I've received gifts of encouragment...

The past two weeks have been very encouraging.

Ryan and I visited my parents and my sister in Amarillo. We had a great time just hanging out with family and shopping for fabric for baby bedding. My mom has volunteered to sew all the bedding, so I have been searching for fabric around here. Surprisingly, there is a better selection in Amarillo's fabric stores than the local ones I visited. My mom ran into a couple of friends while we were shopping; I enjoyed hearing hearing her preface the revealing of the fabric choices with the comment, "Now, Laura is not very traditional." The longer I live in Texas, the more I realize that I am a little different from the norm...and can't help but believe that Northern California rubbed off on me more than I thought. Without realizing it, I am now prefacing the revealing of my fabric choices the exact same way my mother did. I guess she convinced me that I'm not traditional and that others might need to be prepared for that fact so they can filter their reaction.

I have also realized again and again what a precious gift Ryan is to me as he continues to extend grace and love to me while I deal with a lot of physical and some emotional change. Over the past week, I've noticed a marked increase in moodiness and achiness. Unfortunately for Ryan and fortunately for my students, I don't get cranky until 7 PM or so. My hips, knees and ankles are starting to make their strain known. I have started weighing the importance of each trip upstairs at night because those trips take more out of me than they did just a few weeks ago. I'm hoping that continuing consistent exercise is reducing the inevitable discomfort.

The final piece of encouragement in my last two weeks has been the improved morale and increased support given to teachers by the administration at my school. I am really enjoying myself more than I did last year at this time. Praise the Lord!