Nicole feels

Some observations...

~ My family � meaning my husband and kiddos � think that Kraft macaroni and cheese is gourmet fare.

~ I am a guestbook addict. I love receiving guestbook entries. Sometimes it just takes one to make my whole day. I am not sure if that is sweet or really, really sad!

~ Diet Vanilla Coke is quite tasty. Especially when a 20 oz. bottle is only $.50 at Target.

~ I am starting to give up my coveted Sunday afternoon naptime to watch football. Who�d-a-thunk-it?

Since I have been spending a copious amount of time preparing for my little talk tomorrow, I thought I would share the result of my labors here. The theme is �Seasons�.

Every evening sky, an invitation
To trace the patterned stars
And early in July, a celebration
For freedom that is ours
And I notice You, in children�s games
In those who watch them from the shade
Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder
You are summer.*

Growing up, summer was always my favorite time of the year. No school. Sleeping in. Staying out under the street lights till well past sundown. Flashlight tag. Crushes and first kisses. Snowballs and swimming suits. Sleepovers spent talking and dreaming and planning late into the night.

And most of all, laughter.

But something seems to happen to summer when we grow up. Those lazy, silly, laughter-filled days are replaced with, well, life. Grown-up life. Jobs. Diapers. Appointments to keep. Bills to pay.

And yet, something in me still longs for those laughter-filled days. Forgetting everything in a moment of pure, unadulterated joy. Giggling until I can�t breathe and my sides ache!

So what if I am �all grown-up� now. I want to take time for laughter!

Proverbs 17:22 says, �Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time.�

Take time for laughter!

The first part of Proverbs 15:13 says, �A glad heart makes a happy face�.

Take time for laughter!

In the book, Tame Your Fears, Carol Kent writes, �One morning I hurriedly flipped on my radio. Chuck Swindoll was preaching and he quoted comedian Fred Allen, �It isn�t good to suppress your laughter because it goes down and spreads your hips.�� [and] Barbara Johnson wrote, �Doctors and physical fitness experts tell us that laughter is just plain good for your health. One expert, who travels around staging workshops on how to be fit, says healthy people laugh 100 to 400 times a day�hearty laughter has a beneficial effect on most of your body�s major systems�. Laughing 100 times a day works the heart as much as exercising for ten minutes on a rowing machine��take time out to laugh, it can actually rejuvenate you.�

After struggling with mild depression for a year, my sister coerced me into starting this on-line journal. At first it was the standard �this-is-what-I-did-today� fare. But over time, I found that it was a lot of fun to use this outlet as a way to chronicle the humorous happenings, and mishaps, of one slightly quirky Midwestern pastor�s wife. I began to look for humor in everyday things to log here.

Something funny happens when you look at the world through such glasses. I discovered a whole new outlook on my life. Frivolity in the most mundane of things. Joy for the journey.

And most of all, I learned to laugh at myself.

The last part of Proverbs 15:15 says, �he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast.� For the happy heart, life is a continual feast.

Pull up to the table and dig in!

*From the song, Every Season by Nichole Nordeman.