Open wide come inside...

This grat is dedicated to my beautiful daughter who just turned 3! Wow what an amazing gift her life has been to me. She is such a cheeky cherub who I marvel in wonder at each and every day. The way she is learning how to structure new sentences, how on Thursday she couldn't hop and on Friday she could!! Man it melts my heart to watch how gentle and nurturing she is with her little sister. So many millions of things I love about her. She just sparkles and lights up my world. So today we celebrated her birthday with a play school party and all her little friends came to join in the activities I had planned. There are so many things I am grateful for it's hard to know where to start - p'haps with the weather which held off raining so that the kids could all have a great go at jumping on the new tramp...or p'haps that my 15 month old slept in till 8:45 am this morning (unheard of) allowing me some precious time to organise last minute things?! Well actually I think I will start with how grateful I am for such generous, loving and kind friends and family. From offers to help clean, bake and lend me things, thoughtful, creative and beautiful presents and simply their 'presence' on the day...I really am thankful for our friends and family both big and little. I feel so blessed to be able to share this special time with people I love and care about and who obviously love our little girl back!

So anyway I had such a great time zipping around the party watching and helping the kids make some special crafts, I got a lot of joy out of seeing the reactions on peoples faces when I said they could take a bag home that I'd made. The cake that my hubby made was fantastic and I am so grateful that he was happy to choose and make it! I helped by baking it but he did the rest - clever boy!! This meant a lot to me as I have a bit on my mind of late and this just took a whole lot of pressure off me. So GRATS for a wonderful party, GRATS for my sweet and wonderous little girl and GRATS for great friends and family to enjoy this precious time.

Mel

SOLD!...or not

So I'm grateful for Gods hand on and in my life.  I'm on the property hunt at the moment which is both exciting and exhausting depending on when you ask me...

Today I went to an auction with my Dad on a property that was within my price range and looked like it would suit my needs.  All I asked God was to make it really clear whether it was or wasn't for me.  We got there are noted that there will be some major re-rendering that needed to be done on the property in the near future. My Dad got a real sense that we shouldnt even bid for this place.  There were a couple of other things that were supposed to be on the property to ie courtyard- that well, didn't really exist! 

So we listened to the auction with interest, kept our hands glued on our sides! and watched someone else buy it.  I'm so grateful that I feel really unemotional about all this.  I really feel God will provide for my needs on this front (not necessarily all my wants - lol).  I'm grateful that He made it really clear for me.  I'm grateful that my Dad could come with me as my support person, and that I had a really close mate praying me through the day.  Mostly though, for God and the way He's teaching me so much in this area of my life, both practically about properties and about Him being enough.  I'm really loving Him in this!!

God is good!

Wonderful warriors

I think I've said it once or twice this year before, so at the risk of sounding like a broken record....I'm grateful for my friends!

I have this little network of what I've come to look at as "warriors" in my world. God, I am SO grateful for them. They journey with me through the ups and downs of the year thats been; we laugh together at life and I share their journies too. What a blessing it is to have them in my world. I am SO grateful! They never cease to amaze me with their kind words of encouragement, the little texts or the prayers of love and support. They are real and honest and faithful- they indeed show me the aspects of God, I really see the face of Jesus in them. What a priviledge.

I wish I could give you all a glimpse into my heart and see it exploding with love for them.
My prayer is that, in return, that i can be even half the friend that they are to me. They are such treasures!
Tam

Celebrating Life grat

My little sister has taught me a lot. She also keeps me accountable for so many things without even realising it. When I was pregnant for the first time, I started feeling fearful about all the things that could go wrong (the "what if....."s) but she helped me see that I could just be happy in the moment and enjoy my pregnancy while everything was going well. If something did go wrong, then I could face that if it happened.

I'm glad she taught me this because it saved my a lot of unnecessary worry that would've robbed my joy at that time.

Another thing she's taught me is to celebrate life... really celebrate it. She insisted I had 3 baby showers (one for each of my pregnancies) and although I tried to resist, she managed to find a way to celebrate in 3 completely different ways. I appreciated this.

She also makes the time, no matter how busy to squeeze in a special moment for everyone's birthdays. It could be weeks later or as simple as a coffee out but it's a moment in time that she sacrifices to let you know that you're valued and that your life is a gift.

There's always choices in life. Hard ones, easy ones, spur of the moment ones and well-thought out ones but we always have a choice.

I remember when I was a graduate teacher back in 2001. I was trying my hardest to make a good impression in the affluent girl's school I had been employed at. A few months in to my job, my grandmother passed away. The funeral was on a weekday and one that I taught a full load. I arranged my day to try and cause as little disruption to everyone else around me so that I could leave at recess and be back to teach the final two periods. As I set out across the city to an unfamiliar area, I got lost and stressed as I drove around unable to find the church. I eventually arrived late and had to listen to service from the foyer as it was full in the church. Afterwards I raced away, making it back to school just in time.

This event has left a lasting impression in my life. It is a huge regret that I live with and choose not to forget because it has taught me so much about the decisions I make. Looking back now I reflect, "Did the school appreciate my selfless actions on that day, trying to create less work for them?" Of course not. The only thing anyone probably remembers from that day was my poor form in showing up to my grandmothers funeral. What I'm left with is a scenario where I viewed something temporary (my job) as more important than the relationships around me. I wasn't particularly close to my grandmother so I could've justified it away like that but I am close to my father (and it was his mum). And I should've been there for him and valued the relationship with him on that day.

Last Sunday our family had plans and the children were excited. At the last minute though my sister arranged a farm day outing to celebrate her eldest daughter's 3rd birthday (an extra event to her party this weekend). I initially said 'no' as we'd made plans and I knew we had her party coming up but when I got off the phone and thought about my grandma's funeral, the importance of my decisions hit me hard again. Was this one of those moments where I would later look back and wish I'd made the decision to go? Yes! So I called her back, we changed our plans and I am SOOOOO glad because we had the most lovely day celebrating and created memories that I will never forget. So my long-winded grat is for my sister. Her ability to celebrate life and all that comes with it. The value she places on her relationships and for the reminders she gives me that even when it's busy, "we still celebrate". I am so glad for this because I just don't want to miss a moment.

Thai, cars and signs of hope

Yesterday I took my neighbours dog for a walk along the waterfront where I walk regularly. I've only recently started soing this with "Brandy", a fluffy full-of-life shitzu. He's really cool, he's got a real overbite which cracks me up, but he' a gentle fellow and loves to get out and run along the wind pushing back his cream fur. He's a real dude, and a kind of subsitute dog for me when I miss my Millie who is having an extended stay interstate! I think I can speak for him in saying we both love our walks!! lol

We got back from our walk, and after a challenging couple of days, I felt refreshed and had my head full of my "God music" that I played as I walked. My other neighbour, Terry was waiting at my front door. He gave me a slip of paper with one of his clients names on it- saying he was looking for a car! how cool, I only told Terry that I was selling my car in passing the other day as I re-told the story of the scammers. I'll ring the person today, and whos knows what will come of it. To be honest, it doesnt matter, what it reminded me is that we never know what's around the corner with God. It renewed my hope in tomorrow. Praise God!

Terry and I ended up going out for a bit of dinner (mmm thai...) which was such a blessing as we chatted and ate. Thanks God for all this.

There is sooooo much to be grateful for!!! Firstly, this amazing cookies and cream cheesecake that I discovered yesterday....oh my goodness soooo good!!! :)

Grateful for the family lunch we had today, where we went to my brothers Tafe and watched Andrew at work as he served up a yummy lunch for us. So grateful to see my brother getting excited about his hospitality course and having a dream to someday set up his own cafe.

Also grateful for Tupperware! Been selling heaps of it which means extra cash and a massive glory box full of Tupperware that I didn’t pay for!!

Also grateful for my new job that I start on Monday!! Yah!!! I’m so excited about it because it’s what I want to do, both business and IT and will be getting a salary higher than what I was on in my previous job!! There is no such thing as a bad economy with God! :)

What a MESS grat!

Since we hurriedly moved in to my in-laws house last month, it has felt like I have not been able to get on top of the sorting. There's still half packed suitcases, random boxes of stuff I don't know what to do with... on top of bags of things to give to people, take to the op shop, sell at a garage sale etc etc.

Well last night (and the night before) I made a couple of steps forward in the "re-organising" department. Our temporary bedroom now feels like a bedroom and not so much of a dumping ground. I actually opened the curtains proudly this morning hoping someone would walk past and notice how tidy it was LOL!

So my grat is just for the small feelings of progress amongst the constant emotions of upheaval, waiting, planning, mourning our old house, feeling overwhelmed at attempting to move overseas... all that!