A Mother and Daughter Tea!

Years ago when I was still only dreaming of having a little girl, it was partly because I wanted to share girly things with her!  

A Girl to dress in pink, a girl to play dolls with, a girl with whom I could have tea and cake afternoons, a girl to plan a wedding for one day, a girl who would become my best friend.  

The part of dressing in pink, 

and play dolls with, already came true!  

A girl who would become my best friend, too.  

And this past weekend another part of my dream came true:

A girl with whom I could have tea and cake afternoons.

On Monday, Heidi-Mari turned 14.  In celebration of her birthday, we had a Mom and Daughter Tea, on Saturday.  For months we planned, prepared and decorated the venue (we preferred it in our own home), Heidi-Mari’s dress (we wanted it to be a real lady’s tea), the invitations, the refreshments, types of tea and the table setting.

The venue was my biggest heart ache.  Since we wanted to paint our dining room for ages, we decided there is no better time than now.  

One weekend Christo, CJ and Josua took on the job and finished it. 

They did a great job and David believed he is now living in a new house!

We also bought 6 meters of light pink and cerise pink organza and Christo made it hang from the roof to the floor, to create a special effect at the entrance.  

We tied it back with pink ribbon.

It gave the room a soft, warm and rich atmosphere. 

In the mean time Heidi-Mari was busy making the most beautiful invitation cards to invite her friends. 

I started making her skirt. Making the skirt was a challenge on its own!  

We chose different textures. In the process we chose a stretch type of fabric with normal fabric and only afterwards realized that is a no-go!  So I had to improvise.  The Lord miraculously (and thankfully) send me a young woman who just came back from working for six months with a well known designer in Johannesburg and she gave me some tips on working with chiffon. 

Using wax wrap to put the seams together.

By laying chiffon between unprinted newspaper before placing the pattern on top, ease the cutting!  

At the end some satin ribbon and beautiful white lace saved the day.

Heidi-Mari had a skirt for her Birthday Tea!

A week before the party we started baking. Since we had to work around little ones who need us almost every moment of the day, we chose items which could be baked days before and put in the freezer, until needed on the day of the tea.  We baked in the morning just after breakfast, a time the little ones are used to play outside with Josua or Danika and in the afternoons while they took their naps.

  

Most of the time, little Michael was in the Ergo on my back, asleep or helping along!

  

It was such a special time for Heidi-Mari and me together, baking, chatting, laughing and sharing.  I often wonder when the actual highlight of an event occurs? At the event itself, or in preparing for the event?  For me surely the highlight was working with Heidi-Mari, planning and baking, with this special girl of mine. 

We baked lemon squares, rum balls, caramel slices, cream puffs and 

mini cheese cakes. 

We also made little round cheese biscuits with apricot jam and tiny meat balls, served with cherry tomatoes and pieces of cheese. 

For the table we got a beautiful rose bouquet and we laid the table with my Royal Albert tea set.  

I bought this tea set 18 years ago with the insurance money I got as payback money, while I couldn’t work due to tick flea fever, which also was the reason I had my first miscarriage. So many memories in that tea set of mine!  

By Friday evening all the refreshments was ready and done.  On Saturday we only had to wash the floors, lay the table and help the men leave the house.  Christo planned to take the boys to the Aquarium in the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.  It was so special to see every one do their part, on Saturday morning.  Josua vacuumed the floors, CJ washed, while Christo took care of our four little boys, Heidi-Mari and Danika laid the table and I printed questions to pass around the table.  

Each guest would answer a question, and so our guests could get to know each other better and conversations would go smoothly.   I also printed the letters of the alphabet, at the end each guest draw a letter and blessed Heidi-Mari with a word starting with the letter.  Heidi-Mari was blessed with words like, Wisdom, Time-management, Virtue, Love of God and Listening Heart, Wonderful, Fun, Happy and Awesome Year.

Like always we started to run late and CJ jumped in to decorate the meat balls, with Danika's help. 

He even arranged the savory plate!  

By 14h30 our guests arrived and we had such a blessed afternoon!  We had different kinds of teas, but the Forest Berry Tea was the ultimate favorite and I couldn’t boil the kettle fast enough to keep the teapots filled.  

I think the girls each drank 4-5 cups of Berry Tea!

What a beautiful group of Godly girls!  I thank the Lord for these friends He has sent to accompany my daughter through this season of her life!  They are all homeschool girls, with the same interest.  Heidi-Mari don’t see them on a regular basis, but they read each others’ blogs, meet at ballet and get together every now and then for a crafting afternoon and they live a simple, pure life!  

Thank you Lord, You are Faithful.  There is a new generation of Godly young Women in the making!

With love

Linnie

"She girdeth her loins with strength, 

and strengtheneth her arms."

Prov 31:17

Glorious and Beautiful for God!

A few days ago, I read in Exodes 20 about the garments that God ordained the High Priest to wear.  They were garments for “glory and beauty.” (v. 2) 

Every part of the High Priest’s garments had spiritual significance. Because God has made us “kings and priests” unto Him, they have spiritual significance in our lives too.  Wherever we work, right there in our home, we should continually drop seeds of God’s glory and beauty!

I also thought of Ephisians 2:22-24 were God instructed us to “...PUT on the new man”, the J.B Philipps translation says: “Fling off the dirty clothes of the old way of living... and put on the clean fresh clothes of the new life...” and the beautiful spirit God is looking for in 1Pet 3:3-4 “the hidden man (woman) of the heart, meek and gentle and quiet spirit which is of great prize for God”

*Now when we read the Holy Word of God, we must read it in the natural as well as in the spiritual.  God is a very natural God, as well as a spiritual God.  There are always three levels on which we can read the Word of God. Almost like the three levels of the tabernacle. Firstly on the surface, reading just what you see (the natural) then a little deeper, and God says more to you and then your enter the Holy of Holiness, and God reveal Himself to you, giving you revelation (the spiritual)! 

Often we only focus on the spiritual and forget about the physical.  We are so afraid we are the woman talked about in the first part of 1 Peter who only work on her physical beauty, that we almost want to make a statement about our spiritual beauty by ignoring the physical beauty!  But ladies, God is as much a physical God as a spiritual God. *It is so in everything in the Word of God, first the natural then the spiritual. It is amazing how many times we read of beautiful women in the Word of God.  We read about Eve, who must have been the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth! I think God meant for all women to be beautiful. All women wants to be beautiful!  Who does not want to be beautiful? 

I see it in my girls!  Heidi-Mari and Danika is constantly playing dress-up, without any one telling or showing them how to do it!  When friends come to play, they play dress-up.  

Over the years I’ve made numerous princess dresses and even more ballet costumes for ballet concerts, so there are always costumes for their dress-up! 

To be beautiful is inherently in us!  But most interestingly, the Bible take up quite some space to talk about beautiful women!  Lets look at a few of the beautiful women, the Bible talk about:  We read about Sarah - “You are a VERY beautiful woman.” Abraham was afraid they would kill him for this beautiful woman of his! We read how when they arrived in Egypt, “Everyone spoke of her beauty.” And twice she was taken in the King’s harem because of her beauty!  

Then it talks about the young Rebecca. “And the young woman was very beautiful to behold!” Wow!  Isaac was really getting a very beautiful bride! And when Isaac was married to her, they went to live near King Abimelec and they asked him about his wife and he did the same thing as his father!  He said she was his sister, he was afraid the men would kill him for her, because she was beautiful to behold! And Rebecca was also taken into the harem of the king! 

Now we read about Rachel. “Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance!” said the Bible!  The Bible, not a magazine, and it don’t only talk about a woman who has a beautiful face, but a beautiful figure too!!  Do you know the Bible talks about this and did you notice that these three women were the wives of the three patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God gave to each of them beautiful women! Yes!  

Their were others too:  Abigail - intelligent and beautiful in appearance; Batsheba - very beautiful to look upon; Tamar - she was very beautiful; Vasti - the queen before Esther, she was very beautiful and Esther herself was beautiful of form (figure) and face.  And the Bible actually talk about both! Beautiful of figure and of face! There are more - Abishag, Job’s daughters, then their is the Song of Solomon, a beautiful book in the Bible, in which we read over and over again: “You are beautiful, my Love!”  

God desire to see beauty in us, our husbands desire to see beauty in us. You see, God loves beauty. Look around you to His creation, a beautiful sunset, all the beautiful flowers during spring and beautiful garments, as we see in Exodus 20, all for only one purpose, for His pleasure. 

While I was reading the above verses in Exodus, the words beauty and glory jumped out at me. This challenged me in that how much of God’s beauty and glory that He put in me as a woman am I radiating right here in my home? As a Stay-at-Home-Mom between my little ones, as a Home Schooling Mom between all my children? Me - being the crown of His creation, do I see myself as beautiful, glorious and worthy, as much as God value me beautiful, glorious and worthy, to send His only Son to redeem us for Him? To have everlasting life with Him! Am I practicing, here on earth in my every day walk of life, to bring God beauty, glory and praises, as I am going to bring Him beauty, glory and praises into eternity?  Do I radiate this beauty and glory only in my spiritual life or also in my physical appearance?  

Dear beautiful ladies, we must always read the Bible as a whole, taking into account all the verses about a certain topic.  God loves beauty, God loves beautiful women, but not all of us have beautiful faces and beautiful figures, and therefore we need God’s beauty.  

We often need to forget about our feelings and by faith but on happy, smiling faces to change the atmosphere of our homes.

Who doesn’t love to look at a physically beautiful face, but what is even more beautiful is a face that has a beauty of rest and radiance upon her face. There are women who walk in a very submissive, tender and peaceful way with the Lord and their husbands, and their faces just glows with beauty!  This is the greatest beauty of all!  

Then there is the beautiful countenance of a calmly woman. A woman at peace with being at home, which is only possible for her by looking unto the Lord.  The more time you spend in His presence, the more your countenance will radiate His love!

Don’t forget, someone with a thankful heart towards the Lord, will have a beautiful countenance!  Make thankfulness and praises the habit of your life!

We need the distinct aroma of Christ - kindness, long-suffering, forbearance and forgiveness.  We also need to diffuse the perfume of His knowledge everywhere we go!  

We need the beauty of holiness and purity!

Part of a beautiful woman is beautiful speech, right there in her home, not only when she goes out! A beautiful wife and mother speak sweet, encouraging words to her husband and children! 

The most precious beauty in the eyes of the Lord is a meek, gentle, quiet spirit, because it is only possible through the beauty of His spirit, the power of the Holy Ghost, who lives in us. We can’t work it up by ourselves, it is worked in us by the spirit.

We also need to put on the expensive wardrobe, purchased by Jesus Christ Himself, for us.  Beautiful dresses of gentleness, delightful garments of tender mercies and don’t forget the apron of humility and a servant heart!

And then when we are working on all the above beautiful characteristics of a Godly woman, I truly believe God wants us to take care of ourselves in the physical.  We may put on clean fresh AND beautiful clothes, and arrange our hair so it is a delight for our family.  My children just love my hair to be long and let down... 

I challenged a few very dear home schooling friends of mine to dress beautiful for a week. Right there in their homes and they fervently took on the challenge with excitement and great expectation!  I want to challenge all women, and especially Stay-At-Home-Moms and Home Schooling-Moms, who feel comfortable with physical beauty, because God loves beauty, to dress beautiful for a week! 

Put on a colourful skirt or dress, just don’t forget your apron when you need to clean up after yet another mess by your children. Put on some perfume, even on your clothes and when your husband walks in the house, that he may smell: “Oh, how delightful!”  Dare to put on a little make-up. A well-known evangelist was once asked if he thought a woman may wear make-up, his reply was: “If a boat needs new painting, paint it!” Surprise your husband and children with freshly, washed hair every day!  Do something to your physical appearance that communicate to your children, your husband and God, that you delight in being beautiful and glorious in your service to them and to Him!

If you take up this challenge, or like to challenge a personal group you are part of, please comment here and let us see how many women become part of the beautiful and glorious creation of God!

* Parts taken from Nancy Campbell’s, Beautiful Women Teaching CD.

With Love

Linnie