Just happy :o)

I finally slept last night! For eight consecutive hours. Ahhhhh! After a week-and-a-half of barely sleeping, feeling tired was a luxury! Just to lie still for so many hours felt wonderful. Refreshing to my body, yes. But calming to my mind. THAT is the beauty of a full night's sleep. I can sit still again. Focus on the world around me. I'm no longer a bundle of aimless energy.

Ahhhh! I can reflect on joy again! It really has been a mostly wonderful week in spite of my crazy whirl of boundless and unfocused enthusiasm. I generally have plenty of energy, so the excess liveliness was perhaps not terribly startling to the people in my life. Like the awesome kids in our youth group. I'm still just the slightly-nutty-leader-type-person. With pink hair. Maybe green next week. Chatting with a bunch of teens, I was just me. With more energy than usual. But, hey! Energy fits right in with that crowd :o)

And music. Three of our kiddos were in a concert Tuesday night. It was beautiful! A little bragging.... One daughter sang a solo/duet with a friend. She has a terrific voice and the nerve to stand up in front of a hundred or so people to share it! Another daughter "sang" with her one-on-one aide with the junior high chorus. She loves the music and rocked back and forth happily with her peers. And our youngest is a very serious budding flute player. She's been playing less than a year, yet I am amazed when I listen to her practicing. She is very good. And very dedicated. Ahhhh! Music brings so much joy to our lives! (Did I mention that the concert was short enough that I managed to sit mostly still?)

Another musical joy is the goofy crew that I play trombone with on most Tuesday nights! As much as I love the music, the between-pieces chatting is really my favorite part of band rehearsals :o) Well... I missed our first spring-season concert on Tuesday night. Darn. I don't like it when commitments overlap. But, joy! I spent Wednesday morning chatting over a cup of chai with my comrade in 2nd trombone mischief! Ninety minutes of visiting uninterupted by our conductor raising his hands to shut us up again :o) It felt like five minutes. What a wonderful morning!

And, one more bit of joy. Large appliances. Last week, our refrigerator died. This week, our washing machine joined the frige in appliance nirvana. How can replacing two large appliances in one week bring any joy? Easy! 1.) Our very sweet neighbors. They cleared off two shelves of their refrigerator for us so that we wouldn't lose a frige full of food in addition to the refrigerator. Then, a week later, we were invited to run as many loads of wash as we needed to while waiting for the new washer. With four kiddos and several days to wait, those loads were much appreciated! It is such a blessing to have neighbors who are also some of our best friends! 2.) The serenading duo that delivered our new machines. Yes, really. I was serenaded by an exceedingly awful rendition of something far off Broadway. They sang, they joked, they laughed. A couple of guys who were easy and comfortable with each other. Who could finish each other's sentences. Who work together every day and still like each other. Oh! They were fun! 3.) Hey! We've had to replace appliances before when we *didn't* have money in the bank! Sure, it's a blow. But at least the machines are paid for :o) Sooooo... added to the list of joys, I'm thanking God for new appliances. (But, really, we DON'T need any more large appliance blessings right now....)

And today. Not only can I keep my bottom in the chair without wiggling, but I actually feel like writing again. One of my kiddos is home with a still-runny nose. But she is happy! And it is a gloomy, wet day outside. What a perfect day to be inside with a happy kiddo, a pot of yummy soup and a book to write!

Have a happy day!