An awesome weekend!!!

On Saturday, a group of us headed out to San Francisco to watch the Pro Beach Volleyball AVP tour. It was AWESOME! We got to see Misty May and Kerri Walsh and lots of guys teams, too...which were the most important, of course. It was fun to get away for a little bit and watch some good volleyball.

On Sunday, the Nugents drove up to meet me in Gilroy...we went to Gilroy/Bonfante Gardens. It was tons of fun. I rode in an artichoke, a strawberry, and a banana! :) Went on some roller coasters I probably shouldn't have...but I fully enjoyed it. It was awesome to spend time with the family and be outside on a beautiful day!!

Fun Santa Cruz pictures...

The sun, last night in Watsonville...there was a fire in Morgan Hill!

Sunset at the boardwalk. :)

There's so many I can barely even fit them in a picture....

New Classroom!

My new room!

My least favorite subject....

The other side of the room..

Our mascot is a Dragon. :)

Exactly how is one supposed to fit 31 students?!? Like this!

I know, I know...

It has been way too long. My life has been crazy x 100 since the first day of school. I am still wondering if it will ever calm down! 4th grade seems so much more tiring than 2nd grade. There has been so much going on. Our numbers in 4th and 5th grade are low and the numbers in kinder are way too high. Sooo, we just lost a 5th grade teacher to kinder. So, we had to make a 4/5 combo. What does that mean for me? Gaining 7 new boys and 1 new girl, plus giving up 2 of my boys. It breaks my heart to move kids around like this. At one point during our 3 hour placement meeting, I actually cried. This population of kids really needs a person who is constant in their lives....It's just hard on everyone. The new class starts on Tuesday. Please be praying that the switch goes well for all of us!

I decided to stay home this weekend, just because I was sooo exhausted and my neck and back have been bothering me. Today, I got a new camera! Some friends came over for some UNO playing tonight...always great times. It has been a nice relaxing weekend. Tomorrow is church and probably grading math tests. :)

OH and my roomie and I are going to New York in January! We decided to go out for a few days because we really want to see Hairspray and Grease on Broadway. So excited!

Laura and her brother, Mark!

The UNO players.

Allen and Laura! So glad you're back, Laura!

First Day #2

The first day is over. I am so exhausted! My feet hurt, and they have blisters. :(

Other than that, the day was pretty good! I think my class will be much better than last year! And, so far, I only have 22 students. Thats less than some 2nd grade teachers. :) The kids are so much more mature and can do so much more! So far, I'm loving 4th grade. I have a lot of really fun girls, and even some fun boys. Only 1 student who doesn't speak any english...pretty good.

One of the new teachers ended up with 4 pretty high intensity boys. I feel like I paid those dues last year. I had about 7 of those. But since my numbers are so low, I may be gaining one of those boys. It should be ok, since my class does pretty well. They are still pretty chatty, but can also work pretty quietly, especially once I do a little moving of desks. I'm looking forward to doing some fun things with them. Be praying that I find my groove and ease right into 4th grade! Hope everyone is doing well!

Summer is over?!?!

School starts tomorrow. Woo! My room is ready, the desks are ready, everything is ready, but I'm not ready for summer to be over!

I'll update on the first day, tomorrow!

Spirit West Coast and the Strawberry Festival!

This past weekend was crazy, but tons of fun! On Wednesday night, 5 YWAM-ers from Denver came to stay over at my house for Spirit West Coast. It was crazy, but tons of fun. We stayed up late talking and watching Friends. On Friday, we all headed out to SWC to work! They worked at their booth and I worked at the KLIFE booth. It was awesome to see Noonie and get to hang out with all of them. I didn't stay late because I wanted to rest so I could be healthy for the next day. On Saturday, I worked at the booth for a little bit and then hung out with my house guests and saw tons of concerts. I got to see Downhere, Wavorly, Disciple, Tobymac and Switchfoot. It was tons of fun! My back made it through, I was very impressed. I went to PT today and they worked me hard because I wasn't feeling any pain....now I'm feeling it. :)

On Sunday, after my awesome visitors left, we Kirsten, Julie, Allen, Alyssa and I all headed out to Watsonville for the Strawberry Festival. Basically all we did there was eat. :) Strawberry quesadillas, strawberry funnel cake, chocolate covered strawberries...it was awesome. I actually made it out of the place only seeing one student. Amazing.

Yesterday I started my training week. Im being trained in a new language arts program. I am loving the program but am bored of the training. :) Luckily, my room is already finished and looks awesome. School starts a week from tomorrow. AHHH! Crazy. Just plain crazy. Does anyone know how to teach 4th grade? Let me in on your secrets. I got to see my class list, and it looks pretty good. I'm getting excited...but we'll see! Hope everyone is doing well!

Summer Pictures!

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.

Update...

There isn't much of one..unfortunately.

I started doing Physical therapy this past week. I did one session of regular and 2 sessions in the pool. I can't really tell if they are helping or not. I am in a lot of pain after each session, but I always feel a little better the next day. The levels of pain are very intermittent. I am usually in a lot of pain in the morning and at night. There is still pain during the day, but not as much.

On Monday I go to see the doctor again. They said if things weren't much better, than I would need an MRI. If we get to that point, major decisions will need to be made. Please be praying for direction and peace after the decisions have been made.

More updates after I see the doctor on Monday.

On a lighter note, Christy is visiting Monday and my dad, step mom and brother are coming on the 4th! This will be awesome since I have been spending all my time flat on my back on the couch watching movies...very excited! :)

Life as a couch potato...

This is where I have been since early Saturday morning....the couch. Boooooo! After 4 super fun hours of chinese food and mah jong with my roomie, Allen and Allen's grandma....I ended up in the Emergency room. I was in A LOT of pain and nothing was helping. We got into a room around 4 am...and they said they couldnt do anything, and they wouldn't give me anything for the pain. That just added to my frustration, so after some upset crying, we headed off to bed around 5 am. I was wide awake and didnt sleep until 6:45am and then woke up at 9.

That day I laid on the couch and barely moved. I was super bummed because I missed Carrie's wedding and Watermania(the big lake trip with church). I read a few books and watched WAY too much tv. Wow...I think Ive seen every commercial about 100 times.:) Laying still is hard enough, but it's even harder when you know all of your friends are having tons of fun without you.

My roommate has been amazing. She has been taking care of my and sat through the wonderful 4 hours in the ER. I think shes starting to get sick of me being around all the time, mostly because she is used to me being gone all the time! We got to watch Casablanca last night, so that was fun.

Today was the first day I got off the couch to get out of the house. Rachel drove me to the doctor and to get some lunch. The doctor gave me some different medication and said I would need a MRI if the physical therapy didn't work this week. I have 3 PT appointments, so I'll keep you all updated.

Thank you for all your prayers. Keep them coming. :)

The Week in Pictures...

High School Graduation and SLO town!!!

20 Days...

until Kenya!!! Ahhhh. It really is unreal. I can't believe it is coming up so quickly! I have been shopping around this week to start getting all of the necessities. I am really looking forward to finally being in Kenya. I am excited to be thrown out of my comfort zone, but I feel so unprepared! We have to have all of our dramas and puppet shows ready by the end of next week!

Some Praises:
*I raised ALL of my support and much, much more. Thank you to everyone who supported me financially and in prayer.
*We will now be in 23 schools instead of 7.
*The seminar teams will have 7 seminars instead of 2.
*All of the teams are working really hard to be ready in time.
*We have had some awesome time of getting to know each other!

Some things you can be praying for:
*Unity as a team. We have yet to have a meeting with the whole team there. :(
*Time management as each mini-team gets ready for their parts
*The seminar teams, especially the 3 guys on the team who will be teaching on Nehemiah
*The school team: pray for effectiveness of the HIV/AIDS prevention messages and dramas
*Traveling mercies
*Flexibility
*Boldness and flexibility with door to door and outdoor evangelism
*My back and neck pain...I have started to see a physical therapist, but she is doubtful that it will be much better before I go. :(
*All the last minute details!!
*Kenton and Alyssa as they lead us to Africa!

I really appreciate all of you who have been covering us in prayer. Keep it coming!

Summer Vacation...

is here at last! We got out of school on June 7th. It was a day of mixed feelings. I was so happy to be done, but so sad to see them go! Miguel, especially. I cried when it came to him. That was a lot of work and a lot of emotion put into one child. I can only hope that it made a huge impact on him. I look forward to watching him grow even more. He left me a message yesterday, so cute.

Not much going on since then. Went to see the Giants-A's game with some people from church. That was a ton of fun. Yesterday, Allen drove me to the airport, so that I could get on a plane to go home! When I got home, I slept for 3 hours, watched the padre game, and then slept til 11 this morning. Clearly, I needed the rest. I am here until Tuesday night. Today is Jarred and Ashley's grad party...I am told around 85-90 people will be attending. At least I have Rachel and Missy! :)

I have been looking forward to this time away. It is much needed, if I plan to get myself back together sometime soon. I have already had a lot of time to myself to think and spend time with the Lord. On Wednesday, I head out to SLO to get some much needed lovin from the slo family. I miss my Nugents, can't wait to see them.

Other than that, this summer looks to be a time of relaxtion, time at the beach, time getting ready for Kenya and actually going to Kenya. We shall see! Hope everyone is doing well.

Memorial Day Weekend...

Wow...what a weekend! It was jam packed, with lots and lots of good times! Rachel got in on Saturday, and we went straight downtown for dinner and Pirates 3 with some people from church! I thought the movie was good, but I liked the first 2 better. And then, of course, there was ice cream after!

On Sunday, we went to church, and then Rachel hung out with Allen while I went to some Kenya meetings. She got to see parts of Santa Cruz I haven't even seen! After, we did some shopping and then met my roomie and Allen for dinner. Lots of speed uno and speed scrabble followed. It was tons of fun.

Monday, Mike and Brian came down from Sunnyvale to visit. It has been awesome having Mike so close. All of us headed over to the church picnic. It turned out to be an awesome time! We won some tug o war and an egg toss. Good food and good friends definitely equaled good times that day. After the picnic, we tried to visit the Mystery Spot, but it was a 3 hour wait...so we left and went to the boardwalk. Note to self: Dont ever do that on Memorial Day ever again. ha. It was crowded but a ton of fun. We went mini golfing and walked on the beach.

On Tuesday, Rachel came to school and felt my pain. haha. Like nailing jello to a wall. :) Speaking of school...It looks like I may get to stay in 2nd grade. We are losing a bilingual teacher, so they won't have anyone to move into my position. Soooo...the principal said if they don't have someone for the position, they can't take it. Wooooo. This is good. Trying not to get too excited, just in case they change it, again. Looks like my roomie is moving up to 3rd, she'll have my students.muahaha...that can't be good.

I am so looking forward to next Thursday. 6 more school days...I NEED a vaction. Can't wait. Hope everyone is doing well!

Randomness...

I really need to keep this thing up. I am a complete slacker. :) Life has been incredibly busy this past month. I can't believe there is only 8 days left of school. Where did the year go?! Can I teach 5th grade next year? Ha...it's a good thing I have Jesus...that's all I can say!

I have had a lot of out of town friends visiting lately. Missy and her friend came to visit and Rachel is here now. Seeing them and enjoying my time with them has put me in a semi-weird mood again. There is this unexplainable feeling like something in my life is off. I think I'm just at the point where I'd like to know what to do next and where I'm supposed to be. I don't know if it's because I'm not fitting in like Id like to or just because I'm ready for something new. Too much thinking.

When Missy was here, I took the day off, and we headed up to San Francisco, for a very crazy and very short trip. It was nice to be in the city again. We went to alcatraz, where I enjoyed the audio tour in spanish...good times!

Today, Rachel, my best friend from home, came into town. She's going to stay until Tuesday. She was able to come meet my class in September, so now she gets to see how they've changed! Tonight we went to see Pirates 3 and went to Marini's for yummy ice cream. Pirates was pretty good, I was impressed. It always amazes me that Keira Knightly's hair is always like it is, even after she is fighting dead people. haha. The rest of our weekend is full! We have some fun plans for Sunday, a picnic on monday with some other out of towners and then school on tuesday! I'm so excited to have her here!

I am enjoying the last few weeks of school and I am starting to get excited for the summer! Next weekend Im going to see the USA mens soccer team play China..in San Jose. And the week after, Im going to a giants/As game. I will of course boo both teams. :) I am simply going for the lack of baseball in my life. At the end of June, the padres play the giants. I hope to be there for those, too. June is full of tons of fun! I am going home for graduation festivities, going to see Kenny Chesney, going to SLO, going to weddings and just relaxing. Yay for summer!!

PS...Fyi This week is teacher appreciation week. ;o)

Persistence in prayer

Tonights bible study was awesome, yet so convicting. How often am I persistent in what I'm praying for? No often enough. I tend to pray for something, and then just move on to the next thing. There is only one thing I can say that I have consistently prayed for since I was about 10 years old. That prayer is for my dad and for my hope that he will choose to walk with the Lord, again.

And then once a prayer is answered, no matter how it is answered, I tend to only be thankful for the answer, and not for the process. I think the Lord makes us wait sometime, so that we may grow from the experience we have waiting for his answer and timing. We got to read about Hannah and her experiences with prayer. She was so consistent in asking for what her heart really desired, a baby. And when she was blessed with that, she immediately overlooked the gift and praised the giver. I think too often we focus on the gift and forget where the gift came from. "Every stream should lead us to the fountain; and the favours we receive from God should raise our admiration of the infinite perfections there are in God." I loved that quote that we read in the book. I want to be more purposeful about praising God for every gift and experience He has given me.

Ahh so many thoughts, so few words to express them with.

Mcboys, open house and pain...

Rachel came over for a 2 hour episode of greys anatomy. They are trying to do a spin off of Grey's with Addison. Interesting...although we did get a nickname for the new love interest. I wonder if it will work...Good times with my "sister" watching all the mcboys.

Had open house last night, too. About 11 families out of 17 came. Not too bad. My chango bar bribe may have helped. It was really fun, the kids had a checklist, and they gave their parents a tour of the room. I find it hilarious, that by the end of the tour, each parent knew who Mr.Wan was. They showed them his art work and the letter he wrote them. Totally awesome. One boy even showed his dad how he holds the door open for the girls. haha.

I had an awesome time hanging out with all the moms. They are so fun to talk to. Once my Spanish gets going, it's hard to stop it! They are always asking questions about what I do, why I'm not married and why I can't have the same class again next year. When I mentioned that there is a possibility I may be moving grades and it would be an English class....a few parents said they would take their kids out of bilingual. ha! I didnt even tell them if it would be third grade. Its always good to know that people think youre doing a good job. :)

The day before open house, I started to get really bad pains in my lower back. I kind of shook it off, since it had been a stressful week and I usually have back pain when Im stressed. Well I was at school for 12 hours yesterday, and by the end, I could barely sit up enough to drive home. I got a few hours of sleep, and wasn't feeling much better today. I took a half day off of work because I needed to go get a few shots for Kenya. As soon as I walked out of school, I felt the pain get worse. (its easy to ignore when youre working.) I begged Alyssa to take me to a chiropractor after we got our vaccines. I went to her awesome doctor who wasn't technically even open today. He was amazing. He knew something was wrong when one leg was longer and I couldnt even hold my left one up. He took xrays and found out that I have a twisted vertebrae in my lower spine. He readjusted and sent me home. Since then I laid on Alyssa's couch, Julie and Kirsten's couch and now mine. It is really no fun at all! I'm just glad that I know what's wrong and that he can do something about it.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!!!

Wow...

It's been awhile since I've posted! Lo siento, Megan. I should really keep up with this thing. What has happened since April 6th? Lots! The week of April 6th, was my spring break. I went to SLO(got to see the Nugents!) for a short visit, went to San Diego(met my brand new cousin!) for a few days and then ended my trip in LA visiting Matt and Missy. I had an awesome time...but it was hard being away from Santa Cruz for so long! I have enjoyed being back, especially since I only have 27 days of school left. I can't believe it. Where did this year go?!

It looks like I will be teaching another grade next year. What grade? I have no idea. I can't imagine starting over again, it seems so unreal. Maybe I should become a beach bum. Now that would be awesome.

Kenya is getting closer and closer! This Friday I am taking a half day at work so that I can go get all of my shots. No fun. I've had a lot of support money coming in, so I'm really excited about that. I got to talk to my principal about the trip and she really wants to contribute, as do a few of my other coworkers. So awesome. God is providing, as if I should have ever doubted. I can only look forward to the ways he will use me there. Claudia and I are going to be preparing the dramas and puppet shows that we will use in the schools. I am also going to help set up some of the Pastor training seminars. I may even be leading/teaching a women's breakout group. ahh! I'm still in shock that I'm going on this trip. Beyond excited!

Here's some recent, random pictures. :) Hope everyone is doing well.

Interesting form of punishment...

I actually laughed out loud when I read this. Did she actually think the kids wouldn't tell anyone?? Wow...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/04/05/clothespins.punishment.ap/index.html

"All of me, whatever I have left, I'm yours."

He was a darn good James Bond. I was pretty impressed. It was a good story line and since I love watching poker, it made it that much more fun. It wasn't a typical Bond movie, but still pretty good.

2 more days until the most awesome day of the year....Baseball opening day! :o)

3 new movies!

I know, I know, 2 posts in one day...crazy.

But I've been watching a lot of new movies, so I wanted to post about them. On Friday, I got to reconnect with 2 college friends near and dear to my heart! It was a short visit, but it was fun, as always. We all watched The Prestige. It's about magic and magicians. It's actually a well made film, but I was SO tired I didn't really understand it until 15 minutes after the movie was over. It's one of those that you need to be really awake for. But, it was really good, I recommend it.

Today the roomie finally sat me down and got me to watch Singing in the Rain. Not that I was fighting it, but we just haven't had the time. It was a fun movie to watch, and I usually always love musicals. If you haven't seen it, you should. We watched that from about 7-9.

On Friday I had rented Casino Royale and Blood Diamond. Right after Singing in the Rain, we decided to go with Blood Diamond. Big change? uh yeah! It was an awesome, awesome, awesome movie. I was impressed with the performances and the overall story line. It breaks my heart to know about all those people losing their lives, just because of diamonds. Why do we choose diamonds for engagement rings anyways? There are tons of stones that are just as pretty! Makes me want to be in Africa now...not July!

Tomorrow is all about Bond...James Bond.

Spring Break...

is coming!!! I am so looking forward to it. I love Easter time. Being able to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead always gets me excited about the Word again. I have been praying more that I would have this "fire" ALL year long! A few days ago, I talked about Easter with my 2nd graders. I haven't heard any complaining yet, so I think I'm safe. ;o) We talked about how we are having a party right before break, but I wanted to hear their views on Easter. I heard all about the bunny, the candy and the eggs. When I asked if they knew the real meaning of Easter, one kid yells JESUS!! It was awesome. We actually spent a good 5 minutes talking about how Jesus rose from the dead. God has been providing awesome opportunities with my students, my co workers and my roommate. One of my co workers recently started attending a bible study, so she always wants to talk to me about what they are studying. It has been an awesome blessing! I have been praying and praying for them all and God is starting to bless me for my patience and determination.

Today has been very productive! I got up, went to school to get something I forgot, went grocery shopping, cleaned the bathroom, did the dishes, did my laundry AND wrote my Kenya letter. All before 2pm. Not bad... Hope you are all having a great weekend, too!

New Movie

Last night, I went out with the girls to dinner and to see the new Mark Wahlberg movie. A few weekends back, Alyssa and I had a 12 hour marathon of Mark Wahlberg movies. It was hard core! We had a great time and we've been looking forward to this movie coming out. Basically, the movie was AMAZING. There was 4 of us girls sitting watching a typical guy movie and every 10 minutes we kept saying how awesome it was that things kept blowing up. The fact that Mark Wahlberg was in it, made it 100 percent better! It was a really interesting plot line, a movie that actually makes you think...hmm. We loved it and want to see it again! haha. I think I liked it because it actually reminded me of 24...which I love.

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday. I am on my way out of town with my roomie to meet some of her college friends. Have a great weekend!

bowling and bumper cars...

Here are some pictures of our last 2 events at church...

A couple weeks ago we all went out bowling. It is always a good time! I bowled a 128 or something like that. The next game...not so much. Afterwards, we all went out to eat. It was an awesome time with some awesome people. Wow...how He has blessed me!

When bowling was almost over the sillyness factor was multiplied by 10. I love both of these boys very dearly...so for fashion reasons, I won't reveal their names. ;-) Unfortunately, I don't think the socks helped their bowling scores much.....

Bumper Cars at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. We were able to have a private party at the boardwalk with free pizza and free icees! It was an awesome time, and about 45-50 people came! I was VERY sore the next morning, but it was totally worth it!

Kenya, July 2007

Since I have tomorrow off, I figure it's ok to stay up late to update the blog. :) So..the news I was talking about on the last post is that I am officially going to Nairobi, Kenya on a short term missions trip this summer! I am super excited. If you want to be praying, you can definitely be praying that God prepares my heart for everything that is going to happen over there. I totally have a heart for the AIDS epidemic and the people affected by it. Especially after reading that teachers are highly affected by it, too. It also really hurts my heart to know that it is the young people, 18-25, who are most infected by this disease. It's all really overwhelming. I can't wait to get there and be able to show the hope of Jesus Christ!

Some interesting facts:

• Kenya is one of the nine countries in Africa hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic.
• Approximately 10 percent of the adult population is infected with HIV.
• It is estimated that 2.5 million Kenyans are infected with HIV/AIDS.
• In a study conducted in 2001, it was reported that on average, 600 Kenyans die of AIDS everyday.
• The average age for life expectancy has been reduced from the 63 years to 48 years due to AIDS.
• It is reported that 18 teachers die due to AIDS every month and about 6,570 die annually.
• Seven out of every ten HIV positive Kenyans are aged between 18 and 25 years.
  Approximately 1.3 million young people have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
  

Life in Santa Cruz..

has been amazing! Praise God for the blessings he has given me! I have been blessed with a great church, friends and roommate! God is good. Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm not even sure if anyone reads this thing....

School has been going well lately. Nothing new...except testing is coming up in a month and we're all feeling the pressure. Violence has gone up lately and my emotions are up and down. Today, 2 of my non readers, read 2 pages of words. I have been working with them on a new phonics program. I started getting excited and jumping up and down. They all think I'm crazy! I love them...and will be so sad when my first class moves to 3rd grade! Ok...so I won't ALWAYS miss them...but it will still be sad. This week I am taking thursday and friday off. I am getting a massage, having lunch with some friends and sleeping in. I'm soooooo excited! Couldn't come at a better time. :)

My time at Santa Cruz Bible has been awesome, lately. I'm still doing the activities thing and the past few things we've done have been amazing successes! I love it, but am trying to find a good balance between church and school.

When I get home, I'll post some pictures from bowling. And maybe some news later tonight....

Hope everyone is doing well!