Where are all the Titus 2 Women?

I will admit, I have been struggling lately but it is a different sort of struggle than normal for me. Normally I am struggling with homeschool or with housework, but not this time. I am so frustrated at the lack of real, in person Titus 2 women. Where are they? Where are the women in my church that are to teach me that yes, the Bible says homeschooling is God's plan? To teach me that yes, God wishes for wives/mothers to stay home, to be a keeper AT home? To teach me that as a daughter of the King that I am to dress modestly, to submit to my husband in all (biblical) things and that I am to love my children? Sometimes I feel so alone in the real world because I cannot name one person in my church that holds these beliefs right now. The friend I had at church that held most of these same beliefs is now out of town with her husband's work. I do have a friend that holds everyone of these beliefs, but she attends another church and lives in another town. Ugh, it is so frustrating to me. Please don't think that I mean to put down the women at my church, I don't. They are God fearing, God loving women who seek to follow His word, but it seems they are oblivious to commands regarding the beliefs I have mentioned. Most of the women in our church work outside the home, even the older women. I only know of one other homeschooling family. I am the only woman in our church that consistently wears skirts/dresses instead of jeans/pants. Many do not know how to show respect/submission to their own husbands. Sometimes I just want to scream, but other times it makes me question my beliefs. If I am the only one, maybe I am wrong. However, I don't believe that, not for one minute.

There are supposed to be Titus 2 women in the church, however I recently had a pastor's wife ask my opinion for a ladies Bible study and I recommended a Titus 2 study; she didn't understand what I meant until I explained it to her. How sad!

Titus 2:3-5

3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; 4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

KJV

We are called to homeschool our children.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7
6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

KJV
You can also read 2 Timothy 3:14, Ephesians 6:4, Isaiah 38:19, Mark 9:42, Romans 6:16 and Proverbs 22:6 for a few more verses about the parent's responsibility to train up their children. (I have more but will stop here for now.)

We are to dress modestly and differently from men and the rest of the world, and we are to submit to our husbands.
1 Peter 3:1-6

3 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; 2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. 3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: 6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

KJV


1 Timothy 2:9-12

9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; 10 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

KJV

There are more verses and I will share if someone really wants to know, but otherwise I will leave it at these.
 
How am I to learn how to physically be a Titus 2 woman if I have no example? More importantly, how do I do it in a church that doesn't hold these beliefs? I can't instruct the younger women without expressing my beliefs, and that has caused me to consider stepping down from my teaching position in our youth ministry. Right now I teach a small group of 9-10th grade girls, but they keep asking my beliefs on touchy subjects (such as dating) and I have to be honest with them, even if it goes against the majority's beliefs. I am still praying about that decision, and really that isn't the main point of this post anyway.  (I'm not even sure I believe in youth groups but that is for another post entirely. I see their need in certain instances, otherwise, certain kids would NEVER hear the word of God.)
 
Back to topic, I just want to yell it out sometimes, "WHERE ARE YOU TITUS 2 WOMEN?"  And, why aren't you following the Word of God?
 
I thank God for the encouragement I receive online through wonderful, like-minded blogs.
 
Blessings,
Rashel

I couldn't get the link up to work but I am linking up with 

A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Sharing my modest wardrobe

I love to see pictures of other ladies dressed modestly, especially in full length skirts. They are an encouragement to me as well as give me ideas to broaden my wardrobe. So, I thought maybe I might be the same encouragement to someone else if I posted pictures of my modest dress. Today is a rather plain day, mostly to be around the home with the exception of going to pick up our raw milk. My hair is just pulled back today, again, nothing fancy. The skirt I am wearing is one of my favorites; dh bought it for me when he was away on a business trip.

I also thought I would share a picture of my girlie in her modest dress. She is actually wearing culottes instead of a skirt, but still very modest and femine looking.

I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my wardrobe and I plan to share more over the next several days. If you decide you would like to share a glimpse into your wardrobe, please leave me a comment so I can be sure to see it.

Blessings,
Rashel

Training our children

My sweet dd is 8y.o. now and everyday I can look at her and see how much she is growing and changing. This morning she fixed herself an omelet, oh my how she is growing! I am so thankful that God is reminding me to enjoy these moments and to take time to really ponder how my children are growing. I have always known in my heart that I want to train my dd to be a keeper at home and to know the ways of taking care of a household and family, but it's nice to see that I actually have trained her in at least some areas. It is important to me that all of my children have at least a basic knowledge of how to take care of a home and keep it running, even my boys. So, all of my children have daily chores and my two oldest boys have been cooking basic dishes for some time now. Today is the first day my dd actually fixed herself eggs from start to finish without any help. Her brother caught on quick and as I type, she is fixing him an omelet! Ds2 loves to experiment with dishes and has his "own sandwich" that he loves to make. Sometimes it is so much faster and easier just to cook by ourselves and not include our children, but the benefits of taking the time to teach them and share the experience with them is priceless.

She is such a little helper girl, after fixing ds1 his omelet, she offered to fix one for her other brothers as well. I pray she keeps her helper/servant attitude. It is a wonderful quality to have.

Blessings,
Rashel

My dd7's idea for her unit study.....

Ok, I was reading Sara's post about Natural Learning this morning and decided I wanted to try it again, I've done something similar in the past. This week we were going to start back up with our unit studies anyway, so I decided it was a good time to give it a try. I told all of my children they could pick what they wanted to study and that they would have to give me a list of what they hoped to learn while doing their studies. Of course the boys picked things like deer, birds and the Alamo. However, what dd chose kind of surprised me; she wants to look into really old Bibles and how they were different then and if people read them differently or used them differently than we do now! She is 7!! (soon to be 8 but still) Ok, I don't even know what to look for at the library but we are going to look nonetheless, because how can I discourage her from digging deeper into that? So if any of you have suggestions of books the library might have or even better, websites we could look at, they would be much appreciated. We are going to the library this afternoon to get books and get started tomorrow. I just had to share because she never ceases to amaze me with her love for God and the way she thinks about things related to Him. Just yesterday her Sunday School teacher came up to me and told me how much she had grown in the class and what a blessing she was. Yes, I'm a proud Mama but I'm not kidding, God is doing a mighty work in this little girl's heart. Some of the things she says blows me away.
A few weeks ago we were driving and she pointed out that the shape of the clouds made her think of all the people that had died and God let her cry. A couple years ago our great niece died from injuries during a house fire, she was 6 months old at the time. My dd was listening to a song about being free; it was actually about a couple living in a van and traveling and how they were free but Dd said it reminded her of our niece and how she was free now because she was with God. Those are just some of the things that I can remember right now, there are so many more. She can take any situatin and relate it to God in some way.
Ok, I'll stop rambling now but I just had to share her unit study choice. Don't forget to leave any suggestions you might have.
Blessings,
Rashel

Dressing our daughters modestly

In the last post about this topic, Sara brought up some issues I thought I would address in a new post. First, for anyone that hasn't followed me in this venture through my other blog, I wear skirts/dresses only when going out of the house. Most of the time at home I wear skirts as well, but there are occasions I wear jeans or sweats around the house. This is just my own conviction right now, this is how I think I can best dress modestly, by wearing skirts. My daughter is four (I also have three sons, ages 6, 8 and 10) and I have discussed with all my children why I have started wearing skirts, because I believe it is pleasing to God. Yes, I went into a little more detail with them but that is the basic reason. I do encourage my daughter to wear dresses and when we go to church, she doesn't get a choice. However, it really isn't a battle because she loves dressing in skirts, unless she is in the mood to be a cowgirl :) I didn't want to spend alot of money buying skirts for either of us, so I started hitting garage sales, goodwill and making my own from used jeans. I was also given several after people realized I was wearing them all the time. It is harder for my daughter because it is just hard to find long, modest skirts for girls. I have made her two from old pairs of jeans, one from an old short skirt of mine, one from scratch and found 2-3 at goodwill. (I did discover that I had to buy a couple sizes bigger to make them long enough though but that works fine with jumpers) She also has a couple we have just gotten lucky enough to come across along the way. She still wears jeans around the house quite a bit but when we go out, she is usually in a skirt. I think you can help your daughters to dress modestly even if they can't wear skirts/dresses all of the time. My girlie knows that if a shirt shows her belly when she raises her arms, it is not modest and she can't wear it. She also knows that she is not allowed to wear short skirts out of the house and alot of the time she wears leggins or shorts under her skirts for even more modesty (you know how girls play and their dresses can come up). As far as slowing her down, not a bit. She still plays right alongside her brothers when she has a skirt on. She has figured out if the skirt is a little tighter, that when she goes up stairs (a slide) to just hold it up a bit. They definitely don't slow her down. Other ways she dresses modestly is that she is not allowed to wear any pants that have writing across the backside, nor any shirts that have inappropriate sayings across the front. An example of a shirt I am referring too is this, I have seen several that have sayings referring to boyfriends, hotties, or some other rude comment about brothers or parents. There are so many of those these days it just sickens me. I don't approve of the ones demeaning her brothers, that encourages a lack of respect and love within the family. Oh, I am sorry I am digressing.

Other ways that may help you to use some of the clothing that has been given to you is to get matching material for those short skirts and lengthen them. You can also add coordinating material to t-shirts to make dresses. It is very simple to turn pants or jeans into skirts and doesn't cost very much at all. I hope these ideas help with dressing your daughters modestly and I can't wait to read some other responses, suggestions from all of you.

Blessings,
Rashel

Modesty and our little girls

My dear sisters in Christ,
Modesty is an issue that has been heavy on my heart for quite awhile now, I guess because God has convicted me greatly in this area this past year. There is no doubt that God says we as women are to dress modestly. 1 Timothy 2:9 says, "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls or costly array;". That is just one scripture, there are more and I will go into those in another post at another time. It saddens my heart to see Christian women that display no regard for modesty at all and it is even worse when they are teaching their daughters to dress in such ways. I found a link that I want to share with you and it might give you a little insight as to why modesty and purity are important issues to discuss with our daughters, especially while they are still young. Here is the story. Please take the time to read this wonderful article and then come back here and let me know what you thought of it.

I will post again about modesty and how I choose to be an example of modesty to those around me, I am just wanted to share this with you for now.

Blessings,
Rashel