One Thousand Gifts . . .

The kitchen table is cluttered.  It starts today and last minute preparations are making my head spin.  I'm doing something new this year, a co-op with dear friend Donna in which I will be teaching one of the classes.

I'm not a schoolteacher.  I'm a designer who desperately began trying eleven years ago to teach her children at home and struggled everyday not to just let them color, touch fabrics, and make things look pretty.  Stay outside the lines, not inside.

Now I'll be teaching someone else's children.  A mother with more experience, more children, and more patience than I have.  She's better organized and more goal-oriented than me.  She schedules and plans meals and frugal shops.

But . . .

She's all that and more outside the lines than I am.  I think I'll be alright.

My gratitude list continues . . .

a patient friend

history DVD's

colored pencils

sack lunches

welcoming homes

mechanical pencils

colored glue sticks

dot-to-dots

tracing letters

Target $1 aisle

stickers

blunt scissors

crayons

washable markers

chunky pencils

morning devotions

strawberry muffins

chocolate milk

sour apples

online classes

laptops

alarm clocks

first days

anticipation

My list, #188-210.