better and newer

this was an exciting night for me. i hadn't led worship in a while and so i had this golden opportunity to stretch myself ministerially. i rode my bike to the train station got on the 1657 towards anvers central. this enabled me to get plenty of time to go over my songs i was leading before the encounter service.

the service went great and i sang my heart out. the service ended and i got back on the metro to head to central train station. took the train to the waterloo station and found that my bike had been stolen!

the old bike with the seat on back

i was crushed. it was only a bike but nevertheless i had some memories with this bike. i poured a lot of my guts and sweat into it. it is the bike i took dutch to school on in the trailer and the whole winter in below freezing weather i gave god an earful about how i needed a car and that me riding a bike was unfair.

it was the bike that we got the child seat for so that when #3 came we could fasten him in it and i would  ride around with dutch and tites on their bikes. i actually took dutch to school on the seat a few times because it was way easier to take him in the little seat than the trailer. he would wear his sunglasses, helmet and hold onto his backpack while i cruised the rue de la station towards his school.

so this bike had more memories than value and that made me a little frustrated. i remember praying the whole walk home from the station, "lord please just cause my bike to be in the closet at the apartment" (our apartment has a storage closet for bicycles).

the thing is that all the pieces that fastened to the trailer and the bike seat were ON the bike. now i have to hunt down the companies that sell the products to find the spare parts because we have the seat and trailer in the storage closet downstairs. so i was annoyed about this as well.

i tweeted it immediately when i got home (some of you may recall). i really went to bed that night with peace because i knew we were close to getting a car and so i was thinking of god's provision for this. the next day i awoke to amazing news of donations for a bike.

it is just like the old one but better and a newer model.
and here it is:

my worst nightmare

you want to know what my worst nightmare is? not actually getting to find out what happens at the end of my nightmare.

i know that sounds weird but let me explain...

i have noticed over the course of my adult life i require certain pillows to sleep with. recently i have enjoyed sleeping with two pillows so that my body can have a 90 degree angle with one leg propped up over one of the pillows. i didn't always do this but since i have started, i've noticed a great deal of relief on my back. especially since my day usually consists of walking...lots of steps.

another thing i have noticed is the kind of pillow i lay my head on. it CANNOT be those memory foam pillows. the moment i started sleeping on those i can vividly recall the headaches and neck aches i would wake with only to endure pain throughout my entire day. consequently, going back to the original style of pillow was the best thing i did for my sleep.

now something i have noticed as of recently is that my days are being filled more and more with a strong desire to collapse and take a nap around midday. i have been struggling to figure this one out. i am 31, decent eater, i exercise REGULARLY, and i go to bed in plenty of time. the other variables include things like when i need to wake up and what did i do that day, etc, etc. titus, my youngest, at this moment, is pretty regular in his wake up time...7-7:30. but i am not usually bothered by an early riser (unless it is the weekend) because i too, desire to rise early. so the fact that he sleeps until 7:30 is not that big of a deal. i should normally be up at this time.

what i can only attribute my frustration for the inability to rise early is one thing. being woken up in the middle of the night for anything has been revealed through science to destroy any ambition at an early wake-up call. i am serious. anytime i am woken from a very dead like sleep for anything, i have found my mornings to be extremely difficult and my mood to be very temperamental. it is spiraling out of control and i don't know how to stop it! and i have another kid coming...AHHH!!!

it is nobodies fault really. i just have kids, a pregnant wife, responsibilities, and a strong desire to pray and seek the lord early in the morning. lord, help me.

sometimes i find myself, after being woken up, trying to go back to sleep to pick up the story right where i was in the dream...even if it is a nightmare.