Small Moments

Friday  Fave Five time!  The day we look back on the week, find 5 blessings from God, and share them with other bloggers.  Join in and link up over at Susanne's.

In chatting with the teacher I work with every morning and most afternoons, I found that she does something called "Small Moments". She has a mason jar and every so often she will find a "blessing"....a small moment...in the day or evening, when she's frustrated or sad or happy and she writes it down on a small piece of paper and places it in the mason jar. It's her Small Moments Jar. I'm doing the same thing except I keep a journal and am adding to my 1000 gifts.  It is good to give thanks to the Lord and look for those small moments He puts in our lives.......I had several this past week and boy did I need them......it was a TOUGH week.

SMALL MOMENTS but HUGE BLESSINGS

• ANTIBIOTICS AND A QUICK APPOINTMENT!  On Monday I decided to see my doctor to find out why I had a headache (I suspected sinus infection) after 6 days of over the counter treatments.  She said it WAS a sinus infection and wrote me a Rx for a strong antibiotic.  The headache is still on-again/off -again, but mainly "off" and the other good thing is that I checked in 10 minutes before my appointment, sat down and was immediately called!  That like never happens...I usually wait at least 10 minutes.  So thankful for this quick appointment as it was a super busy day with a full evening of activities.  I love when God brings a surprise like that!

• YELLOW ROSES!  When I returned from ballet with Claire on Tuesday evening, Dave had our late dinner just about finished and these roses on the dining room table waiting for me.  Yes, he was 2 days early with the Valentine's gift.  Loved this!  and he knows my fave color for roses is yellow. This really helped make a tough day a little nicer and we had a relaxing evening once the kitchen was cleaned up. He definitely knows my love language and that is such a blessing!

• TREATS FOR CO-WORKERS!  I have 3 teachers I work closely with at the school.  2 Special Education teachers (one of whom is my direct supervising teacher) and the general education 2nd grade classroom teacher. I love them all and I love buying or making them little treats. For Valentine's Day I baked my special no fat mocha chip brownies.  The recipe calls for frosting but I stick with the light approach and just sprinkle a little powdered sugar on them.  They all loved them.  The blessing for me is that this fills my love tank since "gifts" is my primary love language!!

• CARD FROM COLLEGE GIRL!  Our oldest daughter sent Dave and I a lovely Valentine's card. The awesome thing was that the message inside totally fit our family!  Her note to us just made my day.....I miss her when she's out at Gordon and this card just made me so happy that she  was given to us by God....what a blessing she has been to us. From the moment I gave birth to her, I have felt an overwhelming gratitude to the Lord for the blessing she is. I love that I get to be her mom!

• QUOTE BY EMERSON

"To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

This quote is one I found on a card at The Fresh Market. It totally describes the gen ed teacher I work with.  So I bought it for her! She has been willing to listen to me vent about some frustrations with the Special Education team this year and always has an encouraging word for me.  She is cheerful, the children love and respect her, and they help me to aide the special needs boy in the classroom because of her encouragement. I think she made my list last week too but it's been another tough week at work with a couple of situations that I can't discuss here and.......she listens and understands. She is always giving me a smile or hug on a tough day..those days that feel "stormy" are ones that she just keeps telling me are ones where we need to look for those small moments.  Working alongside someone like that is a huge blessing.

That wraps up my week. All of the schools in the Capital Region have next week off due to Winter Recess.  Claire and I are excited about getting some projects done around the house, relaxing and reading, and I will even have time to browse some blogs, do some writing on here about things that God has been showing and teaching me lately.  I'm also looking forward to working out a little more each day and having some relaxing mornings. A couple of day trips are in the planning stages as well!!

Whatever your plans for the weekend are, I encourage you to look for the small moments.....the little things are sometimes the biggest blessings!