Joys of Parenting.

I love my kids. I would do anything in this world for my kids. But I will never put together another swing set for my kids. The problem is the instructions. (Yes, I used them) They don't write out what you are supposed to do, they draw very small confusing pictures for you to stare at and get confused by. Now that it is put together, I am very proud of my efforts and the smiles on the kids faces as they swing and slide are worth it. But I swear that swingsets have more nuts and bolts than the local hardware store. The swingset was going to be their Christmas present but grandmas and grandpas decided that the kids should have it for the entire summer in order to get the best use out of it. (probably true). We are very grateful for their "donation" and will spend many hours in the backyard I am sure. Summer continues to gradually move in and it is supposed to get warmer by three degrees each day this week for a fine day of 27 degrees (81 F) for our family picnic day this Saturday. Tonight is halloween so maybe we will be able to meet a few people from the area as they knock on our door for lollies.

I also wanted to share with you the quote of the week. We were driving in the car the other day and Makayla says from the backseat the following as she was looking at a small cut she had on her ankle... "Mum, I ripped the stuff that keeps the blood in". Hope that makes you chuckle, have a great day, Chris.

On the Mark...!

The moments before a race can be the most exciting. When I ran on the track team in high school, I can remember the moments before the race. Everyone lined up on the start line, preparing for the gun. Heart pounding, blood flowing anticipation of what is coming. That is sort of the way our ministry feels right now. We are slowly making the transition into summer and with that comes a lot of activities for the church. Family picnics & BBQs, school holiday, Christmas and church camping trips. I am so excited about the potential that our church has for reaching into the community this summer and can't wait to see what the Lord does through all of the people in our church. We are also beginning "40 Days of Purpose" in the month of November. Thank you to the Community Wesleyan Church in Baldwinsville NY for the materials for this. Remember the Landsdale Community Wesleyan Methodist Church in your prayers as we get ready to "take off" on this summer run. (There is a link to our church web page on the sidebar if you wish to keep up on what is happening)

Last Thursday we loaded the car up with the tent, blankets, cooler and the kids and headed two hours south to check out the caravan park where we are taking our church this year for our summer camp. Not only did we want to check out the park, we wanted to get an idea of what there is to do in the area so that we can plan family activities that we can do together. We had a great time as a pastoral team and are very excited about the camp over New Years long weekend. Dawson and Makayla had an awesome time camping and they definitely enjoy sleeping in a tent more than their father.

Sunday evening, we finished up our "wonders of the world" series. We looked at several different wonders, like... "I wonder... where did we come from, what are we here for, what happens when we die, what is the difference between heaven and hell, does Satan really exist, do angels exist, do miracles happen?" It was a good series and it brought up a lot of questions and sparked some great conversation between me and others, and also between others and themselves. Keep praying for the few that still have unanswered "wonders".

Keep looking here for pictures of all of the church activities coming up. God is preparing for something great, lets keep our hearts and minds open to His plan. Ready, set, GO!

The Joys of Moving!

For all of you faithful followers of this blog, we are still alive. When you move to a new house there is a certain amount of time that you have to wait for the "companies" that run pretty much everything to hook things up. We finally have internet, even though it is dial-up and very slow. (apparently there is something with the phone lines to this house that won't allow it to have adsl active, long story with long phone calls). But at least we are connected to the rest of the world now. We are loving our extra space and our view of the lake. It has allowed us to be a "drop in" spot for some of our teens that get off the bus in front of our house and walk home. God is truly good in providing this house for us and we are seeing the benefits/ blessings with it already.

Last Saturday, we had several from our church over to our house for the Grand Final. Aussie Rules Football had it's "super bowl" last week and we used the church projector to make the game huge. It was a great time together and gave me an opportunity to use my "new" grill for the first time this summer. (I took the grill from the roadside, some guy had gotten a new one for father's day and was getting rid of it. Free things are wonderful :-)

Summer is starting here so things are beginning to pick up for the church. We have several family bbq days, a bike outing, friend's day, and much more stuff happening. We are planning a living nativity for our Christmas program and are starting to feel the crunch from that. There is much planning to do, and are praying that it will be a great witness.

Face Painting at the Zoo!!!

Things are going very well and we are finally over our colds. The weather is warming up and we are getting very excited, I love this time of the year. Sorry to all of you in the US who are starting to feel the cold. You are always welcome to come visit us in the Southern Hemisphere. That is all for now but we will be sure to update as often as we can. In His Palm, Chris.