Oh, July...

July is always a busy month, and this is no exception...already we've celebrated my brother's birthday, seen a movie in the theater (a real treat for us!), traveled to and from Chicago for Emilie's graduation party, rushed home to teach our first primary lesson in almost a month, and cleaned (almost) the entire house from top to bottom since returning from out vacation. I went to Tropicanoe Cove with my mom and sister to beat the heat during the heat wave, and have actually been swimming and taking Obi for walks almost every day (no small feat considering the immense physical pain I've been in the last few weeks!). We did some family history, especially adding several names on Paul's side of the family (those Filipino histories are apparently hard to come by!). Tonight is our weekly family dinner with my mom, but even though Paul picked up an extra shift so he can't make it, my sister and her boyfriend and daughter will be there!!! They moved back to Indiana on the 3rd, so now we're only about an hour and a half or so away!!! I'M SO EXCITED! I love my sisters like nobody's business, and I especially love my niece like crazy. To have them NOT in North Carolina anymore is way exciting news for all of us. All this and we're only just over a week into the month! Here are some of the things I'm looking forward to later in July:

Tomorrow: My little brother Lukey's baptism!!! The last sibling to do so! And I still have to practice the piano for it. :)

July 17: CPR/First Aid certification training all day...okay, not too excited about an 8-5 shift of learning this stuff, but it's important, and after I get my stamp of approval I can finally get my teaching license!!! Then, of course, I have to look for a job in a place that just laid off over 800 teachers...so we'll see how useful this diploma I have here actually is...

Sometime around July 22-23: Kidnapping Emilie and getting started on our "bucket list" of crafts and fun! We LOVE having her with us!

July 24: Christmas in July party! Even though almost no one will be there, the friends that WILL will make it a fun event!

July 28: Charissa's birthday! We're hopefully going to the Dunes sometime around then...and Paul and I got her one of the coolest birthday gifts ever...I can't wait to see how she likes it!

Of course, there are all the daily little things I DON'T look forward to that fill up the days in between...like cleaning, constantly fighting my body for dominance, arguing with companies over our bills, worrying about jobs and my portfolio and Paul's schooling, being sad about still not being pregnant, missing Ya-Yas, dealing with the usual family drama, and being generally bored during the week...but who wants to dwell on THAT when I can look forward to fun things instead? :) I'm also hoping to finally have some people over this summer, especially other young couples who like to be fed, so let me know if you'd be interested in a Friday night dinner/family fun night with me and Paul, our treat! P.S. that goes for our single friends, too. :)