And just like that, it’s February.

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t really ‘just like that’… It’s been a long 31 days. But it’s been good.

I’ve stuck to my dairy free, gluten free, and sugar free diet for 32 days now. I blogged every day! Counting today, I’ve already posted twice as many blogs as I did last year. I’ve decluttered, simplified, and reorganized the first room in my house. I coded and began analyzing the data for my study. I read, and I prayed. And just to keep myself well-rounded, I dug my car out of the snow a couple of times, and graded a ton of papers.

In February, I’m planning to continue the no-spending and the diet and I’ve moved into the living room for my decluttering and organizing. I was thinking about going down to every other day on the blogging, because there are so many days that I just don’t feel like writing by the time I get home. But I spent some time praying about it yesterday and ended up finding four more blog ideas on the way in to school in the morning. My notebook is filling up with scribbles, so I guess I won’t be stopping any time soon.

It’s been good for me to take this time out of every day to reflect and refocus. To slow down and consider all of the little moments in the day that made it beautiful. For example, today a child used a lunch with the teacher coupon. Usually, I’ll take the child down to the lunchroom early and we’ll find our spot and sit and chat while waiting for the other students to come down. But today I had recess duty and I couldn’t go down early with her. She got into the line with all of the other second graders and began walking down the hall while I finished up in the classroom. Then I walked down after them. As I caught up with her, I spontaneously grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the line. She grabbed the hand of a friend and pulled her along, too. We scooted past the line, around the corner, and into the elevator for a private trip down to the cafeteria. She was all excitement and giggles as we headed in to find our seat. Such a simple little thing thing – holding hands and riding the elevator – but it totally made her day. Actually, it totally made mine.

May your days be full of such beautiful moments. Keep your eyes open for them. Keep your heart and hands open for them. Write them down and hold on to them. Find the joy in the simple and unexpected. Enjoy your February.