Dec. 2011 Update

The craziness of the holidays is finally over and our family is back to its regular routines. Christmas was a huge blessing this year stretching from one day to five as we were delighted to spend it with many of our close relatives and friends. These special events are often difficult because we’d like to clone ourselves to be able to celebrate with all of our loved ones, nonetheless, we are very thankful for the great times we experienced.

In this year’s festivities we were shepherds for Calvary Chapel Sequim’s (CCS) big Christmas event, “The Streets of Bethlehem”, a role that our family easily adjusted to. Many people visited our area and petted the live animals while listening to our mini message of our angelic visitation and admiration for the baby Messiah. There was a live concert in the afternoon and tasty Gyro sandwiches with ample amounts of olives, pita chips, and hummus for the Mediterranean style dinner. It was a lot of work but was all worth it in the end as the whole congregation worked together to honor the Lord and serve one another, it’s always such a blessing to see the Lord’s Church functioning smoothly and to see the visitors enjoying themselves and being touched by the Gospel.

Christmas Eve and morning were spent with Cameron’s Mom and Step-Dad and was full of presents, fun, and food. In the evening we attended the CCS Candlelight service and watched as the kids carefully held their candles and beautifully sung the traditional Christmas hymns. Christmas morning was busy but a joy as we dug into our stockings and then attended morning service at CCS. Jeremy led worship and toward the end Cameron and Kay came up on Kay’s impulse and lead Silent Night thus, burying the needle on the “Cute Meter”. “Merry Christmas!” was repeated joyfully from one friend to another and then we were off to Jeremy’s Dad and Step-Mom’s scenic home on Bainbridge Island a couple short hours away. We thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the day and even got to spend time with Jeremy’s Uncle Steve (a wonderful surprise) and his Brother and Family who bravely drove the twenty-five arduous hours from Hollywood to the Northwest for the holidays. More fun, presents, and food and then we loaded up on coffee and headed down to the ferry to pick up Jeremy’s Mom who’d traveled all afternoon and evening from San Diego to bless us with a week long visit. The timing of everything worked out perfectly and we were home safely and in bed before midnight.

Our week leading up to New Year ’s Day was relaxing, we made it a point to slow down and really enjoy our time with family. Nonetheless, we took in the local winter sights by hiking around the neighborhood, on the majestic Dungeness Recreation Area, and amazingly, Ryan, Aubry and Nana Carole even walked over seven miles from our home to the store in town! We allowed Ryan to stay up with us for the change of the New Year but we were all so tired we barely made it to 12:01 am before turning in for the night.

It was a fitting end to 2011 as we have had a very busy year and 2012 looks to be more of the same. We thoroughly appreciate your prayers and look forward to the coming year as the next chapter unfolds in this very exciting adventure that God has directed us into.

Australia Update:

As was mentioned in our “Post Envision” entry, we went to Sydney in December 2011 in obedience to God’s leading with hopes to get direction and confirmation for the next step. God clearly met us there and confirmed our calling to Australia and specifically pointed us toward Sydney in order to take part in the coming church plant. Many of the team members who are assisting in the church plant are placing their time of relocation to be around July or Aug. of this year, so we feel that is a good target date for us as well. As far as the actual “grand opening” of the church, since it will take some months to get established in the city, develop relationships with people and get familiar with everything the date is around Jan. 2013. By the way, we’ve been told that there will shortly be a website running for all who are interested in getting informed on the church plant including getting to know the team members and being directed in how to pray for us. We’ll let you know when it’s ready!

There is a real temptation to get comfortable here in Sequim but with our calling renewed in Sydney we are definitely still in “Missions Mode” and are actively keeping our lives simple and our hearts diligently focused on the call. We’re remaining fervent in prayer and constantly in contact with our partners in the future ministry. We recently celebrated Australia Day with a dessert and prayer night at our house. It was really well attended and our family was truly blessed to share our hearts and vision and watch as others joined in to pray for the work. The Lord is keeping our ministry skills sharpened by serving at the church in various ways such as, Jeremy helping to lead worship in the main services and teaching once or twice a month. Also, Cameron and Jeremy are involved with leading worship and teaching in the teen and children’s ministries. Jeremy’s also teaching beginning guitar at the church and Christian school weekly. He’s also overseeing various outreach possibilities in the community, while once a month helping out with the men’s and surf ministries. We love serving the Lord and ministering to His people and are genuinely thankful to have the opportunity to use and develop our gifts here in Sequim for now, but we’re looking forward to how the Lord’s going to use us overseas hopefully very soon.