Yes, there is no denying it. I can try to hide it but I just can’t fight it. I’m about to lose my mind and I think I like it… la la la…

Okay, I’m so done with that. Frank is out at Slim’s with VP and I was supposed to go to sleep an hour ago, but I just won’t. I know – common theme running here. We had small group tonight – I love those guys! We hadn’t seen a bunch of them in a while and I suppose sometimes distance makes the heart grow fonder, but it was so good to see them. 🙂

OK. brush teeth. Go to bed. I wish my mom was here. She had a really great way of telling me to go to bed. Come to think of it, when I was younger, it took several tries to get me to bed.

OK OK, I’m going to bed already.

Really.

Well, first off, I am very tired, but I can’t seem to convince myself to go to bed. It’s hard to do that when Frank isn’t home. Tonight, I came home and ate 2 lowfat waffles with reduced fat peanut butter and jelly. Guess *that* defeated the purpose, eh? Such a long day. Then I went and worked out. And then I came home. I wish had wittier things to share, but I’m zonked. I think work sucks the creativity out of me. Schlurp. (that’s work sucking creativity out of me)

I also keep leaving my cell at work, thereby making it difficult to phone anyone when I am home. Sorry to everyone I didn’t call that was expecting me. Bummer.

Well. Time for Bed.

🙂

Today – pretty much out of the blue – I was promoted! Hoorah!!

This means I move up a notch and get a raise, too!! Happy day!

So what am I doing up at 2:30 am on a “school” night? Well, I was sleeping soundly when a huge bang woke me up. More terrifying than the actual noise were the images that filled my mind as I was struggling to instantaneously jump from sleeping Emily mode to awake and alert Emily mode. I think the first thing my brain tried to do was assess “what is that??” THe bang was so loud and so close and so huge, I immediately thought the country was under attack. Visions of a plane crashing into the city filled my head before I even got out of bed. I shot straight up and was at the window of the apartment before I was even fully aware of what was going on. The bang was still echoing when I got to the window and I was shaking.

First I called Frank (note: FK has been flying since Sunday, so I have been alone every night – ugh!) and left him a semi-hysterical message and then I called my sister and started to cry. Once I was awake, I never heard another bang and was looking out the window for smoke, fire, chaos, pandamoneum (sp). Instead the city of Milwaukee was quiet and peaceful.

So I tell Cait what I dreamt and she said it was totally weird because she had just been having convos with her friend about Malachi, the prophet in the old testament. According to some people, he predicted all of the popes. For example, Pope John Paul II was the “labor of the sun” which is interesting since he was both born on a solar eclipse and died on one as well. Funny thing though, is that according to some people, he only predicted 112 popes. John Paul II was 110. The people who believe Malachi predicted each pope believe that Pope 111 will be “blessed of the olives” or something like that and that pope 112 will be the Pope at the end of the world.

Okay, so now on top of being totally freaked out about this Pope situation – which could mean nothing – maybe God only revealed to him the 112 popes, but there could still be more to come. Who knows. I’m not a practicing Catholic. Anyway, that was just unsettling to me. I mean, the important thing is that I am Christian and it doesn’t matter what the time or the hour is of Christ’s coming. But what is motivating is that there are so many people who are not Christian that I know and it makes me feel more urgent about sharing the gospel with them.

I think I am ready to get some sleep now. It would figure that the night that I would go to sleep on time, I would wake up in the middle of it. Frank says he thinks lightening struck the building. That’s comforting, eh? 🙂

Good night world! Godspeed.

Today I had a great conversation with my sister and she had some awesome wisdom and insight for me. THe conversation we had reminded me of what a great and powerful God we have. He loved us so much, He died for us. Wow. He didn’t have to do that – He is God – He could have wiped us out and started anew, but what a powerful love to show us mercy and grace.

May you all bask and enjoy His love all the days of your lives.

Well, even though I don’t typically root for the Illini, they were so awesome this season, that I couldn’t help but cheer for such talent and greatness. It’s too bad they didn’t win, but there is always next year.

That said, I’m still sad. I think the other part of it is that I do love Frank and he was so hopeful – you should have seen him pull out his Game Day CD. Oh well.

On to baseball! Go Cubbies/Brewers!

So I wonder if the actor that played Napoleon in Napoleon Dynamite used City of Angels for his inspiration. Watching City of Angels, Nicholas Cage sounded just like Napoleon – only Nicholas Cage was serious.

Crazy!

Well, been working a bit more than usual, but getting used to it. Which would probably make it more like “Been working like normal.” Hm

In far more interesting news than work (which is interesting to me, but really, not for anyone else), Frank and I started the Love & Respect series with our small group. I highly recommend the series for anyone who is even considering one day possibly maybe getting marriage. I think that it not only helps with marriage/dating, but it also helps explain men and women in ways I hadn’t thought about before. The key learning from the first session was that guys and girls see the world through different lenses (duh), but the new piece of information is that men want to be respected and women want to be loved. So basically, a guy is hurt by disrespectful things (ie. encroaching upon their physical/emotional space uninvited) and women is hurt by unloving things (ie. being unappreciated, etc). Respect is a guy’s oxygen while love is a woman’s oxygen and when either messes with the other’s oxygen, fireworks explode.

The really interesting thing about this was how often women respond to unloving overatures in a way that offends the man’s need for respect, so he responds to that offense in a way that seems unloving to the woman, thus a vicious cycle is born. I have seen this at work, and I never understood all the elements of it. Now that I heard this talk, it has made me really aware of that crazy cycle (crazy being any action that is repeated with consistent ill-effects). It also made me want to better understand ways that I can show Frank that I respect him. He is so good about showing me ways that he loves me and I never considered that his “oxygen” might be so different from mine.

I can’t wait for the next session!! 🙂

Aside from that – Frank is attending a Lock-In with the High School Ministry at Church on Friday night and Saturday we’ve got nuttin’.

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Yes, that’s right folks – FK! and I are going to see U2 on 9/25!!!!! Sooooo excited! Of all the musical groups I have ever wanted to see, this one tops the list! We are calling this our anniversary present to eachother. The downside to this is that we each went to different locations to buy tickets and the unfortunate thing is, they don’t let you use your cell phones when you are in line. The result is: Frank and I bought a total of 8 tickets. YIKES! We already have a few people that want them, but financing them on the good ole credit cards is not a fun time, that’s for sure!

Anyway – that’s that. Frank is flying tonight, so I’m going down to Chicago to hang out with Meg & Ann and to possibly go to a fundraiser. Monday we are doing the stations of the cross with church. Busy week ahead of us, for sure!