Halftime!

The school year is half way over. Can you believe it? I can hardly believe that we've already been here for more than 5 months. It seemed to go by so slowly, but now as I look back it really seems to have flown by. Our last day of school is May 18th, and I'm sure we'll be home by that weekend. That's less than 4 months away. Actually, January is almost over, and February is a short month. So really it's like 3 months. And you can't really count May, because by the time we get to May it will all be down hill. So really it's like 2 and a half months. And you can't count weekends either, so really it's like a month and a half....I can do that.

Joe and I had a good week. Thursday and Friday we got out at 12:30 and had to stick around until 3:30 to allow for parent/teacher conferences. I didn't have very many, so I spent my time organizing my room and hooking up some old computers I found in the basement. My room looks great...it seems so much bigger when it's clean. Friday night was the high school girl's basketball tournament. Since Joe is in charge of Student Council, he had to go and sell the concessions. I helped him get set up and he was so thankful for me being there, that he pulled me to him, told me he loved me, and asked me to marry him. Hold on, don't get too excited. I started to laugh, and said "this better not be my proposal!" And he whipped out a Butterfinger and tossed it at me. So I guess I'm still waiting for my real proposal. And to top it off, he sold my butterfinger! I didn't even get to keep it!

Yesterday we relaxed and didn't do a darn thing. Seriously, not a thing. I think we rolled out of bed around 10:30, but then took a nap from 11:30-1:00. It was delightful. Today we've been watching football. Actually Joe's been watching football, I've been shopping online. But I fake some enthusiasm when a team scores...doesn't really matter what team.

Last week we lost an elder in our village. It's such a sad thing because everyone is so close. I asked the school counselor what it's like, and he explained it as if every child in the school lost a grandfather, or an Upa. The whole village is mourning this loss. A few minutes ago we found out that the 22 year old son of our wonderful secretary died last night. I can't pretend to imagine what their family is going through right now, but I know the whole village will be there to mourn with them. This will be a very sad week.

My birthday month is coming to an end. I thank everyone who sent cards and gifts and warm wishes. Joe continued to surprise me with presents, and ordered me a pair of purple addias I had seen in Anchorage. I love them, and my kids said I looked "cool." That's right, I'm cool. :)