days off

Days off are... glorious. It is sunny outside, my washing machine is chugging along, and I get to wear sweats as long as I want. I absolutely love being home and doing mundane household tasks. Dishes, laundry, cleaning etc etc... I can read my bible whenever I want, read other books too, go grocery shopping, and plan my week of school. Peaceful days like these are glimpses of heaven. Although I'm pretty sure I don't have to do laundry there :).

Jesus,
Help me to be productive on days off. Help my mind to be saturated with you and help every thought in my head to be captive to you. I pray for trust. That in every area of my life I am leaning in on and trusting you. I love you Jesus and thank you for all the amazing people I have in my life!
~your daughter

90something cupcakes

On Friday, my class had our Valentines Day party. There was more sugar than I have ever seen in one room. At one point I counted and there were something that 96 cupcakes... ABSURD! You may ask... did you make sure that specific parents were going to buy specific things? YES! I did! But somehow we ended up with 90something cupcakes and by the end of the day I had put two on each child's plate and two in an extra baggie for them to take home. Nevertheless, that day was one of the hardest in teaching. They were on so much sugar I was glad to see them go. The 90something cupcakes was the funniest thing that day but something happened that truly touched my heart. One of my students had a quiet excitement all day and would hint that he had something for me. I told him I was very excited and that he would have to wait for the end of the day at the party. It finally came that time and he brought me over an oddly shaped package. He really wanted me to open it right then so I began to rip away the wrapping paper and I started to find something crimson... What in the world, I began to ask myself. I completely took the paper off and found a WSU pullover fleece hoody. Wow! It was unbelievable, I told him that I really wanted to talk to his mom about it after school and to thank her for the gift. After school I walked over to his sweet mom and told her how much I loved the gift. She began to tell me that her son had come home one day from school and told her how much I loved the cougars. He told his mom how much he wanted to get me something that I loved. Well, they don't have much money and so I imagine she probably told him no. He began to tell her that he would give up all of his hamburgers and pizza if he could just get me this hoody. Wow... It doesn't sound like a lot, but this is a seven year old child giving up what he cherishes and probably doesn't get very often to love his teacher.

I can totally learn from my first graders, they teach me just as much as I teach them. What an amazing example of giving good gifts. Jesus gives us the best gifts and we are to emulate that. I am so tempted to give people gifts that are convenient for me but to truly give a gift you need to sacrifice something of your own...