A recent dream, or rather, a nightmare!

It's no secret that I have really trippy dreams when I sleep.

They say you have weird dreams when you're pregnant... well, I've been having really weird dreams for as long as I can remember (and I dream in color quite often too - apparently that's supposed to mean something...?). At one point I even had an entire blog devoted to keep tract of my weird-ass dreams, but I kinda gave up on that as half the time I forgot about it (oops!).

Anyways, while taking a longer nap the other day when hubby was around to watch Jay, I had another really weird dream that actually made me quite upset, and you'll see why!

I dreamed that we were down in Dallas again, visiting my old college roommate like we did back in October 2010, only instead of being 5-6months pregnant Jay was a newborn. My college roommate also had had a baby who was just slightly older than Jay.

We went out to some straight-up southern bar and grill type place one evening, after 9pm or so, so it was past the babies' bedtime. But my old roommate said that was fine, they had childcare at this place we were going to. She told me to go take care of getting our coats checked while she got the babies squared away for us.

I check the coats in and go to rendezvous with her and I learn that this place's form of childcare is swaddling and then securely locking each baby into its own small locker!

NOT acceptable for
storing babies!

Horrified, and hearing Jay screaming and freaking out, as it was dark in there, he doesn't like being swaddled, not mention he's never been in a space like that, I go to get him out, however my roommate couldn't remember the correct locker combination! So we go to the "childcare" desk and they won't give her the combination as she's not the mother and they won't give it to me as I wasn't there when he was checked in! They tell me I have to come back the next day when the general manager is in to take it up with her!

I was furious and freaking out, spending the night and day the next day waiting for the woman to show up. We ended up having to have dinner there too before she showed up.

Explaining the situation to her, she eventually used a master key to open the lock on the back so I could get him out, however it had been nearly 24 hours since he last ate, his diaper was sopping went, and he was clearly traumatized as he was just staring off in space at first, having cried himself out! He was barely breathing and took a good minute or two to come to and be okay.

Livid, I proceeded to bitch at the manager and how I would be contacting child services regarding this supposed "childcare" they offered to patrons and the way we were treated. She snootily replied that she didn't know how they run things up in Illinois, but down there, in good ol' Texas, there was nothing wrong and that my child was fine - all the babies freak out at first until they get used to it!

Yeah, that didn't help any...

Needless to say, I'm glad my dream had a happy ending with Jay being okay instead of dying of starvation/dehydration at the hands of these business morons! I would have woken up crying if that happened! But still, I was pretty mad when I woke up!

Glad to know it was only a dream (albeit more like a nightmare!).

Have you had any strange dreams lately?

"It's the end of the world as we know it..."

It's been a little over 20 years since REM first released that well-known song back in 1987.

There's been a lot of talk lately about the world coming to an end. A lot of people seem to believe something major will happen in December 2012 bring the world to a close. Honestly, I don't believe that. As a Christian, I believe in the Bible which clearly states in Matthew 24:36 that no one will know the date and time when Jesus will return (thus the beginning of the end of the world) - he will be like a "thief in the night."

Are we living in the End Times though?

A lot of people seem to think so. Granted, a lot of people thought that as well back in the 60s, and I remember people talking about it back when I was in grade school (remember how popular the Left Behind book series was in the late 90s?), but consider just how much hate there is in the world nowadays, how things that were wrong and immoral years and years ago are now considered to be perfectly fine and okay and if you still feel the "old way" you get ridiculed.

Here's an interesting passage I came across regarding the end of the world:

2 Peter 3-10

3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

So I know, a bit of random idea for a Blog post - you're probably wondering what brought this up.

Well, for those that don't know, my father-in-law does missions work, and while his specialty is helping people understand cults and the like, the last few years he's been teaching on prophecy and signs of the end times, since it seems to be such a hot topic with believers and non-believers these days.

Now the other night, on Facebook, he posted this:

We are the first generation since the time of Christ that has ALL the signs of the soon return of Jesus most importantly: Israel as a nation; Jerusalem as Capital of Israel; Weapons of mass destruction; and nations allied against Israel! "Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door" Jesus, Matthew 24:33

And another person, in response to his post, posted this:

Luke 21:9-11
⁹When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away." ¹⁰Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

What are your thoughts?

Personally, I think that's an AWFUL LOT of signs that were predicted nearly 2000 years ago, not to mention there's been numerous prophecies that seem to be becoming more and more realistic the last few years as well. Just within the last 2 months there's been 2 MAJOR earthquakes in the world - Haiti and now Chile, not to mention it seems like there's at least 1 every 2 years in Northern Illinois, smack dab in the middle of the US of all places!

To be completely honest, and I almost feel guilty and ashamed for feeling this way, but thinking about the end times almost depresses me.

I know, I know, as Christians we should be excited - Jesus is coming, we'll be done with this world and all that's wrong with it, and be celebrating in Heaven.

But at the same time, I always wanted to have a fulfilling life.

As selfish as it sounds, ever since I was little, I dreamed of growing up, getting married and having a family of my own someday. I've always wanted to be a mommy - I've always been good with little kids and look forward to someday having a few of my own. I look forward to someday going shopping with my daughter to pick out the perfect dress for the school dance, or cheering on my son in whatever sport he chooses to play. I don't want to just have kids, but I'd like to be able to raise them and have some of the experiences with them that my parents had with me. I think there's part of every woman that yearns to be a mother - whether or not they realize it (and even those who claim they don't, well in most cases, they do have a pet of some sort to take care of); we're built with a maternal instinct to mother and nurture. With all this talk about the end being near, all the signs of the times and prophecies coming true, etc... it just depresses me cuz the more I hear it, the more I wonder if I'm ever going to have the opportunity to have kids and raise them or if Jesus will return before I get to experience those things.

I know, we have our plan that we set out for in our lives, however that might not be God's plan for our lives - he might have something completely different in store for us, having seen the big picture that we can't see. And I know, once I'm in Heaven, the things I didn't get to experience in this lifetime will be far, far from my mind - non-exisistent. But until that happens, I can't help but feel how I am, right?

I mean, I don't blame our parent's generation and their parent's generation for being excited - most of them have had children and raised them to be adults, times are tough now and some aren't even sure if they'll ever be able to retire the way our economy is going... they've lived a pretty full life and are more than ready for Christ's return. My generation on the other hand... it just seems like there's so much still that we'd like to do, experience and accomplish in our lifetime. We look at the lives our parents have lived and long to have some of those same experiences, yet with all this talk about the end coming, it almost makes it sound like we won't ever get to experience those things.

Does anyone else kinda feel how I'm feeling here or am I the only one?

Crazy Dream: Giant Flimsy Contacts and the Parallel Universe

This dream was too crazy to pass up! Jeny's been posting on Livejournal a lot of her crazy dreams she's had while she was taking headache meds and this one seemed about on par with hers.

So it started off, I'm hanging out with Erika and her husband at their new house (even though it looks nothing like their new house!). They're showing me the master bedroom and I have to take my contacts out - they're really starting to bother me, so I'm standing by the dresser, taking them out and putting them in the case, only they're like ginormous and super flimsy - no way those things will even fit in my eyes! For some reason I stick one in my mouth to get it wet, only it got all folded up and I start choking on it, as it's caught in my windpipe. I start freaking out cuz I'm choking, but Erika and her husband went into the bathroom and started getting busy. Josh comes out of nowhere and gives me the Heimlich maneuver and the giant contact lense comes flying out.

So somehow, me, Jeny and Jackie got sent into a parallel universe (think Sliders) where everything is like we're back in high school, but it's in a rundown western town and all the adult women are wearing old western dresses with bonnets. No one believes us and thinks we're weird for wearing jeans and 'normal' clothes. The only way to get back to our universe is through key that is this book/postcard (kinda like a portkey in Harry Potter) that's kept on a rack in the local general store, however a crazy old lady in the dress and bonnet owns the store and keeps thinking we're trying to steal it and won't let us have it, even though we offer to pay!

There's a full moon coming up and Jeny's convinced that if we go to the end of town and jump at the moon when it's fullest we can escape this parallel universe without having the key. Jackie and I didn't think it would work, but Jeny did it anyway and appears at her apt in DeKalb, only it's completely dark, she has no roommate and all her belongings are missing. Turns out, that by not using the key, she screwed up her future and is now in a different parallel universe (kinda like in Sliders where they thought they were home but they weren't).

Jackie and I are still stuck trying to get access to the key to get home correctly. Because time has set back to where we're in high school again, Jackie is stuck dealing with her ex who won't leave her alone while she greatly misses Cody. Josh is constantly following me around, but at a distance like he did the first few years we knew each other and he keeps giving me these "I love you" eyes. I finally tell him that I'm from the future trapped in a parallel universe and that in my universe, 9 years from now we get married. He's like the only one that believes us and is intrigued about the parallel universe story as he's all into sci-fi.

There's also a young boy who believes me and Jackie and tries to help us. At one point it seems like Jackie gave up and wanted to just live it out and let things run their course, believing that in 9 years things will be back to how they were. The boy ends up going out his way to distract the crazy old lady at the shop so we can get the key. Before we can use it though, she starts chasing around the shop and then the western town... she chases us to the edge of town (in a horse drawn buggy!), while the moon is still full and we accidentally jump.

Did we make it to the right universe since we had the key with us or did we get sent into another alternate one like Jeny did?





I don't know, Josh woke me up by yelling at the cat, lol...