Hi there, friends.

I write this post as part of my Lenten commitment to blog daily as a means of "giving to," and yet it comes to you from a place of great weariness inside. This morning, I woke at 5 a.m. to get a head start on some projects that needed finishing today . . . and now it is 10 p.m. and the work is finally done.

I worked straight through for most of today, only stopping occasionally to eat food and check my e-mail . . . 17 hours in total.

I'm spent.

So, please forgive the brevity of today's post.

But let me at least offer you a little bit of fun. Last weekend, we purchased this:

Our nearly new Vespa, currently unnamed (any suggestions??)

Isn't it cute??

We've been living quite conservatively with one car for the last three and a half years, and that has worked well for us for a season. But Kirk's work life has kicked into high gear, and mine has too, and lately we've found ourselves in need of a convenient and affordable second mode of transport.

This is the fun and quite economical option we chose.

It's a nearly new Vespa that cost much less than a very used car would have cost us. It gets 75 miles to the gallon. It costs only $6 to fill the gas tank.

Plus, it's a ton of fun.

Do I look like I know how to ride? Trust me, I don't.

I leave that to Kirkum!

This is Kirk's new ride to work each day (or, at least, the days where weather permits), but he takes me on the back of it with him in the evenings sometimes. We tool around the brick-lined streets of our hometown and enjoy the wind on our faces, the smell of the orange blossoms and jasmine floating through the air, and the feeling of being so much more alive and in touch with the life and community around us. (A Vespa really puts you in touch with how isolating it is to drive in a car!)

Plus, you get to wear goggles like this:

I like to call this my "Yikes, professor! I don't have the power!" pose.

So fun!

And now, my friends, I'm off to get some rest. Tomorrow is another big day.

xoxo,

Christianne