Brad,
I'd offer to send you a shawl, if I ever get one done, but if they don't
start looking much better than what they look like right now, I'm afraid
that you may feel cursed instead of blessed.  You know, "a pox upon your
house," or your neck or something?  Grin!
Yah, I'm at peace about Chris.  It's better than fretting!  I'm working on
Psalm 37:8 and trying to internalize it.  I'd quote it to you, but I"m
feeling mean tonight.  GRIN!  No, Really, it says, "Refrain from anger and
turn from wrath; do not fret--it leads only to evil.  Not bad for the
mother of a rebellious teen, eh?
Kathy


At 06:01 PM 4/19/2005, you wrote:
>Kathy,
>
>I don't mean to sound selfish here, but since you are knitting a prayer
>shawl, and you pray while you knit, and since you are yet crummy at
>it...oops  er, did I say that???  slow at it, oops darn iut anyhow,
>,  ...errr... still learning??? Go ahead and pray for me as I'll be
>covered for many a day to come I'm sure hahahahahahahahahahahhaha.
>
>Hey someone has to write dramas, why not you? We do dramas at church here
>and I really enjoy them. In fact I was on the list to play in them, but
>they've never called me for some reason. Hmmm.
>
>Sounds like you are much more at peace with things regarding Chris, not
>necessarily joyful, but more at peace with the rest of life and not
>letting his foolishness intrude on your life as much. Hope you  are on
>your way to be a published drama script writer.
>
>Brad
>
>
>
>
>
>
>on 02:49 PM 4/19/2005, Kathy Du Bois said:
>Hey Guys,
>          I have no particular reason for sharing this, except to let you
>know that
>I do have a life outside of what is going on with Chris.  Besides, I'm
>kind
>of proud of myself.  I like to share victories as well as defeats.
>
>          First of all, I  have  been fascinated with the idea of a prayer
>shawl
>ministry for a long time and I kind of wanted to get involved, or maybe
>even start one at our church.  Problem, well, I kind of know how to knit a
>straight stitch, but that's it!  When it comes to domestic stuff and hand
>crafts, I'm kind of a disaster, but I really wanted to figure out a way to
>do this.  Well, I finally started talking about it with the ladies around
>our church.  Of course, I was immediately intimidated because, all these
>ladies are great at knitting.  I could tell from their
>enthusiastic  response that I was probably in  over my head
>already.  Anyway, three of these grand-motherly ladies stayed after church
>and managed to teach me how to pearl and, I got it!  Yea!!  Now, for those
>of you who do knit, I need to tell you that these ladies had a real
>challenge on their hands because, not only couldn't I see what they were
>doing so that I could imitate it, forcing them to put their motions into
>words, but, I'm also left handed, which means that I already knit
>backwards
>from them, but pearling is backwards knitting and so these pour ladies had
>to try to figure out how to do a double reverse.  Anyway, hurray!  I
>finally got it.  Now, I've been sitting around, driving our cat crazy by
>continuing to practice.  It looks horrible, but I continue to be
>determined
>because I just love the concept so much.
>          For anybody who doesn't know, a prayer shawl is a shawl that you
>knit
>while praying for someone.  Some people pray to one of the members of the
>trinity for each row, but I'm not into that.  I just like the idea of
>concentrating on somebody in prayer and then being able to give them
>something to let them know that they really have been prayed for.  There's
>nothing mystical or anything about it.  It's just, kind of a neat
>gesture.  Anyway, I'm knitting and pearling now and, since it's the
>prayers
>and not the looks that count, I'm excited.
>          The other accomplishment of my weekend, I actually  sealed
>today.  I've
>sent out my first querey letter to try to have one of my dramas
>published.  It's  a skit based on the parable of the four soils.  I'm kind
>of nervice about it; especially since the publishing field is paved with
>rejection letters, but I just felt that it was time for me to begin moving
>forward.  Oh, isn't the enemy already attacking me on that one.  Oh
>well.    I put it in the mailbox and told God that it is in His hands now,
>and I mean it.
>          In other news, Chris did do some partying on Friday night.  Now
>too, he
>has a girl friend, so the plot thickens.  He was okay about Greg not
>letting him drive though and, in general, I think that we're all just
>trying to lay low, on both sides, for now.  Chris is actually being much
>more polite since he came home from Cromwell, over all.  Greg and I
>continue to lay plans for therapy for him and suring up our base of
>support.  Who knows where Mr. Christopher will be in 191 days, when he
>turns 18.  All I know is, where he will be, will be a result of his
>choosing, good or bad because we're not going to protect him from his
>choices.
>          In an earlier post, Matt had mentioned that he had done partying
>in high
>school and is still shaking off the effects of those choices.  Well, yes,
>I
>suppose that if there were one time in most of our lives that we wish that
>we could change, it would be our teen years.  The deal is, now, that  I'm
>seeing those years from the other side and having to lern how to be the
>parent of a teen, especially when it means protecting other minor children
>that you are responsible for is daunting at times.  Greg and I are
>probably
>growing more now than we did as a result of our original, individual
>stupidities as a teen.  If all you have to worry about is letting your kid
>sleep in, get  to school late  and serve a detention as a result, you are
>blessed indeed.
>Have a good one, guys!
>Kathy