About us…

I am the superior of a small inter-denominational order called The YOKE, which is a group of Christians drawn to a life of prayer and service.

58 thoughts on “About us…”

  1. Dear sister,

    Thank you for your blog and your heartfelt and sincere writings. I, too, am a plain dressing, prayer covering Christian, seeking to serve the Lord where ever He takes me. I am neither Mennonite, Amish, Quaker or Brethren (though my mother was raised Dunkard — Old German Brethren in PA). I attend a very large, non-denominational Bible church. It has been an interesting progression to go from post-modern (cut/dyed hair, jewelry, fashioned clothing) to a plain modest woman. My family has not been sympathetic of my choice nor have they particularly understood my reasons for doing it. My husband is agreeable to a point, but has asked me not to go “Amish” on him. Out of respect for him, I have tailored my plainness to be modest, yet humble and sober (be ye soberminded). I wear long skirts, simple blouses, underskirts, dark stockings and sturdy shoes or boots. I am out of date (in the 1970s-80s, I was in style with this look!), but comfortable. I wear a bandana or simple scarf for my covering (hoping soon to try and make my own prayer cap). I also frequent thrift shops and pick up as many “plain” skirts and dresses as I can find. Unfortunately, they are often hard to come by now adays. Most of the dresses are made of inappropriate fabric and the skirts are form-fitting and short. I am not a good seamstress and do not have a lot of money to purchase my ready-made plain dresses. I do have a sewing machine and am getting up the nerve to try and sew my own skirts and modest dresses (using a Cape pattern).

    I just wanted to tell you that I stopped by and enjoyed reading all your posts (yes, I read all of them — or most of them). Blessings to you and your husband as you journey down this road of spiritual enlightenment. God is good and His mercy endures forever!

    • I Just wanted to encourage you in your journey. Even if you are not making your own clother, your are practicing a form os simplicity. You are buying 2nd hand and that’s a very good thing – reducing your carbon footprint by buying used.
      You are also dressing appropriately for a woman of good. I don’t know that you need to wear the “simple” dresses if what you do wear is modest. Isn’t that the point? We are to be modest in all our conduct. I think God is very pleased with you.

    • I understand where you are coming from in reading your post here, Carol. I am in a very similar situation with the family and husband. It is tough, but my husband has tried to be gracious about the whole thing, understanding as much as he can, I suppose. There have been moments of uncertainty when he has vented his concerns about my plain dress journey, and I try to listen and show that I value his opinion and hear his concerns with sincerity. Feeling led to this is not an easy thing to get through with family that is less than understanding, I empathize! Sewing just takes practice; anyone can do it, although I understand finding time to learn can be challenging.

      I have felt drawn to the Christian Quaker faith, and for almost two years now I have been on a journey of discovery which has also led me to plain dress and simple living for a variety of reasons, many of which Magdalena speaks of in her blog that mirror Quaker faith and practice ideas but also are in themselves independent. She has been wonderfully encouraging! I am so grateful for her words, her friendship and her spirit she graciously shares with us all!

      It is very nice to “meet” you. Being on similar journeys at the same time, I would love to make a new friend who is also experiencing much of what I am right now! I can be reached at enjwebb@yahoo.com if you are interested. Anyone else seeing this may feel free to contact me as well at that email. Blessings to you on your journey!
      Jen Webb

  2. Blessings to you, Carol!

    The prayer cap is not hard to make. Start with a piece of old sheeting or something similar to get the right fit for you, and just baste it together, adjusting as needed, until you have a good fit, then take your pattern from that. I make my patterns from old gift wrap; it lasts better than tissue. Mark your pleats on the pattern so you don’t have to adjust each time you cut one. I usually sew the cap by hand to have more control and to get a better finished look. “Quaker Jane” has some very nice photos of herself in various styles. Remember, you can wear the cap at home, and until your husband is ready to see you in it all the time, tie your scarf over it when you go out. Just untie the strings and put them back under the scarf. You can pin the scarf to the cap.

    I would suggest that you polish your sewing skills on a jumper or simple pullover dress before you dive into the cape dress! The traditional patterns are described as “for experts” and they require some practice in fitting. But do get a pattern and spend time with it. Again, the old-fashioned muslin mock-up can be a great exercise in fitting.

    Sister, keep praying and let the Spirit work in you and those who love you. Listen to all, but especially to the Lord speaking ot you in Word, Sacrament and in your own heart. Pray without ceasing. Be patient, as God is patient with us.

    May the Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, bless you and keep you, and make His face to shine upon you, and grant you peace.

  4. Hello. I feel led to plain dress and was lloking for advice about what to do when clothes have become to thread bare. I do not want to spend lots of money on clothes ( I ontend to order custom cape dresses at a rather expensive to me $55 each). However I will probally not order anymore than 3 each for summer/fall (live in fl so that’s all there really is) and plan to wear them for 3yrs at least hopefully which I realize will break down into way less than I sed yearly now (it’s amazing how when tinking about only getting rid of clothes when they are threadbare and not gettig unnecessary gamets has made me reaze how excessive I am even though I have one of the smallest wadrobes I knw compares to friends). Anyway, I ws wondi if you had any advice on what to do when tecothes are no longer wearable. I do nt want to throw them awy and as someone who has sorted through donated items I know the insensitivity in gieto others cothes you yourself would not deemwearable (less it be for size,color reasons, etc.) Do you have anyi deas? Can material be recycled? I am also tinking maybe they could be cut up and turned into aprons.

    • I make my old dresses into aprons, kerchiefs, or if too far gone, into patches for other dresses. I also cut the sleeves off and turn them into slips, if possible. I am rather extreme in frugality, so I wear my dresses patched and darned for far too long, perhaps, but as long as I am decent and clean, no one can object. Wool fabric can be recycled into braided rugs. Cotton can be turned into woven rugs, a very old practice. I have seen woven wool scrap rugs that are close to a hundred years old. It used to be that linen and cotton rags got turned into paper. I don’t know if anyone does that anymore.

  5. Dear Magdalena,
    I am reading your blog with great interest. I am a Catholic woman in Australia who is feeling increasingly convicted to dress and live a Plain life, and increasingly disenchanted with Catholic doctrine and hierachy. We are currently not aattending any Church at the moment as we are unable to find one that fits. Perhaps home church will be the option forthe near future. I am currently wearing long sober coloured skirts and blouses -mostly either thrifted or made myself, I am lucky to be an experienced seamstress, I do not wear head covering at the moment although I have been considering it for some time. The trouble is that here in Brisbane Australia there are no Plain people and I know of only one other Christian woman who wears a scarf. The only folk who cover up here in the subtropics are Muslim women. This is real issue for me as I don’t wish to draw unnessecary attention to myself -dressing Plain and covering would draw more attention than going about naked around here! I am deeply concerned about appearing to be vain and self rightous in my appearance, and have been doing much heart searching about the whole issue. However I cannot escape the conviction to become Plain. I read you rblog with interest and encouragement it is good to know ther eare other folk out there who share the same convictions – when I first felt this call I thought te only folk who lived this lifestyle were the Old Order Mennoites and the Amish and I wouldn’t want to be seen to be aping thier culture.
    Thank you so much for your encoouraging blog. If you have any words of wisdom for me they would be graetly appreciated.
    Saskia

    • Try googling on “Quaker!” Quakers were Plain Anglicans about 400 years ago, but as always the Anglicans threw out the dissidents. People often think we are being judgmental when we are convicted. But covering and Plain dress are like the cross on a church – a visible reminder of faith. Be humble about it, but if thee is convicted, then suffer that conviction with joy! I recommend “Quaker Jane” as a website that is very helpful. she is a Plain dressing, Conservative Quaker in the USA. Also, look through my post comments for “Sarah,s” replies. She is also Australian. Please feel free to communicate through this site if thee desires. God bless thee.

  6. Hello

    It’s soo nice to read your blog. I too, am a Plain Anglican 😀 (my husband, son and I were confirmed this past July.. my husband is a “reader”, and my son is an Acolyte) I am the only lady in our congregation who wears a head-covering. I wear it full-time too, not just in church.
    I think everyone is getting used to me now, as the stares have stopped, and some ladies are getting brave (I laugh at the thought of them having to be brave) enough to ask me about my headcovering.

    Can you help me understand why the headcovering is not talked about in the Anglican church.. it was actually skipped over in our parish a while back.. we read up to 1 Corin 11:1, then skipped right down to 1 Corin 11:17 .

    thank you, again

    • Rose, I see I didn’t get back to you promptly! Let me know a little more about you and your congregation, if you wish. I think I will probably write a blog post on Anglicans and headcovering soon.

  7. I enjoy reading your blog. I have had the tug on my heart for a long time to be plain and wear a head covering. DH doesn’t approve and likes me to wear make up jewlrey, ect. but when I do it to please him I feel like I’m dishonering God. There aren’t any churches in my area that believe as I do. There is a spanish church that requires the women to wear long dresses or skirts but I don’t speak spanish. So I sit home alone and study God’s word and get criticized by others for not belonging to a church family.

    Thank you for having this blog

    • Le-Teisha, please tell me more about where you are in your faith journey, what sort of environment you live in, and whether your husband is churched (and where.) If you don’t want the information made public, let me know and I will keep it off-site and reply to your personal email, if that is all right with you. You are not the first to struggle with this; we’ve all been trough it, sometimes more than once! The ladies who participate here will pray for you.

      • I grew up in a Methodist church so I’ve always known God but never had a relationship with Him until about 10 years ago. In the beginning of my walk things were very good but I was hungry for answers that the pastor of the church I was attending answered but it never made any sense. I believe that the bible is the word of God. His word stands to be true yesterday, today and forever so when I asked about women’s attire and headcovering I was told by several Pastors and their wifes that we are under grace and that doesn’t apply to today’s society. But still in my heart I believe what I read in the bible to be true and that is the desire of God’s heart for us as women.

        I live in the city and dh is not churched. His best friend is trying to get him to attend church with him but has only been successful once. I’m not sure about the church where his friend goes because it is pastored by a woman and my understanding is that a man should be the head. Thank you for taking the time to respond to me. I hope your thanksgiving is blessed.

  8. Community is important to Christians. We will veer off the way if we try to walk alone. Don’t worry so much about the issue of a woman minister. She is under headship, too. Women served in the first churches along with the apostles. Our authority is always Christ, not ourselves. Paul forbade women to “speak out” in some churches, not in all. Many of his letters were addressed to women who headed churches. This does not mean that they sat in headship in some chairman-of-the-board way. It means that the Holy Spirit spoke in them, and gave them witness. They were following the way of a righteous woman such as the one in Proverbs 31. I know this issue has been confused over the last 1700 years, but the Lord sees fit to call women into active ordained ministry now. One friend says it is because men have refused to take that role!

  9. How have I not stumbled on your site before. Or have I, and forgotten? But how could I forget. I love the premise.

    I’m wondering if you’ve ever read any of Thomas Clarkson’s “A Portraiture of Quakerism…” (actual title being thirty words longer). He was an Anglican and early abolitionist who started working with Friends around 1800, a time when they transitioning from “peculiar” and inward-focused to more outwardly engaged, a process that eventually caused great upheavals and turmoil among Friends. Clarkson wrote about Friends, primarily for an Anglican audience, and I’ve always guessed he was holding them up as an example of Christian living, a kind of mirror to his fellow still-slaveholding Anglicans. It’s a invaluable snapshot of Friends, much more accessible and interesting than many Quaker writings of the day and because he’s an outsider he expressing it in non-Quaker language.

    It seems like Clarkson might have been engaged in an experiment not unlike your own, though I don’t think he ever took up plainness or any other peculiar testimony. I’ve written about him a few times on my QuakerRanter blog (read bottom to top for chronological order) and I’ve put his book in the Library page of QuakerQuaker.

    Just a personal note: my wife and I went plain (more or less) while she was still a Friend but returned to the Catholic church a few years later. Sunday morning we’re often in Mass, me trying to not participate too much or too little (I don’t want to be rude) and she there in plain dress. We confuse people, yes we do.

    • Well, thank you for finding me! I’ve read your blog often. I haven’t read Clarkson because I’ve been unable to find a copy of his book. It is on my “search”list. I hear from Plain Catholics from time to time, and respect what they do, but couldn’t join. My ordination gets in th way, and their strict Vatican I ordnung is not something I could follow. BTW, your comment ended up in spam – sorry I didn’t get it sooner; don’t know why, but it was rescued.

  10. I have read some of your postings and I will probably read more of them. I recognize myself since I belong to the Swedish Church (an evangelical-lutheran church) but feel drawn to quakerism and modest dress. I say modest, because plain is too strong in order to describe me, I wear clothes that do not show off my body, I do not wear make-up and I have just stopped dyeing my hair. However, I like clothes with prints and strong colors and I am not ready to give up modern clothes completely, although I try to choose wisely. I have just started wearing a cap or scarf over my hair in church and one day I will wear one all the time, I hope.

    I never feel like anyone in my church has the same interests and views as I do so I am glad when I find someone who has some that at least resemble mine. Like you I also believe in living a frugal life and not waste, although I do not always succeed in my attempts. Compared to most people I am frugal, but not enough according to my own standards. I often spend about double the amount that I could live on and still thrive, but I still have quite a lot of money left from each salary anyway. That is the hard thing I guess, compared to my needs I make too much money so it is hard to be as frugal as one can be. (I am not extremely rich as it may be interpreted, I am a teacher, so for having spent 4.5 years at the university, I make peanuts really)

    I have blabbed enough about myself, I enjoyed your blog, and I will continue reading and asking you questions.

    • hello, Elin – Good to hear from you. I looked at your blog, but it willt ake me a while to decipher the Swedish! My Scandinavian language skills have faded over the last few years. I used to preach sometimes in a Swedish Covenant church, which was the old Swedish mission in America. Welcome, and God bless you in your journey of faith.

  11. Yes, my blog is in Swedish I am afraid. I have thought about getting an English blog too, but even though I have studied English at university level it is much harder to write in English, at least about important things like feelings and faith. I have a girl who is English-speaking who follows my blog using a translation program, google’s if I am not mistaken. I checked it and apart from word order and the fact the it cannot handle all Swedish compounds (they can be very long and consist of several words) it does give a good idea of what the text is about.

  12. Sister Magdalena,

    I find your site intriguing as I was raised conservative Presbyterian, wandered away from God and returned to him through the Episcopal church. My husband and I are now members in an Anabaptist church (loosely affiliated with the charity movement). We use the BCP at home for family worship and I use it for my personal devotions. Obviously I where a veiling and we dress plainly etc.

    I wonder how you have reconciled the great difference in attitude between the Anabaptist and Anglican traditions. To the Anglican the “sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise” is a reflection of the joy we recieve from God’s work in us that prompts us to serve him out of gratitude and as a reflection of his making “all things new”. The Anabaptists I know (ranging from very exclusive horse and buggy groups through the liberal side of things (MCC)) all seem to fall into somewhat of a practical gnosticism. That is they speak frequently of being “broken before God”, “laying all on the altar” etc and they seem to have very little joy of the Lord. I am convinced that the joy of the Anglican tradition, the ability to celebrate and the ability to work out our faith daily that is so strong for Anabaptists ought not to be contradictory yet somehow they are in many minds.

    Thoughts?

    • I am a different kind of Anglican. I am very much in the Cranmer “woeful sinner” school. I take it you are in the United States. You will be using the “new” prayer book, which like the Canadian Alternative Services book, has a very upbeat twentieth century, modernist outlook. If you look at the REformation roots of the Anglican church, you will see a heavy Lutheran influence laid over the existing Western Orthodoxy theology. That didn’t change until the mid-nineteenth century.

      I don’t see much gnosticism in the Anabaptist theology or practice. There is a sense of growing into the work of the church as we mature in faith. I’d say “being broken before God” is essential to my understanding of our relationship to the Divine. There is a joy in it, but it is an austere joy that looks to the life of the world to come. The “Allelluias” are reserved for the heavenly throne.

  13. Thank you sister in Christ for your wonderful sharing of your journey. I am a professional woman with an influential career who went on a vacation and somewhere along the line had a revelation that I needed to make adjustments in my life. I have just started on this road. I am married to a wonderful man that hates change and enjoys the fact that I have the profession that I do. I am not positive where this path is taking me but the changes have been made. So far, he has been accepting. I am called to cover but have concerns of how this will blend with both my job and my homelife. I live in a small town and I am well known, not sure that the two will combine well. Could it be that this is a test my God to see who I love more Him or my lifestyle?

    At any rate, thank you for your blog and I look forward to future entries.

    • Thank you for your kind comment. I hope you will feel encouragement from others who are sojourning on this road as well. Many of us have had to take some knocks along the way from people we know and even from our families. Families can be the hardest. This takes a lot of prayer. If you feel convicted, then take the step. You will meet with questions and resistance and even rejection, but carry that as a cross to bear. My advice is that you decide if headcovering to you means any headcovering, such as a kerchief, crocheted cap or buncover, or if you are called to be Plain. Plain means simple, modest, old-fashioned clothes, with a veil, prayer kapp or kerchief. Most of us are the only Plain person in our churches. Whichever you decide, do so in prayer and in following the Holy Spirit. Discuss it with people you trust. I usually say talk it over with your minister as well as your husband and children. You may find that your minister is puzzled and perhaps hostile. Take it in stride, though. Obey yoru husband, pray for him, and if your minsiter opposes you in covering, youmsut decide if you shoudl be obedient there or if it is better to obey God than the ways of men.

      It is so hard to give up a comfortable life. You`ve worked hard, gotten the education, built up a business or career, provided for your family. Can a little thing like a square of fabric on your head make a difference – Yes, it can, it will, and you should brace yourself for it. I didn`t think it mattered that much – in ministry, I often wore clothes different from others. But I was poorly prepared. God bless `Quaker Jane`and her sensible advice!

      Stay in touch if you wish. There are others who communicate here who will be supportive. God bless you in this.

  14. Dear Sister,

    I am so glad to have found this site and can not wait to get to reading! I am a member of the Episcopal Church in the United States and have felt a tug of plain modest dress for a few years now. My family, friends and congregation would probably flip if I just all of a sudden started wearing cape dresses and headcoverings though, so I just wear long skirts most of the time in solid colors with solid colored shirts. As for headcovering, I’m not sure. I need to pray and study more about it and make sure that it is for the right reasons.

    Thank you so much for sharing your insights. God bless you!

    • Be sure to read the comments – other women have had some marvelous insights into their conviction to dress Plain and modest. My own experience was of a slow conviction that got sudden expression; I had almost no transformation period and went to Plain and headcovering virtually overnight, from fairly advanced fashion ideas! If you are on facebook, look for “Plain Quakers” and Quaker Jane” and you will be led to meet some wonderful Plain-dressed Conservative Quakers and othes, like me, who have Quaker leanings. God bless you on this journey.

  15. I am so glad to have found you here.
    I’ve been ‘wrestling’ with plain dress since early 2007, and as I am not a member of a church at all, let alone a plain dressing church I find it all sometimes dismaying and confusing.
    I created a wardrobe of simple, long dresses and aprons, wore them exclusively for many months, then laid them aside assuming I was just “going through a phase”….but the whole plaind dress thing will not leave me alone.
    Summer is here, my original dresses are far too hot, and rather than resort to shorts and tank tops like everyone around me I find myself making a batch of dresses in lighter more summer-friendly fabric.
    Either God is leading me in this, or I am just nuts.
    Whichever it is, I take comfort in knowing I’m not alone.
    Thank you all!

    • Have you had a look at “Quaker Jane?” She went through the same sort of searching you did. God will let you know when and where you are to land. Perhaps a Quaker meeting, whether Plain or liberal, would be a comfortable place for you at this time. (Depends on your tolerance for sitting silently with other people.) It is a blessing to help others with their leadings. And if this is crazy, it is at least a gentle, Godly crazy!

  16. Magdalena,
    I have seen your comments on “Amish America”, but I do believe that God has led me to see your blog! I am an Episcopal priest (sometimes struggling), and am very drawn to being plain. You are like an answer to prayer. Along with following “Amish America” I will be more attentive to you, now that I’ve found you. God willing, I hope to retire in about 4 years–to move to the country and live the life I believe God is call me to after all these years!
    Thank you for being here–and beling Anglican, Plain! I’d love to meet you!
    Peace,
    Ann +

    • You must be in the States somewhere – which diocese? While called to be Plain, I was also called to struggle with the church and my bishop on a number of issues; oddly, Plain is not one of them!

  17. Yes, I am in the States–Diocese of Mississippi. Recently read “The Naked Anabaptist” quite a read! You mention you are a priest–how does head covering work with Eucharist vestments? I gather you’re in England. Quite a bit of turmoil in ye old communion. Thanks for the refreshement!

    Blessings

    • I’m in Canada. I am out of parish ministry right now, and I’ve struggled a bit with headcovering with vestments. I don’t vest much – no chasubles, monastic alb; prefer cassock, surplice and tippet. I never wear a collar. (Always hated them, before I was Plain – but my bishop insisted.) I sometimes wore decorative kippot at the altar, rather as an Orthodox deacon would, but I prefer my prayer kapp. My theory of service is that I am invisible at the altar; I keep my hand motions, posture and presence as quiet as possible. I do not want the people to think, “Oh, that’s the priest doing the eucharist,” because it is always Christ at the high altar. So no showy vestments, no waving of hands, (the epiclesis consecrates, not me), and no high elevation. My goal is a simple re-enactment of the last supper with the calling of the Holy Spirit to consecrate those who receive the bread and wine. (Intention being key to this.)

      I believe that people like us are drawn to being Plain as a way of carrying on the ways of the apostolic church, which the church has lost in eras of ceremonia land theological accretion.

  18. Thank you for your kind replies! I am so grateful to find you and your blog. Let’s keep in touch!
    Blessings in your day!

  19. I just wanted to say that I am really glad I found your blog. I am an Episcopalian. My parents were Missionaries with the Church of the Brethren. My Mother grew up Mennonite. We come from Lancaster PA, and Central Indiana.

    The idea of a plain life sounds intriguing. So many days I feel just lost in the fast pace of modern city life. I long to be back to my youth living on an apple orchard.

    I look forward to further reading on your blog.

    Pax

    Kirk

    • Thank you, Kirk. As you read through past posts you will see it has not been easy. We live as Plain as possible where we are and doing what we do -our goal is to get back into country life, as I was raised. I’ve lived in an apple orchard, off-grid – what a great time that was! God bless you.

  20. There are a lot of plain dressing women in the Orthodox church as there are a large no. of converts from different backgrounds. Also there is a back to the land community minded movement in the church.

    • I was in the Orthodox community for a while myself, and Plain. Because modesty is emphasized among the Orthodox, plain dress fits right in. In many Orthodox churches, women are expected to wear a head covering of some sort (and not a fancy hat, either) and a modest skirt or dress. I will find a link to some of the modest-dress Orthodox resources and publish it in a post soon. Thanks for reminding me! I can certainly write more on this, especially the simplicity movement among the Orthodox.

  21. Pingback: 2010 in review « Anglican, Plain

  23. Thank you so much for your presence here. I am an Episcopalian/Quaker leaning commissioned spiritual director, retired midwife, “merry wife” of the gentle and dear Benjamin and mother of four children. I’ve been struggling to find a way to articulate my “leadings” over time and have vacillated ceaselessly between maintaining my 35 year ties to the old, Episcopal Church in downtown Detroit that has seen so much of my life, including the baptisms of all of my children and the funeral of one of them, and held so much beauty for me in it’s liturgy and music. I’ve been a professional musician all of my life and Church music, in particular our “high Church” liturgical music and Anglican chant bring me a great deal of spiritual and emotional consolation. At heart, though, I am “plain” and live as an urban farmer (I love your current postings reference to using the term “crofting” to describe this lifestyle; I may adopt it, it’s a grand old term) and in many ways, as an “anchorite” with my household and local community. Your blog is heartening and lovely to look at; I’ll continue reading.

  24. I wanted to thank you for your site!

    I am a young Baptist seminarian who is increasingly drawn to a simple, and maybe Plain, life. One of the courses that had the most impact on me so far in Divinity school was “Quaker Spirituality” taught by the (Quaker) chaplain at Guilford College.

    I think bringing the testimony of simplicity and Plainness to non-traditionally Plain traditions is something that will grow. I know many of my friends and peers are drawn to a more simple lifestyle, one more in tune with what God calls us to. It is also a more Just way of living as it has less of an impact on Creation and (should) be more just in relations with other people as well.

    • I believe this is a movement of the Holy Spirit, as many from many places are being called without knowing each other at all. The Baptist way and the Plain way are very compatible. I grew up in a Baptist church that was near Plain when I was a child, but the church elders were drawn into the prosperity teaching and a theology of hyperdispensationalisim before I was out of my teen years. Think of John Knox as an example of simple living in a Baptist setting. Quakers and Baptists cross-pollinated in the early years of their establishment, so it isn’t surprising that you find refreshment for the soul there.

      May God bless thee on thy journey!

    • No, I’ve dropped FB for a while. Thanks for checking in – we are still struggling with health issues, and thanks for your prayers.

      • Okay, I was worried about you both, but didn’t know who to check with to see how you were. I don’t have an email addy for you so couldn’t contact you that way. God bless, & I pray things continue to improve for you; I was scrubbing walls at the new house today; sore shoulders!!

  26. This is about the post on the “BAD WORDPRESS”- I learned a very long time ago when things like that happen to me in the WP editor, not to use it. I downloaded Windows Live Writer, believe me a world and a half difference over the editor on WP, don’t get me wrong absolutely love WP, however the editor is not the easiest to use, plus does things like happened to you.
    Live writer will still let you publish thru WP, Share Buttons and the whole 9 yards, however it is streamlined and much fast easier to use and really good with putting in pictures.

    • Thanks for the advice. In more than three years wth wordpress, I’ve only had this happen a couple of times, and it may be because one of their technicians was trying to fix a bug in my account at the same time. I like wordpress, and I didn’t have much success with Windows Live Writer before, but that was on an older laptop, so maybe I wil try it again. I find there are a certain number of conflicts between updated Word, Google, Windows 7 and just about every other programme I am using. I assume, perhaps optimistically, that this will get addressed.

    • Thank you. Nicholas doesn’t write much anymore since his stroke. We are always interested to hear from people who have been led in the same way

  28. God bless what you’re doing. As a sort of displaced Angican living in the southwest, I’ve also been drawn to the Plain life – especially of the Old Order Mennonites (we have them living here not too far away). The simplicity of lifestyle and clothing is a testimony, I believe, to the need to be separate from the world – in it, but not of it. We’ve started growing our own vegetables (not an easy task in our part of the country). Carol

  29. Bless you and your husband. After reading over your whole blog these last few days I think of you often and pray that you both enjoy greater health and less poverty and uncertainty in your lives.
    I was recently baptised into the Orthodox Church, after decades of spiritual searching and confuson. I am also drawn towards a humble, simple life. I have lived something of a wild life and now I find myself lead to what I might have once considered an oppressive practice – headcovering. Thank you so much for your insightful, wise and inspiring words and work. Natalie

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