A Happy Heart

** Just a sidenote: I started writing this post last week and somehow part of what I'd written got lost before I could publish the entry. Not cool. So to keep with my theme of a "happy heart," I decided to wait to finish it until I was not quite so annoyed with blogger.

There are many things that make me happy. Too many to count really. Lately, however, I feel like God has placed an abundance of these things in my life and I would like to share some of them with you.


First of all, it's definitely fall! Break out the cinnamon candles and put some chili in the crockpot! Very few things make me smile more than asking Luke if he would like to sleep with our windows open. And that's exactly what we did last night. It. was. great! The wind was blowing through the trees, and I got to come home from Bible study and snuggle with my already sleeping husband. Ok, the fact that he was already sleeping WASN'T so great, but you take what you can get right?!


This brings me to the next thing that makes me happy and that's laughing. Shocker, I know! This morning around 4:30 I was jolted awake by the sound of my husband freaking out and Savannah's tags jingling as she pranced back into our bedroom from the family room. (This may be a slight exaggeration, but I can't be held responsible for my interpretation of the happenings in our bedroom that early in the morning) ANYWAYS, once I realized that everything was fine, I snuggled back down under the covers and went back to sleep. Remember, we were sleeping with our windows open, which apparently acts like a drug for me and keeps me from being super alert when there's a bunch of commotion going on around me. I didn't think much of this early morning excitement until I asked Luke how he slept.


"Good until your dog freaked out and almost gave me a heart attack!"


So this is when I realized that maybe I didn't quite catch the gist of the situation when I barely cracked my eyes open to make sure no one was seriously injured and that Luke wasn't ACTUALLY having a heart attack in bed beside me.


"Why? What happend?"


"Oh, I don't know. Your dog barked, wrestled with herself, and took off into the family room. She then calmly walked back in and over to her bed like nothing happend."

At this point, I am laughing loudly and probably pretty obnoxiously too since I love it when Savannah does something crazy and I get to hear Luke's version of it later. In response to my laughter, Luke says

"Yeah. I'd think it was pretty funny too if she'd done something like that at a normal hour!"

"Well, I think she has bad dreams sometimes."

"That's fine if she has bad dreams as long as it doesn't cause me to have nightmares about having a heart attack in my bed."

Thank you, Savannah, for keeping my husband on his toes and giving me something to laugh at today!

The other very exciting thing that makes me happy is the fact that come January, my Bible study will be doing the new Beth Moore study on Esther. This was always my favorite story in the Bible growing up because what little girl doesn't love a story about an ordinary woman becoming a queen?! Even better is the phrase of words next to the title on the front cover of the workbook, which is "it's tough being a woman." Why, yes. Yes it is! I. can't. wait. But don't worry, we'll be reading Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible until we start the Esther study. This is sort of like the christian version of Girls Gone Wild and I'm super pumped! It's no secret to those that know me well that I'm kind of a goody two shoes and ultra responsible. I don't know. Maybe it's an "oldest sibling" thing. Either way, I'm really looking forward to doing a little vicarious living through this book and learn some valuable lessons at the same time.

Finally, folks, it's about 2 months until Christmas and that makes me REALLY happy. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year in my opinion! I love the decorations, the fun traditions, and buying gifts for friends and family. But most of all, I love the music! Luke, on the other hand, is not so much a fan of the tunes of Christmas. He is also not a fan of my habit of playing said music throughout the month of December. For this reason, I am refusing to allow myself to start the season a little early by playing some of my favorite Christmas CDs in October. Well, that and the fact that I'm not quite sure which box I put them in this year. Marriage is all about compromising, right?! But come December, "Joy to the World" and "Jingle Bells" will be some of the anthems of the Keiffer house whether Luke likes it or not! I am also looking forward to starting some new traditions in my little family. I really want to start teaching Austin at an early age the real reason for Christmas.

Well, that just about does it for now. Hope you all are having a great week and finding lots of reasons to be happy today. :)