The Priestly Blessing

"The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace." -Numbers 6:24-27

For sure someone prayed that blessing on me this morning! Why else would my day have been so uplifting? Even now I can't stop grinning.

Let me count today's blessings, name them one by one:

1. My dedicated group of prayer partners is forming, all committed to praying for my transition into teaching in Tanzania this August.

2. I glimpsed a brilliant purple dahlia the size of a softball growing next to a brick building.

3. I just stuck a chocolate cake in the oven. Those of you who know I gave up refined sugar(whoa, hold up, just for a year!) as my New Year's resolution may be tsk tsking and shaking your heads, but hear the rest of my story.
My students and I are enthusiastically planning a weekly bakesale to raise money for local street children. We are taking them on a trip to Dhaka Zoo-what a treat for those little Dhaka ruffians! What is even more exciting for me-if that's possible- is how involved my Homeroom students are in the fundraising, as I've been pushing them to get more involved in community service.

4. My Mom's birthday present to me survived the hazards of Bangladeshi mail and reached me this morning. Quite possibly it's the best present ever. A Michael Phelps Beijing 2008 t-shirt. Let's have a moment of silence in respect of the one-of-a-kind Michael. May I be like him.

5. David Robinson, another teacher, laughed and chatted gaily all day at work. Probably because he is going back to his own parish in Australia this summer.


Yep. All those things happened to yours truly today.