I am experiencing a "writer's block."

(twiddling thumbs)

Thank You Donald Miller

Everyone needs a good "devotion" in the morning but seldomly do we commit the time and energy to receive it.

Please go to this post and drink it up.  Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, was the prayer guy at the DNC...

Also, I might add that the irony of his post when compared to last night's flick Easy Rider is uncanny.  

Enjoy!

Upcoming Project and Weekend Wrap Up

Saturday I went to the Amazing Home Decorating Shrine for Cheap-skates Like Me: Hobby Lobby and purchased a makeshift "starter kit" for acrylic painting.  My creative side, unrefined as it may be, is urging me to PAINT!  I have a few ideas for something to create for the babies' nursery.  Here is the catch... mixing paints is really hard!  I have this perfect white canvas that I am scared to touch because I haven't built up my confidence just yet to take the plunge and create!  The good news is that I can always buy another canvas if project one doesn't go as planned.

Sunday we spent the whole day doing nothing.  Nice.  We cooked a nice easy meal, tacos and watched The Bucket List.  The movie was good if you like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman playing two "old guys" (sad) taking on the world in their last attempts to live life to the fullest.  No twists, no turns, just simple goodness.  If you have seen the music video for John Mayer's "Say" then you have basically watched the movie but I am glad we watched it anyway.

Monday we went to my parent's house for ribs, squash casserole, garlic butter bread, english pea salad, and baked beans.  It is so fun to see them loving on the babies.  We forgot to pack swaddling blankets but were able to appease them by wrapping them in king size pillow cases.  The girls lasted for about 3 hours before they got really fussy and we headed home.  Once we got home all hell broke loose.  I blame it on their growing dependancy to be on a schedule.  We got home at about 8p.m. which is thirty minutes past "bedtime" and they screamed and screamed for about an hour until we fed them and held them until they went to sleep.  It was amazing to me that not until they had full bellies and looked around and realized they were in their dimly lit bedroom did they settle down.  They ate at around midnight again and then slept till 4!  I think they might be close to dropping a night time feeding so that we can start sleeping through the night.  Also, they have grown out of their preemie clothes.  They are wearing newborn sizes now which are still a little too big but will be perfect in about another week or two.

I have been having the weirdest dreams lately.  One reason, I think, is that since I have quit pumping (two weeks on Wednesday) I am been able to mentally turn off and let myself sleep... really sleep.  The other night I dreamed that Nick and I were traveling... somewhere dark and remote and as we were driving down a dirt road the road was crowded with cows... so full that we had to creep in our vehicle and literally push them out of the way.  Once we got to our destination... Sea World, to see an orca whale perform (something I have always wanted to do) I realized I was naked and too embarrassed to go in.  Right about that time I also realized I couldn't find Nick so the rest of the time I walked around searching for him through a maze that seemed to be an old old house with rooms filled with people doing drugs.  WEIRD!  The next night I dreamed that I was being stalked by some crazy woman and was on the phone with the police trying to tell them to come and help me and that I had to get to the 4th floor to rescue my sleeping babies.  That's all I really remember about that dream.  These dreams have been so intense that I literally wake up and look around our bedroom and have to tell myself, "thank God, it was just a dream."  Last night before I went to sleep I said a very simple prayer,"Lord please go before me in my sleep and create a calm and peaceful place so that I may rest without any fears."  I don't remember having any dreams last night.

Today. 

Fold the laundry.

Exercise.

Go see LJM

Paint?

Write Thank you notes.

September 2nd, really?  I go back to work in 8 weeks.  Scary.  Still no idea what we will do with the babies when I go back.  Waiting list at church is full until after the new year.  But I am not worried.  Our needs have been met far greater than my imagination and this challenge isn't any different.

It is not that big of a deal that Palin's daughter is pregnant.  I am not surprised or shocked nor would it sway my vote away from McCain for President IF I WERE going to vote for him.  Obama said, " Let me be as clear as possible.  I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits.  This shouldn't be part of our politics.  It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president."  

Amen to that and even greater is my respect for the man now.

Gustav

I woke up to feed Lily at 6:15a.m. and was glued to MSNBC and the reports on the conditions of Cuba and neighboring Caribbean territories, Hurricane Gustav, and our own coastal states such as Louisiana.  I am speechless and terrified for these people.  Millions are being forced to evacuate their homes, leaving behind photographs, furniture, and their homes.  We try to live our lives, hopefully, bearing in mind that "things" are not what matter but what about when this means that everything you own will perish?  I shudder to think about making the decision to leave behind such invaluable things in my home such as my great great grandmother's painting and living room furniture that has been passed down to family members for generations.  Of course family is what matters most and also pets.  Thankfully this go around the residents of New Orleans are allowed to carry on their pets to make the trip on public transportation but it doesn't mean that they are being taken to some place comfortable.  The old, the sick, the children... how will this affect them?  It is a sad and dreary contemplation of our brother and sisters and what they are about to go through.  I am already asking mysellf, "Lord, what can I do to help?"