Contentment

I am going to the women’s conference at Heritage Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City tonight and tomorrow with a couple of women from our church. I am looking forward to it, and I am hoping that the weather will cooperate by not bringing the sleet and freezing rain that has been promised for today.

The funny thing is, the topic for the conference is “Divine Contentment.” Funny. I have been a member of the PCA for 16 years now, and I think this is the third women’s conference I have attended at PCA churches where something to do with contentment is the theme. Could this be because women have a harder time accepting things as they are than men do? What do you think?

I’ll let you know if I am better able to be content after talking about it for a day and a half. I sort of doubt it. I suspect I’ll just feel more guilty for not being content. Still, it will be nice to get together with other women in a girly setting enjoying each other’s company.

The difference between boys and girls

Today I picked up Evangeline at pre-school. Her teacher told her to show me her paper. The coloring was very nice–all in the lines, every area filled in. Flash back to last year. Nevin, in the same pre-school class, very seldom ever colored an entire page. If there was a spot of color in an area, then the job was done. Calvin was the same way. Evangeline sits around in the evening with crayons or markers and just colors for entertainment. I never saw this activity with the boys. If they were sitting down to color, it normally required scissors and glue, too, so they could “do” something. I am not implying this means girls are better or smarter than boys; it is just interesting to note the differences.

High Flyer

I finished High Flyer by Susan Howatch last night. Great read! Every time I read a new Susan Howatch book, I am struck by how amazingly she can weave characters from past books into the storyline of the new book. The best thing is that although they are series books, they can stand alone, too. She provides enough character development in a single book that a reader doesn’t have to have read the previous books. Yet, she does this without what I like to call boring “info dumping.” However, if you have read the previous books, you feel like you really know the old characters–like you have some sort of inside scoop. There is so much to be said about High Flyer, I won’t even try. Just remember it if you are looking for a new novel to read. You won’t be sorry.

Now I am just waiting for the third and last book in the series to be published.

Tired of Sickness Blogs

Admit it. You’re tired of reading about people being sick on their blogs. Well, I am going to add yet another entry about my being sick.

It started out as a bad cough 2 weeks ago. By the end of week 1, coughing was calming down. Then the head congestion started. This past Sun night/Mon morning, I woke up at 3:30 am, and I couldn’t get back to sleep because of the congestion. Since this is the beginning of week 3 for the overall sickness and the beginning of week 2 for the congestion, I called the doctor. Her office called in prescription. Seventy dollars and 2 doses later, I am feeling almost human again. Drugs are a good thing. Although, I am glad that I don’t make them a habit–too pricey.

We all need (want) to whine and be babies once in a while. Please bear with me for whining about being sick again. I am just ready for the seasons to make up their minds for winter to leave and spring to come. Perhaps that will put an end to all of this cold/flu nonsense.

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to you.

I received a new novel from Mark this morning before the day began. Very sweet. It is Susan Howatch’s High Flyer. It will take a great deal of self-discipline to not drop all the housework I have to do today so I can sit down and start reading.

I hope everyone else enjoys their Valentines Day treats as much as I know I will enjoy mine.

Thanks Mark! I love you!

Baby coming out

“Mommy, today your baby coming out?” asked Evangeline this morning.

This is a question that she (3) and Nevin (5) ask every time I go to the OB. Time is a difficult concept for young children to grasp. Their older brother (6) has a much better handle on the timing for the baby’s arrival. Since he has been in school for 1 1/2 years now, he uses the school year’s milestones to mark the time until his baby sister arrives.

Another favorite topic of discussion regarding the baby is often started by Nevin. He will say, “How will they get the baby out? Will they cut off your arm?” Then there are a few other possibilities mentioned by Calvin and Evangeline. Mark and I have “handled” these discussions by just listening and not commenting much. Generally, if we don’t fuel the fire, the conversation dies out, and we move on to another topic.

Oh my ___!

I remember getting really irritated with my mother as a teenager for chastising me when I said, “Oh, my gosh.” She would say, “Don’t say that. I know what you really want to say, and that is wrong.”

I was taught that this is a form of taking the Lord’s name in vain. When Mark teaches on this commandment, he says that taking the Lord’s name in vain is claiming to be a follower of Christ, a Christian, and then living as you are not by lying, cheating, and committing various other types of flagrant public sins. I guess I see this as a more full-bodied way of taking the Lord’s name in vain, but I also think saying “Oh my God,” or “Oh my gosh,” probably leads to a lack of respect for God’s name, and thus, is also a form or taking His name in vain.

Now, we have been teaching our children not to say, “Oh my God.” As a rule, they do not have the opportunity to watch what we call, “grown-up” tv shows. However, they will occasionally see Changing Rooms or Trading Spaces when I watch them. In many of these shows, when the hostess reveals the newly designed rooms, the homeowners shriek, “Oh, my God!” My children then dutifully say, “He said a bad word.”

Recently, I was watching a Nickolodian show, “Maggie and the Ferocious Beast” with the younger children, and I noticed that the animated characters on that show say “Oh, my gosh,” with regularity. I plan to take this off the approved watching list now.

Does anyone else have any thoughts about these forms of taking the Lord’s name in vain?

Life

Blogging has been low on my list of priorities this week. We have had sickness in our house. The kids have been mildly sick, and I have had a really bad cough that has wiped me out most days. Pregnancy limits my drug consumption, so I have been only taking one dose of a prescription at night to help me sleep. Last night I got a decent night’s sleep, which did wonders for my energy level today.

Another of life’s fun experiences is a clogged toilet. Ours became clogged sometime Tuesday night. We tried to unclog it ourselves, but after 1 hour or so of trying and making a huge mess, we gave up. We called the unofficial plumber in our small town yesterday, and he said he couldn’t come until today. Between the time of my phone call and the time of the plumber’s arrival this afternoon, our 6-year-old said, “I think there is a cup in there.”

“Oh, you do?” I said. “How do you know that?’

“Uh, I think I bumped it in there.”

“Mmmmm,” I said.

There were some consequences, but it was an accident. We only wish he would have told us about it sooner, before we plunged it further down the pipe.

The plumber came today. It took nearly an hour, and he thought he might have to take the toilet off the floor to unclog it. But thankfully, he made one last ditch effort with his handy snake, and it was unclogged.

And all the pregnant women rejoiced with me. Having one toilet available on the end of the house opposite of one’s bedroom is most inconvenient in the middle of the night when one has to make at least 4 trips. I can’t wait to go to bed tonight so I can fully appreciate having a working toilet right across the hall from my room.