Every Good Gift...

...and every perfect gift...

...is from above...

Therefore, I am here again today, being thankful...

[continuing my count up to One Thousand Gifts]

254. Late-night weekends, in the lounge by myself, losing myself in the world called Pinterest. And such other time-wasters ;-)

255. When my cat lets me pat her - and purrs.

256. Being asked, "Have you lost weight?" and truly not knowing if I have or not.

257. Digital cameras.

Photo courtesy of the man himself :D:P

258. My nephew Daniel  - a.dor.a.ble!!! (see top picture)

259. Spring flowers!!!! They make me SO happy! (see second top picture)

260. Lunch this past Sunday with my amazing, inspirational friend Shirley, and Andre.

261. Lunch / coffee dates at a new coffee shop with my bestie.

262. My pinboard at work :-)

263. Still thankful for the time on the train every day, reading, chilling, thinking, sleeping...

264. That I ran not once, but TWICE around the block tonight!! Woohoooo!!!

265. That hayfever is not as regular as it was last month... SO GLAD I'm no longer sneezing constantly, dabbing at my watery eyes, and trying to get rid of an itchy throat!

266. Visit from Dani and Yannis...

Photo courtesy of the beautiful lady on the right

276. ...cupcakes and hot chocolate...

277. ...D&Ms :-)

278. Sugar free chocolate.

279. Inspiration and joy from reading blogs such as Young Wife's Guide, Ministry So Fabulous, and The Random Writings of Rachel.

280. My workplace.

281. The awesomeness of sleeping in a double bed!!!! I can stretch out as much as I like! =D

282. Cheese. Mmmm. Cheese will always be my favourite!

283. A clean house.

284. Ladies morning tea on a special Saturday.

285. Straight hair.

286. Exciting news from a dear friend.

287. The opportunity that I have had to travel this year - Thailand, Canberra, Sydney, Darwin and Papua New Guinea!

288. Friendship. [Jewelz, that will be us one day ;-) ]

289. Hairdressers. Because I need to pay a visit to mine, soon.

290. A lazy Saturday morning that let me sleep in, read, bludge on my computer, and eat a random breakfast of cucumber and cheese on bread.

291. Getting a little tan line from my sandals.

292. These boys. Sitting in the front row at church. Singing. Playing drums on their knees. Reading the words of songs and Scripture. Do I worship as they do??

293. A peaceful house, late at night.

294. 3-hour long chats with my friend Brookie :-)

295. An awesomely successful surprise party for my man!

296. This post: my 100th post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

297. One of the most special moments of my life >>>

[in case you're wondering...I said yes :-) ]

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father..." James 1:17

What are you thankful for today? Come on - you know there's something to be thankful for!! :-)

~Rachel

One GOOD Weekend

[this was a couple weekends ago... somehow didn't post it straight away. My bad!]

This weekend was such a lovely weekend! I got to spend it with most of the people that I love most in this world!!

On Saturday morning I woke up at 8am... let myself stay in my cozy bed for another half an hour... and after eating a small breakfast, I ran to the Gawler Rec Centre to watch Amy's gymnastics. I got to watch her for 30 minutes, and I loved it! It made me kinda jealous, though! I always wanted to do gymnastcis - and do love all of the stretches, and pretending that I could be some kind of gymnast one day =P ha! - but it's great to see my sister enjoying it :-)

Dad and Jarryd picked us up, and then when we got home, Amy and I started preparing a whole bunch of food for that afternoon. We cut up celery and carrot, made sandwiches (ham and cheese, ham and tomato, and cheese and tomato. We had a great little production line happening!), and cut up fruit for a lovely fruit platter!

Soon after 1pm, we loaded up the car and drove to Rocky Paddock. As it was Ryan's birthday last week, he'd decided to get a bunch of families together, in the great outdoors.

We set up camp under some beautiful trees (just like the ones you see in the picture!), and then all of us "kids" went for a walk through the forest. Ah!! Sooooo beautiful! I just loved it. I took a slower walk, with Kim and Gabby, with a little 3-year-old boy, Peter. He was adorable! Telling us all about the trees, and how much it would hurt if they fell on us, and to be careful of the mushrooms, and poking the trees to see if there was any meat in there. hehe. Cutie!

We saw 3 kangaroos jumping through the forest (too fast for me to grab my camera - and too camouflaged anyway), and found a random golf ball half-buried in the dirt.

Walking back to the home base was hard work - especially for poor little Peter! He was a trooper though! And we even picked flowers for his beautiful Mummy!

To finish our time at Rocky Paddock, we ate food and sang Happy Birthday to Ryan. He even did a speech!! "Ummm... err... thanks for coming...!!!" ;-)

The G-family came back to our place, so we spent time chatting, eating (again), and playing cards (our Mums even played a board game!). It was nice to chill with them. After a while I curled up in the lounge and did some much-needed journalling.

Later in the evening, I did some gardening! It was great to get out in the fresh air again and be productive. Mum joined me for a while, and then we watched the end of Parent Trap with Jarryd =P

Sunday was also a lovely day. After church, my whole family went to Kim's house for her birthday celebrations. Just chatting, eating and chilling together was so good :-) And my present for Kim was a success!!!!!!!! I was sooooo excited! I bought it in Thailand, and had to wait over a whole month to give it to her!! It was perfect. A bag. But not any kind of bag! It was a bright green, converse-shoe-shaped bag. Yup!

Like this, only... a bag. I couldn't find any pictures to show an example to you, and I don't have a photo of it. But, if you know Kim, this was perfect :-) I was SO happy to see her reaction when she opened it!!!! *joy*

And to finish the day, Lici and I went to Elyse's house to join Josh, Julia and the P-family for dinner and a movie. It was so lovely!

I am so, SO thankful for weekends like this one. Good food, good people, good experience, good activities... Overseen by a VERY good God :-)

Praise the Lord!!

~Rachel