4:21 AM Tuesday morning

I am in a deep sleep. I haven't slept well the last few nights because I have been worried about my family and this Hurricane Gustav (more on that in a moment). I roll over and the lights from our family room almost blind me. If you have never been to our house, we sleep with our bedroom door open and the master bedroom is right off the family room. Kevin normally gets up earlier than I do, but he is super quiet and typically closes our bedroom door so he doesn't disturb me. I'm sleepy but irritated thinking he wasn't being very considerate. Then I realize Kevin is still in the bed with me. Hmmmmm.

I get up and go into the family room. Every light in the house is on (hey, that could be a song) - kitchen, family room, breakfast nook, hall, lamps, even the pantry**. I see the clock on the microwave says 4:21.

Fletcher is sitting in Kevin's chair.
I ask the obvious question, "Fletcher, what are you doing?"
He gives me the obvious answer, "I am getting up early to read my Bible like Dad does."

While I appreciate his desire to be like Dad, I think 4:21 AM is a little over the top. After asking more questions, as best I can tell, he had a bad dream again. This is the second night in a row. Two nights ago he woke up with a bad dream about bats. Last night it was monsters. The stores around here have their "spooky" Halloween stuff out these days so my psychological assessment would be that the spooky images were embedded into his subconscious causing him to recall them in his REM sleep. How's that for an analysis? Oh, and he was starting school Tuesday morning so there was probably some nervousness and excitement related to that too.

We all went back to bed for a few more hours of sleep. Well, that is after I walked around the house and turned off every single light.

**Fletcher told us Tuesday night when he was getting ready for bed that he also had a "midnight snack" when he woke up. Tortilla chips. Why? Because one of the books we checked out at the library talked about a rhino having a midnight snack. Lovely. Just lovely.

Gustav update - everyone in my family is fine. They are back home. They have power and didn't really get much wind or rain. Praise God!