rays of sunshine.

Well, well, well. My last post was a bit pouty, and I'm sorry about that. What you should really take away from that post was how much fun we had at the baseball game. I'm really a happy person, I promise.

As hippy-esque as this sounds, I was thinking about rays of sunshine today in sacrament meeting, you know, when the sun is behind the clouds and the rays shine out from behind (oh, where the mind wanders during church).  When I was a little girl, I always thought that when rays of sunshine were coming out like that it meant that Jesus was coming to Earth to visit. To this day I can't see rays of sunshine without thinking of the Savior.

A few other rays of sunshine:

• I've been thinking about my "poor" pout. Did you know in the long run we aren't that poor? We have a place to live that is warm when its cold outside and cold when its warm outside. We have cable TV and an Internet connection that is slightly better than snail speed. We have couches and beds and cameras and clothes. And we have food in our tummies (those of us you don't refuse to eat do, anyway.) We are probably top 1% in the world. We are blessed.
• A friend asked how we are getting through school without any debt. The answer: academic assistantships. Here in TN and in MI, Chris got assistantships that pay the entirety of his tuition and give him a monthly stipend, which is what we survive on. Thanks to that, BYU's beautifully low tuition, my scholarships, and generous family, when all is said and done we'll have 4 degrees without ever taken out a student loan. Like I said, we are blessed.
• Since our plan to purchase new couches has gone the way of the earth, we have a little wiggle room in the decor budget. I'm currently addicted to design websites, saving pictures of ideas here and there. My new addiction is Deco My Place, where anyone can upload pictures of their homes. Some are not that great, but I like it because it has more realistic designs than a lot of design sites. I'm getting excited to use the things we have in new ways, and to be best friends with the thrift store that is not too far from our new place in Michigan.
• Today at church we sang As Now We Take the Sacrament, which just happens to be my all-time fav hymn. I swear we always sing it when I need it the most. Strange choice, maybe, but its a beautiful song with the greatest lyrics. Every time we sing it and I comprehend the words, I remember what a miracle and blessing it is that we get to take the sacrament and renew our covenants every single Sunday.
• We are going to Idaho the first week of August. We will get back 3 days before our moving truck arrives. This is why we are trying to be as prepared as possible before we go. It may be a little crazy, but I'm so very excited. Idaho is truly the promised land.
• The babe is walking more and more. She is good at walking back and forth between Chris and I, though she does have a tendency to dive once she arrives. This video isn't the farthest she has ever gone, but you get the idea. It also captures her refusal to continue walking (she has been walking back and forth quite a bit before we started recording.) And when she is done, she is done. She is so delightful.

xoxo.