The Joys of My Life

I decided to write a post dedicated to the many things that bring me joy in my life right now. Of course if I listed everything it would probably be a REALLY long post, but I'll give some of the highlights.

1. My Husband - Yes, he's got to be #1. I love him so much. He is my best friend. We've been through almost 9 years of life together now. He has kept me smiling and finding humor in life every day. He is such a wonderful example to me in so many ways. I knew when I married him that I was marrying a treasure and he is! What an awesome guy!

2. Being a Mother - my two boys bring me joy every day. I love to watch them learn and grow and figure things out. Most days are hard. I think it's supposed to be that way. But the joys really do come every day and it's easy to overlook them when I'm too preoccupied. Some of my latest joys are:

• Watching Curious George read
• Hearing Jesse Bear blabber on and on and on
• Seeing my boys share or show kindness to each other
• When they give me slobbery kisses and hugs every morning when they wake up and every night before bed and several times "just because"
  
• When CG turned off a movie because the people were smoking in it
• Watching the boys wrestle with each other or their Dad
• Letting them "help me" with the dishes, or chores or working in the yard
  
• I love watching them asleep, all peaceful and still
• When they give me little flowers and rocks and things they find outside
• When they remind us to say prayers or read scriptures or have family home evening
• Hearing Curious George play the piano
• Reading to them
• I love the time I get to spend with them one-on-one
• Watching Curious George play kickball
• Overhearing Jesse Bear's little voice as he's playing
• Hearing little boy laughter in the house
  

3. Music - Music brings me joy every day. I love to play the piano and be a part of beautiful music. I love to compose and arrange music as well as play the music that others have created. It is something that I don't think I could ever live without.

4. My calling as the primary chorister - I get to teach the primary children (ages 3-12) primary songs and hear them sing their hearts out. I love this calling - it is definitely one of my most favorite callings that I've had in the church. I love hearing them improve each time they sing a song. Right now my favorite song that they sing is called "I know that My Savior Loves Me". If you haven't heard it, here's the link. It is such a beautiful song!

5. Growing a garden - I love the whole process of planting and harvesting food. I love working in the yard and digging in the dirt. I love breathing fresh air and saving plants from choking weeds.

6. The beautiful world around me - we are so lucky to live on this earth. I marvel when I think about the intricacies of life on this earth that Heavenly Father planned out and prepared for us. Even something as simple as a cluster of grapes is amazing to me. Think about the concept of how they must attach to the vine in a perfectly secure way for the inner flesh of the grapes to not be exposed to air. Yet they are so easy to pluck off and pop in your mouth in one juicy bite! It's miraculous!

7. Teaching piano - I talked about this in a recent post so I won't go into much detail, but teaching piano definitely brings me joy!

8. My testimony of the gospel and membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This one thing brings me so many other blessings that give me joy like temple work, family history and missionary work. In fact I think most of the blessings and joy that I feel in life every day can be traced back my membership in the Church. If I didn't have a testimony of the church I don't think numbers 1-7 that I listed above would matter as much to me.