It's 9:45pm on a Saturday night...

...and I would swear it is 3:30 in the morning. OMG, I am SO TIRED. The source? Well... I think part of it is the continuing hangover from Unleash the Music. The week we have had has been CRAZY. I had a "day off" on Monday and was planning to spend most of it sleeping and had arranged for my mom to watch Aurora. (No shocker here, she does that every Monday.) She called me Sunday and said she wasn't feeling well. Translation: I was blessed with a day of hanging with my daughter. We had great fun, but as anyone who spends the day with a four month old will tell you, there was no rest to be found. We shopped for Monet's b-day and did whatever we could to pass the time together. Tuesday was work and VOTING. If you get the chance, vote during the day. I wish I had. We waited in line for more than an hour. Mostly because people are too stupid to understand a !#$%!@#$@!# TOUCH SCREEN. (What is there to even comprehend?) My mom called me several times on Tuesday with questions about Aurora which leads us to...

Wednesday. The reason Aurora was so irritated on Tuesday became abundantly clear: She's a little sick. A little sick translated into a massively runny nose on Thursday (Alesha's b-day)... yada, yada, yada....

Bottom line: Aurora has been sick for what feels like days on end. Alesha and I are emotionally and physically exhausted. We have both cried with her and with each other. This is her first cold and it has been hard on all of us. Seeing her suffer through it is awful... and having to force her to take medicine and suck out her throat while she is SCREAMING at the top of her lungs (which, thankfully, isn't that loud now because she has lost her voice... at first I pitied her, but I've been thanking God for that one part of the illness). It is our great hope that she will see some significant sleep tonight and we'll be able to do the same.

Part of my tiredness is my own stupidity. I got up early this morning while the girls were sleeping and ran 5 miles. It seemed like a great idea and made me feel energetic... until about an hour ago. :) I was supposed to participate in the MVNU Homecoming 5k today but that obviously didn't fly. I was really looking forward to it but between our exhaustion and Aurora's condition it wasn't happening. I'm going to keep it up as much as I can during the winter months. I have lots of races lined up next year. I'm definitely getting healthier... but no one has noticed in radical changes in me so I'm not claiming to have found any kind of cure all. It has helped me, though.

My constant prayer to the Lord is that He will change my heart. Every day I am confronted with how selfish and prideful I can be. I hate it. I have seen God-changes in me but I still battle bad attitudes and must constantly guard my mouth from saying things I shouldn't. It's pretty awesome how forgiving God is. I read this in the Message tonight and loved it:

"In a word, waht I'm saying is Grow Up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."

May God help us all to live as Kingdom Subjects every where we go and in everything we do!

Bullet points to bring everything else up to speed:

• Xbox Live- It hasn't done too much for me lately but I managed to speak with non other than Timmy G on Live today! Very cool! Unfortunately we couldn't get it to work correctly so we could play Gears of War together, but.... Oh well. Great talking to you Tim!
• Gears of War- With Aurora's illness and life in general I have played for what probably amounts to a whopping twenty minutes but it is FREAKING COOL. The 360 has a leg up on the comptetion with this one.
• Nintendo Wii- I see the that the guys at Joystiq have received their Nintendo Wii. This bodes well for me as they typically receive their Nintendo products 1-2 days before I do. I could have the Wii anyday now! If only I had real time to play it!
• Big screen TV- Alesha and I have been talking and I think we're going to get a big screen TV with our tax return next year. (Lord, Uncle Sam, and everyone else willing!) I'm REALLY excited about it because I have been wanting one for a VERY long time. I'm literally praying this one works out. :)
• Transformers the Movie- I got the 20th Anniversary 2-Disc edition of that this week. I have been trying to watch it... but even a 90 minute movie takes a long time to watch when you only get in 5 minutes at a time. It looks fantastic, though. It's a little cheesy but I'm still loving it after all these years.
• New Bond- I've been a big Daniel Craig hater but that movie looks good! It is going to have to happen... at some point.
• Thanksgiving- I'm taking the day after off. I think we're going to Virginia to see my uncle.

I think that covers it, my friends. See you all soon. I say we Gather first thing after the New Year! I still haven't smoked a cigar over Aurora's birth and it needs to happen. I had this amazing one a while back that had been cured in some kind of bourbon. That is exactly what I want. It might be 7 months late, but I should get a free pass on a good cigar for the birth of my little one.

Much love!

O.