Archive for the ‘She Said’ Category

I belong to several consumer behavior-tracking panels.

There is an application installed on my computer that prompts us to tell it who logs on each time, that tracks our online usage.

I have a scanner in my house, and we record all our purchases.

Why??

Do I do it for the rewards I earn, or the entries into their big sweepstakes?

Hardly.

I do it as a Christian witness. And a whole foods witness. And a simple living witness.

You get the idea.

Everyone has heard that we can “vote with our pocketbook,” and I am a huge proponent of this. Surely the catchup industry will catch on if enough people only buy the ones with no High Fructose Corn Syrup.

But this is a chance for my “vote” to carry even more weight.

These consumer panels (formerly Neilsen, the name more folks recognize) are one of the main ways the industry measures consumer behavior and opinion.

So I was excited to have the opportunity to “tell” the powers that be that we don’t buy disposable everything, that we don’t buy products with High Fructose Corn Syrup in them, that we don’t bankrupt ourselves buying a mass of consumer goods in November and December – and for that matter that we did not buy anything on “Black Friday.”

Furthermore, I’m excited to have someone tracking my Internet usage. While they will see more time on Facebook than I’m exactly “proud of”, they will also notice that there is not an awful lot of online shopping, and no visits to the entertainment sites, “gossip” news sites, racy clothing stores, bootleg downloads, or crude humor sites.

I certainly have nothing to hide, so I’m grabbing hold of this opportunity to let the Light shine!

If you’re interested, you can sign up at NCP Online, and be placed in a pool from which future panelists are randomly drawn.

(The image is from InterVangelist, a website I know nothing about).

Okay, it’s not so much a review, just a sharing of information (I haven’t read it yet, either!)

If you enjoy Amish fiction, you might want to check out Cindy Woodsmall’s The Christmas Singing. It’s part of the Ada’s House series, which I accidentally picked up in the middle when I received one of the books for review.

Here’s a video “trailer” for the book:

You can even read the first chapter online.

And if you’d like to buy a copy, you can get 30% off and free shipping on The Christmas Singing (and any other title) when you use promo code CHRISTMAS11 at checkout on WaterBrookMultnomah.com. The coupon code expires on December 20th, 2011.

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Today did not start off well.

I had a raging migraine. After two doses of my migraine prescription, and assorted home remedies, I had barely reached the stage where I felt like I wasn’t going to keel over.

The kids were scheduled to go to the Build and Grow clinic at Lowe’s. Normally I would have just cancelled the outing, but during the first three weekends in December they do a three-part train project. So missing today would have meant losing out on that whole series.

Conscripting Nick to drive, we packed up and went.

As always, the kids had a fabulous time building their project. And of course they enjoyed the face-painting and balloon sculptures by the resident clown, Scoops.

Afterwards, we were swinging by WalMart for some glue.

Now, going to WalMart on a Saturday is high on my “forbidden” list. And with a migraine, it was even less appealing. But we needed glue for our Advent projects (yeah, I have some somewhere, but it must still be packed), and I didn’t want to fall three more days behind by waiting until Monday.

As Nick drove past the first set of doors, we noticed the Salvation Army bell-ringer. Since they are so ubiquitous, and I don’t have any particular emotional attachment to the Salvation Army, they are pretty easy to ignore.

The we pulled up towards the second set of doors. We saw two very young Marines, and two equally young Sailors, standing in their dress uniforms.

They are harder to ignore. (See my post about Matt Broehm)

Nick waited in the car as the Littles and I went up to the store. As we approached, one of the Marines was explaining their Toys for Tots collection to a woman who had just come out of WalMart.

I asked him if he would mind explaining it to my kids.

He crouched down to their level, and told them in a simple and caring way that they were collecting toys to give to little boys and girls who didn’t have a mom and dad to get presents for them at Christmas.

As he finished, the other woman turned to me and asked if we were going into the store. When I said that we were, she held out $20, and asked if I would be willing to buy some toys for the collection while we were shopping.

I agreed, and had Jewel take charge of the money.

We had a great time inside, shopping for things that were a good value, so that the needy children could get as much as possible. With the $20 we were able to get two multi-packs of Hot Wheels cars, and a nice set of mini dolls and clothes in a case. The kids were delighted to put the toys in the collection box (and pose with the young military men) as we left.

Personally, I kept getting teary-eyed over the fact that a complete stranger would hand me $20 and a charge like that. Really, at WalMart, do people often hand cash to strangers?

What a blessing!

I’m sure part of her trust was simply the fact that I had two little kids, and we were showing interest in the Toys for Tots. But combined with past experiences, I tend to think that my manner of dress also contributed to her level of comfort.

Our silent witness makes an impact when we least expect it.

Migraine or no, I wouldn’t have missed that experience for the world.

We have been in need of a “button” graphic for the blog for a while now.

I am trying to list As For My House on a few sites that have lists of blogs, so that hopefully more people who might be interested can find us. And many of them require a button.

So, given my lack of inspiration, time (prioritized for this type of time-intensive activity), and graphic design skill, I took the quick route: I cropped the graphic from our header, and scaled it into the proper dimensions.

It’s a button, at least.

But anyone who can do a better job is invited to come up with something!

We are so excited to be doing an Advent devotional this year! I’ve been trying to get my act together enough to do this for a couple of years now.

I was delighted to find a friend’s recommendation on Facebook, and I eagerly purchased (inexpensively!) Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands.

The book has an easily broken-down shopping list of supplies – most of which are things you’re likely to have around the house anyway (or can substitute for such things).

Each day has a Scripture reading, tagged to a “clue” that the kids find in their Advent Calendar (several options for how to do that).

Then there’s a fun craft project for the kids to do, along with some other discussion ideas for you to use (or not, or as you see fit).

The projects are set up to be done as a series of Christmas Tree ornaments, but for a variety of reasons, we’ve decided not to go that route.

We’re going to “flatten” everything, and mount each artwork on a sheet of paper. Then each of the kids is going to assemble their 24 projects into an Advent Book (in a 3-ring binder, to give it some protection), which can be stored away in their memory box, or enjoyed again next year, or whatever other use we can think up!

The photo is the Littles at work on Day 1 – a candle, for Jesus, the Light of the World.

I’m not going to post our project each day, partially out of respect for the book’s copyright (go buy one, I tell you!). I’ll post perhaps weekly or so, with the highlights.

Who else is doing something special for Advent?

Yes, it’s that time of year – St. Nicholas is coming!

No, I don’t mean December 25th.

CHRISTmas is when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday, of course!

I mean the Feast of St. Nicholas, on December 6th.

If you’re interested in what we do, and why we do it, let me direct you back to a few earlier posts on the subject, rather that reinventing the wheel this year (both on this blog and on our earlier family blog, Life on the Road):

• Last year’s post, St. Nicholas is Coming
• Who is this St. Nick guy, anyway?
• Less Presents, More Presence

I was hoping we’d be able to take up an Advent tradition this year… But of course rather than being settled in Biloxi after being here for over a year, instead we’ve moved again. Though still in Biloxi, I’m also still unpacking!

Maybe I can at least make a start of it. Any suggestions?

A Facebook conversation of a week or so ago got me thinking again about the mindset of frugality.

Not just the practice. But where your head is.

I had asked online for a recipe for baked beans. I said my family was used to the canned variety, so I was hoping to find one with a somewhat similar flavor from which to start.

One friend noted that Bush’s doesn’t have HFCS (knowing that would be a key issue for me), and that “cost would only be an issue if you were feeding an army.”

Now, I do understand her point - canned baked beans aren’t very expensive.

But what she said is frighting — essentially that the savings doesn’t matter, because it’s small.

The cost always matters.

I wish I could remember where it was that I first read something that really clarified this for me (maybe one of you can help). I’m pretty sure it was either Everyday Cheapskate (Mary Hunt) or Tightwad Gazette.

She was talking about the dangerous habit that people have of thoughtlessly putting a second “regular” stamp on a letter weighing over an ounce, or putting a letter stamp on a postcard.

It’s a slippery slope, if you do that and casually say, “It doesn’t matter, it’s just a few cents.”

Once you have allowed that mindset to take root, it’s easy for it to spread. A few cents here, a few cents there. A few cents a gallon… which adds up to more than a dollar, but that’s not so bad. A dollar here, a dollar there…

And what about this:

His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”
~ Matthew 25:21

My point here is not that canned baked beans are cost prohibitive.

There are times when other considerations do outweigh the cost. Not just in this case, but overall, it may be a question of storage, or convenience, or nutrition, or availability, or a cost trade-off with something else, or preparation costs, or even taste preference.

Today you may choose to put a second regular letter stamp on that heavy card, carefully weighing the fact that a trip to the Post Office will use more gas than that costs, and the fact that the card needs to be mailed immediately so we don’t miss Grandma’s birthday. I have no problem with that. Tell Grandma “Happy Birthday,” and put second-ounce stamps on the shopping list for next time you’re out.

You may not always choose the absolute cheapest option.

But that’s making a choice.

It’s very different than saying it doesn’t matter.

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(Coin image is from Life Frameworks, a website I know nothing about. Stamp image from USPS.com).

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Generation Cedar

Raising Olives

Life in a Shoe

Smockity Frocks

The Modest Mom

Let me reiterate my intention with this entire Holding Up Our Sign series:

We have had trouble finding a place where we feel comfortable. In many churches, there is a terrific theological alignment, but a disagreement over social and lifestyle issues. In other churches, we fit right in to the social norms, but there are doctrinal differences that we just can’t ignore.

I am attempting to present the ideas from a wide variety of denominations that we have encountered, which we found particularly valuable – or particularly troublesome. This will include any number of churches that we know we would never attend, and it not my intention to recommend them to you wholesale.

We’re piecing together the quilt of our Home Church belief system. You get a ringside seat for the process!

As with other denominations under discussion, I have not done an in-depth study of the various issues here. As I am trying to explain my reasoning here, I hope you will bear with me through any minor errors or incongruities.

Since by and large the mainline Protestant denominations (Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, etc.) are splinters that broke away from the Catholic church during the Reformation, each has retained varying degrees of the Catholic “issues” presented here. In most cases, these are significant enough that they are the “Where We Differ With…” reasons that we do not feel comfortable there. A few other unique issues will be addressed in separate posts.

This post has turned into a fascinating study, as I became enmeshed in a dialogue about some of these issues after asking a Catholic friend to proof-read it.

Talking to her made me realize how unfair a rap Catholicism usually gets. People see something, and judge it – even without understanding it, sometimes even when that requires making up an explanation. Some things that may look “odd” from the outside may be perfectly sensible when they are understood.

I am by no means under the impression that I know or understand everything about Catholicism at this point, but I have endeavored to find out enough to make my views at least somewhat less skewed. This has, in fact, shifted my view on several issues. There’s still a bit of “where we differ” left, though.

Infant Baptism vs. Believer’s Baptism

We believe that baptism is a symbolic action that is taken by an “adult” believer, to demonstrate his commitment to following after Christ. Adult here refers only to the “age of accountability,” which we do not wish to argue here; it is used to differentiate from…

Infant baptism is practiced in the Catholic church, as well as many of the mainline Protestant denominations.

Some of the principles behind the infant baptism ceremony, with which we agree, are taken up in a separate, informal ceremony at many Baptist churches (don’t know about anywhere else) called “Baby Dedication” – which would more properly be “Parental Dedication”. The baby is typically presented with a tiny Bible (symbolic, at that age, but cute), and the parents pledge to raise their child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Pastor will then pray over all the families taking part, asking the congregation to also take up the community burden of prayer and support for them. [Ed note: Wish people took that "community" part more seriously].

This would be a perfect time to also elect Godparents (as the Catholics do), which seems a most worthwhile institution. Why don’t Baptists do that? Maybe we will…

Anyhow, Catholics will then compare the conscious choice element of Believer’s Baptism to their second Sacrament – Confirmation. The trouble is, however correct the intentions may be, I’ve known enough young “Catholics” to know that this is often not an adult and willful choice, but simlply obedience to their parents and adherence to the routine of church ceremonies that one simply does. This should not be interpreted as a slight towards Catholics, as it is a concern across the board.

But it is, thus, one of the main arguments for holding off on the “choice” portion until a later age. Interestingly, the Amish go further still, with teenagers being encouraged to “see what’s out there” during their Rumschpringe before choosing to take the vows of church membership.

Interestingly, the language used to describe this rite in some Catholic literature (“A sacrament in which the Holy Ghost is given to those already baptized in order to make them strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ.”) sounds a lot like the language used by the Pentecostals. Their post is coming.

And still, Scripture over and over uses the language of “believe and repent, and be baptized.”

Believe first.

Then be baptized.

And that’s all.

Intermediary / Intercessor vs. Direct Access; Holiness of Men

We do not agree with the Catholics’ emphasis on praying to various Saints, and of course (especially) to the Virgin Mary.

It is our belief that, while holy and wonderful people, all of them were… well… people. Just men and women. Even Mary.

Although we study and learn about certain “heroes of the faith” – including Mary, and many of the other Catholic Saints, I’m sure – we would never consider praying to any of them.

Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior. Scripture even refers to Him as our Intercessor – our High Priest. We can also pray directly to the Father, as the Lord’s Prayer clearly demonstrates.

So why do I need to pray to some guy, to pray to the Lord for me?

In my experience there is a wide range of Catholic belief and experience in regard to the “personal relationship” aspect. Some Catholics feel, believe, and pray just as your typical Evangelical. But others seem to be caught up in ritual prayers, ritual celebrations, and almost a doctrine of works (although I’m not going to “go there”, since it is not doctrine, this is definitely an issue for many people).

(I adore the scene in We Were Soldiers, when the Catholic Mel Gibson character is saying rote prayers with his children, and the little girl says she wants to “pray to Mommy’s [Protestant] God” so that she can say what she feels.)

The Divinity or Divine Appointment or Divine Connection of the Pope

I’m not sure precisely how most Catholics view the Pope, but this is many degrees removed from anything I could agree with.

Jesus is the head of the Church, and all men are just men. I do not believe – do not see any evidence in Scripture to support the idea – that God reveals His plan to one man and one man only, for dissemination through a Papal Decree.

Although Jesus said he would “build His church upon the Rock (Peter)”, I think you would be hard-pressed to trace the Pope’s current level of power, authority, and ascribed infallibility back to that.

Confession and Penance

I do not find any requirement in Scripture that I confess my sins to another person (not to be confused with the requirement to seek forgiveness from someone you have wronged). Even less does there seem any justification for another man imposing a penalty for my sin (not to be confused with legal penalties).

This is business that is strictly between me and the Lord.

Pomp, Ceremony, and Ritual

This is an area that I think is probably likely to be viewed skewed-ly.

What one person sees as over-the-top, or ritualistic, or self-aggrandizing, another may see as an attempt to honor the Lord through the splendor of worship, and a natural outgrowth of the Lord’s instructions about the temple, the priests, etc. in the Old Testament.

It is my understanding, though, that Christ’s coming abolished the office and traditions of the Levite priesthood. Since we no longer need them to offer sacrifices on our behalf, nor to act as an intermediary between us and Lord, they are no longer necessary.

Thus today’s pastor is a shepherd, and a teacher. An evangelist. But not someone who us approaching the Holy of Holies, and needs to wear glorious garb that sets him apart from the rest of us.

As you may know if you’ve been here long, I do very much agree that the Lord deserves our respect in worship – including dressing up in our best.

So, I do not feel comfortable with the Catholic practice here, if only because it is so easily misconstrued even by the congregation at large.

But I do not find this a horrible offence as it might once have appeared.

Purgatory

My “sola scriptura” conviction is that there is no mention of this in the Scripture, so it is not something in which I believe.

There are possible interpretations ranging from, “absent from the body, present with the Lord,” to the dead in Christ “sleeping” until the appointed hour. But I do not believe that their condition can be improved during this “holding period,” nor that the prayers of the living can effect their condition.

Catholic friends: while I welcome your input, and correction of any fundamental errors I may have made, I do not wish to turn this into a debate. I am unlikely to be converted to Catholicism, and am only trying to explain by comparison the things I believe.

Faith: I am a Bible Believing, Truth Seeking Baptist

Life Situation: Married nearly 16 years, with 7 childen (#8 is due any time now!). I am a stay-at-home wife and mom, homeschooling my children. We are church-planting missionaries living in Guatemala, Central America, since 2002.

How long have you been dressing modestly? My parents were not really strict about it but did express distaste if I pushed the limit. I guess it’s been about seventeen years since I made the personal decision to dress modestly.

Can you share a little about your journey to modest dress? My manner of dress has gotten progressively more modest over the years. I was kinda chubby when I was a child (and suffered some teasing because of it), but blossomed by the time I reached high school age. I had a nice figure and I knew it. I guess I was a little hungry for the attention, because I would show it off sometimes, violating my own conscience. I knew God was calling me to something greater, and I’d have to give up my self-centered ways. While in college I decided to stop wearing jeans and slacks, because I realized how they showed the form of my body (read: rear-end and thighs). I’ve been wearing dresses and skirts since then.

Through the years, I’ve also considered the modesty of certain types of fabrics, and the cut of certain dresses. Not everything which covers from “here” to “there” is actually modest. Does it cling? Show every curve? Clothing was made (in the beginning) to COVER, not to reveal.

I also came to realize that modesty is more than just covering the body, it is a state of the heart. What are my motives for wearing this today? If it is to draw attention, and catch a man’s eye, to make girlfriends jealous, to show off wealth… these are not modest attitudes.

Thank you for “joining” us today, Tammy!

And be sure to stop by Tammy’s blog, This Pilgrimage, if you’d like to hear more from her.

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Please remember that I am always looking for new ladies to profile for this column. If you or someone you know would be willing to share, please let me know!