Hubby and I went on a little date. We took the evening of 'no football' to run out and see a movie. Several friends had told me how good it was and how funny "Hope Springs" was. I wasn't disappointed. It was funny in parts but it had more parts that were just sad to me. I would recommend it but it isn't a romantic comedy! (I would not recommend it for children or even teens. There is frank discussion about sexual matters and besides that I don't think they would enjoy it at all! or , at least, I don't think my 18 and 19 yo DSs would!) It is about an empty-nester couple who are in a total rut in their marriage. They work, she cooks, he eats and watches the Golf Channel. They aren't intimate anymore and haven't been for over 4 years! I will tell you that I am completely saddened by this. I got the feeling from nervous laughter in the theater that this situation isn't that uncommon. In the movie it finally comes out that she often turned him away earlier in their marriage. Of course, this isn't the only problem or really even the biggest problem. They also have trouble communicating.... about everything but, of course, that means there is trouble communicating in intimate situations too. He has shut her off and she has clammed up. Just like my mammaw said "Two wrongs don't make a right." These things and some others have added up to her being dissatisfied with the marriage. The catch is she still really loves him and he loves her too. They just really vacuum (that's my word for 'sucks' because I hate that word!) at it! It got me to thinking though. What could she have done differently to avoid this problem. Here are my muddled musings....
(BTW, I am writing about what she could have done because I think I probably have a predominantly female readership on this blog. I am mulling over a post about what he could have done. Maybe.. someday... because I figure there might be a few men out there reading too.)
1. Don't turn your husband away when it comes to sexual intimacy. Why?
Because he loves you... no matter what size you are or whether you have shaved your legs today. It doesn't bother him that you are wearing an old t-shirt to bed. In fact, he might like it. :) He needs you. Men have a need for physical intimacy and it can sometimes be a gateway to emotional intimacy. Ladies, I know that we are often wired in exactly the opposite way. We need emotional intimacy before we feel "romantically inclined" but it's okay to do it the other way around sometimes too.
Now don't get me wrong... sometimes... if you are sick or dead on your feet or ??? of course, it's OK to say to your sweet hubby "Honey, I just don't feel good or I'm just too tired' but as a general rule take the good advice given to me by an older woman shortly before my wedding.... "Don't say No very often." She actually told me that if I didn't say no I would probably find myself having a good time before too long anyway and end up not regretting it. She has been right many, many times. ;)
2. Be a fun, creative partner.
Men who love their wives often get a great deal of satisfaction from providing a pleasurable experience for their wife. We should do the same. We should be willing to allow our hubby to please us and willing to do things that please him. Again, a caveat... I don't mean that you should do things that are physically uncomfortable but don't refuse do something because you have some notion from somewhere in your past that it's nasty or disgusting or ???? Ladies, God created sexual intimacy. He wants us to enjoy it! Have a little fun with it! Be adventurous! (Of course, this is within the confines of things that you and hubby both agree to and within the boundaries of your marriage but after that anything else is fair game.) That same wise older woman give me this good advice as well. "Now that you're married... anything goes!" :)
3. Talk!!!!
For some of us this comes naturally; for others it's more difficult. Some of us are married to guys that don't have the gift of words. You still need to communicate with that man of yours. If something is wrong in your marriage it won't get fixed by ignoring it. If you need to talk, you must talk. Talk first to the Lover of your soul. Pour your heart out to Jesus first and ask for guidance. Ask Him to work on you first, to fix you first! Then if you still have a problem ask Him to give you opportunities and words to talk to your sweet husband. Then wait! Wait for the right time and the right words. Sometimes it helps to write things down. Or, at least, it helps me! Sometimes when I write things down they sound so completely stupid or silly that I decide I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. Other times I use my writing as a way to organize my thoughts.
Whatever you do I sincerely hope that no one reading this is as sad as the couple in this movie! If you are reading this and you and your hubby are struggling in this area you can know this... right now, this evening, I have said a prayer for you that things will improve like they did for the couple in the movie! (Sorry for the spoiler but you would have guessed it anyway!)
For the Lover of my soul and yours,
Laurie Jo
Showing posts with label empty-nest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label empty-nest. Show all posts
Friday, September 7, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Emptying the Nest
Yesterday, hubby and I dropped DS#4 off at college. He is a sophomore but he transferred to a different university this year so it was a bit like dropping him off as a freshman. He didn't know anyone. Nobody knew him. He didn't know his way around campus. But he didn't want us to stay for the football parent meeting. And that's okay. I am so proud of this young man. He handled this transfer pretty much on his own. He arranged it all and that's really no small feat anymore. It's kind of a pain in the butt! And his transfer was even more of a pain because it involved getting a release for athletics so that he could receive a athletic scholarship and play football at the new school. That gives me some assurance that he really is capable of doing a lot to take care of himself! But this makes me sad! :( He no longer needs me! At least not like he used to. But as I write this I know that this is okay. It's what is supposed to happen. It means I've done my job. But... still sad. :(
Now to get the last chick out of the nest. DS#5 is such a sweet young man. He is caring and loving and has a big heart for the disenfranchised. I think this probably relates to him being a bit disenfranchised himself. I should explain that DS#5 is adopted. We got him when he was 14. I should tell you his story because it is a TOTAL God Thing!
His b-mother, that's what we call his birth mother, basically dropped him at a Department of Children and Family Services office and told the workers that she didn't have any place for him to live. He was 11 and was just starting the fifth grade. He was in foster care for 3 years. His foster father was good to him but he never really bonded with the foster mother. I feel like this is at partially due to the fact the he didn't, and still doesn't, really trust women. Who could blame him after what b-mom did?! His foster family introduced DS#5 to Jesus. (Because of regulations in the foster care system he couldn't be baptized. Shortly after we got him hubby baptized him into obedience to Jesus.) He stayed with this foster family for nearly three years.
Enter DS#2. He was working at a church camp. One evening DS#5 asked if DS#2 had time to talk and proceeded to tell him that his b-mom had voluntarily given him up for adoption. He explained that the caseworker had told him that 14 year old boys rarely get adopted. He was worried at what would become of him. He wanted a family and he wanted a family that practiced faith in Jesus. He was scared that he would grow up without a family at all. It breaks my heart to think of how sad and lost he must have felt. After their conversation DS#2 told him that he would pray about his situation but really didn't know what else to do. He was only 21, himself.
The next morning he called me and told me the story and asked me to pray. I began praying right away but I just kept hearing (not literally, of course) the Lord say "Hands and feet, Laurie Jo, hands and feet." I knew what the Lord wanted but I also didn't want to make this decision based on emotion and I couldn't make such a decision with hubby. I told the Lord that if we were to be this boy's parents He would have to make it abundantly clear to us. He would have to open doors so wide that we could do nothing but fall through them. The first open door was flung open when I called my husband just a few minutes later. He had left earlier that day for a work detail that I expected would keep him from answering my call. I had planned to just leave him a message. He answered before I even heard the phone ring on my end. I started to tell him the story of this boy and before I was even halfway through he interrupted and asked "Have you called anyone to see if we can get him?" I knew then that this would happen. We were pregnant with a 14 year old boy!
We talked to our other sons, especially DS#4, the only one still living at home. He was 15 at the time. All of the boys were immediately excited about a new brother. So I made some phone calls. I'm sure that as I explained our story the caseworkers and secretaries in the various offices that I talked with thought I was a crazy lady. It took a day or two to figure out what the process would be to get DS#5. We had to first become foster parents then we could adopt DS#5 if he was agreeable as he would be at least 15 by the time that the adoption would be finalized. I called and asked that an application be sent to us. That application arrived in the mail within two days and as I looked over the stack of forms I faltered. It looked daunting. There were questions that I didn't even understand!! I wondered how other people did this! I set the ap aside for a few days. But I couldn't twiddle much time away because it was already mid-June and we wanted to have the "Baby" before school started. Finally I took an afternoon and filled out all of the papers. It really did take a whole afternoon! 5 hours! And I left some questions blank because I didn't know what in the world they were asking!!! After a brief respite from form-filling-out I took the forms to our local DCFS office and asked for help and later turned them in.
While we waited for the application to be processed we had to get fingerprinted and have a background check done on all members of the household that were over 16. That was 4 of us because DS#3 was at home on weekends from college. We had to have a home inspection. They wanted all kinds of things like the receipt for our dog's shots and physicals for all of us. Then hubby and I had to go to classes. These classes were only offered a few times a year. A God's timing thing - the classes started the very next weekend.... And they went for the next four Saturdays... And they had room for us in the classes.... And we didn't have one thing on our calender!! (Nothing short of amazing in itself!)
Seven weeks later on a Tuesday we got our license to be foster parents. (We have since learned that this process often takes close to a year. Again, a God thing!) On Wednesday we meet DS#5 at a Wendy's restaurant. Let's just say that it was an awkward meeting all the way around. Who meets their parents for the first time at a fast food restaurant?! Poor boy, I wish that it could have been a more auspicious meeting place. On Friday Hubby went to get DS#5 for the evening. I was already back to school or I would have gone too. We went to a football scrimmage and then had to take him back to his foster family. The next week we got him for the whole weekend. Taking him back to the foster home was so hard! On that next Wednesday we had a meeting with the caseworker, her boss, two CASA workers, a counselor and the foster dad to determine when we could take the baby home. I was pushing for the next weekend because school had just started and I didn't want him to be too far behind. The counsellor asked hubby and me to tell the story of how all this happened. Hubby let me do the telling. The counsellor told how she thought it was all good and that he seemed ready and so did we. Then the caseworker said she thought it was all good for us to take him home the coming weekend. The CASA workers then indicated that they too thought it would be good for DS#5 came home with us the next weekend. THEN the caseworker's boss spoke up. She was the ONLY person in the room who had NEVER even laid eyes on DS#5 or us before! She had the nerve to say that all of this was moving to fast. Thank goodness that my husband is a bold man. He spoke up and said that he thought maybe the one person in the room who most needed to be ready should be asked how he was about the whole thing and the the two little CASA workers promptly spoke up and said that they thought DS#5 get a say. In a very quivery voice he told the room full of people that had the power to decide so much of his fate that he was ready to go home with his family...US! It was agreed that we would get to take the baby home on Friday....two days away!! I was as excited as I could possibly be!!! and scared to death!! I thought "What have I done? We don't know this boy. We don't know his history. We don't know what kind of baggage he carries." BTW, they (DCFS will say they will tell you everything but if what they told us was all they knew, well..... then they must not be the brightest bulbs in the box.)
But the Lord is faithful. He knew that I couldn't handle certain things and those haven't been the things that we have had to deal with. He also knew that I needed to grow in some ways and sent this teenage boy to challenge me to do that. I'm not done growing because of being his mom. But my time with him is swiftly slipping away. He wants to join the Army after he graduates in the spring. This alone scares the bejeebers out of me. But I worry too that we haven't had enough time to give him all the tools he needs to be strong and bold for Jesus. I worry that he has ideas about women and other things that aren't completely founded in his faith. Then I remember that God already set this up. He knows what we all need and he provides!
The nest can empty when it's time. This little hen is ready.... getting ready anyway. I will be ready when the time comes. Not that there won't be tears, I'm sure there will. But I will be okay and so will he! Thank you, Jesus, for being all-knowing and all-powerful. Thank you for the opportunity to parent this amazing young man... and his older brothers who are equally amazing.
If you are a foster or adoptive parent I would love to hear from you, leave me a comment. If you are the parent of teenagers and grown children I would love to hear from you too! If you are an empty-nester, please let me know how to do it gracefully. Or if you are just reading to be reading I would love to hear from you too!
For the Lover of my soul and yours,
Laurie Jo
Now to get the last chick out of the nest. DS#5 is such a sweet young man. He is caring and loving and has a big heart for the disenfranchised. I think this probably relates to him being a bit disenfranchised himself. I should explain that DS#5 is adopted. We got him when he was 14. I should tell you his story because it is a TOTAL God Thing!
His b-mother, that's what we call his birth mother, basically dropped him at a Department of Children and Family Services office and told the workers that she didn't have any place for him to live. He was 11 and was just starting the fifth grade. He was in foster care for 3 years. His foster father was good to him but he never really bonded with the foster mother. I feel like this is at partially due to the fact the he didn't, and still doesn't, really trust women. Who could blame him after what b-mom did?! His foster family introduced DS#5 to Jesus. (Because of regulations in the foster care system he couldn't be baptized. Shortly after we got him hubby baptized him into obedience to Jesus.) He stayed with this foster family for nearly three years.
Enter DS#2. He was working at a church camp. One evening DS#5 asked if DS#2 had time to talk and proceeded to tell him that his b-mom had voluntarily given him up for adoption. He explained that the caseworker had told him that 14 year old boys rarely get adopted. He was worried at what would become of him. He wanted a family and he wanted a family that practiced faith in Jesus. He was scared that he would grow up without a family at all. It breaks my heart to think of how sad and lost he must have felt. After their conversation DS#2 told him that he would pray about his situation but really didn't know what else to do. He was only 21, himself.
The next morning he called me and told me the story and asked me to pray. I began praying right away but I just kept hearing (not literally, of course) the Lord say "Hands and feet, Laurie Jo, hands and feet." I knew what the Lord wanted but I also didn't want to make this decision based on emotion and I couldn't make such a decision with hubby. I told the Lord that if we were to be this boy's parents He would have to make it abundantly clear to us. He would have to open doors so wide that we could do nothing but fall through them. The first open door was flung open when I called my husband just a few minutes later. He had left earlier that day for a work detail that I expected would keep him from answering my call. I had planned to just leave him a message. He answered before I even heard the phone ring on my end. I started to tell him the story of this boy and before I was even halfway through he interrupted and asked "Have you called anyone to see if we can get him?" I knew then that this would happen. We were pregnant with a 14 year old boy!
We talked to our other sons, especially DS#4, the only one still living at home. He was 15 at the time. All of the boys were immediately excited about a new brother. So I made some phone calls. I'm sure that as I explained our story the caseworkers and secretaries in the various offices that I talked with thought I was a crazy lady. It took a day or two to figure out what the process would be to get DS#5. We had to first become foster parents then we could adopt DS#5 if he was agreeable as he would be at least 15 by the time that the adoption would be finalized. I called and asked that an application be sent to us. That application arrived in the mail within two days and as I looked over the stack of forms I faltered. It looked daunting. There were questions that I didn't even understand!! I wondered how other people did this! I set the ap aside for a few days. But I couldn't twiddle much time away because it was already mid-June and we wanted to have the "Baby" before school started. Finally I took an afternoon and filled out all of the papers. It really did take a whole afternoon! 5 hours! And I left some questions blank because I didn't know what in the world they were asking!!! After a brief respite from form-filling-out I took the forms to our local DCFS office and asked for help and later turned them in.
While we waited for the application to be processed we had to get fingerprinted and have a background check done on all members of the household that were over 16. That was 4 of us because DS#3 was at home on weekends from college. We had to have a home inspection. They wanted all kinds of things like the receipt for our dog's shots and physicals for all of us. Then hubby and I had to go to classes. These classes were only offered a few times a year. A God's timing thing - the classes started the very next weekend.... And they went for the next four Saturdays... And they had room for us in the classes.... And we didn't have one thing on our calender!! (Nothing short of amazing in itself!)
Seven weeks later on a Tuesday we got our license to be foster parents. (We have since learned that this process often takes close to a year. Again, a God thing!) On Wednesday we meet DS#5 at a Wendy's restaurant. Let's just say that it was an awkward meeting all the way around. Who meets their parents for the first time at a fast food restaurant?! Poor boy, I wish that it could have been a more auspicious meeting place. On Friday Hubby went to get DS#5 for the evening. I was already back to school or I would have gone too. We went to a football scrimmage and then had to take him back to his foster family. The next week we got him for the whole weekend. Taking him back to the foster home was so hard! On that next Wednesday we had a meeting with the caseworker, her boss, two CASA workers, a counselor and the foster dad to determine when we could take the baby home. I was pushing for the next weekend because school had just started and I didn't want him to be too far behind. The counsellor asked hubby and me to tell the story of how all this happened. Hubby let me do the telling. The counsellor told how she thought it was all good and that he seemed ready and so did we. Then the caseworker said she thought it was all good for us to take him home the coming weekend. The CASA workers then indicated that they too thought it would be good for DS#5 came home with us the next weekend. THEN the caseworker's boss spoke up. She was the ONLY person in the room who had NEVER even laid eyes on DS#5 or us before! She had the nerve to say that all of this was moving to fast. Thank goodness that my husband is a bold man. He spoke up and said that he thought maybe the one person in the room who most needed to be ready should be asked how he was about the whole thing and the the two little CASA workers promptly spoke up and said that they thought DS#5 get a say. In a very quivery voice he told the room full of people that had the power to decide so much of his fate that he was ready to go home with his family...US! It was agreed that we would get to take the baby home on Friday....two days away!! I was as excited as I could possibly be!!! and scared to death!! I thought "What have I done? We don't know this boy. We don't know his history. We don't know what kind of baggage he carries." BTW, they (DCFS will say they will tell you everything but if what they told us was all they knew, well..... then they must not be the brightest bulbs in the box.)
But the Lord is faithful. He knew that I couldn't handle certain things and those haven't been the things that we have had to deal with. He also knew that I needed to grow in some ways and sent this teenage boy to challenge me to do that. I'm not done growing because of being his mom. But my time with him is swiftly slipping away. He wants to join the Army after he graduates in the spring. This alone scares the bejeebers out of me. But I worry too that we haven't had enough time to give him all the tools he needs to be strong and bold for Jesus. I worry that he has ideas about women and other things that aren't completely founded in his faith. Then I remember that God already set this up. He knows what we all need and he provides!
The nest can empty when it's time. This little hen is ready.... getting ready anyway. I will be ready when the time comes. Not that there won't be tears, I'm sure there will. But I will be okay and so will he! Thank you, Jesus, for being all-knowing and all-powerful. Thank you for the opportunity to parent this amazing young man... and his older brothers who are equally amazing.
If you are a foster or adoptive parent I would love to hear from you, leave me a comment. If you are the parent of teenagers and grown children I would love to hear from you too! If you are an empty-nester, please let me know how to do it gracefully. Or if you are just reading to be reading I would love to hear from you too!
For the Lover of my soul and yours,
Laurie Jo
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Headed back to school... for all of us!
Well, this is it. Today is my last day of summer. :( I really love summer. Not for the reasons that you might expect though. Not because I can sleep late and stay up late and hang out with my peeps whenever I want and float around in the pool for hours at a time. Well, sure, those things play a part. But it's more than that. I love summer because I can take care of my home and family in the ways that I would like to all year long. I would thoroughly enjoy being a full-time homemaker. Well, as I type that I think I am a full-time homemaker, I just also have a job outside my home as well. I have asked God many times to allow me to be a full-time homemaker and at this point He has not granted me that request. I trust that he will do that when it is his time, even if that's when I retire!
As I head back to school so do my boys. Baby boy #4 is a sophomore at a university about 3 hours away. He will be living with a relative and we will be moving him on Saturday. This, of course, isn't the first time we've moved a son to college. In fact, it isn't even the first time we've moved this son to college! We've done this a few times now but that doesn't make it any easier. In fact, I think it may make it harder because now each time we move one out, even if it's just for the school year, I have, in the back of my mind, this thought, "This is it. He will never live at home again. I'm finished with the time that he is under my wing and under my influence daily." And I say a prayer that he will remember the good and right things that we have tried to teach him and forget the many mistakes that we made in parenting. Lord, protect and guide him. Put people in his path that are an influence for you. Guide his path in your righteous ways. Give him a purpose that is designed for him by you and then fit him with the tools to accomplish that purpose. Give him a heart for loving and serving you first and loving and serving others second and make the desire of his heart to please you.
Baby Boy #5 is a senior this year. That brings another whole set of emotions. I am excited for him. So many fun things to do. And I am sad that it's almost over. (I haven't had him long enough, Lord! Help me make the most of every opportunity you give me to teach him your ways!) But he's is going to be ready to fly the coupe (I hope) just like his brothers have been. And that's a good thing! That means their father and I have done our job! As hubby and I get him ready to fly the coupe I have some prayers for him and us. Lord, help us (especially me, because he and I have our sturggles) give him the things he needs from us, not just material things but the emotional, spiritual things as well. Lord, guide his path. Give him courage and boldness to make the choices that you would have him make. Lord, help him with his responsibilities. Give him the perserverance to accomplish all that needs to be accomplished this year. Make your purposes for him clear to him. Fit him with the tools that he will need to accomplish these purposes. Help him to see clearly the truly important things and to not allow the expedient to confuse him. Prepare the people that will be a part of his life a year from now. Make some of them your people. Give them hearts to understand what him. Make his heart's desire to serve you first and others second. Make his heart's desire to please you.
With true bittersweetness, I am enjoying lots of lasts and a few firsts with both of these guys. They have been so much fun! (as have all of my boys!) As our active, hands-on parenting years draw to a close I am (mostly) at peace with it. I say that I am. I say it out loud to others... because if I say it out loud I think it will be more true! I will convince myself that it is true. I still pray daily for my all of my guys, I'm sure I always will. I still long for, plan for, and completely enjoy the times when any of them are able to come home or we are able to visit them. But some days, like today, I'm a bit nostagic for the days of babbling baby sounds, toddler fits, curious 4 year-old questions, and grubby, sticky little boy bodies. I even miss those moody, then suddenly loving, teenagers. Each stage of childhood and parenting has such sweet stuff in it! If you are in the midst of these days, take a moment to really enjoy them, Touch them, smell them, watch them. Love them! And most importantly, teach them to love Jesus. If you get that part right, the rest is just gravy!
With that in mind, I will try to post a few things that hubby and I have found helpful in our parenting. Please understand that I do NOT in anyway hold us up as experts! We have made MANY mistakes, some of which have been very costly. But we have nearly raised 5 sons and we do have lots of experience because of that. We've found a few things that have worked well for us along the way. With that said (not that I won't repeat it) I will post a few of those things that we have learned in the coming days. Remember though... I'm headed back to the work-a-day world and moving a boy to college so the posts may be a while in coming. :)
If you have comments, ideas, recommendations, resources for dealing with raising teens, letting go of parenting, empty-nesting, etc. I would love to read them. Leave me a comment!
For the Lover of my soul,
Laurie Jo
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Loss, Grief, and Comfort
Today, I'm struggling! Specifically, I'm struggling with feelings of abandonment and loss. Let me fill you in a bit. I lost my best friend, Rita, just over 21 months ago. She was my other soul-mate. We shared so much life together. Our husbands enjoy each other's company and are very close. We have children that are very close in age. We each had 5 sons. We each adopted our youngest sons and we each "informally" adopted another son. (No matter how we got them we love all of our boys.) Our sons are each other's best friends. My sons have grieved openly with hers. We have all shared so many tears over these last two years. So there is that gaping hole of loss in my my life. Even though I know she is with the Lover of her soul and mine and I will see her again, I still miss her today and everyday. I just love her so much and I can never use the past tense with her becuse I know she still loves me and is saving a place for me. I can not imagine how one deals with this kind of hurt without the assurance of heaven.
That's one area of loss or abandonment. My next one is that my nest is really close to empty. You might be right in thinking that my tank is nearly on empty too! because I have nearly raised 5 boys! Darling son #5 is a senior this year and will probably be joining the military and leaving home for good next summer. I can barely write this sentence. I haven't had him long enough. I get anxious that I haven't done it right and I haven't been able to show him all that he really needs to know before he leaves the safety of the nest. What if he crashes to the ground because I have missed showing him something really important or I didn't show it to him in the right way? But most days, in my head (and in my heart) I am good with the empty nest. Hubby and I still like each other a lot. But today, for some reason, my heart aches for more time with those babies and a house-full again.
What to do for my heartache? Go shopping...well, that might work for a bit but not the long term. Wallow in my heartache.... sometimes, but not for long, it hurts too much. EAT!.... Ewww, I've done this one way too much!! Call a girlfriend, I could but I can't think of anyone that's not working right now! So.... get busy, that's what I'm doing. I'm writing again and that is proving to be a good distraction even though I am very new to this blogging thing. And then, I'm going to spend 15 minutes decluttering a paper pile! (I HATE MAIL!) and then I'm on to painting the laundry room. Pics may follow depending on how it turns out. ;-)
In the meantime the Lover of my soul gave me this: He says He will never leave me and that he will give me comfort.
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:18 KJV)
Thank you, Jesus! I needed that! and You knew it before I did! I love and serve an amazing God! I hope you do too.
For the lover of my soul and yours,
Laurie Jo
That's one area of loss or abandonment. My next one is that my nest is really close to empty. You might be right in thinking that my tank is nearly on empty too! because I have nearly raised 5 boys! Darling son #5 is a senior this year and will probably be joining the military and leaving home for good next summer. I can barely write this sentence. I haven't had him long enough. I get anxious that I haven't done it right and I haven't been able to show him all that he really needs to know before he leaves the safety of the nest. What if he crashes to the ground because I have missed showing him something really important or I didn't show it to him in the right way? But most days, in my head (and in my heart) I am good with the empty nest. Hubby and I still like each other a lot. But today, for some reason, my heart aches for more time with those babies and a house-full again.
What to do for my heartache? Go shopping...well, that might work for a bit but not the long term. Wallow in my heartache.... sometimes, but not for long, it hurts too much. EAT!.... Ewww, I've done this one way too much!! Call a girlfriend, I could but I can't think of anyone that's not working right now! So.... get busy, that's what I'm doing. I'm writing again and that is proving to be a good distraction even though I am very new to this blogging thing. And then, I'm going to spend 15 minutes decluttering a paper pile! (I HATE MAIL!) and then I'm on to painting the laundry room. Pics may follow depending on how it turns out. ;-)
In the meantime the Lover of my soul gave me this: He says He will never leave me and that he will give me comfort.
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:18 KJV)
Thank you, Jesus! I needed that! and You knew it before I did! I love and serve an amazing God! I hope you do too.
For the lover of my soul and yours,
Laurie Jo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)