Thankful Thursday

This has been another tough week, but today was spectacular. I so, SO needed a good day, and today was that day. I am truly blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

Today I am thankful for...

• the good Lord, and the fact that He loves me 110% of the time
• my family and friends
• the fact that my close friends truly are some of the loves of my life...so blessed to have them
• my health, and the health of my loved ones
• a roof over my head, clean running water, food in my fridge, shoes on my feet, clothes in my closet, a dependable car, my phone, my computer, the appliances and gadgets and doodads that make my life easier
• my washer and dryer
• my job, my sweet coworkers, and my 27 schoolbabies who made me smile so big today
• my wonderful teammate Sarah and the news that her kidney transplant surgery is a success...please pray that Sarah's father-in-law can tolerate her kidney and that they both recover quickly
• the fact that, Lord willing, my dear Laura Allyson and Randolph will be parents tomorrow...literally can't wait to see pictures of little Allie Grace!
• enough money to take care of my needs, and some big changes in how I choose to spend what's left over
• a fun girls night out at the Alabama Theatre with Kira and Byrne last Saturday
• the serious attitude adjustment God gave me today...much-needed
• getting to see so many of my former students today...the biggest surprise was the sweet, beautiful former-3rd-graders-now-9th-graders who showed up at my classroom door this afternoon...I love getting to see how my old students are doing!
• a hilarious, highly successful auction with my class this afternoon...they're buying items with the "money" that they've earned this semester doing their classroom jobs...getting a glimpse of their buying skills/money sense put a huge smile on my face
• the fact that my students LOVED their whiteboards and hot chocolate today...I'm glad they were so excited about their present from me
• the gorgeous sunset this evening...I wish Sears wasn't all up in my picture, but such is life
• 
• a wonderful class Christmas party on Tuesday
• an early dismissal day tomorrow :)
• pretty new nail polish from Angie...planning to paint my nails as soon as I'm done writing this
• thoughtful gifts from students and their parents, and a very unexpected (& totally appreciated!) gift from Randy today...I love my 5th grade team
• some great talks with Mom this week
• the opportunity to serve coffee at four Christmas services...I'm loving my new "job"
• being literate, a great meeting with Mr. L. this week, and the opportunity to surprise my friends there with homemade peppermint bark
• the Christmas music CDs that Mr. L. and my fellow tutor Ross made for me...Mr. L.'s CD is titled "Black Christmas" and I'm not sure that I've ever smiled so much about a CD :)
• Christmas music on Pandora...Celtic Holidays has been rocking my world lately
• my near-daily texts with Carrie...even though I see her every day, her texts always make me smile...she's hilarious
• great music that makes me look forward to my jogs...I'm not going to admit how many times I listened to this one during my workout yesterday
  
• a nice break from work RIGHT around the corner :)
• new traditions
• fun goodies from my Secret Santa...Penny, thanks bunches for taking such good care of me! Love you!
• my essential oils...thanks again, Emily!
• the new opportunities that 2014 is bringing
• weather that's my kind of cold...cool enough during the day for long sleeves, and cold enough at night for flannel PJs...any colder than that isn't really necessary, thanks
• hope 
• peace and contentment

HAPPY WEEKEND, yall!