Wake the dawn...

My sleep pattern this month has been...well, interesting. Adelaide sleeps from 8:30pm-7am. Mark could and would sleep anytime anywhere given the chance. So it is just me. It takes everything within me not to wake Mark up for company...argh!

While it was worrying in the beginning, I now see it simply as a phase that will pass.
I appreciate my spontaneous 2AM baths or 3AM snacks.

I play Scramble, a version of Boggle, on Mark's iTouch or I read my Bible and pray.
It seems that I am growing spiritually in the wee hours of the morning. I feel more awake than ever. This entire month has been altogether sobering.

This Psalm in particular is becoming more of a real anthem in my heart through it all,

"My heart is confident in you, O God;
my heart is confident.
No wonder I can sing your praises!
Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song.
I will thank you, Lord, among all the people.
I will sing your praises among the nations.
For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.
May your glory shine over all the earth."

We had an awesome weekend in London, Ontario at a posh hotel (thanks mom & dad)fully equipped with hot tub and fancy cheese, so I can't complain. In fact, I am feeling very VERY blessed and refreshed! Very confident that God is for me and not against me...
even in the middle of the night.

Canada's Most Urban University

Check out this article about Ryerson. With my social work placement on the go, I am still glad that I am required to be on campus twice a week (mainly for my research course)...is that nerdy?

Fall Cleaning...

I don't know about you, but I find that the arrival of Fall is very much like the arrival of Spring.
I know that there is much more of an element of new life with Spring; the feeling of emergence from death, a primeval elation from having survived the Winter. But for me, Fall also signifies a milestone.
I've always loved the Autumn, for lots of reasons. Bonfire night was always a favourite with me, and my birthday falls at the end of November. Of course, it also signals the approach of Christmas and winter with all the fun of snow and ice. I know not everyone gets as excited as me and Beth over Winter weather, but hey.

I also find that when Autumn comes, I have a huge desire to get things done. To decorate, renovate, clean things out and generally become more productive. Perhaps it's a part of me left over from my school days, when September indicated a return to an attitude of work. I think for me, more than anything though, it's a feeling of having made it through the Summer. Let's face it - after weeks of mid 30s temperatures, with the humidity taking it up to the mid 40s, nobody in their right mind would be arguing with this cooler weather. So, it's decided. Autumn: it's the new Spring.

Right, I'm off to clean out the basement, paint the house, build a shed and work on the garden. And that's just before I go to work in half an hour. Enjoy the season!