Two babes.

The first is my third child, due in July. Here's a picture of "Salami Shank" so dubbed by my three year old son.

Nice.

At least my older child calls it "Rosie".

Obviously, both my children have strong preferences on gender. Good thing it's not a decision I chose and have to live with the problem of being a major celebration for one and a epic disappointment for the other.

The second is my fourth. Yes, I am having two babies in one year! That's what Carolyn and I call our joint book project, The Measure of Success, due out February 1, 2014. Here's what it look like if you haven't seen it already on my Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and every where else :)

Here's a quote from the back of the book:

Discover God's view of the successful woman

Should a woman work? Can a woman be feminine, godly, and ambitious? Is work only for women who need the income? Is there any sanctified ground between the stay-at-home mom and the aspiring executive?

Whether you are married or single, young or old, and whether you work inside the home or in the marketplace, Carolyn and Nora create a rich vision for fulfillment through an understanding of the compelling foundation for the biblical call of productivity.

Far from the stone-throwing arguments that often occupy the discussion around women, work, and the home, Carolyn and Nora show how the redemptive message of the gospel allows the Bible's teaching on the role of women to coexist with ambition. It creates a fresh vision for the profit we all gain from encouraging female contribution in the home, society, and church.

If you've ever wondered whether you're living the life that most glorifies God,The Measure of Success will help you answer that question.

My bio on the back says that I ran several entrepreneurial candy and lemonade stands, so I thought would share a picture of my first with my childhood friend. Aren't we cute?? Can you read the sign on the right? It says, "Keep your cups if you wint more." That was the Dutch in me trying to be cheap and resourceful.

I can't wait to hear what you think about our latest venture! In the coming weeks, you'll hear more about how we would love to hear from our readers on their work and how they define success, as well as a few fun giveaways!

If you want to read more specifically about work for women and see less of me and my pictures, then you can check out my other site here.

New Title : Home + Work

This blog isn't just a chronicle anymore. After six years, it isn't just the story of my journey from Maryland to Arizona. It is the modern version of a journal. I think we all need to know why we blog, which is what I wrote about here. As I was brewing about this whole idea, this quote surfaced back to me this morning as I lay in bed: We can never live rightly until we think rightly.

We have to get our priorities in order. It helps me to balance the many demands on my life, because I can't live without listening for God's voice to help me choose the most important things. For me, my true life starts with my inner, religious self. Then it grows outward. Where I see God at work is not just the secret and inward, but in the continuous growth that spirals around and outward from there.

I am trying to say that God is all about our real life. As a women, my life calling as a daughter of Christ is first expressed in the relationships closest to me. The avenue for this as a woman is in the home-- not the physical building but the idea of a community. For me, as a married woman, this means my husband first; then, as a mother, it means building relationship with my children. It also has direct application to the relationship around us in our church community, our neighborhoods, our local community.

I believe that our other sphere of influence is work. Women may or may not work in a professional sense. But they are always working. If you think about it, life is work. God intended it this way when he called us to subdue the earth in Genesis. Even if you are not a religious person, you can still see the reality of this in the world around us.


How do you, reader, view your life? Do you see life as home + work? What are the categories you use?

Work at...

This begins a series on things I am passionate to work on.
No particular order. Just a series of topics and hobbies that I love.
It's not to brag. It's to celebrate.

I think we all understand our role in this world to create order-- whether it's cleaning a bathroom or getting ahead at work. However, it can be easy to forget to celebrate the Creator God who has given us each a unique set of natural gifts and skills that He has grown in us throughout our lives in little, creative ways. It can be easy to ignore these as we focus intently on our roles-- as woman, wife, mother, sister, daughter, church member. However, I am a fervent believer in continuing to grow; not just in the function of creating order around us, but in the creative, the risks, the intellect, the spirit, the qualities that God uniquely gives us as humans. If we merely live by order, we mechanize our lives into the mundane, and then I find myself wondering why I feel so depressed.

Do you find yourself giving up on having your own pursuits just trying to keep order?

It doesn't even have to be something that profound. For me, I took out the sewing machine last week.
I have always loved to sew since my Grandmother taught me at eight. However, sewing and children don't really mix quite yet in the toddler phase. It's not like my children were running around with ten inch scissors or anything.


I might not be able to do as much sewing as I want to but I don't have to give it all up. That is a fear and a wrong assumption of parenting. We don't have to give up everything. I can still sew during naps and little times when they are occupied. I've can still do a couple alterations. And a Halloween costume here and there. I just probably am not going to be a couture seamstress while I have toddlers.


It's good to remind myself how fulfilling creativity is and how we were intended to find JOY in the use of our skills, talents, and interests, however small or good (or not so good).

Checks and balances.

A recent radio broadcast caught my attention. A report from NPR spoke of a Saudi woman, where it is illegal for a woman to drive getting behind the wheel, because she believes she had to take a stand for the next generation. She couldn't imagine the next generation of women not being able to drive. This woman was doing something and communicating passionately about the difference she could make.

When I think of passionate women throughout history, many names come to mind. Start with women from the Bible and you get bold Abigail and courageous Mary Magdalene. In American history, we recognize Abigail Adams as a founding mother and Harriet Tubman for her persistent work against slavery. Around the world we have examples of women who are making strides against injustice and social inequality. Even the impoverished woman who is choosing to send her daughter to school is making a bold statement about how she wants to change the world. 

These women are making a difference by choosing carefully what they do and what they say as defined by what they value.


In our comfortable lives in the United States, it can be easy to forget and ignore the privilege we women have of equality and justice. I believe that our privileges allow us to promote our calling as Christian women; but we should steward this gift wisely. We should not be so quick to ignore how we can and should make a difference in the world.

When I say to make a difference in the world, I am actually applauding all the expressions of our passions and natural gifts as well as work. If I am passionate about nutrition, then I should teach it to others. If you have a beautiful eye for photography, then enlighten us! If you are awesome at cutting hair, then come fix mine! There is nothing more inspiring that someone passionate and gifted who shares their gifts.

This is why the internet is such a double edged sword-- there are many gifts to be shared. It is like what the Bible has to say about the tongue-- it can be used for great good and great evil. The internet offers us the possibility to communicate to large amounts of people lots of information. I think it is so easy to get dragged into just the simple problem of comparing what I am good at with others.

But.

We can also change the world. Even if it's just a slight improvement.

All I needed was a cute little picture of a child in a cute outfit while I stare at my grungy one in hand-me-downs and it changed my perspective.

Have you thought about what you spend your time doing and communicating? I am asking myself these questions as well. Is my online presence and participation meaningful? Do I use it for good, or just get dragged into feeling like my life is grungy, boring and meaningless compared to everyone else's world.

How do you, reader, keep your digital presence true with checks and balances?

Developing a passion

What I said about not boasting in my previous post does not mean I think that women should just blog about spiritual matters. I think it is essential to a Godly woman to develop her sense of calling, and then to communicate passionately about her calling. Therein lies a complete difference between communicating your life and what you are passionate about instead of boasting about what you wish you could be, do or make.

A woman's calling is not primarily defined by relationship-- wife, mother or so forth. It is the calling of woman as a daughter of God. It is having a sense of her Creator and her creation as a woman with natural inclinations and skills. The expression of those, let us call them talents, is natural. If a woman is aware of her source, that God created her with those abilities, then there isn't much room to boast.


How many women do you know that have a sure sense of calling?
Yesterday, I spoke freely on what I sense is a warped sense of calling-- the call of a Christian woman to create and communicate a perfect impression of womanhood. The perfect body, the perfect marriage, the perfect children, the perfect home.

Even secular women have given up on this ideal. It seems like Christian women are still holding out that they can do it all. We think we have to embody the ideal Proverbs 31 woman, who was in fact, not really based on one woman after all but the best idea of a woman King Lemuel should marry.

This is where developing a passionate sense of calling becomes essential.

I can't do it all. But if I keep the priorities of what I am passionate about first (as under God's authority, of course), I am less like to burn out. I am passionate about my husband, my children, cooking, and nutrition. A clean house is very important to me, but I'll be the first one to admit that you work far too hard to keep it that way against insurmountable odds. If I had the money, I would totally pay a cleaning lady. And I did this summer when I had to work 2-3 days a week.

So my floors are dirty. Again. It is impossible to keep up with it all. If dirty floors aren't that important to me, then I can free myself up from irrational guilt and move on to the more important things.

Are you staying passionate about the things you are skilled in? Have you given up because you feel like it is crowded out by the urgent matters of life? I would love to hear how you inspire passionate living in your life and professions...