If I haven’t mentioned it already, I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!   Parker, Colorado is home to many friendly, down to earth, easy to get to know people.  Mark says it is my version of heaven.  Every time I have gone to a store or had someone come to the house to deliver something or set something there is someone who wants to have a conversation beyond the task at hand.  The UPS guy chats from his truck for 20 minutes.  The lady at the nursery passed me information on getting my lawn aerated.  Another lady stopped and helped me when she saw me struggling with my huge bag of potting soil.  You can ask someone a question or joke with them and they either answer at length or joke right back with you.  They want to really find out a little bit about who you are.  What a concept!

Yesterday I made my 95th trip to Home Depot.  I asked a gal (another shopper) where I might find a certain item.  She didn’t just answer me, she gave me great and helpful advice.  But it didn’t stop there either.  The conversation continued and we laughed and talked about the new PRETZEL M&Ms (ya gotta try them!) and she told me where I could find them, bless her soul.  We ended up exchanging numbers, and will be getting together for lunch next week.  This is the world I belong to… 🙂

Today, Abby and I went to the church we visited this past weekend and helped them with preparing decorations for VBS in a couple weeks.  We were welcomed as part of their family and had a great time.  I got to meet the pastor and his wife (they seem like awesome people – real and chill).  We made huge paper vines with huge green leaves.  We got the chance to meet new people and find out a little bit about their lives.  So refreshing.  Abs and I left with big smiles on our faces.  As we waited for the pizza we were picking up on the way home, Abby said, “Thanks mom, for doing that with me!”  Trust me, it was my pleasure.  We will go again tomorrow and bring fresh baked cookies for all their hard work.

How do I explain my heart in this place?  Imagine the deepest, happiest sigh.  You know that feeling when you feel completely content?  The biggest aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh you  can fathom.  I love the green grass and real trees.  I love the blue skies that are sometimes cloudless, sometimes hold puffy white clouds framed by a beautiful blue, sometimes filled with dark ominous clouds that bring amazing lightening storms.  I love that it can be 90 one day and 60 the next.  I love that I can enjoy an indoor fireplace.  I love that when I am watering my flowers on my front porch that I look out at meadows filled with cows.  I love that when I am drinking a iced venti passion tea lemonade with raspberry on my back porch that I see mountains and valleys and red barns and white fences and vibrant wildflowers.

I love that I can wake up early in the morning and run or walk on trails that go anywhere and everywhere in the Denver metro area right at my back door.  I love that when I sit in bed at night I can look out my windows and see the lights of the city.  I love that my dog can roam freely (she loves it here!)

I love that I can breathe deeply.  That I am richly content.  That I rest easy and have not the slightest pit in my stomach (that, of course, may change after I go to AZ this weekend to look at wedding dresses with Britt 🙂  This is what calm feels like.  This is what home feels like.  This is what it feels like to find your place. Jana is a very happy and thankful girl.

I am loving this place.  I am loving these people.  I am loving that these people respond to love.  Girl is home….