Happiness is...

...a pocketful of almonds.

Happiness is...

...hammocking in the park on a Sunday afternoon.

Especially when it follows some good Food-n-Fellowship (including an Easter egg hunt in which I decided to make a tradition of hunting violets instead).

Speaking of violets, the day after bemoaning their absence I found one! I was dashing back and forth cleaning up our community lunch so could only pause to cry "There you are!", snatch her up, and slip her into my Bible for safekeeping (as it happens, right next to God saying, "Open wide your mouth and I will fill it").

And here are Violets #2, 3, 4, & 5...


...and #s 6-15...


...and Karina sniffing #16.

Happiness is...

...an open sunroof.

Happiness is...

...heading home for a white Christmas.

Happiness is...

...mercy and mercy and mercy and grace.

Happiness is...

...contagious laughter, babies who snuggle, reminders of the Gospel, Sunday afternoon walks, and the particular shade of blue of an October sky.

Happiness is...

...neighbors who don't password-protect their wireless.

Happiness is...

...a Saturday and a book.

Happiness is...

...knowing that you are exactly where you are supposed to be, and that it's more fulfilling than anything else could possibly be.

I am, and it is.

Happiness is...

...a Yucatecan hammock.

*posted from my Yucatecan hammock. In the Yucatan.

Happiness is...

...a day that smells like rain, wet dirt, and earthworms.

Happiness is...

...sundresses, and the right kind of weather for wearing them.

Happiness is...

...quarts of vegetable stock in the freezer, all the laundry in the wash, and this body getting to bed at a decent hour.

But true contentment lies in knowing that I could stay up all night reading trashy novels and eating fast food and my Father would not love me less. It lies in knowing that had I cleaned out my car, gone running as planned, and skipped that brownie, He would not love me more. I'm feeling good about a productive day, but it doesn't change my need for His grace.

"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength."
- Isaiah 30:15

Happiness is...

...a Tennessee country road, the air thick with honeysuckle in the spring, tobacco in the fall.

Happiness is...

...a Sunday afternoon nap.