Thanks for my fish Mom and Dad

I have not done too well with my goal of blogging daily.  I will also admit that I have not been good about spending time to listen to God.  I have let myself get caught up in my studies.  I have had several projects recently that kept me busy over the weekend and into this week.  I have a feeling this will continue as I delve further and further into my classes.  On one hand I am very excited about this.  I really enjoy my classes, and feel like I am getting a lot out of them.  I do occasionally find myself getting caught in feeling overwhelmed.  It is often in those moments that I find my gaze drifting over to my fish tank, which I have been so grateful to have.  I think it has been a very good thing for me to have an aquarium.  Not only am I able feel proud of sustaining and nurturing the lives of four fish through three moves over the past seven months.  But I have also found them to be a good grounder.  They bring me back into focus.  Those times when I feel overwhelmed I can just take a step back, take a deep breath, and just watch my fish.  (On a side note, I think Chandler has the hiccups right now.)  It reminds me of the times my foster cousin David would get really tense, and we use to have to tell him to open his mouth.  Because he would get so tensed up, and his jaw would clench; and we would tell him to open his mouth because when he did that it calmed him down.  It was his que that he was getting to worked up.  Percy, Marcel, Topper, and Chandler (the names of my fish), are my que to open my mouth.  They offer me that moment of peace and perspective so that I can turn back to my task with fresh eyes and a calmer spirit.  I'm not really sure how much sense all of that made.  But I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm really glad that I have my fish.  And I think they help draw me away from my stress so that I can just pause, and listen to God.