Sunday, October 18, 2009
House Update
Our house has sold once again. We close on November 17th. That is exactly one month. Let the packing begin. Unfortunately I don't feel very motivated and I get really tired really easily. Please pray that this sale goes off without a hitch.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Johnny Lingo's Eight Cow Wife
Steven and I read this story a couple of weeks ago during our devotion time and I loved it. God keeps bringing it back to my hear so I wanted to share it with you.
Johnny Lingo's Eight-Cow Wife
by Patricia McGerr
Condensed from Woman's Day, November 1965
Reader's Digest pp. 138-141, February 1988
When I sailed to Kiniwata, an island in the Pacific, I took along a notebook. After I got back it was filled with descriptions of flora and fauna, native customs and costumes. But the only note that still interests me is the one that says: "Johnny Lingo gave eight cows to Sarita's father." And I don't need to have it in writing. I'm reminded of it every time I see a woman belittling her husband or a wife withering under her husband's scorn. I want to say to them, "You should know why Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for his wife."
Johnny Lingo wasn't exactly his name. But that's what Shenkin, the manager of the guest house on Kiniwata called him. Shenkin was from Chicago and had a habit of Americanizing the names of the islanders. But Johnny was mentioned by many people in many connections. If I wanted to spend a few days on the neighboring island of Nurabandi, Johnny Lingo could put me up. If I wanted to fish, he could show me where the biting was best. If it was pearls I sought, he would bring me the best buys. The people of Kiniwata all spoke highly of Johnny Lingo. Yet when they spoke they smiled, and the smiles were slightly mocking.
"Get Johnny Lingo to help you find what you want and let him do the bargaining," advised Shenkin. "Johnny knows how to make a deal."
"Johnny Lingo!" A boy seated nearby hooted the name and rocked with laughter.
"What goes on?" I demanded. "Everybody tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo and then breaks up. Let me in on the Joke."
"Oh the people love to laugh," Shenkin said, shrugging. "Johnny's the brightest, the strongest young man in the islands. And for his age, the richest."
"But if he's all you say, what is there to laugh about?"
"Only one thing. Five months ago, at fall festival, Johnny came to Kiniwata and found himself a wife. He paid her father eight cows!"
I knew enough about island customs to be impressed. Two or three cows would buy a fair-to-middling wife, four of five a highly satisfactory one."Good Lord!" I said, "Eight cows! She must have beauty that takes your breath away."
"She's not ugly," he conceded, and smiled a little. "But the kindest could only call Sarita plain. Sam Karoo, her father, was afraid she'd be left on his hands."
"But then he got eight cows for her? Isn't that extraordinary?"
"Never been paid before."
"Yet you call Johnny's wife plain?"
"I said it would be kindness to call her plain. She was skinny. She walked with her shoulders hunched and her head ducked. She was scared of her own shadow."
"Well, I said, "I guess there's no accounting for love."
"True enough," agreed the man. "And that's why the villagers grin when they talk about Johnny. They get special satisfaction from the fact that the sharpest trader in the islands was bested by dull old Sam Karoo."
"But how?"
"No one knows and everyone wonders. All the cousins were urging Sam to ask for three cows and hold for two until he was sure Johnny'd pay only one. Then Johnny came to Sam Karoo and said 'Father of Sarita, I offer eight cows for your daughter.'"
"Eight cows," I murmured. "I'd like to meet this Johnny Lingo."
I wanted fish. I wanted pearls. So the next afternoon I beached my boat at Nurabandi. And I noticed as I asked directions to Johnny's house that his name brought no sly smile to the lips of his fellow Nurabandians. And when I met the slim, serious young man, when he welcomed me with grace to his home, I was glad that from his own people he had respect unmingled with mockery. We sat in his house and talked. Then he asked "You come here from Kiniwata?"
"Yes."
"They speak of me on that island?"
"They say there's nothing I might want that you can't help me get."
He smiled gently. "My wife is from Kiniwata."
"Yes, I know."
"They speak of her."
"A little."
"What do they say."
"Why, just...." The question caught me off balance. "They told me you were married at festival time."
"Nothing more?" The curve of his eyebrows told me he knew there had to be more.
"They also say the marriage settlement was eight cows." I paused. "They wonder why."
"They ask that?" His eyes lighted with pleasure. "Everyone in Kiniwata knows about the eight cows?"I nodded."And in Nurabandi everyone knows it too." His chest expanded with satisfaction. "Always and forever, when they speak of marriage settlements, it will be remembered that Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for Sarita."
So that's the answer, I thought: vanity.And then I saw her. I watched her enter the room to place flowers on the table. She stood a moment to smile at the young man beside me. Then she went swiftly out again. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, the sparkle of here eyes all spelled a pride to which no one could deny her the right.I turned back to Johnny Lingo and found him looking at me.
"You admire her?" he murmured.
"She...she's glorious. But she's not Sarita from Kiniwata," I said.
"There's only one Sarita. Perhaps she does not look the way they say she looked in Kiniwata."
"She doesn't. I heard she was homely. They all make fun of you because you let yourself be cheated by Sam Karoo."
"You think eight cows were too many?" A smile slid over his lips.
"No. But how can she be so different?"
"Do you ever think," he asked, "what it must mean to a woman to know that her husband has settled on the lowest price for which she can be bought? An then later, when the women talk, they boast of what their husbands paid for them. One says four cows, another maybe six. How does she feel, the woman who was sold for one or two? This could not happen to my Sarita."
"Then you did this just to make your wife happy?"
"I wanted Sarita to be happy, yes. But I wanted more than that. You say she is different. This is true. Many things can change a woman. Things happen inside, things happen outside. But the thing that matters most is what she thinks of herself. In Kiniwata, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. Now she knows she is worth more than any other woman in the islands."
"Then you wanted--"
"I wanted to marry Sarita. I loved her and no other woman."
"But--" I was close to understanding.
"But," he finished softly, "I wanted an eight-cow wife."
Johnny Lingo's Eight-Cow Wife
by Patricia McGerr
Condensed from Woman's Day, November 1965
Reader's Digest pp. 138-141, February 1988
When I sailed to Kiniwata, an island in the Pacific, I took along a notebook. After I got back it was filled with descriptions of flora and fauna, native customs and costumes. But the only note that still interests me is the one that says: "Johnny Lingo gave eight cows to Sarita's father." And I don't need to have it in writing. I'm reminded of it every time I see a woman belittling her husband or a wife withering under her husband's scorn. I want to say to them, "You should know why Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for his wife."
Johnny Lingo wasn't exactly his name. But that's what Shenkin, the manager of the guest house on Kiniwata called him. Shenkin was from Chicago and had a habit of Americanizing the names of the islanders. But Johnny was mentioned by many people in many connections. If I wanted to spend a few days on the neighboring island of Nurabandi, Johnny Lingo could put me up. If I wanted to fish, he could show me where the biting was best. If it was pearls I sought, he would bring me the best buys. The people of Kiniwata all spoke highly of Johnny Lingo. Yet when they spoke they smiled, and the smiles were slightly mocking.
"Get Johnny Lingo to help you find what you want and let him do the bargaining," advised Shenkin. "Johnny knows how to make a deal."
"Johnny Lingo!" A boy seated nearby hooted the name and rocked with laughter.
"What goes on?" I demanded. "Everybody tells me to get in touch with Johnny Lingo and then breaks up. Let me in on the Joke."
"Oh the people love to laugh," Shenkin said, shrugging. "Johnny's the brightest, the strongest young man in the islands. And for his age, the richest."
"But if he's all you say, what is there to laugh about?"
"Only one thing. Five months ago, at fall festival, Johnny came to Kiniwata and found himself a wife. He paid her father eight cows!"
I knew enough about island customs to be impressed. Two or three cows would buy a fair-to-middling wife, four of five a highly satisfactory one."Good Lord!" I said, "Eight cows! She must have beauty that takes your breath away."
"She's not ugly," he conceded, and smiled a little. "But the kindest could only call Sarita plain. Sam Karoo, her father, was afraid she'd be left on his hands."
"But then he got eight cows for her? Isn't that extraordinary?"
"Never been paid before."
"Yet you call Johnny's wife plain?"
"I said it would be kindness to call her plain. She was skinny. She walked with her shoulders hunched and her head ducked. She was scared of her own shadow."
"Well, I said, "I guess there's no accounting for love."
"True enough," agreed the man. "And that's why the villagers grin when they talk about Johnny. They get special satisfaction from the fact that the sharpest trader in the islands was bested by dull old Sam Karoo."
"But how?"
"No one knows and everyone wonders. All the cousins were urging Sam to ask for three cows and hold for two until he was sure Johnny'd pay only one. Then Johnny came to Sam Karoo and said 'Father of Sarita, I offer eight cows for your daughter.'"
"Eight cows," I murmured. "I'd like to meet this Johnny Lingo."
I wanted fish. I wanted pearls. So the next afternoon I beached my boat at Nurabandi. And I noticed as I asked directions to Johnny's house that his name brought no sly smile to the lips of his fellow Nurabandians. And when I met the slim, serious young man, when he welcomed me with grace to his home, I was glad that from his own people he had respect unmingled with mockery. We sat in his house and talked. Then he asked "You come here from Kiniwata?"
"Yes."
"They speak of me on that island?"
"They say there's nothing I might want that you can't help me get."
He smiled gently. "My wife is from Kiniwata."
"Yes, I know."
"They speak of her."
"A little."
"What do they say."
"Why, just...." The question caught me off balance. "They told me you were married at festival time."
"Nothing more?" The curve of his eyebrows told me he knew there had to be more.
"They also say the marriage settlement was eight cows." I paused. "They wonder why."
"They ask that?" His eyes lighted with pleasure. "Everyone in Kiniwata knows about the eight cows?"I nodded."And in Nurabandi everyone knows it too." His chest expanded with satisfaction. "Always and forever, when they speak of marriage settlements, it will be remembered that Johnny Lingo paid eight cows for Sarita."
So that's the answer, I thought: vanity.And then I saw her. I watched her enter the room to place flowers on the table. She stood a moment to smile at the young man beside me. Then she went swiftly out again. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The lift of her shoulders, the tilt of her chin, the sparkle of here eyes all spelled a pride to which no one could deny her the right.I turned back to Johnny Lingo and found him looking at me.
"You admire her?" he murmured.
"She...she's glorious. But she's not Sarita from Kiniwata," I said.
"There's only one Sarita. Perhaps she does not look the way they say she looked in Kiniwata."
"She doesn't. I heard she was homely. They all make fun of you because you let yourself be cheated by Sam Karoo."
"You think eight cows were too many?" A smile slid over his lips.
"No. But how can she be so different?"
"Do you ever think," he asked, "what it must mean to a woman to know that her husband has settled on the lowest price for which she can be bought? An then later, when the women talk, they boast of what their husbands paid for them. One says four cows, another maybe six. How does she feel, the woman who was sold for one or two? This could not happen to my Sarita."
"Then you did this just to make your wife happy?"
"I wanted Sarita to be happy, yes. But I wanted more than that. You say she is different. This is true. Many things can change a woman. Things happen inside, things happen outside. But the thing that matters most is what she thinks of herself. In Kiniwata, Sarita believed she was worth nothing. Now she knows she is worth more than any other woman in the islands."
"Then you wanted--"
"I wanted to marry Sarita. I loved her and no other woman."
"But--" I was close to understanding.
"But," he finished softly, "I wanted an eight-cow wife."
This story just shows how much we can affect our spouses with how we value them. Wives this also goes for our husbands. When we value them it can really make a difference. It also reminds me of our value in Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says we are "bought at a price". This price was the blood shed by Jesus. How much better is that than eight cows.
That is just something I have been thinking about lately.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Yes I do still blog
There has been so much going on around our house since my last blog post. Which is why I haven't updated you guys since May. Here are the highlights.
1. We found out we are expecting again. We are scheduled to have another little boy on December 22. His name will be Jonah Preston. So far all of our ultrasounds have been normal. We are so thankful and excited for Jonah's arrival. Here is our latest ultrasound pic.
1. We found out we are expecting again. We are scheduled to have another little boy on December 22. His name will be Jonah Preston. So far all of our ultrasounds have been normal. We are so thankful and excited for Jonah's arrival. Here is our latest ultrasound pic.
This was the biggest reason I haven't made a post in so long. I was sick my entire first trimester and then I got sick from a cold after I got over the pregnancy sickness. So I felt horrible for a good part of the spring and first part of the summer.
2. My nephew spent two weeks with us this summer once I got over being sick. That was so much fun and I wish I had taken some pictures. It was so good to just get to hang out with him. It was really different having a second kid around our house though. Who knew one extra person could make that many more dishes and laundry.
3. We decided to sell our house and move. So last month we put our house on the market.
This has been such a rollarcoaster. Two weeks after we put it on the market we had a contract on it. We were so excited and then we found a house we loved and put a contract on that as well. The next week all those plans fell through. The person buying our house didn't get his loan so therefore our house wasn't sold and we couldn't purchase the house we had found. So now we are back to showing our house again. And for those of you who know me this is difficult for me. I am not very good at keeping my house neat and tidy.
As for Levi he has seemed to not notice all the new things that are going on in our lives. He just keeps trucking along and growing like a weed. I can't hardly keep him in clothes. Thank goodness for Grandma Debbie and GG Juanita who just stocked us up on clothes.
So those are the major things that have kept me from this blog. Sorry to those of you who have been checking in and wondering what was going on (Kristen and Angie). I will try to keep up a little better now that I know there are people who actually read what is going on in our lives.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
5-5-09
We had such a busy fun weekend I was worn out. I just sat around yesterday and watched TV and took it easy. Saturday I had a Pampered Chef show and then I went to scrapbook. This is one of the pages I got done. I can't take much credit for it. I completely lifted from this blog. I just loved the layout though and how springy it is. If you love it too you can still grab some of these papers at Just4Keeps.
Journaling reads: We keep you home during the fall and winter to keep you from getting sick. So we are always so glad when it is finally spring.
And we are so glad it is finally spring. I just wish it looked like spring outside. It has been raining for a week.
Sunday we celebrated Steven's grandma's birthday. One of her gifts was a scrabble card game. I was not very good at it, but she and Steven were definitely enjoying themselves. I just thought this picture of the two of them spending time together was just precious.
I hope you all had an equally fun weekend. Now I am off to get some stuff done around the house since I didn't get anything done yesterday.
I will leave you with a verse from my quiet time this morning.
Hopefully you will be strengthened by those words as well and have a fabulous day.
Journaling reads: We keep you home during the fall and winter to keep you from getting sick. So we are always so glad when it is finally spring.And we are so glad it is finally spring. I just wish it looked like spring outside. It has been raining for a week.
Sunday we celebrated Steven's grandma's birthday. One of her gifts was a scrabble card game. I was not very good at it, but she and Steven were definitely enjoying themselves. I just thought this picture of the two of them spending time together was just precious.
I hope you all had an equally fun weekend. Now I am off to get some stuff done around the house since I didn't get anything done yesterday.I will leave you with a verse from my quiet time this morning.
"Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed . . . with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. 2 Chronicles 32:7&8
Hopefully you will be strengthened by those words as well and have a fabulous day.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
4-28-09
I took a little crafty time this weekend. Here is a card I made using Sketch #81 from the Got Sketch blog. There are some really great sketches on this blog that will really get your creativity flowing. Love it.
I know you are thinking that this doesn't look much like a baby card. I don't buy a lot of theme paper anymore so I was going for the green and cream color scheme to match this box that I made to put the baby gift in. Plus, I have just been digging on vintage lately.
Well thanks for peeking in to see what we have been up to. Hope you have a fabulous day.
Monday, April 20, 2009
4-20-09
I had a little creative streak this weekend. I found this great vintage image at http://www.scrapologie.blogs.com/ and I love it. She has some fun images on her blog. I am loving vintage images lately. I also used the CPS sketch for this week.
I created these two items for challenges at the Just4Keeps forum. Amber and I took that picture of ourselves on the ferry when we were going to Disney World when I visited her in December. We had so much fun.
Now for those of you who read my blog to see what is going on with Levi and not just to see what creative exploits I have been up to. Levi had a rough week last week. He was really fussy and would get himself worked up and start breathing funny. I was not very excited about this and we had to have a couple extra visits from his nurse. But after getting some medicine in him and a little extra loving he was back to normal by the weekend. Thank goodness. He still is getting me up a couple times during the night, but I think I can learn to live with that. Here is a sweet pic of him Sunday at church. He is wearing an adorable t-shirt my friend Peta made him. I think he looks rather dapper and I can't wait to scrapbook that picture.
I created these two items for challenges at the Just4Keeps forum. Amber and I took that picture of ourselves on the ferry when we were going to Disney World when I visited her in December. We had so much fun.
I love using orange if you haven't been able to tell. This card was fun and fast. Except for the buttons it was completely made out of scraps. Even the white cardstock I used to make the card base was a scrap that was laying on my desk.
Now for those of you who read my blog to see what is going on with Levi and not just to see what creative exploits I have been up to. Levi had a rough week last week. He was really fussy and would get himself worked up and start breathing funny. I was not very excited about this and we had to have a couple extra visits from his nurse. But after getting some medicine in him and a little extra loving he was back to normal by the weekend. Thank goodness. He still is getting me up a couple times during the night, but I think I can learn to live with that. Here is a sweet pic of him Sunday at church. He is wearing an adorable t-shirt my friend Peta made him. I think he looks rather dapper and I can't wait to scrapbook that picture.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Fresh Strawberry Cake
With spring starting strawberry prices are great and this makes me happy because I love strawberries. With that in mind Steven and I made this amazing cake last night for our friends Brent and Marybeth. It was so stinkin good I just had to share. I found the recipe in a church cookbook from Arkoma First Baptist Church. It is my friend Sarah's grandma's recipe. Got love recipes that get their start like that.
Fresh Strawberry Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 box strawberry jello
1 cup oil (we used applesauce)
4 eggs
1 big cup crushed fresh strawberries
Mix all ingredients well and bake at 350 for time said on cake box. (I actually had to cook the cake for 45 minutes)
Icing
1 lb powdered sugar
3/4 of a stick of butter
1/2 cup of crushed fresh strawberries
Mix icing ingredients well. Pour over cake while cake is still hot. Take fork and punch holes in cake and let icing soak in.
This recipe actually takes a pound of strawberries between the cake and the icing. We capped the strawberries and then mashed them with my potato masher.
This was so yummy. I am pretty sure they might serve this cake in heaven.
Enjoy!
Fresh Strawberry Cake
1 box white cake mix
1 box strawberry jello
1 cup oil (we used applesauce)
4 eggs
1 big cup crushed fresh strawberries
Mix all ingredients well and bake at 350 for time said on cake box. (I actually had to cook the cake for 45 minutes)
Icing
1 lb powdered sugar
3/4 of a stick of butter
1/2 cup of crushed fresh strawberries
Mix icing ingredients well. Pour over cake while cake is still hot. Take fork and punch holes in cake and let icing soak in.
This recipe actually takes a pound of strawberries between the cake and the icing. We capped the strawberries and then mashed them with my potato masher.
This was so yummy. I am pretty sure they might serve this cake in heaven.
Enjoy!
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