It's 5:40 a.m. It's a little cold, even inside, this time of day, and there is a little moonlight out there. I love looking out my windows, just about any time of the day or night. There's really nothing to see; I guess that's what I like. Everyone's asleep and it's very quiet here.

Yesterday I was working and T. knocked on my door. She said, "about this money thing. I give you 70% of my money and what does that cover? Do you pay for everything? I like to take my kids places, like the movies." "We have a dollar movie you can go to, out by the mall." "Well, we like to see the latest thing that just came out." "you can't do that while you're here, that's $8." She currently receives $66/week in child support. She has four children and I am pretty sure that is not for all of them. She has a cell phone for which she pays $55 a month. It is hard to say in this day and age that a cell phone is not a necessity. If she applies for work, she can give that phone number. If her children's school is trying to reach her, they can. There is a phone at the shelter, but she will not be sitting by it most of the time. She has a car and spends about $25/week on gas. I told her we can help her by giving her bus passes and she can take the bus instead of driving the car. She is paying $25/month on storage fees and another $25/month on a credit card bill. Kerri said, "you're not using that card are you?" "No," she said, "just paying it down." Once she is working, the 30% she keeps will be enough to go to the movies if she wants. She has certain cleaning products she likes to use--will we buy her those? As long as they are not too expensive.

I went to a meeting with a lot of other organizations about child support. Judge Sweat, bless his heart, is trying to find a way to help and encourage men to work, establish relationships with their children and pay their child support, instead of putting them in jail, where they can't. He said there is one young man (24) who has eight children. OMG! What can we do to teach responsibility and get them to use birth control? I do not think we can teach people not to have sex. Or pass laws against it. How can we make men (young men) want to be involved in their children's lives? And keep women from having children if the fathers are not going to be supporting them? Georgia apparently has the highest rate of incarceration in the country. I think he said one in thirteen people in Georgia is in jail: 54,000 people...and jail is expensive. It's worth reducing the number even by one percent.

Ray and I played racquetball yesterday for the first time in weeks, only about 20 minutes. It felt good, but my back is complaining now. I have apparently gone back to before the time change, falling asleep by 9:30 and waking up very early. Last night I was in bed at 9:30, but I had already been asleep for awhile on the couch.