Welcome Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Glad 10:

10. Glad for birthday month...Well, actually, I wish it were a month-long celebration...seems only fitting...Seriously, here are a few last shots which complete the Gretchen-is-40-already-and-enough! journaling:





Starbucks in bed:


See? I'm almost smiling. Almost awake. Almost smiling.





Brought to me by:
My 10-age daughter. Today, she loves me. ;)

A night out with Big. He took me here for the b'day. The second picture, at request of Drama Girl photographer. Ooooh, ookaaay.


9. Glad for my man hands. Without them, I would have no where to place this adorable spring bracelet which I won from my new fabulous bluddy, Susan (Carpool Queen). She should a.k.a. be the coffee queen, which is another reason I lurve her. THANK YOU! Because of her, I'm no longer terrified of trying felting. Just mildly frightened.

8. Glad that science fair projects are only a year or 3 from being a thing of the past. Don't get me wrong. I lurve science in a most excellent way. However, doing experiments at home during my naptime on a Sunday afternoon , trying to pull out salient questions and assist, but not direct the entire process from research to purchasing needed objects--aren't there always "needed objects"? Well, it leaves me d.o.n.e. Learn the scientific method in high school. There are labs there. Needed objects included. "Our" project was comparing tea, coffee, and cola in fabric dyeing. If this doesn't ignite her fire for further research in the field, I don't know what will.

7. Glad for an email which told me that the prayer ministry was praying specifically for me this week, and asked for my requests. In a 600 person church, this felt all personal-like, and I really appreciated it. My list was long, but distinguished. Think they'll ask again??

6. Glad that I have a working brain. You see, my frontal lobes are telling me, "Don't kill the dog, Gretchen. She's made to bark. She doesn't know it's an ungodly hour. Remember how you wanted to get her so badly??? Huh? Remember how cute you thought she was? Don't kill her today. You can make it for today, right? " What is it about barking which makes it more forceful and strident before coffee?

5. Glad about my intro to systematic theology class. Our pastor is a professor, and i feel like i'm in college again. But we're not studying neurons, phonemes, and augmentative communication. No. This week, we're studying 1 Peter. Our assignment is to read it in 3 different translations, and then we'll complete an exegetic exercise (pulling from the text that which is there) during class. Very cool. When we did this before, with Colossians, my head hurt at the end of the class because so much of what we hear as Christians is not actually in the text. E.g. God helps those who help themselves (can we BE more anti-christian than that?), or spare the rod/spoil the child. Not.in.there. Looking at the Bible with a fresh perspective--exegetic vs. devotional--is growing my faith. Not that there's anything wrong with devotional studies. I lurve them, in fact. I find that they'll be even more powerful for me as I learn more about their context. I can say, "Look! It's in there!"

4. Grateful for the snow, sun, rain, sun mix yesterday. Spring is here. My little tulips are about 4 inches long. Yay. Forsythia (sp?) bush is coming into her own, too. Allergies can't be far behind. :)

3. As much as I like to serve and be on the choir and worship team. Y'all know by now how much I love those things...it was nice to go to church for one service and leave. A little rest never hurt anyone.

2. Glad for a meeting with David's teachers this week, to discuss his schedule for the end of this year and for (gulp!) 8th grade. So far, we really do think this school is a fit. Though nothing is perfect, the litmus test for us is that he's happy there, and his grades are good. Friends, I guess, will come later.

1. Gladdy-glad-o'glad that my hubby and I had a sweet, quiet, not much, but a lot conversation yesterday. Perfunctory pecks on the lips and 5 minute chats become the norm with a busy family. This was nice.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, a little bit early!