A Life Worth Living July 21, 2009

I hate to say it, but some time the world’s priorities creep up on me. Though I profess to put God first, Matt second, family third and career some where later, if you counted up the hours I spend every day my career would be the clear winner.

This isn’t completely bad. After all, the job that I do benefits God because I give Him an offering every week and Matt because the money I make goes towards savings for our future. But the truth is, my job has truly consumed my life.

I think about it, I worry about it and now I can’t get away from it. I think about what others would think if I moved to a different, less exciting job. What would people think if I take a job that I could get with no college degree??? Oh boy.

The truth is, what I really want more than anything in the world is time with God and time with Matt. I know that any job will have me working late from time to time or working weekends. But I want to cook my husband supper, I want to go for a walk with him without making sure I take my cell phone in case work calls. I want to go to a Friday night movie without putting my phone in a cup holder and glancing at it from time to time to make sure my boss hasn’t called. I want to teach a Wednesday night Bible class without leaving my phone out or worrying all day that I won’t get off of work in time.

Though I know I will see some raised eyes, and even more likely there will be some talk that I will never here. I need to have a job that is best for my family. . . . I hope that everyone can understand that. But even more, I hope that I can make myself OK with that.

So, I am off. For now I am still working as a reporter (In fact I am sitting in council chambers waiting between a public hearing and the meeting right now.) But maybe someday I will find a job that I can be proud of, I can work hard at and that allows me to put my priorities where they belong. Though the world may not understand, I know that I was made for Matt. I am his helper. I am his.

So here’s to getting my priorities in order.

Autism June 4, 2009

There has been a lot of news about autism lately. What are the causes? Is there a cure? What can parents do?

I am very curious about this disorder. I would imagine that having a joyful and interactive child one day and a quiet and unresponsive child the next would be terrifying. Mothers describe the beginning of the disorder as watching the light go out of their child’s eyes. How horrible.

This month I am working on a three to four part series on autism for the paper I work for. This is a project I am very interested and I am excited to begin. I have talked to a 23-year-old woman who was recently diagnosed with autism and a woman whose son was diagnosed with autism at age two.

What I’ve learned so far: It’s not a death sentence. High functioning people with autism go on to leave a normal life though it’s more difficult for them and they are often labeled by peers as weird or cold.

Today I am going to talk to two women who have a child with autism. More to come.

TV April 3, 2009

I am writing an article about television right now that I have found VERY interesting. I came up with the idea because I am admittedly addicted to certain tv shows, turn on the tv as soon as I get home and even eat in front of the tv most nights. (Not hard to do considering our living room, dining room and kitchen are all one room.)

I am embarrassed to admit all of these things about myself, especially when there are so many other things I can be doing. But I comfort myself with the fact that I am relatively selective about what I watch. Sexual and violent shows just don’t attract me. But no matter what show I watch, there is guaranteed to be something inappropriate in it . . . .sigh.

As I talked to psychologists about the effects of television on the family unit and its members,  I realized that television can, at least in part, be blamed for they way society is to day. If nothing else, it contributes.

Here are some of the things psychologists contribute to the over consumption of television by the American family.

1. Obesity – Eating in front of tv, not exercising.
2. Divorce – The women men see on tv are so unbelievably beautiful and so seemingly available, they believe they can do better and because of tv, they think better equals prettier. (Side Note: I think that this begins young before a man is even married. Some of the goofiest looking guys I know are only concerned about finding a pretty girl to marry. Nothing else matters to them.)
3. No Communication – You may be in the same room together, but if you’re only talking during commercials you are not getting to know each other. This not only hurts a marriage. But parents are amazing when their children do something criminal. It turns out they just didn’t know their own children.
4. Obsession with beauty – Women think that being airbrushed beautiful and size three small is the norm. Self esteem plummets.

I then posed the question: Then why do people watch tv. Here’s the interesting thing, it’s not just for the entertainment value.

People are literally hypnotized by television. One psychologist talked about how she councils people dealing with pain not to watch tv to deal with it, because it actually hinders the healing process! WOW! People may not be dealing with physical pain, but you better believe television helps you forget about your stressful day, even just for a little bit.

It’s like a tranquilizer. As a result, people don’t deal with their problems, they just forget about them for a couple of hours every day.

So here’s my lesson of the day: TURN OFF THE TV

It’s a Wonderful Life March 29, 2009

That movie is one of my all time favorites. It’s a classic and if you haven’t watched it, you should.

The message is so inspiring. Here is a man who struggled to make ends meet his whole life and then a mistake made by someone else, coupled with the action of a truly evil man, combine to make the man believe his family would be better off without him.

But the truth is, he’s a hero. The small decisions he has made, his stand for good every day, made his life very important. He helped people through life, always putting others before himself.

The movie ends with the whole town saying thank you and signing while he reads this line: No man is alone who has friends.

I love it, tears come to my eyes every time. While it is certainly true that friends are important. As a Christian, I have the best friend possible. Others can leave me, disappoint me, or hurt me. But God will do none of the above. In fact, I have hurt God and he still refuses to leave me. What a relief, what a joy, what a purpose.

Life’s hard and it can get me down. But if I was truly focused on this purpose, if all I cared about was pleasing God, my life would be calm, I would be content.

I owe God so much, because of Him I am never alone. I have a friend that will endure to the end.

. . . . . . . . . That’s what I think about when I watch that movie.

Cleaning day January 26, 2009

I love cleaning house, I really, really do. I feel so relaxed and put together when our apartment is clean. I work one to two Saturdays every month, and then get the following Monday off of work. I LOVE these Mondays. I don’t know what I would do without them.

With my job, I work a lot of nights, a lot. Working nights means a lot of things. I don’t get to spend as much time with Matt as I would like, I don’t get to fix Matt super and our apartment quickly becomes a disaster area no matter how many promises to myself that THIS TIME I was going to keep it clean.

So Mondays become my cleaning the house day, I mean really deep cleaning. It also become the running the errands I haven’t had time to run day. And the watch random TV while cleaning day. It is great! The only downside is I don’t get to spend it with Matt until after 5 p.m. But let’s be honest, if Matt was here, I wouldn’t have gotten any of this done.

Mondays are also the day I remember college the most. I get to do whatever I want? All day? No phone calls to go to a wreck? No stress? Just a calm day where I actually get done what I want to get done? What a GREAT day!

Though I know I have to go back to work tomorrow, I am basking in this day!

What I love about Christmas December 5, 2008

Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year. Whole towns are decorated, houses are lit, the world is cheerful and beautiful. Even on the bleakest of days, when the sun hardly comes out, at night everything lights up and looks happy.

Though I may not celebrate Christmas as Christ’s birth, I celebrate it as a great time to spend with family. The holiday season is just one family event after the other, a time to show your loved ones how much you really care.

My favorite part is and always will be waking up on Christmas morning and drinking hot chocolate in our PJs while we open gifts. Though the feeling is a little less magical than when I believed Santa had left all of those gifts for me, it is still great.

My parents have always made sure to emphasize spending time together with each other. We ate breakfast together every morning and tried to eat supper together every night we could. But the sense of family is never as strong as it is Christmas morning.

This year will be a little different. We will still open presents together, but it will be two weeks before Christmas and one more person will be sitting around the Christmas tree. But I know that feeling will still be there and I can’t wait for next weekend.

But what I am most excited about is waking up Christmas morning next to Matt. I can’t wait to sleep in late, eat a very Christmasy breakfast, drink hot chocolate and open presents together. All of our first holidays together are so special to me. I keep reminding myself not to kill myself trying to make it perfect. It will be perfect with out me trying to make it so.

The next day it will be back to work for the two of us and then we will go to Matt’s family’s for the weekend. Where we get to do the sitting around the tree and opening presents thing all over again. TRIPLE the fun. I can’t wait.

Merry Christmas to ALL!

Creativity September 10, 2008

I am not a creative person. I have wished all of my life that I was. I think and think about something creative to say, write or do. Sometimes I surprise myself, but most of the time I can’t think of anything. I’m telling you this because I realize that my blogs have got to be extremely disappointing and only vaguely informational. But, I will keep writing for those who can withstand the boredom.

I want so badly to be creative because those people who are creative absolutely astound me. Painters like Monet blow my mind. Even creativity like people making up recipes is awesome. Let’s face it, who doesn’t want to create. To create something means you get to leave a piece of yourself in this world that may even last long after you are gone.

I think a lot about what I am leaving in this world after I am gone. I won’t go into a ton of details of what I hope to leave behind. But I will say, I hope to at least leave a memory. A good memory. In the minds of the people that new me.

If you think about it, whether I choose to or not, I create a memory. Whether negative or positive. I hope to leave a positive one. I really do.

Well that’s it for now.

Katlynn