Thankful Thursday

I don't want to say that today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, but if I said it wasn't, that would be a lie. Merciful heavens, what a mess of a day! I mean, the whole thing wasn't awful, but about 7 hours of it sure was. Good grief.

I got a jury summons yesterday (my first), scheduled for the day before Mom and I were planning to travel out of state. I'm so bogged down with end of the school year/moving classrooms stuff that I've been staying up late and getting up early, and I'm just dadgum tired. My students were off the CHAIN today. I lost it with them, which I try really hard not to do. Then I felt bad, so then I had to suck up my pride and apologize. I forgot about our guest speaker (who does that????), so I had to scrap my afternoon plans so she could do her presentation. I reserved the laptops for us this afternoon, only to find out that 4 of the 30 were working. Thankfully, Tami provided a quick fix but by then, I was done. D.O.N.E. I came home and promptly spilled an entire cup of water all over my mail. In my haste to mop up the water, I knocked over a brand new box of Cheez-Its, spilling half of them on my desperately-needs-to-be-vacuumed floor. Right now I'm trying to be really still and quiet, in the hope that I won't mess anything else up today.

Upon reading this, I've determined that I'm acting like a brat. These are all what I like to call "first world problems". Laptops don't work? Spilled my Cheez-Its? Boohoo. There are people all over the world who don't have shoes. Or clean water. Or food. Or homes. Or families. I need to get over myself.

Today I am thankful for...

• the grace, forgiveness, and never-ending patience of the good Lord...He gets to use all three with me on a very, very regular basis!
• my family and friends, who love me literally just the way I am
• this wonderful fella, who is celebrating 71 years of life today...I cannot even express how incredible I think he is and how much he is loved
• my health, and the health of my loved ones
• a positive post-op checkup for Daddy today...I'm glad he's healing up nicely
• my job, my wonderful coworkers, and the energetic little people I spend my days with...I can't believe those kiddos and I only have four more days together!
• four more school days
• students who are very eager and excited (and able) to help me pack up the classroom...sometimes it pays to teach fifth graders!
• a roof over my head, food in my fridge, clean running water, clothes in my closet, shoes on my feet, a car that carts me around, money in the bank, a brain that thinks and remembers, eyes that see, ears that hear, strong arms and legs and hands and feet
• four more school days
• some fun trips to look forward to this summer! Woohoo!
• great ideas for next school year already swirling around in my head
• a date Saturday to help Olivia pick a bridesmaid dress
• a nice breeze during my walk this evening
• my dishwasher and washing machine
• patience, and I hope to exhibit much more of it tomorrow
• peace and contentment
• the pep talk dear Kimberly gave me today
• getting to see a lovely rainbow this week
• a sweet hug from a student as she left today... I needed that
• the little robin I saw earlier with a worm dangling from her beak...such a good mama
• farmers market season coming up!
• hot showers and feeling clean
• my new Island Luau candle that makes my little home smell exactly like...you guessed it...an island luau
• some not too terribly hot weather to enjoy before the summertime sauna arrives
• the realization that this time next week, my fifth year of teaching will officially be in the history books
• getting in touch with nearly all of my cousins this week...love them
• Pandora radio
• sleep and the promise of a new day!
• four more school days

HAPPY WEEKEND, yall!