5 books I love

It is so hard to pick a "favorite" or even five favorites. It is easier to just think in terms of things I love. I could embrace an infinity of books and still have love left over.

1. The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

2. Expecting Adam. A true story of birth, rebirth and everyday magic by Martha Beck

3. The Miracles of Santo Fico by D. L Smith

4. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim

5. Bonds that make us Free: healing our relationships, coming to ourselves by C. Terry Warner

5 "little things" I LOVE

"It is the little things that make life worth living"

1. Hearing my kids laugh, especially the little one. Baby laughs are the best. If a face can launch a thousand ships then a baby laugh can launch a thousand rockets.

2. Watching the birds. We have a bird feeder on our back porch and there is something soothing about watching those little birds eat.

3. Watching my kids sleep. I love how beautiful and relaxed their faces look while they are asleep- like little angels.

4. peace and quiet...and chocolate

5. Watching the first 10 minutes of Reggis and Kelly. I love to see what Kelly is wearing.

5 quotes I love

1. "20 years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do, than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines, sale away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

2. "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us" Marianne Williamson

3. "I have come to realize how much stress is caused by the sad fact that many of us believe one way and live in quite another. Stress may be more a matter of personal integrity than time pressure, determined by the distance between our authentic values and how we live our lives" Rachel Naomi Remen

4. "Days pass and years vanish and we walk sightless among miracles. Lord, fill our eyes with seeing and our mind with knowing. Let there be moments when your Presence, like lightning, illuminates the darkness in which we walk. Help us to see wherever we gaze, that the bush burns unconsumed. And we, clay, touched by the hand of God will reach out for Holiness and exclaim in wonder, "How filled with wonder was this place and we did not know it" Rachel Naomi Remen

5. "It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship...there are no ordinary people...your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses" C.S. Lewis

5 movies I love

I had to include the poem by E. E. Cummings that is used so effectivly in this movie.

I carry your heart with me

I carry your heart with me

(I carry it in My heart)

I am never without it

(anywhereI go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

By only me is your doing, my darling)

I fearNo fate

(for you are my fate, my sweet)

I wantNo world

(for beautiful you are my world, my true)

And it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

And whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

And the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

Higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)

5 things I LOVE to do

1. travel

"One of the flash epiphanies of travel, the realization that worlds you'd love vibrantly exist outside your ignorance of them. The vitality of many lives you know nothing about. the breeze lifting a blue curtain in a doorway billows just the same whether you are lucky enough to observe it or not. travel gives such jolts. I could live in this town, so how is it that I've never been here before today?" Francis Mayes

2. read

" one of life's pleasures: a writers words can intersect with your life and lead you to the next largest space you can occupy.." Francis Mayes

3. work in my yard

" Bloom where you are planted"

4. try new recipies

5. have people over

" Happiness...is more like a decision than a condition. It is a decision anyone can make, anywhere anytime. For it is not the enjoyableness of objects or activities or opportunities that make us happy or unhappy; rather our happiness, ROOTED IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS, make objects and activities enjoyable. Things events and opportunities have no value in and of themselves; they get their value from the significant part they play in our key RELATIONSHIPS with others" C. Terry Warren

February Five

In honor of Valentines Day, I will try to post five things I love every day.



The first is:

Places that I Love

1. Jacksonville Florida

You never forget your first love. I fell in love with Jacksonville when I was 13 and spent the summer with my Grandmother.



and at the beach with my cousin Jennifer and my little sister.

2. Victoria British Columbia Canada

I had so much fun here as a missionary. The city is beautiful, the ocean is close and there are flowers everywhere.

3. Scipio Utah

Although I don't often admit it, I do love the little town I came from. We had so much fun playing in this old barn.

4. Home

I love my house. It is my most favorite place on earth, my sanctuary and my nest, my garden, my shelter and my canvass.

Out of the dreariness,

into the cheeriness,

come we in weariness,

HOME

-Stephen Chalmers

5.Any warm place with a white sandy beach.

>

Give me a snorkle, some sand between my toes, and a good book and I am in Heaven.

flash of insight

I had one of those awakening "ideas" last week. It came right a long with making New Years Resolutions. I realized that I will never have more time than I do now. I will never be more organized than I am now. I will never have it all together if I don't get it together NOW. This is big for me because I live in a tomorrow trap. " I'll do it tomorrow", "I'll start tomorrow". When I have more time I'll....., When all the kids are in school I'll..... So you see, coming to this awareness changes a lot of things for me. I either need to do it now or let it go. Even if I do have more time in the "future", I will have other things to fill it with, other interests, other obligations.

So I start this year with the commitment to do it now or don't do it- let it go.

A couple of years ago I asked myself the question "What three things could you change that would make you happier and more fulfilled?"

The list now includes five things and these have been my resolution ever since. So to recommit myself, here are my five things.

1. Go through and organize everything in my house. One drawer or shelf a day if that is what it takes. (I am amazed at everything I have that I have forgotten about)
2. Spend more time with God everyday and make that time meaningful.
3. Eat better - less sugar (you know the drill)
4. Be more "present" with my children. Really listen when they speak, make what matters to them matter to me.
5. Speak my truth. This is my hard one because I am a quiet person who does not like conflict, contention, rocking the boat, or putting anyone out. So I get lost in my own silence and people assume I agree with them because I don't contradict.

So wish me luck as I continue to work on these- slow and steady wins right?