On Monday night Brent and I laced up and went on a three mile run - except this time we took a new route through the neighborhood up to the Seawall and back. It was a nice leisurely run on the way there, but as it got darker the neighborhood started to look really sketchy, so we ran back as quickly as we could! Since the time change, it's been getting dark by 6:00, which means that the most sunlight I ever see on the week days is about 30 minutes. That fact is really depressing to me, considering it's often dark when I get to work and the window in my classroom is very small. But I love winter time, and darkness coming early just is part of it, so we'll just have to find new, safe places to run! Megan and I have also decided that we're going to start working out after school in our classrooms. We started on Thursday with Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred.
On Wednesday night Brent and I went on a progressive dinner date... well, at least we started on one... we decided that we would do each course of the meal at restaurants we had never eaten at before. We had queso con carne for an appetizer at Salsa's to start and a shrimp dinner at the Black Pearl for main course... but we were so full we didn't have any room for dessert, so we headed home to cuddle on the couch and watch Once Upon a Time. It's my new favorite TV show. :)
On Thursday night was book club. This time we read Night by Elie Wiesel and met at MOD. Last time I read Night it was for a college course before going to Poland to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau. It was even more powerful reading it this time, having been there and being able to see in my head exactly what some of those places looked like.
Much to my demise, I have discovered lattes. A few weekends ago in San Antonio I tried a Pumpkin Spice latte from Starbucks, and it changed how I felt about coffee forever. On Thursday at MOD I thought I'd try another one and ordered an Almond Joy latte... and holy cow, it was even more amazing than my first!
Last night Brent and I went on a short run to the library to check out my new book for book club - Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka - and continued running to Starbucks - where I tried a new latte, of course! Afterwards we walked back and hurried to clean up before heading to work at our small group's service project. Our small group decided to offer a night of free childcare for parents at our church so that they could go out on a date. It was so much fun! Brent and I worked in the room with the older kiddos and played game after game of Life and Guesstures and Connect Four and so many more. The parents really seemed to appreciate it, and I'm so glad that we were able to serve them by giving them the gift of time together.
God has shown me over the last few weeks that time on the week nights can be as wonderful and treasured as time on the weekends when I make time for Him, for myself, for my friends and family. It has meant spending less time on lessons and lesson preparation, which means that my lessons are perhaps not what they could be. But I've learned that without these times of joy and relaxation, I cannot be the person that I want to be. When I am not the person that I want to be, it doesn't matter how awesome the lesson or how well or over-prepared I am, I don't have the desire or the energy to execute them. I am praying that He will help me continue to learn to find balance in my life, so that I'm not living for the weekends but am living for every day.
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