Thank You!

We want to say "thank you" to our leadership team at Global Partners. When they heard that Makayla had hurt her leg and Melissa and Dawson were sick, they jumped to action. They collected several items that would make us feel loved from the other side of the world. They packaged colouring books, crayons and markers, and several other items that our kids love. It also included something for dad (costa rican coffee). Makayla and Dawson have wanted to watch the movie every day since they got the package. Thank You mobilization team and GP, you made us feel loved.

Makayla with her bundle of goodies.

Tonight at dinner, we discovered that Dawson knows how to make fishy face. We don't know who taught him this but I have to say, I laughed very hard. Whoever taught him this, thanks for the laugh, we had a great time at dinner tonight.

Update!

Well, this is the week that a lot of thought and planning is going to come together. We are opening a youth hang out centre in our community on Friday night. We have ping pong, air hockey, food, music and we are looking to get a gaming system to have games on our projection screen. We are excited about this new venture in our ministry and hope that it will bring about many seeds being planted for the Kingdom.

Our "HomeBuilders" synergy group starts back up this Thursday night and we look forward to jumping back into things with the group. We have taken two weeks off because we have been on school holiday here. We go 10 weeks on, 2 weeks off for school schedules here in AUS. Our six week study is going to be on getting a grip on our life and being able to live a normal paced life in a fast paced world.

We just finished our sermon series called "Survivor: getting through life's difficult times". As a pastor, I enjoyed preaching this series and loved to see the Spirit move and people make commitments to get rid of fear, guilt and disappointment. We will be doing a two week series on "Holiness: truly being set apart" over the next few weeks and are looking forward to the 40 days of Purpose in September. Thanks to Baldwinsville Wesleyan Church for the materials for the 40 days of Purpose.

Another point of praise and prayer is that the South Australian district is interested in helping our church purchase some property. Since the community hall that we meet in is sufficient for all of our public needs, they are looking into purchasing a parsonage/ church office that will allow our church to have a permanent presence in the community. We are excited about this possibility but are seeking the Lord's leading in the matter. Please pray with us as we seek guidance.

On a personal note, we are finally over the colds. Our noses have stopped running and our throats are not scratchy anymore. Thanks for your prayers. Makayla has not mentioned any pain in her leg for the past two weeks and we are thanking the Lord for healing her hip. She had her dentist appointment on Friday and would not allow the doctors to look at or touch her teeth. They are willing to try with her again but say that it may be easier to have her admitted and do the dental work in surgery. Please pray for the Lord's help in this matter as well as we look at the cost of both options. Dawson is growing up very quickly and continues to amaze us. I am sure that he is the only 18 month old that can hold a footy and punt it off his foot from his hands. (I hear that punters in the NFL can make really good money and not have to do much, unless they play for the Bills, then they have to work a lot). Go Colts! Anyway, we are excited about what is going on here in Perth and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store over the next few months. God bless you and don't hesitate to comment, or e-mail, or call or whatever. By the way, our church web page is http://www.landsdalecommunitywmc.blogspot.com/ so check it out. Sorry about the lack of pictures this week, we have loaned our camera to a friend but will post more later.

Ten Wonderful Years!

Chris and I have been together 10 years!!! It was 10 years ago this week that we met each other on a short term missions trip in Jamaica. That seems almost impossible. We don't seem old enough to have known each other that long. But, every day I am blessed to get to know him more, and love him more! WE have two beautiful children that I will say are CRAZY like their daddy! But, that's what makes me love them even more! I have been blessed! I love you Chris!

Even though our family seems to be facing many health issues right now, God is renewing our strength every day! Dawson is feeling much better, basically all he has left is a cough. Myself and Makayla are now dealing with this virus, but it too shall pass. The last few days Chris has been busy trying to take care of all of us and attend church planting seminars. So, our life has been a bit hectic. However, yesterday he stayed home and took care of me and the kids and it was GREAT! I basically slept ALL DAY on the couch. And, I would say that I feel much better after having much needed sleep. I still can not talk, because I have no voice, but at least I can swallow food now. My throat was so painful it was very hard to even swallow saliva. Yeah, it was growse. But, Daddy came to the rescue and spent a whole day just taking care of us....



Now, about Makayla's paediatric dentist appointment. PRAISE GOD! He says that he is pretty sure the spots the dentist was worried about are staining. I really liked this dentist. He reassured me that the decay on the took is NOT from "bad brushing". He has reasurred us that it was a bad tooth, and that from the shape of the cavity you can tell the tooth caved in and this is the tooth, that needs immediate attention. HE also explains that because the middle of the tooth caved in, that is why one morning when we were brushing her teeth we just all of a sudden noticed it. Becuase I couldn't believe personally that I had NOT seen that cavity when I brush her teeth twice a day. So, we have two options. The Dentist would prefer to clean the tooth and put a filling in it. Hoping that it will be alright until it falls out in the next 2-4 years. However, if Makayla will not let him fix it in the chair in his office. She will have to go to the children's hospital in perth and be put under general anesthesia and have a crown put on the tooth. That is how bad this tooth is... However, we much prefer option number one. So, we are asking EVERYONE to please pray for Makayla to sit in the chair on July27th at 10:00am. (10pm on the 26th for everyone in the US). If they can clean her teeth and she is doing well then the Dentist will fix it quickly while he is cleaning the teeth. He thinks that from Makayla's reactions in his office that he will be able to do it. So, I know we serve a big God and that He could get Makayla to do anything. So, please pray that Makayla will allow the dentist to do the work.

Now, about our Ministry. Chris had 6 guys come to the Men's Outing that was on Saturday. He said it went really well. Sunday night's worship went really well. CHris preached about letting go of our pasts and letting God give create in us clean hearts from Psalm 51. WE had atleast 15 people make commitments to let God have their past. It was awesome. WE had our yearly annual meeting. This is a huge praise and a COMPLETE SURPRISE to Chris and I. The Sr. Pastor of the John Wesley Church suggested to both churches that they pay for Chris and I to get permanent residency in Australia. This was approved at the annual meeting. This is a huge step of faith financially for both churches. But, it was a huge acknowledgement to Chris and I about how gratefull the people here truly are about our ministry here in Perth. WE had all positive remarks it was a great annual meeting.

Well, I have probably written enough for now. I will write more next week.
God bless,
Melissa

On Saturday June 30th, Chris and I went back to the hospital and received the results from Makayla's blood work and xrays. A Doctor had looked at them when we were in the Emergency room. But, a Specialist had picked something up on Makayla's xray. She has a displaced fat pad which is caused from fluid on the hip. So, they were right about the fluid. Now, the interesting thing is that some days she is perfectly fine and walks normal and runs around. But, yesterday was a bad day and she needed Nurofin, a Pain killer just to get out of bed and get dressed. She woke up screaming about her leg at 9:00 in the morning. So, please keep praying that Makayla's hip would heal quickly.

Yesterday Makayla was running and her leg gave out and she fell down. She had a little limp and well we encouraged her to walk on it. This was about 5pm. Then, later that night we gave her some tylenol and put her to bed. In the middle of the night she kept waking up screaming out to us that her leg hurt really bad and that she needed us. So, about 4am, I thought I should probably take her to the emergency room. So, away we went to a children's hospital in the inner city of Perth. WE had a bunch of doctor's look at her, they all concluded that they think she has a hip injury of some sort. They did x-rays, and they see nothing. They have concluded that they think she has Hip-bursitis. When we arrived she only had like 10% rotation on her left hip. Once she was pumped with pain killers she was fine. But, Bursitis is basically, fluid on the hip and is more painfull at night, and is caused from falling and hitting the hip rather hard, and she has all of the symptoms. Please pray that she would recover quickly. Becuase they say the healing time is 6 weeks. And, the way to recover is REST, REST, and more REST. Which is not real easy to tell an almost 4 year old. So, please pray that if it is just a strain that she would recover quickly. She is a little trooper. She didn't want the second doctor to know she was in pain, so instead of crying she laughed... Which I think at this point she was just over tired. But, please keep Makayla in your'e prayers.

PRAISES- I had my first woman's bible Study since we have been back and there were 10 of us! I did a devotion time at the beginning for 30 minutes. I shared with them that they are Healed and Valued by the Creator from the book "Transformed woman in the Bible". It went really well. It was a great time of building each other up and also a time of rest from our daily responsibilities.

Our Youth Group is growing . We had two new girls on Friday night who said they were coming back for sure. And our youth centre looks like it is going to open within the next three weeks!

Our first Couples Bible study is almost finished. There have been 7 of us meeting weekly learning how to encourage our teenagers to have Godly convictions.

Thank you for all you're prayers,>Chris, Melissa, Makayla, and Dawson

This afternoon we had "Got Game" at the church. It was alot of fun! We all gathered together to play table tennis, board games, and have fun conversations. All of our families attended and we had such a blast. We especially had fun playing round robin. Dawson had fun running around with a ping pong paddle acting like it was a guitar and makayla had lot's of fun playing Dora Candy Land!

(Thank you grandma and papa George!)

These are the ping pong tables the church purchased this week to have for our Youth Centre that we are opening on Friday nights soon.

Karen, Glynis, Melissa and Monia

Levon, Travis, and Dawson

Travis, Young, Alicia, David, and Ahadi

Young and Dawson playing "Whack-o-Mole"!

Dawson was the ping pong ball thief of the day.

Family day at school!
It doesn't seem possible that Makayla is old enough to be going to school but she goes one day a week to Fab 4's. It is the Aussie equivalent to pre-school. Makayla loves it and has a great time with all of the activities. She has become very good with scissors and is always asking daddy for shapes to cut out. The pictures are from "family day" when everyone joined her for her day at school. Dawson had a blast playing with all of the older kids and did very well. He is so big, he could probably fit in on a weekly basis. The weather here in Australia is beginning to get much colder. Nothing like western NY was, but cold at nights. I am very glad that we don't get snow here, that is something that I won't miss having to deal with. Today is a public holiday (I don't know what for) so we will probably take a bike ride this afternoon and spend the day as a family.

Haircuts!!!

Over the past two years, I have paid a total of $20 dollars for hair cuts. Which means that I have gone to the shops, bought some clippers and allowed my wife to have her way to make me into whatever she wants. After all, she is the one that has to claim me when I look foolish so she takes her time and does a wonderful job. However, I am not quite as daring. I will not go anywhere close to anyone's head with a part of clippers, buzzers, scissors or anything else that ends in errrs. Therefore, my wife and my daughter get to go to the lovely place they like to call the bank, oh, I mean the hair stylist. Melissa and Makayla both recieved what I would deam as an equal haircut. The amount of hair on the floor was the same, the style is roughly the same, and they took the same amount of time. However, hair must be like antiques, the older it is, the more it is worth. While the cost of my three year old daughter's hair cut was easy to deal with, the cost of my wife's hair cut was equal to the annual budget of a small country. Why is it that they charge more for older people's hair, after all, isn't it harder to cut the hair of a small child? I just can't wrap my head around the logic... or maybe there isn't any logic. They just charge more because we are too stupid to notice or say anything. One of the injustices of the world that will go on until none of us need haircuts anymore... or will we need haircuts in heaven???...

Anyway, my girlies look great. They got hair cuts and they like them, and I would spend the annual budget of a large country if it meant that they were happy. So take that hair dressers, you could have gotten more... but don't tell them that.

My son received his first black eye yesterday. Well, it is sort of a black eye, but more of a rug burn. While we were setting up the community hall for our Kid's Club program, Dawson and Makayla were running circles around the enormous room. Dawson still to date isn't the most stable on his feet and runs much like a penguin might run. He got going a little too fast for his happy feet and well, did a pete rose right into the carpet. Needless to say, it looks worse than it is and don't worry grandma, he is fine.

All else is well in the George household for now and we are preparing ourselves for another eventful and busy Sunday. Hope to hear from you all soon, have a great weekend. Lots of love.

Ok, sorry, I had to post again because I put this as my desktop background and every time I come into my office it cracks me up, thought I would share.

Makayla has recently finished the first level of swimming lessons. We are very proud of her for all of her work, and she had a bit of fun too. She loved taking lessons even though she doesn't yet like to put her head under water. It was amazing to see how much she improved every day. She passed the first level and now can move on to toddler advanced. Way to go, Mak.

Ok, ok, yes. We are still alive, just busy. We have settled back into our own home, finally, and will be unpacking until we move again, probably. God continues to work in awesome ways and we have fallen back into the ministry here in Perth nicely. It has been about 14 months since we have had a place to call "our own home" so we are having a very nice time with all of our new found space. While we were looking for housing here in Australia, we re-discovered how hard it is to find a rental. I made a "weird" phonecall to our previous landlords just to see if by chance the house we lived in 12 months earlier was available and an amazing thing happened, it was becoming vacant. We moved into the same house that we lived before which has helped with the transition back into Australia. I don't want to write too much because I really don't know what to say. I haven't posted in so long, I have decided that you have just missed the last few months of our lives and you can start fresh right now. Sorry, but that is the easiest thing for me to do. I don't really know what or how to recap that long of a time. Now that we are "home" and we have our own internet connection, I will do my honest best to update at least once a week. Hope to hear from you all soon, if I haven't heard from you and we have lost touch, e-mail me, I would love to hear from you.

The George family has been running on cruise control for the past few months and are finally seeing the end of the tunnel that is the Australian visa process. Let me update you on the fam. Chris and Melissa recently turned 26 (wahoo) and are enjoying the time that we get to spend with our kids while we are home in the States. Makayla is three and nearly a half and loves Dora, pre-school and basically anything we tell her not to... Dawson just turned one and loves walking and getting tickled. However, he hates sleeping. Unless he is between mom and dad in their bed of course. We are hanging in there and are getting ready to return to Australia as soon as our visa comes in. Stay tuned for more frequent updates when we get our broadband back. Have a great New Year (only a few days late).