Katy’s Weblog
This article “Don’t want the freedom of the empty nest” resonated with me, particularly these paragraphs:
“The sad thing is, when my own children were small our family activities had to be restricted mostly to free things. My decision to be a stay-at-home mom at that point meant an entertainment budget so tiny as to be nonexistent.
When you need to make a decision and ask for God’s leading, how do you know what His answer is?
Two situations recently taught me something about discerning God’s leading.
A friend had to make a decision – yes or no in accepting a position.
Me: “Why don’t you ask God to give you a sign?”
When I turned 40, my sisters warned me that I will soon be getting white hair. My mother started getting white hair at about that age, and so did my two older sisters.
Eleven years later, and I am holding the count at 3 white hairs. I count them everyday to make sure there are not more than 3. My sisters are amazed that I haven’t had to color my hair.
Bad news: my husband had chest pains and went to ER
Good news: it wasn’t a heart attack
Bad news: his EKG was abnormal, looked liked a heart attack
Good news: he felt fine with no more chest pains when he was at the hospital
Bad news: he had to stay overnight at the hospital in CCU to run more tests to make sure
The King’s Christmas List is a cute children’s book written by Eldon Johnson. It’s a hardback beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Leick. I would consider this a gift book appropriate for children under 10 years old, reading this book with their parents, snuggled under covers with a cup of hot chocolate on a cool Christmasy day.
My recent surgery experience taught me a few things about praying for others.
*I found it hard to pray for myself. I couldn’t concentrate, and was distracted by attending to immediate details and worries. However, I was reminded that many people were praying for me. I was comforted to know that God heard all those prayers, even if he didn’t hear any from me.
I posted about my surgery experience on my parenting site, if you care to read that.
Here are some additional thoughts:
* When my surgeon and anesthesiologist came to see me just prior to the surgery, they asked, “Do you have any questions for us?” I said, “No question. I just want you to know my life is in your hands. I hope you are well-rested, alert, and in a good mood!” The surgeon replied, “Well, I am a little tired – just kidding!”
I read this from Dennis Rainey of Family LIfe:
The choices you make today or tomorrow are not confined to today or tomorrow. A baby step of obedience may be all the ground you need to cover today in order to put yourself in position to launch a major spiritual breakthrough later on.
Our family is weird. We love brussel sprouts, spinach, artichokes, and all kinds of vegetables.
I saw this at Trader Joe’s today. It’s the first time I’ve seen a brussel sprout stalk. Rather pretty, don’t you think? It can be a centerpiece – for the right table setting.
It’ll be exciting to pluck them and cook them tomorrow.
It’s quite an enigma to me why we remember certain rather useless things from our childhood, while probably forgetting a lot of important things.
I remember growing up when we had relatives over for dinner, my mother would start washing dishes right after dinner. My father would tell her to relax and enjoy the conversation…