Making lists, counting blessings

I'm a big listmaker – always loved dumping out what's in my brain on paper. All things become alive, validated by its visual nature. Sometimes I even find it hard to depart with my lists, esp. the grocery lists. I usually have several old ones hanging around the kitchen for quick reference.

I recently read a talk by Elder Maxwell that said this (thanks Miggy!):

Occasionally I see individuals who are meeting life's challenges reasonably well but who unfortunately fail to appreciate the general adequacy of their response. They let the seeming ordinariness of life dampen their spirits. Though actually coping and growing, some lack the quiet inner-soul satisfaction which can steady them. Instead they seem to experience a lingering sense that there is something more important they should be doing or that their chores are somehow not quite what was expected, as if what is quietly achieved in righteous individual living or in parenthood is not sufficiently spectacular.

Grounded, Rooted, Established, and Settled (Ephesians 3:17, 1 Peter 5:10)
NEAL A. MAXWELL
(the link is in my sidebar, under the other inspirational talks i love list)

It hasn't always been easy to adjust to this simplicity around me; the shrinking of my social circle, the struggle with my emotions, the dearth of activities, my lonely mono-lingual universe, surrendering more of myself to my children . . . and over and above all, the steady feeling that I'm not appreciating this time enough – that there are hidden treasures here I still haven't brought into being, or that I'm deliberately snuffing, as Elder Maxwell put it for me, the "quiet inner-soul satisfaction which can steady [me]. "

While walking home one night from the library, I started making another list, simply called. . .

Things I like:

Old barns
Clothes on the line
Cows coming home
My daughter in black
Borst
Sunshine
My son’s conversation
Buying garden/farm fresh food
Children bestowing hugs
Walking
Banya night
Me with my glasses on
Church with myfamily in our home
The smell of wood/fire/burning
My laptop and internet (even though it’s dial-up!)
Working in tandem with Nathan
Quiet houses with gardens
The call to prayer
Flying kites
Reading
Cold ‘fizzy’ water
My children playing and sleeping
Haribo gummies
Contact with family and friends
Horses
Time to myself

[Note to Picasa album followers: I finally upload all 100+ photos from August – see link in sidebar)