Absolute joy...

Bradley slept over last night and I got to spend the day with him today!  We woke up at 9 and got ready to see Sister Caryn and have his injections.  He never even made a sound when she gave him his injection and was very happy with his progress.  He has grown 3cm and put on 1.050kg in the past month!  He is going to be big and strong like his cousins.  Ant came to visit him today as well and said "Brad and Mikey are my mates"!  Too adorable.  These 3 little boys bring me absolute joy and I LOVE being their Gran!

This picture was taken just before he left for home this evening.

A special verse and prayer

Verse:           Isaiah 45:2
I will go before you and make the crooked places straight!

- What challenges are you facing right now?
- Do you believe God can make the crooked straight?
- God has said, 'I WILL GO BEFORE YOU'.
- We must be ready to follow and see what God does!

PRAYER: Lord, thank You that You can make a way where there seems to be no way! I trust You to make my crooked places straight! Amen.

25 Getting to know you questions

 

1. What time did you go to bed last night and were you alone? About 22h30 with my hubby 

2. If you could be given ANY gift what would it be? A trip for my family to New Zealand to visit Dean and Jo

3. What was the last film that really moved/disturbed/thrilled you and why? The Blind Side - a real and inspiring movie

4. What is your favourite TV show of all time ie you've seen them all, can watch it over and over again and quote lines from it?  Brothers & Sisters 

5. Whats your favourite way to wake up and whats the first thing you do? To wake up to the sound of waves crashing on the beach 

6. What would you call yourself if you could choose your own name? I actually like my name and wouldn't change it

7. If you had to do a bushtucker challenge (you have to eat insects/grubs etc) what would be the worst thing you had to eat? Snakes, worms and spiders 

8. Whats the worst/most embarassing CD/Album you've ever owned and do you still have it? I would never buy a CD/Album that I didn't really love, so I don't think I would be embarrassed
 

9. What would be your dream vehicle (bikes, cars, boats, batcar and millenium falcon is allowed!)? C63 AMG or SLK Mercedes

10. Whats your favourite fantasy people sandwhich? Anthony and Michael on either side of me and Bradley on my lap 

11. What characteristics do you dislike in yourself? That I am too suspicious 

12. Your favourite item of clothing and why? I love my boots, they are all so comfortable

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be and who would it be with?

I have always wanted to visit Ireland and Italy, but right now it would be to New Zealand to visit the kids.  I would love to go on any of these trips with my hubby

14. If you could have any animal/creature, what would be your ultimate pet be? A Golden Retriever and her name would be Storm or Kira 

15. What did you want to be when you were little and do you think you ever will be? An air-hostess, and no I could never be one now 

16. Whats the next planned event you're looking forward to in your life? My last exam on 2 June 

17. What were you doing before you started this? Working

18. What was the last thing you ate that you really shouldnt of ? Fizzers 

19. If you were an ice cream/haagen daz/ben an jerrys flavour what would you be? Tin Roof 

20. Who was the last person you spoke to that you didnt want to talk to? Can't think of anyone

21. What was your favourite toy as a child  . . .and now? My Barbie and now my laptop

22. When was the last time you cried laughing and why? On Monday night, speaking to Dean on Skype

23. What is stashed under your bed/mattress? A huge framed map of the world that doesn't have a home yet

24. What did you dream about last night? Can't remember

25. What are you really afraid of? Being all alone and poor

Happy Birthday Missy

27 years ago my beautiful daughter came into this world! Gina, my wish for you today is that your life be filled with love, blessings and most of all true happiness xxx

Gina and Bradley

Quote from "Brothers & Sisters" - By Nora Walker/Sally Field

I am the biggest fan of "Brothers & Sisters" and in this weeks episode, Nora Walker said the following about marriage and it just "spoke to me"...

"The thing about a good marriage is, even if a terrible mistake happens, you just can't imagine your life with anyone else.

That's why you commit to each other, that's why you make vows to each other that through the good or the bad you'll just keep trying.

You're fighting not only for love, you're fighting for something bigger than either one of you, you're fighting for the family you have become, for the US you've become and that is really worth fighting for!"

I think if all of us would use these wise words in our own lives there would be a whole lot of happier marriages around!

Fearless and facing it!

Catching up

Monday and Tuesday were really busy days at "the office". On Tuesday evening we met Mary and Coenie for dinner at The Meat Company at Monte Casino and had a great meal and fantastic company.

Monday evening and Wednesday were spent studying for the exam we are writing today! I have really been over the work feels like a million times and hope some of it has actually gone into this brain that hasn't written an exam in many, many years.

We also voted and were so impressed at the 3 minutes it took us to do so! We had a quick brunch at Illy where was saw both Norma and Shane (not together though) and then it was back to the books till 11 last night!

I have put the "page a day" challenge on hold for this week, so I am not distracted from the "books".

Thought I would share the quote in my diary today: 

 "Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives" ~ Anthony Robbins. 

So, cheerio till next time

A brand new start...

I found this as I was doing my clean out (as mentioned the other day) and just thought with everyone feeling so upside down at the moment this really is inspirational.

21 today...HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEANIE

My precious youngest son turned 21 today.  It is a bitter sweet day for me - I am so happy for him on his new adventure in New Zealand, but sad that we couldn't spend this important milestone with him.  We sure would have had a good party tonight!

Nevertheless, I wish him all the very best and am immensely proud of the determined young man he has become and couldn't wish for a better son.  Enjoy being "all grown up" Dean. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU!!!

This is one of the most recent photos Jo sent us after they has spent a day at Shakespear Park.

Creative???!

Here are the pages I completed last night.

Dinner with Granny Joan and Linda



Charmaine & Michelle's 50th birthday breakfast

A new week

I have a couple niggly things I need to sort out and am working on each one, trying to get that feeling of being organised and "on top of it all" 

• On Tuesday I completed the home filing and cleared out some old papers and files. I have a serious problem with paper ~ I just seem to collect and hold onto insignificant bits of paper. 
• I need to tidy/sort out my cupboard as it's a mess.  Every time I open it I promise myself I am going to get it sorted out.
• I am really enjoying the "Page a day" challenge I have set for myself ~so far I have completed 5 pages this week, and hope to complete two more this evening!  I am trying to be more organised in this area as well but just take up the whole dining room and table while I am at it. The other day when Lynn and I had our scrapping date Gordon commented on how neatly she works and that all around me was a complete mess!
• I need to decide what I am doing with this hair, just cannot decide!
• Have almost cleared out my inbox! Working at it every day...

Hope you're all having a fabulous week so far!

What do you think of these?

This is what can be seen every morning

These photos were taken in 2005 ~ Lynn's birthday

Photoshoot - Dean, Jo, Tyla and Bailey



Mother's Day

Sunday 8 May

"No gift to your Mother can ever equal her gift to you ~ LIFE"

We celebrated Mother's Day by having breakfast at Torino with my Mom.  The kids joined us and we had a leisurely morning. 

Window shopping

Saturday 7 May

This morning we decided to take a drive out to Vereeniging to look at some cars ~ definitely not buying but looking nonetheless.

On the way back we decided to go to "Creative Talents" as I wanted to see if there was anything interesting at their shops.  They had a special Mother's Day menu at the coffee shop and I have added a photo of the pancake we had for starters.  It was absolutely delicious, as was the rest of the meal!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and watched The Blind Side in the evening.  A real feel good and inspiring story.

It was a year ago today that we were hijacked.  I can't believe that time has flown by so fast and incredibly enough we have NEVER had any feedback or even a response from the Police!  But, the lessons I learnt from that incident have changed me somewhat.  Of all the material things we lost that day what I miss most is my "Birthday Book" ~ it has so much information that can never be remembered or replaced.

Thursday 5 May

A busy day today! 

Working in the morning then looking after my angel grandson Michael in the afternoon.  His brother has measels so he spent the afternoon with me.

In the evening we had our monthly "Sisters Dinner" at a restaurant recommended by Wendy ~ the food was really good! We all got spoilt with stunning gifts to celebrate Mothers Day.

We Skyped Dean and heard all the news from New Zealand.  Oh the advantages of technology! They are expecting more tornado's so I will be checking their news regularly.

Finally got to sleep around midnight.

FACT or should I say FAT?

Meet me on Monday - May 3rd

 

1.  What is your favourite kind of muffin?  Bran

2.  What was the first car you ever owned?  A very old VW Beetle

3.  Which TV Show were you sad to see end? Private Practice
4. What is your lucky number?  25
5.  Pretzels or potato chips?  Chips

A page a day

Here is my page created today.

Looking forward to hearing what you think Lynn and Wends.

Tornado in New Zealand!!

We received an SMS this morning from Dean that there has been a tornado close to where they (Dean, Jo and her family) live.  It hit Albany Mall and that is where they shop and were meant to be around the time the tornado struck.

I pray every day for God to keep His hand on all my loved ones.  So, today I have a prayer of gratitude - Thank you Lord that my children and the family in New Zealand are all fine.

Back to work...

After a really nice long break everyone is going back to work tomorrow! We have had 11 days off,  not too good for the economy but a good break anyway.  May is a hectic month for us with Mothers Day, birthdays and anniversaries. An important birthday is coming up in 12 days time!!

My scrapbooking date with Lynn was very successful ~ between the two of us we managed to get 10 pages done and I am really inspired to get a whole lot more done. I will try and do 'a page a day' from now on.

Today was spent babysitting Michael, and later Gina and Brad visited as well. I have beautiful grandsons.

I am missing my kids and can't wait to Skype on Wednesday.