Grains of Gratitude

I'm starting a new weekly post, Grains of Gratitude. I'm taking the idea from Michelle at Big Blueberry Eyes, who got the idea from another blogger friend. I like these weekly posts and this is one I definitely can grab hold of. I've always liked the idea of a gratitude journal. My mom keeps a daily gratitude journal and I believe in its power. So every Sunday, I will reflect back on the week before and list those things that I am grateful for.

This past week was crazy busy and hectic on top of that. I'm glad that we made it through in one piece! Here are the other things I feel grateful for today:

1) I went to a wonderful conference about autism (a post about this conference is in the works) for 3 days this past week. The conference was in Kearney, NE, where I went to college for my bachelor's and where my best friend still lives. Not only did I get to learn a whole bunch of new information about autism, I also got to relive the glory days with this friend and drink a few gallons of beer with her. Fun that night, not so fun the next day! I'm so grateful for the people who put on that conference, for the people who are on the autism spectrum and were brave enough to educate those at the conference, and for a safe trip home. It was so windy coming home on the interstate, our vehicle was really getting tossed around. I was very grateful to be home.

2) Last night was Special Friends Prom. This is an event put on by a group of people who feel that it is important to make sure that students with special needs get to have the same memorable high school experiences that other students get while still meeting their needs in a smaller, accessible setting that isn't so intimidating. Students in the general education population also attend and it makes for a really fun night. I'm so grateful that the event was a success, that I had such a good time, and that most of my students attended and also had fun.

3) I'm so glad that the back issues I've been having for the past few days seem to have resolved themselves for the time being and that I am in much less pain today.

4) I finally took the time to check out Google Reader. It is going to save me so much time! Now I can open that and see if any blogs I read have been updated, instead of going to each one. Yay! I never took the time before to figure it out and now I'm really glad that I did!

5) Finally - those that I am grateful for every single day: my kids, husband, a good job, my church, my faith. I am blessed. It's so easy to be grateful for that!

So that's it for this week. I know there are many others that are not coming to mind - but these are the biggies. Anything on your mind that you are feeling especially grateful for today?