What I Wrote This Week

 Of course, I wrote this stud a little Valentine's message last week.  I'm too private to share even the front of the card, but I have to say that his card to me beat mine by miles.  He MADE his card:  It's a photo card with a picture of us on the front and this sweet message inside.  :)  I took it to work to put on my desk.  It makes my heart melt every time I see it!  I took this photo when testing out my new camera over the weekend.

Tomorrow will be celebrated by two special kiddos:

 Three years ago, Mr. Drake Ryder Lockridge was born!  He is the youngest of one of my best friends (Tasha) and baby brother to Briley Renee.  I actually didn't get to be there on the day he was born (unlike Briley, who got me to the hospital at 2 in the morning!) because I had a night grad class, but I made it up there the next day to meet the little man!  It makes me sad that I haven't gotten to watch him grow up like I did with Briley because I was in grad school the first few months of his life before we moved away.  :(  But I am so thankful for this little boy!  He is a BIG blessing (and a handful)!!

I have this photo on our fridge.  :)

Drake's first birthday at Gammy Renee's

Briley was being a little stinker with the icing!

 Drake's First Birthday

 Drake's Second Birthday

This was after I had been sick and was recovering, which is why I have steroid moon-face.  (My hair was super thin, my face was super fat, I had just gotten glasses.  Blurgh.  I cut my hair off that following week!)  We missed 3/4 of the party because we had lunch with Zach's family, then drove two and half hours to visit my sister Amanda who was down from Michigan, and finally made it to Drake's party after driving another hour.  Then we had to drive four back home!  I'm sad we are missing his party this weekend, but I know he will have a great day at Larry's Pizza!  Happy birthday, Mr. Drake!  Aunt Byrdie loves you!

Tomorrow is also Miss Zoe Alexandria's birthday!  Our dear friends Rob (who has been Zach's friend since Zach was, like, fifteen) and Mechelle (who is actually Tasha's Aunt Tay's best friend) adopted these kiddos last year after much prayer and problems over the past few years.  They have been HUGE blessings to all who meet them, and I'm thankful we will probably get to see them next month at the LEGO meeting.  :)

Zoe with her younger brother D.J.

Zoe with the throne she built during the LEGO club meeting

Happy birthday, Zoe!  We are thankful you are in our lives!

Until we can see these kiddos, I'm sending them some cute cards to tide them over.  :)  I love the kids cards at Target--they are so colorful!

Be Grateful #6

What a fantastic week!  It definitely had its ups and downs, but overall, this week was GREAT!

1)  I'm thankful I survived week two of my new job.  I'm starting to feel like I'm figuring things out...even if my first faculty training didn't go as well as I had hoped.  *lol*

2)  I'm thankful that I work at such a fabulous place!  The dean of our division was so concerned with our safety, he had Emergency Management and Risk organize a shooter simulation for us to prepare.  I don't think it went as well as it could, but the important thing is, is it got us to start thinking about what we would do in dangerous situations.

3)  I'm thankful I'm enjoying teaching Intermediate more and more all of the time.  I do wish I had more time and energy to strengthen the relationship with my Composition I class, but I think that will come in time.

4)  I'm thankful I survived my colonoscopy!  While the day before really stunk, I was actually quite coherent after my procedure and really enjoyed the loopy feeling.  *haha*  I got my the results on Friday:  I quote, "Biopsies showed quiescent crohns colitis changes.  NO DYSPLASIA . . . The small polyp was benign and not precancerous!"  WONDERFUL NEWS!  Praise the Lord!  And as my husband said, we learned new words, too.  Thanks for all of your good thoughts and prayers.  :)

5)  I'm thankful my Martha Stewart Living magazine subscription finally started back.

6)  I'm thankful we got to eat so many yummy things this week:  Sour Patch Kids popsicles (those saved me on bowel prep day!), Nutella croissants, KFC, potato soup, Flying Fish, veggies, roast chicken and baked potatoes, Gusano's pizza, and caesar salads!  And today, we are going to Fred's Hickory Inn for our Valentine's Day brunch!

7)  Speaking of Valentine's Day, I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband!  He is THE BEST, hands down.  We started the day with chocolate pancakes (imprinted with a heart) and strawberries.  At work, I got a goody cup from one of my new co-workers, and after work, Zach surprised me with a box of chocolates made by the culinary department AND Starbucks hot chocolate.  Then we came home, made dinner, and opened presents.  I got him a LEGO book, Jelly Belly Cinnamon Bears, and some pilsner glasses; LEGO, candy, and beer are some of his favorites, so I think I did well.  BUUUUT he did way better than me!  I GOT A CAMERA!  Just like I suspected!  ;)  Zach went ahead and gave me my birthday present early:  a Canon Rebel T3i!!!  He did so great, and most importantly, he saved me the stress of trying to find the "perfect" camera.  :)  I can't wait to finally get to use it today!  (I was behind on lots of things, but have caught up mostly, so now I can play.)  Today, we are exchanging cards--since his to me hadn't come in yet--and going for a walk to use my camera.  Don't you just love LOVE!?

8)  I'm thankful I'll get my permanent crown on Monday.

9)  I'm thankful I got a TON of work done yesterday.  Overall, I was pleased with my students' reflection papers.  Most of them developed their topics well and described them in a balanced combination of sensory details and engaging emotions.  I was very happy to see that not too many of them used fragments although they did forget commas with coordinating conjunctions and had far too many comma splices.  You win some, you lose some.

10)  I'm thankful we have so many friends from work and so many friends in the area now.  We had to go to the Jam Night because of Zach's new position, and I was so tired I was sure we wouldn't have much fun.  But it was a BLAST!  And that is thanks to the wonderful company we had.  :)

11)  Although I was sad we didn't get a snow day, I am thankful I got to see a little snow fall.  There's always this week...

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEK?