Hello dear ones, I hope this post finds you all doing well! I’ve been remiss in my blogging duties ever since COVID hit our house last year. There’s been several reasons, mostly the symptoms that lasted for months, followed by a veracious bout of insomnia. I’ve always struggled with sleep, it’s not something that’s ever come easy to me. Five hours of consecutive sleep is a successful night! Most often it’s a few hours, followed by some mulling about, ending with an extra hour or two. Before last year I had at least one day a month where I simply couldn’t sleep at all, a couple days a week where more than a couple hours wasn’t possible, ending with a full body crash where I would get those five hours I mentioned. During, and for months after, getting sick, I was able to sleep unlike ever before. I could sleep anywhere, sitting up or laying down, comfortable or not, night or day, for hours on end. Without an alarm, I could sleep for 12 or more hours! This went on for about six months, and resulted in far fewer articles being written here. As you can imagine, with only a few hours of sleep, and a brain wide awake, prior to getting sick I had a lot of time on my hands for writing.
Then, as quickly as it started, the sleep stopped. Like, stopped. For the first time in my life I broke my insomnia record of three nights without sleep. I blew through it, actually, managing a regrettable seven day forced fast from sleep. Even on the nights where I’m able to fall asleep, I wake within an hour feeling like I had a good nap. Perhaps it’s the after effects of the virus, or maybe it’s age, but either way my body isn’t handling the lack of sleep the way it use to. Once upon a time I could get a few hours of sleep and then get a good amount of work done. I could write, create graphics for social media, edit podcasting episodes, clean, craft something for someone’s birthday…but now I am awake for all hours of the night without the energy to do much of anything. My brain won’t shut down to sleep, but it also won’t think clearly enough to allow work to get done. Frustratingly enough, unlike my prior experiences, my mind doesn’t get any clearer when the sun comes up. Especially after day three of little to no sleep, by day four I’m a walking talking zombie. By day five I’m a stumbling, slurring, zombie. I have very little recollection of day’s six or seven. Recently, this issue has begun abating, rather than the seven days of sleeplessness followed by a night and day crash, I’m experiencing four or five days, sometimes less, sometimes more, with a good deal more clarity in-between. I am very thankful for this! While during the last few months I’ve had more opportunity to pray, I’ve missed the ability to write, read, and interact with all of you.
Now that I’m having more days in a row where my brain works, I’m looking forward to writing the MASSIVE amount of book reviews I’ve been planning for! I’m also really excited to be starting a new project for Open Hearts, called the After Show, a bonus episode that will be airing on AGTV and the Open Hearts channel after the Open Hearts Podcast and the Book Club. You can see a sneak peak of the first episode here:
I was incredibly humbled, as well as excited, to be invited to write for my brother-in-Christ and dear friend, Dave Jenkins at Servants of Grace. I’ve been so blessed by his writing, and podcasting work, and it’s an absolute honor to be able to join with him and the other wonderful women who blog for him.
If you missed it, Monday’s episode was an exciting episode! I threw my back out and wasn’t able to get a lot of…well, anything done, early this week. It’s feeling a lot better today, so while I’ve got you here let me tell you about the aforementioned show. Most of you know that Kristin Everett and Patrick Studabaker have joined me on Tulips and Honey frequently. In fact, there was a, jokingly encouraged, contest to see who could guest host more often than the other. That led me to searching for a way to bring them both in at once, Patrick brilliantly filled in the gaps of my weird thought process, by suggesting a series on The Importance of Church. Monday’s episode was born of that idea, and part two will be coming, Lord willing, next week. You can check out that episode on nearly every podcasting platform or on Youtube here:
The last update I wanted to mention is about Pastor Edward. Firstly, thank you to everyone who joined me in praying for his surgery! He’s doing well, very nearly ready to come home, and working hard at physical therapy. It’s still a difficult process, and currently they’re biggest need is keeping his insurance while he’s out of work. If you’ve got the financial ability to help, I’ll include his gofundme account here, and I know I speak for both him and Sandi, when I thank you for all your encouragement and prayer!
Tulips & Honey 