Watchmen Wednesday: Watching Over Your Household

She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Proverbs 31:27

Usually when I do a Watchmen Wednesday, I post about Israel, as we are called to be "watchmen on the walls" for Israel.  However, today I was reading a transcript of the Revive Our Hearts radio program, and realized something else: We, as women, are called to the be the "watchwomen" of our homes. 

So many people have asked me the question: "Why in a Jewish wedding does the bride circle the groom?"  And honestly, it's easy to explain if that person understands the basic concepts of the Jewish family, that the wife is considered the "bayis", the home.  However, most of the time, that question comes from someone that isn't familiar with that line of thinking, and I've found myself at a loss for the correct verbage.  But today as I was reading Nancy Leigh DeMoss's teaching, I suddenly exclaimed (in my head, because the baby was napping), "What a perfect explanation of the Jewish wedding ceremony!  She explained it perfectly!"

So here is an excerpt of that teaching:

We’ve been camping out in Proverbs 31, and particularly on verse 27, where we’re told that the virtuous woman is a woman who watches over the ways of her household. We’ve talked about watching, in practical ways, to make sure that the needs of our families are met. But there’s another very important way that you watch over the ways of your household—that’s in prayer.

In the New Testament, we often find watching and praying linked together. Jesus said, “Watch and pray, so that you don’t fall into temptation” (Matthew 26:41, Mark 14:38). It’s a protection for you to watch and pray over the ways of your household, but it’s also a wonderful means that you provide a protection for your husband.

Your husbands, if they are in almost any work environment that you can think of, are being faced with temptations and with pressures. The enemy, Satan himself, is working to pull them down, especially if your husband is a believer and wanting to walk with God. There are lots and lots and lots of opportunities for him to fail spiritually, morally, and in other ways.


What a blessing it is for a man to know that back home there’s a wife who’s watching and praying on his behalf, and praying that as he goes out into that world, God will protect him and God will keep his heart pure.


Ladies, if you’re not going to pray that for your husband, who do you think is going to pray that for him? Who’s going to watch and pray for his soul? You can protect him in that way, and you protect your children as you watch and pray. Ask the Lord to show you things that you need to be alert to, in their lives.

Yes, this is exactly what she is doing when the bride circles the groom. Usually when I say, "She is building a protection around him", people look at me funny and say, "Isn't HE supposed to protect HER?" And I think in many ways, yes, of course the husband protects the wife, definitely physcially. But as a wife, it is her high calling to protect him spiritually, by praying for him and watching over the affairs of their household.

I can't tell you how much I am learning from Nancy Leigh DeMoss as I've signed up for the True Woman Makeover to read Proverbs 31 every day for 30 days.  I highly recommend it for ANY woman, single, married, children, no children, whatever your current status.  
 
So ladies, I'd like to hear from you!  In what ways are you a watchwoman over your household?  Anything specific you want to share?
 
Photo available at AllPosters.com.

Walking a Mile

"So, like, what do you do all day?" If you are a stay-at-home mom (or dad), you have probably heard that question one too many times. It's such a funny question, isn't it? If you really had to answer what would you say?

Before our daughter was born, I worked the typical 9 to 5 office job and thought I did a pretty good job of keeping our house neat, making dinners, saving money...a self-described "domestic diva." But there were many things that I would say, "Well, I'll do that when I'm a stay-at-home mom." HAHA...yeah, right. I didn't realize that cleaning the floors, which used to take me an hour to do the whole house, will now take me a whole day. I read somewhere that when you have kids you can expect a 15 minute job to turn into a 45 minute job. So true.

I have a beautiful friend who has a daughter who is about 9 months older than mine. In addition to being a wonderful wife and mother, she is an amazing writer. Since I was in my blogging hayday, I would always tell her, "Joanna, you should write a blog!" And she would smile and say, "Yes, someday." I could never understand why she didn't have one...until now.

And now that her adorable daughter is a little older, the good news is that Joanna does have an awesome blog. I learn so much from her. Check it out...you will be glad you did!

Moral of the story: Never judge someone before you've walked a mile in their shoes. Especially a stay-at-home mom.

I also want to say a big YAY! for my best friend from college, Rebekah, who has just become a stay-at-home mom to her 5 month old daughter. It's a challenging job, but so worth it!

Picture availabe at AllPosters.com.

The (not so) Importance of STTN

It seems being a parent in America today takes knowing a whole lot - whether the Graco or Chicco travel system will match your car interior better, what crib mattresses are on recall, what childbirth class you had better take or else you and your baby will never bond, etc. Apparently, in addition to all of this, you need to know some acronyms. Actually, you become an acronym. After a month of being a mom, I found out that I was an EBFing, WAHM who was also a FTM. Interesting.

As my family and friends know, I frequently read my "baby board," a discussion group of moms (and a few dads) that all have babies born in the same month. There are FFers (formula feeders), BFers (breastfeeders), BWers (baby wearers), CSers (co-sleepers) and even something that I haven't quite figured out yet called ecoBFers. They discuss everything from diapers to pacifiers to what TV shows they watch when up for those late night feedings. But no single topic gets more play than STTN. Hands down, STTN is the winner.

Before my little bundle of joy was born, I never really thought about "sleeping through the night." Honestly, when I was pregnant, there weren't many nights I STTN myself because someone thought my bladder was a perfect kickball. So I assumed that babies are usually awake throughout the night. I was not prepared for the mass confusion and tons of (dissenting) information I was about to receive.

When we came home from the hospital, Ariella woke up every hour at night to eat or be held. I honestly thought it was normal. I was blissfully unaware that some of my friends' babies were STTN by the time they were 5 days old. One day when she was about two weeks old, I read in a magazine words that amazed me..."Don't worry if you are about to become a zombie; most babies STTN by the time they are 3 months old." Wow! I could not believe my eyes! To a woman who had not had more than 3 hours of consecutive sleep in a couple of weeks, that sounded great! I became ravenous for any material I could get my hands on about STTN.

I read so many suggestions...swaddle your baby, use white noise, put her down in her crib awake so that she learns to soothe herself to sleep, sleep with her, don't sleep with her, nurse her to sleep, never nurse her to sleep, on and on and on. I tried all of it. The swaddle did help until my fiesty little one (as her pediatrician called her) started kicking and pulling out of it at 8 weeks old. I tried other swaddling methods, but she got out of all of them. So I stopped swaddling.
We did get her on a routine, like a few of the books suggested, and that seemed to help with her naps (which was another big surprise). No one ever told me babies can only stay awake for about an hour when they are that little! After we got naps down pat, we started working on bedtime. We experimented with timing, routine, to do a bath or not, is she hot? is she cold? is she wet? is she hungry? EVERYTHING. Finally we got some sort of routine and time that seemed to work well...for awhile. (That's another thing I didn't know about babies - they change all the time, if something works for a week or two, it probably won't work in a month!)
All the while, we still have not STTN. We were getting close, down to about 2 wakings per night. Then we went on vacation, she got sick, and now we're back at about 5 wakings per night. Am I tired? Physically, a little. I'm more tired of trying so hard.

Yesterday, I was praying for Ariella and something hit me like a ton of bricks. Who cares if she STTN now? I read a book that said if she doesn't STTN soon, then she will be sure to have ADHD and be more likely to quit high school and end up in jail than those babies that are STTN. I usually finish books, but that one I promptly stopped and took back to the library. Did our grandmothers have all these books? What did they do? What does God think about STTN?

When I read the Bible (the real one, not one of the "What to Expect..." series), I see nothing about STTN. Ok, there are a few passages about sleep. But I don't think my baby is any less Godly because she has never STTN. (Ok, maybe I occasionally think that at 2 am!) What I do see, is that as a mom I had better focus more on developing her character and training her "in the way that she should go" than spending all my time trying to get her to sleep.

When I ask my mom about when I STTN when I was a baby, she doesn't seem to really remember. (And I don't have ADHD, I didn't quit high school and I've never been in jail, thank God!) Back then, they didn't focus on it like we do now. We are so competitive these days, it's almost like a reality TV show, like my baby is going to get "voted off the island" if she is the weakest link. We have Baby Einstein and yoga for babies and did you know your 3 month old can now read and do sign language and go potty?

Please don't think I am saying that sleep is unimportant. I know it is. There is a Yiddish saying, "Eating and drinking and sleeping all come naturally, but praying and studying Torah seem to take much effort." Ariella will STTN when she is ready to. Just as it took us a few days to learn to BF, she will learn to STTN. But I must teach her to pray and study God's Word. Those are the priorities. The other stuff is secondary. We have to keep first things first. And in my four and a half months as a mom, that's what I've learned.

Oh, gotta go...someone just woke up!

Happy Hanukkah!

Just in time for the holiday...here's a free 56-page Hanukkah E-book. Whether this is your first time celebrating this joyous festival or your 50th, this book is sure to be a blessing! My family has used it for years.

And since you haven't seen her in a while, here's my almost-four-month-old (can you believe it's been that long???)!

Recapture the Nobility of Home

There is a Jewish proverb that says, "Words from the heart enter the heart." Well, this must-read post by Crystal is exactly that. I thought it was so beautiful that it brought me to tears. Please read it and let me know your thoughts!