I always enjoy reading people's "things they are enjoying right now" type posts. They are just fun to read, I like gleaning ideas from them and sometimes it's just really nice to enjoy the good and beautiful isn't it? So I thought I would share 'Seven Sweet Things' I am enjoying right now. 1. Reading Harry Potter with my oldest. I read and enjoyed these books on my own but am so enjoying rereading the adventures out loud and experiencing them alongside his wonder and excitement. Reading them out loud with the knowledge of the whole series plot is making me appreciate how Rowling weaved such beauty into the characters relationships from the very beginning. Also how creative she was to set the plan for the whole series from the very beginning. We finished the Philosopher's Stone and are starting in on The Chamber of Secrets. We won't read all the books yet as he just turned eight but I am thinking the first three are okay for his age.

2. Watching Call the Midwife. This is a BBC drama based on a book series by Jennifer Worth about midwifery care in London in the 1950's. I watched season one when it aired on PBS last year and snuck ahead on season two when it aired in Britain. It is currently showing on PBS and was so good I'm watching again. The writing is wise, the dialogue has me writing down quotes and the characters are so real and relatable.

3. Expanding on my tea snobbery. This David's Organic Breakfast has lifted me to a whole new level. A friend gifted me some for Christmas and it has been in my morning rotation ever since. It is the perfect black tea and it really makes the never-ending winter we are having here a bit more bearable in the mornings.

4. This recipe for roasted broccoli is so good. We have been eating it a lot.

5. I have started knitting after many years of wanting to learn and learning very little then quitting. My daughter should actually have a scarf by the end of the week!

6. I have stopped going on Facebook. I haven't quit altogether as there are a few groups I volunteer with that manage things on there but unless I have to add something to those groups I haven't logged on in over three weeks. I cannot express all the ways this has made my life better. Facebook when you quit logging in starts sending you e-mails (different from notifications, which I haven't received any of for a long time.) They say things like you missed a top story: so and so commented on so and so's status. I am sure this is to make me want to log in again but ironically every time I get one I just feel more happy I don't actually know what so and so's status says. The introvert in me feels so freed and peaceful I don't know why it took me so long to cut back.

7. My baby is growing up. I have photo evidence. This day she fell down running to me in excitement in her rubber boots in a gravely area. She skinned her arms, elbows, knees, hands, one knee quite badly. A big kid injury. See how big kid her face is looking? (List this under bittersweet.)

I'd love to hear some of your sweet things too.

Easter Sunday I walked barefoot on the beach. I thought I might miss my own church, my family there; and I did on Good Friday. But Easter Sunday we woke up early and drove to the beach for worship just after sunrise. The girls were wearing sundresses and I sat on a picnic blanket and listened to my dad preach. The sun shone on the water and the air was crisp. It was quiet and it was holy and it was just the celebration I needed.

I thought about all the time Jesus spent by the water. I felt the hope he brings, I felt him right there with us, in the midst of all of this life. The hardness, the joy, the sadness, the wonder, the darkness. How he lived it all.

I watched as my dad graced lake water onto my nephews forehead and marked him with the sign of the cross. I confess I usually tear up during baptisms, the holy mystery of it thrills me to the core and the beauty of it shakes me. But on this Easter, watching my nephew I laughed.

Because what Easter showed me this year is love does win. It reminded me that how that happens can be messy and sad and unpredictable along the way. Most certainly the journey will involve broken, flawed, needy people. Most certainly it will involve the same people who also are loving and caring and growing. People who are both. Reminded me of just how crazy and surprising it was that God come down to live among all of us - dying and rising to love us all. And I felt that love and laughed.