The Gift of Sleep

Have I told you that I have the gift of sleep? It's true.

We go on car trips and I can be asleep before we are out of town or on the interstate. I am also known to fall asleep in Indiana and not wake up until at least Tennessee. I have even slept on a pool table twice, and once without a pillow. Occasionally I catch myself asleep at breakfast in the cafeteria, scrambled eggs slipping off my fork, eyes watching. I can sleep with the lights on, with a movie playing, or people chattering. I can sleep on floors and in strangers' beds. Just this afternoon I sat on the edge of some landscaping between classes to enjoy the beautiful weather; I found myself asleep in the grass a few minutes later.

(This wouldn't surprise my family.)

But I did something else this afternoon that I have never done.

I slept through a test. No, not like I took a power nap and forgot to set an alarm, or accidentally fell asleep in the grass and woke up too late, but I slept WHILE I was taking the test.

I propped my elbow on the table, rested my chin in my palm, and fell asleep somewhere between questions 40 and 45.

Busy Busy Busy.

This is some of what I've been studying:

and it's might also be what I become before Wednesday gets here!

As the end of the semester approaches, I'm finally feeling the weight of taking 17 credit hours. I had Forensics test today, and I have an Urban and Rural Development quiz tomorrow, and a Jerusalem and Its People FINAL EXAM tomorrow. I either studied at my desk or in my bed all weekend. I even set my alarm for 8am on Saturday morning to start studying. Study study study. I'm also working on final group projects for two development classes. Between dinner on Friday and bed on Saturday, I took only three breaks aside from lunch and dinner. On Friday night I watched Win a Date With Tad Hamilton and on Saturday I watched Twilight: New Moon for the second time. I was surprised at how CLEAN the first movie was, and of course I loved the second movie too. :)

In the last two or three weeks I have been impressing myself with how much I really can get accomplished if I sit down, eliminate all distractions, and don't quit until it was finished. In the process of preparing for my Jerusalem final exam, I have re-read the entire textbook. Partly for the purposes of studying, but mainly because apparently I was supposed to take notes while I read it throughout the semester, and I never did that. So now I must re-read it and take notes and turn those in before the exam tomorrow.

Yuck yuck yuck!

Can I remind myself?

30 days until summer vacation

37 days until Mozambique

116 days until Cambodia

My enthusiasm ----->

Thankful Thursday: International Treasures

Today I am joining Greg at Greg's General Store for Thankful Thursday. I'm thankful for these international treasures:

Paroath

Pastor Paroath is a young faithful pastor in the Cambodian province of Kampong Chhnang, and HERE is a post ("picture diary" rather) of the short yet influential time I spent with him in May.

If you didn't read it, it's pretty quick, and mostly pictures anyways. I failed to mention in the entry how impressed I am with Paroath's ministry, and how amazed I am with Paroath. He is strong. He is happy. He faithfully and joyfully carries a testimony of God's goodness. And his children LOVE to learn English! I'm anxious to reconnect with him this summer and see what God has done in his life in the past year, to hear what the children have learned, and especially to see this: [!!!]

A place of worship

and a classroom for English:

Ptr. Paroath at the entrance

Missionary Greg Fernandez inside

A side view of the church

My girls fell in love with Paroath's children and his heart for ministry, so we decided together that we wanted to do something to support him. We decided to cut back drastically on our living expenses and the 7 of us shared 1 large room at each hotel we stayed in. We also made more humble decisions when choosing restaurants and menus. At the end of the trip, we gave about 1/3 of the building project costs, and then were able to send over the rest later in the summer.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

My name in the sand...

How sweet is my friend Tonja for thinking of me and writing my name in the sand on her exotic Hawaiian vacation to Maui last week.


Ka'anapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii

Thank you Tonja, you encouraged me today!!

Enduring relevance..

Reflections from The Divine Conspiracy:

(The 400-page book that I FINALLY finished)

I think we finally have to say that Jesus' enduring relevance is based on His ability to speak to, to heal and to empower the individual human condition. He matters because of what He brought and what He still brings to us as ordinary human beings, living our ordinary lives and coping daily with our surroundings. He promises wholeness for our lives. In sharing our weakness, He gives us strength and imparts through His companionship a life that has the quality of eternity. He comes where we are, and He brings us the life we hunger for. "Life was in Him, life that made sense of human existence" (John 1:4). To be the light of life, and to deliver God's life to women and men where they are and as they are, is the secret of the enduring relevance of Jesus.

The flunk-outs and drop-outs and burned-outs. The broke and the broken. The drug heads and the divorced. The HIV positive and the herpes-ridden. The brain-damaged and the incurably ill. The barren and the pregnant too many times or at the wrong time. The over-employed, the underemployed, the unemployed. The unemployable. The swindled, the shoved-aside, the replaced. The lonely, the incompetent, and the stupid...

What I learned from an entire night with 11 and 12-year-olds...

I'm a brave girl. Friday night I chaperoned our fifth/sixth grade ministry's all-nighter at the church. We started with free time, had worship and a service, pizza, Guitar Hero, 1am dodgeball, etc. We had 33 kids and just enough helpers.

Thank you to the youth group for leading us in worship. It was really really good. Really. They have all matured a lot and I was very impressed! During the time of worship, as we were singing

How can I keep from singing Your praise

How can I ever say enough

How amazing is Your love

How can I keep from shouting Your name

I know I am loved by the King

And it makes my heart want to sing

I realized that I had underestimated the kids. I had underestimated how deep they were, how much they could understand spiritual things, how spiritual they could be.

God, thank you for using children to teach us.

Thoughts from early morning...

Today I am joining Greg at Greg's General Store for Thankful Thursday.

I am thankful that, even while I sleep, God is working. Some mornings it is more evident than others, but I can always recognize His work if I seek it. Even with only 5.5 hours of sleep, God gave me rest and energy for a new day of serving Him. He was also preparing a new day, and I joined a small group of students for a 6:30 prayer walk, I met with the Creator God in the crisp morning air.

In the morning, when I rise

In the morning, when I rise

In the morning, when I rise

Give me Jesus.

I am thankful that God meets us in the stillness and the quiet. I am thankful that I can quiet my heart, and disconnect myself from the people, the noise, and the busyness surrounding me, and connect my spirit with God.

In the quiet

In the stillness

I know that You are God

In the secret of Your presence

I know there I am restored

I am thankful for Spring. Truly truly truly I am thankful for Spring. For me, God's sovereignty is so evident in the blue skies and green grass, and in the budding flowers and chirping birds. It's almost as if when the plants return to life, so does the campus. There is a whole new attitude when it's beautiful outside -- a good one!

The heavens proclaim the glory of God.

The skies display his craftsmanship.

Day after day they continue to speak;

night after night they make him known.

[Psalm 19:1,2 NLT]

Be thankful today.

EDIT: Apparently today is only Wednesday, HA, so I'm just really on top of things. :)