Gray Skies and Winter Blues

While I am ever-thankful to have a job that well-provides, and for that job to be teaching, living here abroad, in Yantai, can be difficult at times. Especially now. The winters in Yantai are long, and cold. The skies are often gray, obscuring the sun in the blurry haze. It is depressing for many of us.
However, today, to circumnavigate this depression of spirits, I have decided to make a list of some of the things I am thankful for and the things that brighten such days as this.

1. (As I mentioned already) I am working, and working in the field I enjoy and prepared for.
2. Mangoes! It is mango season, and the short distance between China and the Philippines means that these mangoes are rich and delicious!
3. Great reads, such as The Hunger Games trilogy, which may be attended to more faithfully during the cold weather that keeps one inside.
4. The days when we do have blue skies.
   
5. My amazing and wonderful students.
6. That Zach and I are here together.
7. For my loving family back at home.
8. For God's living water, freely given if I just but ask Him.