"The only thing that can change us, the world, is this-- all His love."

I started reading this book back in February called "One Thousand Gifts". I haven't been able to sit down and read through the whole thing non-stop due to a few reasons. 1. I have been beyond crazy busy with school and 2. The stuff she's writing about is deep and takes some time to really think and chew on, so you can't just read straight through it. You can actually barely read through a paragraph without stopping and really thinking about what she has written.

The main purpose of the book is that she has challenged herself to start thanking God more. By doing so she has decided to make a list of a thousand things she is thankful for. Through out this journey she talks about the change of mindset, growth, and healing she has found through this challenge.

I find it kinda ironic (but at the same time, not really), that praise and thanksgiving have been a common theme that keeps reappearing in different ways in my life. It says in Isaiah 28:10, " He tells us everything over and over- one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!" (NLT). I really love that he does this! He knows how ADD I am and how distracted I get, so he repeats things to me, through different people, in different ways, to ensure that I get the point!

So giving thanks has been my message and I've decide to take on this new challenge of giving thanks, even the littlest things, everyday. Yesterday, I took this picture of an old mill in Cleveland. I've passed this building from a distance every time I've driven to Cleveland for class the past 3 years. And every time I see it, it makes me smile. There just something about this old broken building that fills my heart with joy. It's the little moments like this that I'm wanting to become more thankful for. Yesterday, I finally decided to stop and take a picture of this old building and just take in the moment of the joy I feel when I see it. Later, I decided to thank God for this moment, for this time in my day when I could cherish something so imperfect. It's amazing how different I felt after pausing to give thanks for this.

After the small experience I had with giving thanks yesterday, today I started giving thanks for the little things. I found myself having more energy today and found myself not complaining in my head as much (I complain alot in my head some days, I just don't always verbalize it). One of the moments today that I gave thanks for was when I saw the students at my internship perform in a play. It was a play called 101 Dalmatians. It was the CUTEST thing I have seen in a long time. The play was super cute but my absolute favorite part was after the play, when I went back into the chorus room and I saw all the kids jumping around, smiling, and hugging each other, because they were so PROUD of what they had just accomplished. Many came running up to me hugging and grinning. It was the most precious moment I have witnessed in a long time. These students had put so much time and effort into this play and they were just radiating with joy afterwards! It filled my heart with so much joy to see their joy! As I write this I can't help but think how easy it is to lose this joy. The older we get, the more of a perfectionist we become that we forget to celebrate the small accomplishments. The play had a few technical difficulties and wasn't exactly as they had rehearsed but they still saw and knew the worth of what they had accomplished. It's so easy to lose value in what we do and what we accomplish the older we get. Different things happen along the way that can cause this but I'm challenged to keep this form of innocents, this idea that we can celebrate, love, and be joyful in the little moments. Kids have a strong sense of thankfulness and this thankfulness fuels many of the things we desire in this life.

"God has more in store for you than you can even imagine." Ephesians 3:20

Ah YES! Hello Spring!

I love spring! I love spring because spring is before summer which I also LOVE! Exciting things tend to always happen in the summer, so I also look forward to the surprise that awaits me. I'm particularly excited about this summer because I will not have summer classes and I will officially be DONE with school! I am over joyed about ending this journey of school that started 20 years ago in kindergarden. I wish I could share a wonderful personal memory of when I first started school in kindergarden but sadly the only memories I have are sad ones. I remember the first day (and the only day) that I had to come home and tell my mom that I had to write my name on the board at school because another girl and I were pulling this boy by the legs during our free time. I have absolutely no idea why we were doing this, all I know is that another teacher (the mean kindergarden teachers) walked into the classroom the moment we started doing this and told us to go write our names on the board. This was a traumatizing experience for me due to the fact that I was the GOOD kid who always followed the rules. In fact, I remembered that I would go home everyday and tell my parents who all had written their name on the board at school that day. I remember getting in the car, hoping my mom wouldn't ask me whose names had been written on the board that day. I was devastated to admit that I had to write my name on the board. That is the one and only time I ever got in trouble in kindergarden. I also remember getting stung by a yellow jacket at school, another traumatizing experience. Other than that, I really don't have many memories from that year. It was 20 years ago and a lot had happen since then.

Even though the past 3 years in graduate school have been very trying and extremely different from undergraduate, I am very thankful that I went straight through and didn't take a break. This program has been very time demanding with having to do 1 semester doing a 100 hour practicum and two 300 hour internships. Not to mention the class load that tagged along with them. Since January 2012, I've had 6 day weeks of school and work. Sometimes I feel like it will almost feel like a vacation when I finally have a 5 day work week. Even though it's been tough, I've had an amazing support through my family and friends. They have all been so encouraging and have listened to me whine and complain my whole way through. They really have been such a blessing to me.

Today I woke up and went to church, then I spent my whole day at home. It was weird because this is the first time in months that I have willingly stayed home all day and spend the majority of the day relaxing. I did clean my room and get some laundry done, but for the most part I just relaxed and it was so nice! You know you're getting old when you spend a whole day at home and it makes you happy! As I was resting today, I was thinking about the next few months that are to come. I'm really excited because I have no idea what is to come after I graduate. I'm in the process of looking for a job and I'm keeping myself open to any location. Just the thought that I could move and start a whole new life somewhere is kind of exciting! But I'm also ok with staying in the north Georgia area. I just want to go where the Lord wants me to be. I'm also looking forward to some of the trips I have planned this summer! I'm going to the beach with my family in May, going to New York with Shells in June, and I'm hopefully going to make it out to Colorado to see the lovely Melissa this summer too! I really have a travel bug right now. Going out to visit Melissa in Arizona awakened the passion and love I have for traveling! No matter where I end up with work, I'm planning on going on as many trips as I possibly can. I really want to go and experience other states and other countries! It's such a fun adventure to part take in right now! But for now, I'll look forward to what I already have planned and wait for the other exciting things the Lord has in store for me in the future!

Just 2 MORE WEEKS!!! EEEK!!! :-)