Sunny morning in my kitchen...

8:36 a.m. The tousled toddler upstairs still sleeps. He has to play catch up for a week sometimes when he's had an exciting weekend. =) Seth is just so much fun these days. He talks all the time, repeating everything we say. In the car, we repeat the ABCs together, him saying each letter after I say it. He'll tell me he wants to do it: "Mommy, A...D...E..." And then we do his numbers up to 10. He says, "Yay!" when he's done. Last night, David started him off with one, and he successfully counted to 10 by himself without help! Big stuff in this house...

And I love how he tells me what he hears and sees. "I hear fire truck. I see birds." He drinks in the sights of the world around us, and it makes the world new for me, too. Yesterday, I got just as excited as he did about a rare sight, a cement mixer with the barrel turning. Who knew I could get so jazzed about finding an example in real life of a picture from one of his books?

By the grace of God, my mood turned a corner on Wednesday. My Bible study was hitting all the right notes this week. And God reminded me that He's a god who encourages and strengthens His people, especially when they feel like some things will never change. And so this morning, I'm reveling in the beautiful things and enjoying contentment.

My freezer is full of meat I got on a great sale at Food Lion, and I feel good knowing that we have enough to feed ourselves and be hospitable with for awhile.

That yellow kitchen curtain that might not be quite right is perfect at that price and gives a yellow glow when the sun shines through it. =)

I get to spend the morning with my best friend, and her girls are big enough now that we can all go to the park together.

I'm caught up enough on rest that the impending weekend visit from David's parents feels like a blessing and not a hospitality burden.

I don't care at the moment that the painter accidentally painted my hall bathroom with the wrong color of green when he came back to patch things. I'll call him and remind him about the repainting job he offered later. No biggy. =)

God is graciously giving me ideas of little things to do with Seth that are on his level, reminding me of things I used to know from preschool teaching. And songs are coming back that I haven't sung in years. "Ho, ho, ho, hosanna..." anyone? =) This morning, I'm going to use bingo markers to make dots on blank pages and let him draw lines between them with his crayons.

And Mom gave me a great idea that is already blooming. =) She brought some sunflower seeds with her when she came to babysit last weekend. She and Seth planted them together in cups, and they're sitting on the windowsill. Why sunflower seeds? Apparently, they are quick to grow and usually foolproof, especially for the plant challenged. (My brother got ALL the green thumbs in this generation.) It's only been a week, and one cup is already sprouting. And they give you lots of bang for your buck. I don't really like the look of them, but he'll think they're impressive when we transfer them to the back yard later. They won't come back next year, and they probably won't stink out on me midway through the growing cycle. If you've got a toddler, and you try this, let me know how it goes...