The Scoop on Granny

Name:
Cathi

Status:
Dreaming of the mountains...


Who is Granny?

I'm the incredibly blessed mother of 9, "Granny" to 16, and wife of "The Papa," the knight-in-shining-armor whose loving support has made it possible for me to stay home and give my life to mothering, homemaking, and 26 years of homeschooling. Life at Granny's House is full of laughter, friendship, books, music, lively debate, writing, and good things to eat. My days are made even more meaningful by coming alongside other moms, giving them the support and encouragement that I lacked as a young mother and helping them to network with each other in ways that strengthen homes and families. A few times a year I board a plane to visit my "away" kids, to attend the birth of a grandchild, or to enjoy some lazy days with my best friend, but I always love coming back to...Granny's House.

My Complete Profile

On Granny's Calendar
  • August 15 - SAC Day begins
  • August 16 - Sam is 7!
  • August 20 - Kristen's birthday
  • August 30 - THE WELTYS ARRIVE!
  • Sept 3 - FAMILY PICTURES
  • Sept 3 - Chris' birthday
  • Sept 5 - Henry is 9!
  • Sept 7 - Isaac is 10!
  • Sept 17 - The Papa's birthday
  • Sept 23-30 - Granny and Papa go to Hawaii
  • Sept 26 - PawPop is 88!
  • Sept 29 - Tim is 15!
  • Oct 2 - Cheyenne's birthday
  • Oct 4 - Liam is 5!
  • Oct 7 - John Caleb is 17!
  • Oct 18 - Tony's birthday



  • Email Granny!


    Get your own calendar



    Granny Cares
  • Care Calendar
  • Agape Pregnancy Help Center San Antonio
  • World Vision

  • Granny Cooks (and Eats)!

  • The Pioneer Woman Cooks
  • Once a Month Mom
  • $5 Dinners
  • Full Bellies, Happy Kids
  • A Year of Crockpotting


  • Granny's House (and yours!)

  • Simple Mom
  • The Nesting Place
  • Between Naps on the Porch
  • The Inspired Room



  • Granny gets around...
  • A Holy Experience
  • MommyLife
  • Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
  • Preschoolers and Peace
  • Breathing Grace
  • theMangoTimes



  • Granny stays informed...
  • Real Clear Politics
  • Fox News
  • Drudge Report

  • Granny Thinks...
  • Al Mohler
  • Between Two Worlds
  • Blog and Mablog
  • First Importance
  • Equipping the Saints
  • Desiring God

  • Granny says you may go to...
  • PowerLine Blog
  • Michelle Malkin
  • SteynOnline
  • WSJ Opinion Journal Best of the Web
  • GetHuman
  • Home School Legal Defense Association

  • Granny goes to the movies...
  • Netflix
  • Rotten Tomatoes
  • ScreenIt.com

  • Granny is watching!
  • Blue Pencil Editing
  • SPOGG
  • Mighty Red Pen
  • Conjugate Visits

  • Granny smiles at...
  • Purgatorio
  • ScrappleFace
  • LarkNews
  • Sacred Sandwich


  • Monday, March 26, 2007
    Oh, say can you see...
    Note: This entry was originally published in October, 2005. Today I find myself needing to be reminded once again...

    Bifocals. I got them in my fiftieth year after resisting them for a full year. Now, a year later, I'm still not used to them. They irritate me as often as they delight me. There are times when I love having the specialized lenses that make both reading and driving easier (and safer!); but because I don't wear them all the time like I should, the shifting back and forth between the top and bottom half is still a moderate annoyance. I find myself looking out at the road through the wrong half if they're not perched just right, and it looks like I'm driving in the ocean. Then I try to read something on my computer through the top half and I wonder where the print went. No, I haven't yet gotten the glasses with THREE lenses, and neither of the ones I have work for the mid-distance of the laptop screen. And I haven't had the patience to work it all out and make sure I'm always looking through the right lens.

    I need bifocals. Not just for my deteriorating retinas, but for my life.

    Ah. . .it sounds a lot like my life.

    In my public speaking I've done a lot of talking about looking at our children, our lives, through "long distance glasses," teaching young moms to make sure they're focusing on the long look at the big picture when their days seemed to be filled with small things. Many days I still need to be reminded of this. I'm looking through the reading half of my life lenses, and all I see are the small things. Dishes. Doctor appointments. Grammar lessons. Scissor tracks in my tablecloth. Birthday cards. It's very necessary for me to look through the lens that allows me to see these things clearly, because they're important. I want to take the attention with the small things that will form memories for my children and for me, the things that end up making up the big picture. But when I'm too focused on the small things, I look up for the big picture and it's a blur. It's an ocean in front of me and I've lost the ability to see it clearly. My attitudes get petty and my efforts become scattered. Life is incoherent.

    On the other hand, there are days (and months, if I'm honest) that I'm so enamored of the big picture that the little things, the close-in view, gets neglected. I'm looking toward and planning for the future, imagining what things could be like in ten years and what I want to be building for eternity. . .I'm definitely wearing my long-distance lenses. And I look down at today's lessons or a pile of towels or the thawing hamburger and they're a blur. An annoyance. I've lost sight of how important they all are to the completion of the big picture.

    So I need bifocals. Not just for my deteriorating retinas, but for my life. I need to work with both lenses, and maybe several sets of in-between lenses, to be able to keep all the parts of my responsibilities and joys in focus. And I need to submit them to the Great Physician/Ophthalmologist for regular checkups and regrinding in some cases. There are times when I think my vision through a certain set of lenses is 20/20 but He thinks differently. Just as when I've let myself go too long between eye checkups, I get used to the blurred vision, whether short or long. Then God hands me the new lenses and I'm startled by how much I've been missing: the indispensability of the peanut butter sandwich. . .the glorious hope of an eternity with Him, and an almost infinite number of focus-levels in between. I can live my life in supermarket reading glasses, or I can train myself to look through the right lenses, all of them in their season. . .

    Labels:


    has spoken at 10:34 AM
    5 Backtalks to Granny





    Granny's Mission Statement
    "...Tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done....that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children."
    ~Psalm 78:4-6

    My Focal Passage for 2011...
    Philippians 2:5-11

    5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

    6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

    7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

    8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

    9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

    10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

    11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

    ~Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV)


    Oxymoronica...

    "The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it."

    ~Samuel Johnson


    [Oxymoronica, n., A compilation of self-contradictory terms, phrases, or quotations; examples of oxymoronica appear illogical or nonsensical at first, but upon reflection, make a good deal of sense and are often profoundly true.]


    Books on the iPhone, the Kindle, or on the nightstand...


  • The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, Alexander Mccall Smith
  • The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, Arthur G. Bennett, editor



  • Books finished in 2011...

  • Oxymoronica, Mardy Grothe
  • Some Sing, Some Cry, Ntozake Shange, Ifa Bayeza
  • English Society in the Eighteenth Century, Roy Porter
  • One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, Ann Voskamp
  • His Word in My Heart, Janet Pope
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot
  • Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
  • Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi
  • Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God, John Piper
  • Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, Joshua Foer
  • Blue Shoes and Happiness, Alexander McCall Smith
  • The Red Queen, Philippa Gregory
  • Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, Eric Metaxas
  • The Confessions of Saint Augustine, St. Augustine
  • Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats, John Keats
  • Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell
  • Words That Work, Frank Luntz
  • NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
  • Poke the Box, Seth Godin
  • Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, Gary Taubes
  • A Patriot's History of the United States, Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen
  • Song of Saigon: One Woman's Journey to Freedom, Anh Vu Sawyer
  • The Artistic Mother: A Practical Guide for Fitting Creativity into Your Life, Shona Cole
  • The Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature, Elizabeth Kantor
  • The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, David McCullough


  • Oh, the thinks you
    can think...
  • Tapestry of Grace
  • Anatomical Charts
  • America's Library
  • George Washington's Mount Vernon - Virtual Mansion Tour
  • Thomas Jefferson's Monticello - Virtual Mansion Tour
  • Hurricane Demo

  • Oh, the places we'll go...
  • The Alamo
  • Majestic Theater
  • The MAiZE
  • Magik Theatre
  • Sheldon Vexler Children's Theatre

  • Granny always says...
    Sunday snippets...
    You are looking....
    And all because two people fell in love.......we a...
    Well, I had thought about posting tonight about th...
    Showers of blessing
    Another note to my dear blogging friends...
    Dependence day...
    Dear fellow blogger,I'm writing to tell you about ...
    Okay NOW Granny is mad.
    News flash....

    Granny used to say...
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    Grace Notes

    "Were the whole realm of nature mine
    That were a present far too small...
    Love so amazing, so divine
    Demands my soul, my life,
    my all!"