Harry Potter....and Garlic! :)

The Harry Potter books are over. I just finished the 7th book. I LOVED it. I actually found myself being sad that they were over! The 7th one was so intense...the main characters could have died in basically every chapter. It ended how I thought it would..but I won't ruin anything. :) The most recent movie was good, but definitely not my favorite. I am really looking forward to the 6th and 7th movies, they should be the best out of all of them.

It has been interesting to watch the Harry Potter phenomenon over the last 10 years.My opinions go up and down, but in the end...they are amazingly, entertaining fiction books. Will I have these in my classroom? I haven't decided yet. I'm not sure that most of the 4th graders I will be teaching can even read them...but, if I do choose to have them there, I will definitely give my fiction talk before they are allowed to read.

In other news, we got to check out the Gilroy Garlic festival this weekend. It was really hot...not that that means much, since hot to me is anything over 80. haha. So spoiled. We basically, walked around, shopped and ate. We tried garlic fries, chocolate garlic ice cream...yes, that's right..garlic ice cream, garlic corn and lots of lots of water that ended up tasting like garlic. It was a fun experience.

This week begins the last week of summer. So sad. :(

July in Santa Cruz

How is July almost over? Wow...I only have about 13 days left of summer break. I plan to enjoy each and everyone of them. :) The first week of August I will be setting up my classroom and going to Language 3 training. I am beginning to really look forward to the 4th grade...it should be an exciting adventure!

July has been a rough month for me. Not being in Kenya has been hard and frustrating. They will be back this week, and it may be equally as hard, but I am hoping to be the best friend I can possibly be, and listen to all the fun stories. I'm sure God did amazing things there. I have yet to write a letter to my supporters, I can't seem to get through it. It will get done, eventually.

My back seems to be getting better, but it changes daily. I am still doing PT and resting a lot. I am learning that this is something I may be dealing with for awhile. So I am trying to change the little things to make everything easier on my body. I am mostly sad that this pain keeps me from driving long distances. I miss my Nugents. :(

Although I didn't get to go to Kenya, my amazing friends have made my time in Santa Cruz loads of fun. We saw the new Harry Potter(not as good as all the others), we've been out to eat, we've been to the beach, we've been shopping, we've watched TONS of Friends and Grey's Anatomy, we've been bowling(not me, I just watched..dont worry.), and we've been to the Salinas Rodeo. I am so blessed to have them in my life to take care of me, to make me laugh and to just be there for me when needed. I have enjoyed most of my time in this B-E-A-utiful place this summer.

The next few months bring busyness and lots of visitors! Sarah, my college roommate, is coming to visit tomorrow. We haven't seen each other in a year! I'm working at Spirit West Coast and going to the Strawberry festival, the Gma is visiting, as are Matt and Missy, all in August. Oh yeah..and I go back to work. Minor detail.

Enjoy your Monday! I should not be up this late....

Transformers

Awesome, awesome movie! Go see it!

Decisions

Hi all. I have been a blogging slacker. A few people have complained about me not updating, since I said I would on Monday.

I went to see the doctor on Monday. I had 3 doctors in there at one time. No one understands what is happening. They took some more blood, gave me an even stronger anti inflammatory and prescribed a MRI. I will be getting the MRI this Tuesday, July 10th. They think it may be muscle spasms AND a disk problem. Oh joy. Until then, the physical therapy and resting continues. I am really enjoying PT and look forward to it each week. Being in the pool is much easier on my body, and it seems to be helping a little bit. My physical therapists are awesome people who always make me laugh.

Also, for those who don't know, I have made the decision to stay home instead of make the trip to Kenya. It was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, but it was the right one. I made it based on how my body was feeling, the opinions of the doctors and some close friends, as well as my feelings about it after praying about it for weeks. All in all, I am really, really disappointed that I am missing out,but I think it was the best choice for my health. Please continue to pray for the Kenya team. They leave July 9th.