My Happy List

My friend Amy tagged me on her blog, so I'm to write about six things which make me the happiest (in no particular order).

1. GRANT. I can't begin to tell you how much I love this kid. I began loving him while he was growing in Stephanie, but it doesn't even compare to my love for him now. I love rough-housing with him on the floor. Since he could crawl, he's used me as a jungle gym. One of his favorite things is sitting on my head. I have no idea why, but it's hilarious. I love that I'm able to teach him how to do different things and most recently words, as his vocabulary has recently grown leaps and bounds. He's just the best and I'm smitten.

2. PLAYING GAMES. I love games. I love the competition. I love the imagination it usually takes to excel at them. I love all the laughter and conversation. I love that they bring out a different side of me; not always good, but interesting none the less. I think you can tell a lot about a person by how they react to situations within the game play. My recent game that I love is Scrabble. I play it all the time -- more often than not, on my phone right before I go to sleep. I know that must sound crazy.

3. BEING CREATIVE. Wow, I love being creative.

• PAINTING (Sips n Strokes). I love to paint. It's incredibly satisfying to begin with a white canvas and leave with a work of art. It's also incredibly stressful, but I love it. I love how it makes me feel. I love being able to display my artwork in my house. Every time I pass by I smile with appreciation and I'm so proud of myself.
• PHOTOGRAPHY. I love taking pictures. I love capturing sunsets especially, but also flowers and nature.
• WRITING. I love to write. Man, do I ever. I often have trouble verbally expressing that which I'm feeling, but to allow my fingers to click and clack across the keyboard allows me to breathe and relax and get the unsaid out there. It's such a gift. I hope to use it for His glory. I would love to make writing into a career, but who's really that interested in what I have to say? What I'm most happiest about... wow, that was horrible grammar....

4. STRENGTH IN THE STRUGGLE. This is the title of my book. Wow. I'm so excited for its completion. I'm so happy while I work on it; even though at this point, it's a labor of love. I was asked today when did I know I wanted to make my writings into a book.... it was more than a year ago!! It's gone through six different stages of editing and now I'm working on everything else (bibliography, index, about the author, etc). I began laying the text into the Blurb's template yesterday. It's incredibly time consuming but oh so worth it. I can't wait to see what God's going to do with it. It makes me so happy to use this passion of mine to advance His kingdom!

5. PLAYGROUNDS. I love playgrounds. I may be 31, but I love to play on playgrounds. Homewood park has a great one, as does Vestavia West Elementary. My absolute favorite thing is to swing. I've always loved to swing. It's like flying... and for mere seconds, I actually am. I used to love the merry-go-round, but I don't think they exist anymore? My friends and I (when I was little) would all hang on tight while we'd each take turns being the runner. I still remember how that feels today. Pretty soon I won't have to play 'after hours', but I can take Grant. Won't that be fun?!?

6. EXERCISE. Part of me can't believe I'm making this my 6th thing, but honestly, over the past three months, it's become one of my favorite things to do. I'm thrilled to no end that I enjoy it as much as I do. Plus, I'm starting to see results, which let's face it is awesome and encouraging and only pushing me to do more!!

• BODY FLOW (my favorite class at the Y). I feel strong. I love being able to do all the different poses: downward dog, plank, cobra, dolphin, forward fold, etc. I wish they offered this class on another night.
• LIFTING WEIGHT. Although it can be hard and downright painful at times, I love it. I especially love the lat pull down. It makes me happy that it's usually just Amy V. and I in sea full of guys.
• CARDIO. I usually have to psyche myself up for Cardio, but it ultimately makes me happy that I did something I didn't want to do. Crazy, isn't it? I've found that I last longer if I listen to a sermon or some other teaching rather than listening to music.

Well, this was probably way more information than was required to fill out My Happy List. But I was happy just thinking about all my favorites. I hope you will play along too, my friends: Amanda, Allison, Melissa, and Jennifer!