Prompt 8: Beautifully Different

Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up.  Reflect on all the things that make you different - you'll find they're what make you beautiful.

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Traditions:  I LOVE traditions.   I love that the traditions we have allow me to have something to look forward to all year.  If I had it my way, we would do the exact same thing every year for Christmas.  I love watching the same movies, baking the same cookies, putting up the same decorations, and listening to the same Christmas music.  This made it really hard for me to think about spending Christmas away from my family this year (Andrew and I decided we would alternate spending Thanksgiving or Christmas with our families each year).  I know that spending Christmas in Michigan will turn out fine when we do it, but this year it worked out that his family can come to Indiana for Christmas, which means we get to spend Christmas with BOTH of our families.  I couldn't be happier!!!

Compassion:  This is one of my greatest strengths as well as one of my greatest weaknesses.  I am deeply sensitive about things that are going on with others, especially with my students, which means that sometimes it's hard for me to let things go.  I tend to bring their problems home from school with me.   I actually considered this when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.  I was torn between teaching and youth ministry, but I figured that I needed the separation that teaching provided.  I'm so glad that I chose teaching because it's really allowed me to work with some kids that I wouldn't have worked with as a youth minister.  I also think I'm much better at teaching than I ever would have been at youth ministry.

When I asked Andrew to help me come up with a list of things that for this prompt, he came up with some things that I hadn't even thought of.  He came up with:

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Easily excitable:  I'm always excited to tell him about things or to share things with him.  I get really excited about little things, which makes it really easy for Andrew to make me happy.  For example, last week he told me that a package would be coming in the mail that was for both of us.  When the package got here this week, I found out that he'd remembered that we wanted to try a specific kind of panettone that Giada De Laurentiis had mentioned.  I have been so excited every time I get to eat a piece of it this week.


Tells good stories:  I don't even know what to say about this one.  I'm happy that he thinks I tell good stories because I tell a lot of them!


Thoughtfulness:  I spend a lot of time thinking about others.  I love spending time with them (even though I already told you that I have problems being social from time to time!)  I also love giving people meaningful gifts.  The fact that this is different from others has become increasingly obvious over the past few years as I'm shopping for birthday presents and Christmas presents.  I shop during the entire year, picking up things that I think people would like as I see them.  Andrew shops on Christmas Eve!  I buy gifts that I think people would enjoy.  Andrew buys gifts from the lists that people give him.  I never realized that our shopping styles were so different!


Strength:  His specific words were "You're stronger than you think you are.  Everyone knows it, just not you."  One of the times I love my family the most is when we have to deal with a crisis because we all come together.  We know what's important and what's not.  We know that we need to support each other and love each other.  I think a lot of the strength I have has come from the crises that my family and I have faced and gotten through together.