...a word from Kathy

S o the dresses, shoes galore, shelves, toaster oven, towels, more dresses, many more shoes, and finally me and Sarah were crammed into our car and heading west.   We made a straight twelve-hour drive mama and daughter, fun times.   We shopped in Austin some more and finally realized our car was literally FULL.   The next day, we unloaded and set up her new place, her new home.   And suddenly, we were saying good-bye.   Goodness gracious…how could the years have gone by so quickly?   My girl, the girl I had dreamed of, the girl named after my mother and me…beginning her life.   So many tears flowed that day of good-bye.   A friend of mine told me the next week, “of course there is pain in letting her go, Kathy.   This was a project God gave you 18 years ago and you’ve been working hard at it for all those years.” Jesus is praying for his disciples: 6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. ...

F irst of all, many of us in North America have never known true starvation.  Secondly, I have certainly never known starvation.  I realize that I've really never been extremely hungry.  And yes, I eat.  I even sneak eat! (Where are those M&Ms?).  I adore food - especially great Italian food or chocolate cake or Ray's delicious weekend meals (he cooks all weekend meals!! Yay!!) 
 However, this summer we've been dieting.  Really.  More exercise and less fat food.  Needless to say, there have many nights where we lie in bed and one of us asks the other, "are you hungry? The other responds, "starving!"  We laugh and go to sleep dreaming of granola with blueberries that await in the morning.  Of course, we're not starving!  We're only controlling our appetites.

 Today I've been reading about a different type of starvation. A true, self-inflicted starvation that can and does go unnoticed.  It's...

I ’ve not been writing…I’ve been moving to an empty nest…and now I’m trying to come back.   My words are locked deep within me - and to let them out means relief and new life.   The empty nest is not a new phenomenon.   It’s just new for me.   It’s a life change.   It’s a season.   Today is winter for me.   But I know spring is coming. For 22 years my husband and I have been raising our children.   Some days have seemed so very long and some so short.   We’ve had victory and devastation.   We’ve had joy and sorrow.   We’ve had life together.   And now tomorrow has come. Amidst all the emotion, I hear the steady voice, “will you follow me?”.   Will I go willingly and joyfully into this next season of my life?   Will I live the faith I so often talk about? The joy I realized today is that my children are also hearing that Voice and are being asked the same question, “will you follow Me?”  ...

♫♬ The first time ever I saw your face…. I thought the sun rose in your eyes… And the moon and the stars were gifts you gave to the dark and the endless skies♫♬ http://youtu.be/Go9aks4aujM?t=4s    In 1972, Roberta Flack sang a new song that resonates in my heart today.  Listen to the music before you read further.  Transitioning to a new place in life?  New job? New city? New husband or new wife? New baby?  How about an active household that now is empty?  Transitioning makes me remember old times even as I look to the new.  It’s as though I’m looking back in order to fully see what’s ahead.  I’ve often thought that my difficulty with transition was that I was so uncomfortable with change.  But this month as I’ve begun to transition to an empty-nest the looking back has brought me back to my first love. Do you remember the first time you saw your love’s face?  Do you remember the first glimpse across a crowde...

T he Tea Party girls meet every week.  We sit at a small table, in a small apartment and enjoy hot tea, fruit, dessert and each other.  The china dishes are lovely and from a bygone era.  They are mismatched and lovely because of their uniqueness.  The tea party a time of sharing, of laughter, talk of husbands, talk of Jesus, talk of babies…simply put just talk and togetherness.  This week, one of the young girls, who is expecting her first baby, shared with joy that her mother will be arriving soon for the birth of the baby.  It was a day of celebration! As I drove home, I remembered another Tea Party when my daughter was just a little girl.  She had a little table and a Tea set.  Often, the people my daughter invited to her Tea parties were her brother, “Puppy” (her beloved stuffed animal) and me.  Of course, Brother was never there for long!  I remember how she delighted in the pouring of tea and the conversation with Puppy....

A re you in the iworld? As in iMac, iPhone, iTouch, iPad, iPod, iTunes, i…i…iEverything. I am. Am I? Are you? What does the “i” actually mean? I begin to think…innovative, information, ingenious? But after a quick Google search the answer is….. internet. I was somewhat disappointed with this finding. I was hoping for something with a little more punch or creativity. For it seems these products have become an ‘i’ unto themselves. And somehow this i world has been born into the ‘me’ generation. Appropriate, it seems. Ray and I read quite a bit. I will confess to you that some of our reading is pure commercial fiction. We love a good mystery particular with humor added. One author we’ve read quite a bit is Harlen Cobin. He has a character named Win whose girlfriend is named, Mee. She’s Asian and fits into the storyline mainly because of her name. Win will often speak of Mee like this, “Mee and I are now going to dinner and the movies...