Alabama Disaster Relief Blogging Program

If you watch the news or college football at all then you are probably aware that Alabama has had a tough time recovering from the tornadoes that occurred last April. Then last Sunday night/early Monday morning tornadoes struck again with devastating losses. You may be wondering what you could possibly do to help. Monday morning, I was surprised and pleased to see this post telling us exactly what us bloggers could do. If you're a blogger, you probably love blogging and why not use your love to help a worthy cause. For every blog post written about the tornadoes, Top Alarm System.com will donate $25 to the Christian Service Mission in Birmingham. They ask that you write, in a new blog post of at least 400 words, your thoughts on the Alabama tornadoes then go to the Alabama Disaster Relief Blogging Program page and leave a comment showing where you blogged.

Last week seemed like a very long work week for me. The weekend came and I was exhausted. It seems idiotic now to say that I vaguely recalling seeing something on Facebook over the weekend about the weather “getting bad”. I may have mentioned to Dave that I heard that there were going to be some storms. You could make an argument that we were irresponsible because we just tucked Jack in to sleep and then later tucked ourselves in without much thought to the weather.

Sometime early Monday morning, Jack and I woke to the sound of the storms. I remember thinking that the wind sounded awfully strong but I was so very sleepy that all I did was get Jack back to sleep and nodded back off to sleep myself. David slept soundly throughout the night. When we all woke up a little later than usual Monday morning, I told David that the wind sounded awfully strong during the night and asked him to make sure that our trampoline had not been blown over into our neighbor’s yard.

It wasn’t until David and I logged onto our computers that we knew what had happened. Here we were just about 9 months after last April’s tornadoes and many of our neighbors in the Birmingham area were again devastated by staggering losses. At least two people died and people lost their homes. As I drove to Birmingham from our small town just to the south, you could not see the devastation. Even our trampoline was still sitting in our backyard. It was surreal as I listened to the radio and tried to figure out just where the tornadoes had hit.

As I listened, I realized that I knew people who lived in the areas that they were saying were hit. Most of our family members live outside of the areas hit by the tornado but my aunt and a couple of my co-workers live over that way. I started making phone calls truly grateful to hear that they were are all okay.

Then, as in April, I breathed a prayer that God would send the comforter to all those that lost in this tragic tornado. I thanked him for sparing us this time. I wondered if there was a way that I could help. I am truly grateful to be able to help in a small way with this post.

If you're a blogger and you'd like to help please post your own thoughts and share a link here.

Me Time Take 2

So what is exactly is this "me time" thing? I have heard it's rewarding, it will help me to recharge my batteries and that I NEED this.

Apparently, "me time" must be focused on me...not shopping for my household, not planning for the "strewing" of learning activities for my kiddo, not engaging in household discussions with my husband, not working, not cooking, not cleaning...

I have a child that "senses" when I wake up. I am not kidding you. When I wake up, I sneak quietly to the bathroom so he can get the rest that I know he needs. I am shocked if I can only actually use the bathroom and manage to flush the toilet before I hear him stirring. Yes, I said, "Hear him stirring." I guess maybe it's not only the kid that does the "sensing". I guess we're kind of "in tune" to one another. Anyway, I digress.

The point is that my "me time" is not going to happen by my getting up early to make it happen. When we are both awake during the day, I'm busy with work, facilitating Jack's learning, housekeeping, spending some time with Dave, etc. Every now and then, I grab lunch with a friend when I'm between work appointments but honestly, I feel a little guilty. You can tell me that I shouldn't feel guilty but you can't make me not feel guilty.

I am not kidding you when I tell you I just have so much stuff that I need to do. As a nurse case manager, I am responsible for arranging care for a bunch of people. Since my child is home schooled, I am responsible for providing him with learning opportunities. Since I have been blessed with a lovely home, I am responsible for its upkeep. Since I am a wife, I am responsible for maintaining a relationship with my husband. Since I am a mother, I am responsible for the care and nurturing of a handful of a little boy. Since I have been blessed with a loving family, I am responsible for maintaining a connection with them.

But WAIT....isn't God supposed to be in charge of this show? Will God call me to something and not equip me for it?

Maybe this "me time" that I'm after needs to be time that I spend seeking the Lord and getting encouragement and refreshment from him.

I think I may have answered my own question.

What do you think?

Me time? What exactly is

Me time? What exactly is me time?