A special surprise from my students!

A month or so ago my microwave began to hum and glow when I used it...not such a good thing! I had put replacing it on the back burner until this summer when I had a little extra cash and time to go garage saling for a good bargain. Some of my RAs knew about this little problem of mine - as they witnessed the glow/hum action for themselves one night!

Tonight after our staff meal and meeting I asked if there was any other agenda that they wanted to cover. Two of them said that there was and that we had to leave my apartment and I had to take my keys along. I was somewhat suspicious of them and imagined all sorts of pranks they might have planned for me. We went to a storage closet and they told me that I had to unlock the door. I opened it with a great deal of fear and trepidation - fearing that an animal or something was going to jump out and scare me. Instead there was a large box wrapped in brightly colored wrapping paper. We proceeded to take the box out of the closet and return to my apartment.

When I sat down to open the gift they gave me a card that read...

- a little poem of gratitude-
thanks a million
thanks a lot
what you did
won't be forgot

it made my day
it made me smile
it made me giddy
for a while

you're really swell
you're really great
and that's what I
appreciate

I'm tickled pink
by all you do
that's why I wrote
this poem for you!

Inside the card were written notes from each of my staff members thanking me, on behalf of their floors, for all I do - the meals, the caring, the leadership, the meals, the friendship, the hard work, and oh - did I mention the meals?! :)

When I unwrapped the gift I found that they had purchased a new microwave oven for me. It's a 1.6 cubic feet GE model with stainless steel exterior and a turntable inside. It's very nice...much nicer than I would have bought probably. They collected more money than they needed to purchase it, so they also gave me a gift card to Target. I think I'm going to buy a large frying pan. That's something that will end up benefiting them next year!

A gift like this is extremely generous, and obviously not expected in any way, shape or form. I would be thankful in any case, but I think it's cool how God worked it out that I received it the same day that I received my annual review. My annual reviews are never "bad" per say, but I always take every criticism too much to heart, so this was a nice reminder that students do appreciate all I do and that I'm doing a good job.