Counting My Blessings

This week has been busy. I think I always say that, but even compared to my normal semester schedule, this week was busy. I had so much on my mind Sunday night as I was laying in bed, thinking of the seemingly impossible week I had ahead of me. For the first time in my life, I had an anxiety attack. I started hyperventilating and my the my hands started shaking. The vibrating sensation moved up my arms and even into my face. Obviously this tells you something about how ridiculous I am when it comes to schoolwork. I'm really trying to work on it, but that's hard for me. Anyway, Spencer took care of me and calmed me down and on Monday morning he gave me a priesthood blessing. Somehow, miraculously, I'm at the end of my week (the busy part, at least). I have been so blessed, and these are just a few of the ways:

1. Spencer is the best. He is so kind and patient and understanding. He is always prepared to give me a blessing when I need or ask for one. He loves me, even when I go crazy. :)

2. Someone thinks about us. Spencer went to answer the door on Monday and someone left us a plate of cupcakes and Reese's peanut butter pumpkins. I don't know who "boo-ed" us, but I am grateful for them. The simple gesture almost brought tears to my eyes because nobody could have known how much that would mean to me this week.

3. Dad. We video chatted for a while on Monday. That was great. Love you, Dad!

4. Emails from missionaries. Mikayla and Benjamin emailed us this week, and last week we got a letter from Mikayla. They inspire me to put important things first, and Benjamin's simple advice to "go do something fun" was probably inspired as well.

5. General Conference. I just need it. It was amazing.

6. A fantastic group for my presentation. This morning (Thursday), my group presented in my mammalogy class. We had to give a 45 minute presentation on the bat family Phyllostomidae. The girls in my group, Kyrie and Kimberli, are fantastic. They didn't stress over it and we managed to get together for 5 successful hours of organizing, planning, and prepping our presentation. I am really happy with how it went. Last night I had crazy dreams about our powerpoint disappearing and all sorts of things going wrong. Everything went fine and the class even got involved in the discussions. We were the first group to use all the time we were allotted. Plus, that's one big check off my list of projects for the semester.

I felt a little bit like Calvin. (And Michael, you'll be proud to know that this went into the powerpoint.)



7. By some miracle, I passed my mammalogy lab quiz. This was the hardest one so far and I had the least amount of time to work on it. I missed like 3 of the bats, but overall, I did alright. Probably better than I deserved.

8. On Tuesday my mammalogy professor moved a writing assignment's due date back 4 days. (I didn't even have it on my radar and it was supposed to be due on Tuesday.) My philosophy of biology professor moved the midterm exam AND book review back by a week each. The midterm was supposed to start on Tuesday, and I have 250 pages to read for the book review still. Now I have 2 weeks to get it done instead of just one.

9. I'm not sick.

10. Michael. He always chats with me on gmail, telling me stupid jokes and stuff. Sometimes I have to tell him to leave me alone so I can focus on my work, but he always makes me laugh. :)

11. James. He's always willing to help me out. He's lending me a GPS and a mess kit for my mammalogy field trip that starts today.

12. I finished ALL of my homework assignments that will be due between now and Saturday when I get home from my field trip.

13. The weather doesn't look like it'll be as cold and rainy on our field trip as it looked on Tuesday. I'm hopeful about not freezing now.

14. The Internet. How on earth would I have gotten that presentation together if I had to look through real books and journals in the library to find stuff??

15. Blogs. Blog posts and pictures (on the blog or on Facebook) of all the kids make me happy. :) Thanks for blogging AnnaMarie and Caroline. And Marianne when she does. haha

16. AnnaMarie. For talking with me on the phone even though it's obvious she has other things going on around her.

17. Friends who try to keep in touch with me. I know I'm a lame-o friend sometimes, but every time I get a text from an old friend it makes my day.

Basically, this week has been full of divine intervention through all sorts of people around me. Thanks everyone. :) In about an hour I'll be off on my field trip, which will be a welcome change of pace. Hopefully it'll be fun, but it will at least be fun(ny?) to see my classmates get into it. They are more excited about mammals than I am.