Grasshopper for your thoughts?

I have a lot of thoughts right now, and I really feel like I want to share them with those of you who read our posts (even if you don't comment :).

Life seems so happy right now. It's not just that I am married to and spend life with my best friend, and that I love spending time with my sweet son. But, I feel so much JOY in life. I know that it's not financially inspired, since Daniel's currently doing a master's degree with Arizona State University, and graduate school tuition is more expensive than undergraduate (especially without scholarships). However, I feel so blessed in other ways that we are being taken care of, and receiving many more blessings (even financially) than we deserve.

Maybe the JOY comes from wanting each day to do better and to be better. I know that I feel the JOY more abundantly and more acutely after I have said my morning prayers and read from the Book of Mormon. That seems to be a time when I feel the Holy Spirit as a companion. He helps me to feel and understand that JOY.

Perhaps the JOY relates to a push that I have felt lately to work on Family History. Interestingly enough, it is not the kind of Family History of preparing names for the temple and finding those who have not yet had the work done. I am involved in a couple of Family History projects having to do with my more immediate family: My Grandpa Bailey, who died last November, had a whole box of letters from just before he married, and the few years after marriage to my Grandma Bailey. I have started transcribing these letters. What JOY there is in getting to know him better. Also, I am restoring my parents' wedding pictures and turning them into a book. Amazing to think that the huge grin on my dad's face and the sweet, peaceful bride's beauty on my mom's face are but poignant foreshadowing to the years of JOY they have experienced and shared with their wonderful children. Other Family History projects include starting my own personal history (My mama brain is having so many struggles that I figured I should start now while I can still remember life from a few years ago. :), collecting my own sweet family's history, and recording important dates, achievements, observations, and pictures of my little one. Yes. Tons of JOY in this category.

JOY in the morning. An Easter song I once sang in a ward choir. Each morning I look to the day and am so excited to plan and to execute whether it's a shopping adventure, a trip to the library, or things around the house: laundry and making granola, or it's taking Fluffy to the park, or doing a special Photoshop project. Little things to serve my family bring me JOY.

Taking care of myself brings me JOY. As a family we have been doing a Healthland program, where we earn points for following certain, personalized health "rules", and we move forward on a modified Candyland board. Exercising, drinking water, eating fruit and avoiding too many sweets help me to keep my body healthy and fit. When I take care of myself, I feel happy, and that happiness is a kind of JOY.

Why do I share these things with you? Probably because when we feel JOY, we just want to share it. With love.

Many happy returns!