Forever Beloved

Faith, Love & Truth

Meal Planning Monday

Monday – mississippi roast, mashed potatoes and peach cobbler for dessert

Tuesday – chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles and homemade bread

Wednesday – chicken stuffed shells, a family fav

Thursday – creamy chicken and rice casserole and pumpkin bread for dessert

Friday – chili and cornbread with honey butter

Saturday – out to dinner with the fam

Sunday – pierogie casserole

A Proverbs 31 Woman {Week 3}

Welcome back to week 3 of our Proverbs 31 study. I hope y’all are enjoying it as much as I am! This week we’re going to look at Proverbs 31: 13-15.

She selects wool and flax 
and works with eager hands. 
She is like the merchant ships, 
bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still dark; 
she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls. 
Proverbs 31:13-15

This week we see a picture of a woman who is clearly not afraid to work and is certainly not lazy. Lets dive in a little deeper and see how we can relate these

Wool has been used for clothing since early times. I was thrown off by the mention of flax, I automatically thought of flax seed. But I’ve learned that flax was largely cultivated for the manufacture of linen. It would be dried, peeled, hackled and spun first and then would be ready to be made into linen. So, not only does she make their clothes, she actually makes the material as well.

There may be some of you who make clothes for your family, but this chickie right here isn’t one of them. Sewing and I are not friends.  But there are lots of other things I can do with eager hands to provide for my family.  I enjoy loom knitting and can whip up a mean scarf in a few days.  There are so many different things we can do with our hands…sewing, knitting or crocheting to name a few.

Also, in our modern times we are blessed with inexpensive clothes. I might not be able to sew but I can shop a mean clearance rack, normally with coupons in tow.  Even further than that, doing the laundry and ensuring our family has clean clothes to wear. I know laundry can seem like a never-ending task…washing it, drying it, folding it and putting it away.  Believe me, do I ever know that.  I have a teenage boy who changes his clothes a minimum of 3 times a day.  Yeah, unreal.  Laundry is a task we should approach with eager hands as well.  Y’all know whats written in the Bible there isn’t any arguing with, right?  So when God says to do our work joyfully and eagerly, and we actually do it without grumbling, that is what is honoring to God. Think it’s impossible to do your laundry with joy? Nothing is impossible with God. When you sit down to fold it, pray and ask God to help you to have joy in your heart about it.  

This woman is willing to go to great lengths to get good food for her family.  I even read y’all that she might have had to travel the whole way to Egypt just to get corn for her family.  Thank goodness for grocery stores, can I get an Amen?  But she was willing to go as far as she needed to go to get food for her family.

I think it’s important that as women, we learn how to cook good meals for our family. With the access to the internet and Pinterest, there really isn’t any reason we wives shouldn’t be good cooks.  Casseroles are so easy and yummy.  We really shouldn’t be turning to easy meals every night like hamburger helper or fries and fish sticks. But actually take the time to prepare a good, healthy, home-cooked meal for them to come home to. That is a way we can show love and care to them. Be willing to go the distance to get the meal done, cooking for a few hours if need be. I like to cook homemade bread, rolls or cinnamon rolls once a week for my family as a treat. Yes, it takes time…but seeing how much they enjoy it makes it totally worth it.

Also, take the time to clip coupons and save your family as much money as you can.  There are so so so many coupon websites out there that you just print the coupons right off of {HERE, HERE and HERE}.  Another way we need to be willing to work hard without grumbling…our grocery shopping.  We need to approach it with the same eager heart that we do other chores.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Colossians 3:23

Verse 15 really caught my eye. I found some really interesting info about it. A lamp is always kept burning at night in Eastern houses. Since the houses are very small, the careful housewife has to rise at midnight to replenish the oil. While she is up, she often then begins her household work by grinding the corn or preparing something for next day’s meals. So this also directly ties to verse 18, She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.

So it’s the middle of the night, the house is quiet, what would this be a perfect opportunity for her to do?  What did Christ do early in the morning {Mark 1:35}?  Pray!  What a great lesson for us as well.  You know how much easier it is to concentrate in a quiet household.  That would be the perfect time to spend time with Him through prayer, being in His Word, giving thanks and praise.  I actually write 90% of my blog posts early in the morning while everyone is still in bed.

So I encourage you this week to do your laundry, grocery shopping and cooking to the glory of God.  Maybe try getting up a little early one day to spend some time in prayer.  Aahhh, maybe go for a walk and pray at the same time.  I call those “walk and talks”.  What better place to talk to God than in the beauty He created!!  Create a warm and loving atmosphere for your family to come home to with eager hands and a joyful heart.

Hero’s Disguised as Husbands

This lucky girl is married to a hero. A burly, tattooed, bearded and bald hero.

He doesn’t wear a cape or leap from buildings. He’s an everyday hero in this house. A hard-working, tenderhearted guy. He takes care of his wife and his littles, normally putting their wants and needs before his own. He will completely stop what he is doing to help someone in need. And he follows God.

Sigh.

I’m so super thankful to say he’s also a hero outside of this household. In what way? He coaches Little League Cheerleading. Yes, you heard me right. Cheerleading. And those little girls adore their Coach Tank.

A few years ago, the cheerleading program was in danger of being shut down.  They needed someone to step forward and head it up and if no one was willing, it would have to be canceled.  Knowing how much this program means to these girls, my amazing husband stepped forward and took over.

It’s not that he has a heart for cheerleading, not in the least bit.  But he sure has a heart for these kids.  His goal every year is to be a positive male influence in their lives, someone they can look up to, someone they know they can always rely on and to just make their time with him fun.  Whether they want to tie his beard up in ribbons or tease him about his Packers, he always smiles and takes it in stride.

That right there is the best kind of hero.

I’m not sure he realizes what a complete hero he is to me, to us and to those little girls. It’s evident to me daily.

Here are a few little comments from parents and the girls. This is the reason he comes back year after year!

You are a great coach and leader!!!!!!

Thank you for all that you do. This program wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for your hard work and dedication. So thank you again!

You do a wonderful job too bad we don’t have more like you!

Dear, Coach Tank (:
Thanks, I had a great time this year. Yes, I’m joining next year, I cant wait having you as a coach makes cheerleading much more fun you’re the best coach ever!!!!(:

Tank, I have had the pleasure of seeing you in actions with the girls and I have to say you are such a great male role model for the girls.

You’ve turned the cheerleading around and I see the smiles on these kids face. They look up to him so much, I know my daughter is looking for next year.

Oh, this man. A great hero. An everyday hero.

My hero.