This one goes out to you Anna Overholt!

This has been a CRAZY week. But first and foremost we need to express our extreme happiness over the fact that Jeff and Andrea had a baby girl yesterday!! I was in the shower when I heard the glorious news..and may or may not have bumped my head on the faucet when I heard. So since I KNOW that Andrea is reading this I just want to say: CONGRATS! We love you and miss you and can't wait to meet your daughter!! Perhaps this post will earn us the titles Aunt Courtney and Lauren? I'll let you think it over... no pressure. But seriously.

Now back to this crazy week. Tuesday started out pretty normal (we had Monday off.. slept in and did many loads of laundry). I was so incredibly excited to be back and snuggle with my favorite hopi (and navajo..) kids. I even woke up at 6:20 and danced around in my room to Third Eye Blind for a while before I got into the shower. It was great to be back at the school and our office was full to the brim of boxes and mail for us to sort..which happens to be my favorite activity as far as office jobs go. Then the intense part of the day came... our cook at the school who is also the mother of one of the second grade girls was no where to be found... i literally looked in closets. Unfortunately she turned up a little while later.. drunk. She ended up yelling at one of the kids and making a big scene. So she got sent home and it was a little crazy. We couldnt really send her daughter home after school so she ended up staying with Lauren and I until her grandma could come get here. The main reason I am telling this story is not for entertainment but just so you guys can have a glimpse of what life is like for these kids and these people everyday and the real stronghold alcoholism has on these people. It's not just a rumor about indian reservations..it's reality and it is so sad. So prayers for this woman and her children are much appreciated!
Later that night we went over to stan and beth's for anastasia's 5th birthday dinner. It was so nice to spend time with them since its been a while since we have all been together!


Wednesday was just as crazy but in a different way. Since we didn't have a cook.. Lauren and I were one duty and worked as lunch ladies. which was pretty crazy... now I didn't wear a hair net and orthpedic shoes... but you better believe that gloves and aprons were present. My main job was scooping peaches.. and I must say that my ice cream scooping from my Depot days came in pretty handy. After school we took the Navajo kids home as usual.. which went pretty well minus the fact that Zackery wiped snot on my shoulder. Two of the kids parents were a half hour late picking them up so we played a good ol game of kids running around the car making us chase them and in turn look like out of shape fools. Right when we got back we had to sit in on a 4 hour in service (which we missed half of.. but still... sheesh.) Then immediately headed over to the principals house for our weekly bible study and dinner.. then we FINALLY made it home at 8:30 and were totally pooped.

Thursday was pretty busy too...and right when things were getting really crazy a group from Santa Barb. CA stopped by for a tour... and guess you got thrown into the tour guide positions- me and Lo. It went pretty good until one of the guys decided to give me a weird hug abruptly infront of everyone (like the kind were you dont know if you want to... and then when you find out if you don't hug back it will be awkward for everyone..then i bobbed from side to side trying to figure out what side to put my head..then he rocked me bock and forth for a good twelve seconds also whipsering weird encouragements in y ear while all the on lookers clearly saw I was not enjoying it and stopped smiling..ahhhh I'm gritting my teeth just thinking about it...). After school we went and had dinner at YWAM... no awkwardness to speak of there.. besides the friendly hugger being there and giving me a weird half sitting half standing closed eyed hug.

Friday (today) We woke up freezing our booties off. Apparently the power went off in the night and since we only have electric heating... the temperature in my bedroom was similar to that of an arctic tundra. Nevertheless we got ready and went to school... once all the kids arrived we got news that the power wasn't coming on any time soon.. so me and lauren had to ride the bus with all the kids so we could walk them to their doors and make sure a parent was home.. which started out fun until i made the mistake of sitting with a 6th grade boy who insisted on putting me in a suprisingly strong headlock of which i couldnt get out of for about 15 minutes...during which i screamed and flailed and looked like a total weirdo to the bus driver... but once that was over and I moved to some less rowdy 1st graders it was all good. We FINALLY got home at about 11.. took naps.. ate cookies... and when the power came on watched some movies. Then about 20 minutes ago we somehow got on a discussion of Kouts... and the firey passion that burns within us for that little hole in the wall... we are now currently discussing the song we will play as we pull onto mainstreet in May... sad but hey we have to entertain ourselves some how. Well- I better get going Lauren looks bored and I'm getting a crick(sp?) in my neck from sitting in this weird chair with my laptop. Love and miss you all tooooo much.

Court

Cari & Jordan + Spring Break

Jordan and Cari came to visit us on the rez a few weeks ago! it was the most fun we've had in a long time. Cari came a few days before Jordan..and in that time we went to the Grand Canyon with the Pettengill's plus, Phil & Arneta Hershberger, and the Bradley brothers. It was really fun, minus the fact that it was slippery and cold at the GC.

Thennn...we went and picked up Jordan in Flag. From there, we went to Oak Creek Canyon aka "Da OCC". It was absolutely beautiful..and we walked up to the edge suddenly finding ourselves in one of those situations where you just feel the need to take anything you have and hold it over the edge or even..throw it. I'm not sure if that happens to anyone else, or maybe we're just odd. We decided that while it would be fun..we would eventually regret throwing our purses into the canyon. So, Jordan found an alternative, and started throwing huge rocks and logs down into the canyon javelin style.

From there, we went to Sedona..which was supposed to be a surprise..but i accidentally blurted it out..and had dinner at some steak house. We walked around a little bit and then headed back to Flagstaff to spend the night in our hotel. Monday, we got the day off school so we could take Jordan and Cari to their suprise destination. We made them close their eyes for the last 20 minutes of the drive..just to make sure they had no idea where we were headed. They were totally surprised when they opened their eyes to find that we were in Jerome! Not that they really knew what or where Jerome was..they were fully surprised! We walked around all day and looked in the fun shops and art galleries..had amazing lunch at this delicious restuarant..and took way too many pictures. Courtney had messy ice cream on a stick..and dripped it on her "casual sundress" at least 10 times.

After our day in Jerome, we went back to Flagstaff...bought some groceries and headed back to the rez. Our week was spent preparing for the Student Council garage sale that Courtney and I organized..unfortunately, the sale was a total flop. We had a total of approx. 10 people buy things. We were just hoping for a little bit more. We made $150 in the end..which will go to the StuCo field trip fund. We have a few ideas for their trip but we're thinking it'll most likely be a fun day in Flagstaff...maybe see a movie, go to lunch, and then bowling. We wanted to go to Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm..but those trips are a little to much for us to handle, especially with the group we've got. Anyway, the rest of the week was supa dupa fun with Jor and Cari. We took them to the Cultural Center for Hopi Tacos, introduced them to all the DTS people, and they even got to go see the spring in Hotevilla! It was reallllly fun having them here..and i think they enjoyed their time as well. In fact, Jordan liked it so much that she's coming back on May 16 and spending the last 2 weeks with us! She's even riding home with us in the car (were going to have to do some serious rearranging to make room for one more..on the way out here the car was packed floor to ceiling...but we'll do anything to have her come with!) We had a StuCo fun night at our house while Jordan and Cari were here. We watched Kung Fu Panda and ate pizza and ice cream. Then we went to the playground to wait for the kids to be picked up...we were playing tag..that suddenly turned into tackle tag. 6th grade boys tackling their teachers. Yes, we struggle with disciplining them..but we also have lots of fun!

Oh man..I almost forgot about this! Cari woke up to find a freaky scorpion was sleeping with her!..she thinks it pinched her, not a full on bite. It was pretty scary..but we're just glad she didn't get bit and filled with scorpion poison. Speaking of scary things..I've been having issues with feeling safe at night, simply because I can be a little bit paranoid..so now I have a really nice collection of defense weapons next to me in bed at night. I simply had a giant maglite with me for a long time..and like I said, that doesn't seem to be enough anymore. I now have a small bottle of pepper spray with me. So, I'm thinking that should suffice now. I guess the reason for my heightened state of paranoia would be the fact that a man was found dead about a mile from our house..and gang activity is on the rise. But I think we're safe here..no worries.

Now, I will update you on our trip to Florida! It was an incredible amount of fun and lots of relaxation, which we were in serious need of. We stayed with Court's Grandpa & Pat in Sarasota on Bird Key. We spent our beloved days swimming in the pool, going on bike rides (getting lost), going out to eat almost every night, enjoying the beach, shopping with Pat, cruising in the Cutlass, and simply enjoying the beautiful FL weather. We truely had a great time and are so thankful that Court's Gpa & Pat let us stay there with them! Although FL was awesome..we were ready to come back and get back to business. Can you believe we only have 2 more months here!? We've been here for 6 months..which is also completely unbelievable. It's going to be bittersweet to leave this place. We've made so many wonderful new friends..especially the kids at school & the Pettengill's. We're going to be so busy for the next 2 months..my mom, Grandma Dorothy, and Grandma Mable are all coming to visit, then a few weeks later Court's Mom will be here, and then Jordan arrives!

I hope this was a nice thorough update for you all..I know I still left out tons of details that I'll save for the next post.

One more thing! We adopted one of Ms. Roy's precious puppies for 2 days..and were sorta put into a complicated position and had to give it back to her in the end. We named her Annie..and she was the cutest thing we've ever laid eyes on. She looked like a cross between a snuggly teddy bear and the most precious dog ever. We had here for one night..she "slept" in my bed, but did very little sleeping. More crying, pooing, and barfing than anything. But that's okay..I forgave her and still loved her.

Just the sight of her face could melt your heart!

Spring Break!

Just a quick update..we're officially on Spring Break! Right now were at a hotel in Phoenix for the night..but we're currently getting our internet fix. As you can tell by the lack of new posts on here, our internet basically bit the dust on the rez. It's torture. So, whenever we get the chance, i promise we'll be blogging. Anyways, tomorrow were flying to Sarasota to visit Court's grandparents for the week. We're both so excited to relax a little bit, attempt to get a tan, and simply seeing some greenery will be nice! We have tons of fun stuff to blog about our recent visitors..Jordan and Cari..but that will have to be done at a later time.

We're going to explore Phoenix, maybe do some much needed SB 09' shopping!