Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Today I'm thankful for so many things, but especially...

• an online devotion that answered a question I've been dealing with for quite a while. At first I wondered why God waited until just now to reveal His answer to me. Then it hit me. Duh... It's all in His perfect timing. Thank you God for your awesome timing!
• a Bible Study I'm doing with some friends from work. I've always been fascinated by the life of David. And again, I'm seeing how it's totally God's perfect timing that would allow me to participate in this study at the exact moment in my life when it's needed the most.
• a fun book to offer an escape and de-stresser at the end of a long, hard day.
• a place to work that ends up feeling like "home." It's so nice to be a part of such a great community. 
• a quote that really sums up my job as a teacher. It's a hard one, but one that is so incredibly rewarding.

Currently

I'm currently thankful for water and definitely more appreciative of this precious liquid commodity after watching so many of my friends and co-workers go without it for so long.

And speaking of that, I'm currently excited for some friends and co-workers that woke up to running water for the first time in about 3 weeks. I'm currently praying that the situation is fixed OR is at least close to being fixed. 

I'm currently thinking about everyone that's getting to experience Fall and all of its awesomeness like leaves changing, temperatures dropping, warmer clothes being worn, blankets being snuggled under, (American) football being played/watched, pumpkins everywhere, etc... I just love Fall and everything about it. It's definitely my favorite season. So what makes you think of Fall? 

I'm currently thankful for last night's dinner invite, complete with a long chat with a friend.

I'm currently (still) full from dinner with friends and thankful for a sweet friend who I love hanging out with, who calls my cell phone and talks with me on my entire walk home (since it's dark and sometimes a teensy bit scary), and who I can have awesomely long conversations with that pick up right where we last left off, even if it's been a few days since we last talked. Life gets busy. Even when you work at the same place and live super close, life's busy...

So I guess after the last two items, I guess I should say that I'm also currently thankful for good friends who I can talk to about pretty much anything :)

I'm currently happy one of my old professors thinks I could handle working on my Ed.D. I can't say the thought hasn't crossed my mind a time or two. BUT with that said, every single time the thought crosses my mind, I realize once again that while I love love love my job, at this moment in life, I feel absolutely, positively no desire to be a student again :)

I'm currently looking forward to a friend, that just happens to be my boss as well, getting back to Dakar tomorrow after a long time away :)

I'm currently learning about the fun-filled, albeit confusing world of biology while helping a student with her work for that class. Wow! I am realizing that I really should've paid more attention to my teachers in high school :)

I'm currently glad today's meeting is over. It's my first time leading a staff meeting. I love getting to talk about a subject I'm passionate about (such as teaching ESL). But I wonder if I'll ever get used to having to stand in front of a group of adults and speak to them. Talk about scary...

I'm currently grateful for the ladies and gentleman that are helping with Kids Club this year. I know I say it a lot, but it's true. It was so difficult at times last year to run the program all by myself. I prayed so hard that some teachers would be willing to help out this year. And they did. So it's nice to know on days like today, when I had to be at a HS teachers staff meeting, there were some awesome people leading Kids Club.

I'm currently participating in a Beth Moore Bible study on David. This is only my second week of going, but I've learned so much already. I'm so glad that God had me doing this study at this point in my life. It's great! And I'm so looking forward to seeing what's yet to come in this study.

I'm currently thinking about the lyrics in an old-ish country song that say, "I thank God for unanswered prayers. Remember when you're talking to the man upstairs. Just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he doesn't care. Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers." This is a hard thing to think about "in the moment," but as a friend and I were discussing tonight, you never know what God has in store for you later on. And by Him not answering your prayer right away like you wanted, He may be preparing you for something bigger and better, or protecting you from something bigger and worst. So either way, God knows what's best. 

The 78th Dear _____ Post

Dear 1 month, Has it really been that long since I last wrote a Dear ____ post?

Dear Water Situation in Dakar, You're getting worse and worse. Some people have been without water for over 2 weeks now. Many people who can't afford the luxury of bottled water have had to resort to using dirty, unhealthy water for drinking, etc. Can you imagine? Think of all the ways you use water in a day. Now imagine that all taken away because there's NO water at all. Thankfully we still have water at home. The school's water isn't coming as frequently though. But at least we can afford to buy bottled water if need be.

Dear High Heat and Humidity, We've been experiencing you all week. Oh my goodness... It seems like every day is hotter and more humid than the day before. I can't wait 'til cool season!

Dear Air Conditioning, I've never had you at home (in Dakar), but for the past 4 years I've had you in my classroom. And I don't believe I ever truly appreciated your awesomeness. Now that I don't have you in my classroom (where I spend the majority of my day) OR at home, I feel as if I'm never able to get a reprieve from the high heat/humidity that I mentioned above. When you get used to something and then don't have it anymore, it's hard. I seem to be "sweatin' for Jesus" even more now. Occasionally my students feel the effects of it, and even with the fans on, beg me to teach outside at one of the picnic tables in the shade. I realize that some people have it far worse than me. I do. But wow... I keep telling myself, Cool Season's coming... :)

Dear Survivor, You started back a couple weeks ago. I must say... I'm pretty annoyed with some of the people playing you this season. I really thought this new theme would be a cool one. And it was at first. But it's getting annoying... I'm hoping things get better as the season goes along. And you know what Survivor? This is the first year since coming to Africa that I'm watching you by myself. I've always had friends that are on the Survivor watching bandwagon, but far this year, I haven't found anyone. But I do have one friend that is nice enough to not post spoilers on Facebook before I've had a chance to watch. Then once I've finished the episode, we can dissect the show and complain/rejoice with each other via Facebook. Go technology! :)

Dear Oatmeal, I've never been a big fan of you. I never liked you growing up and as an adult, I'd only eat you if I absolutely had to, which was rare. But recently, I've discovered that all of a sudden, I love the taste of you. Can our taste buds (tastes?) change like that? Too bad all the yummy flavors of instant oatmeal found in America don't exist here. Anyone want to send me some? I'd totally be your BFF if you did. Kidding...sort of :)

Dear Money, You're pretty tight right now. Thanks to my stupid mistake in which I totally blamed on my sleep-deprived-broken-hearted-emotionally-whacked week in the States and missed my original flight to Dakar, I had to pay a whopping $1300 to fly back later the next day. BOO! I now know what broker than broke means. I'm so thankful that I had some (Senegalese) money saved up before leaving for Dakar. Yay for food and bottled water :) FYI...I will now check and recheck my plane tickets over and over and over and over (get the idea?) before flying out, so as to NEVER EVER EVER make that mistake again...

Dear Kids Club, You're going great. You are definitely one of the highlights of my week. And I'm sad when I can't be there. I'm so grateful for the 3 other adults that stepped up and volunteered to help run you. These ladies (and gentleman) are awesome! The kids love them! It makes this teacher's heart happy to know that there are other people out there willing to teach this program that I love so much!

Dear Life, Wow! You've been quite the doozy here lately. Here's hoping that things settle down for a while...

Dear Broken Heart, I've felt like I've had you for a while now. My sweet Papa died. My Daddy had a major heart attack and subsequent surgery to repair a majorly blocked artery. I had to sit through the hardest funeral EVER, complete with military honors, such as Taps being played (major heartbreaker there, let me tell you...). I had to broken-heartedly watch my dad struggle with a painful recovery. I then had to broken-heartedly say goodbye to my family just 9 days after arriving back in the States. I came back to Dakar and settled back into work, teaching my students, and spending time with friends. I'm not going to lie. This past week has been exceptionally hard. I still felt as if my heart were broken. I was still in the weird in-between phase of loving my life and work here while being glad to be back, and at the same time, feeling sad that I wasn't "back home" with my family. The intense heat and humidity, power cuts, and looming water cuts didn't really help matters either. But thankfully by the end of the week, things got better. I'm so thankful for a God that loves us, that hears our prayers, that says it's ok to cry and be sad, and that gives us mercy, grace, peace, and comfort when we need it. I'm so thankful for friends that know when to ask how things are going and when to just give a hug or write a note or just be there. I'm so thankful for this life God's given me. I'm thankful that even in the bad times, He's still there!

Blogtember Day 5 - Free Day

I'm participating in a fun blogging "party," known as Blogtember. Every day in the month of September, we're given a different prompt to write on. Some are serious. Some are fun. The point is to get you thinking outside the box, so to speak. I know I tend to write about the same ol' things a lot. So, this is a fun way to "force" me to write about new stuff :)

Are you a blogger? Do you want to join in this blogging awesomness? Click the button below to see the prompts for the rest of the month.

Today was a "free day," allowing you to write about whatever you wanted. So I chose to include the words of others, rather than my own. 
Oh, and so I don't break any copyright "rules," I should probably tell you that I got all of these images from the ever-helpful Google image search :)

Blogtember Day 4 - A time when you were afraid...

I'm participating in a fun blogging "party," known as Blogtember. Every day in the month of September, we're given a different prompt to write on. Some are serious. Some are fun. The point is to get you thinking outside the box, so to speak. I know I tend to write about the same ol' things a lot. So, this is a fun way to "force" me to write about new stuff :)

Are you a blogger? Do you want to join in this blogging awesomness? Click the button below to see the prompts for the rest of the month.

Today's prompt was... Tell a story about a time you were very afraid.
Rewind to February 2011. I'm living in Dakar. I'm a few thousand miles and an ocean away from family. I get a text from my mom telling me to call ASAP because something's wrong. What I hear when I call makes my heart feel like it's going to break in two. My mom says, "Your dad's had a heart attack. We're on our way to the hospital. Pray."

Over the course of the next 24 hours, I kept in touch with my family via text, skype calls, and emails. I am so thankful for my roommate at the time and for my mission supervisors for being there right away - for letting me cry it out, for being there, and at the same time, for giving me space when I needed it. I was so incredibly afraid. What if something else (something worse) happened?

He recovered from that and was able to go back to work not long after. But then, a month after the first heart attack, he had another one. So the fear, once again, started rising up in my heart. I became fearful of the phone ringing. I was so scared that it would be even more bad news. 

He recovered from that heart attack and went back to work. Things were going well for him, but then a month later, he lands back in the ER. It wasn't a heart attack this time. He was diagnosed with peritonitis, a severe infection of the area where his dialysis tube is located. This infection was bad. ...real bad! In fact, it was so bad, there were times we didn't know if it'd make it or not. Because of how sick he was and because my mom had already missed a lot of work, I, after receiving the blessing of my bosses/supervisors, made the decision to change my flight and come home a month early. This way I could be with my family and could help out wherever needed. 

I remember being on the plane, flying over, and feeling like I was going to suffocate from the fear gripping my heart so tightly. I was so scared that I wouldn't make it to see my dad again. I know it was God's awesomeness that gifted me with a row to myself. That way no one else was sitting next to me to see me crying periodically :) It was so hard! The feeling of the unknown. It was scary.

But you know... We all had the best summer ever! We became closer than ever before. And as for the fear? I just remember crying out to God one day, asking Him to take that fear away. I didn't want to live with that anymore. And He did. ...just like that :)

My dad's doing better now. He's had multiple heart attacks, multiple stents put in his heart, and more. He's still on dialysis. But he's doing great. He pastors a church. He teaches full time. He coaches. He spends time with his family. He just lives life to the fullest, doing what God wants him to be doing. 

Blogtember Day 3 - Pass on some useful advice...

I'm linking up with Jenni at Story of My Life and participating in what she's calling, Blogtember. This is where you write a new blog post every day, using the prompt given here.



Today's prompt is... Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered.


1. Dig into the word.

*Source*

2. Rest in Him. Take a nap. Get away. Stay refreshed. Focus on Him!

*Source*

3. Take time for yourself.

*Source*

4. Learn that it's okay to say "no."

*Source*

5. Have someone to confide in.

*Source*

6. Life life! Enjoy it!

*Source*

What about you? What would you add to this list? 

Blogtember Day 2 - If you could take 3 months off...

I'm participating in Blogtember, hosted by Jenni at Story of My Life. Want to join along? Click on the button below and you can see the prompts for each day's blog post. Enjoy :)


Today's prompt said... If you could take three months off from your current life and go anywhere and do anything in the world, what would you do?

Let me preface this post by saying that I absolutely, positively love love love my life, my job, and the place I live. I honestly don't think I'd want to ever take three months off. But the whole idea behind Blogtember is to have fun, be creative, and to think outside the box of our normal blog postings.

So, with that in mind, if I could take three months off from my current life and go anywhere and do anything (and money was no object)...

I think I would want to stay in some awesome hotel, like one of these places...

*Source*

*Source*

I would be doing a lot of this...

*Source*

Of course, I'd also be taking naps, throughout the day, in a place like this (with the A/C on course)...

*Source*

And since I'm still in "dream mode," I'd get to eat delicious food, like this (without fear of gaining weight)...

*Source*

*Source*