Dear Kitchen Saints,

Ya know in the old days the Mothers of the Home did all of their own baking. A few times a week they made yeast bread. Many of them had large families and would make a dozen loaves a week or more. When they ran out of yeast bread for the week, they made a few batches of baking powder biscuits or cornbread. This was weekly baking.

Then Mother made a dessert almost each day for the family meal. Mother baked pies and cakes every few days. Cookies were not really thought of as a dessert. They were something you ate if you ran out of pie or you needed a snack. Old time Mothers would say “Well, I don’t have a dessert made yet but there is always cookies.” For mid afternoon snacks, Mother would sometimes make a coffee cake with cinnamon and apples. Then Mother made homemade noodles and crackers every week. She made the quick breads “to make do” but the yeast breads is what the family really wanted. Quick breads are made in a hurry! Baking powder and baking soda cause dough to rise quickly and also you bake them in a very hot oven and they are done in a “jiffy.”

If I was just starting out as a homemaker and didn’t know the “the feel” of different doughs, then I would start out with Bisquick from the store. Also I would buy the cornmeal mixes until you know what they are to look like. But we mothers have as much time and more than what the old time Mothers had and we can learn to be excellent bread makers and biscuit bakers. Why Not? You can take your own self through cooking school at home. Let it be fun! Some of you are so very intelligent and the cooking I am writing about is not hard. But make your home like a bakery. Learn to be excellent bakers and cooks.

I learned as a Mom to make such light baking powder biscuits they nearly flew off the plate. But only in the past 5 years have I learned to make good pie crust. I kept watching the cooking channels until I learned the secrets of good pie crust. My pie crusts would taste like cardboard. They looked good but were awful. I was making my pies just like I made biscuits and, oh, those poor pies. Pie dough takes a lot more shortening than biscuits. And after the pie dough is mixed up, it should hold its own shape for a few seconds as you make it into a ball before you add the water. Biscuit dough looks a bit like bread dough and holds its shape.

I personally love to make popovers but Jim never was very crazy about them. Popovers rise because of the beaten eggs and they are light and fluffy inside and sorta crisp on the outside. I have read recipes for bagels. But I haven’t made them.

Jill’s daughter Shelly loves to cook and often just freezes what her husband and son doesn’t eat. For some of us who don’t need to cook that much, we can sure freeze it for other meals. Such as make breads for the week and freeze it and cookies, etc.

The old time Mothers didn’t have freezers and most of their baking was daily fresh or just a few days old. Mother was up each morning fixing lunches for the children to take to school or for husband to take to work. Then after the family was off to their day’s schedules, Mother would start her baking and cooking. Mothers of large families had to be thinking all the time about the food she had to fix for the day.

I was like this, too, as I made almost everything from scratch. It was a lot of work but fun, too. I have old writings lamenting all of my work. But the Lord told me, “Connie, you don’t work that hard because you are poor but because you are wise.” The Lord taught me to be wise through a lot of lack in our home. But if you can just trust in the Lord and be happy, the family will never know that you have to bake and cook or you wouldn’t have anything to eat. Make bein’ poor a lot of fun. Makes the devil mad and that ought to make you happy.

The Romance of Thrift

Ya know some of you Mothers with large families, make the world think you enjoy being poor. Become love slaves to your husbands. Let your kitchens come alive with cooking and baking. Enjoy going to second hand stores and finding old time pots and pans and aprons. I have a pink hand mixer I found a few years ago.

The old time Mothers loved their families and they gave themselves whole heartedly to their husbands and his children. She was sold out to her family and home and she could give a hoot what the world thought of her. While the other ladies were out shopping and catting around, she was at home in love with her husband and her kitchen. It’s downright sexy to make your husband’s bread. Whoa Nellie!

And ya know in all the good Fairy Tales you read, you never hear of a haughty lazy wife whom everyone loved or admired. No, it was the Cinderellas and the Snow Whites who had good and loving hearts and loved to keep house. The ladies of yesteryear were always lovely to look at with long pretty hair and flowers in it. Flowing cotton skirts with a broom in their hands. She loves babies and her Prince Charming loves her for her womanly ways. A home graced with sexual contentment will make your bread rise. Happy bubbly bread always rises first.

The feminists of this day would have been called crabby fish wives in the old time Fairy tale books. Mostly wives with tall black hats and scraggly teeth. Instead of sweeping the floor with their dirty brooms, they ride them on dark windy nights. But the truly romantic wife is at home sewing and making soup. She doesn’t care if her husband brings home rotten apples for supper… she praises him anyway for bringing something home for supper. She is a true Pollyanna and her true Prince is Jesus Christ. And if her husband is truly poor, she takes a vow of poverty and lives only under her beloved as she sews and cooks and bakes. She does him good all the days of her life.

Love,
Connie

Dear Kitchen Saints,

Ya know Jim and I raised six children. And it wasn’t easy, either, as some of you know from raising your own large brood. Between Aunt Toot’s family and mine, we represented thirteen children. She had seven. And we often traded recipes or told each other where the best buys were.

Often when I would go to the store with Jim, I would pray for good buys and the Lord would show me hidden produce or something marked down. But often Jim would show me something to buy and I would say or he would say, “Well, we don’t need that — we can make that at home.” We would buy a lot of flour and yeast and things to make bread and biscuits and homemade pancakes. We would buy the old fashioned oatmeal for our family and make that instead of the expensive sugar cereals. But I would just pray silently, often alone in an aisle, and I would say to the Lord, “Lord, I am not goin’ to buy anything I can make at home with my own hands.” And I would think of the Mothers during the Depression era and ask the Lord what Wisdom would do about this or that need. I had an imaginary older Titus 2 Mother who I called Ruby that I would write to as I made out my grocery list. Ruby lived in a cabin in the woods and she had huge vegetable and herb gardens. And as I would go to the store, I would think of her and how brave she was to feed her family from what she could make with her hands. And I would pass up the paper towels and napkins as I thought I can make napkins and use cloth ones. Or I can use rags as paper towels.

If you have like six cloth napkins, just take a big safety pin and pin them together before you wash and dry them. This way they will all stay together. And you should have about three sets of them. They are super cheap at garage sales or just make some out of some scraps of material.

One thing the early mothers always had was a good set of rags. She had rags for dusting and some for cleaning the floor but never did she use her dust rag for anything but dusting. And her rag to scrub the floor was never used for anything else, either. Then the dishrag was just for dishes. And then she would have a little washcloth by the sink to wash Baby’s face and hands after a meal. Because if you wash Baby up with a dishrag, he could get a rash. But Mothers were very clean and didn’t use one rag for more than what it was to be used for. The world says to use disposables in order to just use it once and throw it away because of germs. But ya know Clorox bleach will get rid of germs — just use it on all of your rags. They even say that scientists put down some AIDS virus on a table and put bleach on it and it killed it. But anyway, the old time Mothers had a lot of rags but they kept them in order.

Old T-shirts make good dusting rags. Just cut the back out in a square. And put your dust rag on a special rack inside the sink door. Then old flannel shirts make good rags, too. Any old used clothes that will absorb well. Anything that is all cotton will make a nice rag.

Then make your napkins out of a nice print material. You will only use them for the day, anyway, and they don’t have to be real absorbent. I remember Aunt Toot telling about having some missionaries at her house and she didn’t have any napkins and they asked her for one and the kids got them some toilet paper. And ya know when ya need toilet paper, ya need toilet paper. And we had to buy that but used this also for Kleenex.

Then you do need a little pile of rags you know you will be throwing away. Like if the dog throws up or something, you will want to just throw that away. And back in the old days, we used cloth diapers and rinsed them out in the toilet and also the washrags we used to clean Baby’s bottom. You just soaked the diapers and rags, then washed them every few days. The stay at home mothers couldn’t afford such luxuries as disposable diapers. You just used them when you went on vacation and couldn’t wash diapers.

I have never bought expensive cleaning detergents. I just have Comet cleanser and bleach and vinegar to clean the house with. I use a wad of newspapers to clean the windows with a pail of water with vinegar in it. The old time Mothers used a lot of vinegar to clean with and cook with. Of course, they made their own vinegar.

But ya know we can always make it in this life, right? One way or the other? But we can’t go by this world’s system or “What will the neighbors think?” We have to have an imagination. And we can think “What would Ruby in her cabin do if she faced hard times?” We who stand here and read these writings are living proof that the Depression era Mothers made it and kept their families alive through many trials. And we have “that way” in us, too, as we are a product of the Rubies of yesteryear. Her love and prayers. We are stout hearted, too, and can spit into the wind and not have it smack us in the face.

As the times get darker and the Lord separates the girls from the women of God, we will be called upon to keep our homes. We will be called to some bulldog tenaciousness. Some Stay-at-Home grit! We won’t leave the ship. And Nehemiah taught the believers to fight with weapons in one hand and a tool to build in the other hand, and we will do the same thing. They say the Depression era Mother helped win the war as she stayed in her kitchen. In 1940, I think, is when WW2 started. And the Mothers had to use Rations Stamps because of the food shortages. Plus they needed the food for the soldiers in the War. But these Mothers were up for it. And we will make it, too, in our world today as stay at home mothers.

Love,
Connie

Dear Mothers,

I have a while to write before Baby David gets here. This morning, as I prayed about what to write, I just felt like, “Oh, Lord, give me a word about homemaking to the mothers out there. They need it so much.”

First a funny story! Dan is living at Christian Joy’s in NYC for a while. Chrissy says, “Mom, Dan’s shoes smell so bad, I can’t hardly take it.” Well, ya know, if you are a punk rocker, it’s cool to stink? Well, so Christian Joy had read where you are supposed to put stinky shoes in the freezer. I said, “Well, Chrissy, won’t they stink again after they are thawed out?” She said, well, she hadn’t thought of that. “And what will it do to the food in the freezer?” I mean, this household tip should be under the heading of “Worst Household Tips for 2006.” Anyway, I can just see Dan trying to hurry to put on his block of ice shoes in the morning and run out to work.

My Mom who is 83 says if she didn’t have funny stories about my kids to laugh about, she would have died sooner. And that recent newsletter that Jen put together is so funny, I can barely stand to read it. It’s so sad, reading what I wrote about Jim, but there are funny stories in there about the kids when they were young, too. Thank God I have a sense of humor — I would die on the vine without it.

Anyway, back to business. Boy, I will tell ya, on the news? Wow, they are talking about the weather being so changed and bad. Now even the government is telling us to be prepared for all kinds of maladies. If the Bird Flu don’t get ya, a tornado or hurricane will.

I think it’s just not enough to tell you to buy extra food to store. You have to have a homemaking spirit to go along with all of this. See, I have faced the food shortages and storing food and all. But where the devil would get me the most is in FEAR. I mean you can have a lot of food but if you are fearful, you won’t cook it, anyway. See, the spirit of homemaking is the spirit of God.

It isn’t enough to say, “Well, I have decided to submit to my husband.” The spirit of submission is the spirit of Christ within you. It’s a spirtual decision to submit to your husband. The Bible says we are to do that, but not in the flesh. It is a spirtual act of obedience. Along with the obedience to the Lord and to our husbands comes the Keeper at Home.

The Bible says we as women are saved in child bearing. This means that through having children, we are saved, and all of the acts of caring for the child and the father to the child. Our spiritual life in our homes is our college of the Spirit that teaches us how to make Jesus our husband and King. We must receive in the Spirit the heart of the virtuous woman. It is not a decision to become her in the physical. The Spirit of wisdom has to come as we beg for more of Jesus in our hearts. He is the teacher of wisdom and homemaking to the married wife in the home.

We are not men and our gifts and callings in the Spirit are not like a man’s calling. We as women are set apart to do a great work for the Lord in the home. See, you can build your home in the wilderness. If the Bird Flu would come to your area, you would have to be quarantined for maybe a month. But, see, if a mother has the Spirit of the Lord concerning homemaking and submission to her husband, then she will be able to make it with her family in peace and rest.

Mother, be wise and discern the times and the seasons. Be as the ants who store their food in the harvest and they have no leader to tell them what to do. They are just wise and, through instinct, they store their food.

It’s more important that you get a spirit of homemaking and submission to your husband than to store food. Call wisdom to your home. Rebuke pride and vanity from your hearts and take on a servant’s spirit. Serve the Lord with gladness as you serve the family. Pray the Lord will protect your homes and the children and your husband. Tend to your spiritual life first.

Homemaking

See, the world is saturated in feminism. A lot of you want a garden but can’t get to it. You condemn yourself for not having a garden. But ya know what? Feminism is an unholy smoke that is invisible. There is so much in the airwaves about feminsm. It is the religion of the hour for women. It stops us dead in our tracks sometimes. Satan is the prince of the power of the air. (Ephesians 2:2) Feminism is in the air we breathe. Unless we want to switch channels to Christ and surround ourselves with Him, then we will live in feminism.

This unholy, ungodly, devilish spirit will take you down, Girlfriend, and your family with you. It is the spirit of vanity and pride. “I don’t have to stay home and clean and do dishes. I will do what I want.” Well, have at it. But you will destroy your home. And we are in dangerous times. While you have time to read and study the word on homemaking, do it. It won’t be a lack of food that will kill some of you. But a lack of the wisdom of God.

It’s not a lazy spirit — it is a demon spirit of fear that takes a lot of you women down. You have to walk by faith. Faith is called a fight in the Bible and it says to “Walk by faith.” So Faith is something you do. It’s an action word. You do faith! So if your family is broken and hopeless, then get up in the morning and walk by faith. Say to yourself, “God is going to give me a miracle today and I am going to prepare my home for a miracle. I will make a garden and I will prepare my home for the coming hard times. I will make a pantry and get my house in order. Because the Lord will answer my prayers.” And see in the spirit of your imagination your husband coming home at 5:00 for supper and walk according to His will.

Make a supper and include a plate at the head of the table for your husband. I did this for many years, even when Jim was missing. The kids would ask questions about it and I would say, “I am believing God for your Dad to be home soon.” My children got used to seeing the plate at the head of the table and knew Mama was full of faith. And Jim was healed by the hand of the almighty God.

We must walk by faith and not sight. This world is not our home. Only faith pleases God. Faith that is active crisp and clean in Mother’s heart. Her visions are strong and bright and ready to act. She doesn’t sit and cry that her husband is gone from the family. She arises and makes a home in the darkness. Christ’s light is a lamp to her feet and light to her pathway. Only His life and light can bring her through.

For some of you, Satan has stacked the deck against you. Well, quit playin’ by his rules of depression and bondage. Arise in God and walk out your faith. You are not lost and forsaken — you are a daughter of God.

Prepare your homes for the coming hard times concerning our economy. I mean hard times are here now. Practice the skills of wisdom and homemaking. First prepare your spirit and make sure you are walking as the virtuous woman of faith. And as Daughters of Sarah who are not afraid. Then prepare your kitchens for cooking and baking. Be wise in the skills of homemaking.

Wise Homemakers

And ya know, this bad economy is a blessing for some of us. At least for the women who are still in the home. Because we should have been cookin’ and bakin’ for the family all along. It shouldn’t take an earthquake for us to make a pie. I used to tell the Lord that I had too much work to do and I didn’t want to do all that cookin’. I thought I had to cook and all because I was so poor. But the Lord would say, “Connie, I am teaching you to be wise.” Good night! Even in a good year without a hurricane, we have enough poisons and all to kill us in our foods, anyway.

I have to get goin’ but I wanted to write some tips that I used for my family of 6 children. I would cook and bake in the mornings while Jim was at work. I wanted to have plenty of time to make what I needed. I would make a bread almost every day. Either it would be a yeast bread, or cornbread, or biscuits, or some kind of a quick bread. I made up the Bisquick Mix using 5 pounds of flour. With this, I could make pancakes or any of the quick breads. White flour isn’t the best for ya. But I would put in extra eggs, fruit, sunflower seeds, and nuts, etc. if I had them on hand, to make it more nutritious. I used a lot of instant dry milk for cooking and baking. I made a lot of soups and stews. I always had rice and dried beans on hand, and oatmeal as it is nice and nutritious and cheap. Canned goods are so cheap at the store and keep well. When you buy your groceries, just pick up as much extra canned goods as you can and rotate it in the cupboard.

And ya know, mostly what our kids and I are going to plant is tomatoes and peppers. Tomatoes and peppers freeze so well. All you do is cut up the tomatoes and put them in plastic bags. You don’t have to cook them. Same with peppers.

Farmers around here sell fresh corn in the summer and it’s cheap, like 3 or 4 bucks a dozen. I just clean my ears of corn and boil it in a pan and then, when it is cool, I cut it off the cob and freeze it. You can then take the cleaned cobs and boil them for a few hours. Then take the cobs out and measure the water. If you have 3 cups of the corn cob water, then put in 3 cups of sugar, bring this to a boil and let it thicken, and you will have a delicious corn syrup. Just use as much sugar as you have leftover water.

Just try to fill your freezers this summer with food as it easy to come by. Then use the frozen foods first in case you have a power outage. Pack the canned stuff away to use later.

Garage sales are full of candles to be bought for a song. But ya know, I just feel I have to share this stuff about preparing for hard times in our world.

Let’s be wise and submit to our own husbands as unto the Lord. Love your husbands and children and don’t forsake the Lord. Be keepers at home and mind your own business. You don’t have to have a lot of fellowship here and there with women. Let your fellowshiip be with your children and husband. Let them be your best friends. Because true fellowship is with the Father God — get alone with Him and let Him run your life under your husband. And in this way, Dear Hearts, you will be the house set on the hill. A light in the darkness for a lost and dying world.

Get the wisdom that can only come from God so that you can give Him to your friends and loved ones. The mothers of today don’t need more of the same teachings — they need a word from the wilderness. They need the fresh manna. They must see the Mother in the home being an example of obedience to the Lord. We women must teach out of our lives of obedience to God, through the meek and quiet spirit.

Love,
Connie

Dear Christmas Mothers,

Last night on the response group, we were writing about being frugal in our housekeeping.

When Jim first became a Christian, and then we had added three more children to our first three, I was to do a lot of praying about being frugal. I felt I was on a mission. To me, the Lord had called me to a high calling of motherhood and I just wanted to be able to make it without going to work.

About the first thing I did was look at my hair. Here it was, all layered up, and needed to be trimmed all the time to have just the right look. I said to heck with that. I tied a bandanna around my head and forgot about the fancy hairdo. I just decided to let my hair grow long and Jim liked it that way, anyway. Your hair can drive ya nuts sometimes and then ya want to go sink money into hair cuts, perms, etc. But I just put a scarf on my hair and that was it — I let it grow. Most men love long hair, anyway. So.

Jim got saved and, in the next 5 years we had three more children. I did a lot of praying about how I was gonna keep food on the table. And the Lord just told me to think of the Depression era Mothers and what they would have bought to keep their families going. So I let my imagination go and I just thought about these mothers.

Of course, they had big gardens and canned and dried their foods in the summer and fall. They had root cellars and stored a lot of root vegetables that they didn’t have to can or dry. Potatoes were a staple, and apples. In the fall, they would fill up their root cellars with squash and pumpkins. And these mothers had to be very watchful over their produce. If something started to rot, they used it up for that night’s supper. Some squash will last a year, but sometimes it won’t and needs to be used up pretty quick. But I would just try to think about getting staples and making meals from scratch. About once a month, I would buy a big box of instant milk.

Well, I will have to finish this later as its gettin’ busy. Wild Man is off work today.

Ya know, in the old days, the Mothers sewed all their families’ clothes. And when a garment would get a hole in it, the holes were patched.

I raised my first 3 children in the 1970’s. And, ya know, back then the boys just had about 2 pairs of jeans “for good” that they wore each week. Little boys love to play in the floor and the knees to the jeans often wore out long before the rest of the jeans did. So I had to patch their jeans. Then, if it was a big patch, the jeans would just be for play, not for school. Then the stores came out with the iron on patches, and they were nice, and the boys could wear these patched jeans to school. But most of the mothers sewed back then and we all had to do mending. There wasn’t the garage sales, etc. like they have now, or the second hand stores. I mean, there were a few. But once you bought your children’s clothes, you took really good care of them. And we always mended socks and underwear.
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This morning, as I was up praying, I was thinking “Wow! It won’t be long until Christmas.” Ya know, Papa and me raised 6 children and we love Christmas. I should be writing about Thanksgiving, as it is the next holiday. But if you have a large family, as Papa and me raised, you have to think of Christmas even in October.

We had to start early to gather presents for each of our children. Mary, our sixth baby, was just 8 months old for her first Christmas, and Jimmy was in the Navy. Well, I had to send Jimmy his present early to get it there in time for Christmas. I sent fudge and Christmas cookies to remind him of the tastes of home. Shoot, we never had a lot of money for Christmas presents. But we got what we could to make each of our children feel special and loved by Daddy and Mama. We would give them one item of clothing like a warm sweatshirt. And then some kind of an inexpensive toy. In their stockings, we put candy and for the girls, hair ribbons or barrettes. And for the boys always basketball cards. I hear the little boys’ childhood voices as I write. “Daddy, you are lucky — you pick out the best cards. You always get the good ones.” Dan said he didn’t know what he wanted to be when he grew up, but he knew he would be in the NBA. Like it was a done deal. But we started packing little toys and fun things away in October to surprise the children for Christmas Day.

The children would have us take them to the Dollar Store to buy a dollar gift for each of the members of their family. They each had their own money, as they did a once a week paper route. So when David and Mary and Dan were little, and the other children were grown, we took the 3 youngest to the Dollar Store. So the 3 children represented 30 bucks, and all of them wanted me to help pick out presents. I was about cross eyed by the time I helped pick out 30 one dollar presents. And yet now, 15 years later, I would jump at the chance to do that all over again.

And ya know, somehow each year, we got a real Christmas tree for the family. We would find one for about 10 bucks. And, oh, the children’s hands would just tremble with excitement as they put the first ornaments on the tree. It was a special night to behold. I would fix chili and cornbread. And after supper, we would decorate the tree. Papa was so full of fun and loved Christmas. I tried to have some Christmas cookies made for the evening and always popcorn. After the tree was all decorated, our dog Daisey would go sit under it. One time her collar got hooked to the tree and she knocked it over, and then as we all screamed, she ran away dragging the decorated tree through the house.

One year, Mary gave me such a precious gift. She didn’t have any money of her own to spend for Christmas. She was just a wee little girl about 5 years old. Anyway, I had a precious old fashioned book that I had lost in the house someplace and couldn’t find it for about a year. I had finally given up ever trying to find it. Well about a week before Christmas, Mary found it upstairs, stacked in with some other forgotten books. And so for Christmas Day, she wrapped this book up for me and put it under the tree with a card that said “To Mom From Mary.” She has the same heart as I have and loves writing and books. So she knew how much Mama missed her book. So it was one of my favorite Christmas presents that year. I was so surprised to see it again, as I thought it was lost forever. And Mary was so proud of her little Christmas self.

If you saw this book, you would weep. It is real old fashioned from the 1800’s with a little girl about 5 on the front cover. She is praying to Jesus. And inside the book is her prayers. I have the book upstairs in the baby’s room on a shelf. Baby Rose has a sweet spirit like Mary has.

Mary, now married and 20 years old, is a lovely writer. And, of course, her heart has been cut open at so young an age by losing her first baby to crib death.

MOTHER’S CHRISTMAS GIVING

And just after Thanksgiving, I would start my baking. Then about a week before Christmas, I would make simple coffeecakes to give to the neighbor families. I would have one of the children dress up warm and deliver a few cakes to the neighbors. I would make a few a day and when they were done, they were delivered. They were made simply. I would make up a huge batch of sweet yeast raise dough. Then I would braid the dough for each cake and put it in a circle. I would put cinnamon and sugar on the braids before I wound them together. Then after they baked, I would put a light white powdered sugar glaze; then, on the top, green candy sprinkles. Then maybe red hots to look like berries on a wreath. Sometimes I put maraschino cherries on it, like in clusters of three. You can also add raisins to your sweet dough.

I would make about three Christmas cakes out of a batch of sweet dough. Then I would put the coffeecake on a pretty paper Christmas plate, and then put plastic wrap over it with a bow and a simple card “From the Hultquists. Merry Christmas.” I loved doing this to teach the children to love and respect our neighbors and to teach them the Joy of giving. Of course, the neighbors would ooh and aahh and kid the children about “if they were naughty or nice and what was Santa gonna bring ‘em for Christmas?” And when they would come back home, I would say, “Well, what did Chuck and Trudy say? Did they like the cake?” And the children would tell me what they said. It was a lot of fun. I look forward to having my grandchildren do this too, of course, when they are older.

I told Papa last week. “Thank God this Christmas we will have the grandbabies with us over the season, at least.” I was reading to Baby Rose and showing her a Christmas book Papa had gotten for her. It had a Christmas tree. I explained to Baby that we would buy a tree, too. And I told her it would be for Grandma and Grandpa’s house and she said, “And for ME?” And I said, “Oh, yes, Baby, for you, too.”

Mary asks me in such sadness, “Mom, how will I get through Christmas? I had so much planned for our little girl.”

I say, “Mary, I pray you will be pregnant at Christmas. The Lord will help you.” And ya know, I carry this sorrow and will carry it forever. I am getting better at it. I can carry it now with less effort and heartache. But I will always carry it. And this is what I tell Mary and Brandon. Time heals our wounds but the scars remain.

We as Mothers and Grandmothers learn to carry our sorrows like ladies of dignity. And somehow, in spite of our tears, we find Joy at Christmas. We make a Christmas with our hands and with our hearts. Remembering that it is a time for Joy and a time to rest and enjoy the family. We must have hearts of trust in God in order to encourage our children and, by our behavior, excite courage in their souls.

And, ya know, as a young mom, I didn’t want to make a Christmas, as I wanted to just celebrate Jesus’ birth. But to tell poor children that we would have no Christmas as the other children had, and would only celebrate the birth of Christ, was not showing our children the love of Jesus and their parents’ love. We celebrated both. And we let our children know that Jesus Christ was real but Santa was pretend, and we talked about Santa just to have fun.

And I bet I could say in my years as a wife and mother I have, without exaggeration, made at least a million cut-out sugar cookies. Maybe more! Again, here is another dough for Mother to learn to work with. I would say sugar cookie dough is like noodle dough. These cookies were a mainstay for me at Christmas. Many years, I sold them to buy Christmas presents. Mary, at 9 years old, made these and sold 40 dozen to buy Christmas presents.

We had bad news yesterday. Our son John was to start his job at Applebee’s yesterday and they are just goofin’ off with him. Told him to come back in a week for orientation. John had worked for Applebee’s for 7 yrs in Missouri and was making good money as a cook. He hasn’t been out of work since he got married, so this is kinda scary for him. He and Christine will look for work today. Christine has only worked a few days at a time. Some weeks not at all. But, anyway, I will watch Romeo today so they can look for work. It’s scary for them, as they just got here and moved in, and John was sure counting on his job. But they are going through what we did. These places just mess with ya.

Yesterday MaryL gave us a lot of deer meat and fresh beef. So, of course, we will share this with John’s family. I think, “Man alive what next?”

We offered John a little money and he doesn’t want to take it. “Thanks, Mom, but no.” I know John feels bad. I pray that today he will find a good job. They won’t go under. The Lord will come through for them. The Lord will give them a miracle.

It’s a season of miracles. Jen, I fully expect Richard to walk again. And for all the wayward husbands on here to come home. It’s heartbreaking but I mean it. “If ya don’t give up, you will see His glory.”

These days remind me of the Depression Era. I mean, hard times in the country always hit the poor first. They feel it first. But what comes around goes around. And, ya know, MaryL was telling us about this woman who is handicapped and has diabetes. She couldn’t pay her heat bill so they shut her gas off. Jim says, “Well, doesn’t the state help her?”

I said, “No, Honey, they don’t do that anymore.” I mean, I know you can get some help from the state with the heat bill, but it isn’t much. So, anyway, some folks got together and gave this woman a few electric space heaters for her trailer. I hope she won’t freeze to death. And ya think that is just one woman we know of. But folks can’t pay those high heating bills. And the state can’t take care of that many people. So what are they gonna do? Shut hundreds and thousands of people’s heat off this winter?

This is what I was saying in an earlier writing. We have to trust in God! Even with two incomes, it will be hard for some to make it. It would be better to just obey God. The wife and mother should just stay home and mind the house. Wisdom is a trade like money. I mean, for a mom to stay home and to create peace. To make her own soap with what she has.

To wash clothes in the bathtub if the washer breaks down? That takes a lot of patience. But if a housewife can just put her heart into making it, she can get her clothes clean in the bathtub until the Lord provides a new washer. I did blankets and sheets and all in the bathtub if my washer broke down. Then, of course, I got a wringer washer and that worked good. I had to make my laundry soap. Someone gave me some lard and I made soap with it. And if I had to do it again, it wouldn’t bother me a bit. Well, heck, it’s honest work. Nothing to be ashamed of. I did cloth diapers, too, for the babies.

I mean, ya do what ya gotta do to make it. It’s better than going to a homeless shelter. But just make your own bread and cook from scratch. Now, I did all this, so I know it works. I never worked but maybe part time once in a while. Nothing full time. But the Bible says that there is profit in all labor. And there is. God will pay you if you work. We have to drop back and trust in Him.

This was Mary’s message to me yesterday. Mary is the older woman in my life at age 74. She says, “Connie, this is the name of the game. Trust in God.”

And ya know? Shooot, there were times when I didn’t have any soap at all to do the wash. The bath towels, I washed in vinegar. Well, ya know, often the rinse cycle don’t get all of the soap out of the clothes. So if you have to wash them without soap a few times, it won’t hurt ‘em that much, as they still have some soap in the cloth. I mean, you can’t do that often, but once in a while.

In the old days, when the children were home and we were having a hard time, I got up in the night and wrote a prayer to the Lord. I was so pressured and so fearful that we wouldn’t make it. The prayer went like this. “Lord, I am so tired of washing my clothes without soap, and I barely have a washer. I am tired of making dinner without any food.” And the writing went on. It was hilarious! I have that writing someplace and have to read it again.

I mean “It ain’t a sin to be poor but it’s mighty uncomfortable.” But I mean, ya know? Ya do what ya gotta do to keep the family going. And don’t ever let the devil see ya sweat. No one has to know you have to do the laundry without soap. Or that you have to do the wash in the bathtub until better times come. A woman of dignity is a woman of dignity, with or without her money.

I was raised in the 1950’s and had more materially than most of the kids around me. Dad had a good job and we did the family vacations, etc. But ya know? God has called me to a life of somewhat poverty. Well, that doesn’t change who I am. A woman of virtue is virtuous on the inside. No one can take that out of her. As Christian wives and mothers, we are the King’s daughters, all glorious within. We are content wherever God calls us. If it is to a life of riches or to poverty, we are the same.

The word virtue means morally strong. A morally strong woman will do what it takes to keep her family safe, warm and well. God has given her a houseful of children and she honors God by caring for the children. She respects the head of the home, their Daddy. And in this way, she shows her children how to not give up. And how to honor and respect their Father God.

MOTHER’S HEART

Mother is the star of the home. The Queen of the Home.

Mother sets her heart on victory and doesn’t look back. When all hell comes loose about her, Mother remains quiet and in faith. She doesn’t have to preach it. She only lives it in silence. Mother holds her peace.

She makes a meal for the family. A warm soup with vegetables. A soothing meat broth and a hearty bread.

In Mother’s heart and in her soul, all is well. Mother has said her prayers and is up for the day’s work. In the night, she prayed and settled her fears. Like Jesus, she prays at night and works all day.

In Mother’s heart is the Kingdom of God. And His will is done in heaven as it is done on earth, her earthly home. She is believing God that all is well. And if Mother has a vision in her heart of victory, then the victory will come.

As Mother doesn’t give up and she sees her children and her husband through the eyes of faith, then a miracle will come.

Mother is sound and strong and doesn’t waver. Her trust is in the Lord.

Last night on TV, Jim and I watched the Gaithers. We enjoy their singing. And yet I kept thinking to myself how much I would love to be listening to bluegrass music. I have some, and I know when I get the house to myself I will be listening to it. Also some of the other music from the Appalachian mountains. I long to take my place next to some of the people who have known the deep grief and suffering. The out of the mainstream folks who are poor and somehow made it. I almost quiver as I write. I so long to hear their voices. Voices of a hard pioneer stock. Gentle folks with hearts torn and yet able to go on to live for the ones they love.

I think of Suzanna Wesley who had 19 children and lost, I think, 10? I wonder how she lived through all of that? But she did live and, through her life, she brought up sons who brought revival to England. John Wesley preached the sermons and Charles wrote the songs. Suzanna’s husband was in debtor prison most of the time and he was hardly home. But Suzanna home schooled her children and went on. Oh, the tests and trials she went through. And the Lord kept her, huh? And He can keep the rest of us, too.

Ya just put your shoulder to the plow and keep on walking. As Shirley told me (Jim’s older brother’s wife who lost 2 girls as a young mother), “Connie, you just keep on walking and doing whatever is in front of you to do. Be thankful for the time you had with the baby and go on.”

And as Mary tells me, “Mom, pray for me as I have Brandon to live for and care for … he needs me.” And I know I must live on, too. Jim has to go to work today. I need to put my house in order. There are things to do … thoughts to write out. I think of the news on TV about our gas prices going up this winter. We mothers must look at this in a sober way. What is our plan? Papa and I plan on getting mighty cold.

Oh, that’s OK — I have been cold before. About 5 years ago, our gas prices for one month went from like 70 bucks to like 500 bucks. Everyone in our area had that happen. So I shut the heat off altogether. If I heard the heat kick on at night, I would get up and shut it off. (The kids were all older. I wouldn’t do that if my children were young.) We used a little kerosene heater. But I didn’t even have it on at all at night. My dog would greet me each morning and cry by the kerosene burner for me to turn it on. I hated to make my dog cry but she had fur, for crying out loud, and slept inside. But we all wore our coats and hats to bed. I wore, always, two pairs of socks and sometimes three. Our heat bill went down to 25 bucks. And after that, the bills went down somewhat so we turned the heat back on. I would try to bake each morning, too, and I had my stove on in the kitchen. Being out of the wind makes you warmer, anyway. So it isn’t as cold inside as out. If I got so cold I couldn’t function, I would take a really hot bath.

Dan tells me now that when Jim and I would leave the house, he would turn the gas heat on and get warm. And Mary was still at home and was probably glad for Dan. But ya know, I am not going to live to support the Gas Co. And now that it is just me and wild man here to hold down the fort, we will kick out all the props and go without any heat at all if we have to. Well, a person can’t go without ANY heat, as your house-pipes would freeze and that’s a mess if they pop.

One joke the boys told Jim lately that is too funny to keep down. They said that when Jim died, they would bury him in the backyard. They said, “The old home place wouldn’t be the same if Dad wasn’t there.” So Jim has to stay here, no matter what. I don’t know what they will do with me. I shudder to think of it? Christine, Johnny’s wife, said that she was gonna have Johnny stuffed. She wants to sit him by the front door and hang purses on him. John said that he was always holding her purse, anyway. Oh, those kids!

But, yes, this winter we will have to get very creative to keep warm. But ya know, this is no time to be depressed or to worry over stuff that God has a hold of, anyway. There is a hard winter up ahead and we must be ready for it. And we can make it if we are wise and prudent.

Dang … ya know? When things like gas prices go up, it hits the poor first. This economy doesn’t touch the rich for a while. But the poor are the ones who feel the pinch first. The poor later show the rich how to live. Like I have often said, “Well, it looks like folks are gonna have to live as Papa and me have lived all along.”

One way I would dress when I had barely any heat was the following. I would wear jogging pants under my skirt and wear a few layers of shirts and a sweater. Then the warm socks. And if it was really cold, I wore my coat over all of that. And then keep busy and running and you will stay warm. The layers of clothes are a way to keep warm.

With my burner, this is what I would do. I would get up early in the morning and light the kerosene burner. Never keep it on at night, or unattended. Don’t leave it on when you aren’t home. You can’t use these with little kids — they would run into it and get burned. Anyway, I would leave the burner on all morning until the house warmed up. Then, for the afternoon, I turned it off until the evening. We warmed the house up again and then shut it off for the night. Also, we had a lot of ventilation, as the kids would run in and out of the house. And we had to put the dog in and out, too.

I think this would be a good thing to discuss on our group. Fear comes as folks have no plans for what they will do in an emergency. Our spirits of homemaking are so important and especially now, as in no other time. And if Mother is happy and content, the rest of the family will follow her. Mother makes the home a place to rest. And if the family sees Mother making a game of it or taking the cold in stride, then they will, too. But ya know, we just have to pray and ask the Lord what to do. What would He have our families to do about he high gas prices? How will He lead us along?

And just make sure that you have things in the pantry to make things with. Buy as much flour as you can. Pick it up on sale … that and other baking supplies. Honey is so outrageously priced anymore. We usually have a small jar around but I don’t use it to cook with anymore. I just use sugar as I have to. I can’t afford to use honey. And that’s OK — I ain’t gonna go broke over vitamins and nutrition. The Lord is my vitamin pill. He is my gos-pill.

Last evening, just before I was about to go to bed, I got Annie’s email and then Tracy’s, asking me to write about the Depression era Mothers and what they would have done in times as we are now living. I prayed about it last night and talked to Jim about it. Jim had such a spirit of God on him as he spoke to me. We have had a hard time lately ourselves. Jim said to tell the families to just stock up on canned things for the winter. And if you have fresh produce out of your gardens, “can it.” Jim isn’t one with words. But as he spoke, I could see that the Lord was speaking through him. And as I write this morning, I can see the wisdom in what he was saying.

Frozen food is nice to have. But you can always trust the fact that you have canned goods that won’t spoil for years, in case the electricity would go out. So one thing I would do, if I were some of you with big families, is to stock up on canned vegetables, fruits, and canned evaporated milk and meats. And put this all in some sort of storage room. You can easily stack canned goods in flat boxes and store them under the beds, if you have little storage. Papa really spoke to me about this and I could tell it was more than just Jim speaking. It was as if the Lord was speaking. So I am really going to stock up on some canned things for the winter. Then I have my own canning from my garden.

Also, ya know, in the winter it’s not hard to store fresh milk for the week. When the children were all home, I got about 5 gallons of milk a week. I stored it in the winter on my porch. But, ya know, you could make some sort of box to put outside to store milk in to keep it cold this winter. Just put the box up by a backdoor or up against the house. Put a heavy lid on it and make sure the sun won’t shine on it. And even if the milk freezes, it will thaw out and is still just as good.

The old timers, in the winter, used to have window boxes? They opened the window and put a wooden box in the window. Like you would fit in a window air conditioner? Then the box had a door on the front. So it worked like a little refrigerator. Over the front where the door is, you could just put a curtain over it to look like the hanging curtain that is there. If at all possible, put your box on the north side of the house. My little root cellar and my only kitchen window are on the north side of my house. It’s colder on that side. You wouldn’t want to put your box where the sun would beat down on it during the day. You could certainly put some of your refrigerator items in there. It wouldn’t work as a freezer unless it gets really cold … like below zero. But this box would come in mighty handy for leftovers and for margarine or butter, ketchup, pickles, mustard, etc.

The main thing is that we need to know the state of our pantries. To keep a sharp eye as wise mothers on our storehouses. Deut. 28 says that we will be blessed in our storehouses if we obey the Lord.

COURAGE, MOTHERS, COURAGE

Ya know, I have lived in life and death situations and my knowledge took me through, in part? But I want to talk to you seriously about courage? You can know all the right things to do but not do them because you are scared half to death? Fear will paralyze you and make you just want to sit and do nothing. You can have the idea as to what to do … what you need to do? But the fear will bind you and take your strength.

I mean, you could watch 24-7 TV news about death and destruction. But you had better not? Those folks are precious that report this stuff on Fox News. My heart goes out to them, as they seem so sincere and are, I think. But they are not believing the Lord? I mean, I am sure some are … God bless them!!! And ya know, I have watched a lot of this with Jim. But ya know, I am not going to watch it that much more. I mean, I will be polite to Jim about it. But I was praying and the Lord just impressed me like this. “You have watched it enough to discern the times and the seasons our country is in, and that is enough. ”

I mean, it don’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that “What comes around goes around.” What is effecting one state will effect the ones around it. Some of us are in for some hard times ahead. And yet, as Canaan has shown us, God’s word works. There are hard times up ahead to be had, but the Lord is with us and will be mighty in our midst. We must be dutiful and faithful as homemakers. But it is He that will either make or break us.

We must put Him first and cry after His presence. His life … His anointing is the key, let me tell ya. Fear will take you down quicker than starving to death. Get the fear out of your house. Turn the TV off and make a full pantry. Canaan said that Psalms 91 is what brought her through. I am going to write this chapter down and put portions of it on the wall in every room of the house. When I homeschooled the children, we memorized this chapter. But in times of fear, sometimes we forget what we have memorized. We need to have the promises of the Bible out where we can see the words. We need to hide the word of God in our hearts and speak it to our children.

My children would say something negative to me when they were young and I would say, “Don’t confess it.” And they still tease me about this and say it themselves. And yes, Mother, you may feel scared half to pieces, but don’t say it. When you open your mouth and confess fear? Then demons are loosed in your house like a virus and will go to the rest of the family. And you get a family that is running on fear? And they will run right out he door to the street. No, Mothers … don’t spread fear into your house. Speak the word of God into your home and into your children. Confess openly, “I am a mother of faith and courage. I will make a home out of nothing if I must. God will help me. He won’t destroy my home as I am faithful to Him. The old time mothers made it through the Depression era and if they did it, I can do it, too.” And ya know, those Depression era women had so much less than what we have. I mean, in the flat prairie lands, it didn’t rain for 3 years. They didn’t even have a garden to take them through. The ranchers didn’t have any rain to water the horses or cattle. But ya know, they all lived to tell it? And we will, too.

I told Jim a few days ago, “Ya know, Honey, folks are gonna be livin’ like we have all along.” Well, it didn’t hurt us any. But it sure hasn’t been that we have made it because of survival skills. I mean, the survival skills come as you decide to trust in the Lord. As you decide to not give up, no matter what. I mean, right now Jim and I are between a rock and a hard place. But Jim said last night, “I will find another job if I have to cook in a restaurant.” And wild man would walk to work, too, if he had to. That old boy is hard to keep down and is tough as a nail. He is 65 years old … but he is strong in spirit.

A WILDERNESS HOME

And ya know, if I was in one of those homeless camps I have seen on TV? I would just make a tent for my family. I think, with all the debris around, you could find a few poles or tree limbs and pound them into the ground. Then put a rope between them and hook blankets up around them. You could use one of those 5 gallon plastic containers for a toilet? They are easy to sit on and hopefully you could find a lid for it. Then make another clothes line on the outside of the tent to hang wet clothes. Then just take some sticks and build a makeshift fence to put around the tent. At least you would have some privacy and give the children a place to rest. A Mother can make a home wherever she is. Just tell the children you are camping out. The main thing is to give the children a place away from the other people to be quiet.

And, like Annie was saying, you could make a formula for the baby out of watered down milk. In the 1960s we used the canned milk to make a baby formula. All the mothers did this, back then, that didn’t breast feed. We mixed it half water and half evaporated milk. We put a Tbs Karo syrup in one daily bottle to make sure the baby didn’t get constipated. And also we started feeding our children baby cereal at 2 weeks old. Just once a day in the evening. Mix it up really fine and gooey with milk or warm wate.

Take care of the baby and keep him warm and dry and fed. Baby should be a top priority. I think the elderly would be treated first, anyway. But make sure, Mother, that your baby is cared for and the young children, especially.

But if you have a home to live in as, thank the Lord, Tracy does? Then, yes, I would stock up on canned goods. Cookies and crackers would be good to make and keep in a dry, cool place in the house. Ya know, you could make quick breads in canning jars and store that away. You just use the wide mouthed pint or quart canning jars. Bake the bread in the jar and make sure the bread doesn’t go over the top. If it does, just slice it off the top. But while it is hot out of the oven, screw the canning lid and ring on … it will seal from the heat. Store this bread in a cool, dark place. It should last for at least a year. If you open it and it isn’t moldy and smells good, then it is good. If it has mold on it, then don’t eat it.

Tracy, if I were you, I would just bake a bunch of goodies for the freezer. If the electricity were to go off, the baked goods would still last a while.

Now as far as buying things at the store for your family storehouse. Just buy the canned things. Then stock up on the white sugar and brown. Buy as much flour as you can store safely. Buy cornmeal for cornbread and a box of oatmeal. Then make sure that you have baking powder, baking soda, and bread yeast. Go through your spices and see if you need cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger. The spices that are outdated, I save to boil in water in the winter to keep the house smelling good and to keep the moisture in the air. Make sure you have shortening and cooking oil if you can afford it.

Buy candles on sale … but make sure, Mother, to watch them. As you light them, put them up someplace away from the children. You can make a country candle holder like this. Just take an old jar and put one of the little candles in it. The glass reflects the light and makes it brighter. This way, the open flame is down in the jar. You could put some of your outdated spices in the jar, too.

Also buy some cocoa to make cocoa for the children. I still buy the big box of instant milk to cook with, and it makes a nice hot cocoa.

But Tracy, yes, just put your trust in the Lord and make a home in the wilderness. You know how to do it. I will be writing more on this later.

Good Morning! I wanted to write down some more meal ideas. You got the ones yesterday, right? The ones about cooking ideas for large families?

I was talkin’ to Jim yesterday about some of the big meals we used to have when all the children were home. Jim said he still loves hamburger gravy. I would fix this gravy and have peas and mashed potatoes. Mary, our youngest, tells me that my ground beef tastes better than any she has ever had. She says that’s my specialty … fried hamburger. I will have to have that put on my gravestone if I get rich enough to buy one.

Here is how ya make hamburger gravy. Just get out your cast iron skillet and fry a pound of hamburger. (By the way, that is a good way to season your new cast iron if ya need to. Just fry hamburger in it.) Anyway, just crumble the meat up with your spatula. You could add onions or whatever and fry it together. Put on some black pepper and salt. And drain the meat if you have tooo much fat … but leave a bit in there. Then, after it is fried up good, just start adding flour to the meat and goosh it up with your spoon. Add like a fourth cup of flour. Then slowly pour in about 2 or 3 cups of milk or water, and start stirrin’ like a hound dog. Stir the gravy until it bubbles and thickens.

I have always loved makin’ Papa’s gravy in the evening for supper. It’s a quiet time to stand at the stove and just take my time and stir the gravy. Our kids always loved this gravy, too, and heaped it on mashed potatoes, and then they put the peas on top of it all.

And, ya know, when Jim and I first married, I didn’t drink much coffee. But even though we didn’t have much at times, I always made sure Papa had coffee. I just always wanted to make sure that I had this for Papa. I just wanted him to feel comforted. Now, over the years, I drink more coffee than he does. But, ya know, I just had coffee on the stove and it warmed a lot of my guests in the cold weather. Old friends would stop and we would have coffee. I mean, nothin’ fancy, just the “Whatever was on Sale Special.” And if the pot got low, and I was needin’ to save what fresh coffee I had for Jim’s breakfast, I would just add water to the pot and keep on visiting.

Jill and I used to add water to everything. Her daughter, Shelly, never had soda pop without water in it until she was about 16. Jill would add water to the milk until you could see through it. She added water to anything and everything. To the shampoo, the conditioner … well, if she reads this she will give ya a list of stuff she added water to.

Hair conditioner was expensive. We didn’t have the stuff for a buck like today at the Dollar Store. I remember getting a sample bottle of fabric softener in the mail when the kids were little, and I used it for hair rinse. It worked so good. Folks asked me if I had used a new hair conditioner … my hair just glowed. Of course, I only had to use a few tablespoons. That sample bottle lasted a good long time.

MORE FRUGAL IDEAS

In the cold weather, I would make a lot of soups. I made homemade potato soup and vegetable hamburger soup and chili. Also, a lot of chicken vegetable soup with homemade noodles or dumplings in it. Usually, when I made soup on a winter evening , I had a homemade bread to eat with it. And often, just for fun, I would make a big dishpan of popcorn to put on the table to eat with the soup. It made the meal festive and fun. Then the family would snack on the popcorn for the evening. I would cut up apples for the table, too. On the nights I would make homemade pizza, I would make popcorn, too, to go with it. And we didn’t eat the microwave popcorn — we ate the kind ya make on the stove.

Jim makes good popcorn — better than mine. We don’t like air popped pop corn. The pioneers used to eat popcorn with milk on it in a bowl … probably with honey on it. In the evenings for a snack, Jim will take homemade bread, tear it up in a bowl, and eat it with sugar and milk over it. Like a cold cereal. You need crusty homemade bread for this, as store bread would gum up.

Also, I used to make an Italian dish with homemade noodles. I would make my own noodles with eggs and flour. I would cook them up, put cooked hamburger in them, and put spaghetti sauce on them. Then, of course, fresh herbs from the garden. Then I put parmesan cheese over them when I served them. I would make my own lasagna noodles, too. I made whatever I could so I wouldn’t have to go to the store. I didn’t make all of my own noodles, but I made a lot of ‘em.

My children had to help with the chores so I could cook, and they did … they were always good helpers.