Wedding Grat (from way back)

Soooo due to very slack gratting I have a few major things to be grateful for that go way back!

First and foremost, I am so grateful for my amazing wedding (a few months ago). It was a perfect day and everything I could have hoped for. I am so grateful and feel so blessed to have married an amazing man - surrounded by family and friends who were all wishing us the best for your future.

In addition, we had perfect weather, the whole day ran like clockwork and all the outfits came together great despite people coming from all over the country! I was able to share the day with my whole family and that was something that was really important to me.

REFRESHING

I am grateful for the rain. How wonderful to finally have a whole stack of rain to make our garden grow, our new plants and vegies thrive and not to mention the fact that we are in a drought and desperately need the water (well in Victoria anyway!) I can't recall the last time we had 3 thunderstorms in the space of a week!! Bring it on I say - I used to think Summer was my favourite season but now I'm not so sure! I am loving Autumn:)

Fly to me

Today my grat is for having my hubby back home safely. He had to travel to Sydney for work and got home very late last night...and it so lovely to have my bestie home to hang out with again!!!!! He has worked so hard for our family over these past 2 weeks and I feel really grateful that it is looong weekend and that he finally grab a little R & R that he so deserves!

Gotta hand it to you - what a bargain!!

I am grateful for a birthday voucher I was given back in Dec. I have been umming and ahhing about what to spend it on and yesterday I got the best bargain on a lovely handbag and wallet - both of which I was in desperate need of new ones as mine were literally falling apart!!!!

It is the first time I have ever spent more than $20 on either of these items and it feel so nice to have ones that look like they might actually last the distance!!!!! Gotta love quality yay.

So I am grateful for my friends generosity, my voucher, the getting a great bargain and my stylish new handbag!!!!

Cool Relief

As I spoke to my sister on an international call this afternoon I could hear a strange noise.

I didn't think much of it as there are a lot of weird and wonderful things that happen here in Thailand but as the afternoon wore on I heard it more.

By the time I was putting my eldest two children to bed, I exclaimed "I think that sounds like thunder but surely not...".

It's the dry- burning off season here and the air quality is currently horrendous. Rain isn't due for another month or so I thought, but sure enough it was thunder!

Standing out on our upstairs balcony, the three of us said a prayer for some rain- despite the odds.

The children have been kept inside at kinder the last three days because the air is so bad so once I explained that the rain would hep clear the air, they started proclaiming rain too ... in faith!

Well, they snuggled down to read some books waiting for my husband to get home, who'd been working late, and as we heard him coming up the driveway we peered out the upstairs windows... low and behold there was spits of rain!!

We were all so excited and the children loved it that God heard their request.

I am so grateful to now be sitting here in my study with the windows all open, a coolish breeze blowing into the house and the sound of rain still hitting the roof and ground.

We have had our curtains closed and windows shut for the past couple of weeks due to the air quality, soaring temperatures and bugs so it's a wonderful, miraculous surprise and I am extremely thankful! Yay!

PS Mel, we cancelled our Thai lesson earlier too so after all that, we can enjoy this beautiful evening! I'm off to dance in the rain...like this picture LOL

Passport grat

I am grateful that today when I went to complete my 'working with children' check at the Post Office that I realised my Passport has actually just run out!!!! I am grateful that I can get onto it now and that I realised before I booked any tickets O.S!!!!! (Yay for being able to fill out the form on line and it was super easy!)

Plus I am grateful that it has made me become more organised with the kids passports and now we are all well underway to having them done:)

Shine!

Since arriving in Thailand, it has been a whirlwind of experiences and emotions.

Discovering where to shop, how to connect mobiles and home phone, get licenses, learn the language... the list goes on.

In particular, deciding on a church is a decision that we are currently making that takes considerable time, planning and energy. It's quite difficult to take 3 small children with us to a different church each week, not knowing what to expect or even if the service will be in English! How I miss those Sundays of familiar surroundings and people.

A time where the children were excited to attend their church program and looked forward to seeing their teachers and friends.

My grat today is for the wonderful, refreshing, challenging women's conference (Shine) I attended last weekend. It was so great to be able to get away by myself and have plenty of time to listen to the messages, sing uninterrupted, "fill up" with lots of encouragement and go back to my family feeling refreshed and ready for the next stint. This was really special for me and a time that I feel particularly grateful to have had.