Burning the ‘Ole Midnight Oil

Really? Aren’t some of us just a tad too old for that kind of activity? Well, perhaps certain people do things like that in order to “put their house in order” before big changes come to light on their old, bent shoulders. (Creak. Creak.)

You see, sometimes when we are old, we still have the old “want to”, but without the energy to see the job finished. That’s my current battle. Well, not JUST that, but that’s a good start. You know this all starts with a great sense of determination. And then, when we realize that it’s so late, we steel ourselves to just “Git ‘er done”, so to speak.

What in the world am I talking about? Oh, just a little ‘ole task I prepared several hours ago. I was really in high fettle when I called to wish my sister Happy Birthday. And I had all this wonderful advice to give her. Now that I have begun the task, I realize it is not as simple as I thought. Sigh. You see, I was taking her under my wing in order to help her simplify her life. What I didn’t realize was that she would be so keen on it, and then suddenly I realized I didn’t have the items where I could get to them on my computer. Well, I think they are in there somewhere. But, you see, we (my computer and I) have had a few cross words together. And now I can’t find what I was just going to so easily look up and copy off. Does this make any sense to you at all?

You see, when you have good ideas and good intentions to go with them, sometimes it’s a little too easy to tell yourself, “Yes, this is a good thing. I’ll just go to my trusty computer and find those things I was talking about so genuinely with my sister.” But that call was this morning, and now it’s 11:43 p.m. and my brain just doesn’t want to play fetch in an easy and friendly way. It’s kind of like being resolute in that you will do the deed on your own time frame. Like making an old dog get excited about chasing the ‘ole tennis ball after he’s already found a comfortable shady spot to take his siesta in. It’s not that he hasn’t always been able to chase balls. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy doing that earlier. It’s not that he is intent on being disobedient. You see, the timing is a little wobbly.

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So, since it’s not 11:43 anymore, and I still don’t know how to find a lost item on my computer, we are at an impasse, Ye Olde Computer and Me. That’s when you get really wily. Uh, huh. You figure that it’s just a simple misunderstanding between the two of you. You hike up your big-girl britches and determine to have your own way. Hey, it’s only a machine, right? Sometimes you just have to bluster your way through and make it do whatever you have determined to be right and helpful, and no lousy good-for-nothing machine is going to win. You’re the human. The lousy machine is supposed to do your bidding.

Just maybe not this month. But there, there, stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of this quandary, when we hear the person say, “I AM NOT GOING TO BE DEFEATED BY A LOUSY PIECE OF WHATEVER THESE THINGS ARE MADE OF!!!”

And then, my friends, you get up to go get another cup of coffee and trip over the wires on the floor and suddenly, it’s totally blank.

Ha! Take that. I’m going to bed. But lest you think you’ve won, don’t bet on it……….

With love,

Katy

Cover Image: pexels-joonas-kaariainen-67364-239107.jpg

God is Good! All the time! All the time God is Good!

Do you remember when you first heard that? It’s funny how some of those sayings just stay with you. (And, no, I will not sing the old Dippity-Doo jingle.) It’s just kind of interesting to me how some things stick in your memory (like a burr on a saddle blanket).

My sister, Lynn, has been gone now for 20 years (in June) and my oldest sister, Rae Jean, since June a year ago. I don’t know why I bring up things like that, except that I’ve decided June is not my favorite month anymore. But I guess it had to do with Lynn’s and my horseback riding songs. We’d saddle up and pretty soon, you could hear us coming “round the bend” with Kumbaya or Happy Trails to You, or By the Light of the Silvery Moon echoing off the hills and hollows of the Ozarks. Lynn had a beautiful alto voice, and I sang three octaves of soprano. (Did I ever tell you my dream was to sing opera? Wouldn’t that have made my voice coach happy?) Oh, those were the good old days.

But I digress. Especially since I started with a Christian saying and took a radical back door to oldies and Roy Rogers.

When you have known the Lord and His goodness, things like the above saying just pop into your head from time to time. He’s with us in the tear-filled night and in the numb days of desolation. But, the fact remains that He is always available, and he is always ready to comfort you or give you a song which just somehow seems to rumble through your head, over and over. Nearer My God to Thee, or Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross, or I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go.

These will not go pulsing through your brain until you have to go to your “forgetting” song. What’s that? You don’t have a “forgetting” song? Well, then I am sure Lynn would invite you to join us in a rousing (23 repeats) of She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain!

What? What’s that you say? You aren’t familiar with She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain? Well, hang out around us and you’ll learn it soon enough! Just sing along and enjoy your ride—wherever it takes you.

Happy Independence Day.

Read Any Good Books Lately?

As you know, if you’ve read my blogs, I am an inveterate reader. As a matter of fact, my entire family is readers. I have my parents to thank for that. They read to us before we could read, and they encouraged us in our learning to read. We, of course, have passed this down to our children, Lucas and Lacy, who also are great readers (as well as Lucas’ three daughters.) Now we have a bunch of people with their noses stuck in books at any time.

I can share a little vignette about our oldest granddaughter’s life. She has been reading since before she went to school. She read all the time. When she was about 5 or 6, her parents had to limit her reading time simply because she was constantly reading. But that is a thing of her past. What do you think she is doing now? She’s a senior at Mid-America Nazarene University, where she is a full-time librarian. Isn’t God good?

My husband is a consummate reader and writer, and I hope to get a book of his poetry out, but life has slowed me down. For a while. A look at my website will reveal my prior planning for this. He’ll have to OK it, of course.

If you have been following me for a long time, you know that I have written a series of children’s books, which I call my Down Home on the Farm series. Books #6 & #7 are on their way. And that will be the end of the series, unless my tootsie, Lacy Dale Lovett, takes over and writes more.

But she has her hands pretty well occupied with—oh, let’s see…how does she keep busy? (Busyness, which, by the way, cuts into her leisure reading time.)

1.         Circulation and Production Editor for Ethics and Medicine at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

2.        Owner/creator at L.D. Creations, Inc.

3.         Owner/writer/editor/creator at Redemptive Word Craft

4.        Media and Adult Discipleship Curriculum Coordinator at Living Water Evangelical Free Church in Oskaloosa, KS; and writer of Vacation Bible School curricula.

So, she stays busy, even discarding the fact that she and her husband, Mark, always enjoy her Aunt Polly, who has been with them for 2 ½ years

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And NOW, I am about to get to the real reason for my blog. (Bragging rights are always a parent’s prerogative.)

Drum roll. One of our sweet daughters from Sierra Leone, West Africa, is a published author as well!!! (Now we’re looking forward to when our girl, Sia, tries her hand at the book-writing gig.)  

CLICK on the image to visit Isatu Boyce’s website.

When my dear friend and mentor, Kathy Perry, of Chickadee Words, (not to be confused with singer Katy Perry) and I went down to visit Maria, they immediately hit it off. When Kathy heard about Maria and the fact that she had written her biography—without hands—she went full speed ahead to help her publish it.

Lo-and-behold: TA DA!! Our sweet Maria’s story is in print! You may order her compelling book directly from her website, IsatuBoyce.com, or Amazon, etc. In her book entitled Overcoming the Bitterness of War, she writes of her childhood in Sierra Leone and the bitter civil war that killed and maimed so many citizens of that beautiful country. The tag line is perfect: “In moments of deep darkness, faith offers a light.”

I hope you will visit her website and order books from her. She has quite the tale to tell. Afterward, please review it on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or Barnes & Noble.

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Now that I have rambled on, it is my prayer that you will have a glorious Memorial Day.

Take time to sit in the shade with a tall, iced tea and read a good book.

You’ll be glad you did. 

A Standard of Excellence

Photo by Cecília Schwartz on Unsplash

Photos below from Bookbrush/Pixabay

A Standard of Excellence

Sometimes, the most profound thoughts come to me at the most mundane times. Perhaps the still monotony of performing very ordinary tasks unclog the channel through which God communicates with me.

I suppose it makes sense. After all, when you’re charged with enthusiasm or lost in total concentration with a given task, you block out outside distractions. Perhaps an all-knowing God gives us the boring or trivial jobs for that very reason.

Take gravy, for instance. Gravy? Yes. Not long ago I was making gravy for supper. As I tossed the flour into the hot drippings, sprinkled in the salt and pepper, and began to stir, the thought came to me, “I know good gravy.”

Now that doesn’t really sound earthshaking. And it isn’t. But it leads to a very good chain of thoughts—if I follow.

I am originally from the Ozarks. And I come from a family of good gravy makers. My mother could make gravy like you wouldn’t believe. I have seen and eaten good gravy—I mean good stuff.

I haven’t always made good gravy, but it continues to improve. Mine is pretty good. You can talk brown gravy, white gravy, roast gravy, or racehorse gravy; all can be good, and I’ve had the best of each. The point is, I’ve been exposed to excellent gravy.

It is difficult for me to imagine what a trial it would be to try to make gravy if I’d never been around it. I mean, I can still mess it up occasionally, even knowing how it should turn out. But having had the best, I always strive toward the example.

Gravy is just the beginning. As I’ve thought along that line, I received a letter from my late Aunt Thelma saying she’d made a couple of her strawberry pies. Now, everything Aunt Thelma made was as close to perfection as was humanly possible. But her strawberry pie! Well, it was beyond expression.

As I answered her letter, I tried to explain these thoughts to her and had to end (quite lamely, I fear), “Maybe I’m not making it clear. I guess what I’m saying is, even if I never made a strawberry pie as good as yours, I’m glad I’ve had your excellence to use as a guidepost. Because of that, mine is better than it would have been. My compliments and sincere gratitude are yours.”

Guess what? You can go beyond pie. As a matter of fact, you can go beyond gastronomics (there is more to life than keeping the machine fueled, after all). Jesus said,

I recently heard a speaker in a revival. One thing he said was, “Don’t tell me what you believe, show me how you live.” Boy, did that hit me!

“Show me how you live.” What’s the recipe for life? What example do I follow? Or, even better, what is the very best, most excellent example of “life-living” to which I can aspire?

As I think along those lines, I am reminded of a verse we all learned in childhood:

“When a task is once begun,

never leave it till it’s done.

Be the labor great or small,

do it well, or not at all.”

How well-done is task done well? If a task is seemingly insignificant as learning to tie a shoe, or making up one’s bed in childhood, is to be done as well as possible, how much more so is the business of life?

Of course, it’s no secret that children learn from example. From the first smile to the most difficult trigonometry calculation, a child’s life is learning by watching and doing. It has been said, “play is a child’s work.” But even in play, he first watches and then imitates.

At our eighteenth, or twenty-fifth, or fortieth birthday, do we automatically draw that tried-and-true system? I think we continuously modify it and improve upon it, though I doubt anyone ever totally stops the process of imitation.

Perhaps as we grow older, we find that our imitations are more internalized, rather than the motion and mannerisms of childhood adaptations. And perhaps, too, in growing older, we begin to find fewer and fewer people we want to copy.

If I look at people I like or admire, I always find at least one small character flaw. (Who thinks weepy strawberry pie is the epitome of strawberry-piedom?) If I try to set up an imaginary example, I can’t ever be sure that achievement is possible. My imagination isn’t big enough to contain all the best that would be necessary, and my recipe might inadvertently leave the salt out of the gravy, perhaps not even knowing there is such an ingredient.

Oh, but just as I have my mother’s gravy, or my Aunt Thelma’s strawberry pie for my culinary examples, I have a role model for my life. And would you believe my good fortune? I just happen to have the recipe book as well!

Jesus came to earth for our salvation. But He also showed us a better way to live. A more perfect way. A true standard of excellence to emulate. And our loving Father, knowing we are only human and sometimes forget the ingredients or confuse the method, very kindly inspired men to give us the recipe book, the Holy Bible.

When we have the example and the recipe, all we have to do is roll up our sleeves and plunge into the task of life. Taking our meager or overflowing ingredients, we must make the very best product we can.

Maybe our life won’t be perfect today. Maybe we’ll burn it or get it too thick tomorrow. But as we strive, we have the assurance that we have a “grand exemplar” after which we may pattern our life. The method won’t change. The ingredients are exact. The standard has been set—a standard of excellence.

Bon appetite!

Recalculating the Options

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I ran across something recently and decided it had some merit. I hope you will stir up the cobwebs of your minds and see whether you agree. At least we can have a nice discussion.

Here's the quote:

“I may not be that funny or athletic or good looking or rich or smart or talented...I forgot where I was going with this.”

— Unknown

 “I forgot.” Or perhaps, “I don't remember.”

 How often do those words dance trippingly from your tongue? For a number of us, it seems those are what I call "bosom buddy" words.

 We get so used to saying them that we don't realize we are actualizing a catch phrase for our lives. You remember, like the old catchy slogans we used to hear on television: like "Look, Mom, no cavities!" I think that's where I am going with this.

 We so often ignore our own self-talk.

 As you know, more than a year ago, I had a fall and ended up in the hospital. But recently, I’ve found myself going on and on about it. Why? Could it be that it's become a soundtrack for my life? And again, I wonder why? 

 I began to realize that I needed to progress. To move on. To let go.

 But old habits are hard to break. Recently I had a very serious talk with myself, and, of course, I kept running back to hide in my cloak of invisibility, as though that would make everything better. Guess what. Sometimes you need to confront yourself and determine to change your self-speech. 

 Here's something that I think might help me make my point. (Yes, I DO have one.)

 To paraphrase writer/speaker Matthew Kelly,

“It doesn’t matter that you are climbing quickly up the ladder of life, if you have the ladder leaning against the wrong wall.””

— Matthew Kelly

Sometimes we need to stand back and check our perspective. What we began, we tend to continue, especially when it comes to actualizing it in our lives.

 I love this story. It too, is a Kelly quote:

 There once lived a man whose name was Jude. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ and was renowned throughout the region as a wise and deeply spiritual man. People traveled great distances, venturing across foreign lands, to seek his advice and healing.

 One day Jude was relaxing outside his hut when a hunter came by. The hunter was surprised to see Jude relaxing and rebuffed him for loafing. It was not the hunter's idea of what a holy man should be doing.

 Jude recognized these thoughts running through the hunter's mind and also noticed that the man carried a bow for hunting. "What is your occupation, sir?"

 "I am a hunter," the man replied.

 "Very good," Jude said. "Bend your bow and shoot an arrow." The man did so. "Bend it again and shoot another arrow," said Jude.

 The hunter did so, again and again. Finally, he complained, "Father, if I keep my bow always stretched, it will break."

 "Very good, my child," Jude replied. "So it is with me and all people. If we push ourselves beyond measure we will break.  It is good and right from time to time to relax and re-create ourselves."

 Kelly concludes, if you don't break away from the tensions of daily living, they will break you. 

 Now, I know I may be reading a little too much into this small tale, but as I ruminate on it, it seems to be telling me my own small watchword. Have you thought of it?

 Maybe I am misreading this, but I can't help but feel that the lesson is here:

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

— Galatians 5:12a

I believe that we become what our brains keep telling us.

 I don't know, you may disagree, and I do truly realize there may be several leanings as we discuss this, but I am not so sure I am wrong. If I continue to say and do things to undermine my spirit, I have no one to blame but myself.

 Consider this with me, if you will. What do you find yourself telling yourself about yourself, thus buttressing those negative thoughts in your mind? Let us stand back a few steps and watch and listen to ourselves, attempting to lead ourselves into a new way of thinking.   

I have been working out a strategy. I don't know. It may be goose feathers and motes of dust, but it just seems to me that we read in the Bible that we need to be walking in that same spirit of truth and love. So, let's proclaim it, not just to those we want to influence, but in our hearts and heads. 

““This is the way; walk ye in it.” ”

— Isaiah 30:21

L. K. Houk

 So pleased to let you know Book #5, A Job for Dancer, is now available! You can get the Down Home on the Farm books directly from me.

Contact me through my website: LKHouk.com 

Personality

How to Practice Yours

OK, ok, I know many of my readers looked askance at this blog’s title. You think I don’t know you, but I do. Just let me assuage your eyebrows-raised, lips pursed questioning.

In the first place, some of you might raise the question, “How does she talk about something she doesn’t even have?” Or perhaps some of you doubt the entire premise, as you say to yourself, “What’s next? Practicing breathing?” (Notice, I refrained from saying, “Mumbling into your morning coffee with eyebrows raised.”)

A personality is a personality is a personality. I know many of us have remarked, usually, about our grandchildren, “Doesn’t she have the most sparkling personality?” Contrarily, we might mumble, “That kid’s dumb as a brick and doesn’t even try to be personable.” Of course, that is not said about our own precious grandchildren!

I was visiting with my sister earlier and we were talking about “giving yourself permission” to do or to be this, that, or another. The subject of multi-tasking came up, and we both booed and hissed under our breaths at the thought of multi-tasking. For those of you who are younger, you might not realize that persons of (ahem) “a certain age” have a lot of learning to do in the sunset of our lives. I mean, everybody thinks the “Golden Agers” just lie about in their recliners waiting for a child or grandchild to entertain them.

Well, get ready to swallow your words, because we have a lot to do.

One of those things is to restructure our lives to eliminate the “jump and grab, try to do as much as possible as quickly as possible - also known as the “git-er-done” mindset. Changing a lifetime of go-go-go and do-do-do is nearly impossible. But hand it to the “older generation” to take on such a herculean task. Don’t forget the “Greatest Generation” saved the world from Hitler—even while not knowing how long one had to accomplish it!

When you are young, you think 40 is old, when you’re 40, you’re eyeing 60 as a possible slowdown bullseye to aim for. That’s why some younger folks mistakenly think of their elders as “old crabs” or “unchanging grouches.” They just don’t understand.

We stand on the precipice, judging how we might totally annihilate 60 years of struggle and practice and determination in order to live whatever years are ahead. (Yes, Myrtle, I always washed my dishes as soon as they were dirty too. Back when I knew I had to do that in order to “live the good, right, just, venerable” life." “Oh, sure, Doris Jean, no one would ever have come into my home to find my bed unmade, or the floors not shining.”). It was our duty and responsibility to do the impossible.

•      to raise perfect children

•      to always have the car washed and vacuumed on Thursdays to be ready for church on the weekend

•      to have the family clothes, not only washed, but washed and ready to “break starch” as those little feet tried to get into full-starched, “Sunday clothes”

•      to do the grocery shopping and food prepping so that if company should come home with your family for Sunday dinner, everything would be delightful

Our lives were full. And really, really busy. Well-planned. Effortless. Exemplary. (Applause, please.)

Image from Unsplash

Now? Not so much.

If anyone shows up, you can always warm up the cold coffee from breakfast and put out a saucer of store-bought cookies.

A very dear friend of mine once said she rose early to help in the church nursery, careful not to waken her husband. She hadn’t even turned on the closet light. At church, she ran around in the nursery, greeted visitors, and was “practically perfect in every way” (as Mary Poppins brain-washed us to be, and so, we sat the kids in front of the TV to watch and learn from her wisdom).

After settling the nursery, her husband joined her for church. You can imagine her horror as she glanced down at her tired feet and gasped audibly. Here she sat in church with two completely different shoes on her feet.

I encouraged her not to feel too badly. After all, shoes all look pretty much alike, anyway.

With great sorrow, she said, “No, you don’t understand. One of them is navy and one of them is black.”

I did my best to console her with, “Well, those are pretty much alike.”

She looked at me with sad eyes. “No, you really don’t get it, do you? One of them is a flat, and the other one has a two-inch heel!”

Image from Unsplash

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And now you’re scratching your head and wondering what this blog is all about. OK. I guess you’re ready for the punch line. (No, that shoe thing wasn’t the punch line.)

As I prepared to share my thoughts with you, I ran into a quote I’d saved many years ago. “Oh, I love this quote!” It was from Anne Morrow Lindbergh, from “A Gift from the Sea.” She wrote:

“If one sets aside time for a business appointment, or a shopping expedition, that time is accepted as inviolable. But if one says, “I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone”, one is considered rude, egotistical, or strange. What a commentary on our civilization.”

— Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“If one sets aside time for a business appointment, or a shopping expedition, that time is accepted as inviolable. But if one says, ‘I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone,’ one is considered rude, egotistical, or strange. What a commentary on our civilization."

Enjoy what’s left of March and just relax and “cool your jets”.

Happy Spring!

Image from Pexels

Beating the Winter Blahs

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Well, it’s winter. Not a lot of news there, but then not a surprise either. When the winter comes, it’s got its own plans, and there’s not a lot we can do about it. I’ve been reading a lot this winter, since the weather is not conducive to outdoor activities. At least, that’s my opinion. So each morning my dear husband says, “Whatever you do, don’t go outside. It’s treacherous out there!” That’s my invitation to curl up with a good book.

Matthew Kelly - The Rocking Chair Prophet

As I’ve mentioned several times, my new favorite author is Matthew Kelly.

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By the way, if anyone wants one of my OLD favorite author’s books, I have nearly everything that Tony Hillerman has written. Again, our good friend, Uncle Jim, introduced us to Mr. Hillerman’s writing many decades ago. If you are interested in life on the Navajo Reservation and the men who protect it, you might enjoy them. Come on by and get them. “Free to a good home”, so to speak.

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Watchman Nee

Another of my ex-favorites is the writing of Watchman Nee. His understanding and teaching of the Bible is not to be bested. I especially loved his Sit, Walk, Stand. An exegesis of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. In it, he lines up what God has wrought for us through Christ in chapters 1-3. His discussion of the practical presents the demand in terms of Christian conduct upon us in light of that redemption.

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I’m not really much into fiction these days. After a while, it becomes so prosaic. You can almost look at the titles and tell the stories yourself.  Not that I am denigrating any of my writer friends who write some amazing fiction. It’s just not my cup of tea at this time in my life.

Ah, there’s the rub! This time in my life. Isn’t that always the way? One gets to the ripe old age of 75 and suddenly you are looking at life with different lenses. Perhaps I don’t read much fiction because I have begun to see the smallness of the rest of my time here on earth. I recently sent a text to my oldest college granddaughter, which she found amusing. It was, “Why do old people spend so much time reading the Bible?” “They’re cramming for finals.”    

Perhaps this would be a different perspective if I were writing about making Valentine’s boxes and life in the old days. (See blogs past on my website.) Or perhaps I could pontificate on the past ages when we really celebrated Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays and not just some ethereal president’s day.

At any rate, I wish you all a very happy Valentine’s Day and a chance to look forward to the coming spring. I’m not really all that morose as this blog might lead you to expect. That’s because this time next week I will visit my dear friends, Paul and Judy, in the desert near Tucson. I will finally be warm. Ahhhh, life is good, don’t you think?

Till next month…

Love,

Katy

Well, hello there! Come on in...

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I’m glad to see you. Did you find us okay? Come in, come in. Kick your shoes off and have a seat. What? Oh, yes, all the seats recline. When you get (harrumph) of a certain age, (cough, cough) one finds that convenience and ease hold the winning hand.

May I get you something to drink? Perhaps some hot apple cider or some hot tea or coffee?

Yes, we downsized quite a bit with our move six years ago. We have now learned to congratulate ourselves on our decision. Sure, walk around, make yourself at home. What good blessings we have in this home: ground level, handicap accessible, etc. The only thing I question is my refusal of wall-to-wall carpeting (because I was tired of steam cleaning carpets for all those years), and my insistence that we install rock tile flooring throughout the entire house. Back then, I never thought about how hard these floors would be for an older person to fall on….. sigh.

Anyhow, please help yourself to whatever you need. Yes, it’s really quite pleasant here. No through traffic. You can sit looking out the back patio doors and watch some of the most beautiful horses in the world. I talk to them even though they can’t hear me. Or if you look out the front picture window, at least at the right time of year, we find great entertainment in watching the birds. My husband very sweetly keeps the feeders filled since I can’t really heft around those bags of seeds anymore.

Photo by Pexels

Well, since you asked, we really felt we were preparing for the future with this choice, but we just had no idea the future would so soon be upon us. But we are glad we made the move. And we love our home. We always try to make it as comfortable as possible for folks needing to get away from the hustle and bustle of their daily lives. We are old hands at moving—I believe this was our 44th move. Being military and then on the mission field and then, just wandering as we have done, moving van hat on your head. And since we moved here, we’ve celebrated our 55th anniversary, so there’s been a lot of water under the old bridge.

As a matter of fact, having 8 grandchildren (beautiful, brilliant children, of course) we are blessed. Except now that they are getting so OLD, we don’t see them as much. (“Tears on my Pillow” playing in the background.) But they are beautiful and brilliant, and we love them just as much as we did when they were playing on the floor. Three in college, all honor students, the best.

Oh, sure, it’s a joy to have company. We’ve always tried to make our home a place of peace and tranquility. Nearly everyone comments on how quiet and peaceful it is here. Having no TV helps.

What? Well, yes, we have opened our home and our arms to a lot of folks, regardless of where the home was: an apartment in Germany, a forty-acre farm outside of St. Charles, MO, the place with the wonderful pool in Phoenix, the log home where we lived the longest—10 years, or the ranch before we came here. God has blessed us with great places, great churches, great neighbors and friends. Why wouldn’t we welcome folks into our “sanctuary” as a pastor from West Africa termed our then home?

Sure, now in the twilight of our years, I think it might have been a good idea to have one of those “comments” books and had everybody sign. Except it would be pitched, as will the photo albums I so fastidiously kept each year: one for Lacy, one for Lucas, and one for us. (The kids had to take theirs when they moved.)

Whose names would have appeared in this book you ask? People, like our dear daughters from Sierra Leone, and a pastor from there. Then there’s our friend and pastor from Uganda. Once a couple whose car broke down in Quincy when we lived on the Great Big Lake visited. Lonny had found and brought them home with him, helped them get their Volkswagen Van to a reputable repair place, and we all enjoyed a great evening of fellowship. They were from Holland, traveling across the states. And lovely guests like Gracia, whose husband was killed in the Philippines. And our dear “stepdaughter”, who moved onto the farm behind us to raise her son in the country instead of her former position—first woman pilot and group commander of an Osprey fighter jet.

I suppose you wonder what the theme of this blog is. Perhaps it’s just an old woman reminiscing. Perhaps I just wanted to share a few moments in time with you. As I look bravely toward my 75th birthday coming soon, I find it easier to simply to gaze out the window and remember. I think they call that Old Age. At any rate, keep tuning in to my blog. Perhaps next month it will be more enriching. Or perhaps I won’t be able to do it anymore. (It’s difficult to type with your left arm back in the ‘ole sling.)

At any rate, may I wish you each a very happy and healthy new year? We are so blessed, aren’t we? I’ll leave you with this thought:

Stay well and know that you are loved. I found a quote several years ago and I hope it gives you the energy and attitude to realize your potential—whatever your age or ability.

“I wondered why somebody didn’t do something about it. But then it dawned on me: I’m somebody.” I still remember one of the first memory verses Lucas learned: “Do that which is right and good.” Deuteronomy 6:18.

I am so glad we were able to spend this time together.

~ Katy

A Merry Christmas!

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Did you ever get started reading a specific type of book, or a certain author’s books, and wish you could put them all in your blog for the whole world to see? Of course, if I got to do that, then I’d probably get sued for plagiarism. But being down and out for the count isn’t all “doom and gloom and agony on me.” (See earlier blogs to get caught up with my falls and surgeries, etc.) Because when you’re laid up, you can always read! Yay!!!

When I was fresh out of the hospital last winter, my dear friends, Jim and Jill, sent me Holy Moments, by Matthew Kelly. And I loved it. Then Jim’s sister, Judy and Paul, sent me another book by him, and I loved it too! Then I discovered I could go on his website and, lo-and-behold! You will not believe this, but he’s a veritable writing machine! Then my friend Mary brought me an entire stack of his books. Someday, I hope she gets them back. I can’t vouch for my remembering which books are hers because of my concussion. She’ll have to come look through my office and bookshelves and dig them out. (I lose more friends that way. Bet you never thought petty thievery was in my genes!)

So, what does all this have to do with Merry Christmas? Well, I’m about to let you know that when you give Christmas presents this year, a fantastic idea for a present is, ta-da! A book! (Who’d a thunk it?) And when you look for books by Matthew Kelly, that’s always a winner. He’s a writer for adults, but you can also find wonderful books for teenagers and children as well. And I sometimes catch his teaching programs on my phone!

For instance, my friend (Editor? Mentor? Encourager?), Kathy, who, by the way, prepares my blogs for publication, has some wonderful books. I have read her latest, for teens and young adults, Finding Strength. It’s a continuation of her book, A Journey. Her books are very well researched and written. I don’t have to return that one—she gave it to me. And of course there’s her series of children’s books. Look at her website to see her treasure trove (kathyjperry.com) as well as her interviews.

Winter has arrived, and it’s never too late to stock up on good reading material for those icy nights in front of a warm fire. And yet, you ask:

1) Why are you hawking another author’s books?

2) Why are you talking about the Kelly books, and dozens of others you have read this year?

Good question!!! I will tell you, as I told my ladies when they came to America from Sierra Leone, “Read. Read. Read. If you can read, you can do anything, you can become anyone. If you can read, you can continue to educate yourself. You will have knowledge that will stand you in good stead, whatever your hopes and aspirations.”

Oh, one more thing, Mariatu is working to become an author in her own rights. My friend, sister?, encourager?, Kathy and I are meeting with her to begin that long and winding road of becoming an author as well. So now you have to keep reading my blogs to keep up with her.

By the way, we’re also working to get the final two books in my Down Home on the Farm series to print and available. Check with us in the spring to wind up the children’s series with Dotty Down Home and Anna’s Sugar Plum. (Age preschool to 4th grade.)

So, now that I’ve uplifted and encouraged you with a blog entitled, “A Merry Christmas”, I can send this on to Kathy, knowing she will make it shine. Oh, and do have a very lovely, happy, merry Christmas.

Love, Katy

What Seek Ye?

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

What Seek Ye?

A rip-roaring good morning {or whatever time you might check your email.} As I sit here at my machine, I can look out over a lawn devoid of hummingbirds, and see only the “regular” (sigh) bird feeders. Yes, my dear friends, it’s that time of year once again, and aren’t we excited! Of course, we are! Who doesn’t love to see the wind blowing the trees around and the sky filled with scudding grey clouds? But then I admit to loving staying inside my house and just looking out the windows. 

Recently I was reading some books and found this question: “What seek ye?” If the Lord were to ask us this question today, how would we respond? I’ve had to question myself on this as the sands of time have sifted through my own motives, desires, and thoughts. 

What seek I? This morning was yet another of those mornings when I could be happy that I wasn’t testing for a college entrance exam. Fortunately, I didn’t land on the left side of my head like in February. At the age I have arrived, college exams may seem a little preposterous. But life has a way of changing over the years.

I will not go over the fall I had last February and bring all that to the surface again. But as time goes by, you realize that even though you don’t want to re-live times of injury, get used to the idea that these things can, and do, happen. Like this morning.

You ask, “What happened this morning?” Well, after getting out of bed, I always stand a few seconds to get my balance. This morning,  I fell between the bed and the recliner beside it. Of course, your first thought is, “Oh, no, not again.” But the next thought was, “When we remodeled this house six years ago, why did I insist on rock tile floors throughout the entire house?” Yes, it’s easier to clean (“I’m so tired of steam cleaning carpets, and it’ll be so much easier to keep tile clean.”) That was only six years ago, and now the top consideration is, “How many bones could one break on a floor of rock, regardless of how much easier it is to clean?” (And that, my dears, explains perspective.) No, fear not. Though I fell on my left side (for which I am still having physical therapy following surgery in August), I only hit my head against the solid rock floor.

I believe my intention was to tell my beloved readers that questions change over the years. From “How can I get the cool car I want?” to “Will that good-looking cowboy ask me out?” to “Can we afford that house?” to “How could a baby be any prettier?” to popping antidepressants as I cry because they are leaving for college... Well, you get the idea. Different times of our lives make a difference in our vital life questions.

I think that’s why my November blog is not about how much turkey to fix, or is it cheating to serve canned cranberry sauce, especially with Grammy Hart’s recipe in my file? But I think I’m getting a little perspective as I realize how our questions change through the years.

Not prying, but have you sat down and thought about your changing perspectives? If so, what seek ye? God promises, “And you shall seek ME, and find ME, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

I hope this is a tremendous month of joy and thanksgiving for you and your loved ones. As you pull out all the stops for a beautiful and meaningful Thanksgiving, may you realize that when we seek Him, He will be found.

(Center image from Pinterest)

~Katy

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Pre-Order Now… My Newest Book Will Be Here Soon

Friendship

Who among us doesn’t want to be accepted and to feel that he belongs? Home is more than just a four-letter word, as a brash wayfaring donkey learns.

When she abruptly appears in the farmyard, she doesn’t have any compunction about butting in and using the others before she goes on her way.

Tom T. kindly invites her for a walk and a talk, and the result is a kinder, gentler Dotty who finds a home, acceptance, and belonging.

(Coming Winter 2024 - click to pre-order)