Well, hello there.

It has been a while, hasn’t it? Or maybe it hasn’t. Maybe you never read the previous incarnation of Jest Kept Secret. If you’re a new reader, welcome! If you’re an old friend who managed to find your way through the labyrinthine paths of the interwebs to find me again, welcome back! I’ve missed you. Both of you, pull up a chair. Let’s chat. (Please excuse the mess. I’m still unpacking.)

Things have changed since we last talked. I moved to Colorado, just to discover that my Fairy Tale Big Girl Job wasn’t a Happily Ever After after all. No biggie. Sometimes that happens. And sometimes, you move home to live with your parents even though you are far too old for that kind of thing. And then sometimes you can’t find a job for months and months and months and you start to feel a little desperate about your prospects in life, and then out of nowhere, you find a job working with the coolest kids in the entire world.

And sometimes—because you’re getting used to luck finally being on your side—you start thinking maybe you’d like to shake things up a little, do something crazy. So you decide to go to Grad School. IN ENGLAND. And sometimes, you make these plans for the future, like 2015, and then God says, “Why wait? You should go now.” And so you apply for your dream program in Organic Farming and you actually get in. (And yes, you read that correctly. You can get a masters in Organic Farming.)

And then you panic, because now you have four months to do everything you planned on having 16 months to do.

And then sometimes you get a phone call from an old boss asking you if you’ll come back for another summer, and you think, “Why the heck not? I could use a little more crazy in my life.”

So then you have 2 weeks to do everything you had planned on having 4 months to do.

And sometimes, you find yourself living in a 10’x12′ canvas wall tent in the blazing hot desert. And sometimes, you give pony rides to almost 100 kids in a single day, and your feet hurt and your sunburn hurts and you think you could probably provide water for an entire village for a year if you could desalinate all of the sweat that pours off your body in a single day and you ask yourself what in the world was I THINKING?

And then you look up and see this:

And you remember the grins on the faces of all those little kids who have never ridden a pony before. And you remember how proud you were of that one little boy who spent weeks resisting the chance to ride a pony and then he finally did it and he loved it and you could have cried because you were just so happy.

And sometimes, a goat sneezes in your face and you don’t even care because goats are just happiness wrapped up in fuzzy bodies and wagging tails.

And sometimes you think, This is my life. And you feel so incredibly blessed and grateful that God decided to throw you a surprise party full of awesome things and beautiful places and the most wonderful people.

Yeah. Sometimes that happens.

And it’s pretty fantastic.

Have you ever felt like God was throwing you a huge surprise party? Recording these experiences in your journal is a great way to show gratitude for the blessings He gives you. And I’d love to hear your story, too! If you’re comfortable sharing, leave me a comment below.