Thankful for Good Gifts

I am so blessed and I just have to share and give praise to Jesus!!!

I entered a contest give-away on the Attractions Ontario website and actually won one of their packages. It's kind of a running joke around here that I never win anything. I mean, seriously, when it's roll up the rim time at Tim Horton's, I don't even get a Tim Bit! No joke. So, the fact that I've won two give-aways this summer is pretty remarkable (the first was a Mary Kay give-away that Emma entered me in...I don't even usually enter contests!)!!!

Because I have surgery scheduled for later this month, Bob had said about a month ago that he hoped the two of us could get away for a night. We have enjoyed doing this a couple of times in the last few years, either to Niagara Falls or to downtown Toronto. We did not see how it could be possible, financially, this time, so I just prayed about it and left it in the Father's hands. Shortly after that I received the email about winning the giveaway. *grin*

God's special gift for Bob and I to go away for a night together was, get this: The Georgian Bay package, which included a one night's stay and breakfast at the lovely White Stone Lake Resort, a three-hour tour of Georgian Bay's 30,000 islands on the Island Queen, a fly and dine with the Georgian Bay Airways and Henry's Restaurant, and a Tim Horton's gift card (so I can get all the Tim Bits I could ever want)! Wow! This is not something we could afford nor was it something I would have put together myself. His good gifts never cease to amaze me! Thank you, Father!!!

The other part of this God-equation was, obviously, needing to find someone to care for the children for this 48 period of time. My dear friend, Christine, had mentioned that she would be willing to stay with the children if she could get two days in a row off from her new job. Again, it was in God's hands. It's a brand new job, so she could not really ask for any time off yet. But the Father arranged her schedule and the two days off in a row were Monday and Tuesday. Wow, again!

And thank you, Christine, for your loving and capable child care! You are a giving, thoughtful person and a beautiful friend!

So we drove to Parry Sound on Monday morning in time to have lunch at this restaurant near the marina...

The Island Queen...holds 550 passengers!


Part of the marina...

It was a cloudy day but the scenery was still spectacular!

There were cottages tucked in all over the islands...

This was a channel we went through...on the right hand side there was a dad and some little guys having a fun swim and up on the cliff were some teenage guys who were getting ready to jump...we got to watch them after we made our pass...very fun!

Kilbear Point

Cormorants...

Osprey nest!

Swing bridge...fascinating!

White Stone Lake...view from our balcony...

Relaxing on the patio...

Hummingbird...

Lovebirds!

Wild daisies...my favourite since I was a little girl..

Georgian Bay Airlines...

From the air...

Henry's...

Our massive pickerel lunch...

We enjoyed watching all the boats come to this island for lunch...some of them were quite large...

Flying....

We would have loved to have flown for another hour or two!

I want to also mention our two soccer chauffeurs, Amy and Nina. Thank you, sweet friends, for getting the children where they needed to go!

Thank you, Father, for Your many beautiful and surprising blessings and for Your good gifts! You never stop giving Your big hugs.

Blessings!