13 Things

I want to be thankful for some things today.

Thirteen things.

I have a thing about numbers, be kind!

1. I’m thankful for a God that understands us when we don’t and meets us where we are
2. I’m thankful for the best husband who tells me multiple times a day that he loves me
3. I’m thankful for the bright, warm sunshine
4. I’m thankful for my two working legs, which take me many places
5. I’m thankful that my god-daughters have amazing parents who love them so much
6. I’m thankful that I get to be Auntie to four precious little people
7. I’m thankful for the most patient and understanding man by my side
8. I’m thankful for my little house, that is mine
9. I’m thankful that I get to wake up to my reality every day
10. I’m thankful for a heart that wants to include every lonely child
11. I’m thankful for “special kisses”
12. I’m thankful for food in the freezer
13. I’m thankful for the chance to be me!

What are you thankful for right now?

Smiling

Here are two things which have really made me smile this week, despite a number of things which have made me very sad …

L bought me a dozen red roses for our anniversary – not just any red roses, but my very favourite shade of red and my favourite kind of roses!

How can I not smile?!

I made my hubby a Cherry Pie!

I’ve cooked and baked many things for L, before and during our marriage, and one of the sung favourites has been a Cherry Pie! What’s not to love?!

I am told I inherited my Grandmother’s skill for pastry, so let’s bake!! 😀

What has made you smile this week?! 🙂

Cookies and Kids

Yesterday evening I did some baking for the first time in quite a while.

I baked chocolate chip cookies using this recipe. They were so quick and easy to make and came out just as they should have done – soft and chewy in the middle and crisp on the edges! 🙂

I threw myself (although not literally, just in case I got stuck in the butter 😉 ) into baking to try to distract myself from my nerves about helping out at a youth club for the first time in an even longer while since I last baked.

My very encouraging hubby was right and it went very well. I am glad to be back doing one of the things I get really excited about!

About Bank Holidays and Fun on The Beach!

There’s this standing joke among us British. Well, not a joke maybe … more an ironic truth? A pessimistic reality? A soggy certainty I think about sums it up.

It always rains on the bank holiday weekend. The May and August bank holidays are looked forward to as a long weekend where workers get the Monday off and the kids get a day off school, a weekend for fun, family and food … and usually failed plans. The weather just seems to know everyone wants to be outside having fun, so rains, usually hard.

We always plan for gorgeous weather … and are almost always disappointed by rain. Somehow, when it comes to bank holidays, we seem to have developed a national unquenchable optimism.

This bank holiday weekend has so far been fantastic! Blue skies, nice breezes, blazing sun and not a rain drop in sight – perfect! I reckon that gives us at least a 10 year renewal on our optimism lease! 😉

My best friend R and I went to our favourite sand beach and had fish and chips by the sea! The chippy (fish and chip shop for the uninitiated 😉 ) claimed to serve the best chips in the South West – I haven’t run a taste-test on every chippy in the South West, so I can’t say for sure, but they were very scrummy chips, especially with a good helping of salt and vinegar – yum!! 😀

We leaned against the sea wall, chatting and watching the sea and the other people enjoying themselves on the beach. Somehow, while watching the really little kids exploring and discovering, you can’t help but see it all through new eyes yourself. No to mention how cute some of those little kids were … 😉

We couldn’t resist taking our shoes and socks off and enjoying the feeling of warm sand running between our toes … then the water just seemed to beckon … it looked so fresh and inviting … so we just had to go paddling!! It.Was.Cold. The first time the waves washed over our feet it was chilly, but good but the next few times and we could feel our feet going numb! After not very long we retreated to the hot sand to dry off, but hey, we did it, ok?! 😛

I took a conservative number of photos and got sunburned – two things which hardly ever happen!

Thanks for a lovely time R! 🙂

Tomorrow L and I are going for a picnic BBQ and walk in the woods with friends, so the weather better stay good … or else … well, hopefully something I won’t have to come up with, because of course it’s going to be brilliant weather on a bank holiday Monday!! 😀

Sunshine coming my way!

The beginning of this year has thrown so many curve balls our way that I haven’t had a moment to catch my breath and get bating again (like my sport illustration there, accurate or not?!). Blogging hasn’t even made its way on to the bottom of my radar.

This week we have been having glorious weather and there is nothing like blue skies, warm breezes and hot, golden sunshine to lift the spirits!

The last few days I have been out and about, enjoying the sunshine and giving my freckles permission to cover my face in gingery speckled forests! Good thing I like freckles huh? 🙂

Yesterday afternoon I walked over to my favourite park, which used to be sort of like a back garden for me.

From where I was sitting I could see the row of houses I used to live in before I was married. In fact, the houses with the man up the ladder was where I rented a room. Funnily enough, L and a group of his friends lived in the next one to the left, and one of our pastors and his wife still live in the house to the left of that one … bit of a church take-over! 😉

Every week our church’s staff team pray for a page of people from the Prayer and Address List and I’m the person that gets to write a card to each of these people to let them know they’ve been prayed for that week! I love doing this job and enjoyed taking it out into the lovely day with me!

Of course, I know that it won’t make any difference to the recipients at all, but I liked the thought that lots of sunshine went into those cards yesterday! 🙂

I hope you’ve had some sunshine in your day!