It's a Beautiful Morning!

I think I'll go outside for awhile...and just smile...and breathe in the clean, fresh air now! There's no sense in staying inside when the weather's fine and you've got the time!

Today is absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous! It's 9:30 in the morning and I'm letting my husband sleep in as much as possible; he has been so swamped and underslept, and I know his thesis is suffering for it. We have Good Friday off--a strange side effect of this non-religious-yet-staunchly-Catholic city. It will be wonderful to have a whole day with my husband, with the sunshine streaming in, the lake below reflecting the cloudless sky above, and the birds singing, "It's Spring!"

Yesterday I was sitting with a mental block on my thesis, so what did I do? I cleaned out the back porch. It had served as a repository for all our boxes and other forms of junk that we simply weren't using and didn't want to deal with. I dealt with them. On Tuesday, the Vietnam Vets Association is going around to all the houses, doing pickups of household items (clothing, curtains, linens, anything up to small furniture), and I don't think they have any idea what they are in for. WE HAVE SO MUCH EXTRA STUFF!!!!!!!! When we moved, we didn't go through our things--we just chunked everything in boxes and put them in the truck. The lady before us also left a surprising collection of wall art and small furniture, none of which we like. It is all going now! When I began to plow through our stuff, I quite literally got rid of HALF. HALF, and that isn't counting the yet-to-be-resorted stuff IN the tubs. My husband and I are going to go through those together, as they contain clothes, shoes, and such. The VA especially desires clothes and shoes, and we certainly haven't worn them in two years, so have at it! Boy, I can't tell you how great it feels to get junk OUT of here!!!!!! Woohoo! This week I have also had a getting-rid-of-boxes crusade, setting them on the porch and posting on craigslist for people to come get them. Our place is really coming together and I am so pleased with it!

And yet, of course, today I just want to do yard work in the sun. I want to slap on some bug spray and put on my work gloves and start cleaning up this ugly yard! If I'm lucky I'll get freckled while I am at it. This morning I plan to go to the hardware store--always a welcome trip for me--and I have a whole list of things I need. Wow--the hardware store AND yardwork in one measy day! YAAY!!!!! I hope I get all muddy.

Though it is Good Friday, and I am supposed to be meditating on the sacrifice of Christ, I can't help but marvel at His goodness. What a wonderful, blessed assurance we have in Jesus, and how incredible our lives can be when we follow Him. Time and time again the value of following Christ has been proven to me, and though my life hasn't gone the way I planned, it has surpassed anything I ever expected. There is no end to the gifts of God given to us, and I feel this keenly this morning.