Peaceful and Beautiful and Dusty Joys

My husband asked me the other day what constituted a "joy" for this blog. It's a good question, since I have been using the term pretty liberally here. I've been using it to express things that make me happy, things I'm thankful for, and events and people who bring joy to my heart. So, I guess it means whatever I want it to mean! And with that, here are 10 more:

81) This little device has brought peace to me, which has meant joy for John. When it picks up the sound of barking within 25 feet, it emits a high-pitched tone only Mocha can hear, so she is learning not to bark in the house, or at least to express her opinion in one bark or less! 

82) I've told you how I love getting photo Christmas cards. Well, this specific one I've been waiting several weeks for. This is another little Abigail whose mom and dad are good friends of ours and live right down the street from us. Abigail's mom and I were in a season of waiting together for a while, and had many meaningful discussions of what we were learning and struggling with while we waited for our babies. She let me come take newborn/holiday pictures of her cutie, so it was very fun to see this come in the mail. (The bottom picture was my favorite of the hundreds I took, so I just had to throw it in!)

83) Shannon was my roommate for a few months when she first moved to this area. Her husband was still job hunting, but her job had already started, so she needed a place to stay until he moved down. We've become great friends, and now are expecting our babies only 4 days apart! She came to have breakfast with me yesterday and I so enjoyed discussing this time of our lives-- our hopes, fears, complaints blessed symptoms, and how we are grappling with all the unknowns. (You can go check out her blog here. She's a great writer with a fantastic eye for design!)

84-90) All I can say is Wow! Ok, I will say more, but that about sums it up. Last night, seven of our friends came over to help us move furniture and tear up the carpet on two levels of our house. (We're getting hardwoods put in this weekend! Hooray!) They all had put in full days of work, some of them sacrificing precious time with spouses and children to help save us a couple hundred bucks. These guys and gals jumped right in to move furniture up and down stairs, rip out disgusting carpet and padding, straining backs and bruising knees to pull out staples and tack strips.What we expected to be a two-night job, they finished in about two hours. I just cannot say thank you enough, so I am counting each one--Adam, Erin, John Mark, Robby, Joe, Ben and Liz--a separate joy!

Tomorrow will be the last Joy post and the last blog before I take a little break, and it's gonna be good! I've got some great news about Solomon and some sneak peeks of Blueberry's room. You won't want to miss it!