Redirecting My Focus

The last few weeks have been, to say the least, overwhelming and exhausting. I’ve never been thrown so outside of my comfort zone and so consumed by a to do list that is never ending. I’ve been living at school (15 hours a day has pretty much been the norm). When I’m at home my focus has been nothing but school stuff- everything I still need to do, what I need to do to improve, etc. I could go on, but I need to stop and say that despite how everything I just mentioned sounds, I have been enjoying (almost) every minute of it. I am incredible grateful God put me here and I’m getting to do what I’ve waited so long to do.

But because some things have started to get to me, and I’ve been pretty hard on myself about them, I’ve found it imperative to focus on the blessings that God has surrounded me with. I hate to say it, but because I’ve been so wrapped up in starting off the school year I’ve accidentally turned my focus away from God. And try as I may, there is no way to even attempt to justify that. In a time of my life that I need God most- to give me guidance and patience in particular- I’ve hardly even acknowledged him. I could go on about this, and who knows, it might be a new post soon, but I’m already rambling more than I intended. The purpose of this post was to share the blessings & praises of current. Some are very random, simple pleasures. But I am very thankful for each of them!

So here, in very random order, are my current praises:

• Beginning my career….a career of which I’ve waited A LONG time for!
• Expecting 2 new nieces/nephews in the next few months (Stephanie- it better be a niece from you!)….fun fact- this will give me a total of 12 nieces and nephews, crazy!
• Amazing friends- who despite blowing them off and being a terrible friend and all around person the last couple months, they don’t seem to mind.
• 27 kiddos in KidsCo. today!
• Sunday afternoon nap….although I have lots to do, it was very peaceful and very much needed
• Getting to sit in on service today…something my spirit really needed. Good message Chris!
• Seeing the family of one of the girls I taught last year continue to come to Life Co…and get involved (her mom signed up for a community group!!)
• 2.5 weeks of a ridiculous amount of testing is finally OVER for my first graders.
• Freshly prepared sweet tea that I’m about to go enjoy
• Being with Johnny right after he woke up from his nap, I miss the cuddly times with that boy!
• Car rides to school (starting this week) catching up on Jason’s messages from Life Co. Thank goodness for iTunes!
• The Office DVDs…I’ve been playing them on my computer while I’m working late in my classroom
• Making time to go to 24 Hour tonight (after 1st Sundays)…for the first time in way to long!
• Chipotle for lunch
• Last, but not least, after 2 weeks of testing had already passed and my kiddos were all bored and tired, one boy walked up to me, gave me a hug and said “You are my favorite teacher ever.” Pretty awesome feeling to have that said..especially after all the testing I’ve been putting them through.