The campus is noisy with the sound of students running and playing again. The classroom is a wreck after some hard core learning going on and I am sitting here just trying to catch my breath after a full morning of teaching. This morning when I woke up, my heart was all askew and troubled with the day and what was coming...namely, teaching again. So I sat here before the kids came in, in the quiet darkness of the morning and read through some chapters in Genesis and then read this out of my devotional on hope: "Notice in Psalm 118 that the rejoicing comes before the gladness. The rejoicing is in God making the day, not in our finding something to be glad about. " Each day is a gift to us...and some days may not present terribly obvious "little joys"...but the reason we are to rejoice in the days is because God has given them to us...not necessarily because we have some little thing to make us happy. Though those certainly do help. :) It has been a good first day back...I have enjoyed the kids like I never did last semester...it is truly a new beginning...in so many areas of my life. :) I am just thankful for a new day to rejoice in. :)