Good Things - A Yearly Project.

On January 1st 2011 we started our Thankful Tree ... it grew and grew for two years.  The first year, we were pretty diligent and added something to the tree every night at dinner. One per person, so basically, four little bits of paper added to the wall each night.  From 2012, the additions became a bit more sporadic.  But we still added. In December 2012, we added our last few and I added the sky that says this ...

"Two years of things we are thankful for and we haven't even scratched the surface of ALL THERE is to be thankful for.  Life is GOOD!  My hope is that in times where we feel that it isn't, this tree will serve as a reminder that it is!!  No matter what circumstance we may find ourselves in, there is ALWAYS, ALWAYS!, ALWAYS!! something to be thankful for.  Let's remember that as we move into 2013 and beyond ..."

I added a bible verse and a quote as well ...

"Be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it ..." William Arthur Ward

 

Unfortunately, our Thankful Tree had to come down. 
The puppy was eating it!!

See all the little bits missing?!  Maybe it's because it was so close to his food bowl? 

Maybe little slips of paper with THANKFULNESS written all over them are just yummy?!

In 2013, we went for something a little different.
We started our first "Good Things" jar. 

We wrote good things as they happened on little slips of paper all year long and placed them in the jar.  Last night, on New Years Eve, the kids read them to us!  It was so great!!

Here's a few of my favorite things that came out of the jar!

• January 12th ... Auntie Ellie, Uncle Ryan, Aidan, Jack and Charlie arrived in Australia to LIVE!!
• Going to the beach for Jack's bday
• January 16th ... Today I watched Jono and Alia both playing nicely with their cousins ... letting them choose the activities and go first!  It made my heart very happy!
• The Winter Edition of the GL magazine ... a good one.
• BARKLEY!
• January ... Mrs U and the girls got to come for a visit.  Even though the didn't get to go to the concert (Keith Urban!), we still had a fun time ...
• Jaylen came over
• Getting a puppy
• Water slide at GL
• Found my earrings (Alia!)
• Getting a school diary (also Alia ... that's MY girl!!) 
• Easter Sunday ... Nanny and Sabba come for a surprise visit!!
• March '13 ... Family picnic at GL! Big slip and slide.  Tons of fun!!
• Doing drawing with Jono 
• Nanny and Sabba come to Australia.  All the way from America.
• Mum turned 40 and we got to have a big party and see family and friends
• Coming to Alia's house ... this is from Aidan! (I love that he added to it!)

• "Advanced" copy of Craig's new album!  AWESOME! Apr '13
• Nanny and Sabba came
• Gone to the beach with Uncle Gregg and Auntie Cheryl
• Jan 20 ... Today Uncle Ryan preached his 1st sermon as  GL pastor.  He was really good!  I think he is going to be a great addition to the GL team.
• Feb 21 ... Today J&A swam in districts and did so well!  I was very proud of your for doing your very best!  And a big improvement for Jono from last year!!
• Getting out of piano lessons (ha ha - Jono!)
• Mrs U and the kids came to the Sunny coast!
• April 6, 2013 ... I turned 40!  Rory organized the best party EVER!  I loved it and had so much fun with so many of my favourite people!
• Eli came up from Bundy for 5 days and slept over and we got to play Fifa 11
• Sunshine - Finally!  After lots and lots of RAIN!

When the thankful tree came down, we popped all of the little bits of paper into a container ...

And with the "Good Things" jar, we popped them into an envelope ...

and then into the container with the thankful tree ...



this way,we can go back and read them ... and remember all that is good!

And now ... as we begin 2014 ... we start afresh ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Home

He's home !

We picked him up from the airport,
spent the day just hangin' out together ... the four of us.
Tomorrow, it's business as usual.
Straight back to work/school for all of us !

The house is quiet now.
Everyone but me is asleep and it's only just 8:30pm.
I'll head to bed soon too ...

How's things with you all ?

I'm sorry, blog friends, that I have not had time to stop by lately.

I hope to fix that soon !
I figure, if I can get into a good posting routine,
(which I am well on my way to establishing !)
then I can add to that a good blog reading routine as well.

Corner {Hangout} View

Corner View is hosted by Jane at Spain Daily.
Join us as we travel the world each Wednesday ...

This week's theme ... "your favorite hangout"

You might all be expecting that you'll come here and see more beach photos !
And while you'd be right in the the beach is one of my favorite places to be,
you'd not be right in thinking it was my absolutely favorite place to be.

My favorite hangout is not the beach.
It is not a restaurant or a cafe or the really cool place where I work.
It's not a theme park or a playground or the movie theatre. Not even the pool.

My favorite hangout is our home.
I love being here. I love being here with our family. With our friends.
Playing games, talking, laughing, enjoying amazing meals.

My second favorite hangout is somewhere I go all by myself. Just me, the bubbles and my book !

Today is the first day of school for my kiddos ! I will be starting work five days a week too. Only during the hours they are in school. I think I've got myself pretty well organized to be able to do it. My free time will be less but I think it'll be ok. I plan to do a post soon with my 'plan'. Til then, my computer time is 8 minutes from being finished for this morning so I'll finish up this post and quickly post a recipe over at the beans blog.

I hope to be round to see all you other corner viewers favorite hangouts in the next couple of days ! Give me time to get there ... see you soon !!!