Celebrations - February OLW Reflection

February has crept slowly by with several snow days and bitter cold temperatures. My OLW perspective was at the forefront, as I had to adjust my thinking several times both with the weather and in my classroom. My celebrations begin with the weather.

• I'm celebrating an amazing and thoughtful husband who has driven me to work several times with a smile because he wanted to not because he had too.  
• I love snow days, time to read, look out the windows at our beautiful backyard searching for the wild life. 
• When I'm not driving in the snow, which isn't often, I love snow I really do.  Individual snowflakes, looking at all the different tracks around our property, beautiful cozy fires and the sun gleaming down on our frozen pond are all celebrations for me.

Celebrations continue with school.

• My students completed the LA PARCC testing this week - wow they worked hard, used their time wisely and gave their absolute best effort! All I could ask for as their teacher.
• I celebrate that I know I did not prepare them for a test. I continue to prepare them for loving books, building lifelong readers, exploring the idea of a writer's notebook and creating a community of learners each day.
• Conversations with my colleagues. My writing group who picked me up and encouraged me to keep writing. 
• Dublin Literacy Conference- the BEST ever! Wow the presenters were amazing, the conversations were fantastic and the chance to see my friends near and far is perfect.  

Finally I celebrate prayers, the chance everyday to say thank you and remind myself that I am not on this journey alone. All week in my bible reading, there's been a consistent message about God holding my right hand, and I definitely need that. Thanks to Ruth for encouraging us to celebrate and reminding me about my OLW as I read her blog posts. Here is the link up for this week .