Wednesday Freewrite

I'm setting the timer for a 15 minutes freewrite this morning. I haven't really had the luxury of a free morning for a while. Eight meetings a week with monthly ones sprinkled on top of that has made it more difficult to post here, but that is OK. I was trying to write my post for James 1:19-27 this morning and felt like I needed some writing to free up my mind and fingers on the keyboard. So, I write with a sanctified Faulkneresque stream of consciousness this morning.


I feel better. I have identified my problem last week as caffeine withdrawal. I had more caffeine than usual in the ice teas I had been handed and made. I had that second cup of tea in my new rose painted tea pot. I didn't mean to overdue it, and I didn't think I had to have it. When I didn't have it last week, I would get a splitting headache and flu-like symptoms. The symptoms went away on Saturday when I indulged in a chai and then another chai at Teala's tea counter at the sorority. Then, they came back again on Sunday. The site I looked at it happened 12-24 hours after the last caffeine. I had green tea at church at 8:00 am, and I had a splitting headache at about 7 or 8 Sunday night. 


So, I have cut back. I only have 1/2 tablespoon per day. That is going to be my limit. I tried making chai without any tea in it, and it doesn't quite have the right taste. It tasted like a tasty steamer though. So, I will have those in the afternoon if I need a hit of calcium. I already use 1/2 the amount called for in the recipe. Now, I will use 1/4 of the amount. The headaches have been gone since that bad one on Sunday night. Yeah!


The big thing I should journal about is George's dad's passing. He was talking one minute in the hospice house on Monday. The next minute his head went back, and he was gone. He had pain meds for the first time the night before. That is all he went through. Nothing like the more drawn out situation with my dad and his morphine pump and my mom with the battles between the assisted living center and the hospice organization that had my mom's care (that was a stupid thing - all because my brother was friends with the doctor who NEVER even came to see my mom the whole month I was nursing her). He had a very peaceful passing. He said he just wanted to fall asleep and not wake up, and that is basically what he did.


All that to say is that George is handling it well, but I know he is not the same old George. He is processing, and I need to be there for him. We canceled Jesus Community, and I canceled with Michele tonight. I need to listen to him rather than 20-somethings right now. It is the right place for me to be.


Oh, I also had a huge answer to prayer. I can't say here what it is because I have a feeling there are lurkers here (HI!) that might know the people involved, and I don't want to betray any confidences, but I have been praying for something for four years. I was pretty fervent for about 1-2 years of that, but about two months ago, God laid it on my heart to pray for it again. Now that four years have gone by, the impossibility of things changing was even BIGGER (we are talking HUGE). So much so that I prayed in faith that He would move mountains to make it happen (I felt that strongly that this was His will to pray in this way). Low and behold, I got my answer last Friday, exactly how He had put on my heart to pray. I was doing back flips. Then, I was with Jane going over our study in Discipleship Essentials (I am putting a link to it below because is an wonderful book for basic growth in the faith) on prayer, and I had written that prayer request in the book when I did it with Rebekah four years ago!  I had just told Jane about the answer, but I had forgotten until we got to that last question in the lesson. I was blown away.  I love how God allows us to be part of His work even though we don't deserve it.


Well, the alarm is going off. So, I will end this now. No proofreading either.