Can't sleep. Love this song, can't stop listening to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTEflVwBhBk&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my iPod

Okay, so I did it! Hit snooze once, but up at 6:09. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I will forgive myself 9 minutes and consider it a win. :-)

So I'm praying this morning and, does this ever happen to you? Do you ever meditate on Jesus, or on the faith, and then something you already know just hits you? I mean, something you know intellectually, but now it just hits your heart? Well I'm thinking about the Passion this morning and, at first, this terrible thought creeps in my head that lots of innocent people have been tortured and killed. Maybe even a few endured it out of love. I didn't go so far as to think, what's the big deal about the Passion, but I was headed down that line of thinking to be completely honest. And then it hit me, again something I know, but it hit me in my soul; this Is God who allowed himself to be tortured and killed for love of us. Creator of the whole Universe and everything in it. So, number 1, obviously He did not have to endure it. Yes, other humans have been unjustly tortured, and may have even borne it for love of others, but they had no power to stop it. Jesus had that power if He had desired to use it. Smiting would be pretty easy for Him you know? But He didnt!

Number 2, think of how extra horrifying it is when we hear of someone killing their own family, particularly their own mother or father. All murder upsets us obviously, but there is something extra unsettling about matricide or patricide. And here, man did not just kill our own father, but again, the creator of the Universe! Literally, the father of everything! If patricide is horrifying, how mind boggling is Deicide??? And yet the Lord not only allowed Himself to be treated in this cruel fashion, He turned it around and made the ultimate good come of it - our salvation! He took the most heinous act one could think of - the murder of our own GOD - and used it to save us!!!! Holy cow!

You probably think I'm crazy, because of course we all know this, but this morning I really felt it. Thank you Jesus. What can anyone say to that? How do you repay it? You can't, He doesn't even expect you to, other than to Love Him with all your heart, by keeping His commandments, always choosing the good, and loving others as you love yourself. That's it. Small price to pay really. I mean, why is it so hard to get up at 6:00 am when He did all that, and I only have give up an hour of sleep for 40 days, of my own choosing, just to help me grow closer to Him. No big whoop right?

Ugh, I am really messing up this Lent. I decided to give up an hour of sleep by getting up early and using the extra time to do the Divine Office. So far I've only done it truly successfully 3 times. The rest of the time I'm waking up, praying, and then going back to sleep for 1/2 an hour. A couple of times I even overslept! At least once I just failed completely by hitting the snooze button for an hour. And so what did I do today? I took a nap. Now it's nearly midnight and I am wide awake. What are the chances of me getting up in 6 hours? I know sacrifice is the whole point but why did I pick sleep? It's so haaaaarrrd! I hope you are all having a far more successful Lent then I am. I'm really going to use all my will to get up tomorrow. Good night!

Praying for the Clouse family today

I am praying for the Clouse family today. I cannot imagine burying 7 children. If you did not hear about this tragedy, you can Google "Clouse fire" and read any number of stories about it, but basically this hardworking dairy farm family lost 7 children, ranging in age from 11 years - 9 months old, in a house fire last week. Today is the funeral. There was a rumor for awhile that those hateful people from the Westboro Baptist Church were going to be there to protest (protest what I cannot imagine), but it seems that they are not expected after all. I am sending my Guardian Angel to be with the Clouse family, who will need all of the intercessory prayer they can get, and just in case the WBC show up anyway, he will be armed and ready for battle. Please join me in praying for the Clouse family and consider sending your Angels too. My heart is just breaking over this tragedy.

This time change is killing me.

Does it still count as a Lenten sacrifice if I woke up at 6:00 am but I'm still laying in bed at 7:30 playing on my iPod?

Sent from my iPod

Lenten Sacrifices

So what's everyone giving up for Lent? I think I am going to try giving up, drum roll please,...............hitting the snooze button! Yes, I am FINALLY going to get up at 6:00 a.m. And I am going to use the extra time to start doing the Divine Office again. I actually did that pretty regularly for awhile, but it went the same way my working out at the gym went. I'll have to get back to that one of these days too, but one sacrifice at a time here. Tomorrow morning is my last day, for 40 days, of sleeping to that late late hour of 7:00 a.m. And now that I have announced it cyberly I am going to have to own it. I'd love to hear your plans!

Work Break

So I've been working the front desk at my kids' school (voluntary position) on Mondays. And I have to say, and I would have never thought this about myself, but I have discovered that I actually missed working! It's been a real blast from the past; drinking coffee, chatting with coworkers, making copies, chatting with visitors, stuffing a folder or two, chatting, more coffee....

Did I mention that chatting and drinking coffee are really my skill set? Back many, many, MANY years ago, when I had a first name and wasn't just "mom", I used to work. Well, I used to be employed. Working was avoided at all costs. (Did I ever mention that I am really lazy? Oh yeah, a few posts down. Good. So you're not surprised). I always went for the positions that had either "Assistant" or "Admin" in the title because those are code words for chatting and drinking coffee. I'm sorry if I've offended some Admins and Assistants, this was back in the 1980's and 90's when the whole world was different.

Anyway, yeah, I was a true expert, with years of experience, at leaning up against my coworkers' desks and chatting. Also lunch. Lunch was a forte as well. And organizing Happy Hour. I spent a lot of time and company resources (phone, email, sticky notes) organizing Happy Hours. So when I saw that the school was looking for a volunteer to sit at the door and let people in, I knew that I could offer them some true expertise in the field.

All joking aside, it really is nice to dress up in the morning, head into an office, and work. I'm really enjoying it. And that surprises me, since my lifetime goal from the time I was about 4, was to be a stay home mom and not work. Little did I know how much WORK that actually involves! Thinking about it, I guess I'm not really enjoying the work; I'm enjoying the break!