Thankful and Grateful...Same thing?

thank·ful

  [thangk-fuhl] 

adjective

feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.

grate·ful

   [greyt-fuhl] 

adjective

1.

warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received; thankful: I am grateful to you for your help.

2.

expressing or actuated by gratitude: a grateful letter.

3.

pleasing to the mind or senses; agreeable or welcome;refreshing: a grateful breeze.

I would say so. 

This week has been a difficult one. Henry left on Saturday night. Heading East for who knows how long. Cruz got a fever on Sunday night after a fun birthday party and now Victoria is sick. But here is what I am grateful for today. 

1. A job that allows me the opportunity to stay home with my children when they really need me. 

2. A co-worker that takes on extra duties to make sure the class and students run smoothly and as a mother understands what I am going through.

3. My mom who was able to stay home from work for 2-days in order to take care of my little monkey boy. 

4. Good Doctors that know what is going on with my kiddos, are always patient and receptive to my concerns and take me seriously even though I don't have an M.D. at the end of my name. 

5. A husband who is my best friend. I miss him fiercely when he is gone. The phone just isn't the same when I just want to be snuggled up next to him on the couch or looking at him across the table while eating dinner. 

6. My husbands job/career. It is the best out there in the trucking industry and even though it takes him away...we are truly blessed that he works for that great company. 

7. My little Victoria. She isn't so little anymore in size, but she is still my little girl. 

8. I am thankful that I comfort her. That even just by me being next to her she feels a little better. 

9. Music. All kinds....pop to country I love it all. 

10. Nice people. In this county where if you put on your turn signal the car behind you feels the need to speed up...it is so refreshing when a random stranger is nice and polite. 

11. Facebook. It allows me to connect with my hubby when he is on the road through pictures and sweet words that keep us going through the week. 

12. Pinterest. Cause a girls gotta dream. ;) 

So that's my top 10 this week. I will continue to be thankful and grateful for all that I have and all that is given to me on a daily basis. 

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude."

Denis Waitley

<3, J

Thankful its Thursday...

Thursdays....oh glorious Thursdays....my favorite day of the week. Thanksgiving is on a Thursday...which also happens to be my favorite holiday :)...I digress.

Time to reflect on the week that has almost passed and look forward to the weekend that is almost here. I was born on a Thursday....what's the saying...Thursday's child has far to go....well its true. I am loving this journey that I am on. I love that I am constantly learning, constantly being tested in my beliefs and what I think, constantly striving for something more. Not that I am restless...just a wanderer. Spontaneous. Ready to go at a moments notice.

It is these character traits that shock me at times that I went in to teaching. It can be so boring and mundane. Day in and day out...same subjects, same faces, same sameness. But being in Special Ed has its randomness and each day is something new. I am thankful for that. But I feel drawn to the classroom. Not all the political crap that I have to wade through on a daily basis....parents upset that there isn't enough homework, or some that there is too much...so many different personalities to deal with and of course heightened emotions when it comes to their children. But I love teaching. I feel it in every fiber of my being. The ability to be creative and show children a different way to learn, to open their eyes to a different place they have never been, to foster self-esteem and a love for learning that goes far beyond the classroom. That is what I do best.  My passion is teaching but hand in hand with that it is the ability to be creative. When that is stifled in me...I am at a loss.

But these things I know for sure.

I know that I am an incredibly blessed person.

Blessed with this man....

and these kids....

and my closest, oldest, sister-friends I can count on one hand...

my family...

and my gorgeously grounded no-nonsense mother who always has been my steady...

I am blessed with an incredible knack for being able to call bull-s*&! when I see it, for being a caretaker and a fighter for the underdog and my intuition that is always spot-on. I know now that I am better than I thought I was. I have resolve that I thought I had lost somewhere along the road. But I found it again. I am getting back in sync with my own personal rhythms that soothe my soul and nourish myself and the people around me.

This week has been full of challenges that I met head on. I came into the week feeling like it was going to be great. It wasn't, but I made it great. I didn't let the crap drag me down.
I am learning to...

Goes hand in hand with feeling lighter and the weight I have been dropping. Kinda hard to drop that and still have the same old pissy attitude that I carry around sometimes. So today I am recognizing all that I am grateful for, which is so many things. I am blessed that my list is so long.

Looking forward to this wonderful weekend...I get two solid days with my hubbie before he is off on the road again for god knows how many weeks.

<3, J