We’re spending the month of June in Salina, Ks.  Joel has TDY orders with the Army National Guard.  The four of us are sharing a one room hotel suite.  It’s small, but it has a full size fridge, dishwasher and a range top.  The kids share a roll-away bed that we fold out at the foot of our bed each night.  Not much for privacy or peace and quiet.

Actually, it’s very peaceful right now.  Joel went out for a run and the kids passed out over an hour ago.  They’be been staying up late, getting up early and playing hard since we got here.

You’d think living in a one room hotel with two kids in the middle of Kansas would drive a woman crazy… Not yet. We’re really enjoying ourselves.  I like Salina, and I don’t mind living in such a small space with just a few things.  It’s easier to keep the place clean.  I can’t ever get overwhelmed with dirty dishes since we only have four plates, four spoons etc. etc.  I didn’t bring enough clothes for laundry to get me down either.  Ahh I love the simple life… as long as it includes free wifi and a couple laptops, and it does.

We’ve had several adventures sicne we got here Thursday night.  I’ll write separate posts to share those photos and stories.

Who knows, maybe I’ll be a blogger again someday.  I’ve probably lost most of my readers after slacking so long. This is my 1,955th post though… I guess I might as well keep writing.

View my sleep study story and slideshow.

Isn't that great? I went to the doctor because I'm tired all the time. They did tons of test and told me that... I'm tired all the time. Yeh...thanks! But hey, he's the man with the fancy deree on the wall.

After years of constant exhaustion and countless naps that don’t help a bit, I finally got a doctor to take me serious. I went to a neurologist and had a sleep study done.

The first test was a polysomnogram.  It showed that I have “elevated respitory effort related arousals.”  That means I have a little trouble breathing when I’m asleep,  this disturbs my sleep and keeps me from getting the normal amount of rem sleep.  It’s not bad enough to call apnea or hypopnea… I don’t need a CPAP. [A machine to help me breathe while sleeping.]  Instead, my doctor prescribed a dental snoring device.  I don’t know if I snore or not… but the thing is suppose to reposition the mouth so that the airway stays clear… making it easier to breathe.  I’m all about breathing when I sleep.  It seems important anyway.

Since I didn’t have apnea, they kept me for a multiple sleep latency test.  This measured how long it took me to fall asleep during four naps through out the day.  It also checked to see if I went into REM during the 20 minute naps.  I didn’t.  That’s good!  Going into REM during such a short nap would indicate narcolepsy.  Thankfully, I don’t have that.  But the test did show that I fell asleep within 3 minutes during each nap after a good night’s sleep.  Apparently that’s not good.  I consider the ability to fall asleep quickly in any circumstance to be a special talent… It’s not that I fall asleep when I don’t want to, like someone with narcolepsy might.  I just can choose to sleep anywhere at anytime… and I choose to a lot.  Ask my CHBOLC platoon. During officer basic, I slept standing up in the back of the classroom, slept at my desk during 15 minute breaks, and slept in the dirt with my head on my ruck…. anytime we weren’t doing something. My platoon leader shared some military wisdom, “Never stand when you can sit. Never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep”  I took this advice to heart.

The thing with hypersomnia is that you can nap all you want. It won’t help a bit…  It’s not that I don’t sleep enough at night.  I usually do.  But I wake up tired.  Naps are just as pointless.  Sleep isn’t refreshing… but it’s always appealing.  No, it isn’t because I’m depressed and want to avoid life.  I. Am. Tired.  I’ve been saying that for years,  now I have scientific proof.  The doctor gave me a sample of some very expensive medicine to try.  It’s a stimulant that should help with the excessive daytime sleepiness.  I’ll let you know if it works… and if my insurance will cover it!

They dont’ actually know WHY I feel this way.  Ahh but they gave me a name for it and a couple prescriptions… that’s something! Now I can obsessively research and figure out how to stay awake… I’m sharing all of my research at squidoo.com/hypersomnia.

Editor’s note: Apparently I really am tired.  Joel just told me about at least 5 spelling errors in this post.  Ugh!

“Are you tired of being pathetic? Had enough of mediocre? Stuck in a rut, a pit, your too tight sweatpants? Then it’s time to BeAwesome!”

A few days ago my facebook status said something like “Amy is tired of pathetic and is thinking of trying awesome again.”  

This silly statement started an ongoing conversation which morphed into a day of trying to do things for my family… which turned into a silly facebook group called BeAwesome The Movement … which got nearly 200 members in only 3 days.

Today, I created a web site for BeAwesome The Movement.  Join us!

Sarah and I stayed home from church.

I should be doing homework.

I’m so tired, I think I could die and not even notice until I’ve napped for a thousand years in Heaven.

A cup of coffee and an energy drink had no effect.

I need to be analyzing and evaluating deeply philosophical and theological writings…

I would evaluate the inside of my eyelids but I’m too tired to close them.  That’s right… I can’t close my eyes… perhaps the energy drink only keeps your eyes open but doesn’t actually wake up any other part of your body.

I’d go for a run but it sounds Arctic out there…

OK, back to work.  I’ll put off Lessing’s On the Proof of the Spirit and of Power for later.  Maybe I’ll read about Rudolf Bultman’s concept of “myth” in The New Testament and Mythology…

I finally got to meet Rachel’s beautiful baby girl!  Here are a few photos of us together.  I’ll be posting more photos on Rachel’s site soon.

Thanks to Pastor Loralie and Pastor Mike, I got to preach at Central Assembly last Wednesday night!  Long time readers will recognize parts of the podcast since I spoke on this text a couple years ago in one of my classes at AGTS.

Here you go: A new and improved sermon about debt!

Recorded 3/18/2009 in the New Community Service at Central Assembly. Download here.

Good morning friends,

I know that many of you woke up this morning not knowing quite what to do next.  Instead of waking up to a routine, rut or rat race, you find yourself in a dizzying fog.

Situations, sickness or sin have knocked you on your butt and you’re trying to get back up. Maybe it took you by surprise, or maybe you saw it coming. You might have even signed up for it.  But here you are.  Suffering.  Carrying heavy burdens or trekking down unfamiliar trails.  Wondering what tomorrow will bring…

This is it.  This is when you decide.  Should you take the route of fear, doubt or bitterness?  Or will you call suffering what it really is?

Another lesson in trusting God and loving people.