Hi world,
It's after midnight and I just can't sleep. Usually I can pick up a book and read a few pages and sleep will come. That's not working tonight. Neither is my herbal tea. I know that tomorrow will come and I will be overloaded with worry again. Worry about bills, and just everything. When I say things like that, I almost feel guilty. I have been to places in the world where people have NOTHING. No food, no bed and they have to worry for thier lives every day. Their children die of disease and starvation. The women and girls live with the fear of being raped and killed daily. Compared to that, I have NO problems. I wonder if I am having a faith crisis? There was a time that I KNEW that things would work out. They always did. Now, I'm just not so sure. I sound so pathetic and whiney and I hate to sound like that. I have a favorite verse in the Bible that I need to say over and over. I need to mean it and I need to stand firm in it. It is Isaiah 40:31 and it says,
They who wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength,
They will soar on wings like Eagles;
they will walk and not grow weary,
they will run and not be faint.
I WILL believe that and I will not worry again. I will turn my life over and wait. Goodnight all...

They have named new " Wonders of The World". I'm not quite sure why they weren't content with the ones that they had, but... If you are a History buff like I am, you may be interested. There are 7 of them and they are;
1- THE PYRAMID at CHICHEN ITZA, Mexico. They estimate that it was built around 700-900 AD. It was one of the greatest Mayan centers of the Yucatan Peninsula. If you saw the movie " Apocolypto" directed by Mel Gibson, It looked like the one that they sacrificed humans on. Early archeologists, found the bones of children at the bottom of the pyramid which led to speculation that children were sacrificed there.
2- THE TAJ MAHAL- It's been called "the most beautiful tomb in the world". Shah Jehan married Mutaz Mahal in 1612. They had 14 children and she died in childbirth in 1630. Legend says that The Shah was so crazed with grief that his hair and beard turned white almost overnight. He started the tomb for his wife in 1630 and it was completed in 1650.
3- MACHU PICCHU- in the mountains of Peru. Speculation is that it was the home for members of the Inca Royal family. It is 9,060 feet above sea level and some of the stone that were used to build it weigh over 50 tons !!
4- CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE- It was started in 1921 and it took 5 years to complete. It is a statue of Christ with his arms outspread overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The outstreached arms signify that " Christ welcomes all". It is 125 feet high and weighs over 1,000 tons.
5- THE COLOSSEUM IN ROME- Built nearly 2,000 years ago by the Flavian Roman emperors. It seated nearly 50,000 spectators and was used for gladiator fights, contests and wild animal shows. It was built so watertight that it held Naval Battles in it's early days.
6- PETRA- An archaeological site in Jordan. It is stone structures built into the rock around it. It was built by the Nabataeans, an Arabic people more than 2,000 years ago. There are over 800 differant sites there including tombs, baths, funerary homes and houses.
7- THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA- It is the longest structure ever built. It's almost 4,500 miles long and was originally built to keep the nomadic Xiongnu people away from the farming villages on the Chinese border. It was built by three differant dynasties in China.( a) the Qin Dynasty ( b) The Han Dynasty and (c) The Ming Dynasty. It was built during the years of 1368- 1644 and over a million people died during the building of the wall.It has been said that every foot of the wall took one human life.
That's it folks. I hope that you enjoy reading about things like this and don't be afraid to correct any mistakes that I may have made in my quick research of this.

I want to run away again. Far away where no one knows me. Away from telephones and sick dogs and sick children. I can't though. Real life is right here. BUT.. that made me think. IF I COULD run away and money was no object, I would go to Tuscany. I've never been there but I have seen lots of pictures of it and that region. I want to sit at an outdoor cafe and drink wine. I want to be young and cute enough again that dark , handsome men would pinch my butt. I want to drive down winding roads with fields of sunflowers on both sides. That is my running away fantasy. What's yours? If money and time were no object, where would you go? I think that everyone must have that dream. That one place where you have ALWAYS wanted to go. Come on friends....share...

I came across this several years ago. I'm not really sure where I found it but I decided that it would be a perfect way to view the world. It's about aliens coming to earth and what they consider important. It's by a man named Thomas Digby and I don't know anything about him.

TAKE US TO YOUR POETS.

I came upon them by a lonely road
deep in the wilderness
with something strange hovering overhead.
They'd learned my language, not important how:
"Standard procedures, like hundreds before; no big deal".
But they did have a favor to ask.

" A favor?" Like taking you to our leader?"
" Your leader"? Eventually.
" We should exchange assurances of good faith,
agree on ground rules, mark the traffic lanes,
Stuff like that. All quite necessary.
But there's plenty of time for attending to that.
And we have more urgent needs.
"so take us to your poets,
your dreamers,
your dancers in the moonlight.
Those your leaders cannot speak for
because they make thier own worlds
no others can invade or conquer."
( akward pause)
"Uh...That's all well and good,
but not quite what I was expecting.
Maybe first I should take you to our scientists?"
" Your scientists". Eventually."
We should cross check our knowledge against yours,
finding where each can fill the others gaps
and what each can learn from the other.
But, there's plenty of time for attending to that,
And we have more urgent needs.
So take us to your poets,
your dreamers,
your dancers in the moonlight.
Those the physical cannot limit.
because they see beyond, beyond
and do not stop at "that can't be".
( akward pause)
"Uh... that's all well and good,
but not quite what I was expecting.
Maybe your ship needs something?
Our ship? Eventually.
We are a little low on fuel
and before we leave your world
certain items will want minor repairs.
But there's plenty of time for attending to that,
and we have more urgent needs.
So take us to your poets,
your dreamers,
your dancers in the moonlight.
For we are dangerously low on dreams
and we need to relight our inner fires
without which all worlds are dark and empty".

Yesterday something happened that shook me to my core. Some of you know that a few years ago, my husband committed suicide. He went out into his workshop and put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. I walked around in a daze for months, not knowing much of anything. We lived in Florida at the time. My mother and brothers came down, packed my things and moved me back to Alabama. I barely even remember that. Flash forward a few weeks from that and my brothers were over here helping me straighten out my shed. There were tools and boxes packed almost to the ceiling. My oldest brother got a weird look on his face and turned away from me very quickly. I noticed that he had a box in his hand. I said " Larry, what's wrong? What is it?". He ignored me and just kept walking away from me. That made me really curious and I went to him and looked into the box. I looked...and I screamed. There was about a three inch section of my husband's skull with his hair still attached to it. Those boxes had been in his workshop and I guess that when he shot himself, that flew into that box. I had paid a company to clean up, but they overlooked that. I screamed, I cried, I vomited. I went crazy again. My brothers took it, put it into a small, wooden box and buried it under my big sycamore tree. They out a statue of an angel on top of it. Then they led me still crying into the house where I went to bed. Years passed and then yesterday... I was sitting on my porch watching the birds and squirrels running and eating. I noticed that two of my dogs were digging under the tree. It hit me then... they were trying to dig up that box. I don't think that they could smell anything after all this time but I couldn't be sure. I ran to them yelling and made them stop. I took the dogs inside and PILED rocks and bricks on top of it. ( we had a hurricane two years ago and the angel statue had been broken). I came back inside and cried some more. Last night, I couldn't quit thinking about that. About how a piece of skull could emcompass the mind of the person that I had loved. It had held his laughter, his kindness and his secrets. NO ONE should ever be in so much pain that they put a gun in thier mouth. NO ONE should have a part of themselves buried under a tree. No ONE should have to have these buried memories. No One..