2 More Sleeps

Only two more sleeps until our weekend away. There is a part of me that is really excited about the weekend and a part of me that is really sad.

Who wouldn't be excited about getting to spend an all expenses paid weekend with your husband. We fly into Brissie on Friday night, and pick up a rental car from the airport. We get to catch up with our kids on Friday night and then drive up to Toowoomba on Saturday morning where we are put up in a Motel for the night.

There is also a part of me which is really sad. This will end my association with USQ. I have had the priviledge of working with the most amazing boss you could ever wish to work with, and 15 of the most wonderful woman, who have the most amazing senses of humour - I swear our week long trip to Seminar each September, is our laughter medicine for the year. Apart from working with wonderful motivated students, I will miss these guys and the time spent with them and it I feel so sad that this is our final get together. I know we plan to stay in touch, but I am sure that as time goes by, and our lives get busy and take different directions, that some of the friendships will fall by the way, and this makes me feel a little sad.

It is nice though that the University is bringing us all together once again for a Farewell dinner, and that they have also included our spouses in the farewell. None of us would have been able to do our jobs without the incredible support from our husbands and families and it is nice that the Uni is also acknowledging this.

I have been incredibly busy this last week or so tying up the loose ends with the Uni, and preparing for the weekend away. I was given the job of organising a thank you mini album for our boss who has been with us for the past 15 years. I have scrapbooked a mini album with all our photos and a pocket which will hold a personal letter from each of us. All the pages have the same layout, but each page is slightly different in the way it is set out, colour wise, embellishment wise. I won't share each page with you as I am not sure that a lot of the girls would appreciate having their photos on the net. However, I will share a couple of the pages and the cover with you.
In other news - last weekend the girls from church had a girl's weekend down at the beach. I decided not to stay the whole weekend this year - Life has just been too busy and three weekends away in a row would just take too much time to recover from. However, I did go down Saturday morning and I spent the day and evening with them. It was a pretty relaxing day, lots of chatting, I managed to do a little more handsewing on my Christmas stocking (will post photos when it is finished) and Saturday night we all went out for dinner here.
Great Thai restaurant - food was excellent, and we were seated on the footpath - with lovely ocean views accross the road and lovely sea breezes. It was very busy but the service was fantasic. Even with so many of us the food was served with 10-15 minutes of us being seated.
In keeping with Lusi's challenge of keeping it"REAL', I was challenged again today by reading Ange's blog here. This woman has been through the most incredible year, loosing her little baby girl within hours of her being born. She found out when she was 6 months pregnant that her precious baby daughter Audrey would not live for long once she came out of the womb.
Ange's blog has been a real encouragement to me over the last 9 months that I have been following it. The woman tells it like it is - warts and all, she is not afraid to admit, to her struggles, and weaknesses, but also admiting that her strength comes from the LORD. Here are some of my "REAL moments" for this past week.
Really, I have been incredibly tired this past week, and have struggled just to keep on top of things including my quiet times with God.

Really, my floors still have not been mopped (it is a month now) and in all honestly it is not going to get done again this weekend.

Really, I have been way to grumpy this week and not speaking as kind as I could speak.

Really, I need to get to bed a lot earlier so that I am not tired and irritable.

Really, I need to make a great effort to exercise and not find excuses to put off going,

Really, I shouldn't resent have to give up some of my precious time in the library at work to help a volunteer,

Really, I need to speak words of kindness and faith into my family and not get irritable and short with them.

LUSI'S PROMPT THIS WEEK WAS GETTING REAL ABOUT OUR HOLIDAY MEMORIES
I loved this prompt as I have lots of real holiday moments and memories that I am very thankful for.

REALLY, I am so thankful for all the wonderful camping trips to Pancake Creek and Jenny Lind Creek that we have had over the years our kids were growing up. These were wonderful holidays with wonderful memories and it grew us closer to gether as a family.

REALLY, loved travelling around the world when I was 16, especailly loved travelling through England and Europe - it certainly gave me a wonderful appreciation of history and art.

REALLY, I loved touring NZ with Steve on our Honeymoon and sharing with him some of my favourite places there, especially Lake Tekapo overlooking Mount Cook. There is the most wonderful little chapel there overlooking the lake, and I always wanted to come back and get married there. I didn't get married there but I did manage to come back for my honeymoon.

REALLY, we had the most wonderful caravaning holidays for 6 weeks back in 1997, when we took the kids out of school, and toured down to the Snowy Mountains and went skiing and to Canberra and Sydney and had the most amazing adventures as a family,

REALLY, I loved spending 10 days on Norfolk Island with my husband celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. It was a very special holiday together after a few hectic months preparing for Sarah's wedding. We enjoyed the peace and quiet of the island along with the exquiste scenery and views.

REALLY, I loved our two weeks holiday away with our very good friends Ian and Kathy in 2007, when we spent a week at Port Macquarie and then a week on the Gold Coast. It was a great relaxing holidays and we were able to share some visits with our kids as well as they popped down to catch up with us,

REALLY, we have just had the best week with our kids on the Gold Coast for a week in January 2009 - it was the first family holiday away in a resort since Pete left home - it was great to spend time together, relaxing as well as sightseeing and just generally enjoying our time together.


Finally, there are so many things I am grateful and thankful for this past week


1. I feel blessed that Steve and I are getting to go away and spend the weekend together this weekend.
2. I am grateful and thankful for Carol who faithfully comes and does my ironing for me each week.
3. I am thankful for the friendship and fellowship with the girls from church on the weekend.
4. I am thankful for our God's amazing provisions for us each and every day.
5. I am thankful for the time Chloe and I had shopping together today for presents and shirts for her dad. For the time we just had to chat together,
6. I am thankful that work has been calling Chloe in and giving her extra shifts.
7. I'm thankful that the car bill was only half of what we expected it would be.
8. I'm thankful for hot chocolates with lots of marshmallows in it and for friends who pop around and enjoy them with me.

Be back next week with hopefully lots of photos of our weekend away.