Happiness Is . . .

• Driving to northern (really northern) Vermont to meet Naomi M. and having a great visit over pizza and, later, hot chocolate!
• An e-mail from Mrs. Don (Libby) Miller with the subject line "Miss you"
• The snowy beauty of Vermont and, especially, the White Mountains of New Hampshire
• Listening to my favorites mix CDs and loving all over again "Land of the Free" (Andrew Peterson), "You Know Better than I," and "Home" (from "Beauty and the Beast"). [For the record, I like "Home," not because I am not liking home, but because of how it speaks to finding contentment in something outside of circumstances, which is a lifelong lesson I am learning.]
  
• Shopping at the Tilton outlet stores--with no one waiting on me, so I could take my jolly time!
• My work schedule changing so that I no longer have to work back-to-back Sunday night and Monday morning shifts (I work Tuesdays 2-10 PM now instead.)
• Heart group: sharing "Land of the Free" and "Home" with the girls, then adjourning to the girls' lounge and dancing to miscellaneous songs, including "Donna's Waltz" from "Green Fields" (a memory from my Bible School days, when some of us danced to the very same music in the very same room)
• Finding a dress I really like, after years of searching
• E-mails and phone calls from friends
• Dad's sessions on "shepherding" or lay pastoring at Fairwood this week. They were applicable to so much more than pastoring a church.
• Dr. Pepper when I am sleepy
• Keeping a batch of relatively healthy cookie dough on hand to snack on, because it tastes better than the baked version of the same
• "Why would we want to know a big, mean God?" --Ben, expressing gratefulness that God is big and kind
• "I'm on third stage--hee!" --Heidi's thankful-for this morning
• Playing the "if . . . then" game with the Bible School and laughing hard over some of the results, such as, "If Josh fell off a cliff and went to heaven, Bobby would laugh hard and Kate would jump over the moon" (or something like that)
• God's ongoing provision of my needs and more (and a generous raise for one of my jobs)
  
• Loving the kids I work with, even though they're rascals
• The prospect of starting a new part-time job soon, because the state waived their requirement that I have a degree in Human Services to do this job
• Craig coming over in the evenings (sometimes late) to get or use Mom's computer--getting to see him a little more often and to chat
• An exercise video that is about as hokey as they come but works my muscles which, I suppose, is what counts
• Reading "Entrepreneur" magazine. I'm a business magazine aficionado.
• Dreaming about doing a short-term (or long-term) missions trip sooner or later
• A new sink for my bathroom, because the current one is starting to fall apart
• God's answer to the prayer that the negative home education legislation would die in committee
• Seeing God answer prayer in seedling ways that I would have joy in my job and more passion for life (not that I don't love life, but I'm in more of a holding pattern where God has me right now than in the middle of a lot of excitement, so it's easier to feel dead or purposeless)
• Possibly getting to interview a local international student for my Perspectives class
• A car that runs smoothly, even though it's old. I don't think I'd ever know how to drive a new car!