The soundtrack of life

I love earphones and music. I mean you can be anywhere and with music in your head, and everyone feels miles away...I am grateful for the magic of music. I would soundtrack not only my life but my everyday if I could. I am no musician but I, like so many others, find power in the notes, the words and the stories that play out in the most glorious way.

I am reminded of our wedding day and the poem my husband wrote for me and recited before our vows. He talked about how the song of his life had been written by God as a melody with highs and lows...and how I was the harmony to his melody. And how our lives would play a beautitful song together.

I love music. I am grateful for the song of life which plays all around us everyday, even without earphones.

Mel

Catching up....

I have missed writing down my grats for a week or so now and the "list" that I was storing up in my head is getting long. I won't write them all down but here's just a few:

My son has a little 'bestie' at kinder named Eddie. The other day at kinder I was able to share with Eddie's dad about what we were going to do in Thailand and we ended up having a really great conversation. It turns out that Eddie's dad was raised in Singapore in a really poor family where missionaries helped them get through. He sees this as one of the turning points in his life and now, after migrating to Australia, and setting himself up financially he attends church and supports other missionaries in their work. This was an amazing chat and one that left me feeling such a buzz. We have agreed to keep in contact while we're away.

Also while waiting at kinder another day, I began chatting to a friend (also in my mother's group). She was talking about her upcoming holiday when I asked the usual questions, "where are you going?" "what date?" etc.

Funnily enough we discovered that we're traveling on the same day, same airline, same destination AND same flight!! How funny is that? I am grateful for this coincidence and to have other people we know (and one of the children's friends) on the same flight as us.

Finally I am thankful for the health and wellness that has been restored to our family. After a couple of months of infections, viruses and gastro; it seems this morning that we are all well! Yay!!

Goodbye ACHOOO and hello YAHOOO

I am grateful that I am feeling soooo much better tonight that yesterday. My throat has stopped hurting so much and my head is a lot less blocked and the body aches are subsiding YAHOOOOOOO! O.k so as I write this I am sneezing repeatedly but hey I feel so much better... it's good to celebrate.

Mel

ACHOOoooo

There is always lots to be grateful for but whenever I feel unwell, I find it particularly hard to think of things...as terrible as that sounds. Well I have my 3rd cold in the past 8 weeks (not to mention how cruddy I felt after having the swine flu shot) so anywho...I find myself today once again with a sore throat, blocked ears yada yada and thus struggling to think of something significant to feel thankful about. But I refuse to remain like that so I am writing this to force myself to spend some time reflecting and think about what I am grateful for. Here goes. I am grateful for my Mum agreeing to come and babysit for a couple of hours tonight so that my hubby and I could go to a Parent Information night at my daughters school. I am grateful for some cool watermelon to help soothe my sore throat today. I am thankful for a quiet week. I am thankful that apparently our air con is being installed on Friday (not sure if the guy will actually make it but here's to hoping). And finally I am grateful for my daughter being placed into the same kinder class as her 2 friends for next year! Yay...plus I got to choose her teacher, even better!

See I knew there was plenty to be grateful for, it just required a little persistence on my behalf.

Hope you girls are all well and there is no need for aspro clear in your house tonight!!!!

Smiles Mel

Great trip back to USA

I am grateful for a fantastic visit home (to Australia) and for an amazing flight back. I had over seven hours sleep on the plane back to the USA and I didn't have to use the sick bag once! Yay!

Liesl

CAR grat

I have a few grats about our car. First of all, my husband took it and filled it up for me the other day when he went out so that I wouldn't have to do it during the week.

Secondly, my mother-in-law not only organised it to be serviced (at a time she knew wouldn't put me out) but drove it there and brought it back too.

Then the next day, my father-in-law grabbed my keys off me and went and washed my car for me!!! How blessed am I? A clean, serviced and fully tanked car. Yay!!!

My Home

I am grateful for our home.

I love playing with the baby guinea pigs, jumping on the tramp, picking vegies from the garden, cooking in the kitchen, making endless hot drinks, watching movies on our soft couch with the double ottaman, the baby birds wandering around our backyard, the rabbits which hop around on our front lawn at night. I love watching our plants growing and lazing on our leather couches. I love that our back door opens as wide as I want it to and that I can block off the different parts of my deck with the cafe blinds. There are just so many things I love about our house...I am so grateful to have a home as so many people in the world will never have that luxury and so I want to be especially grateful for it.

To nap or not to nap...

My grat is for a change in schedule...you see my 3 year old had started waking up extremely grumpy from her day time nap and was finding it really hard to get to sleep before 8:30pmish.

Since there is a lot of crying and whinging in our house between the hours of 3pm and 5pm ...adding 2 children just waking from naps in, well it was getting unbearable!

SO my change in schedule has been putting my 1 year old to bed by 11am. This has worked so well since I started... I have an hour and a half to do a special activity with my eldest then a chance to do a quiet job (e.g sewing or paperwork) while she plays quietly next to me with her playdough, or jewels etc. She goes down for a rest (not a sleep) by 12:30pm and then I have about half an hour to tidy up make some lunch before the little one wakes. Then I get about an hour with her where I can give her as many cuddles as she needs after waking up, before my toddler is up again and raring to go. O.k so yes it makes for a long afternoon however at least they are somewhat refreshed and not both crying for my attention. Actually this new schedule has even seen them playing happily with each other for short periods of time!

So my grat is for this change of schedule...like anything it will work for a time and then I'll need to reevaluate again, but for now I am just thankful it is making life more peaceful and harmonious! Plus the extra grat for the things I have managed to accomplish in that time alone with just my 3 year old.

The smell of roses!

This is a photo of one of the beautiful roses outside my in-law's house (where we are living at the moment). There is a row of about ten rose bushes of all different colours.

For the past couple of weeks I have had a cough/cold thing and I've had no sense of smell but my grat today is for the delightful aroma I was able to enjoy last night as I stepped out the front door. It was incredible. Each rose has a different scent and put together was the most amazing combination.

I must admit, I haven't minded having no smell during the times of changing dirty nappies LOL but it was so refreshing to be able to enjoy "smelling" once again!

A few....

Been awhile but..

I'm grateful for finishing classes for my first year of Masters, its gone faster than anything!

Also grateful for the support of my partners mum in a few wedding organisation things - she is being quite supportive and being really great about not putting too much of her own 'stuff' into things.

Grateful for Christian and his kind heart! He knew I was having a really rough day so he went out of his way to completely clean and sort my study (which has gone into increasing disarray as paperwork and wedding related stuff piled up) and also cooked me dinner and sat down for a chat when I got home - just felt so kind and comforting to know he would put in all that effort just to cheer me up and make things feel nicer for me to come home to.

Finally, I am grateful for the sunshine and warmth of spring - I feel like sometimes I am able to actually draw the warmth of the sun into my body and I just love it!

Flowers and friendship

A kind word

A knowing smile

The smell of the flowers bought to brighten my day

A soft hug

Dinner cooked

A walk in the park, all my cares far away

My shiny floors

A cosy sleep in

The warmth of the sun on my shoulders today

Friends who care

Family who love

Humble gratitude... is all that's left to say.

Melxx