¡Gloria a Dios!

Thursday night Janelle and I spent several hours in the evening making 100 cupcakes for the Valentine's Day party at church. The youth is in charge of the event, and Janelle and I are the most experienced cooks among the group. Yesterday Janelle took all the cupcakes out to church when she went to work, and in the evening the rest of us went there to a frosting party. Some of the frosting designs call for a great deal of imagination on the part of the viewer. Flower? Heart? Fish? It was kind of hard to tell what they were. After we'd finished frosting, most of us went outside to play basketball - rules according to Dios es Amor. No one in the States would recognize the game as basketball, but who cares? We laugh more than anything else and have a great deal of fun with the game.

Today at noon Bethany and I joined three other PCS teachers to play soccer against 5 PCS students. For awhile we held our own, and the score remained tied, but then the students began to dominate. We reshuffled teams after the score reached something like 12 - 4 and played until everyone felt too exhausted to move. By then it was almost time for me to go back home anyway for my appointment.

I have finally been to the dentist. Until today, I hadn't been to one for at least 6 years, and I was afraid to go after so long. However, since one of the uncles of a friend is a highly recommended dentist, I made the New Year's resolution to go. It took me almost two months, but finally Janelle, another PCS teacher, and I got together and taxied out to the dentist. The other PCS teacher went first, and I sat tense on the couch, trying to block out the awful whine of the machine - tooth cleaning? drilling? - I didn't know, but the sound is enough to make me want to run for the hills.

My turn came, and I reclined in the dental chair, mouth open, while the dentist poked around. I practically held my breath. How many cavities after so much time? All the negative anticipation for nothing praise God! No cavities and only a little cleaning necessary. My whole appointment probably lasted 20 minutes tops, and cost nothing, because this dentist works for free for friends, family, and people in ministry. Hallelujah!

One of the best parts of this whole thing is that my lesson planning is already done. Knowing I'd be spending time at the dentist, and not knowing how long the time would be, I stayed late Friday and completed next week's plans. Planning for Monday was easy, since it's the 100th day of school, and there are lots of good 100th day activities for 1st and 2nd graders.