One week from today...

school will be out!

Tonight the 6th grade boys will be graduating…all four of them. Although they’ve given us a bit of trouble this year, they are a fun group of boys, who will be greatly missed. (if you’re thinking it’s odd that there’s an actual graduation for completing 6th grade..it’s okay, we think so too. But it’s the Hopi way.)Courtney and I decided to make them scrapbooks with pictures from their field trip to Phoenix. We’ve got 2 done..and 2 more to go. We’ve been trying to keep them a surprise from the 2 boys who came to school today (the other 2 decided to ditch school). But, they keep sneaking into the office and sneaking peeks!

This morning we decorated the gym with blue and white streamers for graduation tonight..and blew up a ridiculous amount of balloons, leaving us quite light headed. Then….Courtney, Miss Martin, two of the non-ditching 6th grade boys (Michael & Aaron), and I had a burping contest in their classroom. We downed a case of Diet Cream Soda..I haven’t had pop in a reallllly long time. I stopped drinking it in 8th grade. So it’s been 5 years. Boy..did it hurt going down. Apparently, the boys just wanted to see if we could bring it. I think I let them down with my peewee belches, but Courtney..she showed them how a real Hoosier handles their pop. Nevertheless, Courtney’s productions were terribly overshadowed by The Great Bambino, Michael Campus, who shook the walls of Hopi Mission School.

We’ve had one other major event today..and that involved the police. One of our students acquired marijuana from her uncle and was offering it to other kids. Yes..it’s insane. All of our kids here are under the age of 12. I believe this student will be suspended.

Last week, our dog Decatur showed up at our doorstep with a face full of porcupine quills! It was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen. It was leaps and bounds worse than Chance on Homeward Bound. I’m serious. She could hardly eat or drink, which wasn’t good at all, especially in this heat. We pulled a few of the quills out, but when we did, she cried & blood poured out. Obviously, this wasn’t something we could take care of on our own. I contacted her “owner” to ask if we could take her to the vet to get her treated, and he gave us permission. He also said that we could keep her for good. Apparently, he’s had plans to euthanize her for months, but she’s never around at the right time for him to take her to the vet. So, I tried to get a vet appointment. But they couldn’t fit her in. Then, I called the Hopi Rangers figuring they would just put her down. A Ranger came to assess her condition, & he immediately called the vet. He proceeded to tell me that the vet would do a house call. Tomorrow, they would pick her up, and do the procedure for free! Plus, put a microchip in her to make her officially my dog. I was amazed. But..they never showed. I called to see what the problem was, and they said they’d be here the next day. Again, they didn’t come. Decatur was getting weaker by the minute. I honestly didn’t believe that she would survive. She could hardly stand up. Finally, a week after her injury, they came to pick her up. The procedure was done in only an hour or so. I went and picked up my drowsy puppy, brought her home, fed her well, and let her sleep in our house. As of today, she is fully recovered..and I still can’t believe that she is alive! I may be bringing her home..but according to my parents..it may only be temporary, until we find someone to adopt her. But we’ll see about that….

Court’s mom, Lori, came to visit us last week. We went and met her in Phoenix and spent the night there. Then, we went to the Grand Canyon, the Little Colorado Overlook, then finally to the Cameron Trading Post. Court and her mom left mid week to join the 6th graders on their Phoenix field trip. I’ve been told they had a great time..minus the fact that it was like 105 degrees outside! I enjoyed my time here..just doing average things. I slept in the living room on an air mattress. Somehow, at the time..it seemed safer to do that. (I have issues with being alone at night.) I hung out with Stan and Beth a lot..watched Slumdog Millionaire, and one evening I spent 2 ½ hours at the gym. Oh, I almost forgot! Friday evening, the principal Betty, took myself and 3 other teachers to Flagstaff for the night. We had dinner at Black Bart’s Steakhouse..which is a dinner theater, whose performers are NAU music students. It was quite entertaining..and delicious. The next day, we woke up early to swim in the pool, ate breakfast, and headed to Sunset Crater…which turns out to be a dormant volcano. We hiked there for an hour, then went to the site of some ancient Hopi ruins, where they originated before they migrated to the mesas, where they currently reside.


Courtney is going to have a rematch with the great Michael Campus..I’m going to go watch it!

Approximately a week or so and were coming back home!

See you guys veryyyy soon!