Stepping Heavenward, by Elizabeth Prentiss

Stepping Heavenward, by Elizabeth Prentiss
This is my absolute favorite novel of all time. No, I'm not exaggerating...I've read it 6 times now, and have underline more than a dozen passages, hoping to print some of them and use them to decorate my home!

Stepping Heavenward is a book written in a diary or journal format. The young girl, Katherine (Kate or Katy, depending on her moods) starts the journal with this entry..."How dreadfully old I am getting! Sixteen!" She sets out to chronicle her spiritual journey, and grows from a willful, selfish young woman, to a mature, enduring, graceful woman after many trials and losses.

What I love about this novel, is that it seems so real, so genuine, and I see much of myself in the fits and spurts of spiritual growth, intermixed with times of spiritual despondency and seeming lack of growth.

During the course of this journal, Katy losses her father suddenly, endures a broken engagement, gets married, has her father-in-law and sister-in-law move in with them and they are both sour old gloomy people, has at least 6 children, but suffers the loss of one of them and frail health of another, cares for some of her husbands (he is a doctor) clients who are home-bound, losses her only beloved brother suddenly, and suffers from poor health herself (spending 7 years bedridden at one point).

This book is so genuine because in many ways it mirrors the life of the auther, Elizabeth Prentiss...I found this in Wikipedia:

"In 1845, she married George Lewis Prentiss, a brother of her dear friend Anna Prentiss Stearns, ... After a happy time of transitioning into the duties of a pastor's wife and a housewife, within a period of three months she lost her second and third children – one as a newborn, one at age four. She wrote this poem in that year, 1852, on the occasion of the baby's death:

I thought that prattling boys and girls
Would fill this empty room;
That my rich heart would gather flowers
From childhood's opening bloom.

One child and two green graves are mine,
This is God's gift to me;
A bleeding, fainting, broken heart—
This is my gift to Thee."

So her heart wrenching loss shows up in Stepping Heavenward, but also the comfort she found in Christ and God's severe mercies, and how He carried her through those dark days.

There's also many wonderful insights into married life, motherhood, and godliness...and this is what I loved about this book...so much godly wisdom in one place, yet it's a fun read at the same time!

Here are some of my favorite passages:

"Duty looks more repelling at a distance than when fairly faced and met"

"God does nothing arbitrarily. If He takes away your health, for instance, it is because He has some reason for doing so; and this is true of everything you value; and if you have real faith in Him, you will not insist on knowing the reason. If you find, in the course of daily events, that your self-consecration was not perfect - that is, that your will revolts at His will - do not be discouraged but fly to your Savior and stay in His presence till you obtain the spirit in which He cried in His hour of anguish "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will but Thine be done" (Luke 22:42). Every time you do this it will be easier to do it; every such consent to suffer will bring you nearer and nearer to Him and in this nearness to Him you will find such peace, such blessed, sweet peace and will make your life infinitely happy, no matter what may be its mere outside conditions." (a letter to Katy from her pastor)

"And there are my children! My darling, precious children! For their sakes I am continually constrained to seek after an amended, a sanctified life; what I want them to become I must become myself"

In a conversation with her other sister-in-law, Helen, the following was said:

"I think I may way of my happiness that is rests on something higher and deeper then ever Earnest (her husband) and my children....The will of God, the sweet will of God. If He should take them all away, I might still possess a peace which would flow on forever."

Helen suddenly asked. "Do you always submit to God's will thus"
"In great things I do," I (Katy) said, "What grieves me is that I am constantly forgetting to recognize God's hand in the little, everyday trials of life, and instead of receiving them as from Him, find fault with the instruments by which He sends them."

Oh, if only I could recognize God's hand in the little trials of each day and seek His wisdom and peace...and not become irritated with my children or husband or friend!

"There is no wilderness so dreary but that His love can illuminate it, no desolation so desolate but that He can sweeten it....I believe that the highest, purest happiness is known only to those who have learned Christ in sickrooms, in poverty, in racking suspense and anxiety, amid hardships and at the open grave."

"I want to see little children adorning every home as flowers adorn every meadow and every wayside. I want to see them welcomed to the homes they enter, to see their parents grow less and less selfish and more and more loving because they have come. I want to see God's precious gifts accepted, not frowned upon and refused."

Here's my 2nd most favorite quote:

"And now I am waiting for my Father's next gift and the new cares and labors it will bring with it. I am glad it is not left to me to decide my own lot. I am afraid I should never see precisely the right moment for welcoming a new bird into my nest, dearly as I love the rustle of their wings and the sound of their voices when they do come."

And here is my absolute favorite quote...

this is her response to her sister-in-law who, after hearing that Katy is expecting yet another baby, says she will "now have one mouth the more to fill and two feet the more to shoe, more disturbed nights, more laborious days, and less leisure for visiting, reading, music, and drawing"

"Here is a sweet, fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to make music with their pattering about my nursery, Here is a soul to train for God. and the body in which it dwells is worth all it will cost, since it is the abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ's name, I make a willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother's heart, welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her lifelong prayers! Oh, how rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!"

Can you see that I love this book...it is second only to God's Word for me...there's even more in the book to learn from than what I've quoted here...so get yourself a copy and see what gems you find in there!

I have read one other book by this author, "Aunt Jane's Hero" and enjoyed it as well...I plan to read that one again soon and review it for you as well!

Let me know if you have read this book, or if my review has inspired you to read it for the first time (or read it again!)

Her address?????

Yesterday morning, Reuben was writing a letter to his CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) teachers, Holly, and brought it to me in an envelope.
He asked me if we could take it to her.
I told him that she lived too far away for us to take it to her, but that we could mail it to her, and that we just needed to get her address.
Reuben was quiet for a few moments, with a very puzzled expression on his face...then he said "Why would we need to get her a dress?"
[caption id="attachment_577" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Always trying to keep things under control around here.."][/caption]

3 years ago...

I started this blog! It was actually 3 weeks ago last Saturday, but I wasn't even home...and my 25th wedding anniversary overshadowed everything else!

Just for fun, you can see the first personal post I made. My friend, Renee (of Bakers Dozen Blog - see side bar), was the one who encouraged me to start this. She thought people would like to know more about me and my life, especially my customers. She was right!

[caption id="attachment_565" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Speaking of Renee - she\'s started her own photography business, Little Earthling Photography and did this portrait for me last month!"][/caption]

Speaking of Renee - she\'s started her own photography business, Little Earthling Photography and did this portrait for me last month!

I usually get around 2000 hits per month, but since I got on Facebook, I've averaging closer to 3000/mo! We had a record high when Esther as so sick, Oct 2008 registered 10,419 hits, and December 2008 was 12,726!! It was so nice to have my blog already in place when I needed it to keep friends and family up to date!

Over the past 3 years, my blog has tallied up over 111,000 hits...not bad considering I'm not a consistent blogger!

I always want to blog more, but for some reason, I just can't find the time - I guess I have too many priorities above blogging, so it doesn't happen that often!

Thanks for sticking with me even when I don't post very often everyone!

Here's to another 3 years or more!

25 years and counting!

[caption id="attachment_555" align="aligncenter" width="219" caption="Bride to Be"][/caption]
25 years ago today, I was preparing to walk down the isle and start the adventure of marriage with my best friend...I had no idea of what the future held, but I knew that I was meant to spend it with Daryl...[caption id="attachment_557" align="aligncenter" width="150" caption="Daryl sees his bride for the first time..."][/caption]
Here's the story of how we got together, in case anyone is interested...it's a very unusual story to say the least. We probably first "met" in church nursery as our parents went to the same church! We attended the same church and small Christian school, Daryl being one grade ahead of me. The small school we attended was great at one thing...developing strong clicks...and we were not in the same clicks, ever. But we did end up taking one class together, Chemistry (I know, funny...) and we were also in choir together. At the time I had two close girlfriends, Hildred and Kimberly. One night after a choir concert, Daryl ended up sitting behind me on the bus ride back to school. We struck up a conversation that included sharing about our families (ours are very different family back grounds to put it mildly...ever seen "My Greek Wedding"?). Our conversation ended up lasting far beyond the trip back to school and included tips on how Daryl could get Kimberly out on a date...it worked, as he did go out with Kimberly, once, but that wasn't meant to be...he also later took Hildred to the Junior/Senior banquet (in Jaguar XJS no less...).

Our friendship, although a complete secret, continued through the end of that year. It involved doing things together (rollerskating, biking, playing video games, bowling and such) but mostly just sitting in his car, on OPPOSITE SIDES - ie as far apart as we could possibly get..ewww yuck!! LOL! And having deep conversations about what we hope to accomplish in our lives, our dreams and aspirations...funny, we both wanted 5 kids... And, then, halfway through my senior year, he stopped by school and found me to say goodbye - he had enlisted in the Air Force and was leaving the next day for boot camp. We had been so good at keeping our friendship a secret that not even my best friends understood why he would come to say goodbye to me!

Like any good friend, I wrote a letter to him while he was in boot-camp...scented stationary just to get him teased by his fellow bunkhouse mates! We also recently found a letter he wrote to me from boot camp...one neither of us remembered him having written!

Then it was my turn to leave...off to college in Iowa. When I came back to Washington for summer break, Daryl was stationed in Tacoma, so we were able to get together again...this time he taught me how to play golf...he was dating a girl and I was dating a guy from college, but we were still good friends who enjoyed doing things together. The next spring break I took my boyfriend home to meet everyone, and this included Daryl...we played ping pong all together...it kind of made my boyfriend jealous because it became obvious that Daryl and I had the same sense of humor and had a good friendship...

The next months were life changing for me...I got engaged, and then broke the engagement...resented God for it...so silly now that I look back...I was trying to live out my dreams of getting married regardless of what God might have planned for me...I made it back to Washington State, and the first person I looked up was Daryl (he was supposedly in a relationship)...and I singed his ears telling him all the rebellious behavior I had been and was participating in....and I was so surprised that he didn't write me off right them and there... also found out at this time that he had also broken up his relationship.

After a few months of rebelling against God, and finding myself contemplating suicide, I went back to church and recommitted my life to Jesus...I even told God that I was through looking for marriage...that I wasn't going to look at another guy for the rest of my life...if He wanted me to get married, he'd have to drop him in my lap....I was not going to be looking...

About 2 weeks later, after church, my brother was driving his girls back home to Eastern Washington and asked if I would go with him...Daryl and I were talking at the time (by now a few people knew we were friends) so I asked if he'd like to go too..and he said yes. So we rode with Tom over and back, only on the way back, Tom decided to take the adventurous way home...mostly old logging roads...driving like a crazy man! I was sitting in the middle, between Tom and Daryl, and I reached over to grab hold of Daryl's arm so I wouldn't crash into Tom...only it was the first time we ever touched...ever...Daryl looked at me, I looked at him,, and we simultaneously said "NO WAY"...this happened more than once and Tom was beginning to wonder if we had lost our minds...

After we arrived at my house, Daryl and I stayed awake talking in my parent's living room for hours...now that we were alone, we could talk about all the things that were going through our minds in the car that resulted in the numerous outbursts of “no way”....”well”....”no way”.... We talked about how we both had the same sense of humor, we loved to hang out together, we both wanted a large family, we both thought women shouldn't work once they have children if at all possible, we both thought marriage was for life, divorce was never an option, we were both believers, but we kept getting hung up on appearances...Daryl had always wanted to marry a petite, brown-eye, brunette (I'm his height, not petite, blue eyed...I was a brunette, but 1 out of 3 isn't good stats)...and I always wanted to marry someone tall, dark, and handsome...(again, 1 out of 3 isn't great). We spent several evening/early mornings going over things, but we just kept coming back to appearances and that we just didn't find each-other attractive “in that way”...we'd been friends too long it seemed....

But then one night, we started talking about wanting to have a marriage that lasts through the years, that being married 20, 30, 40 years, what would keep a marriage happy and healthy would be all the things we did have...and that what we looked like now would matter very little if at all down the road...that was the turning point...somehow God got it through out immature brains that what really mattered in a marriage was exactly what we already had...unconditional, intimate friendship. At this point we talked about where this was headed, and we both realized that we were either going to get married, or our friendship was over...there was no going back. Soon we got over our shyness (it took a tickle fight) and experienced our first kiss...a few weeks later, on my birthday (Dec 12) we were officially engaged, much to everyone's surprise...and just 3 ½ short months later we were married on March 29, 1985. Well, almost everyone's surprise...two people, one of whom was my father, after my broken engagement, asked me “what about Daryl” and to both I replied “Over my dead body, he's not my type”...needless to say I was not dead the day we married...so watch what you say!

So that was how Daryl and I came to be married, but that was just the beginning...a lot has happened since then, and neither of us are the same people we were when we married, and we have shared many good times and trials through the years.

One thing I want to leave with anyone who reads this store is this – God has a plan for YOU – and His plan is always perfect! And, His timing is perfect too. When we try to write our own story in our timing, we will only find hurt and pain and lasting consequences. We had never heard of “courting” or “having God write your love story” as many people, us included, are now encouraging their children to embrace. We came pretty close to the ideal though - we got to know each other very well, with no strings attached and we weren't out to impress each other...and that was the best foundation for a great marriage there is...and we are still best friends to this day, and whenever possible we still do things together, at home and away!

I pray that God allows us another 25 years to spend enjoying our friendship and love!

Spring has Sprung early around here!

We are enjoying an early spring up here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest...I saw daffodils in bloom nearly a month ago, my tulip buds are showing themselves, our lawn is starting to need to be mowed, and we did some spring cleaning inside as well!

Here's some signs of spring around our place:

[caption id="attachment_533" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Future Berry, beautiful bloom now!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_532" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Waiting to be added to our gardens..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_534" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="These beauties never completely stopped blooming this winter, and they are in full bloom already!"][/caption]

Spring is for cleaning, and just for fun, last Saturday our livingroom was messier than usual, so we took a before photo, and then had it cleaned all up in 30  minutes!  Here's the before and after photos:

[caption id="attachment_535" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Before (notice Esther is enjoying dumping out her toy bin???)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_537" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="After - 30 minutes X 2 women = CLEAN!"][/caption]

We've been so busy this year, we've been doing homeschooling, music lessons, art lessons, a trip to my mom's house (with 2 kids),  and many other things.  We've also been busy seriously looking at deeper things.  We made some drastic changes to how we live our lives years ago, and have pretty much stayed the course we plotted out back then, but over the last few years we've been coasting along and gently breezes have blown us a little off course without our even noticing it!

[caption id="attachment_538" align="aligncenter" width="178" caption="One change is Esther started sucking her thumb..."][/caption]

So we've been re-evaluating some things, and looking at other things with "new glasses" for the first time!  We have decided we need to watch far fewer videos (Saturday nights after baths is all we are doing right now), play more games (we re-organized our school/toy/game-room last week), read out loud more (we just started reading The Magician's Nephew as a family, with the older member taking "parts"), and in general spending more time together doing things together!

[caption id="attachment_539" align="aligncenter" width="276" caption="Another big change is Esther is learning to climb the stairs...first time we've ever had stairs...time to buy a good baby gate!"][/caption]

So, that is my "excuse" this time for not blogging in forever, once again!  If you can get on facebook, you'll find me there...I'm not on as much as I have been in recent weeks, but I try to do little updates there from day to day...I'll leave you with some before and after photos of our school room make-over:

[caption id="attachment_541" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Before..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_542" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="After (Westside)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_543" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Eastside"][/caption]

Soon we willl be tackloing some long awaited projects...finish painting trim inside and outside the house, and putting in the back yard lawn!  Those are HUGE projects, but I'm sure we can get them done this year!

Esther in Snap-EZ Diaper!

We are getting all geared up for putting a half page ad in the May/June Mothering Magazine...they are doing a cloth diaper edition!  We will be having photos of several local babies on the ad, including hit photo!

[caption id="attachment_524" align="aligncenter" width="239" caption="Esther modeling Snap-EZ Eco One Size Pocket Diaper!"][/caption]

We have been working with Renee of Little Earthling Photography for the last few months to put together a selection of photos to use in the ad...and Esther will be one of them!  She's great at showing the the One Size diaper will fit even super chunk babies!  Just look how nicely the diaper fits UNDER her huge belly!!  Nice label placement too! LOL!

And Check out the wonderful review and giveaway - OhBabyOh

2009 in Review

[caption id="attachment_513" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Our Family Dec 2009"][/caption]

I was looking through some old blog entries and found that in Jan 09 I had looked back through 2008 - first looking at it from the perspective of how we survived our most difficult year to date, and then also looking back at how God has richly blessed and upheld us through that difficult year (2008...The Year of God's Blessings ).  So I think I should do that again for 2009!

First of all, 2009 was much easier than 2008, that is for sure!  But we did have some trials as well.  And definitely some major blessings along the way!

Winter of 2009 was centered around Esther's recovery from her open heart surgery.  This went really well and she was able to go without her feeding tube in less than two weeks after her surgery - that was a major blessing!  We were soon preparing for Jeremy to come home on his pre-deployment leave at the end of February.  We had a great week with him, including an open house with lots of friends and family coming to see him (and our new home!).

Springtime found us getting some serious schooling to make up for the previous fall,  working with Esther through therapy to gain strength and begin to learn new skillss, putting in gardens, a new front yard, new driveway, and a great check up at Children's for Esther.  Esther did end up going to ER once in June - she got croup and was having trouble breathing - but they were able to fix her up and go home - no hospital admits this entire year!  PTL!

Summer was definitely busy - we planned and put on the biggest birthday party ever - it was so much fun!!!  We also went camping - but I was unable to enjoy it very much as I was sick the entire time and ended up with bronchitus and a sinus infection...we finished out the summer with a great day at the beach!  We also dealt with cancer on Esther's  face that was so traumatic for us as it bled profusely at the least provocation, but turned out fine after minor surgery to remove it.

Fall was a wonderful time to get back into schedules, schooling and planning for celebrating a whole month with Jeremy home in November - we had a great time with him home that long!  We did have some big struggles due to the economic troubles, but God provided for us through it all...even coming through in miraculous ways just when there seemed to be no way to meet all our financial challenges.  We also dealt with cancer on Esther's  face that was so traumatic for us as it bled profusely at the least provocation, but turned out fine after minor surgery to remove it.

We rounded out the year with our first Christmas in our new home - Christmas tree in front of the window, icicle lights on the house, game nights, puzzles, and best of all, Jeremy was home for 2 weeks again!  Esther really enjoyed her first Christmas...especially the wrapping paper and boxes!

Also throughout the year we've seen Esther stop struggling to grow, going from 12 pounds to a whopping 26 pounds from January to June!  She's refined down to a nice 25 pounds now due to being so active.  When Esther went to her first therapy session at the end of January she couldn't even hold her head up very well, and could not lift it off the ground if she was laying on her tummy....now she's camando crawling all over the house, sits up all by herself, gets up on her hands a knees, wave and says "Hi", waves "Bye Bye", gives the best baby hugs ever, has a great sense of humor, and loves music and Signing Time Videos!

So last  year, our blessings far out-weight the slight and temporary troubles of 2009,  and I can see God's hand upholding us through all.  His mercies are new every morning.

I'll end this post with a comparison photo of Esther just home in Jan, as compared to her at Christmas:

[caption id="attachment_507" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Esther on Jan 9,2009"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_510" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Esther's favorite thing...playing ball!"]

[/caption]

12/31/2009