Connected Kingdom

I just finished listening to Connected Kingdom Podcasts by David Murray and Tim Challies. Anyway, if you ever have any spare time, it's worth listening to (I listen to it while I do my ironing - I actually look forward to ironing then!) Last week I listened to their topic on children with disabilities and the church's responsibility towards them - convicting. Today, I listened to episode 6 on the role of elders in the church. Very fascinating. One of the requirements that an elder-to-be is put under (in Tim Challies' church) is the entire church fills out a qualification checklist to see if the candidate is suitable according to Biblical standards. (Actually, I don't know if the woman in the church do so). But the wife of the candidate does so - this makes a lot of sense to me. Who knows your husband better than you do? Listening to these podcasts will start provoking questions about a whole range of topics relating to the christian life. So I'm looking forward to the next podcast - (they are about 30 minutes in length). Happy listening!

Roth Food Memories

I love funny memories. I just finished reading my brother Dan's girlfriend Esther's blog (phew), and she wrote about a memory she had as a kid and it sparked a few memories that I have growing up. These are all food memories (and yes, it's almost dinner. The boys that left this morning gave us a gift card to Fridays. Who am I to waste such an opportunity? We are going tonight! No cooking. I suppose I will try to limit myself to the "healthy" items on the menu. Wish me luck). So here are a few food memories, Roth kids. Do you have any more?
1. Chips! Sunday night. Never any other time. They were a luxury, right? Orange plastic bowls, Dad faithfully doleing them out, and Vincent squawking that his bowl didn't have quite as many as...anybody else's! Sitting in front of the fireplace, (Vincent having started the fire), munching on our chips and seeing how long you could sit there before your back became too hot. It didn't take too much to make us happy, it seems.
2. Mom's cupcakes. Not your traditional from the cake mix variety. I don't even know how to describe them, other than that they were good and I liked the ones that didn't have jam in them. Plain, please! It was the best coming home from school, going in the kitchen, and smelling them come out of the oven. Mom has to find the recipe, because I have NEVER seen them anywhere since those old school days.
3. Rice Crispies (topped with a good spoonful or two of sugar). We had them for dessert. I have no idea why. But I thought for the longest time that they were a dessert item not a breakfast cereal.
4. Mom's macaroni with a spice mix that I can't remember the name of but it came from the Dutch store. It was so good and you could smell it outside when she made it.
5. Houtspout (however you spell it). I wasn't a fan of it. It was always served with fish sticks. Now I like it, but I don't make it because I think you have to grow up with it to like it.
6. Brudecole (yeah, another one I have no idea how to spell. Quit laughing at me, Lora!) Another not-so-favorite meal, but I like it now. Served with? Kielbasa.
7. Old Faithful (Sunday meal). Mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, beans, and roast. Served with a gravy like none other, and everything topped off with a good ole' spoonful of applesauce.
8. Mom's applesauce. It can't be beat. Smooth with nary a lump. You are ruined for store-bought applesauce after Moms.
9. Mashed potatoes with cabbage. Mom would try to disguise the cabbage by putting it into the potatoes, but your truely, Vincent, would always pick up on the fact that there was "cabbage in the potatoes" and loudly proclaim it to the rest of us.
10. Dutch pancakes. Thin, slightly crispy and so good. We had them for dinner. And the best syrup was that corn syrup in the yellow bottle.
11. Remember trying to swallow those yellow pills in the morning? What were they, fish oil pills or something like that? The problem was, you were trying to swallow them with your morning cup of tea, and they would start to melt in your mouth and taste HORRIBLE. I think it was Andrea who had the worst time of it.
12. I think Mom, me and Lora are the only ones who like this. Brown beans (some variety that I forget what they are called) with cut up onion, bacon, lettuce leaves, a little bacon grease and a dollop of mayo. Mix it all together and you have a delicious side dish.
13. Strawberry jam. All time best jam. Ever.
Well, that's it folks. Time for Mike to come home, and time for me to start getting ready to go out. Cheerio!

Proverbs 31

I shall be forever indebted to Mrs. Westerink. Why, you ask? Well, she mentioned at our Bible study the other day that the Proverbs 31 lady that we (as woman) hear about a great deal, WASN'T A REAL PERSON. Hurray! (Well, maybe not 'hurray', but you get what I'm saying). Solomon used an example to show what a godly woman looked like, but she was never a real flesh and blood human being. Because, if you ask me, there is no possiblity for such a woman to exist. Every woman has days when they are moody, yell at the kids, say something they shouldn't when they stub their toe, eat too much cake, grump when the dishwasher breaks, you get the drift. And so I shall forever comfort myself with the knowledge that she was not a real person.
And now, enough so-called "woman issues." There's so much out there in the Bible to discover that I think as woman we can do a real disservice to ourselves if all we ever do is study topics on "Biblical Womanhood" and the like. Wouldn't you agree?

"What's in a Name?"

My dear sister Irene posted a wonderful article by Andre Seu (from WORLD magazine) and I am going to post the link here as well. The article says what I think in a much better way than I would be able to write!
http://www.worldmag.com/articles/16451

Oh God, My Faithful God

Oh God, my Faithful God

Oh God, my faithful God,
true fountain ever flowing,
without whom nothing is,
all perfect gifts bestowing:
give me a healthy frame,
and may I have within
a conscience free from blame,
a soul unstained by sin.

Give me the strength to do
with ready heart and willing,
whatever you command,
my calling here fulfilling -
to do it when I ought,
with all my strength; and bless
whatever I have wrought,
for you must give sucess.

Keep me from saying words
that later need recalling,
guard me, lest idle speech
may from my lips be falling:
but when, within my place,
I must and ought to speak,
then to my words give grace,
lest I offend the weak.

When dangers gather round,
oh, keep me calm and fearless:
help me to bear the cross
when life seems dark and cheerless:
help me, as you have taught,
to love both great and small,
and, by your Spirit's might,
to live at peace with all.

-Johann Heermann

That First Year of Marriage

I don't think anything quite prepares you for when you first are married. You go from having to help Mom out every Saturday for two hours or so (for me it was cleaning the upstairs bathroom and dusting the livingroom -whoopdeedoo!- all done with a fair amount of groaning and complaining, I regret to admit) to having a full blown house to upkeep. Then you have your hubby - who if he lived at home, simply had to take the garbage out once a week (and then to have Grandpop move in and do it for him!!!) I'm exaggerating, of course, but I remember the shock of having to clean an ENTIRE house ALL BY YOURSELF (and with your husband if he does that type of thing). Not only did you have this house to clean, if you were like me, you were working full time, and then you had to come home and cook a meal. Good food is in your tummy and you start to feel tired. That glass of wine has finally relaxed you. But the dishes are calling and the stove is screaming to be cleaned. Your husband says, "Leave it for tomorrow," but you've done that before and you remember the food stuck on the bottom of the pan that refused to come off. Doesn't that sound like a recipe for disaster? So you reel in shock, start to wonder about this blissful first year of marriage that everyone is always talking about (talk about rose-colored glasses!) and you thank the Lord you survived it. And we haven't even mentioned the whole endless talks into the night trying to figure out what in the dickens makes your husband tick - which, ironically, doesn't need a whole lot of explaining in the end. I am thankful that first year of marriage is over. Mike thinks I am entirely too pessimistic and views our first year of marriage as one of wedded bliss. So, I don't really know who is right, but I have a feeling most men and women view their first year of marriage a little differently. Anyway, if I think about what I do now, I'm probably just as busy as I was then but the shock of how much work it is to keep a house clean has worn off. In fact, I'm happiest when I'm busy doing something!

Fire Alarms

Last night our fire alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning. It wailed for about ten seconds or so, then abruptly stopped. At the first sound of it, I bolted upright in bed and threw my covers off of me. Mike lay beside me unmoving. I whispered urgently, "Mike, MIKE!" Mike woke up in a hurry. "WHAT IS GOING ON?" And then the sound stopped. We stumbled around the house half asleep. No smoke anywhere. Mike climbed on our tall dresser in our room and looked at the smoke detector while I nervously waited below for him to come crashing down. He looked funny up there, trying to reach the detector without falling off and grunting at the effort. Monkeying around in the middle of the night is for the birds. Thankfully Mike didn't fall off and soon we were back in bed under the warm covers. It was hard to get back to sleep after that. I kept imagining smoky scents wafting through the air.... And if it wasn't smoky air, I was convinced that we were all under the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning (no joking matter). I couldn't sleep until I thought, "maybe God made the alarm go off, and it scared off a thief waiting to rob us." That comforted me and off to sleep I went. Interesting how the mind works in the wee smas.