A working Holiday this Easter

Well we missed our trip to Tannum Sands this year. The first time in about a decade that we haven't been camping there, and we missed it. It just wasn't to be this year.

We had a job to do on the Sunny Coast... it was a tough place to be and a tough job to do, but I knew we were in the right place. Mostly our time was work... sorting and packing and cleaning out.. there were tears, there were memories, the house was different.... it was lonelier.... a very big gap....

It has been a rough few weeks since Mum passed away. A week before we returned to the Sunshine Coast they had 14 inches of rain within 5 hours and our the shed at Dad's place got flooded. Everyone stores stuff in our shed, Mum and Dad had heaps of boxes of stuff that has been packed up since they left Bundy, Pete has his furniture there, we all have boxes stored there. The job was HUGE. We lost so much... lots of precious memories, photos, records,
It was hard to know where to start.... most days we spent in the shed... sorting through these boxes.
We ended up turfing heaps and heaps, this all went to the dump.... and this wasn't all, we had already sent a trailer before all of this, and we still haven't finished.... so many memories. We unpacked boxes of Mum's craft supplies... it made me realize that I am way more like my Mum than just looks.

It has hard packing up Mum's things, and her clothes, much much harder than I thought, I mean I know it had to be done, but it was kind of like you were getting rid of the memories in lots of ways, we could see her in some of the clothes, we could see her hands working with her knitting needles, it is hard for me to explain, but I didn't like doing it, I wanted to hold on to her, and those things represented her to some extent... it was another of those emotional rollercoaster rides, there were some things we couldn't part with.... I wonder if others go through this same sorts of emotions.

We did manage to fit in a couple of outings. We headed to Brisbane one day, we wanted to see our chiropractor down there, and also take Dad to visit his only sister. There are only the two of them left now, and neither can drive to visit each other, so we will make a point of taking Dad down to visit Joan each time we go down now.
We enjoyed a coffee out togetherand we enjoyed catching up with my Aunty and Uncle for afternoon tea.

Over Easter we took a trip up to Montville, were we enjoyed lunch with a cousin and his partner, a little wander around town, visited an art gallery and checked out this new subdivision.
I love this area of the coast, lots of lovely eateries.... we also got a call from Pete all the way from Peru, it was so good to chat to him. He is having a ball, and he sounds so happy. This is his last week in the Amazon, next week he heads to the Sacred Valley and works in the Inca ruins on an archeological dig. I am so glad that he is having this adventure.

Just before we were due to come home, Steve managed a day out fishing with my cousin. They had a great day out and bought back a feed of these for us.
I have to say they tasted real good too. I am so glad that Steve got to have one day on the water. He really missed his fishing this Easter. Usually he has a good 10 days of fishing this time of year.

We headed home a couple of days ago.... the road was busy
Lots of extra holiday traffic on the road...
but the worse part about the trip home was all the delays because of this
We were held up with road works especially between Miriam Vale and Rocky.... It added a couple of extra hours to our trip, so it was a slow drive home.

We did mange though to enjoy this beautiful sunset.

Too often we take all this beauty around us for granted. Too often we take too much around us for granted.... we are surrounded each day by beauty, blue skies, wonderful cloud formations, colour, music, the wind, the rain, the waves crashing onto the beaches.

This week I have been thankful for

1. Memories
2. Family
3. A loving husband, who not only cares for me but loves my parents and goes out of his way to help them and support them also.
4. Being wealthy in the things that count, relationships, eternal life....
5. Time off - holidays
6. The beach..... beautiful deep blue seas, and nice clear skies.
7. Friends and catch ups.
8. The resurrection - Jesus paying the price for me.
9. Sisters
10. Long drives along the highway, and the time it gives us to just enjoy each other's company and the nice long chats.