Busy Day

Yesterday, I felt fine when I woke up, so that was good news, because I had a lot to do. It was all good, so I really didn't want to lose another day. Everything went well. My in-person book group liked the book I had suggested, and it was wedding day for my pal. What a good day-I now have a very clear picture of what an incandescently happy couple look like. They were definitely giving off an amazing amount of radiance. I am so thrilled for them.

Today, Evan is playing in his Soccer tournament. Eric is at the first game with him as we speak. I stayed behind to take Sam to the Scouting-for-food pickup. We'll be leaving in a few minutes. I'll go to the afternoon game. It is cold today, but since I like the changes that come with the seasons, I am good with that. It is fun to be able to layer up and feel the cold on my cheeks.

My big goals for today include a number of things. First is getting Jeff's Christmas package totally ready to send on Monday. I am a little behind as I wanted to get it sent out this past Monday, but a few of the things he requested were harder to find than I gave myself time for. After that, the goal is to get at least one more Advent calendar finished. I have one almost done. and all 8 in process. I am torn between assembly-lining all the rest of them (do the windows on all 8, then do the lettering on all 8, then the palm trees, etc.) but sometimes that method doesn't work for my little pea brain. I need to see finished product on big, outrageous projects like this. The last thing I have to do is get my seminary tests graded and the report cards done. I need to hand them to the parents tomorrow. I am so bad at the administrative stuff. I need to improve in that area. I mean, I get the job done, but I would just rather spend my time reading up on the content. Balance. I always need to strive for balance.

Seminary is going okay. I mean the kids come and the atmosphere is good, but I have been a little critical of myself lately, and I have to stop that because it impedes the spiritual power I need to prepare my lessons. I would say that is the biggest challenge of seminary. It is sort of like being a missionary, except I don't have the benefit of being somewhat cut off from the world. I have to be "on" just about all the time-ready at a moment's notice to act on a prompting. I know that is how I should live even if I weren't teaching seminary, but the every-day nature of seminary puts in sharp relief every thing I do. I am never more than 23 hours away from teaching again during the week, so I have to question every minute of tv I watch or everything I read. "Will this make it easier or harder to prepare my lesson and know what my kids need?" At the end of the year, I will have an impressive list of all the books I've read, but Elder Oaks' talk in Conference has caused me to consider more carefully whether they are the better or BEST books or merely good books. It is a blessing that seminary makes me think of these things, but it does bring up some hard choices, because I am so endlessly curious. I don't want to miss anything. Especially books. I have realized that I have been working hard to catch up on all my book group books, but with the coming of the holiday projects, I've fallen behind on the invitation our ward has to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. What is up with THAT? Talk about good, better and best.

Okay, enough rambling. I am off to accomplish all my goals...