I'm a Good Mom

After numerous days of bad dreams, I finally had some good ones.

The only bad one you haven't heard about since my last post was me with a bunch of teen girls (friends of my daughter), having a sleep over in which 4 or 5 guys were trying to sneak in through the windows and kill us. No fun!

So last night when I had three dreams all about the same pleasant topic, I was greatly relieved.
In the first dream, which I don't remember much, my mom's mom, "Nanny", was telling me I was a good mom. In the last dream I had, which I don't remember much either, my dad's mom, "Grandma", was telling me I was a good mom.
In the middle dream, which I remember quite well, an older Hispanic lady was telling me that my husband and I were doing a good job at parenting.
You may recall that three dreams in one night all with the same "message" means that it's a definite. Like if you had three dreams that your house was on fire, in the same night... I'd get some insurance, or go to counseling if you feel the "fire" is symbolic.

The second dream in it's entirety was as follows:
My family and I were coming into a large hotel room and having all kinds of family fun frolicking on the bed wrestling, telling stories, and getting back rubs. At some point an older Hispanic lady came in. I walked around the place shutting doors and windows and getting ready for bed. We all slept on the same bed... even the older lady. Then as we woke up, we sat on the bed and talked. I looked around the room only to find that we were in a huge open room with tons of beds lined up side to side, like you'd imagine an orphanage or war hospital. (No bunk beds). One by one people started waking up from their beds and grabbing their bags and leaving. I immediately had two thoughts; one was "oh no, our talking must have disturbed them... I didn't know they were there", and the second thought was a revelation about what kind of place this was. It was for people who worked in the city and could not commute home each night, so they stayed in this old Laundromat that had been turned into a shelter. The people didn't use the small bathroom that was at the shelter because there was only one and they could get ready (even leaving with messy hair in yesterday's clothes) at work. We had somehow stayed there without that being our story. As people were leaving, a lady cried out in a panic. Her stuff had been moved and her friend was not in her usual bed. It turned out that her friend was the older lady that had slept with us. Our lady ran over to the panicked lady and calmed her down, handing her her stuff and saying that she had been there the whole time etc.
I went over to make sure things were OK, and that is when the older Hispanic lady gave me a hug and whispered in my ear that my husband and I were doing a good job at parenting. I was very happy, and a peace flooded my heart.

Facing a Storm, Dad's Sand Mound, and Complicated Water Works.

Three dreams in fairly rapid succession last night... and you know what that means. (Three dreams in a row... IF they go together, are dreams with an unchangeable message.)

My first dream was on a boat. I was with my family. The boat had an inside and an outside. I was down inside the boat and asked my son if he wanted to go up to the deck. I knew when I asked (and so did he) that we would not be able to go back inside if we chose to stay outside. On the deck my parents were dealing with boat type stuff and very quickly a storm rose up. The storm was massive. We all had on rain ponchos and were basically holding on for dear life. One wave came up and over the side of the boat, washing the floor of the deck. Then another much larger wave started to form on the opposite side of the boat (the side to my left, which was actually starboard, because I was facing back). The wave looked like it was three stories high and paused for a moment before it crashed over us. I was so frightened of it, but my mom wasn't. Then as it hit it fell with the force of tap water. We were fine. I looked at my mom and she gave me a very knowing look. That was the end of dream #1.

Dream #2 was on the shore. My parents and my kids and I were laying on a beach. It was like we had been washed ashore, but it was pleasant. All I could see of the scene was our legs and sometimes arms and the sand they were on with the bubbles from the tide that was rolling in and out. It was very peaceful. We talked awhile and then sat up. My view was not of the ocean. The camera of my dream was as if I was in the water and focused in on my dad's legs and arms as he built up a mound of sand to "protect" his spot from water coming in. The mound he had made was only about 16" wide and high, and the water just went around it, making it completely obsolete.

Now the tricky part is that I don't remember if the conversation that I remember goes to dream #2 or dream #3. It seems to fit better in #3, but I almost want to put it in with #2. So I'll stick it in the middle:
The conversation was about my dad having a job overseas. I think the area they were talking about was in Northern Europe. But the words that were being said sounded like they didn't want him there, so they probably wouldn't move after all.

In dream #3 we were visiting the Gores. It was my family and my parents and we were walking down a street in Northern Europe. The Gores lived there and I guess it was where my dad's possible job was... but as we know from the conversation mentioned above... he wasn't going to take the position. Jennifer Gore (My mom's BF) was still alive and walking with us. Monnie Gore and my dad were talking and the kids (all the correct age for 2011) were walking along too. The shops had things like wooden dolls and coo-coo-clocks. The streets were cobblestone and there was a quaint little bridge that reminded me of my favorite visit to Germany. We went to the Gores' house which was not like any I have dreamt of before, other than it being on a hill. It was on a crowded street where the houses share an outside wall. Inside people were talking about getting hungry and where we would go to eat. I guess my son must have had some say, because Taco Bell was the decision. Everyone got up to go walk to the Taco Bell, which I guess was down the street a couple blocks. I had to go to the bathroom and wash my hands. I went in the bathroom but left the door open (or maybe there was no door). It was small and in the front of the master bedroom. Standing at the sink which was wedged in a corner, I could see into the living room and down to the kitchen. (There was brownish/bronze old shag carpet in the living room.) The sink was ill fitted into the space on the small Formica counter top. I couldn't get the water to come on. The nob that seemed to be the way to turn it on just leaked a little at the base when I messed with it. I tried one more thing, then looked out to the living room for help. Everyone else had left except my mom and Jennifer who were waiting on me. Jennifer came over to help. She grabbed two different chords; one looked like an old kitchen sink pull-out nozzle, (You know the ones from the 70's with the black head and little squeeze trigger, and a silver ring right next to the head, and near the hose, which was also silvery.) and the other chord was more like a tasseled rope that you'd pull for service at an old timely hotel. The tasseled one came from under the sink and the first was just where you'd expect it to be... but the water came out of a whole other faucet that looked normal for a bathroom.
That was the end the 3rd dream.

So the question is... is there a theme? Do they fit together? or not? and either way, what are they saying?

The first dream reminded me a lot of one I had not long ago where the line of church people were going to "camp" with all their stuff, and I asked my son if he wanted to go home instead, and he said "Yes", knowing, that that was a final decision. In this dream the "final decision" was to be protected under the deck, or out in the storm. We chose the storm. And fortunately it turned out that the storm didn't hurt us. I really liked that dream. I love getting a message that whatever is coming, isn't going to hurt me. It's the same message I got a while back in my dream about the Bay area cracking off into the ocean, but that we would be fine.

The second dream was interesting to me because of its perspective. I never saw faces, not even chests. I was looking at my dad from a place on the beach that I was not sitting. It was a third person... very zoomed lens kind of dream. (Most of the time when I have third person dreams I can see the whole scene, so this was odd. It was also odd to have my dad build something so pitiful and think it may work.

The third dream, which was the "fullest" of the three (though not as meaningful as the first to me), was one of just a few over my life where I have dreamt of a deceased person being alive in the present. Jennifer died a few years ago.
I'm not sure if my dad's job predicament had any meaning in the dream. My parents have always talked about going back over seas if Dad could get a pastoral position in a church in Italy. I'm not sure how often he looks into that possibility, but I know he has a few times.
The Gores lived near us when we lived in Italy, so them being in that part of the world makes sense (even though they live in Colorado now).
The state of the house... having shared walls, having an old shag carpet, and the sink with the retro nozzle and Formica counter top, were all things that didn't speak well of the situation of the house. My mom has mentioned on occasion how much Jennifer held that family together, and now that she is gone it's just not the same. I see that played out with her being the one to help me, and even how she had to pull on two things to make the water work correctly.

Anyway, I'll have to think further about any theme. Right now, I kind of see them as separate. Though the first and second could be related, and the second and third (with regards to my father's job and sand mound) could be related.

A Retreat, a Reunion, and an Animal Cruelty Documentary

The first dream of the night was about a women's retreat. I was there with tons of other church women I know. (I most likely dreamed of this because I was explaining to my sister last night how I met Kookye... which was at retreat.) In the dream we were staying up late (as usual) but in a totally new place. The cabins were like another camp dream I've had before that reminded me of a cruise.
There was a long line of sinks in the bathroom and bunk beds lining the walls of our rooms. I was the person in the group who was determined to stay up til morning. We had been running around goofing off outside and I had to go inside to pee. I found out I was on my period (which actually happened this morning), then I came out of the bathroom to a room of sleepy ladies about to go to bed. The clock said 3:00, and I said, "come on, let's go swimming!"
I went outside to some familiar pools (ones I dreamed of a while back in a dream about my ex-father-in-law and weight loss.) There was a normal pool and a hot tub, both very large. I jumped in the hot tub and thought it might make everyone sleepier, so I got in the cold one. I looked around and saw that no one joined me.

The dream switched and it was day time and I was in the pool at a reunion. (Another dream I've had before with Paul, if you remember. But the pool was still the same large square one from the dream about weight-loss.) This time the pool was again, mostly boys, and one came over to be my protector. He looked similar to some boys I've known in the past but not like one particular person. He was skinny and tall, and white with a pointy nose. He had on a leather jacket and jeans. I swam around with him for a while kind of backed up into his arms. Some other boy was trying to take me from him, but he was defending me. Then I got out. I rationalized with myself that I really didn't know him and he was never my boyfriend. Once I was out of the pool I walked around a stadium type place (again very much like the dream I had a while back that Guy and Mr. Leander were in). I saw lots of people and then out of the corner of my eye I saw Shane (another old boyfriend... my favorite from my youth). He had just arrived from being overseas (which makes sense because he's in the Air Force, and goes overseas fairly often). He still looked just like he did in 1989 with his long hair and glasses. He was wearing a black leather jacket that glistened like it was wet. He disappeared from my view, and I spent a few minutes trying to find him. Finally, I did, and walked over trying to get him to talk to me. I even put my hands around his neck, but he was determined to ignore me. Again, I was left disappointed.


My third dream started like I was watching a documentary, but shortly into the film, it was like I was there and being shown through the farm/factory.
The documentary was about the mistreatment of children and animals in Laos. (This idea popped up out of nowhere... it has no relevance with anything going on it my life... which is one reason it's so disturbing.) There was one small boy that the film followed through the entire process, but very quickly into the film. The mistreatment of the children and the animals went hand in hand, because he was the one forced to treat the animals the way they were treated. It started with him in a pin full of hay and mud like he had just finished taking the animals out, then the scene switched to a line of beheaded, de-footed, and skinned pig looking animals. They were still 'walking' in the line to get slaughtered though. The boy explained how he had to chop of their feet while they were still fluffy, and the imagery went to him bounding rabbits by their feet and chopping off their heads, then their feet, while still tied. The skinning was done by someone else. Even though everything had looked like pigs before, I got the understanding that this was a rabbit farm. The boy cried when he talked about how cute they were before he had to kill them with the machete.
I woke up quite disturbed.

So other than being disappointed after each dream, I don't see much of a relation between them.
Like I said, the Laos dream came out of no where, so I'll be thinking this morning about any possible meaning...

Waking... Whispering

Today is the first day of school for my kids. Needless to say, it's a little like Christmas morning where you don't really get a good night's sleep due to the anticipation.

This morning's dreams were not terribly memorable, but the ones from right around 3:00 were, so I'll share those.

In the first dream I was walking through what appeared to be a movie set. Many of my old "drama geek" friends (of which I used to be) were all posed for a picture. They were dressed in turn-of-the-century clothes and made up like corpses. The girls had Bride of Frankenstein hair-dos, and the guys looked straight out of "Interview with a Vampire". Some people were sitting in fancy chairs, and other people were on the ground or on fallen tree trunks, in lounging positions. Still others were hung to trees by nooses. There was fake blood and fake neck wounds, etc. on various people. It was a very artsy scene... morbid, but beautiful at the same time.

In the second dream I was in my home from Edwards AFB when I was a pre-teen. I was either naked or barely had anything on (I can't remember now), but I was walking from my room into the living room and all of a sudden a thick fog filled the house. It was wet like mist but not as wet as it should've been for that amount of 'cloud'. I sensed something wrong and began to speak to the fog in tongues. As usual, in my "casting out demon" dreams, my voice was only a whisper, and that put a fear in my heart (as it always does)... which in turn wakes me up... I woke up whispering in tongues. My dog, laying beside me, came up to my face to see if I was OK. I went ahead and finished what I was saying, unsure if I needed to deal with something in the room, or if it had just been in my dream. Generally speaking, I figure if it's in my dream... it's in my room.

I got up to pee (which is when I looked at the clock and saw that it was 3:00), then I went back to sleep and had a dream about taking a shower.
Sometimes you need a good shower after yucky stuff has filled your brain. :-)

Kid's Driving

My daughter is finally home, which means someone else is able to have the puppy sleep with them. :-) And that leads to me remembering more dreams!

Last night I had three that I remember.
One was of my friend Barbara's daughter Brooklyn, driving.
Brooklyn is only 11. Barbara and I were sitting in the back seat and her two daughters were in the front. We drove out of a gravel parking lot and on to a busy one lane road going the wrong way. We drove on the shoulder past a steady stream of cars and trucks. The whole time I was panicking and telling Barbara to hop over the seat and take over.
We finally arrived at an apartment building and went inside to their house. (They don't really live in an apartment, but they did here.) We stayed inside and got ready for a day of school. My son was with me and we were ready to go. We looked at the clock and it was past time to leave. Then Barbara reminded me that her daughters were home schooled now (which they are), so they really didn't care if school had started; it didn't matter to them. I was a bit upset, because it did matter to me, and we were going to be late to the first day of school. She suggested that we not go and just show up the next day. I woke up after that.

The second dream involved my son being a toddler again, and peeing in a sink while I held his body up so he could reach. It was an odd dream, but sure enough, I woke up having to pee.

The third dream was at work. I was back at St. John's and was assigned the task of going through a room full of samples. I went through piles and piles of clothes and accessories. The piles were mostly clothes from my Disney job not from St. John's. (Mostly little girl's princess dresses.) I put a huge stack aside for myself, saying that "my nieces will love these." Then a co-worker came by and asked how it was going. I told her she could go through the piles I didn't want. Then she questioned my free-for-all by reminding me that last year we saved everything til the end and had a sample sale with it all. "Oh yeah", I thought. So then I put everything back into categories and went over to a large metal shelf and started sorting through briefcases and other men's accessories.
That was the end of that dream.

Any meanings? Well... Kids ran the show in all three dreams, either directly or in-directly. But is there a lesson... I'm not so sure.
I do need to call Barb; she hasn't called since her daughters have been home from their dad's house.

Backwards

Well, as much as the new puppy waking me up at 5:15 is annoying, I will say it definitely helps with remembering dreams.

In my first dream I was watching Greta (the mother of my daughter's ex-boyfriend) vacuum my house. The vacuum she was using was so full of static that it was causing sparks which started to ignite half way through vacuuming the bedroom. The carpet starting catching on fire in little spots here and there. She wasn't even flinching about it, so I grabbed a piece of cloth and started slapping the flames with it. The fire would go out in one spot, only to re-ignite in the area she had just vacuumed. I went behind her putting out each fire. (She also, was backing out of the bedroom... so we were both 'backing up'.) Then one fire starting traveling up her arm. I slapped it as well. She finally took notice and watched as I slapped her arm with the cloth. It wasn't working as well on her arm so I told her to go put her arm in some water.
That was the end of that dream.

The next dream was about a feast. I was inviting my daughter's ex and his whole family to a dinner at my house. (It was like the house we lived in when my son was a baby.) The meal would be held outside and had been cooked on a huge grill. I was grilling the meat and had told my friend Mitzie to work on the salad. The meat and the baked potatoes were ready and the guests were about to arrive. The whole house had cooking things all around as if I had been catering an event for a hundred people. I wasn't terribly worried about cleaning it up because we would be eating outside. I looked over and saw lettuce all over the place in the entry room. I told Mitzie that they would be here soon, and the salad came first... "why wasn't it ready?" She said she didn't realize that I had told her to make the salad. I was pretty pissed off at that, and had to rationalize with myself that we could eat backwards. We would have the meat first because it was hot and ready anyway... then the soup... then the salad.

In the last dream I was walking in a city. I think it was suppose to be New York. I was in a 'not very nice' section. I arrived at a tall townhouse that was mine. All the houses on the block were just like it. They were all gray cement, three stories high, close together, on a hill, with a yard in 'back' surrounded by a retaining wall. Before I noticed the back yard I thought that living in the city would mean that I didn't have a yard.
I was waiting for my mom to show up so I could show her my new home. She came and we walked around the outside. I realized that the yard in 'back', was really the front yard, but no one entered that way. Mine was the house on the far right of the block, so to get into my house, you just came in the side door straight from the side street. The yard was empty.

Interpretation...
In all three dreams things are "backwards"; that must mean something. That is the theme I see. Remember, three dreams in one night with a common theme is a serious message. It's important that I get this.
In the first dream, Greta was vacuuming backwards.
In the second dream, I had to serve dinner backwards.
In the third dream, the 'back yard' turned out to be the 'front yard'.

I'm going to start with something I've dreamed before: yards.
Back yards typically have meant things that are private to MY family that no one else sees. Front yards are public. Things about me or my family that everyone sees.
In dream number 3, the yard was empty; It was big and it had a retaining wall. At first I didn't even think I would have one. So is it empty cause I'm new there? Or is it empty because it's empty?

There should also be something significant about my daughter's ex's family. I haven't dreamed about them since they broke up early this year. Even then, I typically dreamed of the boyfriend, not his mom. I suppose it could be because yesterday we were talking about going to Costa Rice again, and that is where both of our families went on vacation together.
If I take their family as simply symbolic of Costa Rica, then does that mean that going could cause fires in the bedroom? Or that how I envision the trip is going to be turned around, "backwards" in some way? If that's the case, how does the NY town house play in to that?

Last night I put the possible vacation to Costa Rica as my facebook status. I woke up to seven comments on it. One of which was my husband saying, "Wow... how does a f-a-m-i-l-y discussion became a F-a-c-e-b-o-o-k status update, that quick? There has to be some sort of protocol to follow. ...you hear what I'm screaming? :)"
This could be how the "back yard" became the "front yard". (That could also account for the "fires" in the bedroom. I don't think he was very happy with me.)
Another one of the comments was my best friend saying, "Wait till next April and go to Costa Rica when Lance and I may be there." Perhaps this is the reversal of the trip. (of course, that's just wishful thinking on my part.)

On tour, and Babies in the UK

Yes, It's been a while. Things at home were not conducive to dream journaling... and now that time has past the only dream I remember from the past few weeks is one about my Nanny (Mom's mom) reprimanding me for being topless.

Last night, however, I said a prayer before bed to ask God what He wanted me to do about my dream journaling... If He was going to talk to me that way any time soon, or if I should just let it go for now.

Well.. I had a night jammed packed with dreams, so I'm taking it as a, "No, I'm not done with that."

The first dream I am fairly sure was just an alert.

It was simply me talking to my son about something he was doing, and I kept saying, "It's too late." "It's too late, you can't do that now." "It's too late." I awoke from the dream to pee at 2:30. I could hear voices in his room. (He's having a sleep over). I knew immediately I needed to go in there and tell them it was too late, they needed to go to bed. So I did.

I went back to sleep and had a dream where I was on a tour with a big group in an open air jeep/bus. Somehow I got stuck on the towing hitch with my legs under the jeep and holding on to the handle in the back. I think I had just been sitting there while we were stopped somewhere, and then the driver took off, and I was still there.

My mom was on the jeep and she alerted the driver of my position, but he just yelled back if I'd be alright til the next stop.  I said OK, and off we drove. At one point I remember mentioning that it was like water skiing... but not in a good way.  The town that we were traveling through seemed a lot like the Long Beach/Naples area. But when we finally stopped it was in an old western town with dust roads etc.  I got off and went inside an adobe low ceiling-ed building with my mom and my sister. There were multiple small rooms at different levels, only a step up or down from the next. In the rooms were old artifacts and antique treasures. I found an old bustier, and took it into a small bedroom (now very old west style, wood) to try it on. My mom and my sister came with me. The bustier was too small in the boob area, but I kept telling my mom that when I lost weight it would fit, so I was going to get it anyway. 

A voice came over a loud speaker saying it was time to make our way back to the bus. The shop would do all final purchases now. I took off the bustier and had it along with something else lacey in my hands debating on whether or not to get them both.  A woman dressed like an animal, in a brown furry suit, snuck out from behind a chest in the bedroom and crept up to us. It was a little creepy, cause we then knew that she had been in there the whole time. When she got to us (still squatting like an animal) she started reaching with her exaggerated fingers, grabbing at the items in my hand. After a minute she started talking and saying, "You'll have to put them back... you don't have time... it's time to go." Her tone got more frantic til the end of the dream when she was saying, "Just drop them and go.... go."  At that moment a friend from the dressing room/bedroom next door came in and told me to mention her room lady as the sales person for my purchases. She explained that she liked her lady, and that they worked on commission. I got a quick image of her lady in my head as I walked out of my room to go to the cashier.

Looking back on the dream it seems very strange that the animal lady didn't want me to buy things if they worked on commission. So what was that? What was any of it? It's my first "tour" dream since the month we got back from our Israel tour. It's quite a different picture from other dreams where I'm driving, or even being in the seating area. I was being dragged behind... though not actually on the ground. And why my mom and sister? Or the bustier? 

The next dream I had last night woke me up at 5:30 with a gag reflex.

The dream did not involve me at all, I was just being shown an area and it's problems. The place was in the UK.  Conditions were terrible. Riots had left the city looking like a ghost town. Then my attention was directed at one man. He was an older black man, and he started to describe his situation. His kids had left him in charge of his grand kids, and the number of children he was watching just kept multiplying. (I don't think they were ALL family, but maybe.) There were all ages of children, but towards the end there were just more and more newborn babies. They were being born out of his (or my, or ???) mouth. I felt a gag reflex every time a baby came out. They were all in the fetal position and all had brown skin. I woke up and even heard myself gag.

I'd say that the scene looked very doomsday-ish but at the same time there were just more and more babies. Perhaps the babies were spiritual babies. hmmmm.

Take the Wheel, Clean the Baby, and Dress Up.

I slept great last night... I bought some "breathe right strips"... Thank you to the inventor of those!

My first dream started in a parking lot. I can't remember too much of it, but I remember the main part, which is that my ten year old son was driving the car while my daughter and I rode in it... Me in the back seat. At one point he turned and was on the freeway facing on coming traffic. I tried to talk him through turning back around, but some cars started coming and he froze. When the next opportunity appeared I jumped over the center console and took over driving.

(I think this is as plain as it sounds... I'm letting a ten year old drive me around... I need to stop!)

My second dream was about a baby. The baby was a girl, maybe 4 months old. My mom and I (and I think my daughter) were all taking care of her. She looked a lot like my sister's daughter with curly brown hair, and a button nose and big eyes. She had on a red frilly dress. She wasn't mine, but I was helping. I took her to the bathroom to change her diaper. I was holding her by the belly and running water over her butt, wiping her clean. Then as I was drying her off I got angry and was being intentionally rough with her. I wasn't outright shaking her, but I was jerking her around and had a mean look on my face. I was frustrated with the situation... which had something to do with the baby.

(This one, I'm not positive, but I think has something to do with my daughter's trouble. I think the baby represents my daughter's "fruit" so-to-speak. I'm trying to help clean it up, but it's frustrating, and mainly I just wanna hurt the little 'red dress wearing' thing. )

My third dream was a good one, thank God. I was with my sister and we were kids. The look we had going was based on a favorite picture from my childhood. (In the picture we were at my Grandma's house and we had on fancy dresses and some of her makeup.) In the dream we had choices of piles of frilly dresses and skirts and boas to dress-up in. We had our hair curled and mine was in pig tails (as was often the case growing up). We had lip gloss on too. We were dressing up and dancing around enjoying being little girls. It was a very enjoyable dream!

(I think this one is a flipped coin from the MANY clothes trying on/sister dreams I've had in the past few months. In all the past dreams I've been a teen or an adult and the clothes rarely fit, and it's rarely 'even' between us and rarely fun. This one, being free and innocent, and just being ourselves, we had a great time. All the clothes fit, and we enjoyed each others company.)

Island Vacation, Bath Cave, and Highrise Homework

In mt first dream I was swimming in an enormous man-made lake. We were on vacation of some sort and had just arrived to our island home. The scene around the side of the lake that we were on was very 'other worldly'. It looked like a movie set. The houses were built way too close to the water, jutting out of the (not very high) cliffs. There was brown showing around the homes, and vines hanging sporadically. There were wooden deck walkways from some houses and others you had to use the vines to get to.

We had been dropped off somewhere in the lake and were swimming to shore with a group of people. The only person outside of my family that I recognized was our friend Greta. (That makes sense because we have been on vacation with her twice, and really don't see her otherwise.) A large man led us up the bank and then we made our way around the cliffs to our 'home'.  That's all the dream had in it.

The second one was also about water, and lots of it. It was a roman bath house type place, but huge, and more like a cave. I was with a few of my Swell Sister ladies and we were 'bathing'. There were a few tiers to the place, and above one was a large water fall that glowed with a golden hue. The whole dream was just swimming around and climbing and being in the water fall etc. No talking. I had to wake up from the dream to pee in the middle of the night.

The third one was in a city setting. I was with my dad and we were visiting my friend Dori. It was a school day and I had to get to school soon. We were up really high in a sky-rise in her apartment in down town LA. (Even though she doesn't live there, or in an apartment, but the school we went to together was.) She was showing us her new doggies. (She does have a new doggy since I saw her last, but these dogs were not the right breed.) The dogs in the dream were "purse dogs", one black and brown and white with furry pointy ears like a papillon, and  the other was like a white miniature poodle.  I was holding one and we were looking out the window talking about taking it down to pee. But I realized I was late for school and I started urging my dad to hurry and take me. I grabbed my back pack, but I didn't have my books. I scrambled to find the books, got them into the bag and then realized I hadn't done my homework. I had English and some sort of Science. Then I reasoned with myself that I wasn't going for a grade, I was a grown up, and it really didn't matter that I hadn't done my homework. Reasoning with myself led me to remember I'm not really in school, and then I woke up.

Once again, I am at a loss for any meaning... but they were interesting dreams none-the-less.

Dreaming about other people

Well, I'm happy to say that most of my dreams were good last night. Yay!

I had three that I can remember.

The first began in a class room. A boy named Lee from my 5th grade class had started a rumor about me. I don't remember what the rumor was, or even if it was mentioned in the dream; it was simply known that he had started one. I was searching for a seat, weighing my options. I sat towards the front in a desk just like the ones in elementary school. Partially through the class I got up and moved to a cluster of friends. Among the friends was my best friend from college: Ramin. He was sitting with 3-4 other people with their desks all pushed up next to each other creating a table. I knew the people, but I can't remember who they were. As soon as our desks were all together an Indian feast was served to us. There were at least 6 dishes served, family style. I picked up each and took two of most things and passed them on. One dish looked like fried firecrackers. It was rolled up like an egg roll but only 1 1/2 long and with colorful tassels poking out one end. Another dish was very large raviolis. There were also dates and raisins that dripped with honey and when I put them on my plate I watched the honey drizzle from the spoon folding itself in a golden ribbon. It was mesmerizing. There was naan bread and other things that I don't know the name of that I've had at the Indian restaurant in town. ...and that was the extent of the dream.

The next dream was simply about my old pastor's wife moving to an older section of town. The section of town she moved to is closer to the church, and to one of her close friends. The house had a pool and she had invited some women over. The only thing that I did in the dream was ponder why she had moved. The reasons I gave (about being closer, and near her friend) are the only ones I came up with.

The last dream was the only disturbing one of the night.

I went to visit my friend Paige. (Which I haven't done in a VERY long time, even though she lives in the same town.) My husband went with me. We were mainly there to see her baby. (This is how long I haven't been to her house... Last time I was there Lily was a baby, now I think she's 5.) In the dream Lily was less than a year old. I was playing with her, taking her hat off and on, off and on. She wanted it on, but was laughing at the game we had devised.  There were happy smiles all around, and then the men left the room and Paige started talking to me about marriage. I don't remember what she said about it, all I know is that I started  listing off friends, in my head, that are in bad marriages. What is interesting is that I listed a couple that aren't in bad marriages. One being a very good friend of mine who never complains about her husband. In the dream  I could see her confession unfold in front of me, like I was there, in her bed room. She explained to me that she had cheated on her husband. It had only been one night  at a party of some sort. I cried as she told me, trying to understand how she could do such a thing. After the thought finished, I was back talking to Paige, and thinking of other bad marriages.

That was the end of the dream.

I don't have any ideas about  what the dreams mean... if anything. But I'll connect with the key players in the dreams and make sure all is well.

:-)

It's hard to know when you dream about other people, if the dream is really about them, or about something they represent in your life, or what.

Trains... no planes... no automobiles

A few more disturbing dreams.

First one:

I'm driving a train along open, sometimes cavernous, terrain. (at least I think I'm driving; I guess I could have been poking my head out of a back area.)  There is another train and driver in front of me (or if I'm wrong, it's the real driver of my train). The driver of the first train is crazy. He's a skinny mountain man like you'd picture from the gold rush of 49. He seems intent on crashing.  At the finally of the dream a rocking horse/boulder is sliding on a cable directly to the left of the on coming train. I'm watching, thinking, "It's going to hit!" And the Gold miner dude is watching it and getting excited, "wahoo!". On impact, I woke up.

Second one:

I'm in a large store like Macys with my friends (my BF from High School, and three more from now-a-days).

We're looking at cosmetics and there's a serum that says it smooths out your thighs. It's in a tiny vial and very expensive. Everybody says to walk away, but I'm interested. I watch a small demo of the product (I guess on a screen). It shows John Cougar's model wife (don't remember her name) rubbing the cream... that now looks like foundation, over her butt and thighs with multiple tattoos, making them all disappear. I think,"well, shoot, it's only good for one use. Once you get in the water, that's gone." Then I wonder what it actually does for cellulite etc. cause she doesn't have any to start with. On the demo, her butt and legs(which is all you see now) turn into an old lady's butt and legs... naked. She's laying on her belly and slowly her legs disappear and her butt starts to look like the butt of a turkey before it's cooked... but wrinkly.

I walk away. My friends and I all go out to a train station. We are waiting a long time for the train and we all have lots of bags. I start to day dream about something and actually doze off. Minutes later my friends are calling for me from the train which is about half a block down the road on the platform.  I rush to gather the small amount of stuff they've left for me to carry. (A hat box with some socks and shoes, and other pieces of laundry.) I start running and the train starts up. Still running and the train starts moving. "Oh NO!" I start taking huge (supernatural) steps and catch up with the front of the train... which is more like a subway train. I plaster myself to the train and try to scoot around the right side to get to the doors. The conductor puts her head out and says my name with alarm. She opens a door for me and (after dropping most of what I had) I get in.

..and that was the end.

Third one: 

Was at my 6th grade house with my family and my Pawpaw (granddad on my dad's side). I started in my parent's room and then went through our swinging doors to the kitchen to look for food. Pawpaw came too and was looking for food as well.

That's about all I remember about that.

"Old People"

Yesterday I didn't have time to write, but thought that today, instead of last night's non-remembered dreams, I'd go back and share the night before's.

In my dream, I went up to one of my daughter's friends, named Christian, and started to kiss him. Then he took my hand and said let's go get the keys. I went with him through a very grand hotel lobby and entrance (one I have dreamed of a few times before... with the round central room and white marble floors with black details). We went to a reception area that was similar to an airport waiting area with a check-in counter. In the seating area we plotted about how to get the keys. I would go over and steal them from the desk. But, as I walked to the desk, the ladies there said, "Oh are you so-and-so, here's your keys." So I just grabbed the three keys and went back to Christian. We went through a 'maze' of elevators and stairs, some broken with caution cones around them, and some normal. We felt like we were being followed. We got into a large SUV and drove to a town house community. We parked in a communal lot and walked to the house. There was a key rack right below a small front window. The key chains were all macrame. There were three empty spots that we knew belonged to our keys, and in each spot was one letter that together spelled R I P. It meant that the three people who's keys we had were dead. We took that as a good sign. Then we went inside. On the floor (on mattresses) and on the fold out couches were old people, all asleep. They were all cozy in their quilts and afghans.  We went into a small kitchen to our left and started making hot chocolate for all the old people as they woke up.

I had another dream that I was in a van with a bunch of old people and we arrived at a lady's house that goes to my dad's church. I was getting out and one of the old ladies, who had a walker, was trying to get me to move all the removable seats in the van so that they could get out easier. She was shoving them all over the place and making it more difficult on herself.

I left her and the rest still in the back seat and went through the garage into the kitchen with my family and my parents. We called for the owner of the house, but she wasn't home. I looked through curtains on my left out into a court yard with three picnic tables and a nice flower garden. My mom told me to close the curtains, that I was being rude. I walked to the entry of the house and looked out the front window. I watched trucks and cars go by looking for the owner of the house, but she never came. I noted that she had a good piece of property. She was up on a hill, on a corner. When I realized she wasn't coming, I started down the hallway to my right. It grew. At the end of the hallway were two rooms. I thought the right door would look better on the adjacent wall, and it moved there. The left door, straight ahead, went to an older boy's room that was filled with heavy metal memorabilia. It was a mess with clothes and things all over. The room to the right was like a work shed. It was clear that they belonged to the same boy, but there were no posters on this wall. I thought, "this would make a good music room". Then I walked out.

I had another dream (and I recorded them all), but I went to a Seder service last night and recorded over the dreams... and now I can't remember the last one. Poo.

So... why the old people? This may be a stretch, but one of the songs I've been listening to a lot lately (and am going to see the band in concert tonight) is "Wake Up the Dead" by Family Force 5. The songs talks about the judgmental attitude that they are getting from some of the older members of the church in general. 

This generation is a "praising" generation. Many of the "old" people aren't very happy with the way "Christian" music is sounding. (I have to say, that sometimes I fall into this category with my daughter's "Screamo" christian music.) Anyway, Christ said that the last generation would be a praising generation. 

One old pastor I heard on the radio said, "We need to stop spending so much time singing, and start reading the Bible." His whole message inadvertently down played praise and worship as if they were not an important part of church. I was a little miffed. 

Young people are 'stealing keys' from 'dead' old people. You have to be awake and alert in this time of tribulation. I know many awake old people, so it's not just about being old. I think it's more about "old-fashioned". 

Perhaps we can wake them up... with some hot chocolate, or maybe we will take over their good piece of vacant property, and they will be left in the van. We have the keys.

???

"Peter Pan, Smurfs, and Shorts"

Well, I'm back from my trip... on which I kept no dream journal. :-)

Last night I had three... (or more)

The first one; I was playing around on my computer and my husband was helping me to put some new icons on my desktop. They were strange things like high def fireworks, and mushrooms. Directly after they were all on my desktop I went into the movie "Peter Pan". I don't know if I was Peter Pan, or if I was in narrator mode directly over his shoulder. I could hear his thoughts and see everything from his view, but a few times the view changed and I was directly over him while flying. He landed in the yard of Mr. Smee. (They were both 'real' people, not cartoons.) Mr. Smee told him where to go find Hook. He seemed very nice and helpful, but when we started flying away there was a gun shot that nearly missed our head. After another gun shot, and we flew back down to the yard. There was a gun like the one he held in the cartoon, that looked a little like a horn. We saw his wife;  her name was Diane Cook, or at least that's what it sounded like. It makes more sense if she would've said "Hook", so maybe she did, I remember pondering the name as we left, thinking, "Cook? or Hook?" and "Capt. Hook's wife's name is Diane? or Mr. Smee's wife? I never knew they had a wife."

In the second dream I brought my dog to a bible study meeting at a friend's house. They had one gray tabby cat with two kittens. I assured them that Knuckles (my dog) would be fine with the cats. We watched the kittens and Knuckles play for a while then other guests started to arrive. My friend Roxi came and brought her dog (only in the dream it was a black lab, not a chocolate one), and another friend brought a dachshund. Everyone was afraid of how the dogs would do. It was a little hectic at first but after a while they seemed to be OK with each other... and the cats.

All the grownups sat down on the couches and the little kids went into a back room to play.

The TV was turned on and a tape put in... It was The Smurfs. We were all sitting there to watch The Smurfs. We were seeing if it was appropriate or something. There were discussions about what they were singing. People were saying that the first song was about groceries, but it was clearly about "rules" or "the law". I spoke up about it.  The next song was about something else I don't remember now.

My husband and I walked away from the group to go make-out in a back room. Every single room we went in to had someone sleeping in it. Even the bath tub had a person sleeping in it. It was odd.

The third dream was my sister and I again, looking through clothes. (There is something to this reoccurring theme.)  In this one we were getting ready for school (again), and we were sharing a wardrobe. The tops were not the important thing this time; it was all about the shorts.  I was looking for a particular pair about half way through. Finally I looked in a suitcase that was laying on the floor. I found what I thought was them, but upon further inspection, it wasn't. I ended up finding the shorts I was looking for in a pile I had already been through. (They were almost all jean shorts.)

"Pregnant Dreams"

A little foreground...

Yesterday I started the "Truth Project" with the junior high and high school students after church. I'm very excited about that.  

Our youth pastor's baby is due Friday, so that has also been on my mind.

Yesterday was my 11th wedding anniversary. 

I went to bed last night praying that I would have some worth while dreams.

BOY did I!

I had one of a carnival... being there with kids from a class. My son's kindergarten teacher was there, along with many other teachers. One was very pregnant and jumped on a trampoline, fell, but smiled. She was beautiful. There was a fence by the park that was significant.

The next dream I had was that I was given an electronic baby. It was very "real" in size and shape, but had a screen and gears on it's face. It pooped... real baby poop and I went to clean it up in the sink. My mother was there to help me, but we kept hitting the babies head with the door, or the sink edge, or the spout. I was getting mad at my mom and frustrated with myself. The water was not good for the baby. (Duh, he was electric). So the screen went blank like we had killed him. Then words came across it saying that we had to do some steps to fix him or he would explode. It was very nerve-racking.

In my next dream I was pregnant. I was very excited about it. I had only told my family and mom (who was there). I had not even told my sister. I wanted to tell the world. So I decided to go on Facebook. I thought, "oh my sister would be mad if she found out on facebook."  Then as I was walking down the hall, I saw Alicea, (the youth pastor's wife who is due this week.) I stopped her and told her I was pregnant too and "won't it be great! My baby will be born in the same year as yours! Maybe they can get married!" I was so excited!

I had another unrelated dream about having dinner with my husband. (which we did last night, for our anniversary) In the dream he ordered something I didn't want, and I stepped on the tray while climbing down from an elevated picnic table that we were sitting at with an few old high school boyfriends. 

My last dream... I remember the best... and was the craziest...

I was driving down a residential street in a Cadillac. The street was dark feeling. My house from when I was 8 was on a hill to the left. There was a large dip for drainage to the side of the road before the yard started. As I was passing my house I noticed some very small black and brown objects moving in the road. I stopped, did a U-turn and went back to see what they were. I got out and picked them up. They we fetal Rottweiler puppies. There was five of them. They were no bigger than your thumb. I gathered them up and ran them into the house. My husband and kids came in the living room and I asked them to help me. We had Barbie bottles, and My husband got some bowls of cream, but I was yelling at him to go get some formula from the store. I picked the puppies off of my hand and body one by one. There were now far more than 5. The first four were standing on and squishing the runt of the litter. I was so sad for it... it died. After I got the five Rottweilers off, there were some golden retriever, and poodle fetal puppies too. Then I pulled off 3 white fake looking mice. I was disgusted with them and yelled for my daughter to throw them outside. There was also a gerbil looking one that drank a bunch of the milk and was now expanding to 'hand size' and about to explode. I yelled for the kids to take that one outside too, "Quick, before it explodes!"  I was then very frustrated that my husband had not left for the store, I was worried that the milk we had would not be good for them. So pulling the last one or two off of me I ran for the door to go get formula myself!

OK, so... interpretation time.

Pregnant dreams are great! They mean that you are pregnant with something... an idea, a ministry, a new direction.

I know what I am pregnant with, and these dreams only confirmed it. I have an eschatological message that I am sharing on another blog, and with anyone who will listen, but it's come to the point that I am ready to share in a bigger way.  I am working on the fashion show to go with it, but I think there may be opportunities coming to just speak even if that is not finished.

Alicea and her husband have heard a bit of my schpiel (sp) and have both told me (not necessarily about that specifically) that I should teach. My dream involving her was very pointed. I said that our babies would be born the same year! That's this year. I am certain that this is the year that I will be able to teach on eschatology.

The electronic baby makes me think of the internet and possibly my "end times" blog. 

My mom called me today to tell me that in the last Bible study session they had, Beth Moore said that she too believed we are in the Tribulation. This was huge news to me, because I know the denomination that Beth comes from does not hold that stance. Both of our denominations are decidedly pre-trib. So to have Beth speak against that REALLY fuels my fire. I respect her a lot, and it just empowers me to be bolder with my message. So again... It told me that surely, this is the time for my ministry!

My mom being a key person in the dreams is also significant because I specifically tell my mom the new things I find on the subject, and she is one that I am really trying to persuade. She also tells me everything that she hears about the subject. 

As far as the puppies go, if you've read previous posts you'll know that puppies (to me) represent youth. I mentioned just beginning the after church program with the teens. I have also recently volunteered to teach the 4-6th graders if we start a "Sunday school" class for them, cause right now they are in with the little kids (K-up) and it's just too beneath them, IMO. I'm not sure if these two things specifically were what the dream was about, but again (a reoccurring theme) that I'm saving puppies.  This time from the street. One of my biggest burdens with the end times is that there are kids here for it all. I want so badly to tell them about the times so that they will not be scared, but it's such a "parent's thing" to do, that I don't feel it's my place.

Perhaps this is speaking to that. I have actually thought of writing a children's book about the subject that is fictional, and fantastical, but still would 'prepare' them for the coming years.

OH... so much to think about! So much to get moving on... What a morning it has been.

"Chorus Girls, Teeth, and Packing"

Three again last night:

One involved girl celebrities (Katie Holmes, Nancy McKeon, Madonna, and Nicole Kidman, that I can remember) dressed as chorus line girls. I was with them... dressed the part as well. There was a red rope and a line.  I was down on the floor part of the time, during some sort of emergency. Nancy McKeon was the only one talking to me, instructing me during the emergency. An army or some sort of crowd had rushed in to the square where we were.

The second dream involved my best friend from college, Ramin, examining my teeth. He had one of those mirrors that dentists use and was looking at all of my teeth. Them being in great shape somehow told him that I was being good, and that I was an OK person. I think I was in a bus.

The third dream involved packing. I was at some sort of camp and I had to go on a mini trip within the camp. My sister and I were sharing a suitcase and I had to re-pack only my things for a day trip, in a smaller suitcase. I was going through all the pockets and pulling out wads of her dirty clothes. I also went through like 6 different PJs. One had teddy bears and rainbows. One was dark blue with other tropical colors and buttons down the front with a lapel and everything. One was pastel with some other childish print made of T-shirt jersey.

The amount of PJs stood out to me. I had picked two that I wanted to take with me and was still looking through the others as if I would pick more. But then it dawned on me that I only needed one pair, for one night. I then wondered why we had so many pairs in the first place.

All I can say as to where the dreams came from is that I was shopping yesterday trying to find some PJs. (I didn't find any.) I talked to my sister yesterday... about her kids and them dressing up.

One of my teeth (that had a small veneer just at the top by the gums) chipped off a couple days ago, and has been making me think that I don't like fake crap on my teeth that may come off and cause more hours in the dentist chair. (I don't like dentist visits!)

Anyway, If I was going to get all philosophical about it, I'd mention that I've been wondering about Ramin and his faith. If he is dealing with his Muslim roots, if he's gotten further in or out of that... and also if he has been thinking further about our differences or if he still thinks of me as a good person. (He's liberal, I'm conservative. He's Muslim, I'm Christian. He's gay, I'm straight.... The list goes on. But he is in my top 3 favorite people in the whole world.) I haven't spoken to him in almost a year. (minus via computer.)

I could also go philosophical with the suitcases and mention that my counselor (who I go see tomorrow) told me to journal and to think of myself as Saul hiding in the luggage; I have been called to great things, but I'm stuck in the baggage. When I go through my history and my "baggage" it often brings up my sister and all that her domination over me contributed to my "issues". I need to take out her "dirty clothes" so to speak, and pack my own suitcase; not giving her any more power. She has no power over me anymore; she doesn't even want it. That was literally years and years ago. But my "mold" has not been broken.

"Demon Fighting 101"

Busy dream night last night.  Not a very good sleep night, might I add.

Before I explain the dreams I'll point out how my yesterday went to note why I was dreaming such crazy stuff.

Almost all of my day yesterday was spent reading a book about the Anti-Christ by Joel Richardson. For about thirty minutes yesterday I watched part of a Prophetic seminar DVD that mentioned encounters with demon possessed people. 

I am also waiting to hear from my friend Paul, and he came up in a conversation I had right before bed. 

And finally last night I had a sexual escapade with my husband.

Given that was my day, these dreams won't seem so weird.

#1 Paul and I were going through backyards to get to his house and got caught by a cop for trespassing. 

(simple enough. I did have a FB conversation with an old mutual friend about backyards without fences, and I did get caught by an animal patrol guy with my dog off-leash a day ago.)

#2 I found a black clutch purse in a public restroom by a parking garage. I spent some time in the restroom washing my hands and drying them. Then I took the purse with me to my apartment. I had my small dog from when I was a kid with me as I went up several flights of stairs and into a small apartment. When we got into the apartment I realized that I hadn't let my dog go to the bathroom, so I opened the door to the balcony and told her to go out there. The balcony was really a room with shelves and a desk and closet, but the floor was rough concrete like a balcony. The minute I put her down I noticed a large husky looking dog at the window peering in. I quickly picked up my dog and made a dash for the door. The demonic husky looking dog leaped into the balcony room and chased us. We barely made it through the door (all slow motion-y) before he caught up with us. I tried to close the door but his paw/hand was blocking it. I got it locked with his hand still there, and then his other hand burst through the wall by the door frame on the other side. (He was more like a werewolf  than a dog) I ran out of my apartment to try to get the manager to come help me. I yelled up and down the stairwell for help, but no one was listening. I finally grabbed a guy and made him come with me.

Then I woke up.

I went back to sleep (It was only 1:00) and dreamed this one...

#3 I was in a house that was kinda 70's in feel. I was being attacked by a ball of fire with a human face. I didn't see the face till the end of the dream. During the dream I asked three different people to fight the 'demon'. I'd say, "through him out the window", and they would, but it would float back in. Finally my husband, who looked like Aaron Eckhart in this dream (the dude who played Harvey Dent/ Two-face in Batman) fought off the demon fire ball and won. The face on the fireball was Aaron Eckhart as well.

(Creepy huh?)

#4 Started as a replay of my sexual escapade with my husband. However, just a while into the foreplay his good friend came over and (for lack of wanting to be graphic), lent some assistance. Directly following a short time of  that my husband and I were leaving. My husband got up and walked away and his friend forced himself on me. My husband came back and pushed him off. His friend morphed into the werewolf creature from my previous dream and I clocked him right in the jaw. His entire jaw detached and went partially down his throat. I asked what happened and he gave me this weird cartoon like grin with no teeth. I said, "Oh, I'm sorry," and started to fix his jaw by pulling it out to it's normal level and hooking wires that went from his teeth to his flesh. His teeth were more like human teeth but in a long dog like snout. The wires reminded me of braces.

And that's the end of my crazy night.

Please God, let tonight's dreams be better. :-)

Stick Bugs and Falling off Golf Carts

I had three dreams last night.

I woke up at 1:10 with the first one in my head... something about three choices. (Can't remember anything else).

#2 I was at my niece Tabitha's house playing with her kids and puppies. (Really they don't have puppies anymore, just a dog, but you know in my dreams puppies represent youth.) One of the puppies went outside the back door and I followed it. When I got outside there were tons of bugs right at face level in front of a big leafless tree. (At the park the other day in one patch there was a bunch of mosquitoes right at face level.) I started to swat the bugs with my hand but they started to stick to me and to themselves and in my hair. I took hold of one and examined it. It was a stick bug. The kind that look just like a twig, only it had the face of a demon. They were all around. After the close look into their faces I started taking hand fulls of them and throwing them away from myself. They would only go about two feet and then float in mid air right where I had thrown them.  My mom came out to help me.  By this time I had one boring it's way into my face on my left cheek. I told myself I would pull it out by it's butt as soon as I swatted the rest away.  But of course, when I was done swatting the rest away the bug had gone completely into my face and I had a huge swelling on my left cheek.  I walked over weeping to show my mom. We walked inside crying and wondering what to do.  (It was quite upsetting... and woke me up.)

#3 I was on a tour in a bus. (The tour just won't leave me alone.) We were on a road out in the desert. The landscape to the right was a bit like the wasteland I had in a dream a few days ago behind the wall.  It wasn't charred though, just jagged, like red rock canyon in So Cal. As we were going down the road, the driver looked back and lost control of the steering wheel. We went off to the right into the rocky terrain. When she grabbed the wheel again she was enjoying the new excitement and kept driving in the rough terrain. We were all enjoying it, and the vehicle had changed into a monster truck type golf cart. I was in the far back with another lady and two other women were standing right behind the rail of the bed of the truck/cart. One of the ladies standing was older. (I think she may have been one of the ladies on the real tour I took that walked with a cane.)  At a sharp turn the older lady was flung out of the cart and landed on her back in terrible pain. We all got out to save her, and put her back on the cart. I offered her my seat and told her I would stand.

...and that was the end of that one.

Food Glorious Food

I have moved on from cheese (Maybe cause I had some cheese on Sunday.) ...now I'm dreaming of burgers, tater-tots, and crab.  For anyone out of the loop, I'm fasting from animal products for 21 days. (not always succeeding when it comes to dairy, my true love. :-))

You may remember me saying that if you dream of the same theme three times in a row take note; It means that the massage/warning/whatever is sure to happen.

So what exactly does it mean when I dream about food three times in a row.  I'm surely going to eat? Ha, well of course I am.  There has to be something beyond that.

#1 There was no background. (Have you ever had a dream with no scenery? Erie isn't it?) The only 'props' were food stands. I was with the junior high youth pastors from my church and we were driving up to a "Tommy's Burger" style food stand with other food stands close by.

#2 With my father in the car, we pull up to a gas station. I say that I would like Burger King. (I don't even like Burger King, but it is also the only fast food that we had on base when I was growing up in the military.)  We go into Burger King and stand in line. Just as I think I'm next, a man squeezes in front of me with his order drawn out on napkins, cartoon style. The only drawing that stands out is one of a little crab, and he asks for "crabbers"; some sort of finger food made of crab.

The next thing I remember is standing by a salad bar type area, and a trashcan, and my tater-tots fall to the ground. I look around at the floor; It's gross. I think about the grossness of tater-tots and I see a gross guy in an old black sports car sitting at the drive-through window.  It's all repulsive.

#3 I'm on some type of mission trip with my husband. We are in a poor looking area, but it seems to be Italy. (We were just in Italy in October, but no place like this.) The restaurant that we are at (seems to be where we are staying as well) is a floating dock anchored to the side of a house. As we are sitting talking, his order comes. It's crab legs. I get upset because I haven't even ordered yet. He hands me the menu, tells me to chill out and pick something.  I pick a yummy stew with potatoes and tomatoes and other veges and spices. (It reminds me of the broth from the Oaxacan sea bass at Claim Jumper.)

Any way, I'd love to say I know exactly what they mean... but I don't.

If I took them all separately I could make some good guesses.  ...like, I'm about to start doing "The Truth Project" with the high school students, and I'm going to met with the youth pastors on Wednesday.  Right now there is no real structure for what I'll be doing, but we're going to look at the options and pick one.  That could interpret the first dream.

The second dream could be me talking myself out of wanting any type of fast food (Something I obviously don't get on the fast), by using one of the restaurants I don't like and making it appear grosser than it already is.

The third could be interpreted that though my husband and I are on a couple's trip, a mission no less, that he is still making the 'orders' before I have a chance to look at the menu. I may need to chill about these things, cause in the end, I still get something good.

All of that could be fine and completely understandable. But why did the last two both involve crab? ...tying them together. Why did the first two involve burger joints? ...linking them. Why did they all three center around food?

Yes, It is possible that I'm just obsessed because of the fast.

hmmm...

Entertainment

I imagine this will be normal posting time. I just got home from taking the kids to school. I highly doubt I'll be up early enough to write and get them ready very often.
 I had three dreams again last night (that I remember).
The first was simply me going to spend the night at my high school BF's house. Her dad who is now passed away (lung cancer) was outside sweeping the walk way. I walked on the flower bed to avoid him, but then tracked dirt on the area closest to the door. He gave me a disappointed look, and that was the end of that dream.
Before I tell you my next dream, it's important to know that I went to see the movie "The Book of Eli" yesterday.  It's important because very often the entertainment you put into your head will show up in your dreams. That's one reason I never watch horror movies. If you want your dreams to be truly untainted, you'd have to go without movies, TV, video games, etc. The good news is, even with tainted dreams there are still messages to be discovered.
So, knowing that I went to see "Eli" I'm OK with what happens in this dream.
I'm walking down a street in a bad part of town with my son. I look into a shop that belongs to my friends Gregory and Kookye. (The shop reminds me of the shop in the movie.) (They really did own a consignment store at one point, so that makes sense. Plus Kookye was the last person I got an email from yesterday, so she was on my mind.)  I went on ahead down the street, but my son wanted to stay and play with their daughter (really they have a son). He stayed and I walked on.  Later, I walked back to their shop and it was in much better condition and everything was neatly put away. In a back room my friend Megan (also Kookye's friend) was wrapping presents with other ladies. Her husband Curt came up to me and started showing me his "LUSH" products. I explained to him that I had some LUSH stuff at home. I use their Godiva shampoo. So he offered me a few bath bombs for free. Then one of the ladies wrapping took me to another back room with a Christmas tree in it and toys under the tree. She offered me a plush Tigger for my son. I thought it would be bad to break up the set (they had Pooh and Eeyore and all the rest), but she insisted and I took him.
Then I asked where the restroom was (a very common theme for me obviously). The potty was in a long hallway; girls on one end, boys on the other, but completely open. As I sat there a small Asian man came up to me from down the hall. I got very mad at him for invading my privacy, so I got up and started a knife fight. Many more men and boys joined the fight and by now I was on their end of the hall. The boys were all chubby. I asked, "Do you wanna know what fat looks like?" then I cut (with my small pocket knife) each one of them in their bare bellies (little 3-5" cuts, but deep enough to see the layer of fat).
Like I said, I'm OK with this, cause I know the slashing of bodies came from the movie yesterday. But I find it interesting that they were chubby and that my one memorable line had to do with fat.
Both my son and I are about 30 pounds overweight and can't seem to motivate ourselves to loose the weight.

My third dream was a camping trip with old high school friends and my parents. (My dad pastored the youth during my childhood, so that's not a strange scenario.) People I remember in the dream were Amy, Jodie, Christie, and my BF Vanessa. Near the beginning of the dream the girls were are crowded around a dimly lit mirror getting ready. We were leaving that day. The camp was beach side, and some how we went, with our suitcases and sleeping bags, out onto floating  (10' in diameter) burlap sand bags. My mom tipped them over looking for a flatter side for us to walk on, but they all sank. So we were swimming with suitcases and sleeping bags trying to pull up the floaties. Finally we swam to next section of floating structures which is a giant round white with a red bulls-eye inflatable. There are people sitting on edge and walking on top, we bounce onto the inflatable. I start to wonder if people will fall, so we stop bouncing and walk across. We get in the car (my Durango) and head off.  On the road the water comes right up to the asphalt.  My mom is driving and she keeps veering into the water. I point it out to her, as well as pointing out the harbor in the distance, and a paradise looking place where two girls are swimming with swans and weeping willows are planted in the water. I want to go there, but we have to get everyone home. We start to discuss who to take home first according to the order of their houses. Vanessa lives closest to me, Amy lives furthest, etc.

I'm not going to take any time time today looking deeper cause I have to go paint at my friend Kim's house. Maybe you can try and decode something for me. :-)

They Often Come in Threes

It's true, dreams often come in threes.  Just FYI, if each dream has a similar theme in a threesome, pay close attention! 

As I'm writing these down, perhaps I'll find I theme, but right now, they all seem pretty separate. I'll tell you now, if you don't want to spend much time... skip to #3...I think it has the most meaning.

#1(that I can remember):

My childhood family (Mom, Dad, sister) and I were out shopping. It was a VERY spacious mall (as are all the malls I dream of; which I'm sure means something). We went into a busy store that was very white and bright in decor. It was at least two stories, and on the first floor was all manner of baby clothes, along with little girl accessories. My eyes were drawn to a fur wreath. It was comprised of  pink fur pom poms, with a shoelace type bow at top that also had pom poms on the tails. I stood and talked myself out of it, because it was pink... only to look down the wall to see a mint one. I could still easily say, "No, you don't need that", then around the corner, I saw a white one. (There were also ones with teddy bear torso's on the top. Very large.) I really wanted this white one... it could look like snow, not just a babies' room accessory. But my sister and father came by and reminded me I was looking for a purse. (Which I really am), so I walked away and up the stairs into racks and racks of purses.

#2

I was out on a cliff over looking a beach, directly behind me was the  back door of a warehouse where I had come from. Sitting eating lunch was an old school mate of mine (not even a friend), who shortly got up and went inside. My mother came out and begged with me to come back to her house. Crying, she explained how much she enjoyed having me and my sister home at the holidays, and how much she missed us since we left.

#3 

I am standing in front of two huge houses side by side. The first nicer than the second, but both nothing to envy other than the size. They have an industrial appearance, very gray. I am asked to find a solution to improve the condition of the second house. I immediately point out a huge yellow tractor that has been parked under the front area. (the whole house is off the ground propped up on many 3'-4' wide concrete cylinders.) I walk around as my instructor (only a voice) explains that the house has no foundation, but needs one, and needs relocating. The house, I sense, belongs to my old neighbors, the Cowards. (I don't think their name was used for any other reason than what the name means... not really representing their family.) I continue down the side street noticing that the very top of the house has a large woody vine (no leaves, and dead looking) that twists on itself and extends past the roof over a large area and on to the next roof and the next, and the next. By now I'm walking past old-fashioned city buildings and the vine continues. My spirit confirms that all of this used to be their property. I tell my instructor, "They have so much land, why don't they move the house". (I was meaning in the space before the 'city' started). But the option is not met with any comment, my heart sinks.

At that point my focus changes (or you could say this is dream #4)

My friends Cheryl and Alicia direct me down the street to a very fancy condo community with cobblestone streets that they want to go house hunting in. My 10 year old son is at my side and we follow them. There is a man at the gate of the golden hued community demonstrating a new hot tub that you can add to your house package if you so choose. Alicia and Cheryl jump right in and get the demo. They are quickly out and eagerly running down the street to the houses. My son is very upset and wants to try the hot tub too. I yell to the girls to wait, and he takes a turn. The seat in the hot tub starts to rock from side to side as part of the demo, and my son is so small that his head is getting dunked each time. The man tells me to get all of my son's things off of him, cause they could get caught in the mechanics. I remove his sunglasses on a string around his neck, and his baggy shirt and shorts. (He is still in swim clothes). Upon getting out there is another family there with a young son who wants a turn. I scramble for my son's clothes, and get mixed up with the other boy's. The parents and I figure it out (it ends up being two pair of PJs both with super heroes on them). 

And that was the end of the dream.

I still don't see a theme, but I always like to take a closer look at dreams where there is a 'voice'. If you are a dreamer, I'm sure you've had dreams where there are faceless characters, but that is not the same as when there is no one, only a voice. (Which I also imagine, you may have experienced.) In my dreams the voice is the Holy Spirit.  I say in my because dreams are very personal, my dream language may be very different from yours. 

(I would be VERY interested in hearing from a non spirit filled person out there who also has 'a voice' in their dreams.)

So when He shows up I pay attention. I will also say that if you have Him show up in your dreams, feel free to ask Him questions while He's there. I used to just listen to Him... now I have found that I can interact with Him. Asking questions while dreaming becomes VERY helpful. If this concept seems completely new and impossible to you, just tell yourself before you go to bed, "ask". For years now I have found that if I tell myself to wake up at a certain time before I go to bed, I will. (Not sure if it works for everyone, but it does for some.) It's the same with the "ask" thing.

Last night in dream #3, because I interacted with the voice, the meaning of that dream is pretty plain. (the other dreams... are not). However, I don't think that all dreams need to be understood. Our brain is hashing out random things that we've encountered. Not all dreams are messages from the divine. 

I know this is a super long post, and they will NOT always be, but I feel like some ground work is important.  

I mentioned dream languages and how they are not all the same. However, your personal dream language is always the same.  If a butterfly represents something to you in one dream it will represent that same thing in another dream. After enough 'explained' dreams you'll be able to decode 'hidden' dreams.

Because I am a Christian, the images/words of 'foundation', 'vine', 'house', 'property/land', all have very spiritual connotations where for others they may not.  So when I look at the third dream I see clearly that:

A very large church family (house) that is cold (gray) and that is dead (vine with no fruit) in power is no longer resting on the foundation of Christ (no foundation), but has elevated itself (up on cylinders), has stopped working to improve (tractor parked)... used to have massive influence, or maybe still does over the city (vine went into city on the roofs). But there is little hope for change because they are Cowards! (using my old neighbors to tell me that name).

I'd sit and try to decode the other dreams, but I've already taken way too much of your time if you made it all the way through.