Nov. 15, 2009 - Starting Up a Home Business

With the economy the way it is, many of you may be considering starting your own business to bring in some extra income for your family.  If you are interested in starting up a home business, these articles may be helpful. 

Starting Your Own Business Part I (Reasons for Starting Your Own Business, Pitfalls to Owning Your Own Business, Self-Government, Scheduling, Administrative Abilities)
http://www.takerootandwrite.com/2009/10/starting-your-own-business.html#more

Starting Your Own Business Part II (Upbeat Postive Attitude, Integrity, Hard Work, Going the Extra Mile, Choosing a Business to Start)
http://www.takerootandwrite.com/2009/10/starting-your-own-business-part-2.html#more

May God bless and prosper you!

Love and hugs to everyone!
Meredith

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Sep. 29, 2009 - Maintenance Pt. 3

Maintaining your relationship with your Children

I have talked about spending time with God. I then talked about spending time with your husband. Will it surprise you if I say you need to spend time with your children in order to maintain your relationship with them? The time you spend with your children is very different than the time you spend with God or your husband. You are learning from God and giving Him your love. You are partnering with your husband and giving him your love. You are teaching your children while you show them love. That means that not only do you need to know what makes them feel loved, you also need to pay attention to what else they need to feel, understand, and incorporate into their lives.

Teaching is training and training begins at the beginning. It’s never too soon to train a child. We’ve heard that Classical Music is good for their math skills so we put the Classical Music on the stereo while we’re still pregnant. As soon as their little necks are strong enough to hold the big heads we’re holding them up to teach them to eventually walk. I once read a great book on training children. To Train up a Child by Debi & Michael Pearl is extreme. I personally do not have the discipline of this couple but the book gave great insight into the benefits of training. You don’t have to potty train your infants, but the truth is that the sooner you do it the fewer diapers you will have to buy and change. My children never learned to play only on a 4’x4’ blanket, but they didn’t run around and terrorize the entire house. When the children are trained to behave properly; the things you need won’t have to be replaced due to abuse, the children spend more time out of harm’s way, and you are seldom frustrated with them.

My first two children were very calm boys (believe it or not). Even with their peaceful normal demeanor, there were times when I needed to be able to put them into a playpen to keep them safe. They hated it! They screamed and cried and threw a fit the whole time they were confined. I could not figure out what to do. When I had my third child (my wild woman) somebody told me that if you want to use a playpen when they are two you need to begin when they are infants. I took the advice and started putting her in a playpen with toys right from the beginning. She happily played in that pen until she was tall enough to climb out of it. My fourth child was trained the same way and he never even climbed out of it. It was soooo great!! Training made all the difference in the world.

When you train your children, they know what you expect of them and that brings them comfort. When children have comfort, they feel loved. As we grow older we always need to follow instructions. We always have somebody we’re submitted to. The most important benefit of training your children from a very young age is that they will fully understand the value of authority. This will help them to understand the authority of God the Father. They will thrive in submitting to His authority. Isn’t that the ultimate goal for your children? Isn’t the ultimate show of love to them teaching them how to show love to God the Father? Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” John 14:23-24 By teaching our children to obey, and therefore obey God, we are giving them a chance at eternal life. What greater gift could there be?

We must always remember that until they are adults, we are not our children’s friend, peer, or equal. We are their guide, their comfort, and their security. They need to always know that we are there for them, that we are ready to defend them, and that we are on their side. When they are little it’s an easy task. Pick them up when they fall, hug them, encourage them, and then let them return to play when they’re ready. When they get a little older, have friends and … dare I say … hormones, it gets a little trickier. We’re all taking the first step in homeschooling them. We can much more easily spend time with them when they are at home. Be diligent! Discipline yourself to always be vigilant in training AND loving your children. Don’t be afraid to be tough if they fight you in this. Always remind them that you do what you do because you love them and want to offer them the best possible future. A future in God’s hands, a future in Christ’s plan is THE BEST possible future!

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Sep. 20, 2009 - Maintenance Pt. 2

Good morning eveybody!!

Please forgive me for the tardiness of this entry. I just realized that I never posted the next part of my maintenance series. So here it is.

Maintaining Our Relationship with our Husbands

Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 admonish husbands to love their wives. Titus 2 instructs older women to train younger women to love their husbands. The marital relationship is so important to God that He instituted one of the Ten Commandments in regards to it. Entire cities were destroyed over sexual immorality, so clearly God hates that, but He specifically instructed again marital infidelity. Many proverbs warn again adultery. In God’s mind adultery is as bad as been a complete fool. Marriages are that important.

I should tell you, I have been married for 20 years. I won’t call them wonderful, because many of them were not. I still love my husband more than life. I know that marrying him was the best thing I ever did. We have four wonderful children who say they hate to see us kiss in front of them, but I know they like that more than when we have fought in front of them. My husband and I are both temperamental, passionate people. We are that 10% of the population who actually marry someone with their same temperament. If we can keep it together any couple can.

People have enjoyed saying, “Marriage is a 50 50 deal.” The truth is it’s really a deal where everybody needs to give 100%! We all need to work at it. It is not easy. Feelings of love are temporary; happiness is fleeting; disappointment is inevitable. There are things, however, which we can do that will increase the joy in marriage. If couples are willing to work (nothing strenuous, just continuous) then it’s not that difficult to have a happy marriage.

The first thing that must be done to maintain a marriage is for each partner to maintain their relationship with God. Image God s sitting at the top corner of a triangle. The husband and wife are sitting at each of the lower corners o the triangle. As the couple moves independently up the side of the triangle towards God, they are inevitably drawing closer to one another. The best discipline to make this happen in your life is daily time with God. It’s is so important that I will repeat what I said last time.

In my house, we call them quiet times. These are times when we worship the Lord, read The Word, and pray. This needs to happen every day. The first and second commandments tell us to have no other god before Him and to worship Him. The psalmist admonishes us to meditate on the Word. Certainly, what was true for David when he only had The Law is true for us today. Most of the apostolic writings talk about prayer. Jesus himself taught his disciples how to pray. Every one of these disciplines is important.

For more details on how to do these things, please see my blog entry from last week, entitled Maintenance.

Just like daily time with God is necessary to grow that relationship, daily time with our husbands is important. Life is busy. There are so many things to do in a day that it is easy to skip the things which aren’t urgent. If our husbands aren’t screaming for our attention, it’s easy to think they don’t need it. Don’t believe that for a second. They always need our attention, even when they don’t realize it. It only takes a few minutes to focus on our husband and ask him about his day. If you have never done this before, it may take time for him to get used to it. Don’t give up! If you are interested in what he has to say, even the most introverted or grumpy husband will be happy to share with his wife. The key is to actually BE interested. It’s not impossible. My husband has worked as a furniture salesman, a warehouse manager, a swimming pool cleaner and repair main and a car painter. I am an artist and musician with a love of computer programming and education. I didn’t care how hard it was to break a patio table top, but he did, so it became valuable to me. Because I love him, cars became canvases in my mind. Once I did that, we were both painters, artistes both of us in our own right.

The last maintenance item I want to suggest is meet needs. This is a broad topic. Everybody has needs. We need food. We need clothing and we need shelter. There are other needs that only a spouse can meet. Gary Chapman talks about the “Love Languages.” These are the needs that make us feel loved when they are met. I cannot give you a neat little list of things that are your husband’s love language, because every husband is different. Mr. Chapman and others have written book after book on the subject. Some examples are, touch, words of encouragement or praise, time together, gifts, service. My husband loves touch, so I make it a point to touch him whenever I am anywhere near him. I touch his arm, or run my fingers across his shoulders as I walk by. Sometimes I pat him on the head (I like the way his spiky hair feels). At night when I’m dead tired and have not energy to “pay attention” to him, I slide my foot across the bed till it rests on his leg because I know he’ll interpret that as “I love you.”

Make a study of your husband. It won’t take long for you to figure out how to light up his face. What makes him seem more relaxed? What takes his attention away from what he “always” does? What does he say he really likes? Once you think your know what he wants, start small. If you try to do too much at once, you may not be able to continue. Touch his arm when you walk by. Thank him for working hard to support the family. Make something he especially likes for dinner or an evening dessert. Sit with him for a few minutes while he watches the TV. In the famous words of some advertising guru, “Just do it!”

One final note for those of you whose schedules are really crazy or whose marriages are being conducted long distance. Remember that even if you don’t see your husband every day you can still invest in marital maintenance every day. Call him, e-mail him, text him or write him a quick note which he can read when he gets back. My father was in the Navy as I was growing up. He was out of the country 6 months out of every year. There was no internet, email, or text messaging so my parents had to communicate via mail. (You know what I'm talking about – notes, written on paper using an ink pen and sent on an airplane across the world, where a helicopter would carry them to the ship where my dad lived.) They are now enjoying retirement together after 45 years of marriage. I can’t help but believe all those years of writing letters had a big part in making that possible.

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Aug. 14, 2009 - A Heritage in the Garden

Just returned from Delaware where I viisited my sister.  Her birthday is today, so HAPPY Birthday, Julie!

When I got to her house, I kept noticing butterflies.  I wondered if it was a blessing from the Lord to encourage us in our difficult time...we just lost our Daddy.  But, within a day or two, I discovered that Julie had planted flowers specifically to attract butterflies.  They were lovely in beautiful shades of purple, pink, yellow, and red.  This led me to her lovely yard.  One day I just walked slowly around the entire yard, soaking in the beauty and peace that had been carefully created by my dear sister.

The flower beds flowed into one another with grace.  Though my sister mentioned weeds, I didn't see any--just a carefully tended garden.  There was a vegetable garden on the side of the house that was beginning to offer its end of the season bounty.  Radiant rose bushes lining the brick patio with blooms of pink, bashful and blush---one shade much darker than the other.  Everywhere I looked was green with splashes of color--a wide variety of flowering plants.  My favorite, of course, was the hydrangea bush on the side of the garage. It brings back memories of my grandparents, who always had the healthiest most beautiful hydrangea bushes in the world.  They are still my favorite.  Hers was standing with dignity offering its beauty to the God who creates all things.  And I soaked it all in, so proud of my sister and the beauty that flows from her life.

Daddy grew up in a farm right here in Sanford.  He would spend his Saturdays with a baseball cap on, putzing around the garden, planting and pruning until everything was just the way he wanted it.  We planted a flower garden together several springs and we had some house planting adventures too!  But, Daddy's love of gardening lives on in my sister.

My grandmother (mom's mom) grew up on a farm and always was digging in the dirt, creating beauty in the yard and growing fresh vegetables.  We would enjoy fresh green bean and ripe red tomatoes with dinner as the fruit of her labors.  Of course, tomatoes found their way into jars as stewed tomatoes and tomato preserves that were spread lightly on freshly baked bread.  This is our heritage and my sister has carried it on by gardening, making pickled cherries, and bringing beauty to the lives of those around her. 

My sister lives in the house in Wilmington that my grandparents retired in.  So many memories fill my heart whenever I walk through those doors.  Good smells from the kitchen of cookies baking and yummy homemade soups simmering on the stove.  I am so thankful that my sister still has this family home...she has made it her own and it is beautiful.  I think if she wanted to, she could be an interior decorator! 

The biggest thing that I remember about my grandparents' home was that it was filled with love and people.  Again my sister carries on this tradition by pouring her heart out to her friends and family, extending hospitality in a way that would make Mommy, Daddy, Beezie, and Gramps so proud.  Is this my baby sister, so grown up and successful and lovely?

As I flew home from Delaware, I was reminded of my heritage...God gave me a wonderful family....I am so blessed.  And though I miss my parents and grandparents so much, I see so much of each of them in my sister. 

Happy Birthday, Julie.  I love you!

Merey

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Aug. 3, 2009 - Of Course She Would Call!

Of course she would call. Why wouldn’t she call? She called at 11:07PM. Nobody calls with good news at 11:07PM. DO they? I was worried when I saw my sister’s phone number come up on the caller ID. What has happened? Who’s in the hospital? These were the questions going through my mind as I answered the phone. I was expecting a frantic voice, or a cry. I heard instead a timid but excited thrill in her voice. “I wanted to thank you for talking to me this afternoon. It gave me a lot of good information that I needed to think about.” We had talked about the Lord and seeking a spiritual life for about an hour. She wanted to learn about the Lord. She wanted to meet and study the Bible. She wanted to be discipled. She was asking me to do with her exactly what Jesus asked His disciples to do with all those with whom they shared the gospel. “Go and make disciples…” Matthew 28:19

My sister is a beautiful, intelligent woman. She is eight years younger than me but I usually forget the age difference and view her as my peer. For the last 17 years she has watched and listened to me walk haltingly through my Christian faith. I describe it this way because some awful things have happened and I dealt with some things in a very unhealthy, even un”Christian” way. For the last 17 years I have continued to get back up and proclaim faith in Jesus. For the last 17 years I have continued to study my Bible and talk about what I’ve learned. The prophet Isaiah gave me much encouragement when he wrote, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31
I have always been reminded by this verse that the Lord will come to my rescue and these trials shall pass.

I don’t think that my sister has ever misunderstood nor been misled about my beliefs. I am outspoken and my family knows where I stand. When I knew full well that she disagreed with me I still spoke my beliefs and tried not to insult hers. I also failed at those attempts sometimes. I hope she always realized that I was sorry to offend her. She always saw that I loved Jesus first, and then I loved His church. I loved my local church. I loved my friends in my church. I loved them like family. And of course I deeply loved my family. My best hope was that my family would join my local church and these two groups would be one – forever!

I could go on about what I do to show love to my family and friends but the truth is that there is nothing that I could do in my own strength that can help anyone. I write this blog to encourage you, but I realized that ultimately it is the Lord who will encourage you. Please pray for me that I am able to teach my sister accurately what the Lord has for her. Pray for my sister that her life will be changed permanently by Jesus. Pray that we experience the joy of the Lord like never before as we labor together in the Kingdom of God.

Do you have a brother or sister like mine? Somebody who you have been praying for, loving on and hoping for a life altering experience with Jesus? Remember what Paul said in Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Revival is coming! Revival may already be here! We will reap the Father’s harvest. Somebody has sown the seed, maybe you. Somebody has watered it, again maybe you. God is making it grow and thrive. We need only harvest it. Keep praying! Keep loving! Keep hoping! God will not disappoint!!

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Dec. 24, 2008 - The Nolettes are Here

Most people would describe Meredith as the more passive of our partnership. This is not true when it comes to Family Portraits. Meredith dictates the time, the place, and the costumes for each and every family portrait the Curtises have EVER sat for. I however take a much more uninvolved role in the family portrait process. I tell my family a few time that I want to have one done, then I finally give up and hand a camera to somebody outside of our family when I find them all at the same location, at the same time, wearing half-way decent outfits. Some years it has worked out that we are all dressed up for church on the same day. This year that never happened. Finally this evening, after another amazing Christmas Eve dinner provided by my mother, we took our picture in front of Grandma's Christmas Tree.

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