The Hidden Art of Homemaking

By Edith Schaeffer, wife of Francis Schaeffer

The first chapter, entitled, The First Artist, is really an exposition of Psalm 19. In reading it, I feel somewhat more connected with a lost generation of women for whom homemaking was taken seriously and with a degree of pride. Not the pride which leads to one's downfall, but the pride that is unashamed, as in proclaiming the Gospel. This chapter is so eloquently laced with vivid word pictures that the reader cannot help but to recall every beautiful moment of natural scenery ever once eluded to even in passing. And you reflect, "Wow! God really is magnificently majestic in all His wonders of creation!" Very few modern works will cause you to come away from such a text immediately worshiping God in your heart and attitude.

I am thrilled to continue reading such a creative and encouraging book.

What's on your current reading list?

Make-Up

Should a wife and mother wear make-up every day? Most would answer that it's up to the individual woman. Of course she has that freedom but is it practical?

The rigors of daily life can definitely wear on a made up face. Food gets splashed and thrown, perhaps she might perspire a bit, or rubs some off onto the children's clothes or her own.

About 50 years ago where Home Economics was still taught as a course in High School curriculum, the females were instructed to touch up their make-up and general appearance just before their husbands arrived home and greet him smiling at the door. The principle is to give the men someone pretty to look forward to upon entering their home.

After considering that I used to only wear make-up on Sundays for church, if I had time to do it, that I understood this homemaking premise. My husband leaves our home, when he would rather stay, to go to a job that consumes the best of his time and energy when he would rather work toward a self-sufficient homestead.

I am his wife. The woman of his choice. I am his favorite person. Shouldn't I give him something to look forward to when coming home? While he's at work, shouldn't he be thinking of me and not tempted by some other pretty young thing that walks by? Hanging on the wall in his office there are nice pictures of me and the children, all dolled up in dresses. Wouldn't it be discouraging, after seeing us at our best all day, to come home and find your mate all disheveled when you walk in the door from a long day at work? He went to work so that I don't have to leave the comfort and freedom of my home.

Besides the sacrifices made during the weekdays to provide for us, I consider that if someone important were to enter my home, I would be sure to look my best. Why not do the same for the only man who has ever called me his best friend? Even if I don't go out and my husband is home all day and we have no particular plans, why should he see me with a shaggy ponytail and sweat pants? Before getting married, would I have dressed that way knowing I would see him? No. So after being married, why should that change? I know that wearing make-up pleases him and it's my job, as his help mate, to do just that. Some days I wear less or more, but at least something that communicates that I care about my appearance for his sake. It's not a vain thing, it's a glory thing.

A 10-Year Project

This is Jeramy's gift to me for our 5th Wedding Anniversary. He designed the layout, even the script and flower design. He began this project about 10 years ago when he started looking for his future wife. He chose Proverbs 31 as the text for her character basis. He began this piece while dating one girl and when the relationship ended, he would cease from this project. Another prospective wife would enter the picture and work would resume. Likewise when that relationship ended, so did the work on this sewing project. And so on and so forth until after we married, he inserted my name. As our anniversary approached, he became determined to finish it. I asked him what his driving force behind this deadline was and he answered that in the 5 years we've been married, he has seen more of this passage to be true in my regard now than even before we married. (Sniff, sniff . . .) So then, it's finished and framed. Perhaps when we can afford to, we will have it professionally framed. But the sentiment is the most important for now.

Happy Anniversary, Honey!

Bach: Double Violin Concerto

Performed by Mr. Itzhak Perlman & Isaac Stern
two of the greatest violin soloists of all time.

Grandma's Girls on the Hearth