diff --git a/lib/log4js-node.js b/lib/log4js-node.js
index b34f062..9c2b571 100644
--- a/lib/log4js-node.js
+++ b/lib/log4js-node.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-var posix = require('posix'), sys = require('sys');
+var fs = require('fs'), sys = require('sys');
 var DEFAULT_CATEGORY = '[default]';
 var ALL_CATEGORIES = '[all]';
 
@@ -146,13 +146,7 @@ var log4js = {
   },
   
   configure: function(configurationFile) {
-    var config; 
-    posix
-      .cat(configurationFile)
-      .addCallback(
-        function(contents) { config = JSON.parse(contents); }
-      ).wait();
-    
+    var config = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(configurationFile));
     configureAppenders(config.appenders);
     configureLevels(config.levels);
   },
@@ -382,16 +376,16 @@ consoleAppender = function (layout) {
 fileAppender = function(file, layout) {
 	layout = layout || basicLayout;	
 	file = file || "log4js.log";	
-  //waits are generally bad, but we need 
+  //syncs are generally bad, but we need 
   //the file to be open before we start doing any writing.
-  var logFile = posix.open(file, process.O_APPEND | process.O_WRONLY | process.O_CREAT, 0644).wait();    
+  var logFile = fs.openSync(file, process.O_APPEND | process.O_WRONLY | process.O_CREAT, 0644);    
   //register ourselves as listeners for shutdown
   //so that we can close the file.
   //not entirely sure this is necessary, but still.
-  process.addListener("exit", function() { posix.close(logFile); });
+  process.addListener("exit", function() { fs.close(logFile); });
   
   return function(loggingEvent) {
-    posix.write(logFile, layout(loggingEvent)+'\n', null, "utf-8");
+    fs.write(logFile, layout(loggingEvent)+'\n', null, "utf-8");
   };
 };
 
diff --git a/spec/spec.logging.js b/spec/spec.logging.js
index e49296d..269f3fd 100644
--- a/spec/spec.logging.js
+++ b/spec/spec.logging.js
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
-posix = require('posix');
+fs = require('fs'), events = require('events');
 
 waitForWriteAndThenRead = function (filename) {
   //here's the tricky part - writes are asynchronous
   //so I'm going to make a promise, wait a bit and then
   //try to read the file.
-  var content, promise = new process.Promise();
+  var content, promise = new events.Promise();
   promise.addCallback(function() {
-    content = posix.cat(filename).timeout(500).wait();    
+    content = posix.readFileSync(filename);    
   });
   setTimeout(function() {
     promise.emitSuccess();
@@ -185,12 +185,12 @@ describe 'log4js'
     before_each
       log4js.clearAppenders();
       try {
-        posix.unlink('./tmp-tests.log').wait();
+        posix.unlinkSync('./tmp-tests.log');
       } catch(e) {
         print('Could not delete tmp-tests.log: '+e.message);
       }
       try {
-        posix.unlink('./tmp-tests-warnings.log').wait();
+        posix.unlinkSync('./tmp-tests-warnings.log');
       } catch (e) {
         print('Could not delete tmp-tests-warnings.log: '+e.message);
       }
diff --git a/tests.js b/tests.js
index ce335d0..3af4f2d 100644
--- a/tests.js
+++ b/tests.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ require("jspec");
 
 log4js = require("log4js-node");
 
-var sys = require("sys"), posix = require("posix");
+var sys = require("sys"), fs = require("fs");
 
 quit = process.exit
 print = sys.puts
@@ -11,11 +11,7 @@ print = sys.puts
 readFile = function(path) {
   var result;
   try {
-    posix
-      .cat(path)
-      .addCallback(
-        function(contents){ result = contents; }
-      ).wait();
+    result = fs.readFileSync(path);
   } catch (e) {
     throw e;
   }
@@ -28,13 +24,7 @@ if (process.ARGV[2]) {
   specsFound = true;
   JSpec.exec('spec/spec.' + process.ARGV[2] + '.js');
 } else {
-  var files;
-  posix
-    .readdir('spec/')
-    .addCallback(
-      function(dirFiles) { files = dirFiles; }
-    ).wait();
-  
+  var files = fs.readdirSync('spec/');  
   files.filter(
     function (file) { 
       return file.indexOf('spec.') === 0;