Sleepless. But not in Seattle.

It's 6:24 a.m. on Sunday morning. I fell asleep on the courch watching a movie with Mister Bloomin' Life and awoke at 4:30 a.m. Stumbling off to the bedroom, pillow in hand, I brushed my teeth and fell onto my glorious cool, clean sheets. Normally when this happens I fall back to sleep peacefully in my own bed. But this time I did not, could not sleep. I tossed. I turned. I got frustrated. Finally, I just got up. I just hate this. Today (Sunday) is not going to be a good day if I don't get some sleep. The living room is tidy now, as is the kitchen. I took a shower and washed my hair. I feel like something is bothering me, but I'm not sure what it is. I feel like . . . I don't know. My soul is disturbed.

So much is going on right now:

• I'm fostering four little kittens that a mama cat left in my garage. They were quite sick but a rescue organization in town is helping out with meds and such.
• Another kitten from a different litter/mama showed up; he hasn't been to be treated yet and is sleeping in a cage on the front porch. He can't be near the other kitties because they may still be contagious. This little guy seems to be pretty healthy. We'll see.
• Something ate me up, y'all! I found four lone star seed ticks on me Thursday and Friday, but it looks as if some fleas or something just tore the rest of my torso up. I'm miserably itchy and uncomfortable. Benadryl makes me too drowsy, so I bought some spray-on itch stuff at Wally World Saturday night. We'll see how that works.
• Little Miss heads off to college in a month.
• Time to get ready for the new school year.
• I've got some health issues going on, and the doctor has no clue what the problem is. My lips have been swollen for several weeks now; this causes them to become very dry and my skin cracks in the corners.
• I think I'm just going crazy.

Well, time to go dry my hair. Am feeling a little drowsy, but I know that we'll be leaving for church in three hours. Hope preacher has something good to say this morning!

Talk soon.

J.L.

Food for thought in these tough times.

Life. Is. Hard. Period. Though the truth of the matter is that life doesn't have to be hopeless. But, according to this article about America's Unhappy Birthday, many Americans are allowing high gas and food prices, the war, and other circumstances dictate how satisfied they are with life.

All I got to say on the matter is this: Breathe, People! Yes, things are hard . . . challenging . . . hard . . . right now, but our country has been through far worse than this! What about the war fought on the very soil of our great country that won us the FREEDOMS we enjoy today? Or the war fought less than 100 years later between the UNITED States (or UN-united at the time)? Starvation, hatred, uncertainty, and death that left women widowed and children fatherless also brought a greater FAITH and resourcefullness that we have lost in our present society. One of my favorite parts of that article was the elderly woman who talked about the time during World War II and how foods, clothing, and so many other things were rationed out to citizens. How did they make it? They ADJUSTED, either doing without or making do. And I loved the part where the guy talked about how our identity should not . . . does not . . . come from what we own but from who we are. What we need to adjust is our way of thinking about our stuff! We also need to remember Who takes care of us and Who's in charge of everything.

Right now we are preparing to leave for youth camp so I don't really have a lot of time for a lengthy diatribe. But what I do want to share with you are two chapters from the book of Psalms in the Bible. It's funny what God does for us sometimes. After reading the article referenced above, I opened my Bible this morning to read while eating breakfast. What I randomly opened up to (sometimes I'm daring like that . . . just open and read) gave me strength and encouragement in the hard times we are facing now.

You can take your own Bible and read the passages, or you can just click the links below to take you to the chapters. Either way, I want to ask you to read these chapters over and over again in the coming weeks. Saturate your heart, soul, and mind with the words there.

Psalm 25

Psalm 27

Just a little note about my absence lately. I really have been just enjoying doing things this summer that I do not generally get to do during the school year. Even though I've got plenty that I could blog about, I've also got lots to do around here while we're on summer break. I'm just in a very relaxed-come-what-may way of life right now. I'm breathing before I take a deep breath later this summer when school starts back!! I'll be holding that breath until next May. I'll be a lovely shade of blue by then! LOL . . . Anyway, I'll eventually get back into blogging regularly, maybe with a few funny stories thrown in.

Love you all and thanks for reading!

J.L.

Psalm 25:15 Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD