Where do bad dreams come from?

My daughter Megan has always had issues with bad dreams. She hates them; she's deathly afraid of them. Every night as we say our prayers, she prays that God would give her good dreams. Last night, we were praying, and she asked that He give her good dreams, not like the bad dreams He gave her last night.

I said, "Megan, God doesn't give you bad dreams." And Shea asked, "Who does then?"

What a good question! My first thought was satan, but I didn't really want to go there as I was tucking my kids in bed. I didn't want them thinking that the devil could get into their thoughts and give them bad dreams. And as I thought about it, I thought, satan does not have the power to control my thoughts or even hear my thougths. But he does seem to be part of the mix.

Megan said, "We give them to ourselves."

I think she is mostly right. Bad things do come from sin, our sinful nature, our sinful bodies ... I'm not sure how to put it. Because of sin, there are bad things in the world, and because of bad things in the world, we have fears and anxieties.

We ended our prayers with reminders and praises for God's constant protection and our ability to call on Him any time. But the discussion, although brief, got me to thinking and reminded me that my children are growing up and are going to have bigger and bigger questions. Why does God allow bad things to happen? Will something bad happen to me?

I think I will talk to Megan tonight about how God allows bad things to happen so that we turn to Him and rest in his strength. I'll guage how much we can get into the subject by what she says ...

Anyone with good books to recommend, please share. And I'd like to hear your comments and insights. And, if you would, say a little prayer that Megan has good dreams tonight. :-)

Megan 4th grade

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Shea Kindergarten

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Seattle 2009

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Scobba Girls (no boys allowed) Weekend - Day 2

I have to say that this past weekend with Megan was the nicest little vacation.

• We both slept in Sunday morning. I slept later than Megs, which is unusual, but like I said yesterday, she pooped me out!
• We ate breakfast, played on the computer, showered and got beautified, and then we headed for the mall.
• We shopped for swimsuits and clothes and Megan's favorite thing in the whole world - earrings! We had planned on going to a matinee, but we were having so much fun shopping that we decided to stay 'til the mall closed at 6 pm.
• We ate a quick dinner at Zantigo's (Mexican) - again, YUM!
• Then we saw Despicable Me in 3D on the Ultra Screen. What a cute movie! We loved it.
• We played Farkle and watched Meet the Parents when we got home.
• Then I finally got Little Miss to go to bed at about 11:30.

We both agreed that we should shoo the boys out of the house more often! I am so blessed. I am off to pick her up now from the neighbors and take her to her softball game. Our boys should be home this evening.

Scobba Girls (no boys allowed) Weekend - Day 1

We finally got the boys shuffled off around 1:00, and the rest of the day was ours!

• We spent some time playing Wii games. It was nice to not have to try to get Sammy in there to play with us.
• We got our nails done. Megan metallic blue nails with a white flower with a rhinestone on each big toe and her thumbs - very cool!
• Megan served at Mass. I didn't really know what to do with myself sitting in church all alone. I heard the whole homily and didn't have to wrestle with a 3-year-old through the whole thing.
• We went to dinner at Culver's and even had ice cream - yum!
• We went to see Tom Sawyer at the Maplewood Community Center and got to visit with some good friends. Megan will be in the show in August, so it was great to check it out, plus see a bunch of St. Jude kids perform.
• Megan got an icee at the gas station where we filled up the gas tank and washed the car. They had no lights on at the car wash. It was kind of surreal. I kept the doors locked for sure.
• We watched Grease when we got home (Megan's choice), and she worked on her cross-stitch.
• I finally got her to lay down with at 12:30 because I was POOPED!

It was a great day! :-)

Megan's 2010 Piano Recital

On Wednesday, May 19, Megan had her second piano recital for her second year of piano with Mrs. Marlene Lagios. We love Marlene, and Megan loves playing the piano. So far, we never have to ask her to practice, and she always counts her practice days with Marlene as her favorites.

We enjoyed seeing/hearing her play and wanted to share the experience.

"Sneaky Fox Boogie" - Megan does a duet with her classmate Kierney


Megan's solo - "Hurry-Scurry"