Two nights in a row, now, God has put on an amazing display that interrupted my sleep.  On Sunday night the kids and I stayed up late to watch the Perseids, then got up at 3 a.m. to watch some more. We had a pretty decent view from our back yard, in spite of our neighbors' lights. During about a half-hour of watching, we saw easily a dozen.

Last night, around midnight, I woke up to the sound of thunder crashing, and the room filled with bright flashes of lightning! An incredible storm rolled right over us, with several huge flashes of lightning every minute for at least 20 minutes. The wind started blowing, and the rain poured down, flooding our backyard. By the time I got up this morning, you could hardly tell anything had happened -- the sun was shining, there was hardly a cloud in the sky, and there were only a couple damp patches left on the ground as proof that it wasn't all just a dream.

Needless to say, I'm hoping to be able to catch up on some much-needed sleep tonight!

I had the pleasure of watching our friends' two boys today -- they're 10 and 7, and play wonderfully with our kids. We have them over frequently, and I always enjoy listening to them as they play. Today, Lynne was being a drill sergeant, putting Jeremy and Tyler (the 7 year old) through their paces. From the other room, I heard, "ATTEN-SHUN! RIGHT FACE! PICK UP YOUR ARMS!" Now, I'm not sure where she got this command from, and it obviously was a new one to the boys also, because the next thing I know, Lynne is rolling on the floor laughing, saying, "No, I mean your weapons, not your actual arms!"

Duane's been enjoying his PSP. We stopped at Toys R Us after lunch yesterday, and he got himself a couple games and some accessories. It took a little bit of figuring, but he got some pictures and a video loaded on it. He's really excited about being able to use it as a tool for sharing about the work in South Africa. The pictures are amazingly clear -- it has an excellent display!

By way of introduction, the two lazy-looking beasts in my profile picture are named Smokey and Blue. While Blue is my favorite, he was not on my list of favorite beings this morning when he walked into our room meowing loudly... I think he was just bored and lonely, but at 5 a.m., I don't feel like keeping a cat company!