Sorry this is going out late. I have a migraine today.

Proverbs 31:14-15 (New International Version)

¹⁴ She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.

¹⁵ She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

She is like the merchant ships,

This makes me think back to Bible times, ships didn’t come in every day, so she plans out what she will need until they arrive again.

Also, with their status–does she travel with her husband and while away on business or pleasure, is she looking for new foods and spices?

She is LIKE a merchant ship,  What does this make you think of?  travelling, exploring, going to new places, being gone to sea for a long time, adventerous…  What words do you think of when you think of yourself like a MERCHANT SHIP?

She is like a merchant ship, bringing her food from afar.

She tries new foods and spices from other countries that are not available in her area.  She is able to buy quality as well.

Do you ever try something new, for fun?  Sometimes we will see a new fruit in the store that we have never tried before and get it — sometimes we love it and other times we don’t.

Being from the Midwest and living in Florida there are different foods.  There are a lot of Cubans and Haitians here and the grocery stores carry a lot of foods for them.

Cuban food is very different than I imagined it to be.  I thought it would be spicy kind of like Mexican food but it is very bland.  They do not use a lot of spices in their food. Are you stuck in a rut or do you try new foods?

We do not force our kids to eat everything on their plate and we do not make them eat things they do not like.  Every once in awhile we will have them try something, they did not like before to see if their tastes have changed but just a bite unless they want some more.

I do not want dinner time to be unpleasant with kids crying and arguing about food.  I do want them to try new things and because they are not forced to eat everything we put on their plates, our kids are more willing to try new things.  It works for us.  They have well balanced meals and try new things from time to time.

My pediatrician from Kansas City,  (love that doctor) gave me some advice, at an appointment one day…he said “you should never force a child to eat, if every adult ate like a child, no one would ever be over weight”.

He then said “If your child isn’t hungry at lunch time, don’t make them eat, they will let you know when they are hungry and they will stop when they are full”.

He said “Kids go through growth spurts where they will eat and eat and seem to never get full and then they will have times where they eat one or two bites at every meal for a week or two”.  That stuck with me

I came from a family where my parents forced us to eat vegetables and it didn’t matter if we had it 2 weeks ago and hated it they still made us try it.  Dinner time was miserable.  The only vegetables I liked were corn and celery sticks.  So we took a different approach.  I want my children to try a variety of things and enjoy sitting down and exploring new things.

Do you remember when we went to a restaurant and had frog legs and alligator tail–everyone tried it, even the 2 little ones.  It is fun to explore new foods and try new things.

She gets up while it is still dark;

She is a planner.  She had to get up while it is still dark to get everything done that she accomplishes.  She utilizes all of her time.  She is a multi-tasker.  I get e-mails all of the time from people asking me how do I do it all.  I don’t know where that perception came from–I do not do it all.  I do multi task.  I am a planner and have plan A, B and C in my head with sub-points and alternate plans in case something goes off plan.  If I am working on dinner, I am usually working on other things as well.  I may have a project that I am working on and then while it is drying, I am unloading the dishwasher and throwing in a load of laundry or making a grocery list or looking something up on the internet.  If I am heading down the hall, is there something else that needs to go to that end of the house so I am not making multiple trips.

she provides food for her family

x

and portions for her servant girls.

A month ago, I mentioned that it looks like she has help.  This is what I was talking about.  She has servant girls that help her attend to all she needs done.

I don’t know how many she has but we know she is a busy gal with her hand in many pots and I would imagine she has hired help in many of those areas.

She probably have some that help her with her gardens

others with cleaning and the children.

She seems to be the type that would take care of those around her.  If she hears of a need, she takes care of their problem.

I would imagine she provides food for them as they work at her place.  They very well may live there too.

I see her as someone who is quite neighborly and takes a meal when someone has had a new baby or is sick or had a death in the family.

When you take a meal to another family–what do you prepare for your family?  Does your family get the same meal or did you spend so much time and money on the other family that your family gets left overs?  What kind of message does that send to your husband and children?