Lent

Having grown up in a Southern Baptist church, I really never heard anything about Lent until I was in college. I must have met a few friends who practiced this tradition. I'm not sure if I even have the whole take on it, but I'm choosing to practice it my own way this year. Which makes it sound like I'm developing my own cult. Umm, not so much. But it's still always a good idea to be careful when drinking my coffee.

Anyway, here's what I'm thinking: I love the idea of being more deliberate in my reflections on the crucifixion and resurrection prior to the weekend of Easter. I mean, I probably think about some aspect of Christ's death and sacrifice almost daily. But I question if I am really seeking His heart, His purpose, and His voice in relation to His death as often as I should. As Rick Warren would tell, 40 days is a perfect, Biblical time frame for a journey. So, as of yesterday, I am off to travel a forty day journey with my Savior!

I know people frequently give up something to honor Christ's sacrifice during Lent. I also know that our pitiful "sacrifices" in no way compare to Christ's. Gracious, His original sacrifice was simply choosing to take human form. As one website I was reading puts it, "we take on particular disciplines—fasting, prayer, service—in order to repent and conform ourselves more closely to the life and death of Christ, all the while recognizing that Christ has already come to us before we sought him." Anyway, this year I've chosen to give up sweet desserts. It's not very original, but in addition to removing calories I really don't need, I like the idea of "freeing" that time, which I will spend in specific daily prayer. Here's what I'm planning on:

Sunday - praying for the persecuted church in various Muslim countries such as Sudan, Pakistan, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, and North Korea

Monday - praying for my "enemies" - especially those that I have felt most hurt by - thanking God for that person and asking His blessing for them

Tuesday - praying for our troops around the world

Wednesday - praying for our political leaders at the local, state, and national levels

Thursday - thanking God for where His presence is most discerned in my life and repenting for the places where I've strayed

Friday - praying specifically for those I know are unbelievers

Saturday - reflecting on scripture detailing the period of time before, during, and after the crucifixion and resurrection

By the way, I am not sharing these thoughts to pat myself on the back. Heavens to Betsy, I need more repentance than I do "Atta Girl!"s. But I am excited about this process and look forward to where it takes me in the next few weeks. Please pray for me, and you can be sure that I will be praying for you, too.

Fill My Snap Cup

What is the point of these awards shows, really? To continue to pat each other on the back? This is one of the many things about Hollywood that totally cracks me up. What other career field has about 900 different awards events - for themselves - in the space of four months? I want that! Why doesn't my school do that? Why doesn't the American Speech and Hearing Association do that? Why am I not getting a whole shelf full of little gold men to congratulate me on my superb performance as a speech pathologist?? I know I'm that good. So, in recognition of the honors to come, I've taken the liberty of preparing a little speech:

Julie's Acceptance Speech for the

Best Impersonation of a Speech Pathologist Oscar:

Thank you! Oh! Thank you! I can hardly conjugate verbs! I feel so blessed! And this statue - it's so shiny! So full of chocolate! Oh, thank you again! I just want everyone to secretly know that even in my wildest dreams, I never would have fantasized that this could ever happen to me. And to the other super-amazing nominees, I want each of you to know how totally mega-pumped your fake smiles makes me feel right now! You know when they first told me I wasn't blonde enough, I just had to take a minute and obsess about how adoring my fans have been. I guess it all just makes me feel kinda special. You know, there are so many [physically] little people to thank! First off though, I want to thank the esteemed administrators of the School, who looked deep within their limited knowledge of my ability before giving me this fantastic award! Also, I want to thank my Su Su Prettiness, for being such a powerful force in my contract negotiations. And to the Voices In My Head, who taught me to take life by the horns. And finally, to all the parents who pushed me beyond my limits while never taking the opportunity to work with their own children - I couldn't have done it without you! Thank you America, and good night!

Breaking News From Crazy Land

Well, turns out it doesn't matter so much that I woke up at Not Even The Crack Of Dawn since I am now back home with a sick Matthew. He complained of his stomach hurting this morning (you know, I don't think I've ever heard him say that before), and by 10 am, his teacher was calling me to tell me that while he hadn't thrown up yet, he seemed pretty pitiful. He says his stomach doesn't hurt anymore, but he has a bad headache. [Ironic fact: two men are here starting our vinyl siding today. Meaning POUND, POUND, POUND on the house. Not ideal for a headache]. This is only his second absence ever, including his three years of every day preschool. His teacher told me that the kindergarten class across the hall has eleven kids absent today.

I'm sorry to lose the pay today (ummm...about $215 since I only worked two hours), but I'm thankful to have another day at home to feel better myself. And we all know a baby needs his mama when he's sick.

Not Good

Whah, whah, whah. Doggone it. It's 4 am, so I can write about whatever I want to. The Julie Needs Sympathy theme is continued in today's episode.

Isn't Nyqyil supposed to supremely knock you out?? So, why am I sitting here wide awake at FOUR A.M.?? Oh, I don't know. Could it be because I woke up at 3 am with a splitting headache and laid there for half an hour and weighed the options of staying there trying to fall back asleep vs. getting up and taking an Excedrin (you're not noticing the affects of the caffeine on this run-on sentence are you? are you? ARE YOU?) and trying to feel better but staying awake for the next three hours? Clearly, the Excedrin won out. No other OTC medicine usually works for my headaches, so I don't even try anything but Excedrin anymore (this is not a paid advertisement). At least I'm not taking the narcotic that I used to. Not kidding about that. I didn't realize it was a narcotic until I failed a job drug screening. Nice. Anyway, this little cold I've received, courtesy of my precious, yucky-nosed son, has come with a headache every day this week. I KNOW. What happened to my magnesium cure-all, right? Evidently it doesn't do viruses.

And all this being awake would be OK, except for the fact that I have back-to-back students starting in four hours through (I kid you not) 3 pm. And I could be wrong about this, but I think the school frowns on its staff taking a little snooze while your students conduct their own speech therapy. They're picky that way.

In the meantime, at least I have my purry little Wonder Cat beside me. Now, if I could just get her to rub my head a little. instead of me rubbing hers...

Woe Is Me

Have my internet back now. Cough, sneeze. Now have no energy, ambition, or inspiration to blog. Blow nose, blow nose. Shiver. Will be back soon. Achy head, achy head.

Pulling covers back up over my head.

Slowly Going Insane

Now I have access to Facebook again. But our internet at home has decided not to function. We had the cable guy out this week to take a look, and he said it's probably because of the cable line that had to be reattached to the power pole that was replaced a few weeks ago. Maybe. All I know is that it seemed to be working fine until Alan talked with the help desk people at his office - who had him change some settings - to try to get his laptop hooked up to our wireless connection. Can only access internet at work. Shhhhh!

Dummy Math

Beautiful day outside yesterday
+ playing outside in the woods
+ short-sleeve t-shirt
------------------------------
= this and this.