My Thanksgiving Weekend

Happy Monday

On the first Monday of each month, I share a bit of gratitude here on the blog. Sometimes I share gratitude for a certain person or a certain thing. Sometimes I share a random list. And sometimes, I share a lesson God is teaching me. 

And today...

Today I'm sharing gratitude for Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving started off super early, at 5 a.m., with me coming to the school to see off my Drama Team kids as they, and other students and staff from our school, headed about 600km south of us, to spend the weekend ministering through puppets, singing, skits, and sermons, about our Savior and His Love for all.

I loved getting reports throughout the weekend from the teacher who went in my place, along with other staff members as well, telling me how awesome my kiddos were. They dealt with all sorts of issues throughout the weekend. But they powered through and proclaimed the Gospel throughout.

A couple weeks ago, I had made the very difficult decision to not go on Outreach weekend. Due to my teaching schedule of teaching 8 out of 8 periods a day, I'm unable to do lesson planning/prep during the school day like other teachers. And due to various school responsibilities in the afternoons/evenings of every week day, but one, I'm not really able to do much during the week either. So my weekends have to include lesson planning. I'm not saying that to complain. Just being honest...

So all that to say, I realized my stress level was through the roof. And when I thought of leaving for the entire weekend, knowing that meant I wouldn't have time to do my lesson planning/prep, I knew I had to make a choice. And since my primary ministry here is to teach my class, I knew I had to back out of going on Outreach. Thankfully, the people in charge were super encouraging and the lady who went in my place was as well. So, I packed up and prepped them as well as I could before they left, and then I spent the weekend praying for them, a part of Outreach I could, indeed, participate in.

And I was able to finally catch up on (and work ahead - big time) on lesson planning and midterm exams prep, and get a LOT done. The picture below shows the books (and handouts) I need for 7 of the subjects/classes I teach. This does not include the books/info for one of my guys, as I don't have textbooks for him. So his stuff is still on my computer at home, needing to be printed out.

I did get to celebrate Thanksgiving (with turkey - a rare treat here in Dakar), with my fellow AGWM-ers here in Senegal. It was a nice morning. 

I then spent a bit of time on Friday and Saturday, catching up on rest and reading (for fun) - neither of which I do a lot of during the school week...

I also checked out a new grocery store in town. They're saying it's like the Dakar version of Wal-Mart. And after visiting it, I'd say that's a pretty accurate description. I mean, there wasn't American products or anything like that. But still... It was pretty nice. And it's not terribly far from where I live. So score! :)

I also had the chance to visit a couple restaurants with friends :)

And, yes, while working on my grad school coursework, I watched the Iron Bowl on the "big screen" (a.k.a., the wall). And while our guys didn't win, it was still nice to both be able to watch the game AND catch up on grad school work I'd been putting off, knowing the deadline wasn't 'til this weekend.

All in all, I'd say it was a good weekend. 

And I am, indeed, grateful for all it contained.

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I started my monthly Growing in Gratitude posts, as part of the link-up fun, hosted by Julie from Fall into Life, where bloggers would share a bit of gratitude each month. Julie stopped hosting the link-up this past summer. But I decided to keep posting a monthly gratitude-themed post. After all, there's always something for which we can be grateful. Right? :)

And, in case you missed my previous month's posts...

You can click below to read them.

February - My Why

March - Photos from February  

April - Random List of Gratitude 

May - Lessons Learned

June - The 2018-2019 School Year

July - Random Bits of Gratitude

 August - 34 Reasons Why I'm Grateful

September - Hope 

October - Impactful Books

November - Gratitude for The Bible 

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So what about YOU? 

What are you grateful for today?