Sometimes It's Simple

She's the first one up today and it's still quite dark.
After a hug she sits across the candlelit table from me.

I push aside my Bible and look.  "Are you excited to go to school today?"

She looks down at the table and doesn't say anything.  I assume my counseling
stature.  "How are you liking your new Kindergarten teacher?"  It's been over two weeks
now since her new teacher came.

She says she's fine.  So I probe further.  "Are you looking forward to class?"  She shakes her head no and looks at me.  "The snacks aren't very good anymore."

Snacks.  That's really what it's all about.  No deep teacher transition issues or disappointment with new expectations being dashed.  Just a poor snack that's not as exciting as it once was.

It really doesn't take much to speak a child's heart language.

I pull down the gigantic bag of M&Ms the man behind us in line at Costco saw fit to buy the kids.

"How about if we bag up some of these for you to share with your class today?"

She smiles and walks excitedly into her classroom.

I stop to talk to the secretary.

Ms. Secretary asks what my cat's name is, then reports that he jumped into her chair yesterday.  After she got over being startled, he made her day by sitting in her lap while she worked on the computer.

Pets.  It doesn't take much to speak a secretary's heart language.

Sometimes it's not hard to put a smile on someone's face.  It gets me smiling to see someone smiling, too!

Here are a few more pictures of some things that have made me smile lately:

Cowboys together

My newest beautiful nephew!