sleep

I probably never be among those who list sleep as one of their favorite pasttimes. It takes a lot of time. I heard once that Chuck Swindoll needs only 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night. He must have a highly efficient brain. Which leads me to my next thought: sleep and being sharp.

Mark noted last night that, after having stayed awake most of the previous night, that he just didn't feel so mentally sharp.

Hmm...I wonder how sharp I would be if I slept more uninterrupted than I do. But if I sleep too long in one night, I'd feel like I missed something by not noting what time it was at least three or four times at night. I might be like this 90-year-old lady who had raised a whole lot of children I heard about. She said she hadn't slept a whole night since her first child was born. Maybe someday when I really can't do anything about being sharp because I'm rocking away the rest of my life in blissful ignorance at the rest home, I'll get more sleep.

50 million

Talk is good but action is even better.

Yesterday was Sanctity of Life Sunday. In the bulletin, we had a Roe Vs. Wade quiz, the answers to which are pretty much nothing short of dreadful. (that's not a strong enough word) The original ruling had no restrictions, for instance, at what stage in a pregnancy an abortion may be performed. We also looked at a few statistics concerning the number of abortions done SINCE the 1973 Supreme Court ruling - 50 million, more than all the deaths from all the wars the U.S. has been involved in, by a long shot. That was talk and it would have been powerful enough to make the point.

But later the grandpa of a little girl in church who was just about a year when she was diagnosed with cancer, came up to give an update on her. She's been undergoing chemotherapy - she will face the 7th round in the next week. She's 18 months now.

Right before the sermon, Pastor Sliper had the parents of the family who wins the prize, among other things, for having the most children, stand up. On Saturday morning, Pat and Jodi are leaving for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to bring three orphaned siblings home to join their 4 biological children and their two adopted Guatemalan sons. Their oldest daughter got married this summer. We prayed for them as they prepare to go.

I don't know if the worship committee had planned for all this in the same service or not. I guess God had it planned though. Just the other day, I heard someone rant that Christians seem to harp on the anti-abortion message exclusively and miss the other parts of the pro-life message. I don't agree. It may just be our church that I hear what I would consider a fairly well-rounded pro-life message, but I suspect not. If I had a dime for everytime (on the radio, in magazines, at church, from friends) I've heard only the adoption part of the "Life is Precious" campaign, I'd have a few dollars in my pocket.

And besides that, even if we do err, as Christians, on the side of harping too much about preventing abortion and not the other aspects of respecting human life, we still are the only ones who have the answers from THE ANSWER written down in our language to read. When was the last time you heard about Planned Parenthood offering adoption assistance, layettes for newborns, job opportunities for single moms...

Sam's birthday

compromise

Sam is working on his U.S. Ambassador skills: last night after he and Priya had already eaten a before bed snack, he looked in the cupboard and found some graham crackers je wanted. I told him he'd already had a snack. "Half," he said, lifting his hand like he was directing the choir, "half."

rest

Here are a few of my observations on the definition of a well-adjusted parent:

• They know how to be efficient with limited time. (they getlots of stuff done)
• They rarely raise their voices even when the state of the house, of the next meal or of their childrens health or behavior are in disrepair. (they have things under control)
• They let their children cry for a few hours over a couple days in a campaign to teach them to sleep independently at a young age. (they sleep at least 8 uninterrupted hours each night or at the very least do things after the children are sleeping)
• They know when they need to drop the kids off at the sitter for a few hours so they can work on writing their next novel or to workout. (they have accomplisments to discuss with other intelligent adults).