Seven Ways to Show Teacher Appreciation All Year Round

I was BLESSED to have some amazing teachers. I mean really and truly blessed! I attended a small elementary school, Pentland, in Newberry, Michigan and then went on to Newberry Junior High school and high school. I am very grateful for the instruction I received! Shouts outs to Avis Fretz, my fifth grade teacher, and to Ruth Hill, my high school chorus teacher and baton twirling supervisor!!!

Nowadays, with a fifteen-year-old in high school, I sometimes struggle with how to show appreciation to my son's teachers, who do so much for him. As someone with an autoimmune disorder (RA) I have been rather spastic in when and how I'm going to show my gratitude to my son's teachers. If I'm feeling lousy all during Teacher Appreciation Week I might never make it into the school that week -- it could be a month or later. But there are things we can do all year round to show some Teacher love.

1) Pray for them and their families.

2) Email them a note of encouragement or of thanks. I know I'm in the habit of emailing when I need help with something. But an email of how your child has benefitted from their teaching can be a nice surprise. On one of my recent facebook posts, my cousin Scott Davis, a teacher in Michigan, mentioned that a thoughtful note is always appreciated.

3) Give them shout outs at meetings or school. Let others know what a wonderful job they are doing. 

4) Send supplies in unexpectedly during the school year, not just at the beginning. Also, I "think" some of the classes that aren't main classes don't always get supplies, just the home room teachers, at the beginning of the year.

5) Something personal, in your hobby area, can be fun. I'm a beader. So one year I gifted all of my son's teachers with my beadwork during teacher appreciation week. One of the ancillary teachers was really touched that I remembered her because so often she'd been left out. One of my Facebook commenters mentioned, however, that children's homemade gifts can be problematic because if a teacher gets too many it is hard to throw them out to make room for the new ones. Kind of like those cute Sunday school projects that come home and eventually you have to toss them.

6) A gift card for supplies or to one of their favorite places was the big winner on my Facebook post! Most folks mentioned gift cards as a great option.  In our school district, our teachers have not been given their well-deserved raises since the Great Recession. If I could gift all my son's teachers with a huge gift card I would. Still, I find gift cards a little impersonal for certain times of year. And, frankly, I lose them or misplace them but the Facebook responders indicated that in particular for book gift cards, e.g., Barnes & Noble or Amazon, they usually spent those right away.

7) Local gifts. This year I bought some gifts from Yankee Candle factory which has a flagship store in our area. Depending on where you live, items such as locally acquired honey (aren't teachers sweet as honey?), artwork from a local artist, note cards of local landmarks (Shirley Plantation had beautiful cards as does Colonial Williamsburg), and maybe even local authors' books (like mine!).

Giveaway: GUESS WHAT? Seven Brides for Seven Mail-Order Husbands will be releasing in a few weeks!!! It will be available online and in multiple retail stores and at independent Christian book stores. It includes my novella, "Dime Novel Suitor," which I had a lot of fun writing! Answer this question to enter: What made your favorite teacher your fave?

FIVE Blessings of a Spirit of Gratitude - By Bonnie Roof

Last week, Bonnie posted on gratitude and how to seek a proper attitude - ever notice grateful attitude and gratitude go together? This week, Bonnie shares about the blessings of maintaining this attitude!

What are the blessings of a spirit of gratitude?

(1) It brings us closer to God. Psalm 22:3 tells us God inhabits the praises of His people. 

(2) It helps us realize how He's working in our lives, our attitude is improved, our mind renewed, and we are filled with joy. 

(3) It shows God how grateful we are for Who He is - it says we love and worship Him and need His help. 

(4) It helps us be able to see a negative thing in a positive way and determine that we can't be defeated because God is on our side. As humans, we drift toward the negative if not controlled by the Holy Spirit - we don't have to "try" to complain, but effort and faith are needed to maintain a thankful attitude. We need to learn to thank God in everything because complaining opens a door for satan. It's not easy to do, easy to forget how blessed we are, and easier to feel sorry for ourselves when things happen that don't seem fair. It's necessary to keep reminding ourselves to trust God and believe He will work it out for our good. He has promised this if we love Him, pray, and want His will (Romans 8:28). Fix your mind on things worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8) - remember and talk about them. Having a good attitude is what glorifies God, maintaining gratefulness is something we need to do on purpose. 

(5) Victory comes by being thankful in every situation and believing God is working everything out for our good. 

Here are a few of the Bible verses about gratitude - if you need help giving thanks to God. It doesn't come naturally to everyone. 

(1) Colossians 3:17 

(2) Colossians 3:15 

(3) Ephesians 5:20 

(4) Ephesians 1:16 

(5) Psalms 135:1 

(6) Psalms 107:1 

(7) Psalms 118:24 

I Thessalonians 5:18 - In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 

Please leave a comment for an entry in this week's GIVEAWAY!! We're giving away two copies of Suzanne Woods Fisher's latest novel, a colonial Amish story.

Six Ways to Seek a Spirit of Gratitude - By Bonnie Roof

What does it mean to be grateful?? Webster's dictionary defines the word "gratitude" as: the state of being grateful, thankfulness. Sounds simple, right?? But do we fully appreciate the extent of gratefulness when it comes to God's gifts to us??

Most of us would agree that we have a lot to be thankful for. Many of us live a lifestyle full of conveniences- we wear nice clothes, have no shortage of clean water or healthy food, live in comfortable homes, have reliable transportation, access to quality healthcare and education, and basically live a good life with security, safety and a lot of freedom. It's easy to take these blessings for granted and even get into the bad habit of focusing on what we "don't" have - while millions of people around the world live without the necessities of life. A homeowner may complain about cleaning her home while those without a place to live would love to have a house to clean. Someone who owns a car may complain about the cost of regular maintenance and unexpected repairs while a person without transportation dreams of having a car to drive.

You've probably read or heard the story of the lady who, one day, asked God why He let so much happen to her that day - she woke up late, her car took forever to start, at lunch - her sandwich was made wrong and she had to wait, on the way home - her phone went dead just as a call came through, when she got home - she just wanted to soak her feet in her new foot massager and it wouldn't work. God responds by commenting: the death angel was at her bed that morning and He had to send one of His Angels to battle him for her life - He let her sleep through that, He didn't let her car start because there was a drunk driver on her route that would have hit her if she was on the road, the first person who made her sandwich that day was sick and He didn't want her to catch the illness as He knew she couldn't afford to miss work, her phone went bad because the person calling was going to give false witness about what she would say during that call, and that foot massager had a short that was going to throw out all of the power in her house. Probably just a story - yet our God intercedes on behalf of His children so often, similar situations of which they are often never aware. These are simple inconveniences but isn't it often the little inconveniences that frustrate us and tend to set our mood for the day?

How do we obtain a spirit of gratitude?? Some suggestions:

(1) Say to yourself, several times a day: God loves me.

(2) Keep a Gratefulness Journal and record answered prayers, things received, and favor shown, etc..

(3) Learn to enjoy seemingly insignificant blessings we often overlook: going to the grocery, getting dressed, sending e-mails, driving to work, and hundreds of other routine activities. So much of our time is spent in these activities - why not learn to enjoy and appreciate them??

(4) Realize that each moment we're given is a gift from God - He owns us, everything we own, and everything created.

(5) Praise God throughout the day - while we work. No matter what we're doing, we can praise God.

(6) Appreciate our trials because they're what make us grow, mature in godly character, experience more of His power and learn more about Him. 

Please leave a comment for an entry in this week's GIVEAWAY!! We are giving away two copies of Jen Turano's new novel. 

Gratitude

Today, on Memorial Day, we acknowledge and give thanks to those who fought and died for our country. The French people gave a tangible reminder of their gratitude.  Yesterday, at the Virginia War Museum I saw something I had not heard about.

The doughboys arriving in France must have been pretty surprised to find themselves packed into these rickety wood cars, built in the mid to late 1800's. They were referred to as 40/8s - forty men or eight horses could fit inside!

According to the plaque, the American people sent over $40,000,000 in supplies to the French after the war(s) and following WWII, these cars were sent to the United States filled with gifts from the French people. Coats of arms from each province are on the side of each car.

My great-uncles both served as medics during WWI. My uncle Fred was an extremely accurate rifleman, and hunter, but his religious convictions did not allow him to serve as a soldier. Was I ever shocked to read an account of what happened with those medics, as still does today, because they were forced to defend themselves and the ones they were trying to save. I was naive to think that because he was a medic he did not have to fire upon someone. He came home to an epidemic of Spanish flu, his home region of Michigan under quarantine, and was asked as a medic to stay where he was and help with the dying and dead. He did.

Gratitude - we thank those today who gave their all. This tangible gift from the French people is a reminder of the attitude we should have.