Thankful Thursday

Just a few things I'm thankful for this week.  This feature was brought on by Louise at Talk Nerdy To Me. Check out her list as well, and then make your own!


1.  Yoga-loving, ninja Jesus

This is a picture that Eden brought home after colouring it at church. Every time I see it, I smile.  It looks like Jesus is doing some sort of ninja move.  Or maybe a yoga move. Either way, it makes me giggle.

I am so thankful that my kids attend a church where they are learning more about Jesus and God's great love for us. I love the children's program we have at Jericho Ridge. We have such wonderful leaders who invest a lot into our children every week. Earlier, Eden was telling me, "God loves me!" (she loves to say that!) "and I love God. And God loves you, and God loves Abi, and God loves Kai, and Bryn, and Rhysey and God loves Daddy." It is wonderful that she has grasped that much because really that is the most important part, isn't it? Even if we don't all agree on everything else, we need to understand His deep deep love for us. "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:7,8


2. Skim boarding

My niece wanted to try out skim boarding, so my sis-in-law and bro-in-law picked up a board off of Craigslist and tried it out on the weekend, taking Bryn along with them to White Rock beach. They had a blast, and I have been told that he is a natural! (I am not surprised, really; he just seems like he would be!)  I wonder if this is something that we'll have to try out as a family now. I've always thought skim boarding looked like fun, but I really doubt my coordination! :)

 

After he fell on his first attempt, he got up and said, "That was so fun! Let's do it again!" Got to love that attitude!

I had to laugh at the picture of my brother-in-law working hard on a sandcastle in the background!

3. Visiting Family

My Uncle and Aunt came by for a visit this past week, after driving across Canada from their home in Ontario. I haven't seen them since my sister's wedding in 2001! Wow. It was so nice to be able to see them and catch up again.  It's funny how as you get older the relationship changes with your aunts and uncles; you become peers and it's neat and strange all at once!

 (these aren't the best photos at all, but they are the only ones that I ended up taking!  We spent our visit just chatting and sharing dinner.)

4. Finding books that capture imaginations

Kai started and actually finished The Hobbit, the whole 300+ pages!  It took some time, but he did it! (he started it soon after school started last fall and finished it this spring) I was so proud of him!  (We have let him watch the Hobbit part 1 movie, and he is dying to watch part 2, and part 3 when it comes out this December! I am thinking it would be okay for him to watch, but we'll see. It's not a movie that we can just put on any time in our house with the little kids around. We're a bit strict like that!)

He was asking for my copy of the book again when I showed him The Lord of the Rings trilogy, telling him he could read it when he was ready. He immediately said, "I"m ready!" and started it this week!  I'm impressed!

5. Micah

I am thankful for this little cutie. My newest little nephew, Micah, who was born in February to my favouritest sister and her husband.   Seriously, this little guy just makes me so happy.

6.  My silly boy

Kai has such a funny personality! He is starting to grow up and mature, and his fun side is coming out more. He's at this in-between stage of kid and almost teen; this middle school stage.  Where he gets the giggles because his legs are "frilly" (that means that he is starting to notice the hair on his legs, haha) and actually wants to give his Mom hugs again. 

7.  An empty driveway

This one is a filled with thanksgiving but also sadness. My Chevy Venture van died (after we fixed the transmission, too) and had been sitting in the driveway for a year now, waiting to be fixed. My Hunny can do work like this, thankfully, but he just hasn't had any time to do it. His list of things to do around the house is so long already and so something has to give. After going back and forth on different solutions, we finally decided to just sell the van.  It was sad because I loved that van  (although I do love our new one with it's working cd player and working engine) but I loved more that it was an eight seater. Going down to a 7 seater van meant that we couldn't take friends anywhere with us anymore.

The thankful part is that we got money to put towards our camping trip this month, and we now have a driveway free to park in again, and that the tow truck driver has 5 kids (all grown up now) and so he understood us. He even let Rhys climb on top of the truck and use the levers to pick up the van! That was cool!

 

 

8. Free Dinners

We wanted to go out for dinner this week, but didn't have much money (there doesn't seem to be many options for cheap meals but enough food for a family of 7, shockingly!) so we drove around trying to find somewhere that offered free kids meals. We were quite happy to come across Dennys in Walnut Grove that does just that every Tuesday night! Woohoo! And they actually offer a lot of choices for kids too, and it wasn't too busy there, so I didn't feel too stressed about having to keep five children settled and quiet and in their seats for an hour. For every paying adult, two children get free dinners, so that meant that we only had to pay for one child! (and technically Abi may be too old for the kids' meals, but they offered her the menu; we were expecting to pay for hers anyways)  It turned out to be an enjoyable evening.

9. My funny Hunny

He picked up this horn a while ago and decided to hallow it out. I'm not too sure why, to be honest, but when he finds something interesting that he'd like to build, he just does it! He has been practicing how to blow it properly too! (with and without the horn!)  

It turns out that the Call of the Wild is a terrible sound and not alluring at all!  But it sure made us all laugh, and I am thankful for a husband and father who is fun and silly too!

10. Scrapbooking with friends

I had been cleaning up and attempting to declutter my stuff, when I got distracted by scrapbooks and pages I had made in the past. I can't even recall the last time I scrapbooked! Several years, for sure! So when I was invited out to my friends' house for some stamping, I decided to work on some pages instead of some cards.  In the end, I accomplished nothing (forgetting my photos at home, on my table, really threw me off!) but it got me inspired to work more this week. I haven't taken any photos of my work yet, but I will post them later!

So there you go. Ten things that I am thankful for this week!  Check out Louise' list and then make your own!