The Well

Devotional Thought

2011-03-15T14:44:00.006+13:00

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' That is, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Matthew 27:46

Living authentically doesn't mean that you have mastered perfection or solved all of your problems. It means that you're living the best you know how with the circumstances you've been given, according to the foundation of your belief system. It means that you're honest about the conflicts within your own heart. Even Jesus was conflicted, asking the Father Himself, why He had forsaken Him - however He still behaved authentically, unwavering from what He knew to be true. Let us follow suit.

This was the scripture that was sent to me today for my daily Bible devotional. The past week, the passages and the interpretations that have been sent with them have really hit home. I really enjoyed the interpretation regarding this particular passage. I often forget that Jesus himself had a conflicting heart moment. When he was there, in those last moments, He was asking God, why me? Are you sure I must go through with this? Why must I suffer?

I have the "why me" moments quite often. I wonder, why do we have to go through this visa stuff? Why do we have to....you name it, and I have probably thought it! I have said this before, and I continue to say it...but God has a plan. Even though we do not yet know what that is, He has it all worked out! I also like that numerous times God tells us "do not be afraid". So in our "why me" moments, don't waiver in your faith, don't be afraid....trust God. Believe. Trust.

"I am with you always."--Jesus.

News: Rylee

2011-02-02T22:47:00.004+13:00

Rylee Update:1

After a much "too long" school holiday, Rylee is officially back to school! Hobsonville Primary started its 2011 school year today. Rylee is one of those kids that didn't understand why the school had to go on holiday for such a long time! She was ready to start back to school before Christmas! It's hard to be upset about a child that loves going to school! At any rate, today arrived and she was up and in her uniform before 7AM!! Oh my!! I was a bit worried about how her day would go with waking so early. But she managed to stay composed!! She had a great first day in her new classroom. She is blessed to be in a year 1-2 class (Don't ask what this means! I am still trying to understand the school system!) that is taught by one of her little friends mum! It makes it easier to send my child to school knowing she is in good hands! She enjoyed her new class...probably enjoyed eating her morning tea with her buddies that are in a different class better! BUT my absolute favourite story of the day is this...."mom, we (the girls) got chased by all the boys and we didn't like it!" HaHa! I was immediately sent down memory lane to my kindergarten years and being chased by the boys on the playground. Only in those days, our teacher told us to hit the boys if they kept pestering us! I am sure that wouldn't go over well anymore. :)

Rylee Update: 2

While we were at our team retreat last week, Rylee lost her 2nd tooth! She was so excited!!! I have to thank my sister in law for passing on the secret that if you leave a glass of water next to your bed the tooth fairy will sprinkle her fairy dust in it and that will tell you what colour she was. One might think this is a hard task to accomplish being at a remote bach, some 30 minutes from a town! (Meaning, a bach that doesn't have a stock in food colouring! ;)) Thanks to our personal fairy assistants, Chris and Cody, we learned how a sharpie marker can help in this process. Rylee's tooth fairy sprinkled her violet fairy dust in the water, and left her a gold coin! Lucky Rylee!!! :)

Into 2011...

2011-01-30T16:09:00.004+13:00

Happy New Year to you all! I have begun this year wondering where in the world 2010 went!?! It's as if I woke up one day and it was a whole new year! Crazy how that happens!!!

Have you ever begun the new year with a heap of resolutions and then just a few days into the year, they are all changed? That is how we have started this year. I have a list of goals for our family, for me personally, for our church work, and the list could go on. But somewhere around our anniversary, Jan 8, the plans all changed.

You see, it is not just the fact that on that day we found out that the Peters visa situation had not come back from immigration in their favour. It's not just the fact that there are hard times for our families back in the States. It's not just the fact that two weeks after the Peters visa news, we received the same news. It's the fact that all of this is to remind us that WE are not in control of our lives.

I have been battling whether these attacks are Satan striking against us. Maybe we have found favour with God and Satan is not a happy camper, thus him trying to bring us down. Maybe God has seen the good that has begun and is now ready to send us on a new journey. Both of these are valid statements.

Regardless of which method I choose to believe, the ultimate truth is that it doesn't matter! God is still my Saviour. He is still the one I believe in. He is the reason I strive so hard to make a difference in the lives around me. He adopted me! How much better can it get!?!? He has hand picked me! And for that, I am thankful!

We will do our part to try to persuade immigration to let us stay in NZ. But the scary truth out of this is that we may not be allowed to stay. I am SO thankful for new feet that will soon be walking in this ministry. Feet that will hopefully be joining us, but could be standing here filling our shoes. The people in NZ will continue to be reminded that there is more to life; that there is a bigger goal out there!

Wherever our path leads us next, I will continue to have my trust in God.

Happy Birthday Gavin!!!

2010-12-27T22:24:00.005+13:00

I can't believe my little boy has finally turned 2! It seems like yesterday he was born! I can replay the days events of his actual birth day. I remember sitting on the couch playing our new Wii Mario Cart game. We would have to pause the game during a contraction, but I was still able to keep up the race! We made it to the hospital and within the hour, I was holding my little boy in my arms.

Gavin has been such a joy to have in my life. The past two years I have learned so much about God. That His timing continues to be perfect, even when I don't understand!! I am incredibly thankful for how God moves in our lives to bring us to a more perfect place. It is because of God's timing for little Gavin to be part of my life that I have met one of my best friends here in Auckland!

Gavin has the most beautiful blue eyes that simply melt my heart every time I look at him. He has this little smile that captures my attention. His blonde locks stand out in our family. His little sayings are super sweet! He is just a bundle of joy. He is a cheeky little boy that I love with all my heart, and I am blessed to be his mom. I pray that God gives us many years together, and that I can teach Gavin to love and serve Him.

Gavin's 2nd Birthday Party

2010-12-12T21:36:00.003+13:00

It is so hard to believe it is already time to celebrate Gavin's second birthday! This year, we decided to have a joint birthday party with one of Gavin's good buddies, Toby. Gavin and Toby have been in each others lives since they were first born and we share many of the same friends! So it only seemed fitting to have a combined party. Not to mention that with Gavin's actual birthday being the 26 December, it is hard to have his friends all in town!

Heaps of people showed up to help us celebrate their special days. We have been blessed with so many good friends here in NZ!

Happy Holiday Season

2010-12-08T20:55:00.004+13:00

Justin and I don't often get out and do many things without the kids. So when the opportunity came up for us to head out to a music concert with our friends Scott and Steph, we decided to give it a go! We bought tickets to the U2 concert as a Christmas pressie to each other! I think my last concert to go to was when I was in high school!!! So this was quite a "new" experience for me!

Not long after we purchased the tickets for the U2 concert, our favorite restaurant, Mexicali, did a promotion with Jack Johnson concert tickets as the reward. Lucky for us, Justin is a HUGE social network guy and we won the tickets!!! So the very next week we were VIP ticket holders to the Jack Johnson concert. We enjoyed another fun night out, this time with complimentary dinner from Mexicali! Woohoo!!! Free concert AND dinner!

Some months ago, Justin and I decided that we needed to be more intentional with seeing more to NZ than just Auckland. Wellington was our next destination! We took a two day trip to see the capital city of NZ. We stayed right in the city and were able to visit several of the touristy spots! Rylee had been a little reluctant to go because her school was having a special Christmas program. But I think she ended up enjoying our family time away!

Is it wrong that Gavin was licking the bowl from the restaurant?!?!? His new love...sun dried tomato dip!!

Rylee wanted her picture with several of the roses at the Botanical Garden.

Rylee and Gavin near the water front in Wellington.

We got to ride on the historic red cable car!!!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-08T20:39:00.005+13:00

For the second year, Discover Church hosted a community Thanksgiving dinner. With a lot of planning and organization and at least 2 of everything on the menu, we were blessed to host about 54 people for a lovely meal. It is so humbling to have such a large number of people that we love and care for in one place at one time.

It is hard to be away from our American family during holiday seasons, hearing about the yummy foods that we have grown up devouring every Thanksgiving! And not to mention seeing all the "black Friday" ads pop in our email boxes!! BUT we are incredibly thankful for the family that God has surrounded us with right here in the Massey community.

Give Thanks!!!

Completely Blessed

2010-11-08T22:46:00.004+13:00

You know there are those people in your life that you are absolutely sure that God has placed there for His purpose!!? I have several of those people in my life. I want to share with you about my dear friend, Jen. I know I have talked heaps about her over the last two years. But I feel it is time to share with you our journey.

You see, just over two years ago, Jen and I met...prego bumps and all! We both attended a pregnancy yoga class together. It was through that class, which I was in because of other circumstances, that God opened my eyes to such a friend as Jen. We had a wonderful class! There are still about eight of us from that class that meet together as frequently as time will allow! I definitely believe that God opened the door for me to have these relationships.

I was in a hard place in life. After moving across the world, falling pregnant and getting sick, God showed that His feet were guiding my steps. I didn't know it at the time, but I have learned this now!! Amazing how that happens. I prayed harder than I have before during those times for Him to show me why!?! Why had I been dealt such a rough entry to a new home.

Two years later....I am in love with that little bundle of boy that God surprised me with! He brings complete joy to my life! I have found that in the midst of hard times, God is there! I have also been blessed with such great friends in my life!

So there is the background on my friend Jen. Jen is now expecting her third child! A surprise that God has bestowed upon her and her husband! Jen's husband was called out of the country for a quick work job during the time when they were to have one of the biggest scans you can have during pregnancy...the one where the sex of the baby can be revealed! I feel so completely blessed that my friend invited me to accompany her to this appointment! I can't tell you how humbled I feel that she would ask me to go with her. It was a joy to share in that moment with her! Seeing that little bub floating around and playing in her tummy was the coolest thing! I have never seen a scan on another person, so it was quite an experience for me! I am happy to report that there is a healthy baby boy developing quite nicely in her womb. And God knows the heart of that little man, even at this moment!

I am thankful that God has placed Jen and Dane and their family in our lives. We are grateful for the relationship that we have and that continues to grow! I just ask you to keep their family in your prayers as they anticipate the birth of this little bub in a few months.

Gracenomics

2010-10-03T21:24:00.003+13:00

Justin has done a review on a great book called "Gracenomics". Go read his blog post on our church website www.noreligionjustjesus.com or www.discoverchurch.me. The book is all about second chance living and showing more grace in our world today, not only to others, but to ourselves as well.

My Kids...

2010-09-23T11:35:00.005+12:00

Just wanted to show you a super sweet picture of my kids. They are the sweetest kids EVER!!

Rylee has been home sick for a few days. Poor thing hasn't felt good. She was begging to go back to school today. Her two little friends that she plays with all the time have also been out sick off and on the past few days. All this reminded me of being about her age and always getting sick around the same time as my best friend, Jill. I think we were so meshed that we had strep throat and chicken pox about the same time! I know that is funny, but I am truly blessed by my long friendships. And I am excited to see how God grows Rylee's friendships!

Gavin continues to be the little boy that he is! Today he decided to throw my keys in the rubbish bin at Starbucks. That was fun digging to the bottom of the bin to find my keys! Oh little boy!!! He is a little boy after his daddy's heart. He loves to play "keetars" when Justin plays! He runs and grabs the little ukulele when Justin is playing his guitar. Gavin has gone as far as to mimic Justin's actions...he try's to prop his foot up on the bed with the ukulele on his knee, he puts the pick in his mouth, he nods his head to the beat of the music. Oh, he is his dads boy!!!

pjs, pizza and more....

2010-09-23T11:10:00.003+12:00

Parent's Night Out continues to be an incredible outreach ministry to our community. We consistently have at least 20 kids/helpers at each event. This has been a huge blessing for us to be in the lives of these families. I generally ask the families what they are off to do for the evening, and most of them say they are going to dinner or a movie...just the two of them. They tell us that it will be the first time they have been out in awhile without the kids. And for that, we are thankful to be able to provide them with the time off.

I know I have said it before, but it is still true...that parents need time to be themselves! It is so important to have your family time, but parents need time to remember that they are more than parents! For Justin and I, this time doesn't come as often as we would like. But when we do have time away, it is very refreshing!!

I have added a creative helper to the team of organizing PNO. Jen Skelton has been a huge help to me in putting on the events. She has a wonderfully creative mind that enjoys coming up with games, crafts, snacks and much more! It is fun for the kids to have a special theme for the month. It helps with organizing activities to keep them busy for the 4 hours that we are responsible for them!

September's PNO theme was pjs, pizza and a movie. This was the first time we provided an actual meal for the kids. We purchased 14 pizzas to feed the kids as well as the helpers! Those kids know how to eat...I don't think any of the pizza was left! The kids enjoyed playing around in the community house, watching the movie Up, eating food together and doing crafty things!

We are currently planning out our October event. We are going to be teaching these kids about helping others. In the past, our church has helped with the Operation Christmas Child organization. This year we are reaching beyond this and asking our PNO kids to participate in filling the shoe boxes to send to kids in Fiji. Please pray for our next event that we can share the Light with those around us!

The Good Citizen Award

2010-09-13T15:21:00.004+12:00

So we just got back from an assembly at Rylee's school, Hobsonville Primary. Rylee received a couple of awards today, but the one I want to talk about is called the "Good Citizen" Award. Basically, this award is given to a student for showing excellence in different areas of their work and life. The school looks for Respect, Responsibility, Achievement and Pride (this is what they call the RRAPs). Now I would be a proud father for having a smart kid (and Rylee is one smart kid, which I can't really take credit for, it's all Jennifer). But there is something special, some kind of pride within me when I hear that my child is being recognized for her respect of her work and her care for those around her. These are the characteristics we want to instill in our kids. This is the Christ-like attitude we want Rylee to know and to follow. To hear that she loves others and takes care of others, brings feelings to me that I can not describe. Today my daughter showed her school Christ, and for that I am humbled. Today my daughter showed me the life that I should be living, that I try to live. I love those days when you child is the one giving you life lessons!

Post Car Theft Update

2010-09-06T21:55:00.003+12:00

As you remember, about 4 weeks ago our van was stolen out of the Wendy's restaurant parking lot. Since that day, we have been dealing with insurance, police investigators and retail store workers. Although it has taken longer than I would have liked, we are about to close this chapter in our lives. We should have all the things that we had claimed on our insurance that were in our van replaced or monetarily replaced by the end of this week. We are so thankful that we had the insurance! I hadn't realized how much stuff we had in the car until I made the contents list. All the little things really do add up! Our insurance company has worked well with us to get us most of our items replaced. About half of the things they replaced have been upgrades too! (One positive to having your car stolen!)

It turns out that at almost 3 weeks of our car missing, it became famous! I received a phone call from a nearby police station saying that they had found our car! It has been involved in a robbery. We were no longer responsible for the car, so that was nice. We didn't have to do anything with that. It was more of a shock that they had finally found it. But seriously, where had it been hiding for those 3 weeks!!!?

Gavin's Bling

2010-09-06T21:45:00.003+12:00

About a week ago, Gavin started playing in Rylee's jewelry. I let him wear around a simple necklace and bracelet. Since that day, we have added about 7 more bracelets and 2 necklaces!! Gavin insists on putting these on as soon as he wakes up. When we go to get him out of his bed, the first words out of his mouth are, bracelets!! It is cute, but we are in the market for some boy jewelry..enough of the pinks and flowers!! He is also really good about putting the jewelry away at bed times. He knows he is not allowed to wear them, so when we ask him to take it off, he is very good about setting it all in one spot!

Happy Father's Day

2010-09-06T21:13:00.006+12:00

Celebrating fathers day is always fun! I love watching Rylee come up with her own gift to give Justin. This year has been the best so far because she was able to put her own hand to the gift! You see, we purchased an unfinished wood tray for his gift. Rylee choose out the colors and created the perfect design! But the best part was her little note that she wrote on the back. That is why I had to post this picture of it!

** I love you daddy. Love Rylee. I love you dad. I want you to be happy today. **

Gavin wanted to take Justin to see the movie Toy Story 3 in 3D! I know, he is SO thoughtful!! :) Gavin does really like Buzz and Woody! So when the movie started he was yelling, "Buzz, Woody!!" He is just too cute!

Thanks, Justin, for all you do for our family!! I am SO thankful for our beautiful kids and the love you shower on them (and me!!). I love you!

Tweens

2010-08-12T15:42:00.004+12:00

Isn't it a blessing when new classes at church need to be created! That is just what we have begun at Discover Church. It seems our children's ministry is growing leaps and bounds!! We are ever so thankful for these young children choosing to visit Bible class.

For quite some time, we had been able to work with two separate children's classes, a birth-2 class and a 3 and up class. We have just begun a "tweens" class. This is to meet the need of our 6 and up age group. I can see a need for a future fourth class meeting the 2-3 age group, but we are limited on rooms and teachers at this point!

At this stage, Elijah and our intern, Cody, have taken over the teaching of this new class. The current lesson series is to introduce these kids to the Bible. They are on a mission to see what all the Bible teaches and to begin to learn who God is! As part of the curriculum, the kids are to do a daily Bible reading. I believe the goal for those who complete the mission is a pizza party!

I am excited about the future of our children's ministry. Please join us as we pray for these kids, their families and their hearts, as they discover how God is working in and through them.

Where did it go????

2010-08-08T23:07:00.004+12:00

Just wanted to take a minute to update you on our latest "news". We set off for a nice family lunch at the great Wendy's restaurant! (This is one of our favs here!! One of the only places you get an American sized coke!!) Anyway, I only wish I was writing to give you an update on places to eat in Auckland. :) After our almost 30 minute lunch, we ventured outside to notice that our car was NOT there. Yup...Justin and I looked at each other and thought maybe we had forgotten where we parked the car, not that the parking lot is that big! Needless to say someone else decided they needed our car more than we did!

I quickly called Elijah to come rescue us, as he at least had a car seat for Gavin. Then I quickly got on the phone with the police department. (Glad I remembered to dial, 111 and not 911!) After spending the next little bit on the phone between the police and our insurance company, we have a plan in line for the next 10 days. First, we are getting a rental as of Monday morning. We will wait and have another phone call with a contents insurance agent and see what the next steps are as far as replacing our car seats, pram, and other items that were in the car. If the car is not found in the next 10 days, we will have to look for a replacement.

This is definitely not how we planned our day to go, but we are thankful that we are all ok, not hurt. The kids are fine. Rylee is trying to understand why someone would come take our car. But she is hopeful that our rental will be pink! That would make her day!! :)

To top it off, Gavin ended the afternoon with a decent fever. So the little man and I had to stay home from church. This was not good either since I teach our 3-6 year old class! Thanks, Skylar, for filling in for me!

Rylee's Playdate

2010-07-31T20:47:00.004+12:00

Simply a few photos from Rylee's playdate with her good buddy, Leah! They had quite the run of the house today!!! :)

Ice Cream Fun

2010-07-31T20:34:00.007+12:00

Last weekend Jen Skelton and her kids joined us for a picnic at the park. The kids had a blast playing at the park, but "someone"...nudge, nudge, Justin....decided that he wanted an ice cream!!! Lucky for him, we found one just down the road! Turns out Gavin ate all of the ice cream cone that Justin was intending to share with him! Oh well, the kids enjoyed their ice cream date.

Mid-Winter Xmas Party

2010-07-20T11:38:00.003+12:00

Every third Sunday we have a BBQ with our Church community. This past Sunday, one of our frequent visitors recommended we do a Mid-Winter Xmas Dinner. So she organized the whole thing and assigned people what they could bring. We also had a gift exchange, where no gift could be over $2, which made the gifts creative. We had a great time together. We had 28 people come and participate in this night. The room was filled with good food, friends and laughter. It was a great theme to have halfway through the year. These BBQs have been a great way for us to build upon our relationships with one another. God is creating a wonderful community through events such as these.

PNO's 1st B-Day!

2010-07-20T11:28:00.004+12:00

Parent's Night Out celebrated its official 1st birthday. We decide to celebrate by throwing a party! We themed out our last PNO birthday style. We had balloons, cake, games, poppers, arts & crafts. It was a really great night. We had 21 kids come to PNO. Needless to say our hands were filled. We even had a few parents stay some of the time with us. God has blessed us with a great year of PNO and we are really excited about what this next year will bring.

Jennifer's B-Day

2010-06-29T11:59:00.002+12:00

Last Sunday was Jennifer's 31st birthday! This was a particularly different birthday in that we were not together for the first time in at least 10 years. I have missed having the family, but know that they are having a great time visiting family/friends in the States. From what I heard, Jennifer had a great birthday regardless. As a surprise, Discover Church made a video of the congregation singing happy birthday to Jennifer and sent it to her. She loved it. We put our own special touches on the song/video. Can't wait for them to get back. Please pray for the rest of their trip and also for their safe return.

PNO

2010-06-29T11:50:00.002+12:00

Two Friday's ago we had our first PNO in a while. We had been out of the Community House for a month and this kept us from doing our normal activities up there. The other obstacle was that Jennifer and the kids were going to be in the States during this time. Jennifer worked with Jen Skelton on organizing the event. It turned out to be a huge success. Jen & Kristen did an awesome job running PNO that night. The theme was "Sports". We had soccer games, rugby relay and also sock dodge ball. It was great seeing all the kids and also getting back into the routine of serving the community through PNO. We continue to build relationships with the parents and God continues to bless us with opportunities to talk about His mission and invite people to be a part of our worship services. This ministry is growing and we thank God for this opportunity to serve and tell people about Christ through it.

Weird

2010-06-20T14:05:00.003+12:00

So the kids and I made it safely to the States! We arrived to the US on Tuesday night. The kids both did great on the flight. Big, big thanks to Cara for traveling with me on the way to LAX. It was great to have an extra set of hands to help me out with the kids.

We have pretty well adjusted to the time changes. Gavin is struggling a bit with not being in his normal bed! I am hopeful that he will soon figure out that his converted closet is a great bedroom! We'll see!

It has been a bit weird being back without Justin, I have to admit. Gavin sees him everywhere we go! "Daddy," he says! It is so cute. I made both kids a little daddy book before we left so they have some recent photos of them with Justin. That helps keep his face with them all the time. And I am even more thankful for Skype! It has been wonderful keeping in touch with him and the things going on in Auckland.

Speaking of Auckland...Friday night was the monthly PNO event. I hear it went rather well!! I had turned the runnings over to our dear friend Jen Skelton for the time while I am gone. She had wonderful ideas and I am confident everything went smoothly. We may have just found ourselves a new PNO organizer!

This Sunday night is the monthly BBQ at our house. As I am writing this, they are probably enjoying a wonderful hamburger and sausage dinner! I pray all goes well for those that are planning to attend this event.

I am currently in OKC and will be in OK for the next few weeks. Then I will be traveling to Georgetown as well as the Dallas area. Hope to see you all on my travels!

God Bless!

Georgetown Visitors

2010-06-08T21:21:00.003+12:00

We have been blessed this past week with some special visitors from Georgetown. Melanie Partlow and Tiffany Sanders came over for a week to spend time with us. It is always nice to be able to show people around our city, this place we call home! We love introducing people to another part of the big world that God created.

Despite the rain and cold, I think the girls had a nice time exploring Auckland! It was evident they missed their Dr. Pepper fixes!!! But we introduced them to many of our favorite kiwi places and people.

Rylee enjoyed having her buddy's mom over for the time! She was a little upset that her buddy couldn't come, but one day! The girls were able to visit Rylee's school and actually attend her Jump Rope for the Heart day. (Rylee actually won an award for her class!!)

Thanks, girls, for coming and encouraging us! Thank you for all the goodies and things that will help in our Church ministries.

Travel

2010-06-08T21:10:00.002+12:00

The kids and I are going to be taking a little trip back to the States next week! We are excited to be able to see family that we haven't seen in over a year. The last time we were there Gavin was just a wee bub! Now he is a walking, drooling, jabbering little boy! And Rylee...well, she is a beautiful little school girl!

We will be visiting OKC, Tulsa, Georgetown and Dallas. So if you are around and want to catch up, let me know!

May???

2010-06-08T20:48:00.004+12:00

I am not really sure what happened to the month of May! It seems that after Rylee's birthday things kicked into overdrive. I don't know that I can properly recap the month of May, but I will pass on a few happenings for the month!

We had a super fun Strawberry Shortcake birthday party for Rylee on the 8th of May. She invited 9 of her friends and they all showed up in cute little dress up clothes! Rylee was all decked out to look like Strawberry Shortcake! The girls had fun playing twister, bingo, decorating cookies and eating cake! I kind of over did the food selection and it was a bit heavy on the sugary end! But there were no complaints from the girls! (Or their mums for that matter!)

The following Monday, Rylee, and two of her friends from kindy, started school! They were the first three to start in a new class. Rylee did great on the first day and hasn't stopped enjoying school since then. She just received her 4 week report and it looks like she is doing quite well in class! She can properly count to 100 and can recognize 9 key words! She came home today telling me about compound words. I think I might need to brush up on my kindergarten basics!!

May was a little bit different as far as Church service, PNO and Ice Box. The Community House, where we meet, was closed for renovations. We canceled our PNO for the month because there was no where else to meet. Ice Box activities were moved to the Ely's home as well as a dinner at our house. Though the number of kids that attended the activities for the month was smaller, it allowed for more personal relationship time with each of them. Our Church services were moved to our home for the month. For two of the weeks we hosted a "BBQ". We used those weeks to share life with the families on a more intimate basis. For the other two weeks we had service and class just as we would at the Community House. We are ready to be back in the Community House, though! It looks like we should be able to return in another week.

Cara Speer came over at the end of the month with a group of students from the University where she is a teacher. We were able to visit with her group and tell them about life in NZ. It is always fun to share our experiences with others. It helps me remember where we came from and how far we have come in this new place God has allowed us to live.

Charles joined Cara for a visit. We will get to spend some time with both of them later this week!

That is a brief update of the things that we were involved with during the month of May!

Happy Birthday Rylee!!!

2010-05-06T22:36:00.005+12:00

This is it. The day has finally come (and mostly gone)...our little girl has officially turned 5! I can't believe it has been 5 years since Rylee was born into this world. She was a cute little bundle then and that hasn't changed over the last 5 years! I am honored and blessed to be the mother of such a bright, talented, imaginative, caring young girl. She brings joy to my heart and music to my soul!

As I mentioned before, turning 5 in New Zealand culture is a big thing. So we decided to do her birthday up big! Justin and I (and Gavin too!) were able to go up to kindy and help Rylee make her special birthday hat, birthday card and birthday play dough cake! It was so cute watching her do all of these activities....not just because she is fun to watch, but because she has watched others do the things that she finally got to do today! She knew exactly what and how we were to decorate each of those things. So she created a snow princess crown to go along with her snowflake dress that she choose to wear today! (Thanks Nana!!! :))

In addition to her big morning at kindy, Justin and I decided it would be fun to do something a little different with her birthday gifts. We created a birthday scavenger hunt. We had 5 separate clues that we gave Rylee over the course of the day. So at random points during the day, we would give her a clue that she could go and find her special gift. And usually the clue was somewhere near what type of gift it was! (For example....we gave her an "are you hungry" clue in the kitchen for a kids cooking set gift.) She had a really fun time with the birthday hunt! And we were told that this is the "best birthday ever"!!! So I guess we did a good job!

To finish the night off, we had the Ely's and the Skelton's over for our "family" dinner! It is so nice to have such close friends that we call them family. God has blessed us with many friends that fit this special category!!

We will be having a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party with 8 of Rylee's friends on Saturday. So be watching for photos of little Rylee Cherry dressed as Strawberry Shortcake!!!

Crave Groups

2010-05-05T23:53:00.002+12:00

Tonight we started what we are calling "Crave" groups. We started thinking what would it look like if we studied the Bible with people as a community. What would we learn from each others insights and how could we be better equipped to serve by discussing God's mission as a group. We also felt it would allow people to feel more comfortable learning in a group setting. This came out of some observations that some did not feel comfortable studying one on one, but if they had a friend it was easier. So we started this casual Bible study group called "Crave".

We called it "Crave" because we all crave something in life. But what we should crave the most is God. So we invite people to come discover what we should crave and how to find Him. We are starting off by using short videos (10 to 15 min) and then letting that be the beginning of our discussions and then we transition into the Bible, looking at scripture and talking about what it means for us today.

Tonight we had 3 people come and many more who wanted to come but were unable. We will be hosting another "Crave" night in two weeks. For now, we are going to have these groups every other week and then as they catch on we will transition to once a week.

Please be praying for God to bring people our way. For us to have our eyes open to the people God is leading towards us and for us to have the wisdom to teach them the Way of Jesus.

Sunday Worship

2010-05-05T23:43:00.002+12:00

We recently started a new series called "Modern Family". The idea is we all have those crazy relatives or maybe we are those crazy people. But we love them just as they are. The Bible is filled with stories of imperfect people made great by God. So we tell the stories of different characters in the Bible: Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc. and we discuss the application for us today; what we can learn from their lives and how God worked through them. This is going to be a long series (obviously covering the Bible), so we are breaking it up. We will be doing six weeks this go around and then will pick it back up later in the year.

The really cool thing is we have been having visitors coming. Not too long ago we decided to host a BBQ inviting our friends to come along. At the BBQ we talked about who Discover Church was and what we were about. Then we invited them to come attend one of our services. The first Sunday after that, when we kicked off the series, we had 9 new visitors, 11 total. This past Sunday we had 13 new visitors, 16 total. God is doing some amazing things and we are humbled before it.

Please continue to pray as we seek to do His will and as we continue to see God sending people our way to love, serve and minister to. Pray for us, for boldness and love. Pray for those we are reaching out to, that they may find their way back to God.

It's Almost Time....

2010-04-26T15:18:00.004+12:00

It's almost time that my sweet little girl will be turning 5. And this birthday is not just a normal birthday for NZ kids. This is one of the most anticipated days for little kids because this is the day they can officially start school! For some children, they actually begin their first day of school on their birthday! To me, I wonder why in the world are they so anxious to start school, they are going to be there for at least 12 more years! Regardless, this new beginning will be here very soon for Rylee.

She is super excited to be starting school. Special birthday celebrations are held at her kindy for 5 year olds. She has watched probably 30 kids turn 5 over the last 9 months. And next week it will be her turn! Justin and I will go with her to kindy and help her create a special hat to wear that day. She will also get to bring little goodies for her friends and then they will sing her a happy birthday song. This is big stuff for a 5 year old!!!

In preparation of Rylee starting school, we took a trip to the school to meet the principal, the deputy principal and the teacher. We had a nice look around the school property. The "junior" centre is located in the back of the lot next to a very nice sized playground! Rylee is exceptionally excited about playtime!! Schools in NZ are run a bit different than what I am used to. They run year round and start just after you turn 5. This means that new kids are always showing up in classes! By starting Rylee now, she will be in a brand new class. In fact, the only other 2 children in the class have also been to kindy with Rylee!! And the teacher is the team leader and has taught for quite a few years!

So after all the anxieties have come and lingered...I am feeling better about her time to start school. I can't say that I am eager to leave her in 2 weeks. But I know that God has heard my prayers and will protect Rylee as she begins this new chapter of her life.

Church BBQ

2010-04-23T20:42:00.004+12:00

We worship in the community house 3 out of 4 Sunday's a month. We decided this month to host a BBQ at our house. This particular event we invited those we have good relationships with. We had 15 people show up and another 10 had wanted to come, but didn't make it. We had a great night. We grilled up some chicken and sausages and everyone brought a side to go with it. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food and the conversation.

This also gave us the opportunity to talk to everyone about what God is doing through us and our Church. We also invited them to be a part of what we were doing and join in God's mission to bring all back into a relationship with Him. From this we are hoping to have further conversations with others about where they see their relationship with God and how we can help them in this journey.

We will be hosting two more BBQs in May. We have asked for those that came to this event to come back to the next ones and invite their friends as well. We are praying for a big turnout. Please be praying with us that we will have an audience to tell people about the love of God and how He can change their life!

April PNO

2010-04-23T20:35:00.003+12:00

This past PNO was filled with a lot of games and a famous movie of the past. We played a game of balloon volleyball, which was a blast. We also took the kids outside for a while to play on the playground and take a ride on the "flying fox." But the best part of the night was watching the movie "Home Alone"! That's right we threw in an old movie from the past. It is a classic. Boy gets in fight with parents, parents send him to his room and forget about him, boy survives on his own and fights off bandits from robbing the house. Good times!

PNO continues to be a big service and it continues to get us credibility in community. This month we had the opportunity to talk to a few parents about our Church and other services we offer. A couple said they would like to come and worship with us on a Sunday.

God continues to work mightily in this service project as we show the love of Christ to those around us in a practical way.

G-Town Visitors

2010-03-26T13:41:00.004+13:00

Last week we had the privilege of having Tuan & Joshua Dam and Paul Partlow with us for the week. These are some of good friends from our sponsor Georgetown Church of Christ. Although they were here on vacation it was great to show them our home here and the work that we are involved in.

In the 5 days they were here we took them downtown, to the beach, to the luge, played basketball, hung out with the Ice Box kids and PNO kids, as well as, had dinner with the Skelton's. We pretty much packed as much as we could into those days.

It was a great encouragement to have our friends and partners with us here for a while. We are thankful they had a safe trip back and hope they come back again soon.

Easter PNO

2010-03-26T13:34:00.003+13:00

This past Friday night we had an Easter theme for PNO. We had a massive egg hunt, and egg relay races, where they had to push the eggs with their noses. Towards the end of the night Jennifer gathered the kids around and told them the story of Jesus. It was awesome hearing many of the kids answering questions and knowing some things about the life of Jesus.

We have been able to create such a great bond with these kids and are starting to create that same bond with many of the parents. I see some great things happening for the future of PNO. Many of the parents continue to sing the praises of PNO to the community. This especially helps us in creating stability and credibility in the community we live in.

Relay 4 Life

2010-02-27T21:19:00.000+13:00

We had mentioned to you that we would be walking in the Auckland Relay for Life. This event was held this past weekend, 20-21 Feb. I can't begin to describe how incredible this walk was for our family. We met up with the rest of the team, most of whom we did not know. But everyone there had the same goal in mind, honoring those with and those who have lost the battle to cancer. Isn't it amazing to be in a group of thousands of people that are all fighting for the same cause! If that was just a glimpse of what heaven will be like, wow is all I can say!

We had intentions of walking the afternoon and then finishing our time just after dinner so we could get home and put the kids to bed. But we were enjoying the experience and the kids were having a great time, so we stuck around until just after the candle light walk. I didn't notice the noise level during the afternoon, but I certainly noticed the peace that happened when we walked that candle lit walk. They asked for complete silence as to honor those in the fight for cancer. People had decorated bags that were placed around the track. Candles were placed in these bags and this was the only light that was on as we walked this lap. We were given two bags to decorate. I helped Rylee with the writing, but she did all the decorations. I chose to print a scripture on one bag, but I asked Rylee what she would say on the other bag. She said, "God is always by your side". Such powerful words by a 4 year old!

We are so thankful for our team for continuing the walk throughout the night. We went home and had a rest and arrived back out at the track by 8:30AM. When you walk around the track with friends it goes by so quickly. Justin suspects he walked the track a total of 45 times, making that over 11 miles! Even little Gavin completed a lap!!! That's right, our little boy in his bare feet walked holding my finger for an entire lap. Ok, so he stopped and started a few times, but he did make the big circle!

The race ended that morning at 10AM. Our team ended up winning second place for best costume! We were the Wild West Sherriffs! West, because we live out west!! Our team also raised over $1300!! Yeah! Thanks to those that supported this effort along with us.

PNO--Hawaiian Luau

2010-02-25T21:44:00.004+13:00

This past weekend was quite busy! With PNO on Friday night and then the Relay for Life on Saturday/Sunday. We were all quite tired by Monday. Luckily that is our day off!!! We pulled Rylee out of school and had a nice family day.

We decided to take a different approach to our Parents Night Out this month. Since this was our first event of the year, we decided to have it be a kick off event and invite the parents to stay and everyone join us for a meal. We did this partially because we wanted a fun way to kick of the new year, but also because we wanted to have a little discussion time with the parents. We wanted to share with the parents why the program was created and why we feel it is such an important event to be a part of. We truly feel that parents need a night off. A night to just be together, or for some of the parents to simply have a few hours with nothing to do! Isn't that nice sometimes! To hang up your parent hat and simply be a "normal" person!! That may sound extreme, but in the 4 years of being a parent and the last year of having two kids, I find it very important to take a little time out to remember that you are a person too. I am thankful for my kids. I am thankful God has given me the job of wearing more than one hat. But I am also thankful for times when I can get away with Justin and we can have a date!! (Anyone want to come over for a visit?!?)

Our theme for the month was Hawaiian Luau! We went and purchased heaps of lais and decorated up the Community House with a little bit of a tropical flavor. We asked the parents to bring a dish to go with the burgers and sausages that we were providing. We all enjoyed in a wonderful meal. I believe we had thirty people total for these festivities. We were missing a few of our regulars, but we found out our PNO was the same night as the school disco! Skylar organized some fun games that had all the kids involved. We even managed to have some of the parents stay for the entire night and participate in the games!

As part of our discussions with the parents, we asked them to become more involved in the planning of PNO as well as participating with snacks for the kids. We have also handed them a private ballet that can be filled out and returned to us for any personal ways we can serve them. We want to be more intentional in serving these parents, to be more intentional with building the relationships and to be more intentional with instilling core values into these kids.

We are looking forward to the next few months of PNO. We have planned out some fun themes for the next six months. If any of you have ideas you think we should try, let us know!!

Childrens Bible Class

2010-02-25T21:01:00.003+13:00

Our kids class has just wrapped up a quite lengthy study of creation. It was a fun and rewarding study. I am hoping it was rewarding for the kids as well!! We have 6 kids in total in our childrens ministry. Three of these are girls and are over 2, and the other three are boys and are all around 1! Teaching these age differences was a bit of a challenge, but I think we have come into a routine that seems to work for us. Kristen and I co-teach the kids class. We have a joint lesson for the boys and girls. This part of the class is set up like a cradle roll class. Then we let the boys go free and we teach a more specific class to the older kids, our girls.

Two of the older girls have not been brought up in a church environment and they are learning everything brand new. It is so amazing to listen to them tell you about creation. Both moms have told me on seperate occassions how their little girl is sharing with them that God made Everything!! (This is one phrase we repeat and yell out at the top of our lungs!!)

We are now starting a series for the girls about sharing. We will focus on how God shared and why we need to share. I pray that this will help grow our girls and instill in them servant hearts.

2010 Team Retreat

2010-02-06T12:13:00.003+13:00

This past few days our team has been on a retreat to plan for the 2010 year. We got out of Auckland so that we could think more clearly about our mission. Adopting the principle Change of Pace + Change of Place = Change of Perspective.

Each day was filled with a morning devotional, fun activities, team building games, reflections of work, vision-casting for the future and of course lots and lots of food.

We discussed having a theme for 2010 of doing less so we can do more. Finding those few things we excel at and do them to the best of our abilities, instead of spreading ourselves doing many things mediocre.

We will be finalizing our goals over the next week. We look forward to praying over these goals, asking for God to bless them and use them for His glory. We ask you to do the same.

Auckland Relay for Life

2010-02-06T12:12:00.000+13:00

20-21 February is the Auckland Relay for Life walk. Our church staff will be participating in this to support our friends, the Skeltons. Jen's mum passed away this past year after battling cancer for sometime. Jen asked us if we would like to join their team as they honor her mum and others that have battled this disease. We are excited and truly blessed to be able to join the Skelton/Stewart families in this walk.

In addition to the walk, we are trying to raise funds in an effort to support the Cancer Society of New Zealand. Please take a moment and prayerfully consider how you can contribute. The goal for our team is $800 NZD. The team has currently raised just about $200 NZD. If you are able to help in this, please send a check to Georgetown Church of Christ (1525 West University Ave, Georgetown, TX, 78626) or you may contact us to find out other ways to help. Please include a note that the funds are to go to the Auckland Relay for Life.

The Art of Sculpting

2010-02-02T11:03:00.002+13:00

The following is from a blog Justin posted on his Cherry Unleashed site, concerning our lives and upcoming retreat:

There two two things I really love in life, music and art. I find so much beauty in them. I love how you can go to the same piece of art over and over, and seem to find something new every time.

But sculpting is a different form of art. Most art forms require you to add to make the art come together. But with sculpting the artists has to know what, and how much, to take away.

Rob Bell, in his book Drops Like Stars says, “Great artists know that it isn’t just about what you add; sometimes the most important work is knowing what to take away. Removing clutter, excess, all the superfluous elements - and finding out in the process what’s been in there the whole time.”

Michaelangelo once said about his famous Statue of David,“David was in the stone clamoring to be freed.”

I think many of us live like paintings. We are looking for the next thing to add to our lives to make us more beautiful. What is the next big thing that can make our lives better? We are a people who have a need to add things. Add things to our looks, to our minds, to our relationships, etc. These are not entirely all bad things. But I wonder if instead of looking to add things to our lives, we need to be looking for those things that can be removed.

I wonder how many things we add in our lives really get in the way of showing our true beauty; the way God originally made us. And if we could find the right things to remove, the clutter, excess, all the superfluous elements, would we truly see the beauty that is our life.

Our team is about to take our annual staff retreat, to plan our 2010 year for our Church Plant. I think one of the things, we as team, have learned from our work in 2009, is that we took on way to much. We added so many ministries we were running ourselves thin. They were all good things for good reasons, but all we were doing was adding chaos on top of chaos. But we are looking for something different in 2010. We believe that God is doing great things in our lives and in the lives of our community. If we can find the right things to remove, to get rid of the clutter, we will see the true beauty that lies in what God has created all along. But in order to see what God is revealing, we are going to have to do a little sculpting.

Sculptors shape things, form and rearrange things, but what they really do most of, is take things away. And that is The Art of Sculpting, knowing what to take away.

May we find art that is within us all and may we continue to remove things from our lives until we do.

Sunday Adult Class

2010-01-27T14:17:00.003+13:00

Currently, our Sunday worship time consists of two classes: Adult Class & Children's Class. Jennifer and Kristen are currently leading our children's ministry and I am currently going through a series in 1 John in our adult class. We continue to strive to perfect what our services look like and we are currently looking for facilities to move into, which will give us a little more options to work with.

Our series in 1 John has consisted of going through the book and looking for the key areas that John is focusing on in each chapter. John uses the word "know" 27 times in this small book and he makes it very clear that he wants us to know that we have assurance of eternal life in Jesus Christ. He has two facts by which he wants us to make our decisions regarding our ability to know these things: 1) God is Light (100% good, moral) & 2) God is Love (unconditional).

We are looking at each chapter individually and focusing on themes for each one. The themes are below:

Chapter 1 - Christ Cleanses Us (washes us clean)

Chapter 2 - Christ Stands Beside Us (defends us)

Chapter 3 - Christ Reassures Us (gives us confidence)

Chapter 4 - Christ Love Us (unconditional love)

Chapter 5 - Christ Hear Us (and answers us)

Chapter 6 - Christ Protects Us (can't be touched)

You can see by the themes in each chapter that John definitely wants us to feel safe in Christ Jesus. But he makes it clear that this freedom comes for those who are "in" Christ Jesus, and all must come to the knowledge of the truth that Jesus alone saves.

Our adult classes have been a good time for us to learn together, discuss together, ask questions together, and just be together in the presence of the living God.

Bach Getaway

2010-01-27T13:59:00.005+13:00

Around Xmas time till school is back in session, which is around mid-February, the country of New Zealand basically shuts down. Businesses shut down, stores close, people are just off. Some leave the country and some travel around the country. For our friends the Skelton's, they have a family bach up north of Auckland that sits right on a bay of water. The bach is 45 minutes from any kind of civilization. No food, no gas, no cell service. Whatever you need you bring with you.

Earlier this month, they invited us to go up to the bach with them for a couple of days. We couldn't resist and joined along for some time of rest and relaxation. In the midst of being away from everything, it is amazing the sense of peace you can attain. It was so nice. No thinking about work, worries, stresses, etc. Just being there in the peace, with family and friends.

We felt special being invited by our friends to their family bach. We had a great time catching fish, digging for pippies, playing games and chillin in the water. It was a good time to just be with friends and deepening our relationship. Dane, Hayley, Rylee and I even slept out in the tent one night. Rylee loved it!

We came back to Auckland feeling a lot more relaxed and ready to get back to work. It is nice to get away every now and then. We highly recommend it!

The day a Cherry ate an Apple!!!

2010-01-24T22:34:00.005+13:00

Gavin has recently been introduced to apples....in the non cut up sort of way! When I am cooking in the kitchen, I will hand Gavin an apple to "play" with. He likes to think he can eat through the peel. It is really cute watching him think he is so big. Well, last week Rylee had an apple that she had yet to finish. I decided to give it a go and handed it to the little chunk. It was like he opened a bag of sugar! He was so excited to get to really eat the apple. He ate pretty much the rest of the apple. In fact, Justin had to pry it away from him and I had to distract him with something else for him to give up that apple core! Tonight a similar situation happened and I was able to capture a few photos of little boy Cherry eating an apple!

2010 - New Year New Rules!

2010-01-16T11:38:00.003+13:00

From Cherry Unleashed:

It’s funny how at the end of every year we make resolutions for all the things we wished we had done in the year before. We start out good keeping our new goals for the year, but somewhere along the way we stop. I don’t know why, we just do. Which explains why we are so impressed with those that keep their resolutions the ENTIRE year.

I don’t know about you, but I can think of a couple of reasons I hardly ever keep my new goals. First, I don’t think I’m accountable to anyone for them. I don’t tell most people my goals and even when I do it is not in a way that sounds serious. So their is no reason to keep my commitment, other than I wanted to.

But more importantly, I think the reason I don’t keep most of my goals is because they are not goals worth keeping. Or at least not in the way I think about them.

For instance, I have said for years that I was going to either slow down or stop drinking caffeine. But I have no real reason for doing it in my head. You can say that it is bad for me, or whatever but that doesn’t really mean a lot. I’m in pretty good shape. I work out, play soccer, live actively. Drinking caffeine doesn’t really seem to effect me. So the year goes by and I have not stopped or drunk less.

There is no real incentive to stop. But what if I was to say, “I am going to cut down drinking caffeine so that I will have more money to help those in need.” Now that is a goal I can wrap my head around. That is a goal worth keeping. My incentive is no longer my own, but rather for all.

So without further ado, here are some of my goals for 2010:

Stop being afraid, and start living bravely for God!

Stop being reactive and start being proactive!

Trust God, Trust Myself, Trust My Mission!

Start believing that God can do amazing things in my life!

Start believing I can change the world!

Spend less so that I can give more!

Spend more quality time with my family!

Begin to disciple my children!

Teach my children something new!

Pray daily with my family!

Pray daily with my wife!

Stop thinking about the past, stop dreaming of the future & live in the now!

This is just a small list of goals I have set for myself this year. I have more detail to each of those, specific things I want to accomplish in each.

I am also working on a list of life goals. I want to live this life as if it were on purpose. I want to make the most of every day. I want to have the glory of Christ shine in me and through me.

I believe it starts with being purposeful with what we will do in our lives.

So what will you do in 2010?

Xmas PNO

2010-01-06T16:19:00.002+13:00

So for this PNO, during the Christmas season, we decided to have a holiday themed event. We started off by getting all the kids to have their picture taken. Then while we had the pictures developed we had each kid make a Christmas ornament for their parent(s). Then we took all the kids outside, since it is 80 degrees here in Auckland, and let them play on the playground while the girls finished the ornaments. After that we brought the kids back in for a game where two teams try and decorate a person like a Christmas Tree. The team that won got a prize. I think the team that lost got a prize as well. We also had Christmas Bingo that told the story of the birth of Jesus on the cards. And of course there were prizes!

At the end of the night, some of the parents brought us presents for Christmas and to say thank you for what we do for their families. It really meant a lot to us. They told us how much they appreciated what we are doing in the community and a couple of them even started telling other parents how it is our Church that is doing all this. Talk about free publicity!

We looking forward to many things with PNO in 2010, but most of all we are looking forward to seeing some of these parents join us in the pursuit for godliness and spreading the Kingdom in Auckland, New Zealand. Continue to pray that God's will be done in all we do!

DanceBeat Recital

2010-01-05T22:03:00.003+13:00

For quite awhile now, Rylee has told us that she would like to take ballet classes. We finally found a class that we thought Rylee would enjoy. I took her to a class to sit in and see if she thought she would like it. To my surprise, she didn't sit with me, she jumped right in and danced with the other little girls! The teacher was quite impressed that she would just get out there and try! We joined the group just as they were beginning to practice for their Christmas recital. There were about five weeks of practice before the big day. Rylee was super excited to do the recital. I was so nervous that she would freeze up on stage, but she did great! She told us that her favorite part of the day was being on stage and having everyone clap for them! How cute!! :)

Merry Christmas

2010-01-01T22:48:00.004+13:00

In our nearly ten years of marriage, this was our first Christmas as our own little family. We mixed some of our family traditions with some typical Kiwi traditions to make for a really fun Christmas day! The kids enjoyed opening their pressies and we had a family breakfast for lunch! For our afternoon, we joined the Skelton family at the beach. I have heard all about the number of people that go to the beach for Christmas day, but I had no idea what that actually entailed until our visit to the beach. I was truly amazed at the number of families that had set up camp on the beach to celebrate the holiday. Many of them had brought their own BBQ, tent and literally set up a camp for their time at the beach. There is something calming about having a big holiday at the beach. The environment is so relaxed and casual and there are so many things you can do for entertainment. Our kids enjoyed playing in the sand and water! Justin joined in a game of water football. We feel so blessed to have been adopted by thte Skeltons and their family. We have been to a number of their family gatherings and this one was one of the best! Our evening was full of fun at a BBQ at the Peters house. They had invited several families to come join in a dinner for the evening.

Happy Birthday, Gavin!!!

2010-01-01T22:33:00.006+13:00

It is so hard to believe that our little boy has just turned 1!!! This past year has gone by way too fast. It really does seem like we were just bringing our 10 pound little bundle home from the hospital. Gavin has definitely been a joy to us and we feel so incredibly blessed that God chose us to be his parents.

With Gavin's birthday being Boxing Day, 26 December, I couldn't figure out how to do a formal birthday party on that day. I didn't want to be busy on Christmas day planning for Gavin's party. So we decided to have a family party for Gavin on his actual birthday and then his big party on the 31st, New Years Eve. Gavin's family celebration included a trip to the zoo with our good friends, the Skeltons, and Gavin asked to have our favorite restaurant for dinner, Mexicali. The Peters and the Skeltons joined us for dinner. It just wouldn't have been the same without Caden and Toby being there with Gavin for his 1st birthday!

Gavin's second party was on the 31st. We had an afternoon party with a few of his buddies. He enjoyed playing with his new toys, but I think he was very excited to have a taste of cake!! Quite opposite of Rylee, Gavin devoured his cake! He gave me this cheeky look as if to say, "I can really eat this, mom?" But once I gave him a taste of cake, he was in his own sugar world!

We ended the 31st with a NYE celebration. Several of our friends came over (or stayed over!) and we enjoyed a dinner and games together before ringing in the new year! The fireworks off the Sky Tower were amazing! We are blessed to have such a great view of downtown. No need to go anywhere to see the fireworks when we can see a dozen different shows from our backyard.

Hope you all have a blessed 2010!

Young Mums

2009-12-17T21:53:00.006+13:00

Several months ago we became aware of a large growth of young girls becoming pregnant. This deeply touched our hearts as we had just had Gavin and new all that having a baby entails. Some of these girls have the support of their family and partner, but others do not have a parent support system. There is even a larger number of 13 and 14 years that are getting pregnant. In this culture, some of these girls are even encouraged to get pregnant as it brings extra finances to their home.

We had mentioned this to several churches and individuals in the States when we were home on furlough. Our idea was to begin a ministry in which we could meet a need of these girls. We wanted to be that support system that they may not be getting anywhere else. We wanted to share some of the things we have learned by having children. We wanted to tell them that they do not have to go through this alone! We wanted to be able to give them something that would help, but not necessarily be easily used up, such as diapers or formula. We wanted to give them something that, hopefully, when used it would be a reminder of God's love.

The result of this was a group of quilters from Richland Hills Church donated some 80 blankets to us for this mission. And another individual from Lake Cities Church donated hand crocheted beanies and wash cloths. All of these things to be given to these girls.

Last week, Kristen and I were able to go and visit our first group of girls! We have been blessed to get to know Liss. She was actually Kristen's antinatal teacher! Liss teaches several classes and one is to these young mums. She allowed us to come and visit and hand out our special goodies! It was so encouraging seeing the smiles on these girls faces as we handed them these hand made baby items!

We are praying for these girls and the many more that are out there. We pray that we can have more opportunities to be a light in these girls lives.

Thanks to all those that have contributed in this ministry. If any others of you have a desire to serve, please let us know!

Goodbye Amy

2009-12-17T12:13:00.002+13:00

It has been two weeks or so now since Amy, our AIM intern, left the shores of Auckland. It has been different for us as a team not having her here with us. For so many months she stood by our side and worked along with us. She was never afraid to jump in and help out, even in areas she was a little uncomfortable. She was a trooper handling our jokes and pranks on her. She assisted our Church Plant in ways she may never know. We thank God that He sent Amy our way and got to know her better. We pray that our next group of AIM interns are like Amy, she kind of set the bar!

Goodbye Amy...come back and visit sometime...we miss you!

A Birthday Weekend

2009-12-06T22:51:00.004+13:00

Celebrations are all around this weekend! Rylee's little friend from kindy had her 5th birthday party on the same day that Gavin's little mate had his 1st birthday party. Justin party hopped as he took Rylee to her party between Gavin's party! Both parties were wonderful. It was fun to help these little ones celebrate their big days. Gavin also had another party to attend on Sunday! This is just the beginning of all his little mates 1st birthdays! I can't even get my thoughts together to realize that he will be turning 1 in just 20 days! (Which means Christmas is in 19, if you are counting!!) :)

Rylee's party was a fireman theme. She was asked to dress up in fireman gear. I took a simple approach to this and ironed on some letters to a white t-shirt! She was part of the FDNZ! And her red fire hat made the perfect finishing touch!

Grandma and Papa's Visit

2009-12-06T22:36:00.005+13:00

We were blessed to have my parents over for a visit in early November. (Yes, posting this a bit late!) We had a great visit with them. The last time they were here we were staying close to home in anticipation of little Gavin's birth. This time we still stayed close to home! We introduced them to a normal week in our lives! They experienced Rylee's kindy, Rylee's ballet, Mexicali, the beach with Dane and Jen, Butterfly Creek, fireworks and much more! Mom and dad also helped us with a variety of little projects that we had started but not yet finished. They plugged right in there and helped us out tremendously from pulling weeds to organizing our garage! Thanks guys!!!

More importantly than all the things that got accomplished was the bonds that were built between grandma and papa and our kids. Rylee had them going from the minute they got to our house! She had all these activities planned for them to do! Gavin had a great time playing peek a boo with papa!

It was hard to see them leave. But we are so thankful for their visit!

1st NZ Thanksgiving Event

2009-11-29T16:04:00.004+13:00

Yesterday we had our first ever Thanksgiving Party, where we invited all our friends (both American & NZ) to come celebrate with us. We rented out the community house and began to send out personal invites to all our friends in the area. We really wanted to make this a special event for people. Thanksgiving is all about the blending of cultures and we wanted to blend our culture with the NZ culture.

So we all chipped in and got to cooking, making a big feast for all to share. Big thanks to the Marlar family for helping us out with this event. We had all of our favorite foods that our families use to make us. except this time we had to cook it all ourselves. We really became appreciative of our families who cook all the food for the holidays. It is a lot of work.

When the night arrived, we had 32 people come. Thanksgiving is also all about blessing others and being thankful for our blessings. We were able to share with our friends how much God has blessed our lives and we told them that they were a part of that blessing. We thank God for those that we have come to know in our short time in NZ. We continue to pray that we can be a blessing to others and show the people of our community Christ in all we do.

MOTAT

2009-11-22T14:46:00.001+13:00

Friday, Rylee and I went with her Kindy on a field trip to MOTAT (Museum of Transportation and Technology). About 72 people, including parents, went on the trip. It was really fun watching Rylee hangout with all her little friends. As you can tell from the above picture I wasn't even really needed!

Rylee got to get into a really old Fire Truck, as well as, a really old car. It was really cool how hands-on they allowed the kids to be.

We had a great time and I got to meet a few new parents. Good trip and lots of good fun. Glad I can take some opportunities like this to make memories with my kids.

Night At The Movies

2009-11-22T14:41:00.002+13:00

Last Friday night we had another PNO (Parent's Night Out) event. Again we had around 28 kids. We continue to see growth in this ministry and parents showing their appreciation for it. Our theme for this month was PJ & Movie Night. We had popcorn, candy, games and two movies. For the older kids we showed Night At The Museum 2 and for the little ones we showed Tinker Bell 2. All the kids, and the workers, wore their best PJ's and had a great time.

Next PNO will be December 19th and will be a Christmas Party. Hopefully we will have just as many kids and parents again. Prayer for us as we strive to show people Christ and show people the love of God through these events.

Phillip's in Auckland

2009-10-30T15:28:00.004+13:00

We just got done spending a few wonderful days with Alan and Donna Phillips. Besides being our friends, they are also from one of our partnering Churches Lake Cities, and Alan serves as our mentor with MRN and he chairs the missions committee at Lake Cities. The Phillips came to encourage our team as well as be apart of our work here in Auckland. The above picture of the Phillips is at one of our PNO (Parent's Night Out) events, Costume themed. I think Alan was some sort of gangster!

We took them all over introducing them to our city, our life, our love. It meant so much to us to have our mentors with us and experiencing everyday life with us.

We also had the opportunity to introduce the Phillips to our good friends the Skeltons. We shared in a meal and played some games. We had a great time!

Thank you to all who made it possible for the Phillips to come to Auckland. We enjoyed them and sent them back in as good of condition as they arrived! We look forward to them making another trip to Auckland.

3 More Sleeps!

2009-10-30T13:53:00.003+13:00

As they say in NZ, 3 more sleeps until my parents come for a visit! Yeah!!! We are so excited to see them again in our part of the world! Last year they were able to come out for a visit and to help when Gavin was born. This time around they will get to play a little more with both kids! Justin and I have already asked for a date night! And Rylee has requested a date with Grandma and PaPa as well! Seems like we have a full on schedule for them already! Please pray for their safety as they travel over to see us.

Mommy and Kids Date Day!

2009-10-30T13:29:00.004+13:00

So I decided to keep Rylee home from kindy today so I could have some good time with her and Gavin. We are zoo members so I decided that would be the perfect place for us to spend the morning. It is an absolutely beautiful day, a little breezy at times but overall very nice! I was not the only one with a thought for taking my kids to the zoo! There were heaps of other mums and families there. Rylee and Gavin seemed to have a really good time. For Rylee, just being out at the zoo is fun, seeing the animals is good, but the most exciting part for her is the ice cream! We packed a picnic lunch to enjoy after our walk around the zoo. And then her ice cream for dessert! Gavin ended up snoozing before the trip was over. But it was a great way to spend the morning with my kids, away from our normal routine!

PNO - Halloween Themed

2009-10-25T21:51:00.004+13:00

So for this month's PNO (Parent's Night Out) we decided to have a costume party. All of the team dressed up as you can see above. We had a great time with it. We are only allowed to have 30 kids in the community house at a time, and this month we had 27 kids at PNO!

We played lots of games like, relay races, bean bag toss, limbo, we even had a piñata! We had face painting, pumpkin painting, and whole lot of snacks. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves.

As you can see above the two little boys had a great time as well. Gavin was a pirate, Caden was a giraffe, another one of their mates came as a little devil! They were all really sweet outfits!

Above are some of the kids with Hannah Montana (aka Miley Sirus, aka Amy Jo Smith) getting ready to take their turn hitting the piñata! It was a great night and a great service to the community. We had many first time kids and new parents who were appreciative for a night out alone! We continue to find favor in the community thanks to God and we continue to enjoy ourselves as we work.

Be watching for next month's PNO: Pajama Party & Movie!

Cherry Unleashed

2009-10-20T14:09:00.002+13:00

Don't know how many of you know this or not, but I have started a new blog called Cherry Unleashed. My thoughts can no longer be contained in this blog! From now on this blog will be primarily to update people on our family life & on our mission life on the field. I know that is why many of you come to this site and I am thankful for that. But if you are also interested in a little refreshment of the soul I would challenge you to go to www.cherryunleashed.com. It is here that we will face tough issues together and discuss what is means to live in this world and to belong to God. I know it is a hassle to go to two blogs, but I feel we can all benefit from them. I write primarily for myself hoping others get something out of it as well. Below is an excerpt from my other blog:

Too often we try to be something we are not and too seldom we try to be who we were made to be. I am a coward, I am a fake, I am a messed up follower of Christ. This is me unleashed, untamed and not quite dangerous...yet!

Service Day(s)

2009-10-12T17:12:00.002+13:00

Last Monday some youth from Otumoetai Church in Tauranga came up to Auckland to help us with a couple of days of service projects. On Monday afternoon, we all went to the community house and cleaned it from head to toe; well the best we could. The community house is where we host the Ice Box after school program and also our "Parent's Night Out" events. It had been a while since the building had been shown some love, so we were able to clean it up a little bit and get it looking fresh again. That evening we shared in a meal together with the youth and with their leaders Nick & Bex.

On Tuesday, we all did a prayer walk over Massey. We split up into two groups and prayed in different areas of the community. We prayed that God open doors for us, as well as, work in the lives of those around us. That afternoon the youth went to the community house and helped out with the holiday program. They lead the kids in some fun games. They were a big hit there.

It was a great couple of days working along side another congregation. Big thanks to the youth and Nick & Bex from Tauranga for being so faithful in the service to the Kingdom of God.

Sorry I don't have pics up, but if you go to www.skyandmo.com, our teammates have a couple of pictures from the service projects.

Rylee's First Curls

2009-10-10T22:54:00.004+13:00

Rylee and Justin went to get their hair cut this past week. Rylee has been telling me that she has wanted some rings in her hair. I thought I understood that to mean curls, but she had a different vision in mind. One of which I still have no clue about! At any rate, she had just finished her haircut when she started to get upset. Our hairstylist asked what was wrong and Rylee cried and said that she wanted curls in her hair! So our sweet hairstylist arranged for Rylee to get some curls in her hair. She sat so still and quiet while getting them done. At the end when she saw the final result in the mirror, she just lit up. You could tell she felt beautiful! I took her on a fashion walk and took lots of cute pictures of her. I think she enjoyed the attention! When we got home she said, "I really do look like a doll, don't I?" :) Guess she had heard that phrase used a couple of times!!!

Weekend to Omaha

2009-10-08T16:47:00.005+13:00

Rylee and Gavin

Hayley playing at the beach

Jen, Dane, Hayley and Toby Skelton

Gavin and Toby playing at the beach

This past weekend our family journeyed to Omaha Beach for a short holiday. Some friends of ours, the Skelton family, went with us and we had a great time sharing life and simply relaxing. Things have been a bit crazy for both of our families lately, so we decided to kick back and enjoy some time together. They have a 2 year old little girl, Hayley, and a 9 month old little boy, Toby. Gavin and Toby are so cute playing together. Although, Toby has mastered crawling so he is leaving Gavin behind these days! Rylee and Hayley always enjoy playing together. I think Rylee enjoys having someone to boss around! Although the weather did not allow us to spend much time at the beach, we enjoyed playing games, visiting a local market and eating some yummy foods together.

SheepWorld

2009-10-08T16:30:00.002+13:00

This month was our turn to choose our team date day event! We wanted to go someplace new that would cater to our kids. So we choose to go to SheepWorld. I know, it sounds a little weird, but it was actually kind of fun!!! We were able to pet and feed sheep, hold a bunny rabbit, and watch a sheep shearing show. We were educated on how sheep are hearded by the sheep dogs and then we had a live demonstration of the dogs at work. The show was fun and entertaining. The highlight was after the show when they brought in about ten little lambs for the kids to feed. Rylee was able to feed a little lamb. It was cute! Gavin just wanted to pull the fur of the sheep!

It's Holiday Time Again!

2009-09-29T21:41:00.005+13:00

The next two weeks are a holiday for the students. Rylee will be home from kindy during this time. I know she enjoys being in school, but a little home time is always nice! We are looking forward to a few playdates with her friends from kindy. Rylee has become such a social little girl at school! It is so fun to listen to her talk about all her friends and what they did at school that day! She is looking forward to one of her good buddies joining her in morning kindy after the holiday.

We are also going to be taking a little holiday ourselves this coming weekend. We are heading off with some of our friends here to a little place north of Auckland. We are looking forward to sharing time with them as well as needing a little family time! Weeks have been flying by lately and we need some quiet time to focus on our family!

"...realize that stopping, resting, is actually the secret to getting more done, to understanding and living our true priorities, to enjoing our lives, and to experiencing the presence of God." --K. Kent

The Bluegirl Group

2009-08-31T11:14:00.002+12:00

Do not fear....Rylee is not sick! We ventured to the American store on Saturday to see if any new goodies had hit the shelf. They had not received their new shipment so we were a bit disappointed, but Rylee wanted to buy something! So her special treat was a bag of Ring Pops. You can see she choose the blue pop to eat on the way home! She likes to pretend she is putting lipstick on, thus the blue lips! When we noticed the car had become very quiet, we looked back and saw this little face staring back at us! Too cute not to share!!!

Rylee's 1st Disco Party

2009-08-31T11:12:00.004+12:00

After two weeks of planning for the big night, Rylee finally got to go to her first Disco Party!!! The invitation said to come dressed up, so Morgan sewed up some groovy bell bottom pants for the occasion. And we had to have a coordinating headband as well! All dressed up, we headed off to the party. The party was held at a local school in their gymnasium. The lights were out and lots of little glow sticks were flickering all over the room! A hired DJ was there playing the greatest hits from the 80s, 90s and today!!! The music was definitely catered to the adults, but the kids enjoyed bee bopping around to it! It was so cute watching the little kids! Rylee is quite the dancer. I am thinking she gets her moves from her dad! After the scheduled hour, she was ready to call it quits. She didn't exactly party til the cows came home, but definitely until her little feet were ready to sit down!

Teaching @ SPBC

2009-08-31T10:57:00.003+12:00

This past Friday Elijah, Skylar and I had the privilege of teaching a class on Evangelism at SPBC (South Pacific Bible College) in Tauranga. It was so great to share what we have been doing here in Auckland with the students and hearing about their plans for the future. We split the class into three sections: why we do what we do (Theology), what we do (methodology) and how we will bring this all into a Church Plant. Lij took the first section, Sky took the second and I tool the last section.

It was a lot of fun putting the lessons together and reliving all the events we have done over the last year and a half. To rethink why we do what we do and seeing what God has in store for us as His children. And also to dream of the future as to what all this could become with God's help.

We look forward to sharing with the school many more times in the future. I love teaching so this fulfilled a passion of mine. Thanks SPBC!

Team Fun Day

2009-08-25T11:22:00.002+12:00

Back when the Speer's were here with us in Auckland they recommended that once a month or so we take time out as a team and have some fun together. We have grown to realize the importance of taking some time out for ourselves. We can get so busy in our work that we don't take the down time we need to stay at our best and be as productive as we should be (this includes days off weekly, holidays or vacation, and team fun days!).

So, this month the Peters decided where we would all go. They chose the hot pools in Wairea, just north of Auckland. There are about 8 or 9 pools at this place, slides, kid pools, and even a movie pool (you can watch a movie while relaxing in a hot pool).

We had such a great time and it was exactly what we needed to relax and get away for the day. After the pools everyone came back to our house for a little food and games. It is awesome having a team that you can hang out with and have fun, as well as work along side.

Parent's Night Out

2009-08-24T11:23:00.004+12:00

So this last Friday we did our second "Parent's Night Out". This time we had 9 kids including our little ones. It was an awesome night connecting with some families in our community and hanging out with their kids for a few hours.

We played the Wii, watched movies, did crafts, and just ran around in circles chasing each other. Kids are a blast to be around and keep you on your toes for sure.

A couple of Rylee's friends were able to come as well (see pic above). It was hilarious watching them all together and as you can see from the picture above they weren't afraid to be silly for the cameras.

The "Parent's Night Out" has been a great way for us to show God's love to our community. It is a service that is very needed among any parent; to be able to have a break for just a little bit and get some personal time. We are going to continue to host these events once a month. Please pray that God provides us with more families to minister to.

Will You Hold My Hand?

2009-08-08T20:13:00.005+12:00

This is a blog I wrote on my other blog Cherry Unleashed. I hope you enjoy it.

So last night I was reading to Rylee before bedtime. We were reading out of her little Bible about the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a Pharisee and a leader among many. He is well respected among those who hated Jesus. But there was just something about Jesus that drew him closer. So in the night, when no one who be around to see him, Nicodemus went to see Jesus. He confesses that Jesus comes from God. It would appear that Nicodemus has some questions for Jesus. Jesus answers him in a very unusual way, “I tell you the truth. Unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s kingdom.” Of course this was a very confusing statement for Nicodemus leaving him with the question, “How can someone be born again?”

After we finished the story Rylee and I started to talk about Jesus and following him. I told her that we would keep talking about Jesus and what it means to follow him, and one day, when she chose to follow him, daddy or mommy would baptize her. I then told her about life here on earth following Jesus and that one day she would go to heaven and be with God. Rylee then told me she would like to go to heaven one day. Then she looked right at me and asked, “When we go to heaven...will you hold my hand?”

I about lost it right there. I cannot explain the emotions that went flooding in as she asked that innocent and simple question. But from her statement I think we can get a good understanding of what Jesus was trying to say to Nicodemus.

Nicodemus must have thought Jesus was crazy telling him to be reborn again. But think about in terms of a child and who they are. A child is completely dependent on the other party, namely their parents. They look to their parent for food, clothing, comfort, changing diapers, etc. A child doesn’t think to ask, they just assume that you as their parent will take care of those basic needs. There is also an element of trust. A child will trust their parents with their life. If I am with Rylee, she will do just about anything, because she knows I would never put her in a dangerous situation. She knows, to the best of my ability, I would not let her get hurt.

The same with those who are born again in the Spirit. When you are born again you have to start all over, learn again. You rely on Jesus to teach you. He teaches you how to walk all over again, how to talk, how to act, how to be. And he expects us to do it without thinking about it. It should just become natural for us to expect those things from him.

That’s why Jesus used the illustration of children so much. Because a child is the perfect example of what a follower of Christ should look like. That is also what makes Rylee’s question above so honest and beautiful. For a child they are not worried about how they will get somewhere, or what they will need to get there. All they want to know is “will you hold my hand?”

And so it is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit!

A Great Day and More To Come

2009-08-06T23:33:00.001+12:00

Last Sunday our friend Jen & her son Toby came and worshipped with us at Imagine Church. It was great having them see why we are here in New Zealand and participating with us in praising God in our lives. We are hoping that they will come again next week and her husband Dane and their daughter Hayley will be able to join them. It was a such a blessing to us to have our friends want to come and be a part of who we are.

On a side note, Jen's (the one above not my Jen) mom has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has not been given very long to live. This has been hard on their whole family. Please be praying for peace in the lives of this great family and for God to provide healing to the family as only He knows how!

On the swings

2009-08-05T12:54:00.005+12:00

Yesterday was such a beautiful day outside. Actually this week so far has been beautiful, it feels like spring!! I decided to let Gavin try out the swings for the first time! We were up at Ice Box and it happens to be right next to a park. So Gavin took his first go at the swings. He loved it!! He started off a bit confused, but quickly began smiling and talking all about it!

Also on the swings were Morgan, Skylar, Amy and Rylee. They all had fun trying to see who could go higher...or maybe they were trying to see who could kick each other! I don't know, but it looks like they had a good time!!!

Morning Kindy

2009-08-04T22:32:00.006+12:00

Monday marked the first day of morning kindy for Rylee. Rylee has been attending the afternoon kindy since last October. But when she turned 4 and after the completion of the most recent school holiday, she was promoted to the morning kindy. Morning kindy is a five day a week program. She also gets to take her lunch two days a week and eat it there!!!

She really enjoyed her first day of morning kindy. So much so, that when I picked her up she was almost mad. She told me that I came back too soon! (It had been 4 hours!) And then she proceeded to tell me that she was all ready for real school. Oh man...I am so not ready for that!!! She is my little girl. How can she be this big already!?!

We are excited for her and this new step. She will learn a bit more during her time at school. But more than that, we are excited for her to build new relationships. She was sad that one of her little buddies was not promoting with her, she is just a little younger than Rylee. And then another of her buddies moved away. So we are hoping she will find some new little buddies here soon!!

Thankful for my Kids

2009-08-01T23:36:00.003+12:00

I am so thankful for my two precious children. God has truly blessed us with sweet little ones to raise. Last night as I was praying over Gavin before bed, Rylee came in the room. She calmly came over to where I was sitting and kissed me. She said, "I love you mommy". Oh it was so sweet! I love her gentle spirit. I am loving watching her grow and develop right before me. She has grown to absolutely adore Gavin. She loves to cuddle him. She has a wonderful gift for making him laugh. She starts talking and he is drawn to her. I look forward to watching them grow up together.

July Recap...

2009-08-01T23:24:00.003+12:00

I can't believe July is over. This month has flown right by. To follow up after Cara's parenting seminar, we hosted a Parent's Night Out. This event was held at the Community House here in Massey on a Friday evening. We wanted to give parents a safe environment to bring their children so they could have some time out. Oh, and for Free!!! It is so hard to budget a date, much less remember to include money for childcare. We had three kids come and hang out with us for the four hours. There were definitely more volunteers there than kids, but that is ok! We all had a good time. We are planning on doing this again here soon!

Another follow up to the parenting seminar was a Parents Coffee Group. We wanted to start a group that would meet and be able to freely discuss parenting. The idea behind this group is that we do not have to parent alone. We are all in this together. We wanted to be able to share with each other our strengths and weaknesses as parents. Also those things that we need encouragement on and ways we can each assist in raising our children. We want only the best for our children and this group might just be a way for those in the community to come together and feed off of one another for the good of our kids. Unfortunately, we did not have a good show at this event. I know some who had planned to come were out of town and others were tied up with work. So we are going to try this again!!!

Cuatro de Julio

2009-07-05T10:47:00.003+12:00

Last year was our first time to celebrate the 4th of July in a different country. But this year we are seasoned veterans. Being Americans celebrating an American holiday living in New Zealand, we decided we needed to do things a little different. So may I introduce to you, cuatro de Julio. We invited some good friends over, my friend Chris who is visiting and an amazing chef cooked us up some amazing fajitas, rice, beans, etc. and we had ourselves a big celebration. That's right we had an Mexi-Ameri-Kiwi Holiday! We had so much fun laughing and playing games. Our kiwi friends had a good time making fun of us in our new traditions and asked questions about what we normally do on the fourth of July.

It might not be normal tradition, but we are not really a traditional team anyway. We are all about creating our own traditions and we did just that...

Happy Cuatro de Julio Everyone!

Parenting: It's Not All About You

2009-06-26T14:49:00.003+12:00

This past weekend our Church hosted a parenting seminar called "Parenting: It's Not All About You". We had asked Cara Speer to teach this seminar and she did an amazing job. Not only does Cara have credibility in the field of Social Work, but she is also a fantastic mother of two and lived in New Zealand for 4 years (also raising her two kids here for a short time). The had the audiences attention from the get go.

We also had 7 Harding Campaigners here this last week with us. So we put our three AIMer and seven campaigners to work. We had them go throughout different neighborhoods and local hangout handing out flyers to our seminar. We put flyers up in the local schools and stood outside the local YMCA Leisure Center (where we hosted the seminar) and handed out free bottles of water with the seminar flyers.

We had seven visitors show up on the day. It was so great to seeing God working in the people that showed. They truly cared about their relationships, their children and their community. After the seminar was over we spent time with each family talking with them further about life and how we could assist them.

We offered a couple of options for follow-up, but also to show them we cared about creating a community of people dedicated to helping our children become all that God created them for. The first thing is a "Parents Day Out". Once a month we will set up a place at the Community House for parents to drop their kids off with us and our trained staff, and they can go have a date out on the town. This will give parents a much needed break. Also, we are offering "Parent Support Groups". Again, once a month parents will get together and share life with each other. The goal is to create a community of people dedicated to helping one another be the best parents we can be.

We felt the weekend went really good and felt blessed with how God used us for this great day. We look forward to seeing what good God brings from this event. Below are some pictures from the parenting seminar...enjoy!

Random Pics---June 2009

2009-06-17T22:25:00.002+12:00

Here we are....

2009-06-17T21:57:00.003+12:00

I have to start this blog off with an apology. I am sorry it has taken so long to get anything written about our trip to the states. It is as if life has been a blur since we got back from furlough. We have been so busy with getting back in routines, to the work here ,to taking care of rodent issues...

Well, anyway...about our trip!!! We had a wonderful trip back to the states. We enjoyed some much needed family time. It was great to show Gavin off to all of our family, as well as to show them how much Rylee had changed in the last year. And boy how fun it was to watch Rylee interact with her cousins! I can't tell you how cute it was to see her running around with my nieces. It was as if Justin and I were nonexistant when we were with our families! (Which was kind of fun!!!)

We definitely had our share of car time! We were on the road each week visiting different family members and church families. It was wonderful visitng all of our friends at our supporting congregations. Justin went to a conference while we were in the states. This left the kids and me to spend some down time at my parents house. We had fun, but missed Justin while he was away. The kids and I flew to meet him in Orlando and had a little family trip! Rylee enjoyed a couple of days at various Disney theme parks. She got to meet many of the princesses and other cast members. It was a wonderul getaway for us as a family. Things had been so busy with our work that we needed some family time!

We had a great eight weeks in the states. It helped renew our spirits and give us some needed rest. We are now back in the swing of things here in NZ. As Justin has previously posted, we have a lot going on with the work over the next few weeks. But on the home front, we are watching as the kids grow and develop their little personalities. Rylee definitely got the mix of us...shy, outgoing, quiet and loud! Gavin has a stronger personality. He seeks the attention and he will gaze his big blue eyes at you as long as it takes for you to look back at him! He is a handsome little boy with a great set of lungs!!! :)

So that is our furlough trip in a nutshell!

My Funny Girl!!!

2009-06-17T21:31:00.007+12:00

Today was another kindy day for Rylee. As usual, she was covered in paint when we picked her up. So I asked her why she had paint all over her hands. To that she said, "the paint thought my hands were paper"!!!

Here are some pictures of what the paint actually went on! She is getting into writing her own name on her projects!

And The Craziness Begins

2009-06-15T08:55:00.003+12:00

So today marks the beginning of our crazy schedule. Last night Jennifer and I realized that starting today we will have people in our house until August and then after a short break we will have another group in our house in October. I am not saying this to complain. On the contrary, we are really excited about it. This week we will have Harding Campaigners coming to work along side us for a week. We will be doing service projects in the community and promoting our upcoming parenting seminar "Parenting: It's Not All About You". We are hoping to have a good turnout for this event on this coming Saturday. We will be offering child care as well. We have a lot of good ideas for follow up conversations with this seminar and look forward to what God will do through it.

Next, week a good friend of mine, Chris Bell, is coming to stay with us for a while. He is going to be exploring New Zealand as well as giving us a helping hand when he can. And a few weeks after he arrives his wife, Hope, will arrive. We can't wait to have our good friends with us for a while, we have missed them. We plan on showing them our work and taking them to some of our favorite places in Auckland.

Right now we are in the beginning of a new series I am doing called "Exposed", where we are learning to be vulnerable in our worship before God.

At the end of July we will be attending the nation wide, Men's Challenge (Christian Retreat). Skylar has been asked to be one of the speakers. His topic is about outreach evangelism and service to communities. It will be a great time to be with others trying to do the same thing in this country.

Then in October, Alan and Donna Phillips, one of our coaches, will be arriving in Auckland to be with us for a while. It will be really good to see them and have some quality time with them.

And as always, we have of our normal schedules...the Ice Box, Chaplaincy, Frequent relationships, meetings, mentoring, etc.

Like I said the craziness has begun. Please be praying that God gives us the energy we need over the next few months. And pray that God moves in the lives of the people we will touch over the next few months. Summer starts happening in December here and everyone disappears at that time. So we have until then to do as much as possible. We can rest then, but until that time we must remain and thrive in the craziness. But it is in the craziness that God moves the strongest..."for when I am weak, then I am strong".

Ice Box is Alive & Kickn'

2009-06-03T09:12:00.002+12:00

Our after school program, "Ice Box", is alive and well. We are currently serving around 200 gets on Tuesday and Thursdays, and we have established a core group of about 15 that we have started to build deeper relationships with and have begun to mentor. The Ely's have started to have about 5 of the kids over to their house every Tuesday night, after the Ice Box, for pizza and fun. They usually stay until 10 pm and are full out non-stop the whole time. Most of the kids we are building relationships with just need positive influences in their lives. They are good smart kids that need their energies pointed in the right direction. We truly believe that the "Ice Box" is providing that safe place and positive influence for them to learn and grow. We continue to pray for God to move throughout our community and throughout the "Ice Box". We pray that others will see God working in it and want to be a part of it. God does nothing on accident, everything is a divine appointment! We believe that God is creating divine appointments for us in this community right now as we speak. All we have to do is open our eyes!

Family Settling & Mentor Time

2009-06-03T09:04:00.005+12:00

So we are still going to report on our furlough trip I promise, things are just crazy right now and haven't had the time it would take to write a lengthy blog (or Jennifer :) ).

Things are going really well for our family. We are starting to settle back in and get back into our routine (whatever that is) here in Massey. Rylee has started "Kindie" back, which she loves and that gives Jennifer a much needed break in her day (although I don't know how much rest she actually gets). Gavin continues to grow (I promise pics are coming)! All in all we are doing well and we are blessed back here in New Zealand.

Right now we are enjoying the company of the Speers, our friends and our mentors. As I am writing this the Speers are getting ready for their date with the Ely's. We decided as a team that each team member would get one day with the Speers to do whatever and talk about whatever. This will be a good time for all of us to get some good ole' quality time with our mentors and express to them how we have been mentally, physically & spiritually. So far we have shown them a little of our side of Auckland, the Ice Box and later this week they will experience some other ministries we are a part of here in Massey. It is great to have them here.

The Speers are Here!!!

2009-05-29T14:30:00.002+12:00

Well, after a much anticipated time in our teams life, our mentors, the Speers have arrived in Auckland. They will be with us over the next couple weeks, spending time mentoring, renewing and listening. We will probably have a little bit of fun together as well. Next weekend we will be taking a retreat with the Speers, where Charles will share some wisdom with us from the word of God. We look forward to the spiritual rejuvenation. Then the Speers children will arrive in Auckland, and after spending a couple of days with the team, their family will go to other places in New Zealand and visit, blessing others along the way. After, the Speers will come back up to Auckland and be teaching a parenting seminar we are putting on for the community of Massey. The title of the seminar is "Parenting, It's Not All About You". Cara will be primarily be the one teaching our community about parenting in such a way that we help one another and allow God to work within our parenting as well. It should be a great seminar. We are so excited about our time with the Speers and can't wait to share our lives in Auckland with them.

New Series on Worship

2009-05-28T10:46:00.002+12:00

So we are starting a new lesson series about worship. We are going to be diving into worship that comes from the pure heart of God. Worship that is all about us going before God vulnerable and open, revealing everything about ourselves and hiding nothing. So in light of this I would like to know your opinions concerning our series Title/Subtitle. Which one do you like or other suggestions you might have.

"Naked & Not Ashamed: The Art of Vulnerable Worship"

"Vulnerable: The Art of Naked Worship"

New Website - Cherry Unleashed

2009-05-23T11:32:00.002+12:00

For a little while now I have been working on a new website blog for my random thoughts. It is called "Cherry Unleashed". The site is www.cherryunleashed.com. From now on this site will be for team updates and family updates, and my other site with host my random thoughts about life and spirituality. I invite you to come and be a part of the discussion of how to be a Christian in an ever changing society. A new post is out there called "A Different Kind of Family?" Hope you enjoy. I will keep this site updated when I make new posts to the other site.

1st Week Back

2009-05-18T20:15:00.002+12:00

So we have been back for a week now and we are slowly adjusting back to our life here in New Zealand. This week has been filled with us unpacking, restocking groceries and trying to catch up on sleep (not happening due to precious little Gavin). It has been great reconnecting with our team and with our work. We will keep you all up to date as the weeks progress. We hope to get back into regular blogging again soon, very soon. Also, we plan to post a blog update on our furlough trip.

Off to the Plane!!!

2009-05-09T09:06:00.002+12:00

Well our 8 week trip back to the States is about to be all wrapped up. We are counting down the hours until we board our plane to take us back to NZ! Please pray for our us as we fly over the big blue waters! As always, we are a bit anxious about traveling with our little ones. Just hope we can keep them entertained and rested over the next 11 hours!

We'll tell you all about our trip when we get settled back in Auckland. Until then, have a great weekend! We love you all! :)

Stand By Me

2009-03-28T06:26:00.001+13:00

Thought this was cool and I wanted to share! Enjoy!

Furlough is Here...Traveling Today!

2009-03-12T13:45:00.002+13:00

Our Furlough Trip is upon us! We are about 2 hours away from leaving to the airport, which we will then proceed to travel for 21 hours, plus wait time, to reach our first destination, Oklahoma City. We are really excited about this trip. It has been one year since we have seen our family and friends. It has been one year since we have tasted real tex-mex, and other great restaurants. It has been one year since I have had taco bueno, real pizza and real mountain dew. I plan on coming back to Auckland 10 pounds heavier.

We are looking forward to a time of rest (much needed) and renewal. We are looking forward to catching up with all of you in some way or another.

Please pray for our travels. This is the first time we will do this trip with two kids, and to say we are a little nervous is an understatement. Pray that they do well and that the flight is smooth, and that we are kept safe.

I don't know what our blogging will be like once we get there, but we will try to keep you all informed as best we can. If you don't here from us on the blog, it means we are resting and having fun with friends.

Love you all and see you soon!

17 Adults + 9 Bubs + 2 Little Girls = One Big Party!

2009-03-08T21:53:00.004+13:00

9 bubs, 17 adults, 2 little girls and one really fun BBQ!! Since the end of our prenatal yoga class, the girls have started a coffee group where we get together to enjoy morning tea and have a chance to visit. Justin and I decided that we needed to have a BBQ where we could all meet each others husband/partner and see all the new bubs. So this weekend we hosted this event! We had a great turn out. In fact, all but one of the girls was there!! (And we'll excuse our tenth friend because she was in the hospital just delivering her new bub!!) After a few rainy days, we had perfect weather for our BBQ. We enjoyed talking about our babies, yummy foods and watching our little ones just lay around! Below is the picture of all the bubs in birth order from left to right. And the only girl in the group is right in the middle!!!

CAGED 4

2009-03-07T22:17:00.002+13:00

The "Cage of Guilt" is the fourth video in the "Caged" series. In this video we discuss how guilt can cause us to have "conditioned reflexes", in other words, we hear something or see something that reminds us of the sin we committed and the guilt continues to grow. But part of our spiritual growth is recognizing how we have been conditioned and allowing God to recondition the reflexes that need to change. If we will unlock the cage, God will set us free. Enjoy the video!

The Fruits of Labor

2009-03-02T15:38:00.002+13:00

Last night, Skylar, Morgan, Elijah and I went to do some work for our local fruit & veggie store. They are really great people and we have got to know them over the last year. Sky and Mo have been cleaning their store from time to time and that has helped build our relationship even more. Especially when they want to pay you and we assure them it is free and out of love. Well, they have a back room that needed to be redone a little and cleaned up and painted. The store owners work 7 days a week, they open at 7:00 in the morning and don't go home until around 8:45 at night. Needless to say they have had a hard time finding time to do this great task. So we volunteered our services. We first pulled everything out of the back room into the parking lot. Then we went to work sweeping up all the dirt. Then we used this cleaning solution and poured it all over the floor so that the dirt and grime would come loose. We scrubbed it up and then mopped the excess water away. While that dried we painted the walls and the work benches. Finally, after the floor was tried we poured on a chemical solution to prepare the floors for painting. We worked for about 4 hours and I must say the shop looked pretty good. We still have one more room to do (the freezer room), then we have to wait 2 weeks for the solution to soak in completely, then the floors can be painted.

When we were done, the owners insisted on giving us something. We assured them it was free, but they insisted. They gave us each a Dr. Pepper (love them) and then some fruit and veggies. They gave me the veggies I needed to make my salsa in exchange for my recipe! We are developing a great relationship with this couple. They are hard workers and deserve a break. My prayer is that last night they saw Jesus Christ serving those that work so hard so that the rest of us might have food.

Quick Update

2009-02-27T22:39:00.004+13:00

I just wanted to keep you posted on some family stuff....

Gavin celebrated his ninth week with us today! Yeah!!! We had his Plunket check up yesterday and he weighed in at 16.2lbs. So he has gained 6 pounds in his short little life. He is a healthy boy. The nurse said he was doing great! I think we are finally getting used to his little schedule. He is beginning to smile a lot and coos at us often. Rylee is beginning to take to him more. She loves to brush his hair after his bath. She likes to make him "handsome" as she says! In fact, a few nights ago Gavin just stared at her and "talked" to her as she brushed his hair. I am looking forward to the days when they just play all the time together.

After being out of kindy for almost 2 weeks due to other activities, Rylee has picked back up with wanting to go to kindy. She cracks us up. We go in and do a few activities with her to get her settled before we leave. So this week after we had done our few activities she told me "we have to go do something else to keep me distracted while you leave!!!" I am positive we have not said those words to her, but how does she know that is exactly what we are doing!?!? Such a smart girl that Rylee!

Gavin's First Laugh

2009-02-27T22:33:00.004+13:00

I appologize if this video makes you sick, but it was too cute not to share! Gavin was sitting in his swing and began to laugh at the little bear mobile. It was so sweet! I guess those little bears must have been telling him some good secrets!

Youth Leaders Team Building Seminar

2009-02-26T21:34:00.002+13:00

Today Skylar, Morgan and I spent time with the Youth Leaders of "Raise Up" in Massey. We spent our time with them talking about the importance of being a team. We started out by having them take a personality test, which is always fun and then helped them learn how they would relate to each other and what they could contribute to the group. It was really good for us to interact with the kids and it gave us a great chance to deepen our relationship with them. These kids have so many talents and have a great potential growing the "Raise Up" events. Our prayer has been to be able to get into the lives of these kids and help build them up so that they can impact their friends at school and at these events. Our prayer has also been for opportunities to share with them Jesus Christ. The more we interact with them the greater the chances will be for us to share. God is opening great doors for us in the community and this was just another way He has worked through us.

CAGED 3

2009-02-21T22:55:00.002+13:00

The "Cage of Assumption" is the third in the "Caged" series. In this video we discuss how we believe that everything needs to be explained, everything needs to be logical. We have lost our ability to see the wonder in creation, the wonder of God. But no matter what we think or see, the wonder is there, God is there, if we will just come out of our cage and look. Enjoy the video.

Chaplaincy at Massey University Begins

2009-02-20T21:05:00.004+13:00

So yesterday was my first official day as a Massey University Chaplain. Normally I will just be working on Friday's at the University from 10:30am to 2:30pm, but this week and next is orientation so I am spending more time up there to get and know the new students and the faculty. During orientation the new students take tours of the campus and stop at different stations to meet different groups and what they offer. We are one of those groups. Yesterday we saw around 500 students or so and today around the same. Yesterday I worked with another chaplain who gives the presentation to the new students and introduces what we can offer them. This is a great opportunity and during this time you try to engage the crowd by being humorous and showing them that you can relate to where they are in life right now. This morning I got a call from that same chaplain asking if I could run the show. Being "me" I said yes, and then realized this was only my second day on the job. It turned out great. I basically just mimicked what she had said the day before. It was a great way for me to get in front of the new students and let them know who I am and what the chaplaincy team has to offer.

I am really excited about the possibilities at Massey University. I look forward to getting to know the students and the faculty and discussing Christ with them. I look forward to being a listening hear for these people and showing them the true heart of God. Please be praying that God works through me in the lives of these students and faculty. My God spread His love throughout the Massey campus!