While Joel was deployed, I normally woke up at 4 a.m. to do homework. I’d have breakfast and write a paper or study until around 6:30 a.m. then I’d take a nap. I’d wake up 45 minutes later and get the kids ready for school.

I got a lot done before the sun came up each morning. If I didn’t set an alarm, I’d still wake up by 5:30.

With Joel home and my years of sleep deprivation finally catching up with me, I started sleeping in. When we moved to the new house with it’s terribly dark bedroom I really slept late. Apparently, this isn’t good for me. I can’t get anything done if I wake up after 9 or 10. I start the day feeling defeated and I finish the day having proven that true.

I’ve gotten so much done today! I’ve unpacked so many boxes. I finally know where all of my bathroom stuff is, where all the cleaning supplies are, I found the alarm clock, the dvd player, playdough and my Army boots.

I plugged that alarm clock in right away and set the alarm to 6:45. I’m going to get up tomorrow too, I like this productive not-hating-myself thing.

When are you most productive? What helps you get things done?

I’ve had a good morning. My alarm went off at 6:45 playing FFH - It’s A Good Day. My new song in the How to Wake Up Happy plan.

I went out into the freshly mowed backyard and called a friend. We like to start our mornings by praying together. Ideally that would be by meeting in person over a breakfast burrito… life isn’t always ideal, but mobile to mobile minutes are free.

After praying, I made a cup of coffee and sat at the dining room table to read. I started with Psalm 3 in George Wood’s book, A Psalm in Your Heart. Next I enjoyed a chapter in Eugene H. Peterson’s Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. For all of my complaints about The Message being confused with scripture, I really do enjoy Peterson’s writing.

After reading a while, I unpacked a few boxes made the kids some kickball bases out of cabinet liners talked to Rachel on the phone for a bit and finally started making breakfast.

Mmmm… breakfast… actually I guess it’s brunch. That’s OK, I’m having Huevos rancheros typically served as a mid-morning meal. [So says wikipedia.] Lightly toasted corn tortillas, sautéd onions, peppers and black beans. Fried eggs, fresh salsa and as a lactose-free bonus: Kraft sharp cheddar and Sour Supreme. [A surprisingly good milk free sour cream.]

I’m going to go enjoy my brunch while listening to a great CD which will hopefully drown out my offspring’s bad attitudes.

My junior and senior high English teachers required the memorization of numerous poems… here are a few of the ones I remember:

Oh Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman

If by Rudyard Kipling

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

Plus bits and pieces of longer poems…

“This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.”
TS Eliot - The Hollow Men

And some Shakespeare:

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day

Macbeth Act 4 Scene 1
Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo. Down!
Thy crown does sear mine eye-balls. And thy hair,
Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first.
A third is like the former. Filthy hags!
Why do you show me this? A fourth! Start, eyes!
What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?
Another yet! A seventh! I’ll see no more:
And yet the eighth appears, who bears a glass
Which shows me many more; and some I see
That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry:
Horrible sight! Now, I see, ’tis true;
For the blood-bolter’d Banquo smiles upon me,
And points at them for his.

and of course, ” Et tu, Brute?— Then fall, Caesar!”

And a song:
Oklahoma by Oscar Hammerstein II

There are probably a few more I’ve forgotten to list. Jami can you help me out here?

Besides the memorization there is one poem I specifically remember studying in college:
I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed by Emily Dickinson
I had to give an oral presentation on this poem in my World Lit class. Since that day in 1996, I can’t greet one spring day without thinking, “Inebriate of air am I, And debauchee of dew.”

What poetry did you memorize in school?

I think I broke my blog… this is a test. I’m trying to get rid of all the crazy characters that showed up in old posts when I upgraded a while back…

This: ’ shows up randomly where there should be apostrophes.

Some sites suggest editing the wp-config file by removing “utf8?, so it becomes: define(’DB_CHARSET’, ”);

This got rid of the ’ … but replaced each post that contained it with only one character [an a]. That’s no good.
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I think the problem is that my database thinks it’s speaking latin1_swedish_ci and my Blog thinks it’s speaking utf-8… and all of you think I’m speaking a bunch of gibberish.

Remember Saturday Stuff? It’s back! [Gracious, yet another GW 'regular feature' which hasn't shown up for a year. Where have I been?!]

I appreciated this post written by fellow Army Chaplain Candidate, Chris Harmon. [aka Rachel's husband]
Unbounded Words: Attention!!! There is only One Way to Heaven
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Jami should like this one. She used to complain about it a lot.
Stuff Christians Like: The Unaccountability-partner
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Ok, this is awesome. You can read complete children’s books to your kids for free. Fun fun, Sarah loves this site.
lookybook.com
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Here’s a story about my good friends:
Sniper turned chaplain - Jarrod Johnson fulfills a new military passion
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Assemblies of God Chaplain Cecil R. Richardson has been appointed Chief of Air Force Chaplains
Awesome… he’s an Evangel graduate too.
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Laterthis.com
Simple enough. Add a bookmarklet to your toolbar. Click it when you’re on a site you want to look at later.

Jeremiah praying in the AGTS prayer chapel.

Originally Posted in August of 06.

I just pre-ordered the long awaited ESV Study Bible from Amazon. And I’m anxiously awaiting it’s mid-October arrival.

For More Info:
Visit esvstudybible.org for more info. They’ve put together a great web site. You can also preview the introductions to Revelation and Luke. [pdf downloads]

Personal Trivia:
My preaching professor at AGTS wrote the study notes for 2 Peter and Jude.

Useless info:
I paid for it by dumping all of my change in a Coinstar machine at the nearest grocery store. They offer free coin counting if you get your money back as a giftcard.