Happy Things

I'll start with him...

If you've never met him, he's my husband. And he's hilarious. And he's a tax CPA so I'm sure he would appreciate prayers as he longs for April 15 to pass. I'm posting this now because I'm pretty sure he's WAY too busy WORKING for a living to check my blog right now :-) Sneaky, huh? But seriously, he's a wonderful man, husband, and dad, and I am so thankful for him. He makes me very, very happy.

Especially when he does things like this...

I can't help but think that since God is the Father, He had to have had a reason for making Daddies so good at working hard all day, and then coming home to have fun with the kids (the wrestling, the sword-fighting, the water-fights, the just plain ol' hangin' out together). In every other way I see the parent/child relationship as a reflection of His relationship with His children. And it just makes sense that He looks forward to nothing more than the day we can rest safely with Him, when our long, hard work day is done, and just enjoy being together. Whatever the reason, seeing this daddy and his kids together just makes me happy.

She makes me happy in a different kind of way:

Our Ruby is our very real reminder of the treasure we have laid up in heaven. And that this world is not our home. And that God uses the tiniest and lowliest of this world to move us in the greatest ways. And part of me says, "Lord, come quickly!" because of Ruby, but part of me, also because of Ruby, says, "Lord, give us a little more time to rescue more of your precious children!" And seeing that Daddy's hand holding that tiny daughter's hand reminds me that He would leave the 99 who are safe and secure to rescue the 1 who is not yet safe and secure with Him. Oh, that I could see the world and each precious child of His the way He does...with even more love and longing than I have for my own earthly children. Ruby Anne is truly a happy thing!

This little un-named boy makes me happy, too...and not just because he looks like his brother, Noah (aka "my happiness")...

New life, new hope, the miracle of love that multiplies when it is divided...

I love them just a tiny bit more than all the numbers in the world when they do this, especially together...
...in part because BOOKS make me so happy. And my children? Reading books? OH. SO. HAPPY. And me? With time to read books? Also very, very happy. Especially Timeline or any books by Michael Crichton. And now I've been addicted to this on PBS, so I'm looking forward to someday rereading some Jane Austen. Probably after all my kids are grown. But still, I have dreams. Big dreams.