Happy Things

I've been so lousy at noting happy things lately. I hope it's just busy-ness and not a reflection of my state of being. Here are a few odds and ends from the past several weeks . . .

• "Standing alone doesn't come naturally, except for me--because I do stupid stuff, then everyone's against me." --Bobby
• "Let us gird up the feet of our minds with the shoes of mental agility." --Aaron, preparing us for him to share a lot of meeting material in a short amount of time
• "Everything you do should be done wholeheartedly. If you shouldn't do it anyway, you shouldn't do it." --Aaron
• "Down, boys." --Bobby to Ben and Craig, who tied him in a sword drill
• A discussion in ladies' Bible study on humbling ourselves and the idea of getting down on our faces before God:
  Ruth: "[Tim M.] said that whenever he started to think too highly of himself, he'd walk up and down the aisle of his past failures. I think I'd better prostrate myself [before the Lord instead] today. I think women should prostrate themselves, otherwise they work themselves into a terrible depression."
• Kayla, upon hearing someone say something about Mike H.'s mother: "I didn't know he had a mother!"
• The smell of wood gasification, new to the Main House
• Laughing with Mom, Diane, and Mary S. while spring cleaning the dining room
• Free weekend cell minutes and catching up with friends
• Seeing Uncle Bob & Aunt Joy again, and seeing pictures of Sweet cousins
• The wind chime outside my window
• Timmy & Peter's enthusiasm about church snacks
• Singing in choir again
• Touching messages at Perspectives class
• Fun review games (like Jeopardy!) at Perspectives class
• Anticipating seeing Naomi M. again next week!
• Watching the young people be competitive over "Encore"
• The satisfaction of wrapping up proofing projects and banishing them to UPS
• That Bonnie is overseeing Times of Restoration production
• The beauty of heavy snow on the trees
• The anticipation of spring--at the right time--coming again
• Central basketball games
  
• My cozy flannel snowman sheets (thanks, Kimber) and flannel blanket (thanks, Jessica)
• Roses from Craig on Valentine's Day
• The reminder that God is faithful from the "Great is Thy Faithfulness" wall plaque that Kimber gave me
• Being able to resurrect old ideas that I used at the training center for use here at Fairwood (this week the great shopping scavenger hunt)
• A hugely encouraging e-mail from Mrs. Ritchie
• A nice note from Sara N. on a day I needed some encouragement
• Sensible words from Sean when I needed them
  
• Scott telling fellow PA staffers that if someone comes swinging at him, he just yells "I'm a ninja!"
• Sunday night talks with Jaime
• Finding two Krispy Kreme donuts in my apartment when I got home from work Sunday night!!! Craig had brought them in his carry-on all the way from Chicago!
• Working with the folks at Math-U-See
• Watching the 2008 ITC Year in Review DVD and being content that the baton has passed
• E-mails from Mrs. Gergeni
• Doing verses with Mary by e-mail and phone!
• A garage stall to put my car in
• Clean laundry
• Financial provision
• God speaking when I need to hear
• K faithfully doing her writing assignments even when she misses the Sunday classes
• Good movies
• Katie and Josh being back from Israel safe
• Josh's announcement in the front hall to no one and everyone when he arrived back, which I could hear in my apartment: "Fairwood, I'm home!"
• Staples' fantastic customer service
• Hearing Jamie tell Ian, "I like Kendra." (Then having Gretchen tell me later that Jamie told her, "Kendra likes me.")
  
• Stopping for Dunkin' Donuts after foster care class, thanks to Ruthie
• Actually being able to back the red van into the shed
• Driving my car up the Fairwood exit (taboo! except it was 11:30 PM) after it couldn't make it up the entrance during a snow storm
• Dublin road crews, who keep the roads amazingly clear during & after snow storms
• A flipping through the Bible to find encouraging verses and another A reading some to her that she had found
  
• My mom's listening ear
• My mom's and sister's great cooking!
• Naps on the way to Perspectives classes on Mondays
• Dad fixing the tape player in my car
• Time to clean my room on Fridays

And if I don't finish this up, I won't have any more time to clean my room today. So adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.