First Day of Kids Club

Today was our first day of kids Club! We had 25 kids come the first day, which is fantastic!  We walked from school all the way to our house! It was 40 degreees out which is really hot!  We are doing a theme on conversation hearts. The first one is love God.  And, then we talked about Elijah and Elisha and how God sent a drought for a few years and then he sent rain. And, God showed the people how he was God and they must love him first!   We then celebrated with our own water party! We ran hoses across the street and played in the park lot's of water games! It was a great first day back! And, the parents are so excited that Kids Club is back on as well.

First Day of School

Today was the kids first day of School. Tomorrow all three kids go for their first time! Life has been really crazy even on school holidays.   It's hard to believe today we go back to our even crazier busy schedule. Makayla is starting year 4 in a 4/5 class and Dawson will be in a year 2 class.  Brayden is in kindy and will go to school 5 days every two weeks!   Hard to believe that a three year old goes to school in Australia. But, before we know it, March will be here and Brayden will be turning 4. 

Just as our family is starting back to school, all of our ministries are starting back up to full bore.   Friday we will have afterschool Kids Club again!  We still don't have a facility as they are still working on putting in the air conditioning in the hall.   So, we will be walking all the children to our house for kids club.  

I will start teaching preschool this week for our local community playgroup. It is a great job and I love meeting all the wonderful families. And, the next year they are potential families for our kids club. This year I have two classes and so far 20 families. But, we have room for up to 30.  

The kids were happy to smile this morning even though, we had gotten them up so early!  Here is a new picture of them in their uniforms. 

Thank you Brookside Wesleyan Kids  for your continuous support in our children's education.

Church

Today we had church. We have been meeting in our house because the community hall is getting air conditioning. It was a special time of us looking at the story of David and the reconciliation that God offered him after he realized he has sinned.

Pray for our teens. Tonight we offered them the opportunity for us to take them ton Influencers Conference. Pray that they would be willing to come. I really think that it would be great for them to experience a big room of christians and great speakers! And, I believe that they all have hearts that are ready listen and hear God right now. Please continue to pray that they would commit to coming and that God would work in their hearts! 

 Afterwards we all sat around and shared life together. It was a very special evening. Brayden was so tired that he fell asleep 5 minutes into church! He has been exhausted recently! 

Sausage Sizzle- AGAIN!

Today we had another sausage sizzle. It was a great opportunity for our church families and our kids club families to pull together and work side by side.  We had 14 volunteers. Chris stayed all day running the BBQ. I had to jet out for 2 hrs. for our "Australian Cousins" bday party,  but I then returned. :)   It was 38 degrees and everyone worked so hard!  When we got home 12 hours later, we could barely move.  But, we successfully sold atleast 800 sausages.  During the day the work doesn't seem so hard because we had great company and people to chat with and catch up with and to share Jesus with! A bunch of the parents have not become Christians yet, so it was neat to share the special conversations that we did have.   What I think is most evident about the Landsdale Community Wesleyan Methodist Church is that we are hard workers willing to do anything to reach the community! Pray with us that this year 2013 will be a YEAR of people coming to Christ like we haven't seen before!   God has so much in store for us and is blessing us financially with these fundraisers so that we can build a foundation for the WEsleyan Methodist Church in LAndsdale. So, that we can have a permanent place to say "THIS" is the church!   And, through our church, kids club, and youth group, we are going to reach this community!

ANNIVERSARY

December 30th was our anniversary.We spent the day preparing for our Sunday night church service.  We are still working through "The Story" .   It was a lovely service ! Then after church we all stuck around and chatted and had biscuits and tea. 

Don't worry.. we did do something special for our anniversary. The next day we rode the train into town and went to the Hopman Cup with is professional tennis. The seats were cheap and it was airconditioned and it was a beatiful day inside the new "Perth Arena". Outside the temperature was 40 degrees and rising! So, we were very thankful it was inside! :)

Boxing Day

In Australia we have added an Australia family as our own.  They came to perth over 15 years ago with a vision for the Wesleyan Methodist Churst to be started in the state of Western Australia.    They are the couple we came to Australia to partner with. The Hotchkin family is truly special and important to us. We couldnt' survive living so far away without them.  But, Boxing day was spent having our "family" Christmas. It was alot of fun and they are all Christians so it is just beautiful to sit and enjoy one another's company and rejoice in the fact that Jesus came for us! Jesus came to earth to save us! And, he was the greatest gift ever given to us. What a special, special, day! and, they had TURKEY!!!!!  We rarely ever eat turkey in Australia because it is too expensive. But, it was so good.. and had gravy too!!!   We swam in the pool and it was a beautiful day.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day is always a little interesting when you are a missionary overseas.   It is the big holidays when you miss your family most.   However, with Skype our kids were able to open their prezzies with grandma and grandpa and say hello to everyone. Each year our kids just get one present from us. Makayla desperately wanted a new baseball glove. So, she got a pink one. Dawson wanted a blue scooter and Brayden wanted a bike. They were all pretty easy things to obtain, but the excitement on their faces when they opened them was endless.  Luckily we were invited to our friends house to spend Christmas with their family.  This family is one of the newest families to our church and Melissa and Debbie have been friends for quite a while.  But, it was a beautiful time with them. The temperature was warm. Melissa made yummy ice cream cakes.  She made a violet crumble one and a strawberry mars bar one. They were yum! We headed to our friends house with our bathers  and food to share in a wonderful morning.   Afterwards we headed to another friends house to share dinner.  It was a lovely day. I have posted some pictures below. The thing we loved most about this day. Was that we were able to share with them the true meaning of Christmas. Both the families we had lunch with, the husband is not a believer yet. But, we pray every day that God will grab a hold of their lives and that they would be changed.  Their children all believe in Jesus and have asked Jesus to be their Lord and Saviour. Pray with us that 2013 would be the year God grabs a hold of their hearts.

Christmas Eve Service

Today Chris and I did all of our last minute christmas shopping and prepared for a special Christmas Eve Service. We had two new families come tonight and it was a sepcial evening of focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.   Was really special. melissa sang a special song and you could just tell that god's presence was in the room and everyone's hearts were in the right place. Was a very special evening.

Sunday Service with a Christmas Dinner

Today I got up bright and early and started cleaning our house.  Because the community hall is currently under construction work, church has to meet at our house.  So, I spent most of the day cleaning and we celebrated Chris's Birthday with a big lunch and some friends over from 12:00-4:00 and then we had church from 5:30-6:30 and then we had the church Christmas party and dinner after that.  It was alot of fun and we did a white elephant christmas gift exchange. It was alot of fun. And, we also have a fun tradition of a steering wheel device that comes back every year. So, it was really funny! The kids all got things that they loved and one of the most loved used gifts was a box full of bunnies.  The kids went nuts when they saw it.  So, it was a great day and we had a new family come tonight to church that had only come once before so that was very exciting.  Pray for Amanda and her husband scott and their three children!  

Chris's Birthday and the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle

Today was Chris's Birthday and we also had  the Bunnings Sausage sizzle.  It wasn't too warm... But, it was hot enough. We got up and started hauling a whole trailer full of food to the shop.  WE set up our display and everything and away we started cooking. We had people buying sausages befor it was even 8:00am.   By noon we we had run out of drinks and ice and onions and were sending people out to pick up more stuff!   WE then ran out of sausages and were able to get more.  But, amazingly we never ran out of rolls!  We sold just over 1200 sausages.  This is a good step in the right direction towards  helping our churches building fund!   We had many parents from the church who came and helped and it was a wonderful day.  Chris and I pulled in the drive way at 7:30 ran and got changed and went to our friends house to share "Christmas" with them and pick up our kids.  We had a lovely dinner with them and were very spoilt.  God has truly blessed us with some amazing people in our church!  Thank you for all your prayers today!

Preparing for the Sausage Sizzle

Today Chris and I ran all over Perth picking up sausages, and onions, ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce, serviettes, and about 600 cans of soda.   We were preparing for the Sausage Sizzle that will be tomorrow. We spent lots of time sorting eskies and putting drinks in order and loading it all into our trailer so that we would be ready at 6:00am  tomorrow morning to go sell sausages.  This is one of the biggest fundraisers our church does. And, this afternoon Bunnings called and told us we really needed to bulk up what we were brining because they felt we needed 1200 sausages. So, we upped our orders and bought more supplies so that we would not run out. We sign a contract with the Store that we will sell sausages until 4:00pm no matter what.  But, with it being so close to Christmas and I know how stores are in Perth, They run out all the time of basic needs.  And, I am really worried that if we run out of rolls we will not have any way of getting more.   So, we are praying and ask you to pray with us that we have enough rolls, no matter what!!!

Also this afternoon Chris and I were able to sneak off for 2 hours and go see a movie for his birthday! Was very special!

Brayden Still complaining of a tummy ache!

This morning I took Brayden back down to the doctor's as he is still complaining of a tummy ache and we were up all night again with him tossing and turning.   The doctor still insists he is fine and there is nothing wrong with him. Please pray that Brayden would get over whatever this is and be all better! Especially the sleeping through the night again would be nice.

Landsdale's Got Talent

Today Kids Club was invited to come to school and sing in the talent show .  Today is also the VERY last day of school this year!  They did a great job and sang a song by Hillsong called "Born is the King". It was beautiful and Makayla played a CHristmas carol on the piano.  They did VERY well!  I was so proud of them!!! I am trying to download the video but, it seems to be too large. I will keep trying though.

REPORT CARDS

Just have to take a momen here and tell you how proud of our kids we are...   They work very hard and love attending school. But, they did very well on their report cards.  In australia reporting is differnt.  an
A= 18 months ahead
B= 6 months ahead
C= right where you need to be and ready to go to next grade

Makayla received an A in Math and English and Drama.  She got B's in Social and Economic, Music, Gym, and C's in Italian and Science.
Dawson received an A in Gym, B in Drama and Music and Art, and C's in Math, English, Science, Social and Economic. Very proud of them.

Pray for Makayla as she has been put into a 4/5 grade  class next year and with that will come a 1 to 1 computer program. So, she will need to be right on her game to keep up next year.  Dawson has been given a lovely 2nd grade  strict teacher for next year which will be fantastic! So, we now are officially on school holidays starting tomorrow till February 1st.

Can't believe another year is over....

Playgroup Christmas Party

Today was another crazy busy day. We got up at 6:00am and headed down to the community hall to start setting up for the Playgroup Christmas party.  The coordinator had quit back in September and I thought it couldn't be that hard to organize so we pick this responsibility up this year as well. I was already on the committee and teach preschool on Monday morning for playgroup and I didn't want our 200 families to miss out this year on their christmas party.  So, Chris made sausages and worked really hard all day. The church was represented and sold sausages to provide a service. We didn't make heaps of money off of it, but it was more the fact of us being there to serve.  The Party was fantastic and had no hickups. I had moved it back to the community hall from a different location and people raved about how great it was.  The kids did really well watching after themselves. And, Brayden only spent half the day laying in the shade tent resting because his tummy still hurts. But, all in all it was a wonderful morning. By 2:00 we were home and getting ready for church. 

At 4:00 we were back out the door and headed to church for our Kids Club finale!  The Kids Club sang and performed for their parents and said their memory verses and shared what they had learnt on the kids camp and really shined! I was SOOO proud of them. They received certificated for participating  this year in Kids Club. And, I was really spoilt by a gift they gave chris and I for all we had done for the year! We were truly blessed!!!  What a great night.  Unfortunately I couldnt' find my camera. So, I don;t have any photos! After church we had a dinner and then the community hall we meet in is getting air conditioning so we had to empty our storage closet. So, Chris and I then spent the next three hours hauling everything home to our garage!   Hopefully in the next two weeks we can find a place fr it to all go.

Celebrating Dawson's Birthday

 Yesterday was Dawson's 7th birthday but with the Carols on we promised him we wouldn't miss it and we would celebrate on Saturday.   So, we got up at 7:00am to take him to his tball game.  Dawson hit two home runs and had a few outs and some great snags and tags. He played really well and then went home to get ready for his party that was at 2:00 an hour south of where we live. We went to a Perth Heat game which is the professional team for perth. But, baseball is not super big yet so the stadium is quite small and the stadium seats about 700.  The lady who was in charge of group bookings was an American intern and she gave us all the party perks for free!    With us always doing church functions and throwing parties for everyone else. We have always committed and with Dawson's birthday  being so near to Christmas we have always committed that we would STILL always celebrate his birthday on or as close to on as we could. We don't want him to miss out and feel that church or missions work always comes first and that he is unimportant. So, this year we invited 8 friends from his tball team to meet us at a game with their families if they would like. It was alot of fun and Dawson had  a great time. Funny thing is, the tball club handed out tickets to the same game we had invited everyone to, so the game was free!!! God was definitely watching over us.  And, everyone had a great time.   We cooked sausages on a barbecue and were able to take drinks and chips into the game. So, it was a really fun afternoon and we got home about 9:00pm.
 Dawson was also able to go down on the field and do the dizzy run as well as doa  few different things.

Carols in the Park

It is now 11:30pm and Chris and I have just sat down for the first time today!  The Carols went really well. If we were to critique it from our point of view we are going to need a stage next year and a bigger sound system.  We had at one point counted over 800 people sitting. But, believe that there were well over 1000 that came and attended because there were people everywhere. The Kids Club did a skit of the nativity and sang "It's Christmas" and "Joy to the World.  We had minute to win it games, dance troops, hip hop troops, school choir, community soloist, vendors, jumpy castle, amusement rides, fairy floss, ice cream, sausages, drinks, all kind of fun stuff for people to participate in.  On our feed back forms everyone rated it between an 8 and a 10. But, we really struggled with the wind and it affected our sound. But, also it was such a big crowd that we will have to have a bigger sound system next year.  It went REALLY well. And, it was an awesome evening for everyone to know how much our church cares about families, and individuals, and the community, and most importantly how much we love God! We had three singing sets for the evening where we sang Christmas Carols and had such a fantastic time.  The church people worked tirelessly to pull the evening off as well as a few community groups helped as well such as playgroup and the Landsdale Residents Association.  Praise God that we were able to share and celebrate the birth of our King! What a way to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas!!!   Thank you to everyone who prayed God was definitely present and working in peoples hearts and lives. Thank you for your continuous prayers for our family.

Brayden Still sick

The last 24 hours have been insane.  Brayden has still been un able to sit or lay still and is constantly complaining of a tummy ache.   Last night we had band practice for the carols from 6-11pm. and, then Brayden and I hopped in the car and headed to the emergency room.   We were seen by a few doctors who felt that it was probably lymph nodes in his tummy. He doesn't have a fever and has not other symptoms other than an unbearable tummy ache. So, the observed him till morning and then we drove back home.  When I got home it was Dawson's Birthday! So, I made 24 cupcakes as quickly as I could and threw icing on them and took the kids to school! Needless to say I got no sleep and tonight will be the Carols. So, adrenaline will just have to kick in and keep me busy today!

BRAYDEN SICK!!!! PRAY!!!!

Of course on a week when everything is crazy and insane in our house add to the top of the list a three year old with the flu! Poor boy is tossing and turning and rolling around because his tummy hurts and nothing helps.  And, I am asking everyone to pray that NO ONE else gets it!   That would be horrible... Please pray... this is when living far from family is impossible. We were already totally extended this week with everything and now a sick boy. Please pray he sleeps, and gets better immediately and that he is in nooo more pain!

Carols in the Park

This week is probably the busiest week of the year for Chris and I.  I am actually going to literally write down what we are doing and when so you can be praying. Because only God can pull all this off!!!

YEsterday was insane.. We had playgroup graduation party fr brayden and then I had piano lessons, and friends over for dinner, and then we packed the PMH bags, and then Makayla and I went to deliver them and our dear friends needed help. So, we didn't get to bed till 2AM!  So, pray that we can handle all the overloading and staying up late we will get between now and then!

Friday 3-9 Carols in the Park  Chris and I are running around like crazying trying to finalize all the loose ends..   We are having to pick up jumpy castles, fairy flss machines, organize prizes, and minute to winit games, music, and then acts that our kid are participating in. We are expecting about 500-700 people!    Pray we get a guitarist.. Our guitarist has been called out to work!!! So, we need a guitarist and atleast a drummer by Friday.  Santa cancelled too! But, God provided another one.  

Saturday Tball- 8-11
Saturday Dawson's Bday party 4:00pm

Sunday -  7-12   Playgroup Christmas Party- Melissa has been organizing the community Playgroup Christmas party.  And, they will be providing christmas for 150 kids and their families.  The church is running a sausage sizzle at it. So, pray that we sell sausages but that also we get people to show up and help.

Sunday 4:00- Kids Club awards night at church. 

Monday Morning- Final Preschool Class for the year! So, lot's of planning has gone into that!

Tuesday-   Kids Club is performing for the public school!!!

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL for our children in 2012!!!

Pray for our children.   They help us do sooo much.