girltalk Blog
Kristy sent us this adorable picture of her boys and the funny story behind it. Don’t forget to pull out your camera for our Pick One Spot Contest!
Nicole for my mom and sisters
Hi Girl Talk Ladies! I just had to send this because it made me laugh so much. I was considering entering your contest for “Pick One Spot” so I had my camera up in my room…I was still deciding what spot to tackle. Today, I allowed my two older boys (3 and 2) to watch a show on my bed while I took a quick shower and the baby napped. My oldest called to me in the bathroom and asked if they could play with “the paper.” I vaguely remember having some post-it notes on my dresser, so I said sure. What’s a couple post-it notes scattered around?
Oops. So much for saving the wrapping paper for next Christmas!
Kristy
As we’ve mentioned before, Mom was very intentional in training my sisters and me in homemaking—for which I am very grateful. Most of this training occurred in the home and she was our teacher. But she also tapped friends in the church to teach us candy making and sewing and together we took classes through the county and our local craft store.
Some lessons took off, and others fell flat. The bow-making class at Michaels, for example, was a complete waste of the registration fee. We had a good laugh about it this Christmas when I showed up to the family gathering with beautifully tied bows on my presents. Mom thought those lessons had finally paid off (fifteen years later) only to discover I had used pre-tied, elastic ribbons. Oh well!
The cooking classes, on the other hand, were worth every penny (easy to say when it wasn’t my money, but I think it is true!). They sparked a life-long love of cooking and the Lord knew that one day I would have three boys who love to eat. One of our favorite classes was Italian Cooking where a local wife and mother taught us how to cook some of her family’s favorite recipes. We still make many of her dishes today. This week, I whipped up a batch of her minestrone soup and put extra jars in the freezer. Mmmmm…perfect for winter! Here’s the recipe. Enjoy!
Minestrone Soup
4 slices bacon
2 onions, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, pressed
3 cans chicken broth
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes with juices
5 cups shredded cabbage
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
Ditalini
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
In large pot cook bacon over medium heat until browned and crisp. Remove; drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon and set aside. Drain off all but 3 tablespoons drippings from pot. Add onions, carrots, and garlic. Cook stirring often about 8 minutes. Add chicken broth, tomatoes with juice, wine, parsley, bay leaf, basil, salt, pepper and rosemary. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add cabbage. Cook 10 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf. Serve with ditalini cooked separately. Top with crumbled bacon and Parmesan cheese—freshly grated.
2010 at 7:23 pm | by Janelle Bradshaw
Filed under
Homemaking
For the girltalkers, the New Year usually sparks a cleaning and organizing frenzy. We blame Mom for this condition. Last week Nicole went on a crazy two-day organizing spree. She’s insane! But Mom and I were jealous of her newly organized home; so today we tackled our kitchen. We are giving each and every cabinet a thorough clean. Writing this post is my chance to sit down for a few minutes!
All this organizing reminded me of one of my favorite girltalk contests: Pick One Spot! Oh, I loved that contest! We asked y’all to:
1. PICK ONE SPOT in your house that was in dire need of some TLC
2. Take a “before” picture
3. Proceed to give said spot some TLC
4. Take an “after” picture, and
5. Send your pics to us for a chance to win some prizes.
Your entries were amazing! The transformed spots were just short of miraculous!
So, I’m bringing that contest back. Join us in our New Year organizing frenzy and try for a prize while you’re at it. Pick One Spot in your house—it can be a room, a closet, or even a corner and follow the directions above.
Grand-prize winner gets $100 gift card to a “home” store of your choice. Deadline is in two weeks: January 22.
OK, I’m getting up from the computer now and so should you. We’ve got work to do!
PS – If you have trouble inserting pics in the contact us page, you can email us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
When CJ leaves for work at the end of the day, he tells Tony, his assistant, and Nora, his secretary: “We’ll try again tomorrow,”
That’s short for: “Well friends, we worked hard today, but once again we failed to accomplish everything we hoped. Maybe we even made mistakes, used poor judgment, or experienced setbacks. We are frail and finite creatures. Only God gets His to-do list done. And only God does it perfectly, every day. So, let’s humbly acknowledge our weakness and insufficiency in contrast to His strength and sovereignty. But let’s not give up in despair. If God wills, let’s come back tomorrow and by His grace, do our best to serve Him faithfully, for His glory!”
Let’s try again tomorrow.
I think CJ’s little phrase can help us in the New Year.
Are you discouraged by unfulfilled resolutions from years past? Maybe you’ve already failed to keep your resolutions for 2010.
I can easily get discouraged when I consider this past year: My recipes remain half-organized on my computer. My reading list is only two-thirds completed. Certain relationships I wanted to invest in remain untended. My unbelief still dogs me.
But I read more books this year than if I’d never resolved to read at all. I’ve taken more initiative with people, even if not as much as I would have liked. And the recipes are half way-organized instead of one big mess! By God’s grace, I think I’ve even grown in faith, however slow my progress.
I may not have completed my to-do list for 2009. But I’ve done more than if I never tried at all.
So, I’m going to try again this year. I’m going to make new resolutions to glorify God. I’m going to seek to make them humbly—recognizing my weakness and inability to complete them all perfectly.
But in the words of Paul: “one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). I want to press on to be more like Jesus and be with Him more often in 2010.
As we bid goodbye to 2009, I say to you: “Let’s try again this year.”
We’ve all made our New Year’s resolutions: Spend (a little) less money on shoes, organize the kitchen cabinets, dig out the exercise DVD from under the bed, check the facebook feed fewer times per day.
But wait. Have we resolved to do the one thing that is necessary in 2010?
Donald Whitney, in a timely sermon at CLC yesterday, challenged us to pursue holiness: “without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
“Our purpose in life—if we have the Holy Spirit” he says, “is godliness: you want to be like Jesus, and you want to be with Jesus.”
And there’s only one way for that to happen.
By practicing the spiritual disciplines.
By sitting at Jesus’ feet.
“Godly people are godly people primarily because they are disciplined people. And it has always been that way” insists Dr. Whitney:
“You can go all the way back through the history of the church and all the famous heroes of church history. You can be sure that all those men and women became godly men and women – not because God zapped them in some way that he hasn’t zapped you….Those great men and women of faith became more like Jesus the same way you and I do: by means of sustained, unspectacular, routine discipline. Godly people are godly people because they are disciplined people. It’s always been so.”
To help us be more disciplined, godly people, we have an exciting new feature coming soon to girltalk. So stay tuned.
But today, I want to urge you to listen to this message by Dr. Whitney. It will strengthen your desire and resolve to be more like Jesus and be with Jesus more often in 2010.
Let’s sit in the new year together.
We conclude our Year-in-Review with a memorable Friday Funny—the grand prize winner of our Funniest Wedding Story contest (see Friday Funnies category for the other nine winners).
Hope you are rejoicing in God’s faithfulness in 2009 and eagerly anticipating His goodness in 2010. Happy New Year!
Nicole for the girltalkers
June 26 2009 at 10:35 am | by Janelle Bradshaw
Filed under Fun Stuff Friday Funnies
Y’all are amazing! We received tons of entries for our funniest wedding story contest. It was a hard job, but we’ve narrowed it down to ten winners, and we’ll post their stories over the next few weeks. As promised, our 
winners will receive the book of their choice from our books and audio page. So if you see your entry posted, contact us with your address and book choice and we will send you your goods asap. Congrats to our first winner, Katie.
My husband, Greg, is a musician and often plays the organ for weddings. Over the years he has learned to be ready for anything at weddings. His mom and I still chuckle over what happened at Cassandra’s wedding.
Cassandra, Greg, and I all grew up together. At one time Greg and Cassandra liked each other. As the years went on, the Lord brought Greg and I together and gave Cassandra a wonderful husband. At Cassandra’s wedding, Greg was the organist for the ceremony, and one of the groomsmen was supposed to play a piano postlude while the audience was dismissed. Greg played the recessional, but no one came up to relieve him. Silence would have been terribly awkward, so he decided to play a few hymns “off the cuff.” Unfortunately, what he chose to play was “I’d Rather Have Jesus.”
2009 at 3:42 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under
Homemaking
A question from a reader named Julie sparked a week of great discussion at the end of June. Here’s the first post followed by links to the others.
A Homemaker’s Dilemma
June 15 2009 at 6:32 am | by Nicole Whitacre
“I’m a feminist in remission,” Julie confessed in her email to us. And aren’t we all, by the grace of God?
She continued:
“Honestly, I still struggle in my role as wife and mother though I’ve lived in it for ten years now. So when I read Carolyn’s take on the Today Show a few days ago and the new book about sharing the home responsibilities 50/50, I just had a question, or maybe, a dilemma.
I stay at home full time, homeschooling my four children and I do love it. I wouldn’t want to work outside the home even if it was offered to me. But does that really mean that the husband has NO share in the household duties? Does that really mean that he should never wash some dishes, put laundry away, bathe a child, or pick up his own socks? I mean, if stuff needs to be done, should my husband be able to surf the web or watch a game while I tidy up after dinner and get the kids in bed? I guess I’m truly wondering if this is what It means to be a biblical woman? I WANT to be. I want to do my duties without grumbling and complaining. But it’s hard. It’s easy to feel like the maid. So, any words of wisdom in helping me to see this issue clearly and biblically, would be great.”
I suspect many women struggle with Julie’s dilemma; but I admire her desire to know and obey God’s Word. In Feminine Appeal, Mom tackled this question, and I will quote her at length here:
“Martin Luther, the man who sparked the Protestant Reformation, once quipped about his wife: “In domestic affairs I defer to Katie. Otherwise I am led by the Holy Ghost.” While facetious, Luther’s comment holds biblical credibility. As wives, we are to be in charge of domestic affairs.
The command in Titus 2 to be “working at home” is further illuminated by 1 Timothy 5:14 where Paul says: “So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander” (emphasis mine).
In the Greek, the phrase “manage their households” carries a strong connotation. It literally means to be the ruler, despot, or master of the house. So we see that “working at home” means we are to function as the home manager—taking full ownership for all the domestic duties of the household.
Once again the woman in Proverbs 31 is our example. She presided over the entire range of responsibilities in her home. She helped her husband; cared for her children; completed chores; supervised servants; oversaw land; invested money; bought, sold, and traded goods (just to name a few duties!). The Proverbs 31 wife maintained a broad sphere of rule in her household.
Imitating this woman’s model, Sarah Edwards, the wife of the eighteenth-century preacher Jonathan Edwards, managed her household with careful and thorough diligence. One day Dr. Edwards emerged from his studies and asked his wife: “Isn’t it about time for the hay to be cut?” To which Sarah was able to respond, “It’s been in the barn for two weeks.”
Sarah created a world where her husband could fulfill his God-given duties without being concerned for the domestic tasks of the home. We should aspire to do likewise.
Now, with the command to “rule” in our homes, I must provide two cautions. First of all, this is not license to usurp our husband’s authority. Our management in the home must be carried out in complete support of his leadership and direction.
But this mandate also precludes the currently popular “co-responsibility” approach to homemaking. As wives, it is our job to manage our homes, and we should not expect our husbands to contribute equally to this task.
This is not to say that our husbands shouldn’t help around the house. There are times when we legitimately need their assistance, and this is especially true for moms with small children. The point is not to excuse our husbands from service in the home, but rather to solidify our role as manager of the home. God has given that assignment to us.”
A clear and compelling vision of our God-given assignment as home managers will help us guard against complaining and resentment. For further study on this topic I’d recommend the entire chapter on homemaking from Feminine Appeal
, as well as Susan Hunt’s chapter on the same in The True Woman
. You can also check out some of our posts on homemaking.
Homemaker’s Dilemma Pt. 2
Homemaker’s Dilemma Pt 3
Homemaker’s Dilemma Pt. 4
Homemaker’s Dilemma Pt. 5
Homemaker’s Dilemma Pt. 6
Just before the launch of our new site on June 1, 2009, Mom reflected on why we write girltalk...
May 21, 2009 at 12:46 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under Biblical Womanhood
I never dreamed of being a writer. I never aspired to publish my thoughts—anywhere, ever. I don’t like to write, and I don’t think I’m especially gifted to write. Just today I happened upon a blog by a woman who is a gifted writer. She’s clever, she’s funny, and she has a way with words.
It made me wonder, what am I doing writing a blog? Why do I drag myself to the computer each morning to do something I don’t really want to do?
The answer is simple. I have a passion to promote biblical womanhood.
And why do I care so much about biblical womanhood?
I care about biblical womanhood because I love God’s Word.
I care about biblical womanhood because I want to spread the gospel.
I care about biblical womanhood because I long to promote God’s glory.
You see, Scripture, and what it says about Who created woman and what he created her to be and do is under assault from our post-modern, feminist-fed culture—at every point.
They belittle a woman’s calling in the home, marginalize motherhood, sneer at modesty, and abhor wifely submission. Yet these qualities are all an intrinsic part of God’s perfect, exquisitely beautiful design for women.
And so, I write. I write because I want to do whatever I can to promote the qualities of biblical womanhood that keep the Word of God from being reviled (Titus 2:5).
I want to contribute my measly bit. I can’t do everything. I can’t do much. But by the grace of God, I want to do what I can.
You might find your “measly bit” as unappealing as I find writing. It may seem as insignificant to you as this post does to me. But our measly bits, by the grace of God, can champion biblical womanhood and so adorn the doctrine of Christ our Savior (Titus 2:10).
So, together, with God’s help, let’s do what we should do, what we must do. Let’s do what we can.
2009 at 4:34 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
In May, one of our readers encouraged us to check out a video by a woman named Rachel Barkey. A wife and mother of two small children, Rachel was dying of cancer. We were so affected by her testimony that we even suspended posting for a few days. Rachel passed away on July 2, 2009, but her example of faith continues to spur us on to love and trust God more. As you consider your goals for 2010, we encourage you to take time to watch this video. Rachel lived and died in a manner that brought glory to God. May God give us all grace to do the same.
2009 at 2:18 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
UPDATE, Wed. May 13: We’ve never done this before. In almost four years of blogging we’ve never missed a weekday. But we are going to suspend posting for the rest of this week. That’s how much we want everyone who comes to this site to watch Rachel’s video. We guarantee that if you take five minutes to check it out, you will want to find another fifty to watch the whole thing. It’s that powerful! So please, watch the video or listen to the audio; and please, tell everyone you know—your spouse, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends—to watch it too.
PS - Parents, we highly recommend you show this to your teenager!
——————————————————————————————————————-
We had a post ready for today, but we’re not going to put it up. This afternoon, we received an email from a girl talk reader named Shaila, in Vancouver, Canada. Her best friend, Rachel Barkey has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Rachel is a wife, a mother of two children, and she is not expected to live to see her 38th birthday.
Several weeks ago, Rachel shared a message with a group of women entitled “Death is Not Dying: A Faith that Saves.” We were so affected as we watched this video that we wanted to share it with you right away.
Many people have asked Rachel, “Why? Why is this happening to you? To Neil? To Kate and Quinn? To your family and friends?”
“I don’t ask ‘why?’” says Rachel. “Because I know.”
Please watch or listen and learn what Rachel knows.
2009 at 4:55 pm | by Nicole Whitacre
Filed under
Motherhood
As is our tradition, this week we’re re-posting some of the posts which received the most reader response this year. Meanwhile, we’re busy putting the final touches on some new features for our site in 2010, so stay tuned.
We begin in March with the first of three posts from Mom, encouraging moms with young kids to beware of distractions from their important calling.
Thanks for spending another year at Mom’s kitchen table!
2009 at 11:32 am | by Carolyn Mahaney
Mothers are responsible to mold and shape lives; to raise children who, in the words of G.K. Chesterton, “require not so much to be taught anything as everything.”
“I might as well be at the controls of a moon shot,” reflected one mom, “the mission is so grave and vast.” And so it is. The training and discipline of our children in the fear the Lord is an awesome task, demanding of our full attention (see Deut 6:5-9).
That’s why, if there’s one concern I have for this generation of mothers, it is the potential for distraction.
Blogs, facebook, twitter and texting allow moms at home to stay connected with the outside world like never before; the Internet makes it possible for women to contribute skills and gifts to the church and the marketplace, while at home with their children. These are all tremendous blessings, and when used wisely, can bless and serve our families and glorify God.
The Proverbs 31 women, long before the Internet, managed a wide range of tasks for the good of her family and community. (But did you notice what time she woke up each morning?) Depending on a woman’s capacity, gifting, personal discipline, as well as the ages and number of children, there may certainly be room for other things.
But we must be watchful that these “other things” don’t distract us from our primary task of mothering. We must walk carefully through this season, with all its opportunities, and make the best use of our time with our children.
Truth is, we can’t effectively train our children on the side. We can’t discipline them here and there. We can’t teach when we’ve got a free moment. We can’t mother intermittently.
Inconsistent training is ineffective training.
If we are distracted by projects or pleasure, we may miss valuable teaching moments, opportunities to encourage, disobedience that requires discipline, or a chance to show affection. These moments, once lost, are gone forever.
So ladies, may I encourage you, as I do my own daughters, to give training and discipline your first and full attention. Walk carefully, and keep your eyes on the mothering road.
More thoughts tomorrow.
A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES
FIRST THINGS FIRST
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