Morning Drive

Three things made this morning's drive to work particularly cheerful:

1. Coffee with peppermint mocha creamer. Yummmmm.

2. I had to wear my sunglasses today. That meant it wasn't raining OR snowing.

3. My super-funny, quirky, beautiful little sister was AWAKE and talkative. Ordinarily, my three riders try to fall asleep as soon as they get in the car, and my attempts to elicit conversation are met with snarls. But today's ride was a happy ramble all the way to school. We ended with this conversation:

M: I'm not really all that excited about candy.

me: No, you're more of a chip fanatic.

M: Yeah, I am a chip fanatic. Oh, and fruit snacks. Fruit snacks are my life.

me: Ha!

M: *Sigh and dramatic pause.* I really want an armadillo. And twin chinchillas.

I walked into school with a huge smile on my face.

(Happy birthday, fifteen-years-old-and-way-taller-than-me baby sister! I'll see what I can do about armadillos and chinchillas...)

These Are A Few

I am a person with an inordinate amount of favorite things and small delights. (When I was in high school, I kept an actual list of "Things That Delight Me." Lists, empty notebooks, and lemon-scented chapstick were the top three...)

While it's difficult to top those, these are a few things that have tickled me lately:

The seventh grader who pulled me aside: "Ms. Djerf, can I ask you something? I just have to know. The way that Mr. E. smells -- is that a cologne he wears, or is it just a Canadian smell?"
(One of these days I'm going to have to ask him.)

A friend drawing out the suspense of a funny story all day by virtue of cryptic emails and mysterious voicemails.

My new rain boots. So happy to have a genuinely rainy day for them today.

My nearly two-year-old niece (a diva in the making) entering my parents house by announcing, "HI, FAMILY!"

My middle school drama students who, unable to remember the word "pilot" during our practice last week, kept calling her a "planist." After several tries, we adjusted the skit so that the misnomer was part of the script, and we found a way to sneak a paper with the correct word written on it onto the stage. And it was hilarious.

Getting to sleep until eight every day last week. Spring break is a wonderful idea.

Hours in Caribou Coffee with a precious friend, telling stories, asking questions, analyzing the world at large and then bringing our myriad non-conclusions to the feet of Jesus together.

My jacket still smelling like coffee the next morning.

An eighth grader who usually doesn't participate in Bible class knowing the answer not once, but twice today! And wanting to share it!

Sitting with my six month old nephew on my lap and discovering the magical combination of talking and tickling and surprising necessary to rouse a hearty belly-laugh out of him. Pure joy.

The sweetest? To be at a painful, broken place Sunday night and find twofold refuge in my loving Father: in prayer with a compassionate roommate, and in Scripture that I'd recorded in my journal all week long. So grateful for the way He reaches me when I barely have the strength to reach for Him.