Ponderings about politics, life, tennis, goals, and God (just to name a few)

I'm in the process of changing my body clock, which was much easier to do say... ten years ago. I'm a morning person but Christopher is now taking four night classes a week (6:00 pm to 10:00 pm). My husband is working the closing "shift" at the bookstore (which will end today as they close early on Friday, his last day of work). And... I've been watching the Republican Convention as well as the U. S. Open (tennis) the last couple of nights... love that little button that lets me easily transfer from one to the other with the remote.

I finally became so engrossed in the Convention that I didn't find out which Williams sister won until this morning. As I had no opinion one way or the other, I could wait until this morning. However, I'm still a Federer fan and my son is wanting Roddick to pull out an upset. He says I only like Federer because he is so cute and such a sweet young man... and there is a problem with that?

Now, I'm not much of a night person like the rest of my family. I start fading around 3:00 in the afternoon. Except for a couple of TV shows (like NCIS), I don't even watch much evening TV. But I'm really enjoying the good tennis and the hoopla of the convention.

That SPEECH! Wow! Yes, I know the words were written by a professional (although I hear the hockey mom joke was inserted by her) but she did an amazing job. Now, I know this will sound strange to some but for awhile I was a little envious. In my former life, I loved public speaking whether it was at the corporate level... politics... or teaching a Bible class. Words come easy to me and I love to teach.

I've written enough about His sending me home full time but it isn't always easy giving up goals and desires. My husband brought that up this morning as I drove him to work (a completely separate rabbit trail from the speech, which he didn't stay up to hear). We talked about how God must be the Captain of our ship even when the destination is not what we expected.

He was gifted in math and statistics and engineering but illness began to take away the effectiveness of those gifts early on. It was the very giftedness that helped him stay at work as long as he did. This morning, with the remnant of Hurricane Gustav on top of us, his mold allergies were making a day at the bookstore seem insurmountable. How thankful we are that the mold count was low for most of the past three weeks.

For me, the decision was originally voluntary and then, well... not so much. I had absolutely no idea what developing diabetes meant when the doctor originally gave me the prognosis. I don't understand why bad things happen to good people, except that we live in a fallen world. I also know if He gave me what I deserved, I'd like that even less. :)

Christopher has been talking with me a lot about his college plans after this year when he transfers to the University. He was quite agitated about his possible change of major, when he should make the switch, what it meant if he had to go to graduate school, etc. My advice was to do what God has taught me... the woman who used to carry a notebook with my one day, one month, one year and five year goals in it! Not that goals aren't a good thing, they are just like having a budget... they offer us boundaries as well as destinations.

My advice to him... concentrate on the next immediate goal which must be accomplished this semester while preparing for the possible change in plans. For instance, all the classes he is taking this semester will be necessary for either major he is considering. I've found that God has often shown me only the next point of light as I walk the path He has for me. Then, at other times, He allows a glimpse of the Big Picture.

When it really gets squirrely is when He asks me to make the jump into (what seems) total darkness... but He is always there ready to catch all of us before we face a harsh landing. That free fall can be rather... um... scary, though. :)

Now... to get caught up with Domestic Duties and get the house all tidy... ready to bring out the pretty autumn "stuff", including the really cool tag sale items Stephanie sent to me via her brother (when the siblings met in Baltimore). Yes, train up your children in the way they should go and they find really good tag sales (garage sales in my part of the USA). :)

Photo: One of the Good Housekeeping posters; allposters.com