HOLBECK HOLIDAY...PART TWO.

As promised, another post from my holiday in Wales...

For our last evening together, we had a BBQ on the beach complete with fire pit and toasting marshmallows, sunset and silly games. We left in the dark, finding our way across the beach by the light of our phones, smelling of wood smoke. It was so beautiful and a lot of fun, a perfect ending to a great week. 

I feel so blessed to know these people and to get to live just around the corner from them. I am very grateful that God has called me to live in this community.

 POPPY!
WE HAD THE PERFECT VIEW TO WATCH THE SUN DISAPPEARING OVER THE SEA..

..GONE!

OREO SMORES, DELICIOUS

EXCELLENT FIRE PIT

LIGHTS

THE END

Finally I made a little video of our last evening together...

Holbeck Holiday from indiacarolinajoy on Vimeo.
Music - Take me Dancing, Dizraeli

This has been my 50th blog post which sounds so weird but I'm really loving sharing thoughts, photos and videos. It's been exciting to start this blog and thank you to everyone who has read it and followed along. 

xx

THANKFUL THURSDAY/ APRIL.

one. Holidays! Two full weeks off work

two. Spring and blossom and green finally appearing on the trees

three. Music

four. My camera, I have been really grateful to have the chance to get used to using it this month

five. Easter

six. Reminiscing with friends 

seven. The sun and at times it actually being warm enough to not wear a coat or tights!...debatable but I went for it

eight. Reading

nine. Family time

HOLBECK HOLIDAY.

During the Easter Holidays I was lucky enough to spend a week with some great people in Wales. We managed to pack a whole lot into our time away including spontaneous singing sessions, as much beach as we could manage, good food, dancing, glitter and amazingly, April sunshine! 

One of the best parts was starting the day praying and singing together. Taking time out to thank God for being together and all he has done for us made me a lot more thankful and aware of just how blessed we are.

My camera practically never left my neck, it was well worth being at the back of a few walks and on the sidelines in order to document some of the fun we had. Below is a fraction of what I captured. 

 SUNSHINE ON THE COAST

 EASTER EGG MALTESER HOT CHOCOLATE, YUM!

 CUTEST BEACHSIDE CAFE

 FULL MOON

 TEAM SHOT! AFTER AN EPIC GAME OF BEACH OLYMPICS

 ANOTHER STUNNING EVENING

 SUNSET AND PEBBLES

 MY NEW FAVOURITE PHOTO (GROUP PICTURE MINUS A FEW..) SO MUCH LOVE FOR THESE PEOPLE

 ICE CREAM AND BARE LEGS (IT WAS BASICALLY SUMMER)

Not featured... face masks, murder mystery evening, Easter egg hunt and fish and chips.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter. Check back later for a few more photos if you fancy it.

x

ELIZABETH & ALEX.

Yesterday a friend of mine got married! I've known Lizzie since I was about nine years old and it was so good to be part of her day yesterday. Both Liz and Alex didn't stop beaming and there was a lot of joy and laughter alongside thought-out details making the day so personal. It started out with a small church service followed by bagpipes and confetti, teepees, catching  up with old friends,  a live soul band, roasting marshmallows and finally fireworks and sparklers.

WILD FLOWERS AND TARTAN.

GORGEOUS STAINED GLASS WINDOW AND THE BRIDE'S SIBLINGS.

THIS LOVELY LADY (AND HER HUSBAND) WERE OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS! BONUS FOR ME.

BEAUTIFUL LACE.

TEEPEES AT SUNSET.

FIRE PITS!

SPARKLERS AND SMILES.

JENI + COFFEE.

For the past few days I had the pleasure of hanging out with a wonderful friend of mine as she came to visit Leeds with work. Time with Jeni is time well spent, trust me.  In amongst sleepovers, shopping and a much needed catch up we called into Mrs Atha's and snapped a few pictures. 

Thanks so much for visiting Jeni, see you again soon please!

xx

MOTHER'S DAY.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'm so happy that today I get to be back at my parent's house paying a visit, it's been too long. In my last post, I shared my guest post over at we resolve and today I have a few more things about my mum to share. I asked her 10 questions, to learn a bit more about her and here's what I found out...

1. Outside family members, who inspires you the most?

Corrie Ten Boom for being an ordinary woman who was prepared to put herself out there for God and trust Him in all the little things

Jane Kopsch for being down to earth and a woman of great integrity

Jackson Pollock for expressing such vibrancy and freedom in his paintings

Claudia Winkleman for being so much fun ( and having great hair!)

Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep for being so true to character in every role they take

2. How would your childhood friends describe you?
Loyal, funny, knobbly kneed!

3. What is better about the world today than when you were growing up?

Advances in medical science and the gospel is more widely spread.

4. What's the best gift you've ever recieved?
Salvation of course! But after that my children.

5. If you could instantly have a new skill, what would it be?
To speak fluent Italian.

6. When did you know you wanted to be a mum?
When I was a young teenager and babysat for lots of people.

7. Where in the world would you most like to travel that you haven't been to yet?
South America.

8. What is the hardest and the most rewarding thing about being a mother?

The hardest is when I let my children down and when I see them struggle and in pain. Also knackeredness! The most rewarding...there are too many to list them all but

• seeing my children come to accept Jesus
• seeing them grow into the people they are with all the different character traits and skills
• seeing them become independent and socially minded
• seeing them learn to overcome difficulties
• seeing them be kind to other people
• Hanging out and chatting together
• when they say I love you - will stop now as I will start to cry!

9. If you could go back in time to any period in history, where would you go and why?
When space travel emerged, in particular 1969 and first moon landing, how absolutely exciting that must have been. I still think it's amazing what was achieved and that we can travel into space and see so much beauty...Dad has pointed out I was alive in 1969 but I don't remember the moon landing so please can it still count?!

10. Pick and favourite song and why or what it reminds you of...
You're the Tops by Cole Porter because it's so happy and upbeat; the lyrics are really clever and it's just a celebration of recognising how great the person you love is so obviously it always reminds me of Dad and that makes me happy.

Thank you so much for sharing mum, I love you! 

X

THANKFUL THURSDAY/ MARCH.

I have been posting Thankful Thursday for 6months now! I thought about stopping but it feels really important to be actively thankful and to keep reminding myself of good things from the past month. 

one. Lighter mornings, making getting up for work a lot easier

two. Learning, mistakes and forgiveness

three. Celebrations big and small

four. Reading

five. Eating out, yum!

six. A holiday that's just around the corner...

seven. Honesty

eight. Enjoying my job

nine. Laughter

PS. As it's Mother's Day on Sunday, my best friends Lucy and Nate asked me to guest post over on their blog a few days ago. Just a little bit about my incredible Mum and what she has taught me if you fancy checking it out! I'll be sharing more on Sunday.

Happy Thursday!
xx