Christmas Eve Service

Tonight we gathered together as a family to remember what Christmas is really about! It was a very special service!  Alot of our church families were away. but, those of us who came together had a lovely time! And, one of my dear friends Monia joined us for the service!

Chris's Birthday

This morning we spoilt chris with bacon, croissants, eggs, mushrooms, and a hearty breakfast! Our friends actually cooked the breakfast while we took our tent down and packed up to head home.  Then we met up with the Hotchkin Family (Asst. D.S. for our district, and spent the evening with all of them having hamburgers at FAB burgers)  Chris works so hard here day in and day out running the Landsdale Community Wesleyan Methodist Church, preaching, teaching, running Bible Studies, ministering to families! He is such a Godly Husband, Dad, and Pastor., And, I am looking forward to MANY more birthdays with him.   Thank you Chris for allowing God to guide, direct, and live through your life to everyone we minister to here in Australia!  We love you!

WE HAVE OUR VISA!!!!

We JUST RECEIVED OUR VISA!!  We are leaving to go camping this morning. But, thought we would check our email one last time before we left... And, there it was... our VISA! 

 We are now free to stay in Australia till November 17th 2013!!!!!!  This gives us an opportunity to turn around and reapply for our Permanent Residency. God is so Good! We have been waiting patiently knowing that whatever God had in store for our family was best! And, he has made it evident once more, we are right in the center of His will. and RIGHT where he wants us to be! Thank you to all our family, friends, prayer partners, and financial supporters for praying through this Visa issue. Our God is Amazing!  

Camping in Busselton

A family we have become friends with for 5 years, invited us a few months ago to camping with them. We quickly said yes, as to we have not been invited to do such a thing before with this family.   They don't attend our church, but their kids do come to Kids Club. Their children are the same age as Dawson and Makayla and we live three houses from each other. But, God is good, we were EXHAUSTED, from the previous week. But, monday we got up, quickly did some laundry, left our house a mess and jumped in the car for a 3 hour drive south to join this family for camping. It was a MUCH needed break for our family, we were at breaking point, but it was also a time for us to really share with this couple what Christmas was really about. The kids took their kids presents and we talked about the greatest present they would ever receive.   I received a Christmas card from my Dear friend the mother of these chidlren that will forever be special. "Dear Melissa,  "You are enriching the lives of our children with your teachings. We are blessed to have you and Chris as our friends!"  This family is close. Keep praying that God will show himself to this family.  One of my prayers in 2012 is that we get to see this family do a Christianity Explained course. 

Tonight was our church Christmas party! What a time to rejoice, because three families joined us for the service. Two of them were families we have brought through Christianity explained this year!  We had a wonderful service and then sat around a christmas tree having dinner and opening presents that we brought as a white elephant gift.   Apparently we have a gift that is going to keep returning, which is just "fun" for me. Growing up at the Avon Wesleyan Church we always had these love lanterns that seemed to always come back to the Christmas party.  Our seems to be a steering wheel spinner. But, Chris and I just are THRILLED with the fact that we are a big enough family now, and that we are all close enough that we can open a present like that and the WHOLE room bust out laughing.   Praise God for families and friends. Chris and I were also able to give out our Christmas gift to the church this year.   Months back we got a really good deal on Hershey's Kisses which are such an American treat. And, so each family got a bag of Hershey's kisses and a note that told them how much we appreciate them.   Merry Christmas!

Piano Lessons

On of the Ways Melissa has been reaching out into the community and building relationships with families is through piano lessons in 2011.  It started off as just a friendly guesture for the neighbour next door, three years ago.  At the beginning of this year, some parents from school were asking for lessons, and by the end of the year Melissa had 12 students and makayla and Dawson taking lessons.   We have built some GREAT relationships with these families, and God is working in their hearts.  Tonight we had  an end of the year recital. It was a special moment for us and all the families. The kids dressed up and each played a christmas song, and a personal song the child selected from their lesson book.  The kids played these songs they had never heard before! O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, O little town of Bethlehem, We three kings, While Shepherds watched their flocks american version) etc..  These children had NEVER heard these songs. But, the words were in their books, and they played them. And, we believe that God has planted seeds in these families. Parents were so proud of their children and it was a very special moment.  A dad who does not come to anything church, did come this evening to the piano recital, and he recorded it, and he was so proud of his son.  This boy was the one who played "O come, O come, Emmanuel". And, a seed was planted in his father's heart.  5 children finished their books and received Medalions for completing different levels, and certificates were given to all those who participated in the year.  Truly a special moment.

Dawson's Birthday

Dawson's Birthday

Today we invited every family from Dawson's class to a local park for an end of year picnic as well to celebrate Dawson's Birthday.   It was a fantastic party. And, Dawson was so happy all day long that he had friends to celebrate it with.  This is a huge leap for Dawson. Last year when we asked him who he wanted to come to his party he didn't list Anybody from his class. He didn't seem to have any friends. This year he is very plentiful of friends, and he seems to have calmed down a bit in the classroom. His report card was good and we are so proud of him. Can't believe he is 6.  Dawson had the choice between a party or a present and he chose a party. So, we had a baseball themed party, which he just adored Chris and I played games with the kids and had such a fantastic time! We may try to throw another picnic over the school holidays it was soooo much fun. And, all the parents stayed and picnicked as well. So, it was just a lovely time for us to get to know parents, chat, and share a moment of our life with all these people, so that we can start to build a relationship with them, and start to draw them to our Saviour. So, glad 6 years ago today, God blessed our family with such a fun, athletic, loving boy!

Landsdale's Got Talent

Today was the last day of school. And 4 weeks ago the school announced they were going to have a talent show on the last day of school. And, that students from yr 1- yr. 7 could participate.   The Kids Club choir is made up of all Landsdale students. So, they asked if they could sing in it.  The school gave a resounding yes. And, so we also let the kindy and preprmary kids sing as well. All kindy and preprimary teachers were very happy to let the kids come over and perform. They did a song called "Decking the halls" from the musical.   It was VERY appropriate and couldn't have gone any better. The chorus reads:
"Put away the books, hide the pencils and the paper,
all the school work, is gonna have to wait til later,
we'll decorate the ceilings, decorate the walls. That's what I call.
Decking the halls.

So, for it being the last day of school we couldn't have selected a better song. The song didn't push "Jesus" either so we wanted to make sure we sang something that would fit nicely without being over the top.

The school PA system didn't work properly so the kids had to sing accapella, (THEY DID AWESOME!), and then an announcement was made at the end of their song. But, their eyes were on me, and they followed and they did so well! The Music teacher at the school was really impressed and came up to me aftewards and had nothing but words of encouragement to give! So, it was a great moment for the first time we have ever done something during school hours.

Just as a side note. Makayla was also selected to play the piano at the talent show. She played "We're off to see the Wizard" and did a fantastic job. We were so proud of her!  She dressed up in a light bue

Helping in Dawson's Classroom
Chris and I spent today at the school helping in Dawson's class room. Something very cool happened!  Dawson was singing one of the kids club songs at school and his 4 friends that come to kids club were singing with him on the playground. So, his teacher asked them to sing it for the class. So, this afternoon we went in for their christmas program for the pre primary kids. And, Dawson and his four friends sang the song for all the parents. They were so cute and very proud of them for being such a great influence at school!

The Light Before Christmas
Tonight was our performance of the musical the light before Christmas. The Kids did a fantastic job! They memorized lines, they sang  6 songs!  The kids were fantastic and this was the first time we have done a musical with this group or anything close to one. We were so proud of them. But, the most important thing about the whole night was that the kids brought the true message of Christmas to their parents.  It was very clear from the beginning of us practicing at the beginning of the term. That the play was not about HOW WELL we did, but about how important it was for us to tell others about Jesus and what he can offer us if we open our hearts and accept Him. I was just so proud of them, they worked really hard to memorize everything.

Carols in the Park!

Carols in the park was a huge success. It was very stressfull as last year we had two people who helped us coordinate it and this year we were on our own. So, we have made a HUGE list of things we are going to get other people to do next year! But, it was a huge success! We had over 400 people at it.  We had community dance troop, and a local school choir sang, as well as our kids club choir, and we put together a band that did Christmas carols. There were some solos and chirstmas minute to win it games. By the end of the night Chris and I were exhausted! But, families came up to us afterwards and boasted about how this was their second year! And, they love it as much as the first, and they would be back the next year! Our Kids Club families and the John Wesley Church came up and helped us and it was a HUGE success!  Not becuase of what we did, but because God was there in control of the whole event!  Thank you to everyone we prayed We still do not have photos yet from the photographer. But, when we do! We will share them!

Please pray continually for the Carols in the Park. Basically I am three days behind and can't catch up because I still have Dawson home ,and I  want to give him all the attention he needs to get better! Pray that I find time to pull everything together as well as Chris does! Pray that Dawson has an incredibly quick recovery!

Dawson has come out of his surgery and is doing incredibly well. He is crying he wants to go home.. And, the nurse said as long as I promised to bring him straight in if there were any dramas then, I could take him home.   So, hopefully he will be alright. He is such a strong trooper! Feel really bad for him right now.. But, atleast he will be able to feel like starting to eat soon again!   He is a bit scared because the place was BUSY all day while we were waiting and now he has come out and no one is there but us him, and a nurse. So, he is just worried that he is still at the hospital!

Dr. has just come in and said that they are all willing to stay over the shift change and they will do his operation tonight! Am a bit scared.. They are taking 5 teeth... not 1! Because they are afraid that if they don't take 5 of them we will be back soon to have to have another one taken out. So, they are going to go on the safe side.  I am a little worried. 5 is alot! and, this could have been prevented if they had done the anaphylatic test a LONG time ago. We possibly could have saved these teeth! Also, worried because we don't have dental coverage... wonder how much this is all going to cost!!!! :(   So, at 7:00 they will take him.

Dawson is in the room prepped and waiting....,  and the anistesiologist has come in and said they made a mistake and we will have to take Dawson home and wait another day.  They booked the Dr, the anistesiologist, but we are booked for the OR TOMORROW!  :(  At this point I am going to do nothing but pray.. Dawson really needs this operation he is in soo much pain, and has basically eaten nothing in 4 days!  Praying that there is a miracle and they take him in. .....

Today we will go for the operation at 2:00pm. I am not that nervous but pray that he is okay with the general anistethic because they STILL have not done the anaphylatic test, so I am just a bit nervous he may have a bad reaction. But, hopefully all will go well.

STILL WAITING
Last night Dawson was in so much pain that he woke up like 8-9 times... So, we were very concerned about him. So, Chris rushed him back to the hospital to see if they could squeeze him in for the operation today.   He just called and said he is on his way back home and they have booked him in for an operation time tomorrow. :)  So, hopefully we can get him feeling better... :)

Please pray for Dawson

Over the weekend Dawson woke up with a really bad tooth ache. I knew it wasn't good. So, we took him to the dentist.  And, because of his allergic reaction in February when they gave him a local anistethic he is not allowed to have anymore work until they do the Anaphylatic test on him at the local children's hospital.  He has been wait listed since FEB for this test!)  So, they had me take him down to the chidren's hospital. At this time they told me they would operate and that they would put him completely under so Dawson and I sat there waiting from 8:00am to 4:30. At this time they sent us home saying they didn't have an opening and that we were waitlisted for an emergency spot if one opens up.  Dawson looked like a chipmunk and had been in serious pain since saturday morning.  and had barely eaten a thing all weekend. :(  The problem with wasting a whole day at the ER also is that we have the carols on Friday night and I have HEAPS of work to do, to prepare for it! :(