Glimpses of Joy

Admist a rather crappy week, I have had a scattering of random instances of joy that were brought on by, well, random things.

1) Battery operated LED tea lights. It all started in a morning meeting in which there was a discussion of centerpieces for our largest fundraiser in May. As these little tea lights were brought to focus I naturally became distracted by them (as I could care less about the actual meeting). I noticed that there was a claim that the little buggers would glow for up to 60 hours. Again, naturally I was intrigued by such a claim and declared that I would monitor a random tea light for 60+ hours and report on any findings. Well the little guy exceeded 60 hours and lasted a good 64 hours. I still have it sitting on my desk and even now I can still see the teeniest bit of a glimmer, which makes me happy.



2) I have been working longer days recently and they have not been pleasant. Not at all. Two days ago as I finally made it out of my office and was looking forward to having a nervous breakdown in my car when I noticed that my driver's side rear tire was flat. *insert "waa-waa" noise here* After standing in the rain for a good two minutes trying to decide what to do, I hopped in my car and drove over to good ol' Les Schwab Tires, as my tires are from there and they will do all repair work free of charge on their tires. I was in the worst mood as I drove over, imagining that I would have to wait a couple of hours to have my car looked at, as people around here already have snow tire fever. But to my surprise, a good lookin fella came out to me as soon as I pulled in and told me that it would only be half an hour. Now, it turned out that I did wait 1+ hours, but it really wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. *wink wink*
This is what was in my tire:



3) I have the priviledge of fellowshiping at my church with some of the most generous and lovely people on this planet. I am leaving tonight after work to go to the Christian Musician Summit in Redmond, WA until Sunday. And I am going with five other people that make up the worship team at my church. Ever since we announced that we were going to be taking a Sunday off to go to this conference, we have had nothing but support from our church. A very dear, sweet lady is giving up her van to us to haul all of us over the pass and back. Not only that, she scrounged up a generous amount of money to give us as well. We have had many generous monetary donations that will cover all (if not more) of our expenses for the week. I truly feel so blessed to be in relationships with these people.
Not only that, we are all looking forward to going to this so much that we are practically giddy. I am definitely looking forward to getting out of town for a while to take a break from everyday circumstances and certain situations that have been rather tough and wearing on me for a while now. But I am also excited to see what God has in store for me (and the rest of the team) and hope to learn and grow a lot.
This is only a fraction of our team:



4) I laid down the Blue Goose for hibernation today. That's right, I bundled myself up right nice (almost to the point that I couldn't move anything except my hands and legs) and had one last go on the scoot for the year. And I must admit that as I was trying everything I could to stay upright from the wind pushing against my anti-aerodynamic-bundled-up-self, I had a fleeting thought that it really wasn't that bad and maybe I shouldn't put the scoot up just yet. But as I drove on, my ultra-stylish layers of two shirts, two jackets, two pairs of socks, boots, leather gloves, flip-up helmet and scarf started to fail me as the frigid wind cut right through and left nice pink mark on my skin. I decided that now really is the time.
I love the ghettoness behind me. Gotta feel safe locking up the scoot in this neighborhood! And yes, I realize that my schnoz looks humungo.



Here's lookin' forward to next week and the bouts of joy that may come about...s.