How to Be A Good Wife

I am greatly indebted to the friend who showed me an article from Good Housekeeping the other day. The article was published in the May 1955 issue, and it was entitled, "How to Be a Good Wife." Underneath the title were several bullet points that illustrated what must be done in order to present yourself and the house to your husband once he returns home from a long day at work. Although some were in fact great ideas, I would like to entertain you with those that were (fortunately) left in the 1950s, along with poodle skirts, beehive hair, and yellow refrigerators.

- Freshen up your make-up and put a ribbon in your hair before he comes home. You should present yourself as a gift to him.

-Never complain if he comes home late, or leaves the house again to visit some other place of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, and his need to unwind.

-Over the cooler months, you should prepare a fire for him to unwind by.

-It is always a good idea to have freshly baked bread ready for your husband when he arrives home - the sweet smell of baking bread will help him to relax and unwind.

...Okay, so I took this last one for a test drive. Kyle and I were given a bread maker when we got married, and it finally came out of the box last night. I have been wanting to use it for a long time, but too apprehensive to do so. Below are the results of my 3-hour bread baking endeavor...

  Step One: Take bread machine out of box. Success!

  The first round of kneading is complete. No catastrophes thus far.

After 2 hours and 55 minutes, I lost all hope when I opened the machine and saw this.

   It made it out alive! And, according to Kyle, it's actually even edible.

Unfortunately, during this long and painstaking process, I neglected to put a ribbon in my hair or start any fires in the middle of the living room. However, I still maintain that this endeavor would satisfy the writers of Good Housekeeping, and I think that they would be even more pleased that I wore this apron while I was baking...

Life, 800 Miles from Home.

After over a month of living in North Carolina, we still have a lot to learn and a long way to go. However, we have been blessed in such amazing ways by our God, our sweet Redeemer, and I could not possibly publish this post without acknowledging all that He has done for us.

When we arrived in Wake Forest on August 1, Kyle and I were immediately discouraged about our housing assignment. What it lacked in lighting, a dishwasher, and a backyard, it made up for with creaky floors, a clothesline, and a broken water heater. I went to sleep that night in tears, begging God to send us home.

The next morning, when we went to sign our Housing Agreement, we made a joke or two about the miscommunication that had taken place regarding our housing assignment. Rather than ignoring our remarks, we were immediately offered a beautiful townhouse in the seminary's newest neighborhood. I wish you could have seen our faces...the blessing came at such a beautiful time! If we had made our comments 5 minutes later, after signing the agreement, it would have been too late! So, we gladly spent all day reloading the Uhaul and moving everything into our newest new home. By the end of the day, we were sweaty, exhausted, and exceedingly grateful.

I cannot even begin to tell you about all of the other things that the Lord has done for us. In a city surrounded by strangers, He has given us friends. In an economy that is releasing workers, He has provided us both with jobs. In a marriage that is new and trying, He has given us joy and patience. And, in those days that we suffer through homesickness, He is restoring our hearts with peace.

There are, of course, a few hard lessons that we've had to learn, and I will mention a few of them for your comic relief:
1.  Kyle: If you work in a bagel shop, no one will assume or treat you as if you have a degree in Business Administration. In fact, they will more likely mistake you for an ignorant high school teenager.
2. Claire: When you become a private trainer, you sign away your physical well-being. It is entirely likely, in fact, that one of your clients may accidentally kick you in the face while completing a hip extension. .
3. Kyle: Greek is just as hard as everyone says it is. 
4. Claire: No matter how hard you study for your weekly Hermeneutics quiz, you will inevitably fail that quiz if you spend all week studying the wrong chapter.
5. Coupon-clipping is not just for elderly ladies or bored housewives. It was actually invented for seminary students.