Anniversary

Today we celebrated out 9th Wedding anniversary. We were able to go out for lunch and Brayden slept the whole time in his stroller while we had lunch on the beach and relaxed watching people surf. It was a wonderful time. Time seems to fly. It honestly doesnt seem like it has been 9 years!

Birthdays, Birthdays, The most important Birthday of all!

On the 22nd we celebrated Chris's birthday. We spent it with our "Australian family". We had an American meal of taco salad, and a yummy white mud cake. Chris was spoilt. Everyone including myself all went together and got him a new barbecue to go on the porch. He loved it! His old one was not working anymore. So, needless to say for the rest of summer, I think Chris will be doing the cooking!

NOW to the most important

Birthday of all!

On the 24th and 25th we celebrated Christmas. Our kids sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and we told them the story of Jesus Birth. And, we told them why it was so important for Him to come! Christmas Eve we spent with friends and family that we swapped present with. Our children were spoilt and had fun in the swimming pool and eating all sorts of lollies.

On the 25th we had a Christmas service at our house. There were 18 of us that met together and we sang some carols and chris preached to all of us. It was a wonderful service and it was even more special to have it in our home. By having it in our home it meant we did not have to rent the hall and set up and tear down for church. But, with such short notice we probably could not have booked the hall anyways. But, it was a wonderful time and our church is our family here! We were spoilt by them and also by all of you our prayer partners and supporters.

THANK YOU

TO everyone who sent a special Christmas gift to us! We were blessed beyond belief. With that money we were able to get Brayden a crib and a mattress, and Dawson his big present this year was a bean bag (WHICH HE ULTIMATELY loves), and Makayla received a Disney mix max that she can listen to music in her room on it plays kind of like a CD player would. But, at least mummy and daddy can choose what music goes on there! With all the money we were given we didn't want to just buy lot's of little things. So, we went together with it all and got our family a Wii. It has been heaps of fun, but also it has been a thing that we can do as a family and it costs us nothing now to go bowling, or to play the games. So, that is exciting to know that we can do a family things and it is not going to cost us anything. Especially when it has been 105-8 here many days, it is WAY to hot to go outside. And, Brayden is still trying to adjust to the heat. So, we have been trying to keep him in as much as possible! But, thank you to everyone who spoilt us! We are truly blessed by your generosity!

Hard to believe we are REALLY HERE in Australia!

It's hard to believe we left the USA three weeks ago to come back to Australia! God has been doing so many wonderful things.



Makayla was able to participate in two weeks of school. This was a wonderful opportunity for her to reconnect with friends and also to learn the schedule of school as next year she is in grade one and will no longer be in the fenced in Kindy/PrePrimary area of the school. She will now be in the larger area of the school. She had a wonderful time and was like she had never missed a day of school. On our walk to school the first morning we had 10-12 cars drive by and yell out their window. IT's Makayla George!!!!! The children were super excited to see her, and the same for her! She could not wait to see her friends!





The church participated in a bake sale! Melissa spent two days cooked 96 shortbread trees, and 44 mixed spice cutout cookies. They took a bit of work to do the details. But, two ladies in the church made cupcakes and fudge, and another lady made fruit cakes! We sold almost EVERYTHING we had. And, the church made almost $200 from the event. But, it got our name out into the community. It was a lot of fun and a joy talking with people. Here is a picture from the evening. The shirts you see people wearing are what Chris and I gace the chuch people for christmas! We had alot of fun having them made in the USA and brought them back in a suitcase! Everyone really enjoys them! And, now when we do functions or ministries or outreach we can all look the same ane people will know, " We are the church, in Landsdale!"


Dawson had his 4th birthday. We had friends over for pizza and prezzies and ice cream and cake! We let Dawson choose two friends and their families to come over. So, he choose Cian and Callum, and then we had the pastor of the inner city church and his whole family over! We also had the couple living with us from Singapore and then a family from the church stopped in and joined us! So, it was a lovely time! He was spoilt and we are truly blessed to be able to have Dawson as part of our family! His big gift this year was a scooter we brought back in our suitcase with us! He has been riding it every day and asks all the time to go for walks. Dawson woke up and said he was TALLER by 4 feet, and everything does he says he can do better, or faster now because he is 4. He is incredibly cute in his own way. But, He was so cute opening his presents. He was TOTALLY surprised on every one. And, every toy he opened he wanted to play right away. he didn't want to open the next one! It was a wonderful evening with church family and dear friends!

As a side note: I think Dawson has found moving here hard. He asks when we will go home to see his grandma's and grandpas. Dawson loved living with his grandmas and grandpas and every morning he walks around the house asking to go see them... Pray that he will settle in. He has made a very closer relationship with Cian. And, that I think is helping relieve his anxiety of being here!


Brayden's tummy has not handled the big move very well. He has lost three pounds. But, we think he is starting to put his weight back on. He has had a runny tummy ever since we arrived. He goes through 12-15 diapers a day! And, diapers here are expensive. So, please pray that his tummy would settle down. When we first arrived anytime we went outside he cried the entire time we were out there. but, a lovely couple who are our friends who gave us a car seat for Brayden also gave us a sun covering that is upf 50. So, we have been putting that over the stroller and it has made it bearable now for him to go out. But, the 100 degree temperature days... Brayden is not comofortable in and spends most of the day crying.. So, if you could keep him in your prayers that would be great as well!


We have had three wonderful weeks of church! Chris is doing a sermon series on advent! It felt like we were home this Sunday! At first it didn't feel all so real that we were back in Australia, but slowly we are starting to feel like it is real! We are looking forward to the christmas day service. Where we will all get together on christmas and have church. This is very much an Australian thing. We do not have a christmas eve service.. But, we have a christmas day service.


We are still trying to settle our house. You could pray for this to happen. Many of our things were put in storage in a closet in our bedroom. however, we had a bad tenant that stayed here before the pastor had come and they moved all of our belongings to the back yard! So, our crib, high chair, stroller, bikes, dawson's bed.. many items sat outside all winter. Becuase then when the pastor arrived.. He thought we had put them there to stay while we were gone. So, that was a bit dissappointing to return to such a mess. And, my dining room chairs all have holes burnt in them! So, we are quickly trying to put our house back together and find things. We have yet to find the tray to the highchair or the straps. Hopefully we will find that soon, so Brayden can eat more comfortably.


Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us! this move has happened so quickly and everyone is really starting to settle. I believe it is because of your prayers. Thank you.

Fire Extinguished!
The fire in Landsdale seems to be extinguished. To make a long story short.
Friday evening a car was moving VERY quickly down the main road that borders our suburb and it blew a tire and hit an electricity pole. What should have been a simple clean up within minutes turned disastrous. We had very hot weather and westward winds. And the fire just lit up the "bush" ( Pasture like land) behind our house one street over. The thing is that we have many church people that live between us and the bush. We had 4 families that bordered the street and it took 45 fire departments on duty for three days to get it out. We had helicopters coming in to the lake across the street from our house sucking up water every few minutes to dump on the fire and usually if there is a fire the helicopters will return to the airport to refuel. But, you know a fire is bad when they brought fuel trucks RIGHT here in front of our house and refueled right here to save time! We were on standby at all hours for evacuation. If you went outside the sky was bright orange it looked seriously like our back yard was on fire. I will go take pictures to send to you. But, here is what your prayers did!

Also, the wind was blowing in the correct direction. Our God moves even the wind in the right direction! Had the wind changed directions our house would have definitely been in danger!

1) Ebert Family.-- Family in most danger. The fire stopped 1 FOOT from their yard. The firemen actually stood a meter apart putting out fire to save this families home.
2) Mahood Family- The wife of this family is the high school chaplain. Fire jumped the road and their fence 3 times! And, they were there waiting with water hoses to put it out.
3) Preston family saved
4) One family neighbours to the Ebert's. The first stopped 1 foot from their home!
5) And, most of the suburb was unaware that there was even a fire for 5 hours due to the electricity being out. Most people thought because it was such a hot day it was a normal power outage!
God is good and thank you for your prayers!
God was protecting these families, and your PRAYERS were moving the hand of God!
Thank you.

PLEASE PRAY IMMEDIATELY!
There is a bushfire less than a mile from our home. Here is the link to read about it. But, please pray for the safety of everyone in Landsdale. Last evening the sky above our house was BRIGHT orange. And, our children have been very scared. The temperature today is over 100 degrees which does not help the fire. They are flying helicopters into the lake in front of our house to suck up water to dump on the fire. But, we are unable to run our air conditioning due to the fire because if an ember flew in our air conditioner our house would start on fire! Please keep us and the community of landsdale in your prayers. Also, please note three of our families that attend our church live between the fire and us. So, they are also in danger. Thank you for your prayers!
click on the following link:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/6579006/lansdale-residents-on-standby-as-bushfire-burns/

Flying to Australia!
Thank you to everyone who prayed for our safe travel to Australia. We know that you all were praying for us!
1) WE got 4 inches of snow on the drive to the airport from Houghton-Buffallo. The roads were terrible and we fish tailed and slid through a red light and still arrived there safe and in one piece! God was good. The airport was semi open, and our plane took off. I will attach a picture to show how much snow was on our airplane when we boarded. They had to de-iced the plane 3 times before we took off! So, we had a bit of Australian weather before we even left New York because when they de-ice the plane it gets VERY HOT inside the plane. The was just a small airplane that sat 20 people!. Then we were on our way to JFK!

2) We loaded the plane at JFK. Chris sat with Dawson and I sat with Makayla and Brayden. Brayden slept the first 4 1/2 hours straight of the 12 1/2 hour flight. The kids were fantastic and we landed in Dubai!

3) Makayla was walking out of a store in Dubai and she was missed within inches of being run over by a people mover! The guy was driving over 20 miles per hour in an pedestrian area. But, she was kept safe.

4) We loaded the plane for a 10 hours flight to Perth. Everything went excellent. The kids watched many movies and the time was just incredibly relaxing even though we were EXHAUSTED!

5) The runway in Perth had a terrible side wind the pilot tried to land the plane and we got a HUGE gust of wind which knocked us off the runway. So, he had to speed up quickly and took off and we did not land the first time we tried to land in Perth. So, we circled the airport for 10 minutes. And, the pilot tried again. Second time landing successfully.

6) We got to Perth, and they lost one of our pieces of luggage. So, instead of standing in customs lines we were standing waiting to receive a lost luggage form. However, when we got the lost piece of luggage. Because we had 10 suitcases and 5 carryons, a stroller, and a car seat, and three children. They took us to the front of the line. Put all our bags on, NEVER OPENED ONE bag and away we went! INCREDIBLE!

7) We were met by three families who helped us get all of our luggage in and our children home safe.

Thank you for your prayers! They made a difference in our life while we were in such a big transition. WE can't wait to see what God is going to continue to do with your prayers!