Surprise!

SURPRISE!!! Yes, that is me with my hair chopped off, and I love it. It was sad and a bit nervewrecking to say goodbye to my long hair that I had worked so hard to grow, but I needed a change. The decision was tough, but once the appointment was made I was so ready for it! Plus, it turned out that my hairstylist was from Eagle River...so it's a pretty small world.

Today was also our first day with the GUTS! group at Washington Middle School. It's run through the Flagship Program, which is an after-school program in all the Missoula schools...it's amazing and super well-run. (Manitowoc needs one!!!). We had almost twenty girls sign up for the group, so some had to go on the waiting list, but we started the day with fourteen girls. They are sixth-eighth grade and, honestly, just awesome young women. They seem energetic, talkative, willing to try new things, creative, responsible, etc. Some of the ideas of activities that they wanted to do were rock-climbing, ice skating, skateboarding, making food, etc. So great. We started the year off right, and hopefully it continues! One thing happened that reminded me why I love working with kids so much. We were discussing guidelines of the group, in which we used the acronym "HER LAW"....Honesty, Equality, Respect, Love & Kindness, Accountability, Willing to try and to learn". Anyways, we were discussing the "Love and Kindness" portion and had already gotten to a pretty solid understanding of what kindness meant. In discussing love, one young gal mentioned, "It's what adults can make." Kim looked a bit confused for a little while, until she glanced at Willa and I. I jumped in with a, "Yes, you're right - adults can make love. But that's not the type of love we are talking about right now." Nice. Gotta love kids.

Also, (cross your fingers) the grant may be (hopefully) officially out of my lap now (we'll see). The group finished up their work last Thursday after editing extensively, so this was good. Little did I know that I would be dedicating roughly twenty hours past this to get the grant finished! From putting the appendices together to changing the formatting to filling out the electronic submission forms, it seems to never end. I just got off the phone with my professor, and (I think) I'm done. Let's hope. Tomorrow is the last day for submission - and it is out of my hands and into a University official's hands....he better get this done, or he may have several angry people picketting his office!

Tonight, Laura and I are going to watch Born Into Brothels, which is a documentary about several children who grew up in brothels in India. The creator of the piece teaches the kids how to use cameras in order to show the world through their eyes. It is an amazing movie, and I seriously recommend that you see it.

Peace,