Remembering today and all that I'm thankful for

Right now I'm just sitting here with this blinking cursor.  I've started to write a couple times, but just can't really figure out what to say.  When I was in college, I had a professor who said when you're in a writing slump you should just vomit on the page.  Not real vomit, that would be gross.  Word vomit.  So that's what I'm doing and now I've used that word way too many times.  Sorry for that word and all its negative connotations.  

Anyways, lots of time has passed since my last post.  These past weeks have been crazy, busy ones.  They have been so filled and stuffed with work and planning and teaching and making copies and correcting and grading and more planning and meetings and more meetings and they've gotten so filled and stuffed and busy with so many details and little jobs that never seem to end; so many things that matter and at the same time so many things that don't.  Or at least things that don't matter as much as my family and my little baby who stays at home without me there.  That is hard.  But it's getting easier and we've had so much help along the way.  So much help and support and we are so grateful.  

Things I have been so thankful for over the past weeks.........

23 amazing, funny, creative, young, and growing minds that have been entrusted to my care!

Kole rolling over for the first time....he's a little mover!

Huddling around a campfire with family 

The beginning of football season.......Go Pack!!

Coffee every morning....prepared the night before by my husband who always anticipates my needs

 Simon and Garfunkel sing-alongs that put Kole right to sleep

Watching a grown woman learn how to ride a bike.  I was sitting in the kitchen and I looked out the window and she was going up and down our street, all wobbly and crooked.  Her boyfriend was holding onto the back and running with her to steady the bike.  I thought she was great.  What a humbling thing to do.  She didn't give up and she looked pretty much like hot stuff in her chunky white helmet.  Safety first!  

Wearing a sweatshirt for the first time in a long time....loving the cooler weather!

Pancakes with strawberries and apple butter

Going grocery shopping with Jason and Kole...I know that's just a little thing, but I love it

Being a part of my sister's engagement.....hello, that was one special day!

Dinners that I didn't have to make!........thanks mom :)

Sweet notes from my students.....looks like we need to work on spelling!

A new jar of Nutella....Nutella must really be straight from heaven

Not beating myself up over the fact that Kole started formula....no more all natural....but it's okay

Shish Kabobs!

Remembering the lives lost ten years ago today and really, totally getting it that this life is so precious and should not for one second be taken for granted.  

                           

Today, Jason and I walked to a local park where there was a 9/11 memorial.  There were flags all over the park; one flag for every two people who lost their lives that day.  Tied to each flag pole was a card with the people's names and a little bit about them.  It was hard to read those cards.  They gave me goosebumps and they made me cry, but at the same time, it made me so proud to read those cards because by reading them, those people were being remembered and acknowledged.  It was just a little thing, reading those cards, but it filled me with big feelings, and I was glad I could remember.  I can remember that day, and remember to live life to the fullest, the way God wants it to be lived.