Monday, Monday

Monday always brings out the apprehension in me. I adore sleeping in (to an almost unhealthy degree) and I really try to indulge on the weekends. So when 5:15 Monday morning rolls around, it's not a really happy time. Couple that with the fact that I always plan on organizing my teaching stuff on Saturday and then I end up doing chores at home and goofing around with my kids and so - yeah, the teaching stuff stays perpetually unorganized. So Monday mornings are always the time that I say a little prayer to just help me get it together for today and, every Monday, I get my own little miracle. I don't say any of this in an off-hand way. I really and truly am just so grateful for the Lord somehow making time to help me out of my own mess.
Today was a good teaching day. We started the play of the Diary of Anne Frank in my 7th grade Lit. classes. I love doing that play. I love teaching the history behind it and seeing the kids grasp ideas that they've heard the words of but never really understood. I love the hope and humanity of that story. Home Ec. was a time of re-teaching expectations and I felt like the class was listening to me in a way that doesn't happen as much as I'd like. It was a real reinforcer of why I wanted to teach. I do have to say that I have really great students - even the ones that make me crazy. The fact that I genuinely like them seems to help smooth out the rough edges.
The rest of today was spent on a conference call workshop meeting after school and then a harried time of selling Girl Scout cookies with Sugar. Seeing her with the cute little sash and the bouncy curls in her hair that we did this morning just made me feel like "this is a moment". I think I'll have that image locked away in my memory for a long time. I'm glad that she still lets me help fix her hair sometimes - I've always loved doing that for my girls. I also had an interesting conversation with Honey and she always pleasantly surprises me with the things she thinks about. I feel comforted to hear her thoughts about different boys and also situations that go on at school. In some ways she doesn't talk a lot but what she does say is worth a lot more than a bunch of empty words.
Today is a day of gratitude.