A fun weekend...

Life has really picked up here lately, and I feel like I'm finally catching my breath for the first time in about a week. I am, however, catching it just in time to lose it again, because this week looks to be quite full. :) Being a Stellmaker at the core, most of you know that we tend to thrive on the "crazy" in life...so even though I do feel a bit overwhelmed, there's that underlying sense of excitement. I somehow hear myself saying, "Self, can you do it?" And then of course, I say back to myself, "BRING IT ON!"

So, I'd like to breathe in the present, take a look at the past, and then look forward to the future. BREATHE...here I go!

Friday
This last Friday was the new gym dedication here at school.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the gym took place over 11 years ago, so the P.E. department has been without ANY facilities for the last 11 YEARS! The P.E. teachers were beaming all day, and the ceremony was really exciting. I ended up taking care of the elementary kids, and had a great time of it! They got a bit squirrelly during some of the long talks, but in all were VERY well behaved. WAY TO GO kidddies!

After the ceremony they had a FEAST...where they flew in food, had hot dogs, burgers, salads...all the things that we NEVER have here! Granted, it wasn't beef. But, it was a GREAT chicken burger! And, ice cream. The simple pleasures!





And then, we danced the night away! Seriously, an awesome dance. They flew in the best D.J. in the country, and a guy who did the laser shows for Michael Jackson when he was in India. SWEET! Danced our hearts out, and CRASHED. We were so tired afterwards! GOOD NIGHT!





Saturday
Megan (our neighbor) and and I left for the inter-school cross-country meet at 7:30 AM Saturday morning. I'm officially the girl's "coach", but I've quickly come to realize how loose that term is here. Basically, I gave little pep talks and took times. It was fun! Woodstock swept the meet...in LAST place. :) It was okay though...the school's spirit wasn't dampened in the least!

After the meet we went to look at Mount Herman, a place where a bunch of our friends will be moving. Now it doesn't look so bad...but if they had put us up there when we first got here, I would have run away screaming! Funny how perspectives change! We ate at chardukan (a place on the top of the hill), I went to Hanifl to reserve some camping equipment for the night, then FINALLY came home around 4:00 to see my hubby for the first time in the day!

We had two hours to pack up for a night of camping, get snacks together, and make a dish for the once-a-month woman's bible study. I head off to the bible study (which is SO encouraging!), while Chris head up to Flag Hill with some other guys. The rest of our group head out for Flag Hill around 9:00 PM, at which point I was almost hysterically tired (Amy, I missed you!). It was quite funny. :)

Dave and Beth, Greg and Jenny came up to just hang out for the night (but didn't spend the night), while the Burchell's (Joie, Nate, Will and Annie), the Guenther's (Casey, Christina, and baby-to-be!), Kate, Megan, Laura, and Dave and Cookie Wiebe stayed the night. We had a BEAUTIFUL night to go camping, and woke up to a BEAUTIFUL morning. Life is good!

Sunday
Came home, showered, and headed to school for a FULL day of grading. And, I'm DEFINITELY not even close to being done. They require us to write a paragraph comment for each student in each of our classes, THEN give them an academic grade, THEN give them 6 different effort grades. It's intense! I still have lots to do, but knew I needed a break when the computer screen in front of me started spinning. :)

COMING UP...

This week is filled with getting grades in, the regular evening/morning activities, and getting ready for Yvonne and Rachel's visit! Here's my To-Do List:

- Order music from J.W. Pepper, send to Yvonne.
- Think through, make sure I've thought of everything I want them to bring us!
- A little bit more painting/decorating
- Get one more mattress
- Figure out our 2nd weekend in Rishikesh!
- Stock the house with food/water
- Work ahead at school, so I don't have to do anything while they're here. :)
- Figure out things to do/places to go during the week while they're here

Next weekend, it looks like the plan may be to try Nag Tibba again. :) I think we decided to take a taxi down, so we can make sure to get up this time. Still on the fence, though...not sure if I want to face that monster again!

Here I go...more grading awaits!