Attitude of Gratitude - Day 10

I am so grateful that the Lord has given me such a wonderful school to call "home" and such an awesome group of co-workers to call my "family."

There are times when we are so much like a family, it isn't funny!  We have a dad-type person (our principal) who is very logical and yet compassionate and understanding.  We have a mom-type person (our vice-principal) who will cheer us on and yet challenge us if we start to get off track.  And we have a wonderful bunch of sisters (and a brother) who can laugh together, cry together, learn together, and pray together.  We can openly share our frustrations knowing we'll find a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on, yet we won't be allowed to wallow in our misery.

David couldn't have described NCS better than when he said:


How good and pleasant it is
when God's people
live together in unity!


For there the Lord bestows His blessing,
even life forevermore.

Psalm 133:1,3

Wish I could have better caught how

neat the school looked in the fog

this morning.

Attitude of Gratitude - Day 9

Sometimes there are things that happen that just strike me as incredibly funny! I'm grateful for moments like that!

Tonight one of those moments occurred while I was starting to get dinner ready. Steve had picked out some meals from Trader Joe's, and he had decided tonight that turkey meatloaf muffins layered with Parmesan mashed potatoes and spinach sounded good. I got them out of the freezer, opened the package and was slightly amused to find that they were really shaped like funny, little muffins! The truly funny part was when I tried to pop one out of the package. It flew out of the little plastic container and went zipping across the counter! When I finally got it back under control I couldn't help but smiling. I am so grateful for my sweet husband and his attempts to make my life easier when it comes to making dinners!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Attitude of Gratitude - Day 8

I like Mondays!  They are one of the LONGEST days of my week, but I still really like them!  I'm thankful that I have two "specials" on Monday (specials = prep. times).  I'm also thankful that Monday is Hands-On-Science day where I don't have to teach Science, but instead I get to sit back and  immensely enjoy Mrs. Whitehead teaching Science!  I'm also thankful that I never have to feel rushed to get out of school on Monday, so it makes a good catch up night.  See, I have a lot of reasons to be thankful for Mondays, but I must admit the reason I'm grateful for Mondays takes place between 7pm and 8pm.

Our church has been offering sign languages classes for the past year since we have had a good sized group of deaf folks attending our church.  Deborah is our main interpreter for church, but Greg, her husband, is our classroom teacher.  Just like our Spanish teacher at school who speaks mainly only Spanish during classes with my students, Greg speaks mainly only sign language during class with us.  It's a wonderfully challenging, frustrating, encouraging, and fun hour.  We learn A LOT - too much most nights.  We laugh A LOT - paying a quarter when we actually talk.  We look perplexed A LOT - but Greg is a very patient teacher.  I'm thankful that he is helping us learn to communicate better with him, 'cause he's deaf too.

Greg (at the board) and Richard (at the podium)

our teacher - and his "assistant"

Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with such wonderful

fellowship and friendship!

If you'd like to see Richard taking part in our Sunday Praise and Worship time, head to

First Baptist of Farmington

In case I didn't mention it earlier, Richard is also deaf

and knows how to truly praise the Lord with ALL that is within him!!

Attitude of Gratitude - Day 7

I like Sundays!  I don't always like the rush of getting to church in time for Steve's Praise Team practice, and I don't always like how long the day sometimes seems to be, but I do LOVE time spent fellowshipping with my church family, having the opportunity to raise my voice in worship with a group of fellow believers, sitting under the powerful preaching of a solid, biblical pastor, and yes, the occasional Sunday dinner with friends.

Our dinner today at LaMarsa, started out with just a bunch of ladies (and Steve tagging along), but we ended up joining with another group from church that came to the same restaurant.  Fortunately, they had two guys with them, so Steve wasn't so outnumbered.  Well, we had a wonderful meal, laughed a TON, and even shared a birthday dessert 10 ways!  (Happy Birthday, Gail!  Thanks for sharing!)  It was a great way to spend the afternoon; thank you Lord for wonderful friends and sweet fellowship.

Steve, Gail, Denise, Narcisa, Cindy, Norm, Sharon, and Tim
let's do it again sometime!

{and maybe next time we'll even let Dave and Pastor join us!}

LaMarsa in Farmington

Happy Birthday, Gail!

Attitude of Gratitude - Day 6

This morning I have to admit that I'm EXTREMELY grateful that the Lord has given us technology that can help to make me more organized.  I'm thankful for my Toodledo account where I can make my "to do" lists and then carry them with me on my phone.  I'm thankful that I can have a phone that allows me to carry my "to do's" and still get in touch with my husband when I'm out running frantically around to do errands.  The use of technology to make our lives easier goes on and on.

Admittedly an un-named technological elements (with the abbreviation of FB) can make our time LESS productive, but we'll just be grateful for the brain breaks that it allow us!

This is just the visible portion of this weekends

ToDo List

Attitude of Gratitude - Day 5

Another "school related" gratitude - but this one is not quite as it appears.  I am thankful that we are able to stay as late as we'd like (or more aptly put, "as late as we need to") even on Fridays.  Today I'm glad I was able to stay and get some grades finished, get the scary mess hiding behind my desk taken care of, get a wall display taken down (to prepare for a new one the kids will help with on Monday), and get the old bulletin board  down and the new one set for my kids to add their leaves of gratefulness to during the week.

I'm glad I was able to get all of that done, but tonight I am most grateful for my wonderful husband and the tasty dinner he made and plated so I wouldn't have to worry about him beating me home.

Our Thankfulness Tree

We learn the difference between thanking God and praising God

as we spend the month filling the whole board

with beautiful leaves on which the students have

written their praises and thanksgiving.

God sure is good!

Attitude of Gratitude - Day 4

Okay, I guess I'm am thankful for our monthly faculty meetings.  It really is great to be encouraged and challenged as educators; however, my gratitude today focuses on our FOOD and FUN committee who does such a wonderful job of giving us food so our meeting can be fun!  You ladies are the very best!!  Thank you for making our meetings measurably more meaningful!  (Yeah, "meaningful" isn't really the right word, but the alliteration works!)

Attitude of Gratitude - Day 3

Today I'm thankful for Starbuck's coffee (Pumpkin Spice Latte to be exact).  After a VERY LONG day at school, a trip to the chiropractor where I got pretty 'beat up', and facing the prospects of a long night that consists of nothing more than making dinner and grading papers, a Pumpkin Spice Latte was just what I needed.  Yep, it's the little things that make me thankful!  (That's not bad, is it??)

Attitude of Gratitude - Day 2

Today, there really isn't a more appropriate thing to be thankful for than for the fact that I live in a country where I can still make my opinion know by casting my vote.  America has some major issues and is going to be facing some real challenges in the next few years, but as long as we stay "One nation under God," we'll survive.

Attitude of Gratitude - Day 1

When I look at all the things I have to be thankful for, one of my favorite is my dear, sweet, funny, loving husband, Steve.  I know that God must have made him just for me since sometimes I'm not the easiest to love! He takes me on fun adventures.  He makes me laugh.  He knows when to let me just "stress out," and he knows when to offer a hand.  He doesn't mind me talking about "my kids" all the time.  He occasionally will help grade papers.  He does laundry.  He even lets me make him lunch - the same lunch every day, so I don't even need to think about it!  Needless to say, he's a keeper, and I'm really thankful that the Lord gave him to me!

Hanging with Harvey in Hawaii