78. Gratitude

It's laughable how badly we have failed in regards to punctuality with these first two words (especially because it is summer time and this is when our schedules will be the most relaxed,) but nevertheless, they shall be posted!
Gratitude is a noun and is defined on dictionary.com as being "the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful. In my opinion it is one of the most important of all the virtues because it lifts and builds every single person it involves. Here are some quotes from persons much more eloquent than I, who can better encapsulate the different elements of being grateful.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

~G.K. Chesterton


If you count all your assets, you always show a profit.

~Robert Quillen


If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.

~Gerald Good


There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the duty is sufficiently rewarded by the performance.

~Joseph Addison


There is no greater difference between men than between grateful and ungrateful people.

~R.H. Blyth


Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.

~Henry Clay


Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.

~Henry Ward Beecher


When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep?

~George Canning


Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

~Melody Beattie

The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!

~Henry Ward Beecher

I personally am grateful for the ability to be grateful. Gratitude and seeing the positive in all situations makes difficult easier and happiness greater. There is always something positive or good in even the most awful situation, it's just up to us to find it.
Gratitude is a habit and a lifestyle; a perspective through which one views life. It's like rose colored glasses, but better :)
Share what you're thankful for here: http://www.iamthankful.com/gratitude-journal/

I am going to be Positive!

I've decided to tell you all the positive things that happen in my life. Like a gratitude journal, so that way I can come back to it when I feel sad inside and read about all the positive things in my life.
A bulleted list would be easier:

• In APLaC we took our final on Monday. She corrected the MC while we were writing the inclass write and she said that the highest grade was 49 out of 54 which is SUPER good. Those questions are really hard. (Don't believe me? Check these out http://www.pagefarm.net/ap/sample/mulcho.pdf) She wouldn't tell us who got what scores and it was driving me crazy. Well turns out that the 49 was me! And I, kind of, set the bell curve for the Final grading for all the APLaC classes at kentwood. It ended up being out of 43, so I got 6 points of EC on my final!
• I had a C+ in that class before lunch and my parents decided that I had to have all A's and B's by the end of semester in order to be eligible to participate in the next play. After lunch, Newton came back and said that she and "the boys" (Mayden and Weeks) and they had collectively decided to give all APLaC classes a 5% grade bump. I pushed me up to a B!!! Officially I ended the semster with 1 B-, 4 B's and 1 A. I consider that pretty good for what they were before I hauled booty.
• I went dress shopping yesterday and got 2 dresses and 3 pairs of jeans. I LOVE MY NEW JEANS!! They fit so well and are so comfortable and I love dark wash. The dresses are pretty cute as well. I just have to be brave! Oh, and it was extra awesome because my most bestest friend in the entire universe came with me and we got to be silly light-hearted highschool girls and have fun and play with Jewlery and talk. I also got proposed to. ;)
• Jake and Jon both now have second lunch and I am feeling pretty optimistic about that plan. They went looking for me today at lunch. We ate outside on the roundabout hill infront of the school. It was really cold, but beautiful. They mostly talked about video games and movies/tv episodes they have recently watched. I've already given up on trying to play catch up with them. So I just sit there and smile and politely ask questions when pertinent. And they know that.
• I have sewing instead of drama now 5th period and I loved it. During the period before I had prayed for a love note from Jesus (I'll explain that to you later.) I walked into Sewing and there was a seating chart. My heart started pounding and I was terrified I wouldn't be sitting by any of my friends in that class. Lo and behold: Jesus had sent his love note. Jake was sitting behind me and behind him was another one of my friends, Cara Yamaguchi. She's also in my 6th period. I was so happy. I asked Jake about going to The Rock for tolo and he was fine with it.
• We played Survivor on Monday in stage tech 6th period. Each person had to a.) write down their top three first years and why they thought that they were the best, most hardworking individuals in the class. b.) Then they had to pick their favorite 2nd+ year. There are only 6 of them, so they only had to pick a single one, and then of course, write why. c.) Finally, they had to write the name of one person in the class that they never want to work with and why. For the first years, each positive placement had a point value. First was 3 points, second was 2 and third was 1. She read all the positive feedback about all the people in front of the class and the points were totaled up. I think Kirse Johnson got 1 or 2 points, Joey Alonzo got 7, Drew Monson got 9, Heather Dial got 6 or 7 and some other people got a few. I won, by far, with a point total of 30. The entire class thought I was a hard worker and they said things like "She always has such a positive attitude." "She knows how to build things right and make them look good." "She knows how to lead without being bossy or rude." and "She's so much fun to be around and she still gets a lot done." That was really cool.
• In APUSH we got to pick new seats and Brandon Fisher got super excited and said "Sit by me Jessica! Sit by me!" It was cool to feel so wanted. James Morcom also wanted to sit by me and so did Christina Hart.
• It was sunny today! And it was a late start so I got to sleep in and see the sun rising and got to get ready in natural light at 8 in the morning instead of artificial blackness at 5. It was quite wonderful.
• Last but 110% definitly not least, yesterday I went to bible study with Heather Dial and it was so beyond excactally what I needed to hear. I really think that I was meant to go there with her last night. They talked about things that I had been struggling with and they put names and definitions and reasons behind problems I've been having. And they addressed the source of those problems and how to combat them. They're reading a book called Captivating By John and Stasi Eldredge and I think that every woman out there in the world should read it. (That's where the love notes from Jesus came from.) It was really nice to hear from a bunch of girls my age, that they are going through the exact same problems I am. I really enjoyed it there and am looking forward to go to more of them.

There were definitly negative parts to my day, but I only want to remember the good. So that's all I'll write. Maybe I'll send you a facebook message about the bad stuff because I do want to tell you. But I don't want to remember it here. So here are my positives. I'm going to try to do this a lot more.
LOVE YOU TOOOONS!
Jess