jack (my first headmaster/mentor from long ago) gave me an excellent first teaching evaluation. but when he had finished telling me everything i was doing right, he said, "i need to show you one thing."
he took a blank piece of paper. "this is your day," he told me. "this is your good day." he made a very small black dot on the paper. "this is what went wrong in your day." he drew big black arrows pointing towards the tiny dot. "and all of your focus goes HERE. do you understand? your focus is all wrong."

i sat down to write this post. i feel tired. (i always hit a big slump right around nap time. convenient, huh.) overall, i think my morning went pretty well. but i keep thinking about all of the things that didn't go the way i'd planned. i didn't ride the bike, for instance, or get up in time to do my Bible study. the clothes from yesterday still aren't folded. i had to discipline sailor at the grocery store after she repeatedly stood up in the shopping cart. and i felt so busy again, after being used to having an extra pair of hands around for two weeks.

so i started to write the post this way. then i stopped. i am focusing on the black dot again.

this is how i focus on the rest of the page:

today i am thankful for:
-jon catching a ride with archie to the bus stop, so we didn't have to drive him at 6:45 am!
-the baby taking a good long morning nap. and her cold rapidly fading away.
-sailor and sunny listening to books during snack, and playing playdoh together so nicely after
-both kids staying in the cart while we shopped. without too many threats or bribes. :)
-sunny's menagerie in his bed right now, all sizes of cats, all named "cheepie": big cheepie, medium cheepie, medium-small cheepie, small cheepie, and very small cheepie. (he came up with those names ALL BY HIMSELF. i'm so proud.)
-hopefully a quick resolution to the car situation
-a good God who watches over us in spite of our imperfections. who keeps us in his hands.
-naptime. (and now to bed.)