Filled With Joy

Collin and Katy went kayaking today. This picture says it all. Brrrrr! I felt extra joyful when they arrived home dry and without hypothermia. They loved it and talked of the fun they had and beauty of swans, geese, and ducks flying overhead. I’m glad most of my children love adventure and nature as much, or more, than I do.

I made stuffing for dinner yesterday. I loved this stuffing. I had it for lunch and dinner yesterday AND breakfast and lunch today. I have really found some good recipes this year. I enjoy trying new things. I especially enjoyed this recipe. Can you find joy in a food? Yes. We will probably have stuffing more than just Thanksgiving tine. 

Thanksgiving with family! It doesn’t get better than this. I love these people so much. We missed Justin and Kenna, who arrived in Rome safely today. I have so many things to be grateful for. As we visited, ate, and laughed I felt so much joy. There wasn’t any stress today in preparation. It was just a wonderful day of joy.

Collin came home late last night. The snow was increasing and he didn’t want to get stranded somewhere along the highway for Thanksgiving. I had prayed that he would arrive home before the roads became really bad. My prayer was answered, differently than I expected. Today I found joy in an answered prayer and the arrival of this ball of adventure. 

Today it started snowing. Collin is coming home tomorrow. I pray he travels safely. I love watching snow fall. It is so peaceful. Today I sat in the living room and enjoyed my warm house while the snow gently fell to the earth slowly blanketing it in whiteness. It was a peaceful moment. I find joy in those fleeting peaceful moments. Tomorrow the world will look quite different than today. I’ll enjoy while I can. In a few weeks I will be tired of the work that comes with snow.

Today I cleaned the carpet in our house. I rented a new machine that did a fantastic job. Plus, I had a coupon. I vacuum every day but the dog’s hair, and the girls’ hair, still lingers. Also, the carpet gets a lot of walking on. I love clean things. Now I feel I can sit on the floor without worrying about coming up covered in fur. I found joy in a clean floor today.

We finished the Gratitude Tree at the JCC. Each year, while we have served there, the youth have written things they are grateful for. Some are fluff. Others are extremely heartfelt. I love looking them over. The tree is pretty ugly at the beginning. As the grateful leaves are added, the tree becomes more beautiful. I thought about that today. My life can get pretty ugly unless I look at the blessings I have and focus on them. Then I realize how beautiful my life truly is. I am thankful for that lesson today. There is joy in finding our blessings.

I’ve been wanting to try a new restaurant called Pickle deli in Idaho Falls. Today we didn’t have anything to do (at least not scheduled stuff) so I dragged Trent there. We drove all the way to IF just for that. I was feeling a bit guilt in wasting the gas and time to just have lunch when there are perfectly good options closer or even in our kitchen. I felt a great sense of relief when the food was delicious! I like trying new things and new places. Trent does too. We both loved it. And the cannoli - JOY - in a deep-fried cream-stuffed pastry. Also, we visited Trent’s family. That is always a joy.

Today is the day. I’ve been waiting for this movie since January. So, to honor Mr. Rogers I wore my cardigan and navy blue flat tennies to school. And, as I walked down the alley I quietly sang “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” all the way to school. P.S. The movie was fantastic. It is definitely not for everyone. But, for a person who grew up with him, watched him EVERY SINGLE DAY, and loved him all her life, this is a must see. I’m going again next week. I am definitely feeling joy tonight.

Today I felt joy when I ordered our tickets for the Mr. Rogers movie “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” I’m so excited to go see it. I hope I can sleep. He is one of my heroes. I try to be kind, like him, every day. Children need that in their lives. All people need that. Our world could use it.

One of my favorite aspects of teaching is seeing students explore with ideas to solve problems. We have been working on double digit addition. We teach four different ways to solve. The students then use the way that makes sense to them. Eventually they make their way to the common algorithm. Sometimes, a student invents a new way and then we have to try it out with MANY different problems to see if it always works. Most of the time it does not. But, the exploration is amazing! When students take in their own learning - that is a teacher joy. The student above (not my student) has figured out how to do the problems and it always works. He also learned how to use negative numbers. AWESOME!

Have you ever pet a porcupine? Me either - at least not until today. Rufus was so cute and social. Yes, a social porcupine. He visited our classroom today. He came on a leash like a dog. So much fun and excitement and information. Joy!

Today I was chatting with a student. He brought me a treat on Friday so I was thanking him. He leaned in close and said, “This classroom makes me happy.” Awwww, joy! That is so sweet. I want my class to look like a picture perfect, organized, quiet, happy group of children all following the rules. It is not. It is mostly organized chaos verging on total disaster. But, children come. Children learn. Children express themselves. Children are happy. The scale tips to the positive.

Happy birthday to my best buddy! He is the reason I am more confident than yesterday. He is the reason I chase any dream. He is the reason I laugh. He is my joy. I could write about him every day but that would get redundant. But, today I’ve thought about how much better my life is because Trent is in it.

So many reasons for joy today. McKenna, Justin, my mom, and I  worked in various groupings to make Christmas stockings and crafts today. It was so much fun, and I’m not a lover of crafty projects. Time together was fun. There was much joy (and some frustration) during those projects. Joy was also abounding as we celebrated Trent’s mom’s birthday. She is the BEST! She is loved so much by all of us, but she loves and lifts in return. She is one of my dearest friends.

Thank goodness it is Friday. At the end of the day, we (Alex the student teacher and I) realized that today was fun. We are reading about Jellyfish in our lesson. The students reluctantly completed the K and W of a KWL chart as a class. (What I Know, what I Want to learn, what I Learn.)Then we put them on a site called Epic! It is free access to bazillions of books they can read, have read to them, or read with the computer. It has hundreds of videos to watch. The students search on any topic they want - today was jellyfish. Within seconds the students were hooked. They not only filled out the L section, but completed the backside of the paper, too. Not one complaint. Students wanted more time and more paper. Gone are the days of Encyclopedia research. Man that was fun. Today I felt joy in modern technology.

My walk to school today was beautiful! It was so colorful. I think it was a sign to me that today was going to be okay. It was. It ended with a session in the temple. It is easy for me to feel joy while there. My Thursday temple goal is something I really look forward to.

Not gonna lie here - not an easy day. But, I found joy in seeing a couple of my students FINALLY get double digit addition and made a new ten on their own without prompts. I almost cried. Seriously that is one of the greatest joys of a teacher.

Some days the world around you seems to cave in and you are left trying to hold it all up so it doesn’t topple down upon everyone. Today is that day. I wonder how strong I am and if I can hold it together. But, I must. In writing this blog I have had to search, from time to time, to find joy in the days. It would have been hard today. I think some days are like that. But, I had something happen that really did lift me - people came to visit me. Our Relief Society pres came just to say hi. Then, a good friend that is over the first ever city nativity stopped by to ask me if I would like to be a narrator of the program. They will never know how much I appreciated these visits today. And, tomorrow is another day. Some of the walls will still be falling, but others may be lifted slightly. That is a reason to hope for joy.

Today I got to teach h my class all day. Just me. Doing my thing. Not sharing my people. It was fun. They were quiet (well as quiet as they needed to be). We had fun. We worked hard. I realized I liked teaching them. That was a moment of joy. I like helping prospective teachers gain classroom experience. It is a good career. I want to help them enjoy it. But, I need to re-evaluate my decision to host another next semester. I may be in need of a break - nine is a lot. It might be best for all of us. There is joy in knowing so can make that choice and either way is good.

The battle of the wreaths is on. I love Thanksgiving. Katy loves Christmas. She removed my fall wreath with this Christmas wreath. I will now remove the Christmas wreath and replace it with the fall wreath. This will continue through the month. Her sense of humor is a source of joy in our home.

New walls required a new spread. For the first time ever, our room looks completed and finished. I’m very happy. I keep walking by or looking in and feel quite comfortable with it. Happiness and comfort and contributors to joy. I am feeling joy today.

Painting day. It is a lot of work but I love it. It brings me joy. I love the clean and new. Bye bye Cinnamon Bear. Hello Puppy Love. I would like to be a paint color namer in my next life. Finished walks look sooo much better.

We got another basket of fresh fruit and vegetables from Bountiful Baskets. What will we do with two egg plants? Who know! We’ll figure it out. The pomegranates look delicious. We are excited. Also, I am joyous because conferences are over and tomorrow we don’t have school. Sleeping in!

Our night sky has been amazing the last few days. The colors have been spectacular. Sunsets make me happy. They remind me that every day has been beautiful and a blessing to have lived. This year I have learned, through this blog, that there is joy in every single day.

I love Thanksgiving. I walked by this wreath and felt joy. I truly am blessed. Also, The railing is fixed. That is good because we are very used to having it in place.

The craziest things can bring me joy. Today we were getting ready for bed when he heard crazy crashing sounds. Upon investigation we discovered that a family picture had fallen from the wall for now apparent reason. The frame had just given out. It had dropped and slid to the bottom of the stairs. The funny part came when Trent later discovered that the frame had fallen on the railing and broke it. It had actually broken the brackets that hold the railing up - completely sheered them off. It can be fixed tomorrow. I found it so out of the norm of possibilities. It is quite mind boggling. We laughed and laughed. Joy! Buddy didn’t think it was too joyful. He coward in the corner terrified.

Pumpkin season is still here. A little leftover pumpkin and cream cheese frosting in the refrigerator called for pumpkin cinnamon rolls. Delicious! They smelled and tasted just as I had hoped. Also, I felt good enough to make them. Hooray for both! Joy in both things!!!

The JCC Gratitude Tree is a tradition now. The kids come in and write things they are grateful for on a leaf and tape it to the tree. Today I built the tree. Tomorrow we start adding leaves. It is a beautiful thing by the end of the month. The attitude of gratitude can bring joy. I have definitely discovered that through this blog this year. I’m grateful for so many things and being able to find joy in the mundane things of life is one of them!

Sick again! Sickness makes me grumpy. It was hard to find joy today. I had to really think. I then remembered that today was the end of the first quarter. Only three more quarters to go. I have hope that next year will be less difficult. Also, tomorrow is Saturday so I am going to bed early so I can get over this sickness.