A personal story

This is our dear pastor and his wife (Steve and Jenny). About 6 weeks ago, they took their first international trip to go and see their daughter who is a missionary in Africa. This was going to be a bit of a stressful trip as their daughter works at a lep*r hospital and is also in a country with spiritual opposition. In recent months, the small group of missionaries have suffered extremely horrific car accidents, health and family problems that required the evacuation of a couple of families. Pastor Steve was not only going to see the mentally stressful l*per hospital, but he was going to minister to the emotional and spiritual needs of the downtrodden missionaries.
Unfortunately, soon after their arrival, he was visiting the sick when one of them said that there were fires in his home country of Australia(some patients have small radios). After inquiring more, he realized that the fires destroyed the small town that he had raised his family. Through many prayers of Christian friends, he was able to do the job he was meant to do. Before returning to his home in King*roy, he and Jenny went back to their hometown. They found the home that they had lived in just three years ago, burned to the ground. Then they went to the home that they raised their children, it to was burned to the ground. Then they visited the camp that he worked for many years, much of it he built himself....it too was burned to the ground. He also visited a mate of 30 years. His mate had lost his wife and 2 teens sons in the fire.
Pastor Steve got up in church this morning and shared from I Peter 3:11 "since everything around us is going to be destroyed (with fire), what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God. We don't know when the next "fire" is going to consume us. We need to have our relationship with God in order. This was such a personal message as he had just witnessed the immense destruction of fire; and then the spiritual recognition that this is what God is saying what will happen when He comes back to judge the world.
Please pray for the emotional renewal of our pastor and his wife.

Did you know....

*Australia owns part of Antarctica

*cyclones/tornadoes really do spin the opposite way in the southern hemisphere

*Cyclone Hamish started a week ago and is already disappearing

*Australia is 3/4 the size of the US (in land mass)

*In 1954, Bob Hawke was immortalised by the Guinness Book of Records for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Bob later became the Prime Minister of Australia.

*Australia day - January 26, Australia day, is the anniversary of ships arriving in Sydney carrying a load of Convicts.

*The Wombat deposits square poos on logs, rocks and even upright sticks that it uses to mark its territory

*Over 90% of Australia is dry, flat and arid. Almost three-quarters of the land cannot support agriculture in any form.

*Box Jelly fish - The box jellyfish is considered the world's most venomous marine creature. The box jellyfish has killed more people in Australia than stonefish, sharks and crocodiles combined. (we get to go and swim in their territory in May - but we will wear full body "stinger suit" when we are in the water)

*People: 92% Caucasian descent, 7% Asian descent, 1% Aboriginal descent

*America's cup - In 1983, the yacht "Australia II" ended the Americans 132 year dominance of the America's cup

*Long fence - The 'dingo fence' in Australia is the longest fence in the world, and is about twice as long as the Great Wall of China.

Chimneys

o.k. So...if I would have simply titled this Hobart, who would read this? The first thing that I noticed in Hobart was the houses had chimneys. That may not be any big deal to those living in Missouri, but I did not realize that I missed the charm if chimneys until I realized that we did not have them in King*roy.
R.T. and I loved our long weekend in Hobart. As my facebook reads...."you really need to put Tasmania on your bucket list". The mixture of the ocean, mountains, harbours, trees etc make a combination that will take your breath away.



Breakfast at an outdoor cafe


The scene from our dinner table at Mure's

Australia began its history with a past that they would like to forget. Much like we would like to forget our history of slave trade. Unfortunately, it is reality and is a part of the culture that makes a country what it is. AU was first inhabited by prisoners who were shipped from England. We were able to tour the only prison that was not torn down. It was an amazing experience to share in this part of our adopted countries culture.

This is what 14 years of marriage looks like

the octopus tree. It is actually a eucalyptus tree that grew over a rock

We spent a couple of hours hiking on Mt. Wellington in Hobart.

Tassie coastline. God smiled on Australia when He created Tasmania. You could not help but stop and give God the praise that He deserves, when admiring this part of His creation.

more scenery

more scenery

Abbie's new look

There is not alot of new news. R.T. had Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off of work. It was great having him home. He was a great help in teaching Abbie about Ceasar Augustus. R.T. and I are planning a trip to Hobart (Tasmania, AU - feel free to look at this one on a map) We will be leaving at the end of Feb. and we will be gone just for 3 nights. We are using the excuse of our upcoming 14th anniversary to do this trip alone.
The biggest news is that Abbie got her hair cut. This is always a hard thing for the boys in our family to take, but in the end it is all worth it. Abbie is growing up into such a special, beautiful girl. God has completely blessed her with the gift of hospitality. Last Saturday morning, I came in from my long run about 7:00 and she was standing on a chair making homemade yeast waffles. I went about my business and a while later she served up a hot, fresh, yummy breakfast.
On friday morning the kids did childcare for our MOPS program at church. Cas and Abbie entertained 12 - 2 year olds for 2 1/2 hours (with the help of a few adults). Cas said the hardest thing was the short attention span of a two year old. They came away feeling exhausted, but with a great feeling of accomplishment.

Weekend at the lake

We spent this past weekend at the lake. It is actually a salt water and a fresh water lake. Supposedly, you can walk across it as it is not very deep. I am going to let the pictures do the talking....


R.T. got to take a catamaran out on the lake


we introduced smores to our friends. I ordered the graham crackers and the Hershey bars as I cannot get them in the local market. They seemed to be enjoyed by all.



a wild roo. We still get excited when we see one

just a good picture of a good looking kid

These are our dear friends. I think that we are going to kidnap them and bring them back to the states.

the kids - learning to Kayak. It was a great place to learn. When they were having struggles, R.T. could just walk out and help them

The next few pics are of the queenlander that we stayed in. We were disappointed to learn this weekend, that they take a lot of up keep. R.T. and I really enjoy the design.

Natural Disasters

We have been getting some questions about the natural disasters currently happening in this country. The word that we are getting is that 60% of the state of Queensland is under water. We live in the state of Queensland, but we are still experiencing a drought. North Queensland (approx 12-20 hours from here) has been having rain every day since Christmas - some days it is up to 7-8 inches. Please pray for this situation.
Down south in the state of Victoria (this is about a 2.5 hour flight from us) there are forest fires. The news we hear from them has been devastating. Many have lost their lives. A town called Maryville was completely vaporized. Unfortunately, this town has many close connections to our friends at church. Our pastor lived there and took care of a camp for kids...it is gone. This town has river walks, cute candy stores, business etc. It is all gone. Our friends have a friend who saw the fires coming and he jumped in a ditch to save his life; unfortunately, his wife and child died. This is so tragic. Please pray for our adopted country and our dear friends who are saddened by such great loss.

Slip, Slap, Slop

Cas and his board


Abbie taking a break from the surf

R.T. caught a big wave

Abbie is coasting after catching a wave

Letitia enjoying the surf

Cas and his wave

Three cheers for the Aussie lifeguards

Helicopter rescue demonstration

This is the Aussie Skin cancer motto. "Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat". 1 in 2 people get skin cancer. We have found that we put on sunscreen and have to reapply every 1 -2 hours to prevent getting burned.

This past weekend we went to another beach. We arrived in time to see the lifeguard rescue demonstration/practice and then Abbie got a bad cut on her toe and the lifeguards got to practice on her. Daddy saved her from getting stitches by going down to the local newstand and getting some super glue.

Going back to the lifeguards....we have been impressed with how serious Aussies are about keeping their beach goers safe. When Abbie got her injury, we had 4 lifeguards around us within about 2 minutes. They have a swim area marked on the beach and within that area they have guards in the water, on the shore and on a tower with binoculars.

While at the beach, we perfected the art of boogie boarding. You can see from the pictures that we all enjoyed the surf....maybe a bit to much.