Happy Birthday!

Monday, November 3, 2008

I don’t remember much about this day. I was in bed with a stomach virus from 7AM till 5PM. Yucky!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Kelcy’s Birthday! Today, Kelcy turns three years old! Kelcy woke up happy on her birthday and was happy all day long! It was Tuesday, so we had chapel in the morning. All the school kids sang “Happy Birthday” to her. She smiled shyly during the entire event. Abby & Kelcy & I made birthday cookies to share with all the school kids. We passed those out after chapel service. After school, Jerry worked on the new staff house until 6:30, then came home so Kelcy could open her presents. Thanks to all of you for the cards, gifts and letters! Kelcy had a wonderful time opening the presents. She gets so excited and she really enjoyed hearing the cards and their sentiments! Afterward, we went up to the church and had cake and ice cream with the Roberts family. Kelcy wanted strawberry cake and strawberry ice cream. Imagine! Kelcy picking a pink cake with pink icing! I even got pink ice cream, it was strawberry cheesecake. Both Abby & Kelcy thoroughly enjoyed the cake and ice cream. Thanks to a lot of people, Kelcy had a lovely birthday and felt really special on her special day!

I also forgot to mention that a dream of mine came true recently! I found out that Ms. Anne who does the library for the school was going to be out of town for a few weeks and I offered to perform the library duties. I was able to do story time with the kids and shared some of my favorite poetry and some pictures of works of art. It was a lot of fun for me and I hope for all the school kids.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

After school today, I gave Leah a bath. Leah is Mr. Bill’s dog, who had been staying at the mission while he was traveling in the Northwest to promote mission work. Needless to say, I was afraid that Mr. Bill would not recognize Leah after her seven weeks of running around in the red sand, so I decided to wash her. Boy, was that dog dirty. Abby and Kelcy watched the entire show. They were helping and working to keep Leah in the tub where she was supposed to stay. I think she felt much better afterward and I know that she felt better afterward.

Lights Out! Sometime between 10PM and 11PM, the lights in the hogans went out, with the Roberts inside. The power failed and no one here knew how to fix it. So, the Roberts spent a night without electric, meaning no clocks, no lights and no heat. Yikes! Did I mention we need some help to finish the staff house so that they Roberts can move in there?

Friday, November 7th, 2008

The electricity in the hogans was fixed about 4:30PM today. Yeah! Thank you Mr. Jim for helping us with the electricity! Mr. Bill was expected to return before school was out, but he did not arrive until much later. He did finally arrive and we were very happy to see him! Leah was very happy to see him as well! He stopped in for a chat at the trailer and then he went on to Dilkon to rest.

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

Parent teacher conference was this Saturday from 8AM until Noon. Two of Jerry’s parents came to the school at their appointed time to visit and see their child’s work. Jerry’s first parent teacher conference day went well. He enjoyed getting to know the families a little better. All of his students are doing well, so it was a pleasant experience. We also got to hear from Miss Springer how Abby is doing in school. It was a nice opportunity to look at Abby’s first report card and to talk about areas where she was doing well and where she could use improvement.

Ms. Tami wins the prize for attendance. She was able to meet with 100% of the parents of her classroom. Miss Springer had 60% parental attendance, which is good. All in all, it went well and the teachers enjoyed getting to meet and talk to the parents of the students.

Later that day, Abby & I had a special afternoon! I took her into town and we ate at Pizza Hut. We redeemed her “Book It” coupon for a free personal pan pizza. Abby earned the certificate by reading. Abby and Kelcy and Jerry and I all read seven books to reach the goal for her Kindergarten class to get her certificate. She ordered a cheese pizza. We sat in the restaurant and she ate her “special pizza” as she called it. I believe that is the third time that we have sat in a restaurant to eat since we have been in Arizona. Abby really had a good time and so did I. While we waited for the pizza, we colored on the place mats. After she was finished eating, we went on to get her hair cut. We waited an hour and a half for the hair cut! I was ready to give up, but she was determined to get her hair cut that day, so we waited. It turned out very cute!

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

We had twenty people in attendance at the Sunday morning service today. Mr. Bill was preaching again and that was nice. Daron did a wonderful job preaching while Mr. Bill was gone! Thank you, Daron, for being willing to step in where you were needed! Miss Springer was at First Christian Church in Winslow, Arizona speaking for the mission and the school. I know that she did a great job.

Sunday night, we all loaded up in the van and drove to Dilkon for the pot luck. Well, not all of us. Miss Springer drove from Winslow by herself. Danny Roberts provided the devotional for the night and then we ate! Mr. Bill had prepared Turkey and gravy! We all provided the rest and it was quite a feast! We had twenty people at the pot-luck at Dilkon. I got the chance to talk to some of the Navajo ladies that attend at Dilkon. It was nice to get to know them a little better and to share a meal with them.

Next week: Some of the classes get another field trip!