Peace On Earth

I already posted this on Facebook, but it's worth a repeat. Best rendering and devotional of Longfellow's poem I've ever heard.

Lazy Sunday

It's been a cold and wet day so I've stayed inside, besides church, snuggled in warm, soft stuff reading Eclipse and appreciating art on Flickr.

Today's sermon was really good. Kirk Youngblood was down this weekend from Colorado to visit Brother Archie over Thanksgiving and preached just to give Scottie a break. I can't imagine having to prepare a strong, Scriptural message at least once a week. Kirk preached on the miracle feeding of 5,000. It's recorded in all 4 gospels but he spoke out of Luke http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Luke+9&version=9">9:10-17 He emphasized that God will put before you tasks and ministries too big to do on your own. When that happens we should not be overwhelmed, afraid, and feel like failures but cast ourselves on His might and trust Him to do His work through us. God is not surprised or strained at any situation that arises. He already knows what He is going to do and is already bringing it to past. I think this has particular application to me in my job hunt.

I went and saw New Moon last week. I actually liked it a lot better than the book. Jacob is much more heart wrenching in the movie than he was in the book. And the soundtrack is going on my wish list.

Flickr is just way too much fun!

Dad called today. He sounded tired which is scary when it's the beginning of his day. I miss him so much but I at least have plenty of sleep and the rest of my family. He's tired and by himself. :(

Let's guess

My last blog post said I had 2 big things to blog about. Since then I have caught the influenza and have been busy coughing my lungs up. A side effect of coughing up my lungs is complete loss of brain power. I can't remember what else I was supposed to tell y'all about.

Dad called yesterday and today and emailed me! I feel loved!

I find myself expressing loneliness over missing Dad in odd ways. I seem to be seem to have a much higher emotional idling speed, if that makes any sense. It's like my emotional cup is already full with missing Dad, so practically anything will make me spill over---as in tears or anger. I think this is why not having a full time job is bothering me so much. There's just not enough faith and patience to encompass it all around. I think this calls for what's called "growth". I just need more faith and patience.

103

That's the current temperature here in sweltering NE OK. Yuck.

The Rogers County Republican "Government Serves the People" Cookout was a success! We raised over $400 net profit--that is more than what we've had in the past 3 years!

Poor Joshua has poison ivy. It was so bad this morning that his eyes were swelling shut. Mama packed him off to the doctor this morning where he got a steroid shot and cream. He's already looking better much.

We have had baptisms the last 3 Sundays!! Praise God! I'm so excited to see God working!

Also on a church note--I'm helping with the Missions room at VBS this year. Shawn Hines will be in charge of it. I did the missions room 3 years ago and just loved it, so I'm excited to get to do it again. Mama has already said she'll help me with posters for each country.

I get to go shopping with Mama this evening--fun!

Learning faith and patience

is no fun. I want a well-paying, political job so bad and I want it now. Bruce Long was very encouraging this morning in Sunday school. He reassured Samuel and I that as we continue to live for Christ He will provide the perfect job that we want so bad. However, he also threw that "wait on Him" bit. *sigh*

  I am still alive.

  The capstone proposal is submitted.

  I feel like my life is a runaway freight train with me running behind it holding onto the caboose railing.  But I'm pretty sure God is the engineer, so we should be ok.

  I won first in brown belt kata at the Oklahoma City tournament.  This is a landmark event of my life.  I have been competing with Wansai Ni for 5 years.  This is my first time to win first in anything!

  Should I go visit Erica and do her spring cleaning over spring break or should I go on the BCM mission trip to Shreveport?

  I got a cricket cellphone, free texting and calls.  I don't get the best reception sometimes, but I'm happy with it.  918-933-2303.

  Winterjam was incredible!  My favorites were "Arise My Love" by Newsong, Brandon Heath, and Toby Mac.  Toby Mac was the most incredible performance I have ever seen live, with the possible exception of the laser light show at the Grand Coulee Dam.

  RSU's men basketball team is doing extremely well.  They are ranked number one in the nation for schools their size, have had only one loss the entire season to a team they later beat, and are already in the semifinal round at the conference tournament in Lubbock.  I seriously think they might go to nationals this year!

  I have discovered a good, free puzzle site.  www.jigzone.com  All the fun of puzzles without having to take over the kitchen table!

  Good night all!

This and that

  I love my praying friends!  I have friends that I haven't seen or even maintained contact with, suddenly reconnecting with me and praying for me.  I have a group of ladies older than me in age and in faith that all pray for each other.  My Sunday school class prays for me.  My karate class prays for me.  My parents pray for me.  The Teagues pray for me because of the Friday Bible study.  Chera and JC pray for me.  I'm sure there are many more people that pray for me that I don't know about or just don't remember.

  It seems like I'm suddenly much more aware of who's praying for me.  I think even this is an answer to prayer.  I've been praying for a new understanding of God's love and working in my life.

Blah

  I was driving along Scottie's road today and stopped to watch a grey heron.  It's amazing how still those birds can stand.  Occasionally, I could see the feather move some of his breast feathers, but other than that he could have been a statue.  He made a good illustration for "Be still and know that I AM GOD."  Compared to that bird, I don't know how to be still at all.  Even when I'm sitting stock still, my mind is still going in a million directions.

  I finished today--thank you Julie!  It is a great read.  I wish I had read it before Dr. Taylor's campaign class.  We, sadly, didn't cover anything about vote fraud in that class.  Now, I need to look up OK's rules on provisional ballots, absentee ballots, and voter registration.

  Sometimes being a girl stinks.  I have been outragiously hungry and craving sweets all day, not to mention being totally lethargic and getting nothing done.  Granted, I like this better than forming a permanent ovarian cyst every month, but it still stinks.

  I realized the other day that I was looking for a job this time last year.  Last year, I was much poorer than I am now and had been unemployed much longer.  God gave me the perfect job for that time, pulled me away from it when the time was no longer right, and is going to work this out yet again.  So quit freaking out already, Anna!

  I'm desperately trying to learn some fiddle fills for Beulah Land before Sunday.  My church family is so patient with me.

  I got my desk completely clean yesterday!  I feel so much better having that done!  Now, let's see if I can keep it that way.

  I'm going to go curl up with a book and a fleece.

Today's Breakpoint

  It's really good.  Everbody drag out your sackcloth and ashes and start praying!

Pray for the Church
What Matters Most, Part 3

December 30, 2008

In my devotions over the last two or three months, I have started my prayer time by concentrating on the Church. I pray—actually, I plead, the Lord would wake us up, cause us to repent, turn from our own false idols. I pray God’s Spirit would fill us with a burning desire to love Him and advance His kingdom.

Then I pray for my family, who are so dear to me. And then, I pray for my country because my heart aches as I see all that is happening, particularly with the economic crisis and the wrong way we’re going about solving it.

It was on my knees a few months ago that God hit me like a 10-ton truck about the priority praying for the Church first. We can’t pray for our nation to be revived, to be saved, to receive God’s mercy; we can’t pray for our leaders to make wise decisions unless we first pray for the Church.

When it comes to the economy, our nation has dug a hole for itself. And sure enough, we are continuing to dig. At a recent meeting with President-elect Obama, the nation’s governors had their hands out, asking for federal dollars. The President-elect was all too happy to oblige. But South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford knows better. In a statement in front of Mr. Obama and his fellow governors, he said “We don’t believe economic problems that were in large measure created by too much debt will be solved by more debt.”

Amen, and hallelujah! Finally somebody spoke the truth.

Our nation is in this crisis precisely because we’ve traded in a Christian worldview of work, thrift, savings, and prudence, and instead have embraced the false worldview of consumerism—of leisure, debt, and instant gratification.

That’s a false worldview, and it leads to the worst kind of idolatries. And it will also lead to our self-destruction.

And insofar as we Christians have abandoned our heritage and have bought into the idolatry of consumerism, we have betrayed not only our God, but the nation we love.

I want to put it in the plainest terms I know how: This nation cannot be saved unless the Church is first revived. Renewing the Church is the key to saving America.

I no longer know for sure that America has a special place in God’s sovereign plan for the world. I could argue that we have in the past. No other nation has played such a positive role—from helping the poor to defeating tyranny to stopping the spread of disease (just like we’re doing in Africa today in the fight against AIDS).

But we will be unable to continue to be a force for good in the world if we are bankrupt. The fact is, we are bankrupt today, neck-deep in debt, and our people have become self-indulgent. And it starts with us: the Church.

I truly believe my prayer priorities are correct. Pray that God will inspire us, His people, to reorganize our priorities. That we will reject the idolatry of consumerism, that we will reject the therapeutic gospel, and seek holiness. And that we will serve our neighbors in charity, that we will use this economic calamity as an opportunity to teach the culture what matters most—a relationship with God.

For if the Church continues to embrace the ways of the world, I don’t see how America can maintain it place in the world—much less survive in it.

Yesterday's Breakpoint

was very good.  Here it is in it's entirety.

A Grand Duke, Indeed
Conscience is King

December 23, 2008

When you hear the phrase “European royalty,” you probably think of the less-dignified antics of the British royals.

Yet there are European rulers who have distinguished themselves in more admirable fashion.

For example, Spain’s King Juan Carlos is credited with almost single-handedly saving his country’s fledgling democracy during an attempted coup in 1981.

More recently, his wife, Queen Sofia, stirred up controversy with her comments about the directions that democracy has taken. In a new book, she is quoted as saying that while she “[understands] that there are people with other sexual orientations,” she doesn’t think that that’s something to be proud of.

Not surprisingly, she takes a dim view of same-sex “marriage,” which was legalized in Spain in 2005. She said that people may have a right “to live together [and] dress up like bride and groom,” but it shouldn’t be called “matrimony.” Well said.

Her comments, combined with her traditional Catholic views on abortion and religious education, have some on the left calling for a reexamination of the role of the monarchy in Spanish life.

For now, it’s only talk in Spain. In Luxembourg, things have gone a lot farther. Earlier this year, its parliament, following in the footsteps of neighboring Holland and Belgium, voted to legalize euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. “The law would let doctors kill the terminally ill if they asked repeatedly and had the consent of two doctors and a panel of experts,” so the law read.

In Luxembourg’s system, the next step was for the constitutional monarch, the Grand Duke Henri, to give his assent to the measure and sign it. It was considered a formality.

But it wasn’t. Henri, whose official title begins with the phrase “by the Grace of God,” refused to give his assent, citing “reasons of conscience.”

This refusal for reasons of conscience is nearly unprecedented in Luxembourg’s history, but not in the Grand Duke’s family. In 1990, his uncle, King Baudouin of Belgium, refused to sign a law legalizing abortion in that country.

As you might expect, Luxembourg’s parliament didn’t take kindly to this exercise in moral leadership. As the prime minister put it, “If the parliament votes in a law, it must be brought into force."

In response to the Grand Duke’s refusal, the parliament is stripping him of his constitutional veto. For having the temerity to act in accord with his conscience, the Grand Duke and his successors will be stripped of their powers.

Fittingly, the measure tearing away his power is attached to latest version of the euthanasia bill. I say “fittingly” because measures like this are only possible if conscience has been squelched. Otherwise, the evil and folly of what is being proposed becomes too obvious to ignore.

Instead, as Michael Cook of MercatorNet wrote, the Grand Duke has reminded his subjects that “euthanasia is [inconsistent] with democracy, solidarity and human dignity.” He goes on, “[Abandoning] the sick and dying at the most vulnerable moments” isn’t law, it’s lawlessness. In my opinion, Henri’s willingness to pay a high price for conscience’s sake makes him the grandest of dukes.

Good times

  Zeke and Justin hosted a party at their place this evening.  I drank too much hot chocolate and coffee (my own mocha with tiny little marshmellows on top!) while there so now I'm up at an ungodly hour feeling strangely hyper and contemplative at the same time.

  Needless to say, I had a wonderful time.  I know the most incredible people!  I know I say that a lot, but that's because I know so many incredible people!  I wish all the incredible people I know could also know each other.  Most of my friends know Dad and all of them that do like him, but I feel like Dad still has some residual anti-socialness that keeps him from being friends with some of my friends.  And I wish Chera and JC just lived closer.  There were some folks at the party tonight that I just know y'all would have loved.  I know Jesse would get along great with the Murrys (although we might need to carefully monitor Jesse and Tyler for safety and sanity reasons).  Luke and Ethan started wrestling (they were perfectly matched, nobody won, and they didn't break anything) tonight which made me start to wish that Luke could meet Josiah and Luke from karate.  Amber socked Isaac a good one in the gut, so now I really want her to start karate.

  At one point tonight I was sitting in a comfy armchair in the living room.  Jesse and Sarah were on the guitars of and Emily on the vocals of Rock Band.  They sang Eye of the Tiger and then Living on a Prayer.  Next up was No Sleep Till Brooklyn, which no one knew.  By this point things had gotten traded around and Jesse ended up improvising all the words to it.  It was hilarious.  Anyway, at one point I got to looking around.  There were Jesse, Emily, and Sarah rocking out in all their coolness.  Across the way were Zeke and Ricky, enjoying the show.  Joshua was standing next to me.  Further through the house I could see Ethan.  I couldn't see who he was talking to, but I knew since I had just been over there basking in their pure awesomeness: Ryan, Chloe, Haley, and Cassie.  Next to them was Corey with two laptops and two ginormous stacks of cds, copying music.  BJ and Samuel had left a little earlier, but they had been there.  And I was just overwhelmed with how wonderful my life is.

  There's a verse somewhere about God giving blessings to the top, shaken down and overflowing.  My life is like that.  I had already been overwhelmed by God's goodness today when the whole family was eating lunch together.  It's so wonderful to have all of them and for us all to be together and healthy.  And tonight at Zeke's I realized that God really does bless me shaken down and overflowing.  Not only do I get to have the most incredible family all together, I get to have incredible friends.  This is certainly blessings over the top.

A day that will live in infamy...

  I was ruminating on dates today.  Different dates are important for different reasons.  Some dates are important only to certain people.  Yesterday, was the 5th anniversary of Mr. Read's death.  Today, Mitchel and Brittany are getting married.  Tomorrow, Megan is marrying Josh.  It's weird to think that a totally normal day for me might be earth shatteringly sad or thrillingly life changing.  And God manages to keep track of all those important days.

I should be sleeping

instead of keeping these late hours I've been keeping...sing with me!...I've been tracing and retracing every step of every move...

That's a good song.  It's a tad unrelated, but good for a post at 10 p when you only had 6 hours of sleep last night.  Ha--listen to me!  I have obviously settled into break mode quickly.  6 hours of sleep used to be really good.

  Tomorrow we get family pictures done for the church directory.  I'm so excited.  Our pictures two years ago turned out really nice.

  I really need to jump onto Christmas shopping.  I haven't done any.  Good thing we're celebrating it a week late this year.  Our Christmas tree is up and totally overdone, just the way I like it.

  Last night was Twilight Prayer and Praise.  We almost didn't go since the roads were icey, but I'm glad we went anyway.  I feel full, replenished.  Christian fellowship is such a mystery to me.  Why do we self-destruct by denying it to ourselves?  Why do we see God differently when we're alone than when we're with a group?  Why did God make it where we need both?

  Poor Caleb has a terrible, croupy cough.  There's not much we can do for him. :(  And of course, we're having to practically tie him up to get him to slow down and rest.

  Friday I have a job interview with IBC at 2--please pray!  Friday is my last day at Donna's!  And Chera's going to call me Friday and I get to go to the homeschool band concert!  Oh, but Chera, if your throat is still sore Friday, don't call me.  I don't want your voice to run away like mine did.

  I have turned into quite the ogre while at home this semester.  I'm not quite sure why, but that doesn't really matter, I just need to straighten up.  I think the main thing is I need to praise more than I gripe.

  We had dinner at Mazzio's with the Teagues tonight.  They are so awesome!  Mama, Mrs. Teague and I discussed trends and situations, past and present, of the Christian music industry, economic theories of the advantages and disadvantages of deflation and inflation, psychotic habits of our own and our family's, and other sundry topics.  Stockton let me listen to an awesome Celtic fiddle piece on his mp3--it was beautiful.

  I'm going to go play or read something mindless.  My sinuses are terribly congested and I'm tired, so I don't feel like writing anything original or reading anything beyond a 5th grade level.  Love y'all!

Faith and Hope

I'm in a lazy and contemplative mood, which will translate into a cool blog post and a late night finally doing my homework.  This post has to do with a discussion with a friend about insanity and hope, a class discussion in Literary Traditions about Christian existentialism and my own struggles with and thoughts on faith.  These are all connected and make sense in my head, but I apologize if I don't communicate them right here.

There are so many things that we say in a trite manner and even call trite, but they are absolutely true and deep, the exact opposite of trite.  "God is good."  "God has a plan for you."  We think these sayings trite, because there seems to be an overwhelming amount of evidence to the contrary.  We see a million things wrong with the world and we don't see any way that God could work this out.  We look at our lives and think that if there's a plan it was laid out by somebody a little sick and off.

I know more about secular existentialism (the Plague is a cool, depressing book, BTW) than I do about Christian existentialism, so please don't think I'm going as far as endorsing it.  We're reading The Brothers Karamasov in Literary Traditions right now and Dostoevsky is considered to be a Christian existentialist, so we ended up talking about Kierkegaard, the premier Christian existentialist.  Kierkegard believed that the most important choice was the one to believe or not to believe, the decision to jump off the cliff in a blind leap of faith.

I do believe that there is evidence for faith, but I don't think you can ever prove faith.  At some point, you have to quit weighing the evidence and leap.  This is not only for belief in God's existence, but belief in basic orthodoxy.  There is evidence for God's goodness.  The suffering in the world coexisting with God's goodness can be logically explained by man's fallen nature and free will.  However, that's only evidence.  The actual belief in God's goodness in your own personal life still has to be a jump off a cliff.

Same thing goes for believing that God has a plan for your life and that God's way is best.  A lot of the time it doesn't feel like any of that is true.  A lot of times it feels like that if God is working in your life, it's to trick you, to slam doors in your face.  We all know that you can't go off your feelings, but sometimes even the evidence seems to be against God.  At that point, you have to decide that even though you don't see a way out or any possible way this could end well, that you're still going to trust God.  Even more, you have to decide that even if this goes on just as terrible as it is now or continues to get worst, that you're still going to believe that God is good and that you're going to stick with Him and His way no matter what.  Defy the evidence and jump off the cliff.

Y'all all know that I despise Barack Obama, but I do like the title of his book.  Hope is audacious.  More than that, hope is illogical and insane.  Hope is believing in the moment you jump off the cliff that God will catch you.

Physically and emotionally exhausted

To give you a clue to my mood, I've been listening to Linkin Park and Breaking Benjamin this morning. Because of that, let's go over the good news first.

Oklahoma Republicans increased their majority and, for the first time in Oklahoman history, won the majority of senate seats. This is hugely wonderful! We can't get rid of Henry for another two years and I'm sure he will veto many a good bill, but that will only give us ammunition for 2010.

Jim Inhofe, Tad Jones, and Mike Helm all won their races by quite a bit. No surprises there, but still fantastic!

On a sidenote, today's Breakpoint is very good.

I was not at all surprised that Obama won. I think it's bad for the nation, but not as bad as we think. However, this is basically a death sentence for any kind of freedom in Iraq, and I'm predicting the same for Afghanistan. Last night, I decided to start giving regularly to Voice of the Martyrs. I'm praying about how much. I don't usually talk about who, what, when I give financially, but I'm mentioning this because I want y'all to think about what this election means for Christians in Iraq. They are already being persecuted now, but at least we have been able to offer protection for them and put pressure on their government to help them. When Obama pulls us out, whenever that is, it will be open season on Christians. Please pray seriously about what God would have you do.

Cole Butler lost and this was a surprise to me. Yesterday, I said that Cole would win because supporters win elections, not money. Cole had way more supporters door knocking, sign waving, and showing up at events than Scott Walton ever dreamed of, so I didn't think it really mattered how much more money Scott had. When I said this to Debbie, she said "Yeah, but Scott knows a lot of people." At the time, I discounted that because I thought it wouldn't matter because of how many new people are in the county. Well, I guess who you knew and how many you knew still counts in Rogers County. Rogers County is a good o' boy county, but it's changing. I thought this would be the race where we would see a turn away from that, but apparently not. I still live in a good ol' boy county.

I have never worked on campaigns because I thought my candidate would win. For me, campaigns are something I do first and foremost for God. Secondly, I do it to repay the debt I owe to my country for getting to live in a free society. To whom much has been given, much shall be required. I have been given much politically, so of course I need to give a lot back. Because it's only a matter of time until I'm in Israel and my primary focus will be that country, I feel like there's a timer on my debt to America, which makes me work that much harder. Thirdly, I do it for the candidate. Cole is a wonderful man of God and I would work for him again in a heartbeat, but unfortunately he says he won't run again. Fourthly, Cole's campaign was my college internship. I wanted to learn the thinking behind all the volunteer activities and I did get to see a ton of that and I learned an incredible amount of stuff. The whole team was so good to me and were willing to show or teach me anything. The internship was certain to be successful from the moment I started it, no matter how the race turned out.

I am so glad it's all over. I enjoyed it up until the very last hours and I would certainly do it again. Right now though, I just feel drained. I would feel drained if Cole had won, too, but not quite as bad as this. It's frustrating beyond words to have poured so much into something and have it not matter in the end. So, now I'm going to trust God, catch up on sleep, clean my desk, and focus on school.

Scattered thoughts

My mind has been going a million different places for the past twenty-four hours. I missed taking my metformin, kelp, and B vitamins for a couple of days (combination of forgetfulness, running out, skipping meals, etc..) and now that I'm back on them I think my mind is enjoying revving its engine. I didn't go to bed till 3 this morning and even then I wasn't tired. I was surfing the web, writing long political emails, running over music for church, and other random things.

I've been using youtube a lot recently just as a music player. I'm really picky in my music video taste, but as long as it has the music playing I can just minimize it and work on something else. Of course, you can't do anything like playlists, but until I get some more music on my computer, this will have to do.

We talked about Marx's theories of alienation arising from the industrilization and bureacratization of society today in public policy. We've also talked about the concepts of bureaucracy and alienation a lot in social systems and problems, but more in context of C. Wright Mill's theories. So, anyway, it's been going through my mind a lot. As I was driving home today DC Talk's song Jesus Freak came on the radio. That song really got me thinking about the alienation in a Christian context. Alienation means the feeling of being an alien, of not belonging, of being separate from your society. One line stood out particularly from Jesus Freaks today. "People call me strange--does that make me a stranger?" Truly, we are alienated from the world. We don't belong. We dont' fit. We are strangers. They don't understand us so they label us freaks at best, kill us at worst. In Matthew 10 Jesus says that the servant is not above the master. They did it to Jesus, what do you think they're going to do to us? (Anna's paraphrase)

And then my mind started wandering a little further to the social perceptions of Christians that describe themselves as Jesus Freaks and more general perceptions of the song. I think people that are not Christians think we're just being rebellious or weird, or trying to find a way to express our fears and dissatisfaction with society (If I was a gambling woman, I would bet a sizable amount that that is exactly the explanation Dr. Newcomb would offer) Maybe they jump to Mill's concept of alienation. Christians obviously think very differently. Within the Christian community I think it's come to be a symbol of our alienation and persecution. Persecution may not terribly obvious in the song (except for the verse about John the Baptist), but when you watch the music video of the band singing in a jail with projections of churches burning and consider the books that have arisen from the song, the song has obviously become a symbol of (Kingdom principle here) the ideal of persecution.

OK, I have a mid term in social systems and problems tomorrow, so I'd better get studying. This stuff all relates (kinda), but it probably won't be one of the essay questions Dr. Newcomb wrote.

Convicting

From today's Breakpoint by Chuck Colson.

"You see, Elmer is the sort of figure that inspires the Church, or should inspire the Church, to take a long, hard look at ourselves. I am not just talking now in terms of financial scandals or high-profile cases of adultery or child abuse. I am talking about the subtler temptations, without which none of those bigger scandals would have taken place. For instance, the temptation to think more of ourselves when we are celebrated, or to use God to further our own agenda, or to preach one thing and do another, or to mistake our emotions for the voice of God, or to fall for a compelling but false message because it is expressed in Christian-sounding jargon."

Blah

I hate winter colds. I wish I had some really hot tea for my throat right now. I wonder if hot coffee from the student union would substitute well...

Today is the birthday of the greatest conservative of the past century, Ronald Reagan. 3 cheers!

Today's Breakpoint is good. I like his use of the word orthodoxy. Orthodoxy has gotten a bad rap and become synonyms with religion. We have a relationship not a religion, but orthodoxy is not religion. It means right belief. Colson uses the term 'radical Christianity' to describe orthodox Christians.

Praise God!

I was driving from Stirling's house to my house this morning, after having gotten Stirling on the bus, when I was rear-ended at a stoplight on Will Rogers. The lady who hit me had been rear-ended by the guy behind her, a kid driving himself and some younger boys to school. It was his dad's car and his dad didn't have the car insured. I feel sorry for the kid and mad at the dad. I'm fine, the lady behind me will probably be really sore and bruised but ok, all the kids were fine, and it looks like the Toyota will be fine, too. The lady's car is going to need some more repair, though. I hope her insurance won't go up since it wasn't her fault. Anyway, it's a huge praise!

Hallelujah!

Our electricity was restored Tuesday night. Yeah!

I got my grades yesterday and made a 4.0. Yes!

The only bad thing now is that our phone line went down again and nobody (including the phone company) knows why.

I'm online up at school right now, researching hypersomnia (excessive day time sleepiness or prolonged night time sleep) for psychology. Today's lectures were about sleep--it was really hard to stay awake.