From my comment on Justin's blog: What makes me happy

I like your list, and each of those points would make me happy,
Also,

1)  Time with family.

2) Holding babies. --(my world becomes filled with love and tenderness)

3)  Following toddlers. --(my world becomes filled with adventure, awe, and humor)

4) Writing. --(It makes me happy, yet is very hard.  Ideas dry up quickly, and I've always given writing fairly low priority.  Very puzzling.  Yet I put out some 7,000 words of technical "writing" a week--and even that offers a form of happiness.)

5) Just being immersed in nature makes me happy.  --I think for me, it is an "Asperger" place where I am exquisitely happy in a nonverbal, very sensual level--beautiful sights, bird and wind songs, touch of sunshine and breeze, smell of Earth.
 
6)  Work with hands. -- I am superbly happy working in a garden, pulling weeds,or cleaning a house.  Some creation of the environment around me is satisfying--and achieving situations where things are beautiful creates a beautiful feeling inside me.

7)  Phone calls with children.  --These are the high points of every week.

8) Spiritual impressions.  --Times that reading the Book of Mormon has been a "multimedia" learning experience have been unforgettable.  Those times have changed my life everlastingly, and they have been the anchors that have kept me in the faith.

9) Relaxing times with friends.  --This is joyful, but rare in my busy life.

10) Finding some self understanding. --Learning that I likely have Aspergers was a freeing, forgiving, becoming comfortable with my life ongoing experience.

11)  Gratitude.  --Slowing my life and trying to record my blessings brings a tenderness and a happiness into my life that isn't there without that practice.

12)  Helping students at school.   --the day is filled with challenge, humor, love, and skill.  Over a little time, resistance is overcome, and we work in a trusting, steady pace.

Longings

The wispy words of my prayer
Must ride on wings of faith.
The works of hands and feet
Seem finite, mortal, incongruent, wishful, scattered.
I am yet a work myself
When others need and struggle long.
Lord, train me for Thy cause.
There is hope in broken hearts
And only contrite spirits.

This week Ivan and I went to Twin Falls for a day trip.  We attending a temple session is the Twin Falls temple--and that was lovely.  Then we traveled out to the country as we did last year with Amanda and Shane and Tyson and Jana and Ember.  The lights were as bright and awesome and the camel as beautiful.  I do think the night was colder though!  It was worth the trip.

We felt the tender mercy of the Lord again, as on the way up, Ivan fell asleep at the wheel.  The rough patch on the side of the road--that lets one know they are veering off, woke him up, and we weren't harmed.  That was really, really a blessing.

A temple next door is huge.  This area of the Boise valley, on the bluff, above the river, looking across the valley to Squaw Butte and to the foothills on either side has always been sacred ground to me.  This week, it was simply recognized in a magnificent way.  I trust the temple.  It makes me feel that this ground will always be safe and surrounded by the spiritual--More so than I could have ever dared to imagine.

This event is bigger than me.  I don't know that our house will survive, but that doesn't matter.  In fact, the biggest clue that it might not is that other opportunities began appearing a few months ago.  That is a tender mercy of the Lord.  His hand would not be part of squeezing this house out by a widening road.  His hand would simply turn us around to something better.

Christmas 2011

Quietest Christmas ever; things diminish gracefully.
Love, caring, daring, sharing become large.