day 17

Tonight, I am thankful for both my sit down shower and my ice. It seems like odd things to be thankful for, but when you fall as much as I do, you need these things! Today, I actually managed to fall off of a sidewalk....yes folks, a sidewalk and hurt myself. I fell and scraped up my knee, but even worse, I hurt the foot that was already hurt. When I fell I felt a pop and it is swollen. Gonna try and stay off of it as much as possible this weekend, and then see what Justin says at physical therapy on Monday. Maybe my whole Thanksgiving Break is going to end up filled with dr. appointments! grrrrr! I think I am the person I know who gets hurt the most. I mean really, what college age kid falls off the side of a sidewalk and actually hurts themselves enough to debate going to get it checked out. the only thing stopping me is that if they find anything wrong with it, then they are going to want to fix it there (let it be with a brace or whatever) and I do not want anything done with that foot without Justin or Dr. Kuhn doing it! I feel like that is just asking for something to go wrong. At any rate, thsi thing won't let me put a picture in, and so I am going to head and take a shower and then go to bed with ice on my ankle. Hopefully the swelling will go down and I will be able to move my toes in the morning!

nailed it! day 16

Today, I am thankful for girls in my life to do Pintrest-esque projects with. I have a few different girls that I can do things with. Tonight, it happened to be Jen, Alex, and myself who decided to give our go at marble painted nails. To do this, contrary to the name, you do not use marbles! Anywho, to do this, you put a couple drops of two different colors of nail polish, and then you run a toothpick through them to make designs with them, and then you pick a design spot and put your nail down on it, count to ten or so, and then lift up the nail. Seems easy enough right? Do not let it deceive you.....it is NOT as easy at it sounds! It took Jen, Alex, and I like an hour and a half to get it to work! If nothing else, even had we not figured it out, the memories made were worth the experience alone. Seriously, more and more I am living by the philosophy that life is about laughing too much, taking too many pictures, and enjoying the moments spent making memories. I mean seriously though, who remembers what they did all those Friday nights they sat in their rooms and did homework? Not me! Nights like tonight though, I am going to remember long after my sides stop hurting from laughing so dang much. Best part of the evening=plans to do this one Friday or Saturday night a month. I am stoked! Absolutely can't wait! For now though, I am off to get in the shower and then take my medicine and head to bed!

day 15

I am thankful for the kiddos at my job. Actually, scratch that.....I am thankful for the kiddos that I teach. I mean seriously, I get the opportunity to do what I love everyday, and get college credit for it. No matter how my morning has gone, all it takes is those kiddos running up to hug me and tell me they miss me, and it makes my heart melt a little bit more and more each time. Then after spending a couple hours of the morning with these kiddos, I get to get in my car, and come back to the college for a bit, and then go spend a couple hours of my evening with another set of kiddos that make my heart smile! Tonight, I also got to have a Gatekeepers event, and so I got a triple helping of heart-smiling, laughing so hard it takes your breath away, mile long smiles, and heart melting fun tonight! It is these nights that this that are going to make me miss college!

I would also like to take this moment to say how thankful I am for the insightful conversation that took place in the hallway of an elementary school today! I was feeling a bit frazzled upon entering my first grade classroom to see that there was a substitute teacher. Last week when we had a substitute, it ended up being much more chaotic than it should have been, and the panic was written all over the subs face. In the end though, it worked out and the kids learned stuff. Anyway, when I got there, the sub told me that there was a change in plans, and that she was wanting me to meet with my group, but then also gave me a list of certain skills to go around and work with some of the other students on. I am a person that needs structure and order and time to prep, but at any rate, I did what I was told, met with my group, and then called individual students over to work with them on needed skills until it was time for me to leave. After I left and was on my way to observe a music class, he was walking back to the room and stopped me wanting to chat for a minute. As we stood in the hall and chatted, he told me that I had done a great job adapting to what I was told to do, even with no prep time. This was great news to me to hear, because I had thought I was doing horrible. He also told me that seeing that I had that skill, made him feel that I was going to be an excellent teacher, and that in the short time I have been there, seeing that I have won over the hearts of the students, just solidified this thought in his mind. It was such an encouragement boost for me, especially after getting an evaluation this week from my teacher (the one at the college, not the one whose classroom I am in), that made my heart sink. It made me really question whether or not I was going into the right field. However, in that hallway today, this total stranger made me completely convinced that I was on the right track! So stranger out there, if you ever read this, thank you! I am sure somewhere in our convo we exchanged names, but I am unable to place a name right now!

Words of Wisdom: "Mistakes are part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are. They are precious life lessons that could only be learned the hard way." ~Al Franken

day 14

I am thankful for the organizing bug I seemed to catch in a major way this week. I organized my desk, my shelves, and even under my bed. Stuff was still a bit unorganized from moving, and I also went through and organized my binders for classes. It definitely helped to take my stress level WAY down! At any rate! I am headed to bed and apologizing for this short, sweet, and straight to the point post......and the lack of pictures.....blogger seems to be having an attitude with picture uploading for me lately!

the little things: day 13

Today, I was reminded of just how much God takes care of me. Right down to the smallest of details. Yesterday, I woke up with a headache of the worst kind, and I couldn't really take anything for it. I had my pain medicine, and I had taken that to help with the ankle, and that wasn't cutting it, so I took the only other thing I could, and that was Tylenol. That didn't touch it, and so I was stuck with this thing.....through my morning class.....through teaching in the morning......through a music observation on instruments.....through my afternoon class.....and then I tried taking a nap with an ice pack on my head.....no such luck......and I was stuck with this ridiculous thing through work. I came back from work and tried going to dinner and eating something, which at this point was an accomplishment because I was nauseous, and through the whole dinner, I kept praying that I would feel better so I could stay up and get some homework done, and that way I would stress a little less! Shortly after dinner, I started to feel better, and I even joined my friends for a friendly board game in the lobby before retreating to work on homework. That was little ways God takes care of me-moment 1!

My God-moment number 2 came this morning right when I got up actually. I was staring at my closet, and I realized that I have cute clothes, but absolutely no ability to put them together in a cute way! Anywho, I was feeling particularly challenged this morning, and so I checked my phone to see about the time (I was going to go get a friend to help me figure out what to wear). and I saw I had a message, and I opened it, and it was from a friend of mine and it said "I haven't told you this in awhile, and I just wanted to remind you that you are beautiful!" not only did this message come through at the exact right time, but this particular friend remembered the heart melting that came with being called beautiful over hot or sexy, because I feel like it implies both inner and outer beauty, not just surface beauty.....I know, I look too much into a compliment sometimes, but hey!, it is a part of my personality that will never change. I eventually settled on an outfit not long after that, and got a lot of compliments from my first graders. This is the closet I was looking at this morning, wishing so hard that my sister were here to help me put these clothes together in something that makes me look professional, as well as still having some sense of identity. My typical problem is that I tend to put outfits together the exact same way every time, and so I have outfits, they just do not vary, and so I am constantly getting looks like people think I have already worn that outfit recently. I do not like the looks, and so I am working on putting outfits together differently! When I started to worry about my hair, I kid you not...the song More Beautiful You came on my Spotify. I love that I serve a God who knows exactly what my heart needs, when it needs it.

My God-moment number 3 came actually about five minutes before I started typing this post. I have really been missing home and such, and right before I started to write this post, I decided that since I had a few minutes, I would put the pics from my camera on my computer and on Facebook. I knew that the pictures of Isaac's birthday party were on there, but I did not realize that those and the pictures I took of my dorm room today were the only ones on there. I was greeted my the sight of my nephew at his birthday party. Again, what a God-send to get me through until Thanksgiving! I love my Lord and the moments He provides me with to be reminded of His grace and His love, and His ability to know EXACTLY what I need, and to know EXACTLY when I need it!

In CRU tonight, we were talking about our identity in Christ, and we listened to the song "You Are More" by Tenth Avenue North. I encourage you all to listen to it.....even if you have before. Anywho, in listening to that song, I was reminded of a truth that I often forget, and this is where our Words of Wisdom come from this evening. The chorus of the song contains the following lyrics and I can feel my heart become less heavy every single time I hear it: "You are more than the choices that you've made. You are more than the sum of your past mistakes. You are more than the problems you create. You've been remade!" ~Tenth Avenue North (You Are More) Such an encouraging promise that we are told by Christ. Anyway, I recommend watching the video too. It is very simple, yet powerful!

day 12

It seems like a stupid thing to be thankful for, but today I am thankful for my brace, my medicine, and my orthodics. I mean, each of these things right now are crucial to getting me better, and I cannot wait for that day. Today was especially tough because I woke up with my ankle hurting very badly, and so I put on my brace, walked down to the RFAC and headed out to teach. When I got back, I wore my orthodics to work after my nap. None of these one things seems to be the answer to my problems right now, but when used at the proper time, each can offer a degree of support and help. I know the orthodics are just something I am going to have to get used to.....since I will be wearing them for a long time. In the meantime, I have my brace and I have my medicine for those days when nothing else will really cut it. At any rate, getting better in the near future would be the most desirable option! :)

Words of Wisdom: "I will walk by faith, even when I cannot see, because this broken road prepares [His] will for me!" ~Jeremy Camp (Walk by Faith)

day 11

Today, you get two thankfulness posts in one! It is your lucky day! First, I am thankful that God allowed me to be in that hospital exactly two years ago. That night was rough, but something SOOOO great came from it! I cannot imagine life without Isaac! I wrote about him a few days ago, so I will save you all the reading!

The second thing that I am thankful for is our nation's military. I come from a long line of military men and women, and I cannot even begin to express the gratitude for the sacrifices that they make! I mean, I know it was hard enough for our family with the sacrifices that we had to make for being a family with a member in the military!

Finally, your Words of Wisdom for this evening: "Life's about hanging on when your heart has had enough, it's about giving more when you feel like giving up!" ~Martina McBride (In My Daughter's Eyes)