Reasons to be Cheerful - Crazy Golf, Pub Grub and Pretty Nails #R2BC

Happy Thursday friends, it's been a couple of weeks since I've joined in with Reasons to be Cheerful, so it is high time to rectify that and I always find the longer I leave it between gratitude posts the harder they are to write. Being thankful is a discipline that really is best practised daily.

I had a look back over last weeks diary and quickly saw there is loads to be thankful for -

We took some our volunteers out for a day in Brighton and we started the day with a game of crazy golf. It was great fun.

My husband had a few odd days off work recently using up his holiday before the year end, so we've been going out for lunch or a coffee and been able to spend time together.

Date Night, Walking the Cliffs and Beautiful Sunsets

Happy Thursday friends, how are you today?

I'm doing well but getting desperate for the end of term, there is so much going on and the kids are getting more and more tired. I really struggle to understand why primary school children still have homework at this time of year, mine just can't focus... but not long now!

It has been a fabulous last week in general and here is just a few of the highlights -

1.   A great date night with my hubby. We went to see the film Absolutely Fabulous and it gave us a good few belly laughs and we also enjoyed a fabulous authentic Italian meal. I'd highly recommend Rustico Italiano in Hastings, East Sussex if you are ever local. Such reasonable prices and the food was exceptional.

2.   Cliff walking with our Pastoral Group at Seven Sisters and the Birling Gap. This area of outstanding beauty managed by the National Trust is truly beautiful and really worth a day trip. We have been here dozens of times but I never tire of it. You can walk for miles or just lie there and take in the glory of God's creation. I'll be blogging separately about this soon.

Thanks to Erica for this great picture

Reasons to be Cheerful - FitFish, Butterfly Circus and The War Room

Happy Thursday. I am grateful to be alive and I hope you are too. Life doesn't have to be perfect for you to be able to seek the joy in every day, you just have to open your eyes and be willing to look for it.

This week I have seen joy all around me, here are just a few of the reasons why -

1.  I went to a health and well being workshop last Saturday, run by a Christian organisation called FitFish and it was great. I feel really motivated to exercise and let God have control of my health and diet. I wrote about what a motivating time I had on my other blog.

2.  A fun pastoral evening making mug cakes, watching the Butterfly Circus (have you ever seen it? It is the most inspirational short film) and sharing prayer together.

Visiting Rye, East Sussex - Perfect for the family

Last weekend we took our pastoral group over to Rye for an afternoon out, enjoying time together and the local area. Our intention had been to have a picnic on Winchelsea beach and then head into Rye but for a lovely sunny day it certainly was windy and there is no shelter on Winchelsea beach so we left that for another day and picniced in the park in Rye instead.

This turned out to be just perfect as many of us headed in the children's play park for some fun and others laid back and enjoyed the sunshine and a relax. The park on Fishmarket Road is excellent and has something for everyone, loads of good play equipment, large fields, room to picnic and play, a bowling green and car park with toilets.

Grace in small things - Christmas time

I know many people are feeling stressed and unhappy right now and I pray they work through that quickly and realise that most of the stuff they are worrying about really does not matter too much. If they have their health, some friends or family about, enough food to eat well and a warm home then they are in a great place.

Despite an infection of some sort (chest or throat I'm not sure, I just know I've been poorly) I'm still feeling incredibly grateful and happy that Christmas is just around the corner. I'll share my thankfulness in photos this week -

Both our Christmas trees are up and we have sparkle and bling galore, I love it!

I adore these matryoshka dolls that I bought when I was visiting Belarus last year, they make me smile each day as I see them on the fireplace.

I am a sucker for stained glass and the church this morning that we visited for the kids carol concert was full of beauties

Monday night after a day in bed and still feeling very low the last thing I wanted was a group of people coming to our house but I knew I would enjoy seeing our pastoral group. I was so blessed by the lovely volunteers who came and joined dh and I for a meal and some fun. We got treated to chicken curry, a Brazilian dessert and these fabulous Czech biscuits.

I'm getting much better at learning how to use my new camera (my early Christmas present). It is a Lumix G5 and instead of going for the obvious choice of a DSLR, I went a different route and it is a CSC which means it is much smaller than a DSLR as it does not have the classic mirror prism but I can still swap lenses and manually adjust all my settings.I think I'm doing OK for a totally new user, just look at those water drops on the wildflower.

Lastly a big thank-you to Bon Marche who sent me through a pretty box of their accessories to use in the cold and wet months. How did they know red was my favourite colour?

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