The Art of Homemaking

"Homemaking is an art, and you have the privilege of expressing and developing all your talents there in a little place called home. You get to build ~ beautify ~ organize ~ create ~ fuss ~ express yourself. You get to read and study and grow and master nutrition, finances, horticulture, design, wardrobe, et cetera.

And you also get to shape your children, to give their precious lives a bent toward God. To nurture their souls with the good things of God. To pass on the truth about Jesus to one more generation.

And to do so means you've got to be dedicated, organized, and a woman of purpose. And you've got to have the spunk and energy to follow through on all the dedication, organization, and purpose that answering God's high calling to homemaking requires."

Elizabeth George, "A Woman's High Calling"

The Most Important Aspect of the Home

"The atmosphere we create in our home

directly affects our home's most

important aspect:

the relationships we have there.

We want our home to have an atmosphere

that allows souls to be replenished,

love to flourish, and God to be glorified.

Sights, sounds, smells, taste, and touches

are merely a means to minister

to our loved ones while here on earth.

Furnishings and fabrics will someday be gone.

Food will be eaten.

Music and laughter will be hushed.

Fragrance will no longer fill the rooms.

But the memories of the atmosphere

and the relationships in our home will live on forever.

~ Terry Willits ~

Home Culture

Home culture is the atmosphere

that is purposefully and intentionally

cultivated within the four walls of your home.

It is the music when you walk in the door,

it is the conversation at the dinner table,

it is games played by the fireside,

it is the singing when your daughters do the dishes

or the laughter of small toddlers

who find a small green caterpillar.

Culture...it exists just as richly and lively inside your home as it does outside your front door.

Dear Mothers, we weave the tapestry

of homelife for our loved ones

as we create the culture of our home.

As we sit down and plan the days and months ahead,

we purposefully begin writing what is akin to a novel

of soon-to-be memories of our families lives.

The music played the background of your homes today

will become the soundtrack from their childhood.

The art you hang on your walls can leave

a deep and lasting impression on a child's mind and soul.

Children will forever fondly remember the smells, music, joy and memories of their childhood and always fondly desire to return to it...even when they are old and gray.

Home culture takes planning...

it takes time...it takes thought.

Mothers hold the brush in painting the beauty,

fun and memories in children's lives.

"By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches."

~ Proverbs 24:3-4 ~

Dear Mothers, what a privilege it is to prepare

such a place for our families.

Prayerfully begin planning the culture for your home today!

What Children Need

Children need more than clothes on their backs,

A roof o'er their heads or a lunch in their sacks.

Children need more than satellite TV,

The latest Nintendo, and DVDs to see.

Children need more than a beautiful home,

A room full of toys, or their own cell phone.

Children need more than far-off vacations,

Amusement park rides and grand celebrations.
Though treasures we buy bring them smiles ~ it is true;

Our children need less than we might think they do.

Children need time to talk and share,

For growing is painful and not always fair.

Children need someone with listening ears

To hear how their day went and help calm their fears.

Children need space, a home where there's rest,

A place where they're needed and told, "You're the best!"

Children need hands to hold when they're scared;

Children need arms to hug them and care.

Yes, children need less than we might think they do,

Children need love ~ Your children need you.

~ Nancy Agular ~

(modified a bit by me)

A Mother's Guide to 1 Corinthians 13

If I keep my house spotless and dust-free,

And deliver crisp starched shirts and clean white socks,

But do not show love to my family,

I'm just another housewife.

If I cook well-balanced meals, pack delicious lunches,

And prepare gourmet holiday dinners with all the trimmings,

But do not show love to my family,

I'm just another cook.

If I sew gorgeous window treatments,

With matching fringed pillows and coordinating wall coverings,

But I do not show love to those who live therein,

I am just another interior decorator.

Love puts down the dust cloth to hug the child.

Love rubs a back, kisses a bruised knee, and bandages a skinned elbow.

Love colors a picture, plays cowboys and Indians;

Listens to endless stories over and over again.

Love is patient and kind, though tired and frazzled.

Love doesn't envy anothers child who never seems to misbehave,

Or get puffed up on the one occasion when hers doesn't.

Love doesn't try to impress others with her abilities or knowledge as a mother.

Love doesn't yell or swat but disciplines with control.

Love doesn't feel cheated because Mommy didn't get to do what she wanted to do today ~

Scrapbook, read, or soak in a hot tub.

Cook, clean, and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

The Home She Made

This post was taken from "A Wise Woman Builds Her Home"

[W]hat a traditional woman did that made her home

warm and alive was not dusting and laundry.

Someone can be hired to do those things

(to some extent, anyway).

Her real secret was

that she identified herself with her home.

Of course, this did not always turn out well.

A controlling woman might make her home suffocating.

A perfectionist’s home might be chilly and forbidding.

But it is more illuminating to think about what happened

when things went right.

Then her affection was in the soft sofa cushions, clean linens, and good meals;

her memory in well-stocked storeroom cabinets and the pantry;

her intelligence in the order and healthfulness of her home;

her good humor in its light and air.

She lived her life not only through her own body

but through the house as an extension of her body;

part of her relation to those she loved

was embodied in the physical medium of the home she made.

~ Cheryl Mendelson ~

~ Home Comforts ~

{an encyclopedic A-Z resource on homemaking how-to’s}