Tue-26-Aug-2008 - Blog Award!
I have needed to post about this lovely award for over a week! It's so sweet, yes?
Joy gave it to me. What people say when they mention my blog always leaves me feeling humbled.
I keep forgetting to post this award, partly because I'm very mentally scattered right now, partly because I'm staying pretty busy. Which I find ironic because I've tried to write some very thought-provoking posts lately, yet it's hard to concentrate on everything that needs done!
Also due to family from out-of-state getting in today, and my husband taking off work for most of their visit, this is my almost-sort-of-last-chance to do this. (I do want to try to post off and on during the next week but it might just be pictures.)
Picking 7 blogs to pass the award onto is daunting as well. Will it be easy or hard? Who will I forget this time? Ack!
Disclaimer: If you do not accept awards, I'm not offended if you don't display it. I'm not trying to clutter your blog, just to be nice and tell you that I REALLY LOVE YOUR BLOG!
**[Edit: forgot to ad the rules of the award!]
The rules of the award are:
1.The winner can put the award on his/her blog
2.Link the person you received the award from
3.Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4.Put links of those blogs on yours
5.Leave a message on the blogs of those you nominated
Generation Cedar (formerly Families Against Feminisim) - the url to the blog changed recently and I still haven't changed it on my sidebar. I check this blog every day. While we disagree on some theological points, this blog always makes me think. I find it encouraging and uplifting and challenging to take part in some of the discussions that occur here.
Home Girl - My other every-day blog. She's so easy for me to read and relate to. Her blog is so refreshingly honest and forthright. It's also quite balanced - you know, heavy topics, light topics, the kind of balance I don't even try for because, well, I seriously doubt I could achieve it. This girl seems to accomplish it effortlessly and is so coherent and concise . . . .
In A Shoe - a really fun family of eleven. Mostly, the mom blogs, but sprinkled throughout are blogs from the dad and oldest daughters, helping to round out the perceptions of the family that you can draw from knowing them online. Sometimes it's serious, but mostly it's lighter and I appreciate that.
Ornaments of Grace - This lovely blog is updated sometimes on a weekly basis. Which is fine by me, as that's about as often as I can check it and the content is always so good! I don't want to miss a thing, but as the mom of a 2.5yo and a 10.5mo and another on the way sometimes it's just so nice to find a blog that is rich and thought-provoking and I don't get behind 15 posts if I miss a week!
Happy To Be Called Mommy! - If she wasn't so personable over the net, she'd be intimadating! I think her crafts are adorable. Bethany is making mozarella cheese this week. Have you ever want to make your own mesophillic starter culture at home? I have no idea what you use that for, but she makes it look fun and easy!
Just Give Me Jesus - I have never met you, but I consider you a dear friend. Cyberworld would be an emptier, lonlier place without your raw, open blog. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on HSB.
One more? Just one more? How did this happen?
Large Family Mothering - Have I mentioned that sometimes I don't get around to visiting blogs often? And how much I enjoy the ones that make me think and challenge how I percieve my world? This is one of those nuggets that enriches my life.
Blessings,
~Ashley~
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Mon-25-Aug-2008 - Do we really want patience or experience?
I heard recently a "story" of a young man that wanted patience. He asked an older man if he would pray for him to have patience, and the old man said yes. So they knelt down and the old man started praying: "Lord, please send this young man tribulations in the morning, send him tribulations in the afternoon-" The young man nudged him. "Not tribulations, patience!" The older man looked up. "But tribulation worketh patience, my son." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Romans 5:3-5 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am much more patient and experienced than I was three pregnancies ago . . . but I still have such a long ways to go. My temper still has a sharp edge that makes me cringe and it seems each day brings a new "tribulation" and a host of new experiences . . . may they continue to shape me into the woman God desires me to be! ~Ashley~
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Fri-22-Aug-2008 - Conveniences
I’m not here to argue about if you should use electricity or keep a gas-powered mower. What I do what to do it look at the many, numerous, taken-for-granted conveniences in our lives and how we use them.
Now, I don’t have a microwave. For some, it’s a life-line that makes life easier and everything more convenient. For me, there is simplicity in using only my stove that might totally stress other people out!
I remember working for a widow before Samuel was in my womb. She let me barrow books, and one of them was “The Family No One Wanted”. It was the story of this couple who couldn’t have children and adopted a lovely dozen of all different shades of brown. In the time era it was practically unheard of to adopt a different skin shade, hence the ‘family no one wanted’.
This family eventually came to the attention of Reader’s Digest and the magazine decided to bring this family into the 20th century by hooking up the house with all kinds of appliances. A dishwasher, a laundry machine, a dryer, a microwave. I don’t recall but they may have had to hook the house up to electricity as well!
One thing that stands vividly in my mind was the mother’s response to her new “conveniences”. She was so happy, she exclaimed that with all the time saved she could easily have twice as many children!
Unlike the mom I read about, most of us don’t do laundry by hand. Most of us take for granted wall-to-wall carpeting and the electric thing that cleans known as a vacuum. When we don’t go somewhere, our vehicle sits quietly in the driveway. We don’t have to muck out a stall, or feed and water our car or van twice a day.
We are very blessed by conveniences. What do we do with our time? Something worthwhile? Something that will benefit others?
Is our extra time eaten up by the pursuit of more money? Do we spend the time we save when we turn a knob instead of hauling buckets of water from a distance on the computer or watching TV? To cook breakfast I don’t have to haul wood to my stove. I’m not raising my own cotton for clothing and tending sheep for wool.
What am I doing with my extra time?
We have more labor saving devices than ever before. Libraries are at our fingertips with the aid of a computer. We can “chat” without lifting the phone or picking up a pen and thinking too deeply about what to say.
I just think about this sometimes and think about the responsibility I have to use my time wisely. Children will always take work, but I really can’t complain. I don’t have to do my dishes by hand and throw the dishwater out the back door. I don’t empty the bathtub water with a bucket! I can go to Goodwill and buy clothing for $2 unless I want to make it. I live in a much larger house than would have been normal a hundred years ago, climate-controlled as well with the touch of a button . . . .
We tell ourselves that if I just had more time I would read my Bible more. I’d take time to pray. I’d spend more time with my children. I’d learn to make candles like I’ve always dreamed of.
We have the same amount of time, a 24 hour a day that our ancestors had. Frankly I think they did more with their time - they had so much more to do!
The question remains - are we doing something worthwhile with our time?
Just some more food for thought. 
~Ashley~
[All images from allposters.com]
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