Queen of the Castle: Week 43

For those of you playing along...(if you've just joined us you can get caught up a bit here) we are on week 43 of the book Queen of the Castle: 52 weeks of encouragement for the uninspired, domestically challenged or just plain tired homemaker.

This week's chapter is titled "Old Fashioned Homemaking".  I agree wholeheartedly with Lynn, the author, when she laments about her newlywed days  "...I was completely unequipped for this vast job of taking care of home and family. ... I had studied and prepared for a career in the working world."  Isn't it sad that that's too often the case?  I could go on a rant and share my thoughts on the subject but I won't...not right now, anyway.  If you remember my story about our first week of marriage you'll remember that I knew of nothing in the kitchen and hubby (who so eagerly agreed and yet didn't know a measuring spoon from a whisk) cooked stir fry.  For a week. Guess who decided to learn the ropes of the kitchen?  Yep...we didn't have stir fry for a loooong time.  (grin)  Lynn, shares quotes and tidbits of information to lead up to reminding us that we are really blessed when it comes to convenience in the kitchen.  We don't have to "...pluck, cleanly disembowel, and behead [our] chicken".  Well, our family does on occasion when we butcher a few chickens, but her point and mine, too, is that we have so many conveniences to be thankful about when it comes to our kitchen experiences.  Imagine how long it took great-grandma to do laundry...all day long!  I'm going to interject a tidbit here, if you are interested in learning more about homemaking skills (especially teaching them to our daughters) then please visit RAISINGHOMEMAKERS.COM where I am a contributing blogger.  The ladies there are always sharing new ideas and tips for doing just that...raising future homemakers.

Another idea that Lynn touches on was the enjoyment they had as a family when the power was out for a few days.  It was an inconvenience to their family but they also bonded and built great memories by playing games and reading by the fire.  To that I will add that you don't have to bond like that only in a power outage.  My plea to you is to make a regular family night...once a week.  Whether it be movie and pizza night, game night, etc..  If you only have one night a week to get together, great, but why not try to be together after a meal each (or most) nights?  Turn off the television, get away from the computer, and sit around together.  Read a family favorite or a classic together. Enrich your soul at the same time and read God's Word together?  Or...bond together in the kitchen and teach the family how to make a dish...bonding and teaching them how to bless the family in the kitchen.

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"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."  James 1:17