the sweetest sound

With unseasonably mild weather in Kansas this winter, we've actually been able to spend some pleasant time outdoors - in January! It's a blessing I am soaking up.

For the past week or so, just before dusk, Boone and I have begun a simple ritual on the swing in our backyard's screened-in porch. Covering our laps with a blanket, we sit and swing and talk and sing through the last moments of the day's light. And it is beautiful.

We take the dogs with us. Part of the time they'll play outside in the grass, but when they come into the porch, Boone's eyes light up. And when they wrestle, he laughs, his joy unrestrained. Lord, thank you for sweet doggies who play. And thank you for the gift of a little boy who, at four months old, finds them funny.