A Very Relaxing Week.

These Holidays unlike last year have been very relaxing, We have spent a week on the Sunshine Coast catching up with family. We haven't even hit the shops too much this year, Lots of walks down at the beach, lots of reading, we've been out looking for caravans for our big trip later this year. Steve has done a bit of maintanence on the house, and we have seen a couple of movies and caught up with some friends, been out for dinner a few times, been out for coffee several times, lots of time for chatting and planning and just enjoying each others company. Just what a holiday should be like. Last year we spent our holidays in the car backwards and forwards to Brisbane, Hervey Bay and the Gold Coast. The kids have both come up from Brissie to visit us and we will leave here in a couple of days to join them and spend some time with them in Brissie. I am sure life will get a little more hectic then.


Last night we headed down to the Coffee Club on the Esplanade at Mooloolaba for a coffee with my parents. You would not beleive it, but the people sitting at the very next table to us were friends of ours from home. They have spent the last week down here holidaying also.
After having our coffee we decided to go for a walk accross to the beach and sat and watched these fire twirlers put on a display on the beach.
We have enjoyed catching up with my parents this year. My mum is starting to get quite forgetful, so this holiday is special - spending time with her, going for walks with her and going out for coffee. I've also managed to catch up with both my sisters this week and have spent time with them also.
Our home has been full of flowers this week with these arriving on Saturday night courtesy of my sister and brother-in-law. They received these as a gift from their neices wedding, but didn't think they would last a 9 hour car trip home so we are enjoying them.
Pete came for a visit today and bought GEORGE. They took him to the beach for a run and a swim.(To the doggie beach) He is such a beautiful dog and has the most wonderful temperment. Such a placid dog - the boys have been dog sitting for the last couple of weeks. I am sure they will miss him when he goes home this week.
Just had to share some more photos from my Son-in-laws trip to the Aria's. I shared photos before Christmas, but this one is for my friend Jannett, who is an absolute Keith Urban fan. The boys just happened to sit at the table next to Keith Urban and he was happy to oblige them by having a chat to them and having his photo taken with them. They also managed to managed to chat to, and get their photo taken with Vanessa Amorosi. These are for my and their future refence.
Finally, just wanted to close with this email that I received this week which I thought was worth sharing and a list of things I am grateful and thankful for this week.

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.

They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.

He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.

We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy, but we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

We are so blessed in this life, this week I have been thankful for

1. The wonderful week we have spent with my parents
2. The Ocean - endless spanse of water that just rolls in upon our shores - so calming and relaxing.
3. Fine white sand on the beach.
4. Lovely long chat over lunch with my daughter
5. Having fun with my husband - just spending quality time together, chatting, planning and enjoying each others company.
6. Hot Chocolates at the Coffee Club
7. Catching up with old friends.
8. Sisters and spending time with them.
9. Good novels and having the time to enjoy reading.
10. Regardless of how we see ourselves God sees us as Perfect through his Son.
11. Worship in church this morning.