Grateful Eight extended version

I realize that I am really behind in my posting and I missed last weeks "grateful eight" altogether, so I will make up a little this week.

Unfortunately there will be one more post after this one and I will be on a bit of a break. We have been a little busy lately and are getting ready for another transition. So hopefully I can get back into the blogging thing again soon, but for now there will have to be a brief "pause" in my bloggin!

So for the past two weeks, here are a few things I have been grateful for:

1. Nice fall weather. The weather has been gorgeous here and the colours are even more magnificent. Hopefully this weekend I can get out and capture some of the fall beauty with my camera.

2. Good health again. Zech has been sick and is slowly getting better. John has also been sick and had a bit of an eye infection. John had to see an eye specialist and it has cleared up now, but they want him to come in tomorrow to discuss the results of some of his tests that he had done. I think that he is fine, but of course he is a little stressed, so please keep him in your prayers and pray that it is nothing but good results (he still has 20/20 vision and does not wear glasses--I hope our kids inherit his eyes)! :o)

3. A chance to fly up to Edmonton by myself and see some of my family. I saw my grandparents which was quite difficult. My Grandma especially has failed and had no idea who I was!

4. Lunch with my sister, nephew and mom and then time to visit with my Aunt Laurel and the girls (thanks for the new boots too--they looked awesome with my interview outfit)!

5. An interview in Edmonton that seemed to go pretty good. Please pray that I get something soon! This is getting really frustrating!

6. Accident claims. We just settled an accident that John was in three years ago (he was hit on his motorbike) and were happy that it was finally over. However, the next day our neighbour backed into our van and did some considerable damage. We handled it extremely well, it is just a car and nobody was in it. Our neighbour wasn't too impressed, but thank goodness insurance will cover everything!

7. A wonderful scrap booking package from Mary. I entered a little contest on her blog and won! My little monkey got into it and I found him chewing on the little paper flowers she had enclosed--he told me it was his "vilo" (vitamin)!

8. My wonderful husband who is such an amazing father. He did a great job looking after Zech while I was away. It was the first time I had been away from both of them for two nights, three days! I missed them like crazy!

9. My sister, brother-in-law and nephew. They let me stay with them, chauffered me around and made some great meals for me. Plus I got Jonas all to myself and had lots of fun playing with him.

10. My in-laws! They have been so wonderful and supportive. My father-in-law just turned 68 last week, so we had a nice supper to celebrate. He is in remarkable shape for 68 as he rides his bike EVERYWHERE, every day!

11. My newfound love of BBQ shrimp. I am not a shrimp fan, but my brother and sister-in-law made shrimp skewers for the B-day supper. I thought I would give it a try as my taste buds have really changed recently and to my surprise and delight I loved them! I am still not sure about the raw shrimp, but the BBQ shrimp skewers in garlic butter--delicious!

12. Dreams and provision!

13. Good friends that I am able to stay in contact with no matter how far away we are!

14. The Bible.

15. Almost forgot about our new MAC laptop. Love MAC and don't think we will ever go back. We bought it for John as he is back at school and will be doing everything online. Our PC laptop has been plagued by viruses lately and our Desktop crashed, so we took the safe route and we are so glad that we did!