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
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