A characteristic of the normal child is he doesn't act that way very often. - Author Unknown

My heart smiled today when a two year old boy wearing a woman's white straw hat came up to me at work and said, "I'm a pirate! Arrrr!"

Beauty is power; a smile is its sword. - Charles Reade

Today my heart smiled when I handed in the paperwork for my new passport because I know it means I'm a step away from buying my plane ticket to Swaziland!

Children make you want to start life over. - Muhammad Ali

Today at work a four year old boy was wearing a black buttoned up shirt. My heart smiled when he proudly told everyone that it was his "Johnny Cash shirt" and when the teacher asked him who Johnny Cash is, he answered back with, "A singer, but he's dead now."

The purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved. - Kurt Vonnegut

I know I haven't updated in a while, but the reason for that is because I've been volunteering in New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity. I went down with a group from my school, and the experience was absolutely mind blowing and mind opening. I'm still coming down from the trip and wish I was still there.

Obviously too many things made my heart smile during the trip, and this post would be incredibly long if I were to go into each individual thing, so I'm going to do this mostly point form, and then expand on two of the things that really did it for me.

My heart smiled...

• when we were given homemade Jumbalaya
• eating sno balls
• when I learned how to hammer, and smiled even more when I finally became a better hammer-er
• when I got to explore the French Quarter
• during our mixer with students from the University of New Orleans
• when we were at a smaller Mardi Gras parade
• when we finally got to New Orleans after our 20 hour bus drive
• when we finally arrived back from after our 20 hour bus drive
• during my showers after working at Habitat for the day
• every time we met a local

So that's the basic break down. There were more things that made my heart smile, but those are some of the more big things. But like I said, I want to expand on two of the smiling heart moments.

Working at Habitat for Humanity made my heart smile. The vast majority of people in our group didn't know how to even hold a hammer, let alone hammer down a nail, but the staff from Habitat who were on our site were patient, willing to teach us, and never gave up on us. The sheer amount of encouragement that we all received day after day was amazing, and I truly believed helped us stay motivated and positive. Also, when we arrived the house was nothing but a frame. We filled in the frame with joists and boards, added the floor, raised all the walls, and put in place the stairs for the front of the house. What originally appeared to be a daunting task, quickly turned into a recognizable house. While we all wished we could've stayed longer and seen it completed, I know that all of our hearts smiled when our last day was over and we were able to look back at all that we had completed.

We were a large, diverse group filled with strangers when we went down, but quickly we all got to know one another, work with one another, and ultimately become friends. We kept each other motivated, helped each other on the build site, and entertained one another when we were back at our lodgings. I still find it amazing that we all came together, were willing to open up, and become what I consider to be my "New Orleans family." My heart smiled each time I remembered a name, got to know someone new, and when I think back to all the great things we did together. I really hope that we will keep in touch and our friendships will grow, leading to more smiling heart moments!

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different...

... and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? - J.B. Priestley

It was 6:30am when my phone rang this morning. I was groggy and too tired to worry about why someone was calling me at such an ungodly time. However, when I heard two magical words come out of their mouth, my heart smiled. Those words were: snow day.

Optimist: Person who travels on nothing from nowhere to happiness. - Mark Twain

January has flown by! I've had to start looking at what I have planned for February, and unfortunately the tests and papers that are due this month. But, something that I'm looking the most forward to is my trip to New Orleans at the end of the month. Well, today I started packing! My heart smiled when I realized how quickly my trip is approaching and started putting aside some clothing items and toiletries.

Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos. - Don Kardong

Today I went and saw Barney's Version in theater (great movie and a great book!), plus got an ice cream sundae afterward. I'm sure I don't really need to say this, but my heart was smiling through both.