Some pleasant suprises I’ve had lately:

• learning about the brain from Aneladee in my daughter’s self-directed scholar phase class. The brain has lots of chemicals and three of them are not present until puberty: dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Oxytocin is one that is present in childhood and it is responsible for feeling love and belonging. Norepinephrine allows you to see patterns and make connections. If we become as little children as Jesus asked us to do, we can do so physiologically by increasing the love in our lives and the oxytocin flowing in our bodies. But then we have the advantage of being adults and having the brain chemistry that allows us to make connections.

• having my college-attending son come home for a whole weekend! It was so nice to go on a temple date night and have him put the littles to bed while the middles did the dishes and cleaned up.

• learning that Steve Jobs was so brilliant partly perhaps because he dropped out of college and then just took whatever college classes he wanted for fun. He didn’t have any deadlines to meet so that allowed the norepinephrine to flow, instead of the epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) so he could make connections. Those connections allowed him to come up with Apple’s miracle products. I bless his name every day when I use my iPod.

• finding out that I can watch/listen to BYUtv on our new laptop anywhere in the house, since we finally got Wi-fi
• The cool BYUtv shows like American Ride and The Generations Project. My core phase kids love to watch American Ride. See http://byutv.org/show/06d93297-b6fa-49f5-8cce-6bd555b563af
• finding out that we can get our whole windshield replaced without paying anything more
• seeing that my son likes to make apple slinkies so we can make apple crumble for FHE

• finding out that one of my LLL of Utah co-Leaders, fellow milkmaid Julie, who was just starting to come to the LLL meetings in Provo before I moved to Layton,  has a blog, a Joy Full Home. See http://julieandjoesblog.blogspot.com. It’s so fun to read about her adventures and see her cute kids!

• hearing that my nephew is finally on his way to Brazil with a visa for his mission after being in Chicago for two months
• the beautiful fall weather that is making up for our five months of winter earlier this year
• finishing up Good Wives and loving all the beautiful quotes
• seeing that the mountains in Provo are just as beautiful as ever

• learning that LLL of Logan sells Ergo baby carriers! Cool! See http://llloflogan.blogspot.com. Now you can get the Cadillac of baby carriers and support a super good cause at the same time, to help moms in the Cache Valley area give the Cadillac of baby food, their own milk, to their babies.

learning about a young man in Africa who was inspired to create a windmill for his family in Malawi that would allow his family to have electricity and running water. That was something only 2% of Malawians had. His family, and the whole country, had to go to bed at 7 when it got dark because they had no light. After they got electricity they had more time to study, therefore time to get an education when they aren’t farming, and therefore they can lift themselves out of poverty.  I am wondering, so what is the wind in my family that we can harvest to increase our economic stability? Something that is free, God-given like the wind. What is your wind? This story is so inspirational! I just want to kiss this boy for what he has done for his family and country.

His name is William Kamkwamba and his story is called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. You will laugh and cry when you read his book. Here’s his site http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com and here he is on a video from ted.com

It makes me wonder what surprises are coming up for me? What surprises have you had lately?

oo