Corner View {Inspiration}

The theme this week comes with perfect timing. I really wanted to share this with you all! My Dad posted this to facebook the other day and I just love it!! I love that he stepped out of his 'normal' and did this very creative piece!

He wrote this ... Inspired by Bonnie, I decided to try creating something different from my norm. Here is 'thank you" in many languages. Thank you, Bon, for being an inspiration, among so many other things.

 

Isn't it just amazing!?  I love it!  Handwritten and everything!!

I've printed it out and put it on the wall beside my desk
where I see it and can't help but smile about it a gazillion times a day!

***

Corner View was created by Jane at Spain Daily and is now hosted by Francesca.     It is bloggers from all over the world, posting photos of a specific    weekly theme.  To join, just post to your own blog and then link up  over   at Francesca's Corner View for the week.  Then, visit the other  Corner   Views ... that's my favorite part !  Seeing the interpretations  of the   themes, visiting different cultures, learning something new !

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!!

Corner View {Thankfulness}

One of my facebook statuses last week read ...

"Happy Thanksgiving!

It's not til tomorrow in the States, and it's not an Australian holiday so it's not actually Thanksgiving here today but WHATEVER! I'm of the opinion that everyday should be Thanksgiving ... there is just way too much in life to not be thankful, every day ... really, even more than that.

Today, just off the top of my head, I'm thankful that I'm alive, that my husband loves me, that my children light up my life. I'm thankful that I'm free. I'm thankful for parents who taught me, well, pretty much everything. I'm thankful for siblings, both blood and in-law who are friend as well as family. I'm thankful for friends that I love as though they were family. I'm thankful for my nieces, nephews, aunties, uncles, grandparents, godparents and COUSINS! I'm thankful that I get to work everyday in a place that believes "People Matter", but more than believes is ... lives it. I'm thankful that I live near the beach and in a country with koalas and kangaroos. And beautiful flowers and birds! I'm thankful for sunshine.

I could go on and still not EVEN cover the tip of the iceberg."

and then later in the week, this ... 

and i quote ... "As we endeavor to list all the things for which to be thankful, we are overwhelmed by the task, because everything in life is an object worthy of thanksgiving." Taken from an amazing blog post my Dad James wrote for Thanksgiving this year.

I just read it for the first time today and you should too. Go on ... you'll be glad you did. http://yeshliblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/thanksgiving-2012.html

**

Corner View was created by Jane at Spain Daily and is now hosted by Francesca.  It is bloggers from all over the world, posting photos of a specific weekly theme.  To join, just post to your own blog and then link up over at Francesca's Corner View for the week.  Then, visit the other Corner Views ... that's my favorite part !  Seeing the interpretations of the themes, visiting different cultures, learning something new !

I {hope} you dance ...

I wrote this post a little more than a year ago ...
And
I was thinking about it tonight.
Thinking about my life and marveling that FINALLY I can say
I AM DANCING
Truly dancing ... the way I was meant to.
The way I always have.
The way I wondered why I wasn't anymore.

And I'm thankful.

***

Here's the original post ... and ... if you have 5 minutes and 03 seconds ... listen to the song.

Really listen.

And ask yourself ... when you get the choice, do you dance ?

I hope so ...

***
January 21, 2009

I heard this song for the first time tonight and just have to share it.

I've had it on repeat for about an hour. Good thing Rory has long since gone to bed.
He's not keen on the whole repeat thing !

Push play. Listen to the words.

Do you dance ?

Do I ?

Not for a long time.
Except at home.

It started at the beginning of our life here in Australia.
For the first time ever, in all of my traveling of the world, in all of my life ...
I felt like I didn't belong.
Like I wasn't able to be me and have people like me.

There started a long journey of me pulling back.
Of hiding.
Definitely not dancing.

Loneliness is a terrifying thing.
I'm not lonely anymore.
But I was.
For many years.
Desperately lonely.
And not able to dance ...

Here I sit, in tears.
Trying to express something that I can't.
Not in words.
Not to anyone who hasn't walked this journey with me.

I want to dance.
I'm close.
My arms are spread.
My heart is open.
My outlook is bright.

I just need ... to dance.

When I get the choice ... to dance !!

I Hope You Dance
LeAnn Womack

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
GOD forbid love ever leave you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',
Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone.)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance..
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone)

The Tree is Growing ...

This morning when I woke up I found a comment from a friend on Facebook. Don't you just love Facebook ? This particular friend is one that I went to high school with in Spain. Now ... for us military brats who moved around our whole lives, friends were something you had for a few years and then left ... most of whom you'd never hear from again. Until Facebook ! This Navy Brats DREAM COME TRUE !! I love being in contact with so many 'old' friends !! And of course, I love being able to be in daily contact with so much of my family ! It's like I'm there ... or they're here ... only we're not. You know ?

Anyway ... this is not a post about Facebook ... the comment from my friend said this ...

"Bonnie, love, love, love the thankful tree idea!!! I am totally going to steel it! :o) Can you elaborate on it a little more? You are so creative and I'm just not sure what materials to use, how it should look, what kind of tree, etc. I know, I know...I'm thinking too much and making it harder than I probably should, but any input you have would be appreciated. Love the blog!!! Thanks."

And so, in answer to her question, I bring you the following post. Here are the very basic materials that we use ... paper, scissors, blu-tack, and a pen. And a little container to keep it all in.

I didn't go out and buy paper. I just rummaged through my scrap paper drawer and tried to find earthy tones for the 'tree trunk' ... here's what I came up with ... If you don't have scraps around the house, I'm sure you could find some cheap packs of off cuts at a craft shop, or even a dollar store !

Our supplies live on the end of the kitchen counter ...



Close to the dinning room table ... since we write our things we are thankful for after dinner.

The 'tree' is on a wall just opposite the dinning room table. I wanted it on a wall that was visible to us regularly ... since we are at the table a few times a day, this works ! Also ... it's enough 'out of the way' that it's not something people see until they sit at our table !

I love how it is developing ! And I love the things everyone is thankful for. You can read them all in the picture but I'll tell you who wrote a few of them. All of mine have exclamation marks ! I just love exclamation marks !! (if you are a frequent reader of my blog that probably comes as no surprise !!)

We don't give the kids any ideas ... we haven't had to, they come up with these on their own !

Jono (8) ... natcher (nature), church, sports, life, games, toys, rip stick, and thankfulness. Isn't that adorable ? He's thankful for thankfulness.

Alia (6) ... pets, love, grandma and grandad, jono, mommy and daddy, water, friends, my house, and me. I LOOOOOVE that she is thankful for herself !!

and Rory ... bbq (we just got a new weber !), laughter, food, healthy bodies, eyes, family, music.

It's not really looking much like a tree ...

We all keep making jokes about it. But ... I don't want to stifle anyone's creativity so I haven't said anything about the TRIANGLES (!!) ha ha. And I'm not overly concerned that it look like an actual tree. Once it gets tall enough we'll add 'leaves' and maybe then it will look like a tree ...

But even if it never does ...

... i don't mind !

It is serving it's purpose ! I love the thankfulness that it is cultivating in our family. I love that it is there where we see it regularly and that it's a topic of conversation. I love that later, when times maybe are rough, it will serve as a reminder of all that we have to be thankful for. Because really, when it comes down to it ... we have SO MUCH to be thankful for ! I think even after 12 months of 'growing our thankful tree' we will not even have scratched the surface ...

The Thankful Tree

The same day we started the whole unprocessed thing, we also started our "thankful tree."

We've got a little box with all our supplies that lives just opposite the dining room table.



Each night after dinner we write one thing we are thankful for on a piece of the paper.

These are my favorites so far.
Alia ... first night is thankful for LOVE.
Jono ... second night (first night was his ripstick !) is thankful for LIFE.

Once we've written them down we stick them to the wall where our tree will 'grow'.

I'll share the progress with you from time to time ...
and of course, more of my favorite things that we are thankful for !!

Journal

I have a tendency to be negative.
It's true.
Unfortunate as it may be.

One thing I've started doing when I feel like
being negative,
complaining,
whining,
or throwing myself a pity party
is
trying to focus on what I'm thankful for.

I've started a journal.
A nice leather one that I bought a while ago and have been saving,
you know,
for something special.

And so, I write.
Doesn't matter what it is.
I just list the things as they come to mind.

Here's a page from a couple days ago.
Just one page ...

It helps.
It helps me put things in perspective.
It helps me take my eyes off my situation or whatever it is that's 'buggin' me.
It's simple.
And so,
I will continue to do it.
Continue to write.
Continue to be thankful.
Because, really,
I have
so
so
so
much to be thankful for.

How about you ?