Barbara over at Tidbits and Treasures tapped me for this “Ten Simple Pleasures” meme, which I think fits quite nicely into the theme for today’s Carnival of Beauty, “Rainy Days.” The hostess is Allison of The Autumn Rain.

Here are Ten Simple Pleasures for me, things that bring me joy and keep me going on those rainy days, when the skies are gray.

1. Our pets — five cats and a dog right now. I sat out in our backyard last night petting our white cat, Snowball, and thought to myself that life doesn’t get any better than this. Of course, he started purring, and it was even more fun because I let my one-year-old stroke his neck, teaching her how to be “gentle.”

2. Pure joy is when I get up early enough to drink a cup of coffee and read and/or write before anyone else in the house is up. (It didn’t happen this morning.) I love those quiet hours of darkness where I can dig in my roots and feel a sense of growth — it keeps me going all day. When I can read my Bible and meet with God, I’m as excited as Mary, the day she saw Jesus on the first Easter.

3. I’ve got three vases of wildflowers in our kitchen right now — brought inside by my kindergartener. She loves to hide the fresh-picked bouquet behind her back and say, “Mama, I’ve got a surprise for you.” I never get tired of her surprises — and now the wild dogwoods and pear blossoms look so pretty in our kitchen.

4. I love the moment when my husband walks in the door from work. He’s tall and handsome — and I realize I love him more every day. I’m not the type to be mushy in public — but this is one of my simple pleasures. I can’t believe how good God is to me!

5. The beach. Anything about the beach. The salty sea breezes, the feeling of sand under my bare feet, watching our children make sand castles and play in the waves. My stress unwinds completely when I can be near the sea. I feel God present there more than anywhere else — at the horizen of sky meeting the water — He’s there.

6. As I’m writing, it IS raining outside! My three-year-old is beside me playing with his Thomas the Tank Engines and saying, “Look, Mama. See the rain?” I love the quiet sounds of rain, especially when I’m in a barn with a tin roof, and I can smell hay at the same time (and be near horses).

7. My new pleasure of going to work out at Curves. It’s hard to believe I can relax while I exercise — but I’m having so much fun listening to upbeat music, talking with women about non-stressful things, and getting my chance to breathe (like on the airplane, when we’re told to give ourselves oxygen first before helping a child).

8. Encouraging words — it’s so refreshing to read or hear something nice, where someone took the time to reach out to me. When I’m feeling good about myself, it directly affects the six other people in our home, as well as everyone else I come in contact with.

9. Our Sunday School class. I’ll wait and post more about that on Friday for the Living Beyond Yourself group. We’ve been gone for four years, and we feel like we’re back home again. I love these people!

10. Being outside in the garden area with my family. We are really country bumpkins these days. Our baby playpen stays out on the porch — she is content to play out there for hours while everyone is doing yardwork. My husband is whipping the garden into shape and getting the kids to all do all kinds of chores. Soon, we’ll have cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, beans, and a host of other homegrown vegetables.

That’s it for today — I could keep going of course … but really, everything centers around my family right now. And I guess the neat thing is that I can blog about it — and maybe I should print this out and keep it somewhere for me to read when the sun is hiding behind a cloud.

I think I’m supposed to tap ten other people for this meme. I’d like to tap everyone in our LBY group — in the Blogroll. So, if you’re in the group and you’d like to share your ten simple pleasures, consider yourself tapped!