I still believe this. Can you imagine the Lord God caring about some of these things that we think are so important? And does He really have an “ideal” size or shape He wants us all to achieve? Apparently not, because He made us all to be so different from one another.

But having said that, I’m not denying that we should want to be fit and healthy so we can serve the Lord and enjoy ourselves while we are doing it. But in our health-crazed culture, I’m not sure we know what that means. It is so easy to become obsessive about (more…)

“Something of the gallant fire which was animating him seemed to pass out of Sir Aylmer Bostock. He blinked, like some knight of King Arthur’s court, who, galloping to perform a deed of derring-do, has had the misfortune to collide with a tree.”

This one is from Uncle Dynamite, one of the hilarious Uncle Fred (Frederick Altamont Cornwallis, fifth Earl of Ickenham) and Pongo books that for some reason I have never read before. It’s a dilly. Uncle Fred is one of our family’s favorite Wodehouse characters, known for spreading sweetness and light as well as for stepping high, wide, and handsome.

This is a clearly something that Christian women need whatever their calling, whatever their age. It is a spiritual trait, given by the Spirit, not something we can generate ourselves. What is it that makes us flexible, able to bend without breaking? It is our faith. And to maintain flexibility, what do we have to do? Exercise our faith. Practice what we know. Use our opportunities.

When changes in our circumstances arise, we must remind ourselves that He has ordained all things, that He loves us, and that whatsoever comes to pass is for our good and His glory. This is our faith.

When do we need flexibility? Well, when don’t we? We need to adapt to change pretty much day in and day out. Our mothers needed it when they were raising us, and we’ve needed it all along. Each new milestone in our lives requires flexibility. Whether it is (more…)

After a mere, what? 6 weeeks? I now have a website up again!

Now - all of you who have been anxiously checking the internet every day, holding your breath and going on hunger strikes until you can buy a Skirty . . . this is your lucky moment!

Here’s the tricky bit though. The Skirty comes to you now with a new web address. (I finally gave up the battle with the cyberspace bureaucrats who were holding my website hostage and just got another one. That’ll learn ‘em.)

So . . . NOW when you want to order a Skirty, you need to go to www.amoretti-designs.com

Alright then. No more excuses. Sally forth and go get yourselves some Skirties!

So, in his very pastoral way, he told me that I had three choices. Choice #1 was that I could get married. But the problem with this option was that I had not yet met his son. Choice #2 was that I could get a teaching job. This he assumed was a safe bet, seeing that I was an English lit major and all. But I had no desire to teach. In fact, not only had I determined that I would never, never teach, I had also taken the precaution of never enrolling in an education course just to make sure that I would never, never teach.

So I awaited choice #3 with baited breath. His final suggestion was that I go on InterVarsity staff. Now at that time, IV was a happening thing on the campus, and I had been enjoying their meetings and conferences and books. So, at the next conference, my future father-in-law took it upon himself to talk to the regional director about me going on staff with IV, and I became an associate staff member some months later. (more…)

First of all, it is the man who is doing the courting. The woman in question is just minding her own business when along comes a man who wants to court her. She is the direct object here, not the subject. (John is courting Sue. Sue is not courting John.) The woman is being courted. His purpose is to win her, and by agreeing to enter into a courtship, she is saying in so many words that she is willing to receive his attentions. She is agreeing to let him try to win her. Whether or not he will succeed still remains to be seen.

So, a woman does not need to describe her own condition as one of “courting.” She is being courted; she has a suitor. If she finds him to her liking, she may be pleased that he is continuing to show her attention. But if she does not, it is no shame for her to end the courtship. That is her prerogative. At the same time, she should not view his attentions as simply a recreational activity. He has stuck his neck out, and she should honor him for doing so.

You may wonder why I am fussing over such a grammatical error, but I think it is a significant one. If a woman believes that she has to have the same level of commitment entering into a courtship that the man does, she is bound to feel a little worried. He has obviously been thinking about this, praying about it, and then goes and sticks his neck out by asking. It may or may not have ever occurred to her to be interested in him. So it may take her a bit to get up to speed. She may know from the getgo that she is not nor can she be interested. Or, she may think he is worth considering. She does not need to know that she will marry him in order to agree to a courtship. All she needs to know is that she likes him well enough to receive his attentions.

My sister and I have always had a theory that every man has an ideal cookie (or maybe just every man in our family). Ben’s favorite cookies are oat free, very blonde, and tall. Bekah’s cookies never ever run into each other on the baking sheet, preserving a barely baked likeness to the dough balls that went into the oven.

My Uncle Gordon adores the kind of cookies that can’t be stopped from running into each other - the kind that leave greasy rings on a napkin. He even goes so far as to call other people’s cookies demeaning names, like “cakeys.” (more…)

So, life has been a bit of a hootenanny over here. The other day I was in the back of the house and Lina yelled from the living room, “Mom, do you remember Daphne?” I responded, that I did, and she said, “Well, she’s kickin’ me!”

Also in great quotes from the younger Janks, the girls were arguing in the back of the mini van about whether it was Moses’ new mom or old mom who was sad. Lina announced that his new mom was a fairie. I jumped into the discussion and said, “No, she was a princess of Egypt.” Lina did not see my point. “But her Daddy was a Pharoah.”

I haven’t shared any recipes in a while, but trust me that I haven’t forgotten. I have been cooking a lot of dinners from Cooking Light (I really love their recipes, and can’t recommend them highly enough). New family favorites include the pork tenderloin kebabs, sun-dried tomato chicken salad in pitas, and the strawberry/oatmeal/white chocolate cookies. I have a couple new ones to try this week, so we will see if they make it to the repeat list. We are huge fans of Pork Fajitas with mango (although I use more lime juice, cumin, and soy sauce, and top with avacado too), Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Thai Beef Tacos, all of which I originally made from Cooking Light. I will try to link to the online recipes, but you can find most of them with a simple search on the Cooking Light website.