Mondays Meals

Did I hear someone say that today isn't Monday? Well today we are using our imagination:) The recipe for this week is (drum roll please....)

GERMAN PANCAKES

This makes a great  breakfast or we have had it for dinner. It does require a lot of eggs so we look for sales. The trick with this one is to have really hot butter before you pour the batter in.

1 cup milk

6 eggs

6 Tablespoons butter

1cup sifted flour

With a blender or beater combine milk, flour and eggs. In a 9 by 13 inch baking pan melt butter in hot oven until hot and sizziling, but not burning. pour batter into hot pan and bake immediatly at 450 degrees for 25 minutes. Serve immediatley. Great with powdered sugar, butter and syrup.

Recipe Share Monday

As I was thinking of possible of possible post ideas, I had the thought, that every week we would post one of are favorite recipes. Today's recipe is Pumpkin muffins. We love these for breakfast, and they are very healthy. With five people eating them most every day with cereal we go through so many Mom makes four times the recipe. Unfortunately that is the only recipe so when you try it you many want to dived it by four.

Pumpkin Muffins(x4) makes 48

7cups
1cup sugar( 2/3cup honey)
10teaspons baking powder
4 eggs
3cups milk
1 1/3 oil
2cups pumpkin
2teaspoons cinnamon
2teaspoons nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Stir together just unit moistened. Bake 400 for 12-14 minutes for mini muffins( a favorite with little people:) about 10 minutes works well.
Let us know if you try it!

Re:Polished Cornerstones

  Okay, so I wrote the article about cornerstones.  Then Mom left to take Amy home.She made a Bible study for us to do while she was gone.  She has done this before, and we were anticipating it with relish.  She does it  on one of the New Testament letters.  This time we were studying 1 Peter.  While completing the study, I ran into some more verses about cornerstones, which I decided I should post. Instead of me writing everything  I think about the passage, I thought you  could study it on your own. Then feel free to post what you learned from the passage. So, without further ado, here is the passage:

1Peter 2 :4-9"

"TO whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed

d indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherfore also it is contained in the scripture,behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect' precious: and he that believe on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holly nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:"

Learners

Melissa here with some thoughts on Titus 2:1-5
"But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: ² that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; ³ the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— ⁴ that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed."

Most people have heard this passage before, but today it hit me in a new light. Older women have to admonish and if anything is to come from it we need to learn. It is our responsibility to be always ready to learn. Recently my family, including Amy went to Mount Vernon and toured it. The highlight for the girls on this trip was talking with Martha Washington. No, we aren't crazy. They were running a program where we could talk to a woman pretending to be her. She was great. We all felt like we had talked and learned from the real Mrs. Washington. She was kind and welcoming; she answered our questions graciously and generously. I have noticed older women love to share their experiences and teach me. It can be a joyous job learning from the best. All of us were inspired by listening to her reminisce and admonish. It also occurred to me that although I loved hearing advice from her, with others it can seem to go on and on. The novelty of speaking with Mrs. Washington, rendered the advice acceptable. We should always be teachable, no matter who is speaking.
As previously stated we should make use of our mothers, grandmothers, or elderly women at church that can be adopted, we should also learn from ladies who have gone before us. We should read their biographies, study their lives, and take hints from their mistakes. For though great examples, they were also human. Some of the best examples can be found in the Bible. They were put in there for a reason. God is instructing us to learn from them and all older women. As a side note, we are all older then  someone and little sisters are watching!
Speaking of learning do you feel like you have something to share? We would love to have your words on our blog! We aim to have two blog posts a week and frankly with our hectic schedules we would love others thoughts and opinions to help us out. In keeping with this, to save us time have your mom read it before you you send it in. Thanks! Hope to hear from you!

Challenge

I realize we have not updated you on the challenge as much as we would have wished to, our apologies from everyone here. Our schedule was as full as we could handle with all our sight seeing adventures, so now even though we have finished it, we thought that it would be nice to share some things that we did with it.
The first category was reading (my personal favorite). We were all able to complete this part, some of the books we read were: A biography of George Muller, Angels in White, Making Brothers and Sisters Friends, Start Here, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, endless fiction, and others I have forgotten.
Next category is health. Not much to say we all got our water in.
Alright exercise. I am pretty sure we all managed to go swimming for our various amounts of time. It was to hot for anything else here.
Last, but not least, Homaking. After Megan, Amy and Molly made their meal, we never really got back to making a whole meal by ourselves, but for myself it seemed better just to help Mom with whatever she was making. I still got the practice in, and she got the helper she needed.
Well that wraps up the challenge update, how did you do? Did you do anything we didn't ? Now one more matter of business. We recently  watched a great film found for free! Here is the link I highly recommend it. You can only watch it through august this free viewing ends in September.  That is all for now, Amy has once again left our house(and we miss her terribly), but she did say she had an idea for a article to be posted soon.

Polished Cornerstones

In family bible time, we have been studying Proverbs. Being in a family of 3 girls plus my mom and cousin, we were all excited to reach Proverbs 31. We went through the chapter, studying it in depth.  After we completed our study, Mom pulled out her copy of Polished Cornerstones, written by Pam Forster. If any of my readers own Polished Cornerstones, they know that it is setup by chapters such as “A Cheerful Woman” or “A Patient Woman”. Each chapter has verses and application activities. Mom recommended that we each choose an application activity from the chapter, “A Godly Woman”. I chose a study of cornerstones in comparison with Psalm 144, particularly verse 12, which reads, “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude of a palace.” (KJV)   

                I found that cornerstones are a foundational part of any structure. They connect two sides. They are often engraved, and sometimes contain a time capsule. In Psalms 118:2, Jesus is referred to as “the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.” (KJV) This verse is quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, and 1 Peter. God knew that this was important. Jesus is mentioned again in Ephesians 2:20 as “the chief cornerstone”.

                From these facts and verses I have learned a few ways we as daughters can be “cornerstones, polished after the similitude of a palace.” First, if we are called cornerstones, then that means that we are a foundational part of our families, and ultimately the church. If we crumble, so will they. Secondly, just as a cornerstone is sometimes engraved with the builder’s name, so God has engraved his word on our hearts. Thirdly, a time capsule is meant to represent our time to another generation. God wants us as daughters to represent Him and be obedient to His commands for passing on God’s word and wisdom to the world. Finally, Jesus too is called a cornerstone, which means He is our ultimate example. What’s more, He is the author of the Bible, which means that the Bible is our ultimate reference book!

                Psalm 144:12 mentions cornerstones that are “polished after the similitude of a palace.” Think about Solomon’s palace.  The chosen cornerstone was probably sanded until it was perfectly smooth. Then it might have been overlaid with the finest and purest gold. In the same way, God chose us carefully and now sends us trials to make our character smooth. Someday in Heaven God’s holiness will overlay us.

                Recently I had the privilege to visit Washington D.C., our nation’s capitol. While we were there, we visited several memorials including the Thomas Jefferson memorial. As we were leaving we noticed a stone that was engraved. It was the cornerstone. Like the cornerstone, we can be overlooked, but God always sees us. He knew when He called us cornerstones that He was giving us a character description that would help us better understand our roles as daughters.  -Molly

A Discussion on Modesty: Part 2

Today we are posting part 2 of our discussion on modesty:

Q3: What is the line between fashionably feminine or gaudily beguiling?

Megan: First and foremost, I believe this is matter of the heart. I could have on the most conservative jean jumper in the world and still have an attitude that says I am fiercely independent. Whenever I start getting too obsessed with strict dos and don’ts of modesty, I have to go back and remind myself of the heart of modesty.

Taking this a step farther, I think the line is also related to our actions. No matter what we are wearing, we should have an attitude “…which is proper for women professing godliness…” (1 Timothy 2:10)


Amy: The difference between these two lies in what your heart attitude is and how you are perceived by other people. This doesn’t mean you can’t be fashionable, but you have to examine your heart and dress to make sure you are giving out the right image of a godly, modest young woman.“A girl is generally taken at her face value; that is she is thought to be just as she appears to be” (A beautiful Girlhood) When you are dressing fashionable feminine you are modest, dignified, and dress your age. People see this through your clothes and how you carry yourself.   Whereas when you are gaudily beguiling you are dressing to attract attention and can receive the wrong kind of attention.

1 Timothy 2:9-10 ~ In like manner also, that woman adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

Q4: Do you have any resources that encouraged you?

Megan: Several :)… I've been engrossed in reading different opinions and visiting lots of online modest clothes stores. Here are some of my favorites…

The Modesty Survey This is an excellent resource that allows girls to see modesty (and immodesty) from a guy's perspective

Feelin Feminine This website stemmed from a group of girls who began holding monthly modesty challenges, where girls were challenged to wear skirts/dresses for 7 days. Now the website features articles on health and hygiene, hairdos, and modesty resources.

Swim Modest Melissa and I got suits here last year and really enjoyed them. They were very modest, but allowed us to move freely in the pool.

Matthew 5:14-16

 ¹⁴Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

 ¹⁵Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
 ¹⁶Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

 

Megan: These verses remind and encourage me that my goal in dressing modestly is not to fulfill a checklist. Instead, my goal is to be a light to the world. Dressing modestly should not be an end in itself, it should be just one part of an image that points people to Christ.

 

Amy: The most important thing about modesty is to remember that everything we do needs to glorify god. If we truly love him then we will obey him and he has made it clear that we are to dress modestly. He has called us to be cities on a hill so that others will see the hope within us and seek our heavenly father.

I hope we have encouraged you through our thoughts on modesty. Please comment and share your thoughts and resources on modesty with us. We love hearing from our friends!!  -Megan