I don't think I could ever say my life is boring.  I'm thankful for that.  Did I mention how I realized I have got to do a better job of taking care of myself? I think I tend to feel guilty often and often do things out of obligation and guilt and sometimes forget to do something to keep myself healthy. I wish I could do a better job of taking care of myself sometimes.  I want to do something yet I feel stuck sometimes and don't do it.  

 So for the past week I've been trying to do something everyday that allows me to take care of myself.  One day I spent about an hour writing. That was so nice. Another day I exercised, which was amazing, but typical.  Yesterday I decided going to my church's prayer meeting was what I wanted to do, and it was so encouraging, another day I pulled Kevin along and wanted to go visit his mom.  Fun.  And two days ago, I was brave and tried out Yoga 2 for the first time. That's right, not yoga 1, but yoga 2.  I was hesitant because I've never gone and I knew it was a busy class, but somehow things worked out and I went.  It was 75 minutes long, but I can tell you I've never been so thankful to try something new.  

This morning I attended a training on how kids deal with death. SO interesting and very enlightening. What God showed me through this training was how much he has loved me.  Preparing children for the death of a loved one, especially a parent is so important. By having the dying parent write letters to the child, talk to the child and share what is most important to them, discuss with the child what life will be after the death, leaving objects or memories for that child are important things to do to prepare children for death.  There's so much more.  But as I listened, I realized that while I'm not a child anymore, all the important things that can help a child cope with death a little better were things that happened in my life prior to Yeye's death.  In fact, God I think has been preparing me for the past ten years, and Yeye did a good job too probably not intentionally by leaving me with many pictures, many gifts/objects, and many memories that I am so thankful for.  He gave me this devotional book probably over five years ago and wrote me a letter instead starting it with "Dearest Isabel..." stating that he found that devotional book to be of good spiritual value. Didn't really read it much until he passed away and now what was seemingly a crumb on my shelf is a treasure to me now. He gave me one of his scarves maybe two years ago that he had never worn that is very nice quality and quite stylish.  And he attended my wedding, something I'm so thankful for.  What I'm even more thankful for is what he left behind for me.  For my wedding, he wrote his last piece of calligraphy and gave it to me. And of course, the day he passed, he said good bye.  And while it makes me cry, I feel so lucky because after Yeye died, I was left with no regrets, no hopes that I had spent more time with him, or loved him more.  And only God could have planned things so well.  Only he knew enough to place me in a new job where I would be even more prepared and taken care of.  Amazing!