Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Faith, Family and Friends (Part 3)

Friends -- I have to dedicate one day to my special friends that I love so much. While I know and am aquainted with a lot of people, I can't say that I have a lot of really true, close friends. Years ago, after growing up and starting a family, I felt like I had let go of my old friendships, and it seemed like I didn't have any friends anymore. So, I prayed to God to please give me a friend -- a friend with the same values I have and who I could feel comfortable sharing my heart with. Well, six and a half years ago I started a new job and within the next six months, I was working closely with three ladies who have become my friends. I mean, here are the four of us all working together, and none of us knew each other before this job. But somehow, and I believe for some purpose, God has put us together. We get along with each other and work together so well and we have the same values and beliefs on spiritual matters. We share our prayer concerns and we pray for each other. I love these ladies and am so thankful for their friendship.
My other friend is Beverly and we know each other from church. Her dad became the pastor of the church I grew up in when I was a junior in high school. When I got married, her dad performed my wedding ceremony. We became friends before getting married, but we became closer after having children around the same age. We've had some good times together -- taking church trips with the youth group when our boys were in it, working together with youth choir or other singing groups, our families going out to eat together after church, our families going to Tennessee to visit our sons who roomed together while they were in college. I cherish the friendship of Bev and Ronnie and their kids, and I love each one of them.
So, even though I don't have a lot of friends, I have some very good and special friends that will always be my BFFs!

Friday, June 22, 2007

Faith, Family and Friends (Part 2)

Family -- This will probably be my favorite section to write about because I have been so blessed with a wonderful family. I hope I don't gush too much, because it would really be easy to do. I guess I'll start with my immediate family....

Eddie is my husband and we have been married since November 21, 1980. We met at the church I grew up in because he had become a Christian and decided to start going to church, and my church just happened to be in his neighborhood. I say "just happened to be" but I know now that it was not just a coincidence that this happened. This was all part of God's purpose and plan for his life and my life for us to meet and eventually get married and raise a family. When this new guy suddenly showed up in my youth group at church, I was very interested in who he was and where he came from, etc. I didn't immediately have a crush on him, but after a couple of months I really wanted to get to know him better. He had such a good personality and always cracked jokes in youth choir, so everyone liked him. However, being the quiet, shy girl that I was, I just waited. But when it was time for my senior prom(class of 1976), I happened to be talking to him at church one day and I slipped into the conversation the fact that I didn't yet have a date. He was so nice and said that he could take me to the prom. But he was in his first year of college and a couple of weeks later I got a letter in the mail from him saying that he was sorry, but he wouldn't be able to go to the prom after all because he had to study for finals. I was disappointed, but he did ask me out for a date after his finals were over, and the next morning after our first date, I told myself that I would marry him someday. He didn't know that I was the "one" for a long time after that because I didn't tell him or pursue him, I just quietly waited. After several years and a lot of stuff that I won't go into now, we finally did get married and we are in the process of living happily ever after.

Eddie and I have been so blessed to have two children, Aaron and Leah. I could say so much about both of them right now, but I think I will save the details for another post in the near future. I'll just tell a little about each of them. Aaron is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University where he received his degree in the Recording Industry. He has done some recording since graduating, but what he really wanted to do was play rock-n-roll. So, that's what he's doing. He is the drummer for a Christian heavy metal band called A Plea for Purging, and they are on tour full time. Aaron is a very unique, interesting and awesome person. I wish everyone could get to know him because he's a lot of fun to be around. He has very long hair which is in dreadlocks, and he has tattoos and his ears more than pierced. I guess you call it gauges. I don't like the guaged ears and I could do without the tattoos, but, he's my son and I love him. Leah is our daughter, and for the first couple of years of her life was called "Little Leah" our miracle baby. She was born very prematurely, weighing only 1 pound 14 1/2 ounces. It was a long, hard road, but she pulled through and has been a joy and a challenge to raise. She's a cute little thing with light brown hair (at least today that's the color), and she's about 4' 10" tall. She will soon be starting her second year of college at Troy University and hopes to one day be a substance abuse counselor. Having a daughter is so great because daughters keep in touch and call their mothers every day. She tells me what's going on in her life and sometimes we have long, late night talks. I love her and am so thankful for her.
My extended family includes my mother and dad who have been married for 53 years, and my three sisters and their families. I also have a mother-in-law and Eddie's three brothers. I guess I won't say a whole lot about the extended family because this is already longer than I had planned it to be. But I would like to say that I am thankful that my parents raised me in a Christian home and that they taught me the importance of church attendance. And one of the greatest things they ever did for me was to make me take piano lessons. Without the music in my life, I don't know what I'd do. When I don't have anything to do, I always have something I can do and I'll never be bored -- I will always have this gift. So, thanks mom and dad for making me practice and go to piano lessons all those years.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Faith, Family and Friends (Part 1)

Since I am new to blogging, I haven't completely decided what I want to write about or what I want my focus to be. It will have to be about something that I have knowledge about, so that rules out almost everything. I can't write about politics or current events because I'm just not intelligent enough to write about those things. The only things I know a lot about are my life, music, and the Bible, and I still have so much to learn about the Bible. And with technology changing almost every single day, I still have a lot more to learn about music. So, for now, I'll just talk about my life.


FAITH -- My faith in Jesus Christ is the most important thing in my life and everything else in my life revolves around my faith. I believe that Jesus is the son of God. He lived a sinless life and was crucified to make atonement for the sins of man. He rose from the dead the third day. This was God's gift to mankind to make a way, the only way, for us to have forgiveness of our sins and be able to have eternal life in heaven with God. We have to believe this and accept the gift God has given. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves because Jesus Christ has already done it. But we do have to believe. Read John 3:16.


My faith affects every aspect of my life and I cannot separate it from the other parts of my life. It doesn't mean that I go around quoting Bible verses to everyone I meet or kneeling in prayer at work, but it does make me a better person. For example, I believe that I am a better employee at my jobs because the Bible says that I should work as if I'm working for the Lord -- "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." Colossians 3:23-24. When I read this verse, it makes me want to be the best employee I can be because I want God to be glorified in everything that I do.




Monday, June 18, 2007

Blog Title Evolution

Today I decided to start blogging, so I went to http://www.blogspot.com/ and set up a blog. I didn't really think it through first and quickly realized that my blog would need a title. So I thought that using another word that started with a "K" would be nice since my name begins with "K". Then I thought it would be really cool if I could find a German word that would have meaning to me and would also begin with "K", since I have a special place in my heart for Germany. So, I picked up a German-to-English dictionary and began sorting through the "K" section. When I came to the word "Klavier", German for "piano", I decided it would be the perfect word to use along with my name. I've been playing the piano for most of my life and it is one of three things that bring the most meaning and satisfaction to my life. I'll be writing about the other two important parts of my life soon. So, welcome to Kathy's Klavier!
http://dict.die.net/klavier/