I heart Saturdays

This is one of the rare-ish Saturdays where I don't have work-work to do: no grading, no exams to write. I do have some research-reading but I don't mind that; it isn't on any urgent schedule, it's something I do largely for myself, if an article is really poorly written I can often leave it unfinished. (And I can knit while I read).

My Sunday school lesson for the week is done. I do have to run out to the PO to pick up a package but then I can stay home for the rest of the day (It's supposed to rain.)
It's gotten cooler here and now feels like fall, and that makes staying indoors and reading even more attractive.

And I feel kind of good because of two things: first, I've been having a few college kids come to my youth group (One of the "stalwarts" of the group is a freshman himself this year, and he has invited people). I saw one of the girls who visited in my building on campus - just kind of in passing, she was down the hall from me - and when she saw me, she got a big smile on her face and waved at me. (I waved back). It makes me happy because I figure that meant she felt welcome in the group when she visited and that she was glad to see me again.

Also, my co-leader said that one of the kids told her (she was giving him a ride home) that he really liked my lessons and was learning a lot from them. So that makes me feel good; it makes me feel like I'm on the right track. I've got something a little different planned for tomorrow: role playing. One kid is going to have the role of "everything is going wrong in my life right now, God must hate me, what did I do so wrong?" and the other kids are going to try to encourage him. I do still need to look up some scripture (maybe some from Job, maybe some from some of the Epistles) for back-up, but I think the kids will find it interesting. (I hope. If this works well I may do a role-playing format for a while; I have a bunch of other ideas of things)

One of the reasons I pushed to finish the grading - even though it dang near killed me* - so I could just be DONE with it for a while. (I will say, the students by and large did better on this exam than on the previous one. Many of the regular-attenders got better grades; I assume that's because after the first exam they went, "OK, I see she means business. I need to actually study." And they did. And they did decently. And I hope most of them will go, "OK, I've kind of got it dialed in now; now I need to study more and try to bring my grade up more." I kind of got that feeling from talking to a couple of the students, that they just hadn't worked hard enough for the first exam. Of course, the people who aren't responsible and don't attend regularly, they will have failed because it is my fault.)

*(Heh. Makes me think of an old redneck joke, of which I only remember the punchline now: "Rectum? Damn near KILLED 'em!")

So I'm going to stay home, enjoy the peace and quiet, read some, cook something nutritious for lunch (part of my recent distress, I think, was that I was so busy I was doing the sort of grab-and-go eating, and I don't think I was getting optimum nutrition. I FEEL better when I'm getting enough protein and good vitamins and lots of different fruits and vegetables. And I don't think it's just because I'm less stressed and have more time.)