I've always envied people who can "sleep in". It's a holiday and I didn't have to get up early, but guess who was awake at 4:30? Yep, yours truly. Part of it is my normal routine. I'm usually up by 4:15am so I can be at work by 6:15am. Being a morning person, my brain works better that time of day; it's the best time for me to have my devotions. Since Brad put the NASB on my iPod, I can listen to about 7 chapters and then spend time in prayer. As you might have surmised, getting up this early leads to going to bed really early, too. I used to think my parents were just weird for going to bed at 8pm. Company would have heard my daddy say, "Well, Sue, I think we'd better go to bed so these folks can go home." If the phone rang after 8pm, daddy answered with, "WHAT?" Now I understand why they retired early. And my family completely understands.

It will be a quiet day for me: Terry will be at work and the kids will be at in-laws' homes. It will be a good day to finish Part 2 of Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. I hadn't realized until a few weeks ago that there is a Part 2. Christian's pilgrimage makes up Part 1 and so far as I can tell from the Prologue, Part 2 is the pilgrimage of Christiana, his wife, and their four children. I read this classic when I was a teen so was surprised at how much I remembered. But I didn't know about Part 2 and I'm excited about starting it today.

I'll have to be very careful about downloading to the iPod. Pilgrim's Progress was a free download, but let me tell you, other books are not cheap. You'd think that since publishers don't have to pay for ink, paper, shipping, etc., these downloads would be less expensive. Not necessarily so. I'm trying to find some trustworthy sites with less expensive products. Cathy, if you see any downloads by some of the Christian authors you know I like - Lucado, Swindoll, Tozer, Blackaby - please let me know.

Have a happy and safe 4th.