Sleep and Medicine

The past week or so I have been on a mix of Benadryl, Sudafed, and Mucinex. Don't worry, I don't combine. Yesterday I was rudely awaken by the most excruciating earache ever! I woke up at 5 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. I tried until about 7 and then took some medicine which helped. Later on that afternoon the other ear did the same thing. It wasn't quite as bad, but I took medicine a lot sooner. Last night I got 12 hours of sleep and my alarm still had to wake me up this morning. People think that I am just not used to the cold weather, so my body is responding with a constant cold. I'm not sure what it is, but I should probably look into finding a doctor or clinic soon.

There have been some difficult situations that have surfaced over the past week. I won't go into much detail, but there are 3 people dealing with different levels of depression. Pray for each of them as they are going through a difficult time in their lives.

I've been watching the CMA's tonight, and I just have to say...George Strait is such a stud. 1) He is getting older and still so handsome. 2) He still gets CMA's over newer young guys. And 3) He still makes awesome music, even if he doesn't write it. I really want to be his friend.

I also want to be friends with George W. This has nothing to do with politics and I wouldn't even want to talk about any of that with him. He just looks like a nice guy. I saw this thing on tv that was talking about Obama's first meeting with George a couple years ago and George squirted some hand sanitizer and made a comment that went something like, "Hand sanitizer? This is good stuff. It keeps the colds away." I hear him saying it in a funny way too.

The highlight of my day today was seeing multiple times in different papers that the Knicks lost to the Spurs. If you have been following basketball, you will know that the Spurs are off to a horrible start. I was joking around with a teenager yesterday and told him that if the Knicks beat the Spurs, I might consider switching to a Knicks fan. A true fan would never say or do such a thing, so I was kidding of course. He walked in today and the first thing he said was that the Spurs beat the Knicks. I don't have cable, so I can't watch any basketball, so I didn't even know the outcome of the game until he told me. It was funny that I saw huge spreads about the game, and I was proud of the Spurs today!

Last Thursday I got a package from Megan. First of all, I love getting mail, especially packages. She sent a mix cd of wedding music and then a book about being a bridesmaid. I read most of the book Thursday night and finished it on Friday. The book was so secular that parts of it were funny. It did have some good tips and information though, and I must admit, I enjoyed reading it. :) Yesterday Morgan sent me mail. I was real confused and had no idea what it was. I opened it and found a piece of notebook paper. Before I even read it, I said, "This must be for school or something." Sure enough, the second sentence said, "I'm sure you are wondering why I am writing you. It is for school..." The letter made me laugh a lot, but I appreciated it. I sent her a text message and found out that it is for a test grade, so I guess I should write back.

It is getting closer to by bedtime and I won't be able to get 12 hours tonight, so I should get in bed soon!

Already November

I always love October for many reasons which I've named before. I feel like October went by so fast this year. It is already November and there is planning and talk about Christmas already.

I haven't felt like I've had much to update about until the past few days. Things have been going well for the most part. Last Friday was our Fall Festival. The Fall Festival is always on the last Friday of the month, which happened to be on Halloween this year. I can't even tell you how many people were concerned that we were celebrating Halloween. Halloween is a dangerous time in the South Bronx. People do stupid things and it is wise to just stay inside. Luckily, I haven't heard any bad stories. It was also gang initiation for certain groups, so that was a concern as well. I think it is good for me to hear these things sometimes. It gives me a reality check and I am reminded of the fact that I am not guaranteed safety, no matter where I am. It keeps me aware of my surroundings.

Church has been going well the past couple weeks. We launched our small groups a couple weeks ago and we are working on building those and growing them to reach more people. The first two Sundays I didn't have any teenage girls show up which was discouraging, but this week I had 3, which was really exciting. We only have 5 teenage girls working with us, so I don't know as many girls as I do guys. I am still trying to recruit more.

We found out last week that the mission team we had lined up for the week of our Christmas celebration couldn't come anymore. We are trying to find a group to come help, but we are also planning on using people we have around here to help out. Either way it will work out, but if you are interested in coming up December 15-19, let me know! I may even have a place for you to stay for free!

Speaking of holidays... I am getting more excited about Thanksgiving the closer it gets. My family is coming up for a week and a couple days, so that will be fun. The other night I was talking with Teresa (who lives on the 6th floor, who I lived with this summer) and she said they were inviting people over on Thanksgiving, and we thought it would be fun to have a progressive Thanksgiving dinner. We could go to different floors in the building for different parts of the meal. I think we should have a fire pit on the roof to finish it off, but we will see. :)

Some random things that I feel like sharing... I have been looking for sugar cookie dough all week for our bible study tomorrow and apparently New York City doesn't eat sugar cookies, because I couldn't find it in the Bronx, or in my neighborhood. I guess I will have to be creative between now and tomorrow at 2:30. While I was at the store, I noticed that cherries are $8.99 a pound right now! My cherries from the summer sound like a steal now!

I am still looking for an apartment in the Bronx. Sunday afternoon I walked around looking for any for rent signs in windows and didn't see any. I get so discouraged and frustrated about the whole situation, especially when I am in a situation where having an apartment in the Bronx would be so convenient (which, let's be honest, is basically all the time). Please keep praying for an apartment. You should probably pray more for me than the apartment, because I need patience while waiting for all this to sort out.