Friday, May 4, 2012

My quest to find quiet in a loud world....

Have you noticed how loud the world is?  It seems really hard to get away from all the noise we make.  Even alone in my apartment I have noise.  There is the humming of the dishwasher, the sounds of the people remodeling the buildings, the birds chirping, the stream rushing by the front, the wind blowing in the trees, cars on the street, the air conditioning unit below me.............. 
The noise is worse when my children are home.  My daughter has to listen to music constantly, my son's computer beeps away.  Plus all the other sounds.  There are times I wish I could find a quiet noise free spot and just enjoy the sound of nothing.  Of course the only problem would be that all the noise has caused my ears to ring.  Anytime I get quiet, my ears ring.  It makes it hard to fall asleep.
I've been reading a couple of good books and one of them talks about the need for quiet.  That inspiration and revelation come when we can find time to be quiet and listen to the Lord.  As I've read this I've looked for ways to add quiet into my day.  It makes the noise around me seem even more loud afterwards.  But it has been so nice to have those moments.  (can you figure out what color these tulips are?  I'm slowly adding color. My new flower/photography journey.)
So if you would like to read a good book about caring for your soul, and finding quiet, pick up the book " Simplify..A guide to caring for the soul."  By Carolyn J. Rasmus.

Do you think this photo is 100% color?  If you would like to read a good fiction book, that has family mystery and history in it read " The Silver Boat"  by Luanne Rice.  If you have Irish ancestors this is a good book.  I picked it up the other day and could not put it down.  The cool thing is that it talks about family names and places that I have researched on.  I so connected with this book.

 Here is the photo at 100% color.  I find it interesting to see the difference in the color value.  I want to do up prints and frame them in stages. 
Here they are with 150% color saturation. It is amazing that there is such difference.  I'm starting to feel less stressed.  This is our first month that we do not have to pay for the house and all it's issues and rent and all the utilities out here.  Which means I've been able to pay off almost two of our credit cards with our extra income.  I can't wait to have them all paid off.  Then save for the new house.  I have started to look.  It is a little fun.  But not quiet ready yet. 
This week I started to help do indexing.  It seems very easy.  I hope to help out at least twice a week.  I also got to the temple twice this week.  The woman who looks like my grandmother was in the Celestial room and oh to walk in and see my grandmother how I cried, and thanked God for all my blessings.  I know she will be there waiting for me someday when I cross the veil to the eternities. My husband talks of someday moving back to New Jersey to retire, I can't possibly think to move so far from the temples.  Perhaps we'll summer in New Jersey.  I can't move away.  I hope soon to go to the temple three times a week.  That is where I find the best quiet and peace.  I signed up to have my DNA tested through ancestry.com, so pray for me that I'm one of the lucky ones who gets picked.  I've always wanted to do this. 
Have a great weekend.
G.G.