Sleep, Sleep

Sleep is a wonderful gift from God. It's even more wonderful when it eludes me. We usually don't even think about it until we lose it or don't get what we feel we need.

Last night I woke up at 2:22 am. Boing! My eyes were tired and I kept them shut, but my body and mind were wide awake! This happens every so often. I'll have a few nights of a good 8 hours, then one of waking up in the middle of the night and lying there for several hours.

Isn't it ironic that when we're kids, it's such a novelty and treat if we get to stay up late for a special occasion. And when we're teens, we make it a habit to stay up as late as we can as often as we can. I remember one time my family and some friends spent a couple of days at Pine Knot, a cabin my grandparents owned in the mountains of western Pa. The cabin had 2 large rooms: 1 was furnished with multiple beds, the other with kitchen and dining furniture. I was an older teen at the time, and my brother and sister, along with other teen friends decided to stay up all night. We played games and chatted at the dining room tables until daylight. Not one wink of sleep all night. This was pretty significant! And I bragged about it to my Grandpa. He told me then that once you lose sleep, you never make it up. Really? I had never thought about that and what kid does?

The college age young person stays up late to study for exams, write papers, or party into the wee hours.

Just about the time you get some common sense and decide you feel so much better with a good night's sleep, you get married and start a family. Most babies do not sleep through the night. None of mine did for a very long time.

As the children get older, there are many nights where they do sleep long hours. But there are those nights when they get sick or have nightmares or just can't sleep for whatever reason. One of our daughters (she knows who she is!) used to come into our room in the middle of the night and announce: "Mommy, Daddy, I can't sleep." Thanks for letting us know!

Then the cycle begins again as your own children hit their teen years and think you're so "old" and "out of it" for going to bed soooo early. I remember another daughter insisting to us one time: "Mom, no one - NO ONE - goes to bed as early as you guys." Well, what she didn't realize was that she didn't get up as early as we did. At the time, Andy needed to be at his job by 6:00 am.

So we get the kids all married and out of the house. Life is wonderful. We'll finally get a good night's sleep. Surprise! Now we're in our fifties and I've hit menopause. Aghghghghgh!

So long ago when I was up in the night with a nursing baby, I determined I would use the time constructively instead of complaining and wishing I could be back in my bed. What do I do with those precious night time hours when I happen to be awake:

1. I listen to the quiet and enjoy it. There's nothing as peaceful and restful as a house in the middle of the night.
2. I review Scriptures I've memorized. One verse I particularly like and it is very appropriate: "On my bed I remember You. I think of You through the watches of the night." (Psalm 63:6)
3. I take advantage of the time to pray: for my family, friends, enemies (!), my church, country, missionaries, the world, and anything else the Lord might bring to my mind.

Here are 2 quotes our pastor uses at times:

The first requirement for a Spirit filled life is 8 hours of sleep.~Lewis Sperry Chafer

Fatigue makes cowards of us all.~Vince Lombardi

I found this quote on the web:

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If people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters. ~Author unknown, attributed to Jim Davis

One of my favorite children's books ends with a lullaby:

Sleep, sleep, my little fur child,

Out of the windiness, out of the wild,

Sleep, sleep, warm in your fur

All night long,

In your little fur family.

This is a song.

My point is that sleep is a gift, a wonderful gift from God - the Giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). And Psalm 127:2 says: "In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for He grants sleep to those He loves."

O bed! O bed! delicious bed!
That heaven upon earth to the weary head.
~Thomas Hood, Miss Kilmansegg - Her Dream

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Andy was able to work all day on the front porch. He did some siding around the doors and got up some soffits and facia. There is still a lot to do and it will be a while before he finishes this project.

This morning

This afternoon

The trees in the front and side yards are completely bare now. Andy and I did some raking and leaf blowing, cleaning up the driveway and gardens to the right of the house. What to do with all those leaves? We raked them onto old sheets and dragged them back to Dad's garden. They can decompose all winter and hopefully, give good nutrients into the soil. We're thinking of expanding Dad's garden and planting quite a bit of stuff ourselves. Don't hold us to it...but we're thinking of it.

The elms and Bradford pear trees still have leaves so our work is not yet finished. But I think we'll use the mower on those when they finally come down. We'll probably have to mow one more time before winter.

I spent the day cleaning house. I also organized our closet and got rid of clothes I hadn't worn in a while, especially shoes and dresses. I hardly ever wear a dress anymore. And I've had to go to wearing shoes with lower heels, to keep my feet from hurting by the end of the day.

This afternoon I went shopping for new jeans. It was a fruitless effort. I know the style is low rise jeans, but I just can't bear to buy them. Don't they make jeans for "old" people anymore?

World Magazine

The new issue of World Magazine arrived in the mail today. There was an excellent article by John Piper on page 51, which included good reminders regarding last week's election result. The gist of it is to do politics as though you were not doing politics!

He explains that even though we live in this world, we anticipate a better one. I love everything he writes, his emphasis is always God-centered, not man-centered.

One Last Shot of Autumn Color

With the rain and wind today, the leaves are falling quickly. Not many are left on the trees, in fact, they're all in our driveway and gardens. They also seem to make their way into the house on the bottoms of shoes. So I have to vacuum nearly every day. And when the rain finally stops, there will be hours and hours of raking and hauling those leaves off. Something to look forward to!

But I did get one last picture of our Bradford pear trees yesterday when I got home from work. They are the first trees to flower in the spring and the last to color, then lose their leaves in the fall. The picture doesn't do justice to the scene as I saw it last night. The sky was dreary and gloomy, but the trees were vividly orange/yellow/red with those bright red burning bushes in front.One day last weekend when I turned on the kitchen light, it went poof! Then it wouldn't work. I changed a bulb, it still didn't work. So we thought something was wrong with the light, and we needed a new one. We bought one, Andy installed it, it still didn't work. Hmmm. Next idea was to replace the switch. Voila! So we spent money on a new light, when a few dollars would have solved the problem. And I liked the old light, too! Well, now we have 2 kitchen lights.

Out with the old!

In with the New!

This world is not my home.

I was feeling somewhat down yesterday after the election, but God has been ministering to me since. I remembered a verse in Isaiah 40: He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

Also, I have to believe God is sovereign and he places people in leadership to serve his purposes. Who knows what he has in mind for our nation? I certainly don't know. His ways are far above our ways and his thoughts above our thoughts. I have to trust in his plan for our nation and my life. I am tempted to worry about the future and what might be in store for our children and grandchildren, but the just shall live by faith. So, please God, increase my faith! Isn't it safer, anyway, to trust God than our politicians!?

And this morning I was reviewing 2 Peter 1:1-11 which I had memorized a couple of months ago and was struck with the message. I am hoping to receive a rich welcome into the ETERNAL kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;

and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;

and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,

and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amy's Visit

Do you think Joanna would like to have some of Chase's ice cream?

Amy came down on Saturday with Chase & Joanna and stayed till this afternoon. She went to our church on Sunday morning and was able to visit with some friends she hadn't seen in a very long time. Dawn had lunch with us before dashing off to her kids' musical/drama rehearsal. Amy and the kids took a nap. Andy took a bike ride. I made a batch of cookies so we would have treats for our small group that met at our house in the evening.

Amy and the kids joined our small group in the evening. Andy leads the discussion which is based on the morning's sermon. I will probably give my impressions of the message in a later blog. Joanna lay on the floor, Chase played with his cars and trucks and wandered in and out of the room. One time in the middle of the discussion, Chase came over to Andy, looked up at him and said, "PopPop talking." It was so funny. It broke everybody up.

On Monday Amy and I went to the zoo with Chase & Joanna. It was a perfect day for that kind of outing. The sky was overcast but the air was pretty warm - mid 60's. I hadn't been to the Philadelphia Zoo in a very long time and was impressed with the improvements that have been made over the years. The walkways are hardscaped with nice bushes and trees. The zoo wasn't at all crowded - it was a pleasant experience this time. It was fun to experience it with Chase.

We were all pretty tired when we got home, but it was a good tired.

Today Amy and I went to a children's resale store where she was able to buy all the clothes the kids needed for the coming winter - all for $56.00. It's a very nice store with good clothes and low prices.

Amy left around 2:00 pm, then I spent the rest of the day cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming the house. Andy and I also went to vote.

Andy spent the morning just hanging around waiting for the inspector to come check the framing work on the front porch. He couldn't really do anything until the inspector said it was ok and he didn't get here till around 2:00 pm. He did pass us, so Andy can go ahead - on to the next step. He was hoping to get the openings in the eaves closed up. The longer they are opened up, the more likely we'll get critters up in the attic. But with the shortness of daylight hours now, he was unable to get much done today.

Building Bethlehem / Family Time

Andy was gone all day with the Nativity Workday at church. He had a crew of about 40 men and women helping. He said he was happy with all that was done.
Christian had some tree work to do here in Jersey, so the whole family came down on Friday night and stayed in the upstairs apartment overnight. Then they were here all day. Amy and her 2 kiddos came down on Saturday morning and spent the whole day, as well. So the cousins all had lots of time to play and be together. They all get along well.

I thought this picture was funny with Naomi dressed up in girly dress-up clothes and brandishing a gun!


Tommy & Dawn came over to join us all for dinner. I made chicken bar-b-q pizza with a Caesar's salad, and we had ice cream for dessert.
After dinner we planned details for Thanksgiving dinner and drew names for Christmas. I'm very grateful for the love we share and enjoy as a family. God has blessed us with beautiful grandchildren! Of course, I would be happy with them even if they weren't physically beautiful - that's just icing on the cake!