So blessed......

I have just returned from a week long break with my family at Pauanui Beach, Coromandel.  If you ever get the chance to go, you have to see this place.  At first we felt a little intimidated with being the only "dark-skinned" people in town.  But those feelings soon left us after walking out of the only supermarket in the area and feeling ripped off! ha!

I tried to hold back the tears from feeling a sense of relief that we were blessed with time alone as a family.  Finally Dan and I could give our girls the attention and love they have been needing from us.  Every night during dinner we talked about our day.  It was a great time for our girls to let us know of things that we as their parents need to improve on.

We spent our days swimming, playing tennis, playing at the playground, mini-golf, building sand castles at the beach, going for walks, bike riding and the list goes on.  Six days of swimming as definitely motivated me to continue with it.  We were very active during this trip.  We were very thankful for the time that we had.  I went bike riding which is something I soon regretted as I started out my journey walking down the very steep driveway to the resort thinking, "I'm not looking forward to cycling up this drive".  After 3 or 4 stops along the driveway I soon made it to the top!

We can get so caught up in our every day lives that we forget our loved ones that are right under our nose are needing our love and attention.  At times it can feel like such a task to have to think about how we deal with our loved ones but it is all worth it.  It took me a day or two to relax.  I was thankful that we were far away from home so I didn't have to think about chores that needed to be done.  So very thankful ;).

Most of all I was thankful that Dan got to have some time to relax also and just be a father and husband to our family.  His job may not be physically challenging but it is definitely pulls on the brain chords for him.  Bless all those fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons that work hard to support their families and themselves.  It is not an easy thing to do but when you make a decision to live with purpose, you will be driven by that purpose.

With this awesome holiday that God has blessed us with, I am reminded that as much as I do (and most times as little as I do) for Him, He continues to bless me.  So I will need to step up my game and work harder.

Here are some pics of our little holiday