Happiness is...

If you are a scrapper, you can't help but scroll through these pictures and sense a scrap page coming on. This is a series of photos that I took of Wyndham while she ate icecream yesterday. I was sitting in the middle of the dining room table while she did her thing. Total happiness. In the form of a cup of fudge-swirled icecream- complete with the little 'wooden spoon'. For a few moments, this was our life...Wyndham and her icecream, and me and my camera making sure I didn't miss a drop. =)
To be fair (or 'unfair' to Wyndham as it was), she is having this moment of icecream bliss all to herself, because while she was at therapy, I took Brock, Bella and Ava to our local Marble Slab ice cream shop and we had our own icecream bliss; we shared a big dipper of coffee icecream with chocolate chips and marshmallows mixed in it. We were still 'celebrating Teagan' through our icecream treats yesterday, a day after her birthday...but close enough so we didn't feel guilty about the calories or the fact that dinner was only an hour away. =)
My plans to scrap a layout with these pictures are going to sit on hold for a few days, because I am in the midst of another project. A full-blown Nitty.Gritty. PowerPoint Presentation. I have the privilege and opportunity to head back to our former hometown of Gaylord, where I have been invited to speak to the MOPS (Mother's Of PreschoolerS) group this coming Thursday. I am excited to see some of my friends and connect for a short time with them and share with them in person, some of the thoughts I have been kicking around in preparation for this time together. It's gonna be fun. There might be some little surprises, and if I may be so bold to say so, I have a feeling that God is going to 'show up' for the morning too. I just have been so moved in preparing for this time, that it just seems fitting that God will be there to challenge us even more than I can do on my own.
So, if you're in the area, or you know someone who is, I'd love to have you show up too! In the meantime, and in case I get bogged down with trying to get everything done before I go and I neglect this blog for a couple of days, I will challenge you to stop for a minute at some point in your day, and "look for happiness" somewhere. Maybe in your kids, like I saw through Wyndham and some icecream yesterday. Maybe it's in doing something unexpected that creates happiness in the life of a coworker, friend, or family member. Maybe it's in taking a moment for yourself and simply making a short list (1-5 things off the top of your head) that you truly ARE thankful for in your life...but that sometimes you overlook because it's always there. {Like your refridgerator full of food, or your email contacts that at any time you can send a note to someone on that list just to say hello, or your spouse...who doesn't always turn his/her socks right-side out, but who does so much more for you in life that makes the 'sock-thing' actually a privilege for you! That kind of stuff.}
Whatever it may be, I encourage you to find it. Or create it. There is plenty of 'bad stuff' in this world in which we live each day, that I think it's only fitting for us to intentionally look for or create Joy and happiness in life at times. It makes life not only bearable...but {gasp} FUN once in awhile! That's what I love about my life. That's what I am seeking more of...and although I don't deserve goodness and joy and happiness because of anything I have done in my life, I am learning to accept it as a gift when it comes my way.