One of my great joys since we moved in our new home has been the extra little office room we have. We painted it green and when my mom came to visit, she bought me a great arm chair, which I've fluffed up with some colorful pillows. This chair in this green room has now become my own little place. Most every evening this summer, when it's still light until late at night and children are out playing in the street, or lately, when it's storming and people stand at their windows to watch the rain like people do here in the desert, where rain is a novelty, I spend at least a few minutes here in blissful peace. I journal or read and just generally relax and reflect a little. I'm trying to train myself to view it as a place of quiet and refuge so that I don't turn it into yet another place where I have to Accomplish Great and Important Things on a Very Urgent Deadline. The only other things in the room at this point are a bookshelf and a computer desk where Dan surfs the Internet and pays our bills. But I don't think even he would deny that it's really my place. I'm so thankful for it, and just this once, you can see it: