Grateful for Home and Away, etcetera

It's true what Dorothy said, you know: There really IS No Place Like Home.
The hubby and I are back from our tropical Hawaiian holiday. The galivanting is over; no more relaxing poolside, sipping cocktails or dressing up for gala dinners.
It's back home to Winter, Washing and Work.
(*ahem* WORK = party planning, emptying suitcases and filling invitation orders. Could be worse.)

But do you know what? I am really really glad to be back. As nice as it is being away on holiday, it is nicer still to come home.
While we were gone, I did NOT miss the housework, but I sure did miss my kids (and my comfort zone, just quietly).

In the meantime I collected a whole bunch of new things to be grateful for.
So here we go, in no particular order:

Grateful I actually got to GO on our Hawaii trip. I nearly didn't, at the last minute. Miss Fab had been off school sick for a whole week; then Scrag came down with the same thing the night before we were due to fly. O the conflict!!! Would a good mother leave TWO sick kids to go on a tropical holiday? I called some friends for advice, talked to the babysitter... "GO!!!" they said. So I went. (Grateful for good advice; the kids were fine.)

Grateful for our angel babysitter, Lupe. Taking on our three (noisy) (energetic) (outspoken) kids for a week on her own. Words are not enough (Duty Free perfume might convey my gratitude slightly better than my inadequate words)... but LUPE YOU'RE A STAR. So Grateful for you.

Grateful beyond words that at the end of  looking after my kids for a week - in school holidays - Lupe said with her amazing big-hearted smile, "I love your kids, aye? And now after this I love your kids even more...!" Amazing. I thought she'd never take my babysitting calls again?!?! But no. She loves my kids MORE now than before. And guess what? My kids love HER more now as well (and so do I, if that were possible).

 Grateful that while we were gone, the kids kept "doing gratefuls" at every dinner time. Lupe told us Scrag would say in his cute lispy voice: "So what are YOU guys grateful for today?" And on the last night they all said, "I'm grateful mum and dad are coming home tonight - but I'm grateful you looked after us too Lupe!" Awwwwww (I'm grateful for Gratefuls and how it is now a firmly entrenched dinnertime thing, even without us).

Grateful for the best family night ever last night. The coolest. Warm fuzzies to the max. So much fun. I have photos. Watch this space for our "Cowboy CookOut  - with Truth or Dare". Did I mention it was the best night of family bonding ever? So grateful.

Grateful for the best sermon at church today. I wept bucketloads. Good crying - the kind where it's not cos you're sad but because God is just flooding you and all of a sudden you are tender and open and wanting Him. He touched something in me and I felt His honest-to-goodness Presence in a way I haven't for well over 10 years. Amazing. So grateful.

And finally: Grateful for cool young role models who don't mind photo opportunities with their young fans. Here are two of the guys from Moorhouse (NZ XFactor) who my kids bumped into after church. At church. Yeah, you heard me. Rory and Brock, two of the nicest young guys you could hope to meet. (I also bumped into Moorhouse Rory right after all that *weeping bucketloads*  - there I was all blotchy and snotty. Awesome.)

[Dash and Miss fab with Brock (L) and Rory (R) from Moorhouse; excuse the blurry-but-precious phone pic ]

The kids are gutted Moorhouse aren't in the XFactor final but I really hope these young guys carry on singing and get to release albums. They're FAB.

(P.S. Photos of Hawaii to come later in the week. When I've uploaded all gazillion of them, and can find a spare moment in between Miss Fab's party prep and school holiday entertainments. Yikes.)


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Gratefully Yours,