Happiness is...

YEAH!!! There are just so many good things happening in my life!

On May 2nd I headed up to Michigan for Chris and Mike's graduations. I rode up with a guy from my church who drives truck. Dean and I had a great time talking and I really enjoyed the bunk in the back. I think I slept all the way from the Mississippi River to the place we met Chris in Michigan. We arrived around 5:00 in the morning and then Chris and I headed back to Mt. Pleasant so he could finish up his finals. After he got done, we had a great lunch with his roommate Songhil (who is getting married on May 24th in Korea) and then spent the rest of the day packing up Chris' room and packing the majority of it in his car. After realizing we weren't going to get it all in, we shoved in what we could and headed to his parent's house in Brighton. We got to relax with his parents and watch the Pistons beat the 76er's to advance in the playoffs. Guess I now have to root for the Michigan based teams! On Wednesday and Thursday we were able to get a ton of last minute errands done, spend time with friends, eat lots of chocolate, enjoy the fantastic weather, and hang out with Chris' family. We had a fantastic time with his family - lots of eating, walking and game playing! On Friday, we headed back up to Mt. Pleasant to finish up some last minute tasks. We got Chris' apartment cleaned out and all packed in the car, had a great lunch with his friend Heather, visited with his work friends and picked up his cap and gown. The we headed back down to Lansing for dinner with his family followed by Mike's graduation from Michigan State University in Lansing with his PhD in School Psychology. We followed that up with dessert and fun with Mike and Carrie and other friends at Applebee's. Chris and I took off for our hotel and crashed. The next morning we headed back to Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant for Chris' graduation. There were so many graduates and the lighting was so bad that it took me forever to find him! Chris was highly amused that I couldn't spot him. :) After graduation, we met his family for lunch and celebrated. Chris and I spent the rest of the afternoon at our friend's Chris and Jean's. We got to see their new little guy, 3-month old Ethan, and his big sister, 6 year old Elise. We had a great time catching up with them and making plans. We left Chris and Jean's and to top off the day, we met some other friends at a pub in Brighton to celebrate. Sunday, Mother's Day, was spent with Chris' family. We worked on packing up the car (I cannot believe how much we fit into his little car! We are AWESOME packers!) and then played games with his family. On Monday we threw a few more things in the car, hugged his parent's goodbye and headed to Ann Arbor to see Mike and Carrie quick and then on to Iowa. We got in late Monday night and have been settling in since.

It has been so awesome to have Chris here. I think I'm still not fully aware that he's here to stay! We've had a great week - we've been able to relax and just be with each other and not worry about one of us having to go home 10 hours away. It's so nice that he's just 15-20 minutes away now. I love it!

Last night Chris was offered a job and he accepted. So he started earlier today and is already enjoying himself. He is very relieved to have a job and I am so proud of him.

So at this moment, from things that happened this week, happiness is (regarding the title of this post):
*Driving 10 hours with the love of my life at my side.
*Dancing to Frank Sinatra in Cherie's basement.
*Hearing Chris talk back to the TV when I'm in the other room.
*Dinner at Joe's and a movie at the Harlan 4 Theater on Friday night.
*Shopping at Walmart together.
*Hearing him speak up at small group and knowing he is working so hard to be the spiritual leader God wants him to be.
*Chris sneaking my chocolate chip cookie while I was talking to my sister and the look of glee and surprise on his face when he got caught.
*Hearing him answer my phone and talk to my friends and family.
*Praying with him.
*Just him.

Praying you all have a fantastic week!