons, such as when a lot of cows have recently calved and are in milk, we have such a large quantity of milk that some has to be fed to the pigs. We are in a season of abundance right now so Mama and I try to use the excess milk to make extra money. Lately, I have been making butter one day each week. Our customers love the raw cows milk butter and it tends to sell out quickly. Many customers often ask how we make our butter, so I thought I would share the directions here. Of course we make a large amount and use a butter churn that holds about 1.5 gallons of cream at a time, but you could start with a small amount of cream and use a blender.

We begin by bringing our cream to approximately 60 degrees (I have done it within 2 degrees either way, but wouldn't attempt to go any further than that). Sometimes I set the milk jar in a sink full of hot water to bring the temperature up, and occasionally have to add a few cubes of ice to the cream if it becomes too warm.

Next, I transfer the 60 degree cream to our electric butter churn. Many of our milk customers make their own butter and find their blenders to work just fine, although I would imagine that the churning time would differ using a small blender.
After 15-20 minutes of churning, the cream turns into large clumps of butter with liquid (this is buttermilk) surrounding the clumps.
Strain off the buttermilk and use a spatula or spoon to press the butter and eliminate as much of the buttermilk as possible! We sometimes sell our buttermilk or use it in buttermilk biscuits, but usually we just throw it away, as we don't have enough demand for the buttermilk to cause us to save all of it. If you don't get the majority of the buttermilk out of the butter, it will turn sour quickly.

Add salt to give the butter more flavor. In the past, we have added cinnamon and honey to offer a "honey butter" variation. Enjoy!

New Aprons

In my free time I have been working on sewing and monogramming matching aprons for Sheridan, Mama, and me. I love aprons and think every homemaker should have plenty of them! When I wear one of mine, I tend to leave it on all day long and not only when I am cooking. I used Marie Madeline Studio's Chic Sisters apron pattern for the two full size aprons and found it to be very easy to understand. I love Marie Madeline Studio and encourage you to visit their site. Their work is very high quality and they are the sweetest sisters! I recently purchased their Route 66 skirt pattern and look forward to beginning that exciting project soon.

Sheridan's apron was made with love but without a pattern, so it is far from perfect, but she is very happy with it anyway.

Wedding of a Cinderella

I absolutely love this short segment from Emily Post's Etiquette (1922). It presents such an inspiring, beautiful portrait of thrift and simplicity creating the most memorable wedding!

"Some years ago there was a wedding when a girl who was poor married a man who was rich and who would gladly have given her anything she chose, the beauty of which will be remembered always by every witness in spite of, or maybe because of, its utter lack of costliness.

It was in June in the country. The invitations were by word of mouth to neighbors and personal notes to the groom’s relatives at a distance. The village church was decorated by the bride, her younger sisters, and some neighbors, with dogwood, than which nothing is more bridelike or beautiful. The shabbiness of her father’s little cottage was smothered with flowers and branches cut in a neighboring wood. Her dress, made by herself, was of tarlatan covered with a layer or two of tulle, and her veil was of tulle fastened with a spray, as was her girdle, of natural bridal wreath and laurel leaves. Her bouquet was of trailing bridal wreath and white lilacs. She was very young, and divinely beautiful, and fresh and sweet. The tulle for her dress and veil and her thin silk stockings and white satin slippers represented the entire outlay of any importance for her costume. A little sister in smock of pink sateen and a wreath and tight bouquet of pink laurel clusters, toddled after her and “held” her bouquet—after first laying her own on the floor!

The collation was as simple as the dresses of the bride and bridesmaid. A home-made wedding cake, “professionally” iced and big enough for every one to take home a thick slice in waxed paper piled near for the purpose, and a white wine cup, were the most “pretentious” offerings. Otherwise there were sandwiches, hot biscuits, cocoa, tea and coffee, scrambled eggs and bacon, ice cream and cookies, and the “music” was a victrola, loaned for the occasion. The bride’s “going away” dress was of brown Holland linen and her hat a plain little affair as simple as her dress; again her only expenditure was on shoes, stockings and gloves.

Later on, she had all the clothes that money could buy, but in none of them was she ever more lovely than in her fashionless wedding dress of tarlatan and tulle, and the plain little frock in which she drove away. Nor are any of the big parties that she gives to-day more enjoyable, though perfect in their way, than her wedding on a June day, a number of years ago."