Institute

I am grateful for institute. I am grateful for church in general, but I especially like having a mid-week class to get me back on track. I am grateful for the teachers and my other classmates. I am grateful for the insight their comments give me. I feel like it's a mini recharge to get me through to Sunday for the big one.

I am also grateful that I am beginning to feel like I belong. I am finding my place. I am so excited about my upcoming announcement and the excitement is spreading to other areas of my life as well. As a matter of fact, I even talked to a boy.

I left the house this evening feeling particularly lovely. I couldn't have asked for a better turnout on my hairdo and I was wearing a new sweater that I absolutely love. (For those of you who don't know me, me acknowledging I'm pretty is unusual. I tend to lack self confidence, so trust me, I'm not being arrogant.) He was new and alone so I walked right up to him (yes, me) during the break and introduced myself. I couldn't help noticing how cute he was. I wasn't even scared. But then it turned out his name was Eric... so I wasn't really interested any more. But he seemed nice and if he comes again, I'll be nice to him and maybe even make friends. If he wants anything more than that, well, I guess I'll just have to rename him Andy or something like that.

But meeting "Andy" isn't why I was so grateful for institute tonight. I was grateful for the lessons we had from the substitute. I was grateful for his pointing out new ways to see familiar scriptures. I was grateful to walk out of the classroom with a smile on my face and a lighter, happier spirit.