Memoirs of a Domestic Engineer

This week for our Ladies Bible Study, we are studying the story of Deborah (see Judges 4 and 5). The author of our study

points out Deborah’s availability to be used by God.

A few years ago, my theme saying was, “just do it now.” This came back tonight as I read. I wonder how often God has things ready for us to do, and we may even be willing, but we’re not really “available.” You know, those times when we’re not exactly being responsible stewards of our time. We procrastinate for the sake of self pleasure; we put off to tomorrow, that which we could do today. Or maybe we just “clutter” our lives with the unnecessary busyness of life, as we wander a bit aimlessly. And as this all accumulates, we find ourselves consistently frustrated, overwhelmed and ultimately, unused. This leads to discouragement or maybe just stagnant in our walk with the Lord.

I guess my challenge for myself here is to pick back up this principle and get back to living in the moment, so that in the next moment, I am available when the Lord calls.

Today I was particularly blessed by an amazing group of women the Lord has brought together for a 3-month study of different women in the Bible. We’ve got ladies with life experiences all over the board. We’ve got ladies in places of joy on the mountaintop, and others in places of hurt, of confusion and of loss who are walking through the valley. But regardless of whether they are at a high place or a low place, they are ALL in a place of transparency.  I pray the Lord claims victory in this, that He uses it, that He holds each person tight and that together we can grow. Grow in  Him, grow in fellowship, grow in service to others.

Tortilla Snowflakes

This last week, we made tortilla snowflakes. If you haven’t had the pleasure yet, here’s the very simple and fun recipe. Like real snowflakes, each one turns out different, depending upon how the kiddos create it. And, the best part, you get to eat them!

Tortilla Snowflakes

Ingredients

Flour tortillas

Vegetable oil

Powdered sugar

Instructions

Warm tortillas in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Fold tortilla in half, and then in half again, into quarters. Using clean, kiddo scissors, let the kiddos cut their snowflake design, as if they were making paper snowflakes. Open the tortillas back up, brush lightly with oil and dust lightly with powdered sugar (you can dust with powered sugar before or after baking, we just tend to do before). Bake in the oven on a lined baking sheet, or in a toaster oven (our preference) at 400 for 3-4 minutes, just until crisp. Remove from the oven and enjoy! And, if you like, sprinkle with some festive sprinkles at this point as well.

Happy winter to all (especially to all those wonderful friends enjoying REAL snow today)!

Ever have one of those moments when you’re sitting around with a group of friends, and as you are all talking, you start piecing together that someone has been telling different lies to each of you, to somehow isolate you and keep you apart?

Well, that was the way it was last week when a group of my sweet lady friends and I were finishing up a book review/Bible Study of the book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala (its been such a blessing of a book to read that I’ve got to give a little plug for it): 

Anyhow, as we talked, we could see how the big S had been working among us to divide and isolate each of us. He was using one person’s strengths to make another feel week and unwanted and alone, and using this same “trick” on each of us in one way or another. And He was whispering in our ears, just loud enough so that we would entertain the lies.

Thankfully, as we all sat there, we had one of those “ah-ha” moments as the lights came on and shone on the source of the deception and division. We got played by that crafty serpent. It was so sad for me to think of how much time has been wasted with us not all being united more in spirit.

Isn’t that just the way Satan works? He only has to get us off by a degree or two, because in the end, he knows that that one or two degrees will end up being a big difference. (see rough visual below)

We all start in the center, with our eyes focused straight ahead on Jesus’ goal for us, but if S gets us just a touch off, you can see that our end result is nowhere near the end goal.

Father, I pray that you would help us to recognize your voice more and more each day. I pray that you would also help us to recognize the voice of the serpent and that we would not subscribe to the lies (usually starting as small ones) he brings. May we resist the enemy with Your truth.

I’m in this mode of starting to clean out/go through/use-up random toiletries that have been collected, partially used and then stored under the bathroom sink for some ridiculous amount of time. Anyhow, in my “cleaning” this last week, I came across this silly razor that I’ve had for who knows how long. I’m pretty sure I didn’t buy it, but I cannot figure out where it came from. Anyhow, it has sat under my bathroom sink, perfectly packaged for several years, at minimum. It looked so different to me and with being a mom and the busy-ness that already comes with having little kiddos, I rarely have time for shaving as it is. So, I hadn’t been wanting to “waste” any precious time learning how to use this new razor. I finally decided, “what the heck, I’m going to “use this thing up and then get rid of it so it doesn’t continue taking up space in here.”

Little did I know that I would fall in love with this razor and it’s concept. I wish I had tried this razor sooner! It is the Schick Intuition Razor. Maybe I’m just way behind the times, sticking with my trusty ol’ Venus razor!?!

Here is a photo of it:
The Schick Intuition Razor. I imagine you can buy it at Walmart, but since I have no idea where mine came from, I can see for certain that you can purchase it, as well as cartridges for it (even pomegranate ones), from Amazon for a reasonable price. Just click on the picture to view its price on Amazon so you can compare them to prices at the local drugstore.

Anyhow, this has been working great for me in that I don’t have to bother with shaving gel in the shower, and then the all too frequent experience of half of it dropping off my legs either from mere gravitational pull or from water running down and washing it off before I get to that area to shave. This razor has the shave solution built into it, so it glides along your skin just prior to the blade crossing that particular area, preparing it for a clean, smooth shave. All you need is wet skin. I’ve even used it to do some quick touch-ups before heading to the pool and it has worked great after dampening the skin with a washcloth.

I am absolutely loving the time I’m saving each day in the shower. It has made shaving a breeze, which makes it much easier to keep up with all the shaving summer attire demands (or shall I say is preferred by those of us who do shave our legs and pits (and our husbands)!).

Although this razor will no longer be taking up space under my sink, I believe it has found a permanent home in our shower.

This last week, Ashley, Jacob and I went blueberry picking at the local blueberry farm. We each had a bucket to fill with the bountiful blueberries. Jacob and Ashley liked to run off down the row and would often get out of sight with all the blueberry branches there were extending out into the rows which limited my view.

After not seeing them for a little bit, I heard Ashley say from around the corner, “Mommy, Jacob is helping me fill my bucket.” As Ashley said this, it reminded me of a book I purchased this last fall called, “Fill a bucket” by Carol McCloud and Katherine Martin.

The book helps young children (great for pre-school age and early elementary children) understand the concept of adding to and taking from other people’s lives. It talks about how each day, we have opportunities to “fill others’ buckets” or to “empty others’ buckets.” It is a simple concept, but it seems to have stuck with Ashley. Ashley was even able to take it and let her teachers share it with her friends in her preschool class. Throughout the year, she has come inside to report good news such as, “Jacob filled my bucket. I was stuck on my bike coming up the hill and he came and pushed me up the hill.” Or something like, “Mommy, mommy, I filled Jacob’s bucket! I shared my yogurt with him.” You get the point.

Anyhow, as we picked our blueberries, we once again were able to talk about the concept presented in this little book and how good it makes us feel to have our bucket filled by another. And this time, we had real buckets in hand to go along with the metaphor.

May your day be a day of filling buckets!