Shout out to Dad

My dad might be the most patient person on earth. My mom definitely gives him a run for the money, though. Anyways, Dad is the king of lists, which might be one reason why I love reading and making them so much myself. He inspires me. He is quite definitely also the reason I fell in love with the English language, with the written word, with the art of teaching. My dad is a lawyer, but he could easily be an English teacher if he wanted--and a darn good one at that. He loves literature and he loves people (and I am convinced that simple combination is a lot of what it ultimately takes to be an inspiring English teacher). Dad often sends me and Clay fun lists of his "favorites"--favorite movies, favorite books, favorite quotes, etc.

Over the next few days, I will be posting some of our favorites, starting with Clay's favorite poems. Thanks for inspiring us, Dad.

Meditation at Lagunitas
by Robert Hass

All the new thinking is about loss.
In this it resembles all the old thinking.
The idea, for example, that each particular erases
the luminous clarity of a general idea. That the clown-
faced woodpecker probing the dead sculpted trunk
of that black birch is, by his presence,
some tragic falling off from a first world
of undivided light. Or the other notion that,
because there is in this world no one thing
to which the bramble of blackberry corresponds,
a word is elegy to what it signifies.
We talked about it late last night and in the voice
of my friend, there was a thin wire of grief, a tone
almost querulous. After a while I understood that,
talking this way, everything dissolves: justice,
pine, hair, woman, you and I. There was a woman
I made love to and I remembered how, holding
her small shoulders in my hands sometimes,
I felt a violent wonder at her presence
like a thirst for salt, for my childhood river
with its island willows, silly music from the pleasure boat,
muddy places where we caught the little orange-silver fish
called pumpkinseed. It hardly had to do with her.
Longing, we say, because desire is full
of endless distances. I must have been the same to her.
But I remember so much, the way her hands dismantled bread,
the thing her father said that hurt her, what
she dreamed. There are moments when the body is as numinous
as words, days that are the good flesh continuing.
Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings,
saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry.

25 Random Things...

As many of you know, there is this new phenomenon sweeping Facebook called "25 Random Things." Basically, people are encouraged to write and post 25 Random Things (makes sense, huh?) about themselves and then tag 25 people, who will then read them and hopefully write their own. So in the spirit of fun lists (which I LOVE), here are 25 Things about life in Chattaboogie since our last post:

1. Today is Catherine Grace's birthday--Happy Birthday!

2. Tonight we went over to our friend Kat and Nate's house for dinner. I was reminded how much dinner at someone's home, a good glass of wine, and laughter can make me feel so relaxed and content. Oh yeah, it helps when the host is a chef, too.

3. We had Clay's advisees over to make chili for a Chili-Cook-Off between all of the advisee groups on Campus. Our boys came in 5th out of 10. Not bad...but we already have our sights on next year.

4. We love Mad Men. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" was funny but also pretty forgettable.

5. Camden ate earphones #4. Sara got mad. Camden looked cute. Sara forgot about the earphones.

6. I decided I want to needlepoint something this year.

7. Our Sunday School Class is going really well so far this semester! Let's pray that it holds on over the next 12 or so weeks. Tomorrow's theme is "Listening and Contemplation." I have been trying to listen to my own voice a little more this week, the voices of my students, and the voice of God. Reading Frederick Buechner's work has helped direct my reflections. Am I feeling especially inspired and faithful lately? No. I love our Sunday School class and our church, but I am not sure if I am being challenged and guided spiritually in a way that guides my thoughts and actions. But at the same time, I am constantly reminded that it is not all about me and what I need. So I am trying to read and pray more on my own, listen more if you will. Check out Buechner here: http://http://www.amazon.com/Listening-Your-Life-Meditations-Frederick/dp/0060698640/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233469672&sr=8-2

8. My students are now writing Inauguration Poems--and they are pretty good. I will post a few in my next post. It is pretty neat to see what they would say about this moment that we are living in today. They also wrote letters to Obama. They were also good, but perhaps not as good as the ones in here: http://www.amazon.com/Thanks-Have-Fun-Running-Country/dp/1934781576/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233467738&sr=8-1

9. One last entry about books: Ernest Hemingway once said that his best story was told in only 6 words: "For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn." Sad. There are a couple new books out that challenge people to write their own six word stories: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061713716/ref=s9_subs_c2_s1_p14_t2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=04DGQRBJBQ21P2HAR9N9&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=463383371&pf_rd_i=507846

10. Heard poet Billy Collins last week. Funny funny guy. And an impressive poet.

11. Volunteered at the Community Kitchen this morning--and moved over 500 (literally) 12-packs of Tropicana Grape Juice. A few burst. I don't really want to drink "Chemical Grape" ever. Yuck.

12. Bought tickets to CALIFORNIA to see Mary and Jamie!!! AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!!! We can't wait to hang out with them, see their new digs (although not really new to them anymore), and tour some vineyards. How many more days until Spring Break?

13. Lots of running. Some yoga. Always wish there was more yoga.

14. Clay and I had lots of QT with our dentist this week. Sara=6 cavities filled (??). Clay=needs impact on front tooth to the sound of $4000. I hate going to the dentist.

15. Made several more batches of granola bars. I am addicted. Let me know if you want the recipe.

16. Baked a Super Bowl Football Stadium cake for our Super Bowl get together with friends tomorrow night. Thank you, Gege, for that wedding gift!

17. Ali is coming to visit this weekend! Wahoo!

18. Soccer for Clay starts on Monday--the joy of relaxing afternoons is replaced by practice for the next few months. Track starts for me first week of March.

19. My parents (and the rest of Kentucky) got hit with a major ice storm, knocking out their power this week. Thankfully, their power came back on within 24 hours, but many people aren't as lucky...stay warm, Kentucky.

20. Lashelle Chappell gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy! Hayston Davis Chappell. Awesome. Check out her photography blog for photos: http://www.lashellechappellphotography.blogspot.com/

21. Only one more week until Winterim 2009...theoretically our Winter Break, but somehow that means Sara travels to Sharp Top (a Young Life camp) with 15 8th graders for 48 hours while Clay gets to stay at home. Hmmm...

22. Graded a LOT of papers this week. That's the main reason the blog has been neglected for the past 10 days. Sorry, team.

23. Didn't take a whole lot of pictures. Correction. Didn't take ANY pictures. Sara resolves to take more pictures.

24. Found and bought $15 green high heels on the sale rack today while shopping for new black heels (Camden continues to destroy my shoe collection, when they are placed up high. He is now climbing on top of major furniture. No joke. Our beagle puppy is an acrobat.) I was inspired by Michelle Obama.

25. Felt blessed at multiple times these past few days to have such sweet friends and family in my life.

America's Song

Free Download until 5 p.m. on Thursday! Check it out: http://www.oprah.com/article/world/peopleandpolitics/pkginauguration/20090119_tows_americassong

INSPIRED

Ok, I won't write a long one here because I don't want to be overly political, but man, after yesterday and today, I can't help but respond. I have so much faith in America today. Faith in Obama, yes, but also tremendous faith in the goodness and hope and vision and potential for all Americans to achieve their worthy dreams and create a future for our children that is solid and bright and empowering. I have been teaching rhetoric and poetry lately, so the inauguration festivities fit perfectly into my lesson plans--and after watching the ceremonies today, my students and I looked more closely at Obama's speech and Elizabeth Alexander's poem, as well as the 3 (4 if you count "Dedication") previous inaugural poems. Something about studying just a couple elements of this historic day and these traditions makes me a bit sentimental--and proud. We are lucky to live in this fine country.

As I begin to study "Gratitude," the theme for our Sunday School class this week, I can't help feeling today an immense amount of gratitude for all of the people, past and present, who have brought us to this historic, exciting day. There certainly is work to be done--and I am excited to do it!

A New Respect for Single Parents

I don't know how they do it. Wow. Clay has been out of town since Wednesday at a soccer conference in St. Louis (where is it seriously 0 degrees--yowzers!), so I have been on Cam-dawg duty. Who knew a beagle puppy could be so high maintenance--and such a comforting companion. Here he is looking for Clay out our living room window :-). We both miss Clay. It is just not nearly as much fun without him!

After a Wednesday night filled with chasing Camden around the dining room table after yet another shoe or trying to get him off of the couch for the fiftieth time, I decided Thursday that I would skip exercise and spend some quality time with our puppy instead. Maybe it was Marley and Me that reminded me of what gifts our pets are in our lives. So I came home to a sweet Camden who had been cooped up all day, took him on a long (and frigid! Brr!) walk around campus, and then loaded him in the car for a field trip. Yup, we were off to Aunt Sue's K-9 Bakery. He flipped he loved it so much. One half of the store is literally a kitchen in which "Aunt Sue" bakes treats for dogs all day--and Camden definitely got his fill that afternoon. After selecting a bag of homemade goodies and a new bone, we were off to visit his vet for some new food and then home for more play time. What a difference it made that night. He was an angel, so happy and eager to curl up with me as I worked and read in our quiet apartment. I know most people love their dogs and think they are the best (as they should), but man, the past few days make me wonder if we didn't totally luck out by somehow bringing home the cutest, sweetest dog alive.

Clay comes home tomorrow night, and we can't wait. It's amazing how long 5 days can feel when you are used to seeing your love every night. But he is having a good time with the thousands of other high school soccer coaches at this conference and learning more about the game, so it was a good one for him to attend.

Tonight I head back to school for a lock-in with the 10th graders from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., so Camden will hopefully hang tight and not bark too much without the two of us for 11 hours (sweet Ashley is checking in on him, so he's not totally being abandoned!). It will be a night full of Dance!Dance!Revolution, Guitar Hero, movies, relay races, ice cream, board games, and swimming. The girls are adorable and fun, and the three other chaperones are also fantastic, so it should be a lot of fun. It's just too frickin' cold for Ashley and I to do our usual Saturday morning run together tomorrow, so we will be P90X-ing it instead on the big screen TV in her dorm. Awesome! A little more baking (I am making granola bars like it is my job), perhaps a bit more of a workout at the Sports Barn, and some quality time planning for classes and reading on the couch tomorrow is my plan until Clay comes home. And then, life will be better once again.

Happy weekend, everyone!

A Few of My Favorite Things--Just This Week!

My students are currently working on writing (and recording) their own "This I Believe" statement to be shared with their peers and submitted to NPR. Let's cross our fingers at least one of my girls makes it on the radio or website!

I cried cried cried. If you have ever loved a dog, you need to go see this movie. Loved it.

In the midst of high-energy, full of interaction days, there is just something soothing and illuminating about yoga.

This is the latest on our Netflix queue, and two nights of duty this weekend enabled us to really get into it. I have to admit, though, this show makes me glad I wasn't a working woman in the 60's.

My Mom's pumpkin bread. It doesn't come much better than this, folks. Our Sunday School class savored the final bites from the Christmas installment she sent home with us. Our class also enjoyed the yummy wheat bread I baked from scratch with Erin this weekend!

Books 1 and 2

Hooray! My new year's resolutions are off to an exciting start! I watched Suze Orman on Oprah today while I was at the gym and thus got my financial lesson for the day (by the way, you can download her Action Plan for 2009 book for FREE this week on Oprah's website! This is the second time these two go-get-em women had tag-teamed to give one of her books away for free and I loved the first one, so download, here we come...). The more I learn about managing money, the more I want to know. It's fascinating. And while Clay nor I may ever make millions of dollars in the lucrative field of education, we CAN be smart about what we do with it. Saving is the name of our game right now, friends.

I am also reading up a storm. In an effort to learn more about our new President before his inauguration, my first book of the year was Obama's Audacity of Hope. I don't want to get too political here, but reading his book made me have even more confidence in his intregity, vision, and understanding of what needs to be done for the good of America. It also gave a very real account of the challenges he and Michelle constantly navigate in their marriage and family life. She seems to definitely keep him in check, reminding him that his work in government is important but so are his roles as a husband and a father. He admits finding the balance between these two main responsibilities in his life (public figure and family man) is extremely difficult and potentially impossible to ever be satisfactory, but he tries to remain mindful that the fact he has two such weighty parts of his life also makes his extremely fortunate. His book is divided into thematic sections such as "Opportunity," "What Makes the World Go Around," and "Race, " so it is an easy one to pick up, read, and then put back down again without being totally lost upon your return. That said, I read it pretty quickly--I didn't want to put it down.

My second read of the year was a book that my kind, thoughtful in-laws (by the way, I hate that term--feels so cold), Pat and Kay, gave me for my birthday: Bill Bryson's Shakespeare: The World as Stage. Talk about a perfect present-this is a concise, accurate, thoughtful overview of Shakespeare's life and work that enabled me to quickly and enjoyably prepare to teach Macbeth to my 10th graders this quarter. What I didn't know is that this text is part of a series called "Eminent Lives" in which well-known and reputable authors write short biographies on "great figures." Others in the series include Francine Prose on Caravaggio and Christopher Hitchens on Thomas Jefferson. I made tons of notes as I read--this work seemed to synthesize a lot of what I had previously read about Shakespeare with new insights and a very readable, storytelling style. Perhaps what I liked most about it was how it began: "He is at once one of the best known and least known of figures." Ah, if only we knew why he left Anne Hathaway with his "second-best bed." I guess it will always be a mystery!

What am I reading now? A book my friend, Kat, lent me called While I Was Gone. Perfect; I was in the mood for a little fiction :-). If you have any book recommendations at any time this year, I would love to hear them!

Chicago!

Early Saturday morning, Clay and I drove to the Chattanooga airport and hopped on the first (and let's be honest--probably ONLY) flight to the Windy City for Blair and Jurgen's wedding. Before we knew it, we were walking around downtown Chicago at 7:45 a.m. looking for fun.

Since nothing opened until 9 a.m., we window shopped along Michigan Avenue until we could go to the top of the John Hancock Building to see a panoramic view of the city. We LOVE Chicago! What a beautiful, fun city. As we listened on our interactive media headsets to David Schwimmer "tour" us around "his" city, we couldn't help but marvel at Lake Michigan, the Navy Pier, and Chicago Tribune building. While we wish we had more time to really get to know the city, standing on the 94th floor of the third tallest building in Chicago (and fifth in the U.S.) gave us a pretty cool sense of how broad and dynamic it is.

After grabbing brunch at the yummy Grand Lux Cafe with my sister, Brittany, and hitting up Crate and Barrel's sales and Anthropologie (LOVE this store!!), Clay and I headed back to the hotel for a glorious nap before Blair and Jurgen's wedding....which was beautiful! Blair, our family's dear friend ever since birth (our moms were in each other's weddings) looked radiant and she and Jurgen looked so happy. She has been keeping an excellent "Wedding Blurg" about her experiences as a bride-to-be--check it out to the right if you want to see pictures of the cute couple. From the instant photo booth to the delicious food stations around the room to seeing my sister as the Maid of Honor for the second time, we loved loved loved being a part of their thoughtful celebration. Congrats Blair and Jurgen!

Having fun at the reception

Look at that cute fam!

Brittany, me, Clay, and Mom

Brittany giving her awesome toast to Blurg

What a cute couple they are! Love the dress!

At the next-day brunch before we all said goodbye

Okay, now it's back to reality: Clay has an inservice tomorrow and I luckily have one more day to prep for classes, but then its full speed ahead as we jump into Semester #2. It's been a restful, love-filled, enjoyable break, though--we are pretty lucky.

New Year's Resolutions

"I wish for those I love this new year an opportunity to earn sufficiently, to have that which they need for their own and to give that which they desire to others, ot bring into the lives of those about them some measure of joy, to know the satisfaction of work well done,

of recreation earned and therefore savored, to end the year a little wiser,

a little kinder and therefore a little happier."

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

You would think that working at a gym for several years in high school would turn me off of new year's resolutions, but there is something about the start of a new year and time to reflect that always makes me excited to consider the possibilities for a new year. As a person who loves to write lists and set goals, resolutions are right up my alley.

Every year I outline just a couple key goals for the year. Last year's included running a marathon, starting a blog, and immersing myself in as much Shakespeare as possible when in Oxford finishing my degree. 2008 was a great, great year. We moved into the dorm, Clay and I traveled abroad for the first time, we got Camden :-)...great stuff. But I have noticed that I was constantly in a state of movement, of trying to do 10 things at once. I think I actually like life that way, but one significant activity kept being pushed to the side: reading. As an English teacher, I need to read. And aside from the 11 Shakespeare plays I read this summer at school, I haven't been reading thoughtfully or regularly. I even dropped out of my book club because I was embarrassed at how little I was reading. So after some thought and several lists, here are my goals for 2009:

1. 2009 is the year of the BOOK. There are probably hundreds of books on our bookshelves that I yet to read. I am focusing on them. I want to read the books we already own and that promise numerous lessons within their pages. I'll keep you updated.

2. 2009 is the year of FINANCIAL SAVVY. I already am a bit obsessed with this, but I want to push myself to find new ways of saving and spending wisely and intentionally.

3. As always, I want to write more letters.

That's it! I have a feeling these will keep me pretty busy. If you are making resolutions, I would love to hear what they are! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

The Blog Book

I don't know why this is loading vertically, but you can get the idea...it is a blog book. My amazing sister turned my "Mind the Gap" blog into a coffee table book using http://www.blurb.com/
Unfortunately, Blurb no longer downloads from Blogger (I think they are trying to fix it, however), but my sister was thinking WAY ahead and downloaded our blog back in September when the two sites were still compatible. All of you with blogs out there should check out this site--you can design the most beautiful scrapbooks, cookbooks, blogbooks, etc.! Thank you SO much, Brittany, for this super special gift!!!

Christmas Joy!

Liz, Jesse, Sara, and Clay at the UK-Tennessee State Game the first night we were in Kentucky. Notice Liz's fun UK Santa Hat--she should have made it onto the Santa Cam!
The cheerleaders had a lot to cheer about--UK won 102-58!

The beautiful tree COVERED with presents. Santa did in fact arrive!

The stockings--note the one for Camden on the far right :-)

Camden has increasingly liked to "cuddle" with us when we read or watch movies on the couch...he might have driven Max and Maggie crazy, but he sure is cute sometimes!

One of my favorite times is Dec. 27th--my Dad's birthday! It is traditionally the day when my entire family gets together, and we always have so much fun not only celebrating Dad's b-day but also catching up and continuing the holiday funness. It is a special day for our family. Here are Dad and Brittany blowing out the candles on the homemade carrot cake--my mom makes the best carrot cake in the world!

My sweet grandmother, Nonna, in the middle of one of her stories. This time she was telling us about how our grandfather, Walt, was "different" from all of the other boys she dated...in a good way :-)

It was a WONDERFUL Christmas at home in Louisville this year--thanks for everything, Mom, Dad, Brittany, and Gege! We cherish our time with you always!! Miss you already!

WE ARE DONE!!!

Happy Holidays, friends! We are officially on Winter Break and couldn't be more excited about it! It has been a whirlwind of a week between administering exams, grading exams, two school Christmas parties, and some final Christmas shopping (did I say final? Hmm...I have a feeling I will still be keeping my eyes open until the stores close on Christmas Eve :-). We love this time of year.

We head to Louisville to see my family tomorrow--be back with the blog upon our return! Good times to come--New Year's Resolutions (I love them!) and surely lots of pics from Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, Clay and I exchanged this morning because my gift was non-transportable. Clay wrote me a sonnet (it's becoming a tradition--I cherish it) and gave me dance lessons (yee-haw!) and I refashioned his work desk, decopaging (sp?) his favorite poems on its surface as inspirtation for his own writing. A little Panera bread, hummus, and a hike with Camdawg rounded out our sweet, sweet Sunday!

Here are some (funny) highlights from this week:

Clay's desk

Nick, Ashley, Erin, Sara, and Clay at the M faculty "Vintage Christmas Party." We are all a little tired from grading non-stop...can you tell?


I'm not sure what is going on here. I think someone told me to "be a tree." Like my dress? I bet the Goodwill closest to you has another one--just $4.99. A steal, huh? WOW. Remember, it was a Vintage Christmas Party.

Again, not sure....

This is me and my new good friend, Kat--at the Division I AA Football Championships in Chattanooga last Friday night. How did we get tickets to the showdown between the Montana "Grizz" and the Richmond Spiders? Well, Kat is big time. I feel lucky to know her (seriously). We had a blast--and the Spiders won! Go Virginia team!

Signs of VACATION!! We took Cam-dawg for a hike at Cloudland Canyon Park today in an effort to get outside after what has seemed like weeks and weeks of rain. We had fun the first couple hours of the hike...and then it got plain cold. Clay and Camden still had a blast, but Sara Jenney was pretty darn excited to get back to the warm car and even warmer home.

Pretty incredible waterfall. Like Clay's beard? It definitely kept him warm today! :-)

This was before it got cold...

WOW! WE ARE ON CHRISTMAS BREAK!! WAHOO!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Cookies are EVERYWHERE! Have we ever told you about the insane deal that our school parents give us every holiday season? As a treat for the teachers, all of the parents of students at the "G" bake bake bake so that we can come to school one day, receive a bag, and be told to pick out "48 of our favorite cookies" from the loooooong table of homemade baked goods in our theatre. It's crazy. The funny thing is that the very next week, the parents of students at the "M" (what we are calling our schools so that our blog doesn't come up when our schools are Googled) do the EXACT SAME THING. What does that mean? Yes, 100 frickin' cookies in our apartment. GET THEM OUT or I will eat them all! So...what do we do? We feed Clay's advisees, we host a dinner party, we hand them our to our students...and we might just freeze one or two as a treat for later. Gotta love Christmas time!

So...this week has been busy with lots of grading and exam preparation, but this week is a short one for both of us as we head into exams and have a break from teaching for 3 weeks. It's amazing what this long of a break can do for us professionally (and personally). Teaching can be exhausting, so standing up in front of high schools for 5 periods a day, 5 days a week can really begin to make your head spin. But give us a few days to sleep in, read, and reflect, and we are good to go. Lucky for us, we get three whole weeks to do all that--and we can't wait to take advantage of it! Louisville, here we come! and then it's Blair's wedding in Chicago--beautiful!

Thursday night, Clay and I took his wonderful advisees out to Crust Pizza and then to Walmart so we could buy a 10 year old girl some Hannah Montana and High School Musical 3 stuff for Christmas. Seeing the guys play with all of the toys was pretty cute. And man, can they shop. They are in and out in less than 10 minutes flat. Wow. They know how to do it.

Friday night we hosted four dear friends for dinner--our first dinner party in our new apartment and with our new furniture. It went well, but I have to say that I have yet to master the art of dinner parties. Although I thought I had prepped a fair amount the night before and that afternoon, I still found myself in our tiny kitchen throughout the entire cocktail hour. One day I will learn how to host gracefully and actually be relaxed at our own functions. That said, our black bean and mango salsa, Valencia Shrimp and Scallops, green beans with roasted vegetables, fresh bread, pear and blue cheese salad, and fruit cobbler with vanilla ice cream went over pretty well, I think. Clay and I definitely had to take Camden for a walk when it was all said and done--we were stuffed.

Saturday brought more cookies! (See above). We went to church to help bake cookies for the caroling at nursing homes that the YAM's (Young Adult Ministries) did today. We couldn't actually sing due to the M football banquet this afternoon, but we had fun baking with some new friends.

The football banquet was very classy and touching--way to go, Clay, for two undefeated seasons in a row! After that, I headed to a new yoga studio in town for a free (holiday special) Yoga for Athletes class that was glorious. I have been trying to keep up my running even though its gotten colder outside and the CC season is over, so it feels good to stretch out my hips and hamstrings and spend some time really stretching. Love Yoga. I always feel so calm and centered when its over.

We had the dorm Christmas party tonight, and now Clay and I are going to watch another episode of the Office (Season 4--thank you, Brittany! We are LOVING watching an episode every night before bed!) and then head into our last week with the students before 2009! Awesome!

I'll leave you with a cute pic of the Cam-dawg:

So Many Books, So Little Time...Hmm, which one should I choose?

Is this our dog or what? :-)

So many thoughts...but first, so many papers!

I promise we haven't forgetten about our blog--but it is exam and final paper time in Chattavegas, so my mind is currently swimming with media analyses and final portfolios. This weekend will provide a bit of a breather, though, so check back soon! Lots of funness to report...including our friends Mary and Jamie's AMAZING marathon times. They are rockstars in every sense of the word.

We'll be back as soon as I can see past this stack of papers :-)

Givingthanks

I know it has almost been a week since Thanksgiving, but I can't stop thinking about all of the sweet blessings in my life for which I am grateful. Therefore, I decided to stop prepping for classes for a minute in order to say thanks for "the little things":



I am thankful for...

...the fact that as soon as I realized I locked my keys in my car yesterday at the post office, a policeman walked by and kindly helped me break into my own car. 15 minutes later, I was good to go. And a little package was in the mail to my marathon buddies :-).
...an email from my aunt that made my week.
...articles about the future of education (check out this week's Time cover story) and stories of teachers who, as cheesy as it sounds, really did make a difference.
...fun Christmas cards! Sending them and receiving them! LOVE pictures...
...a husband who is my best friend. His wisdom and steady care for others inspires me.
...teacher friends who email me materials "just because." You know who you are.
...Christmas. Everything about it.
...emails from my mom and dad. So faithful. So thoughtful.
...House Hunters every night at 10:00 p.m. I'm addicted.
...nights with absolutely no grading to do! glorious!
...Clay's chicken noodle soup. Simply the best.
...students who make me laugh even when I am teaching grammar.
...the moments when Camden falls asleep on my lap.
...good runs.
...warm showers on cold days.
...the times when the perfect song comes on the radio.
...my awesome colleagues. I work with some pretty amazing and wonderful people.
...blogs! I love reading--and writing--them!
...a good night's sleep
...days when magazines come in the mail (Tuesdays: Newsweek; Fridays: People; Monthly: Harper's, Cooking Light, and Cuisine at Home). It's like receiving a present every time.
...our new dining room set. I love it.
...the fact that we get to live in a healthy, vibrant community for free. How did we get so lucky?
...freshly washed sheets.
...clementines! yum!
...the cross country team.
...finding good things on sale!
...smoothies!
...people who take the time to read our blog! Thank YOU!