the Wednesday hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here with Joyce again today for the weekly hodgepodge...this is a post that I dearly love; thank you, Joyce, for your inspiring and thought provoking questions each and every week! I'll jump right in. 

1, What gives you energy? What takes it away? Marilyn and I talked about our answers to these prompts Monday night, and I told her that right now, work is giving me energy. I love making connections with different students, and our Resource S students are the sweetest. Seeing their smiles makes my day, as does them stepping out of a line to give me a goodbye hug every single day. I love these students so much, even the ones who are difficult! The ones who are tricky come from homes that aren't as stable as they need; many of the families are divorced, and that affects their kids in all the ways that you can imagine. Something that takes away my energy is when I have a setback like I did on Monday. I don't want to talk about that again, but I wrote about it yesterday. 

These are my sweet little first grade friends. I adore them! 

2. How often do you shop for clothes? What accessory do you always wear? I shop for clothes on an as-needed basis. I don't love shopping, but when I need things (like I do now), I'm always keeping my eye out for something. I've done a lot of online shopping for clothes lately; I'll post about that soon! I always wear accessories, period. Right now this is my Apple watch, my chunky gold earrings, a dainty gold necklace, and my favorite gold bracelet stack. 

3. What's something that's free that you feel grateful for? God's abounding love. Friendship. Communication. Laughter. Moments that bring joy. Hugs. Phone calls in the afternoon.

4. Breakfast, lunch, dinner...which meal of the day do you enjoy most? What's your go-to comfort food? I'm always the hungriest at lunch! But my favorite meal is always dinner. My go-to comfort food is something warm; last night I Door Dashed our dinner from a local Mexican restaurant. I had some delicious chicken tortilla soup since I didn't feel great, and I ordered veggies with rice and black beans. 

I plan on making my own soup when I start to feel better. I love to eat it for leftovers! Do you do this? 

5. This week the world remembers the tragic events of 9/11. Do you mark the day in any way? How do historical events shape your perspective on personal challenges? I usually take time to pray for the families of those who lost loved ones on 9/11. I like to watch The Today Show on this day each year, but I'll be at work. I may record it, honestly. I think that travel has changed the most in the days since those terrorist acts. That's when TSA guidelines tightened up, and when they started forbidding non-travelers at the gates. 

I'm so glad I got to see this memorial when I was in NYC several years ago. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I spent some time scrolling on Spotify for a song to share with you, but I couldn't find one that was worth sharing. So I'll say this instead: I think it's important that we listen to our bodies. I was thinking of this as I came home after work yesterday; I had grand plans to go to the bank, get my car washed, and go for a pedicure all before coming home. I left work not feeling great, though, so I skipped all of that and came straight home to lay down. I wanted soup for dinner, which is why I Door Dashed our dinner; before it got there I washed my face and put on pajamas. It felt good to stay home all night, and I'm glad I made the choice to forego all of the plans that I'd had for that afternoon and evening. I'd also signed up for a women's event at church, but I definitely knew I didn't need to go to that. All of this being said, I think it's smart when we listen to what our bodies tell us we need. This week feels like it's kicking my butt, so I want to take it easy on myself, you know? Have you experienced this? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all! 

Jenn