Thanksgiving

I have so many things to be thankful for. So often I forget to sit back and count them. God is so good! So often I dwell on the things in my life I don't like, and as Beth Moore says, it turns into "faithless fretting." May I do much more faithful thanking! Yes, life is hard, but God is good. And bigger than my fears. And I do have so many things to be thankful for! I know I have used this set up before, but it fits well, so I am going to use it again. A list of A-Z on what I am thankful for.

A-a break from school! Thanksgiving break was much needed! And only three more weeks until Christmas Break!

B-beauty! This country is so beautiful. I spent the weekend at the beach enjoying the beauty of the coast and drove through the mountains to get there and enjoyed the beauty of the mountains. I love how creative God is!

C-chocolate. Yes, I am thankful for dark chocolate :). As my mom says, "Love God, hate sin, read your Bible, and eat chocolate!"

D-drinking hot drinks. The weather has been cool enough to do that. And by cool I mean 70s. Yes, I am getting tropical blood!

E-eating. We went to an all-inclusive resort over the weekend. Needless to say, I ate a lot! So grateful for more than enough food. I take that for granted so often!

F-friends! Some friends came over Thanksgiving. It was awesome! My friend Daniel was injured in a medical accident, so his mom also shared his story in chapel for the secondary. Very powerful! I had so much fun with them and hope they can come again. My kids loved them too!

G-growth. The Lord is stretching me so much. It's hard but so good!

H-heroes. My first graders and I have been going through a devotional book of Bible heroes. There are so many incredible people in the Bible who I can follow their example. And I love that they made mistakes, yet God still used them.

I-important decisions. Funny thing to be thankful for, but I can be thankful that God will direct me in my important decisions! The one on my mind is where He wants me next year. Please pray with me that I will follow His will for my life and not my own desires!

J-Jesus. I am so thankful that He died on the cross for me even when He could have called down legions of angels to rescue him.

K-kangaroos? I can't think of a k word!

L-languages. I love that God gave our brains the ability to learn another language. And I am glad we can talk to people with words!

M-medicine. I am glad we have doctors who can help us feel better!

N-naps. What more can I say?

O-open doors. I have been able to talk to one of my student's moms about the Lord a little. Please pray that God keeps opening the doors!

P-parties. We had a Thanksgiving party at school. All my kids dressed up like little pilgrims. They were so cute!

Q-quiet time with God. I don't do this enough. May I really hunger for it!

R-renewing. I love that God renews our minds to make us more like Him!

S-salvation. Praise the Lord that I can be part of His family!

T-truffles. I haven't had any in a while, but am looking forward to one when I get home!

U-umbrellas. It has been raining a lot here. When I use my umbrella, it's great :).

V-victories. The Lord has given me many personal victories and victories with my students. Praise Him for that!

W-water. It really is a blessing to have water in my house. I need to remember that when I am not happy about the hot water only lasting about 3 minutes!

X-x-ray. But not the kind the doctors do. I am thankful that God knows my heart, that his x-ray is so much more accurate. I love that He sees the dirt inside me yet still loves me.

Y-youngsters. I am thankful for my 19 little blessings. They have taught me so much! And they did SO well with my friend Daniel who is in a wheelchair. LOVE them!

Z-zzzz's. I am thankful for sleep! I am hoping to get plenty of it tonight!

Making that list really helped me be thankful so much. Instead of focusing on the hard things, may I really focus on what the Lord has done for me and even more than that who He is. He is amazing! May you also count your blessings!

Lessons

Once again I can't get my pictures to move, so scroll down for the text :)

Amanda and I were counting sheep for the fall party with the teachers :)

We had a spaghetti party when we read "On Top of Spaghetti, as you can see in the following picture. One of the girls also brought cupcakes. I had to leave for chapel, but the guy who watches my kids used my camera to take a couple cool shots. This little girl is VERY silly :)

Our Joseph books. See below for an explanation :). I made these in Kenya too :)

Isn't it amazing how God teaches us? I feel like when we need to learn something, He teaches us in so many ways. He knows that I need to hear it more than once! I struggle a lot with people pleasing. Anyone who knows me will not be surprised by this statement :). In the past 8 months or so, I have been learning lesson after lesson about this. I have been learning how to fear God instead of fearing people. It's not easy, let me tell you! It always seems like when you are working through something like that, more and more situations come up where you have to practice what you are learning! It is amazing though how God has been using them to teach me. As I surrender a situation to Him, he shows me, sometimes within minutes and sometimes much later, that He is indeed in control and indeed does have a plan. One phrase from an amazing book, "When People are Big and God is Small, says we need to learn to "love people more but need them less." All my life, I have been so tied to what people think of me, needing them. But I am learning that that is not how God wants me to live my life. HE alone can meet my needs. Yes, we need the body of Christ, but when I don't get invited to something, it doesn't mean that I am worthless. God is good.

In other news, life here is definitely hard at times, but so worth it. When I woke up on Monday, there was a huge trail of ants from the doorway through my living room, into my room, up my desk, and into my computer. I am not kidding! I came to realize that it was because there were also baby spiders living in my computer that attracted the ants. And unfortunately, ants can destroy your computer. I was more upset about it than I should have been. God convicted me that He was still in control and that even losing my computer for His name's sake is worth it. Yes, I know in the scheme of things a computer is a little thing. It's amazing how dependent we are with our things! Thankfully, at least for now, my computer is fine. I froze it for a couple of hours, without the battery, and then one of the guys at school cleaned it out. I am praying for no more bugs in it!

My kids are adorable. One of my girls said probably the best quote ever. My kids were complaining, which is not unusual, and she said, "Stop complaining! Miss Seeman is NOT Moses and we are NOT the Israelites!" LOVE them and love that what we are studying is sticking! I have such a huge responsibility in teaching these precious children. So many days I take it for granted. May I see it for the huge blessing it really is!

About a month ago we studied the life of Joseph, as in the son of Jacob. We talked a lot about how God had a plan for Joseph and how He also has a plan for us. I need to remember that! God's plan for my life might look very different than I thought it would, but He is in control. His plans for me are so much better than my plans for myself.

Speaking of plans, I have no idea at this point where God wants me next year. Would you pray with me? Please pray that God would guide and direct me as to where He wants me this next year. I am open to staying or going somewhere else. We will see. I don't want to make my decision out of the fear of man. May it be God's will and His alone! His plan is always best!