One down ...

... two to go.  Finals that is.  I took my New Testament exam this morning and will spend the weekend getting ready for Christian Thought and Ethics.  And then I will take a big deep breath and say a not-so-fond farewell to this semester.

In the meantime, there are so many things that I am grateful for.  I think it's about time I start talking about that for a change.

For one, I am grateful for the beautiful red Poinsettia plant and card Bruce brought me last night.  It was beautiful and just the thing that I needed.

Despite the fact that we went down to the car for about five 

minutes to bring up some groceries and in the short time we were gone, Lilly had jumped up onto the counter and devoured on of the leaves on my Poinsettia, I am still grateful for her.  She came into my life during a very stressful finals season and she always knows when she needs to be especially affectionate.  (Although I don't know if it's her being affectionate or just demanding attention seeing as she continues to do this - jump up on my desk and lay down on whatever I happen to be studying at the moment.  This time it was a pile of notes, she had done it on my bible earlier.)

I'm grateful for my father who immediately kicked into "Daddy" gear when I sent him an e-mail telling him how stressed I was.  He told me that it was going to be okay and that it wouldn't matter if I finished last that I just needed to finish and then I could move on to the next stage of my life.

I'm grateful for Max who responds to my e-mails with questions ranging from ordination to exegesis to wedding plans and never tells me to shut and leave him alone.

I'm grateful to my mom who gives me hope tat I can make it through Seminary - hey, if three generations before me did it, so can I, right?

I'm grateful for friends who have picked up the fact that this hasn't been the easiest time for Bruce and me and have taken the time to ask how I have been, gone to coffee, sat and talked when I know they had others things going on, all of the above and etc.  That being said, I'm also grateful for the friends who live thousands of miles away who don't hate me when I get stressed and essentially fall off the face of the earth.

I'm grateful for rainy days with Christmas lights.  No explanation necessary.

I'm grateful for the wonderful church family Bruce and I have found at Pilgrimage.  They've been shepherding me as I've stressed throughout this semester and continued to encourage me week after week.

I'm grateful for lucky bamboo.  Bruce and I bought a plant for my office over the summer and Catherine gave me hers (it was a promotional gift that she didn't want) so now I have two in my office.  I love all of the symbolism and ancient traditions behind them.  I've started to scheme about where I can put lucky bamboo at my wedding and reception - three plants, of course, to represent happiness, wealth and longevity.

I'm grateful for Christmas music.  I'm pretty sure I would have gone crazy by now if I hadn't been listening to Christmas music around the clock.

Words do not describe how grateful I am for Bruce.  Not only did he bring me flowers last night but he also did grocery shopping for at least two weeks (we had no food!!) he stayed up with me (fell asleep on the couch but the effort was there) while I studied for New Testament, has outright told me not to cook, clean or do laundry until finals are over (he's taken care of most of it, too - the laundry remains unfolded but there are some things that just need to wait for me!!), and continues to tell me that I'm strong.  He has been my strength throughout this process and I don't think words can ever describe how lucky I am.

Okay, so I have so many things to be grateful for.  Two stupid finals are not going to get in the way of the happy things that are going on in my life.  I won't let them!!