As I said in my previous post, Valentine’s Day is not just for lovers. Actually, some of my favorite Valentine’s Day memories are those I have spent with girlfriends celebrating friendship. Valentine’s Day is stereotypically viewed as a depressing day for singles, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out the following ideas to inspire all you singles out there to create some fun memories with girlfriends this Valentine’s Day:
- Movie Night
Invite your best girlfriends over for a slumber party and night of movie watching. Pick your favorite chick flicks from classics like Pillow Talk or Bringing Up Baby to period epics like North and South or Pride and Prejudice. Or a modern-day romance like You’ve Got Mail may be more your style. Whatever your fancy, you’re sure to have a good time with a good movie, some yummy treats to snack on, and friends to laugh with. - Make Handmade Cards
If you’re the crafty sort, you could get together a fun card making party. With handmade cards and letters less likely to be given these days with ecards and email, why not create a lovely hand-crafted keepsake for someone special in your life? In college my best friend Robin and I got together each year to make Valentines for our family and friends. It was always a fun time of talking, listening to some Sade, and card making. - Dinner Out or In
You don’t have to wait for a special date to take you out of Valentine’s Day. Get your girls together for a festive evening out at a favorite restaurant. Try a new cuisine or stick with an old favorite. Or, if you don’t want to deal with the packed restaurants, make dinner together as a group at someone’s home. A fun meal to make as a group might be Asian dumplings.
If you’re single, do you have any plans for this Valentine’s Day? If you’re no longer single, do you have some fun memories of past Valentine’s Days spent with girlfriends?
Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. I think it was because growing up, my mom always made the day special and full of surprises. I also think that I love it because it’s a holiday that really doesn’t have many expectations placed on it. No huge family dinners to prepare, gifts to buy the entire family, or travel involved. I can really make it the holiday I want it to be, as complicated or as simple as I like.
This week we’ll be celebrating love here on the blog. With Valentine’s Day less than a week away, I’ll be sharing lots of ideas for spreading the love to all the special folks in your life. And let’s just be clear. Valentine’s day is not just for lovers. It’s a day to celebrate love in all it’s forms. So whether you’ll be celebrating it with your girlfriends, your kids, or your special someone, there will be something here for everyone. So come back for craft ideas, recipes, and other fun stuff all this week.
The following is the first post in a series, With Child: Meditations on the Meaning of Motherhood. Join me as I study the mothers of the Bible and discover what lessons can be learned from their lives. Come back each week for a new post in this series . . .
Sarah: A Woman of Paradox
Gen. 16-18
“Hi, my name is Sarah and I’m barren.”
Like the introduction of an alcoholic at an AA meeting, Sarah’s barrenness was worn as a defining shame.
It’s hard for me—living in the 21st century—to understand the shame that would have accompanied barrenness. I understand, perhaps, the disappointment. Imagine the sadness. But it’s hard to comprehend that for a woman in the age and culture that Sarah lived in, producing children—and more importantly a son—was what defined a woman’s life and worth. And to not have the prestige of bearing children would have been more than devastating.
Barrenness is what I first discover about Sarah, wife of Abraham. Then I learn that she was very beautiful and about that little incident in Egypt. But it’s in Genesis 16 the real woman begins to emerge: someone impatient with God’s timing and lacking trust in His plan. Someone who took matters into her own hands. Someone I can identify with.
Sarah decides through Hagar, her maidservant, to “obtain a child” (16:1). She talks Abraham into the idea and forces Hagar to marry and have sexual relations with Abraham. Hagar’s a slave, so her thoughts or feelings on the subject were of no account. Hagar conceives.
Hagar felt she now had one up on her mistress. Perhaps she resented being forced to marry Abraham. Or perhaps she was proud she’d moved up a bit in the world. Whatever her motives, Hagar now has what Sarah wants. And Hagar “looked with contempt on her mistress” (16:4).
As dramatic as a soap opera, things get pretty tense in Abraham’s tent. Sarah—instead of repenting for her actions—now blames the whole thing on Abraham and takes her frustration and anger out on a pregnant Hagar by dealing with her harshly. And Hagar runs. I’ll get back to Hagar in another post. She deserves one all of her own.
We see here Sarah at her worse. “Sarah had degraded herself. She had learned what destructive powers a person can unleash in [herself] when [she] wanders away from God” (Her Name is Woman, Gien Karssen). But there is hope for Sarah, just as there’s hope for us.
Hagar comes back and life goes on for a while.
Then three mysterious visitors arrive.
When the three visitors reveal that in a year she’ll have a child, Sarah laughs over this news and then denies laughing, out of fear. This was the first time Sarah’s had a personal experience with God, so bit of holy trembling would be expected. Up to this point Abraham has been the one who’d received words from the Lord. No doubt he shared these experiences with Sarah, but not having had these experiences personally may have contributed to Sarah’s unbelief thus far. But this time news is not related second-hand. Sarah meets the holy visitors herself and is personally promised her son.
God’s promise to Sarah comes true. Sarah’s joy overflows when she exclaims, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me. . . .Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age” (21:6-7).
Looking back at these episodes, I see the negative example of Sarah being impatient and not trusting God, despite the many promises she’d received from Him. Yet this is not her legacy. It is not how she’s remembered. Her failures are there for me to relate and to learn from. I might not ask my husband to marry a slave and have a child with her for me, but in what other ways do I act in unbelief towards God’s promises and strike out on my own?
But, despite all these examples of unbelief, Sarah is the first woman recorded in the list of “Heroes of Faith” in Hebrews. “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised” (Hebrews 11:11, emphasis mine). And Peter commends Sarah’s inner beauty and lifts her up as an example for other women to follow. Could this be the same woman we see in Genesis?
Yes, because “her faith, majestically illustrated at the birth of Isaac, grew during her long life. Life had requested many sacrifices from Sarah. She abstained from many things she loved and wanted. She experienced hardships and disappointments. . . . She was flexible in changing situations. She adjusted herself to her husband. By her obedience to Abraham, she allowed him to obey God” (Her Name is Woman, Gien Karssen).
The woman who once struggled with unbelief is now known for her faith. What a paradox! But isn’t that like God? To take our biggest struggles and work something good out of it? Even if my faith is faltering today, there is hope. There is hope I too may become a woman and a mother of faith.
Josh got a job. Three months to the day after being laid off. We’d been praying specifically God would provide a job by the end of January. And He did. Josh switched industries and will also be going back to school on a government-funded grant to get certified in his new field. We’re so excited.
It’s been an amazing three months. One where I’ve learned peace and trust like never before.
The blessings that have come from this “bad” situation has been overwhelming. Simply that. Tangible and otherwise. We’ve truly experienced God’s provision from various means. Every time we needed something it was there. We never paid for a thing with a credit card or went into debt.
I hope others going through similar experiences will be encouraged. Here’s just a few highlights of the provision we received over the past three months:
- Free hi hat lights (that we’d been wanting to buy and install since May) given to us for free from an electrician
- “New” TV given to us when ours was on the brink…the person who gave it to us didn’t know ours was about to die
- Christmas gifts provided for through the giving of others
- A total of four side jobs for Josh to bring in extra money
- A photography boom for my business
- I sold an article
- Financial gifts from friends and family, some anonymous
- A Federal grant for Josh to go back to school for a Government Contracting certificate, that he could have only applied for if unemployed
These are just some of the tangible ways we were provided for and blessed over the past few months. A mixture of hard work and miracles. I can honestly say I wouldn’t have traded this time for anything.
At the first of the year I discovered some exciting news. Not only was it a fresh new year, but we also had a new life living among us. Yes, Duncan and Owen will have a new brother or sister joining us around the end of August or early September! We are very excited for a new little one to join our family!
Finding out I was pregnant explained my tiredness that I had attributed to the holidays and working hard on finishing various photography projects. The past month has been a bit rough, though. Nausea, getting sick, and hormonal headaches have accompanied an extreme tiredness that often leads me to the bed by 8:30 p.m.! I’m definitely more sick this time around than I was with the boys. My morning sickness with them was truly that. I only got sick once a morning during the first trimester with Duncan and Owen. I guess I just expected this time around to be the same, but some days feel fine all day and other days I may be sick multiple times including evenings. I’m so glad Josh has been home to help me on the evenings I’ve been too sick to even be in the kitchen, let alone make anything. I’m hopefully this nausea will end as I head into the 2nd trimester, which is only a month away.
I’m excited about a new baby, although nervous about caring for an infant along with my oh-so-very-energetic Duncan and Owen. But twin moms keep telling me if I have one, there’s nothing to it! I’ll be amazed at how easy it will be to care for one baby . . . so they say.
One, is the operative word. Since I’ve already had fraternal twins, my chances go up to have more. One statistic says I’m four times more likely to have twins than the average woman, if I’ve already had twins. Obviously, I’ve done it once and could do it again, but I’d really love to experience what it’s like to have one infant! I just think it would be so nice just to focus on one baby and be able to cuddle and put him/her in a sling without feeling like you’re neglecting the other one! So, you can imagine we’re itching to get that first sonogram and find out for sure if it’s one or more babies we’re talkin’ about!
Either way, it’s going to be an exciting and life changing year! We’re so thankful to God for this new gift of life!
And to go along with this new season of motherhood will be a new series of blog posts that I’ll be doing periodically entitled, With Child: Meditations on Motherhood in the Bible. Join me as I contemplate the lessons we can glean from the lives of mothers in scripture!
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Phil. 4:6-9
Peace, perfect peace. Peace that surpasses all understanding.
I can honestly say peace has been the theme of the past three months during my husband Josh’s unemployment. I can’t say peace has resulted because I’m super spiritual, or because I’ve even lifted “everything by prayer and supplication” to God like I’m supposed to. I fail at that time and again. But I have experienced supernatural peace. Enveloping me like a warm blanket, comforting me with rest and security. I have a solid Rock foundation that doesn’t quiver when tough times come. This peace has been a divine gift that has slowly been unwrapped before me. Each day I experience a new facet of this peace that I’ve never experienced before.
I’ve had the lyrics to a song from an excellent album I got for my kids running through my head lately.
“Peace, You give me peace
When the storms come and I’m afraid
Peace, You give me peace
When I trust in the words You say
You give me peace.
If You can calm the sea
Then You can comfort me
If winds obey Your voice
Why should I fear their noise
And though my eyes can’t see
I know You’re with me.”
Peace, you give me peace. Yes, it’s true.
Just my contribution to Tuesdays Unwrapped with Chatting at the Sky . . .
Yesterday I was walking down the street. The air was tremulous, as if awaiting the rain shower that would soon come.
Then I heard a sound . . .
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed. . .
I saw him, sitting on a stoop, leaning against the brown-stone building. Hat skewed on his head, guitar in hand, and eyes bright.
Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee . . .
His voice was resounding, yet low and smooth. I caught his eye.
How great Thou art, How great Thou art. . .
I smiled.
Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee. . .
His eyes smiled back at me.
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
I passed. Drops of rain softly drifted from clouds in the sky and landed on the pavement.
Then sings my soul!
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This was first posted on May 26, 2006. It was from an experience I had on my commute to work. I decided to join Kelly in some reposting from the archives fun! If you want to join in, please do!
Last week we went to the Pennsylvania Farm Show. I grew up going every January but it had been some years since I’d last been there. I was very excited to take the boys on their first visit, knowing they’d love the animals and farm equipment. Here’s some shots from our little excursion.
I thought I’d snap a shot of this guy sleepin’.
These gals have decided to take a rest too.
An Alpaca that Duncan got to pet.
Farmer Duncan
I love the look Duncan is giving me.
I think the farm equipment (also known as “big cars”) were the biggest hit!
I love these pictures, as they capture the boys beginning to explore their world more and more. Sticks are now a major source of interest, as they poke the ground and rummage through leaves. They play among the brambles, creating little “secret” spaces for themselves, forgetting my watchful eye, making sure they stay safe on our property and wander where they shouldn’t go.
They remind me of myself. How I have always loved to ramble–alone–finding secret places to think and dream. Out in fresh air, feet muddy from trudging, eyes searching for beauty in forgotten places.
Oh, may I not forget how to explore! It’s a gift of childhood too often discarded for to-do lists and career building. But if I just stop for a minute and look around me, I too will find beauty in forgotten places: in muddy boots that mar the floor, in messily painted pictures, in little hands that cling.
What will you explore today?
Tonight we made Garlic Basil Shrimp from Better Homes and Gardens magazine and boy was it ever easy and good! Owen scarfed it down! Super good with a salad and some crusty bread.
Ingredients
6 oz. dried whole wheat or plain fettuccini
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
1-1/4 lbs. frozen large shrimp (20 to 25 per pound), thawed, peeled, and deveined
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
3/4 cup dry white wine
1-1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and keep warm.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add shrimp; cook 4 minutes, turning once, or until cooked through. With slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to bowl (reserve oil in skillet).
3. Add garlic and red pepper flakes to reserved oil in skillet. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the wine and cook over high heat 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the tomatoes and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Return shrimp to pan and heat through. Serve with fettuccini. Makes 4 servings.
(Image: BH&G)
