Becoming God's True Woman

A few of you know I've been reading a book called "Becoming God's True Woman" edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. The book is a collection of writings by women such as Carolyn Mahaney, Susan Hunt, Mary Kassian, Barbara Hughes, etc. It has been a wonderfully encouraging and convicting book about Biblical Womanhood and femininity. In all honesty, it has shattered some of my long held views of women and our roles in society. I have never been terribly confortable with being called a woman...it seemed to old ladyish to me (although I am pushing 30! haha) And the word Feminine...well...that was a word that was right up there near "panties" for words that made me shiver, hahaha. Whatever...weird...I know. But, honestly, after reading, and continuing to read this book...I am longing to be a femine woman who lives counter to much of what our culture dictates a woman should be. More on that later maybe.

But, right now I wanted to share a portion of a chapter called "How to Raise Femine Daugters" written by Susan Hunt. I don't think I can narrow this portion down much, so it's under the subtopic of "Some Practical Implications of Purpose and Authority" (page 140). btw...friends with sons...I think you will enjoy reading this just as much. You can use this with your boys too...and more than likely...in your own life...at least that was the case for me. Italics are the author's, bold emphasis is mine.

~begin quote~
Our daughters will be products of their tehology. Their knowledge-or lack of knowledge-of who God is and what he has done for them will show up in ever attitude, action, and relationship. Their worldview will be deteremined by their belief system.

We must teach our daughters that their value and identity lie in the fact that they are image bearers of the God of glory. This will protect them from seeking significance in inconsequesntial shallowness of self-fulfillment, personal happiness, materialism, or others' approval.

Our daughters must know the wondrous truth that their overarching purpose in life is God's glory. This must determine every decision they make, from their choice of clothes to their choice of a husband. The question that guides all of our deicions should be: Does this glorify God? First Corinthians 10:31 should be one of the first verses they memorize: "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." And they should see us making decision based on this mandate.

This world will tempt our daughters to look to their feelings and experiences as their authority, but we must show and tell them that God's Word is the ultimate authority for faith and life.

We must tell our daughters about the expanse of God's love. They must know that we are justified and sanctified by grace. It seems that women are particularly prone to a performance orientation of life. We may acknowledge that we are saved by grace, but somehow we get entangled in "works righteousness" when it comes to our sanctification. We think that if we are a little better, God will love us a little more. This distortion spills over into all other relationships. If I'm a little better, my paretns will love me more...or my friends will love me more...or my husband will love me more. This is exhausting for the one trying to earn everyone's love, and it drains the people whose approval we are trying to earn. Children who think they must establish their own righteousness through accepted behavior eventually become so weary that they give up or become masters of deceit.

A biblical understanding of justification will free our daughters. The more they understand that God declares us to be just in his sight on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ and that the righteousness of Jesus is deposited in our spiritual bank accounts, the more they will live in the beauty and freedom of his grace.

All of this means that I must search my own heart. Am I trying to elevate myself through my daughter's accomplisments and behavior? Is my primary concern her happiness or her holiness? Is God's glory really the driving passion of my own life? These questions take me to the cross. They take me to Jesus to plead for grace and wisdom.

It is against this backdrop that we are able to perceive the particular uniqueness of God's creation of woman.
~End Quote~

I have much to say about this...but since you've already read a lot...leave me a comment about what you thought about this little snippet. I will tell you this...once Ephesians 6:1-3 is memorized...Nicole will then be learning 1 Corinthians 10:31:-)

Oh....and here's a link to purchase the book if you'd like.

Facebook

Hey...I know a lot of you use facebook, so I wanted to make you aware of a NY Times article I found about some big changed to make facebook easily accessible to the public. I originally liked facebook because it seems more private than myspace. As you know, I'm not on there anymore, but for those of you who are....be aware of changes and learn how to protect your info.

Celebration

This past week has been a busy one for our household. Jeremy's sister and family were in town (go down a few posts), Jeremy was in a wedding (post below), we had a celebration/going away party for Justin and congrats to Erica, and my grandma came back in town. We seriously have not gone to bed before midnight for almost a week...which is not easy for preggo me who likes to get sleep:-) But, we've hung in there, had fun and enjoyed the times as they came.

We had a surprise (and very very much needed) 4 day weekend with Jeremy. So, Thursday we had a family day and had a blast taking the girls to the water park. We didn't get pictures, but it was a precious family memory. I think we all needed it...we've missed him not being around as much lately because of work. We all laughed and smiled all day long. I'm so thankful he wanted to spend time with us and took this opportunity to have fun. Hannah LOVED the water park, she played and laughed the whole time. Nicole is big enough now for us to not have to follow her around to help her up when she falls. She even went down the little slide all by herself. It sort of made me sad, in a happy way. We floated in the lazy river for a few laps and swam in the pool (until they told everyone to get out for "mandatory maintenance"...yeah...someone had a little accident in the pool and it was shut down for a few hours.... GROSS!!!!!)

Then we went to the beach for a picnic dinner with Jeremy's family (pictures are a few posts below). Friday and Saturday were taken up with wedding responsibilities for Jeremy who was a groomsman (and a handsome one if I say so myself).

Finally Sunday, we had a celebration for Justin who left today to move to Ohio for his new job and to celebrate his engagement to Erica. It was a fun day.

I have some sweet pictures to share I hope you enjoy.


Nicole and Justin...having a fun little moment together


Erica, Justin and Nicole

Erica, Justin and Hannah

Yesterday was a stressful "catch up day" for me. Today has been a bit more fun. Nicole and I fingerpainted (our sound for this week is "nt" as in paint or print) We have lots of fun painting projects this week...which Nicole LOVES. Then we went to the park for a little while, before being bombarded with zillions of summer campers.

Wedding

Saturday, Jeremy was a groomsman in our friend's Dan & Shanine's wedding. It was a pretty wedding on the beach. So, along with Saturday's ceremony, we had some other obligations. Friday I went out to lunch with the bride and a few friends. Friday night we enjoyed a wonderful Swiss dinner at her home. Saturday morning, Jeremy met the other groomsmen to set up the chairs and sweep the beach which was full of ugly, stinky seaweed. Then, Saturday evening we had fun at the wedding and reception. It was a fun weekend, but of course busy.

A few highlights....
*Shanine's family rapped a funny song to the tune of "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" about Dan and Shanine's relationship....it was great!
* The ceremony was almost rained (thunder stormed) out, so they rushed through. It ended up not raining, but the clouds and wind gave us a nice relief from the brutal sun.
*Their car battery was dead. Good thing the groomsmen found this out before the bride or groom did. As they were decorating the car, they tried to start it and realized the problem. The groomsmen all missed most of the reception after dinner trying to fix the car. But, it was running when Dan and Shanine left and I'm pretty sure they at least made it to the hotel:-)
*Dan and Shanine are finally married...woohoo...and I'm sure having a great time in the mountains:-)
*Jeremy and I got two night out in-a-row!!!! (thanks grandparents for watching them)

Visiting family

Last Monday, Jeremy's sister and her family came in town. We didn't spend as much time with them as we usually do (see previous posts). But, we definitely got some good old fashion family time in. We looked forward to spending some time with Tiffany, Chris, Seth and Susannah. Here are a few pictures to share.


Seth running from the water at our beach picnic

Nicole and Seth playing together at the beach

Hannah enjoying the sand. She LOVES the beach, sand, water...all of it!

Granny came down Friday to spend time with her grandkids


Susannah, 6 months old

Nicole is teaching Seth how to play Elefun.

Nicole's discipline strategy

Jeremy: Nicole, how many times has mommy told you today not to jump on the bed?

Nicole: Um....5

Jeremy: Yeah, and how many times should mommy have to tell you?

Nicole: Well....2

Going to the Chapel....

And my, brother's getting married...

Yep...it's true! He popped the question last night to his girlfriend Erica. They've been dating a little over 3 years. Justin just got a job in Ohio and will be moving up in about a week and a half. Erica will stay here until they get married. I know they are throwing around some dates, but nothing is very firm, so I won't mention it here.

I'm so very excited for my little brother. It's a little crazy to me that he is old enough to get married. Jeremy and I were just talking the other night about how much he's grown up and grown in responsibility. But...I still see him as little J.T. running around with a rat tail rapping "Jesus is just alright with me"...DC Talk version.

Congratulations Justin and Erica:-)

Picture update

Here are some pictures from the past few days.

Nicole was sick yesterday with a very high fever (no other symptoms though) This morning, she was feeling more like herself, only with a very mild fever. She wanted Hannah to sit next to her and take a picture, so here we go:-)





This was Nicole getting some sympathy from her daddy yesterday when he got home. She was feeling pretty miserable here. Hannah of course wanted to play (btw...Hannah has had a rough week, teething and such. She had been extremely grumpy and hard to make happy all week. I was afraid it was a new phase, however, she is now perfectly back to herself...YAY!!! Yesterday she was a delight, it was good to have her back.)


These next two were from a couple of days ago. One of our favorite silly games to play is Elefun. This elephant, with a 4 foot nose, blows butterflies through its trunk and you have to catch them in the nets. I caught to of my own butterflies here.




I know...I'm blessed:-)

Funny Wedding Story

This is the funniest wedding story I've read in a long long time. Check it out here.

In Honor of

our future SON....we have turned the blog background to Blue...for BOY.

Yep...that's right. My sweet and patient husband will now have a boy to throw balls at, teach to shave, wrestle with, and do other "manly" pursuits. Not that he couldn't do some of that with the girls (honestly...I'd LOVE to watch him teach the girls to shave their legs as teenagers, haha!)

Our ultrasound this morning went great. We did not get many pictures, just a few, and they would not give us a picture proving he's a boy. The ultrasound was not as intimate as I'm used to (in the past, my ob dr. office did it, but since I'm using a midwife from the very beginning, I didn't get any ultrasounds with them and we had to go to a radiology center with someone we didn't know), and with Hannah we got a 4-D ultrasound. This one was very basic, she showed us a bit of what she was measuring, a few profile pictures and that was it. However, almost immediately we saw it was a "Him" (very clearly by the way, he was in the perfect position) and after that, I don't think we paid much attention to the rest of the ultrasound.

So...here we go. 2 girls, 1 boy, 1 bedroom. It'll work for a few years anyway. Now...I've got to get rid of some pink and purple and bring in the blue.

I'm pretty sure Jeremy will be going shopping tonight for some baseballs and jerseys, hahaha