Bruce doing a little bench press... :) Josiah's arms crack me up!!
We had a busy day Saturday.. Abigail got invited to her first birthday party. One of the little girls she made friends with on the base had a princess tea party for her birthday..
Princess Abigail
Prince Josiah
Abigails friend Silesa (whose party it was)
Josiah almost ate the entire bowl of doritos.. this is where he spent the majority of the party. :)
The kids enjoying a little veggie tales
Then we met the girls from my school for a little cookout in this park.. and there was a nature center that we went exploring in :)
If you've ever wondered how to sheer a sheep.. then this video is for you!! lol a little Aussie culture!
newborn Joey in his mommas pouch! it was so cool to see upclose.. it was wiggling and moving everywhere.
Joey!
Umm, this was an interesting photo op.. but we just had to take advantage of it. lol. It's a wombat. G'day mate!
WOW! So amazing to be in Perth and for the last 3 weeks we have had A LOT of the city side of Perth.. but can you believe that a 20 min train ride away is the OCEAN!! so amazing.. so beautiful... and so refreshing to see... I love the city.. but its nice to have a change. God gave us a beautiful warm afternoon Saturday (74F) to enjoy the beach.. complete with sunset, fish and chips, sandcastle & gelato. We definitely will be heading back soon!
Well! Ive been meaning to post about class and all the wonderful things I am learning but my schedule is JAM PACKED.. so its hard to find time to process or explain what we are learning.
the first 2 weeks we learned about the nature and character of God. kinda a review class from the first school we did.. but as we know about the nature and character of God the subject never gets old and there is always something to learn. I really appreciate YWAM in that they have solid teaching.. and their teaching isnt just about knowledge its presented in a challenging way that brings about transformation. The teacher for the class during the week was this hilarious guy.. he had us almost in tears at times from laughter but had the gift of making you think and examine your own life and your own views about the character of God. He talked a lot about our behaviors being the fruit of a tree and if the fruit is bad or wrong the root of the tree or our foundational belief in who God is is wrong or tainted.. it was truly an amazing week. We also studied the anatomy of the pelvis, the baby's skull and male and female reproduction systems.. I know! exciting stuff!! also learning to take vitals (some of us reviewing this)
This week we are continuing with the urinary tract, Maternal nutrition and how this varies based on culture and status, Anemia, Hemoglobin and urine testing, normals in pregnancy and minor complications and how to run an antenatal clinic along with setting up and practicing by taking turns role playing.. Its a lot of information and I can hardly believe we have been in class less than 3 weeks and we are already setting up a clinic and putting things into practice. This next monday we will also be practicing antenatal clincs on some of the pregnant women on base. The good thing with living in a community of about 500 people is there is sure to be a few pregnant women to practice on! :)
yesterday morning as well I had to present with another classmate a "Healthcare Gospel" presentation. It basically means you take a very simple life saving thing and you break it down into a simple form and then share something about God through it. so for instance we taught on washing hands and we showed the proper way to wash hands. I made up a little song to teach the proper way and then we tied it in with the scripture about how we should have clean hands and clean hearts.
Its hard to believe we are already halfway through our first month.. time is going fast and before we know it we will be leaving for outreach and the applied school. We appreciate your prayers and can really feel them as we transition our family.
Please also pray for our pastor and friend Joe Manahan. He is battling brain cancer and we are asking God for a miracle to restore his brain and heal him. He has been a spiritual father to Bruce and I as well as many others.. pray for comfort and peace for his wife Mary and family as well.
thank you so much.
classroom and some fellow students and leaders
The kids have been blessed by some new Aunties :)
and Menno! (Josiah loves him) He is the husband of one of my staff members
Abigail enjoying some culture downtown.. the lady in the black dress behind her was cracking me up :)
Had an amazing time of revelation last night at the Friday night meeting. Every Friday night the entire YWAM base gets together for worship and a message; basically church. Last night one of the base leaders Peter Brownhill spoke on intercession, what it actually is and what it can actually do. It's amazing that the God of the universe waits upon little dust specks (human beings) to pray to Him and that through such a dialog the course of human history can be changed.
Also yesterday Abigail, Josiah and I went on a little exploration of Perth. Following a map we hopped a train and a bus to get to King's Park which is Perth's pride and joy. Getting off at what looked like on the map a short walk to the park, I found out that the park is located on top of a steep escarpment. So to get to the park, A, J, the double stroller and I climbed up 242 steps (known as Jacob's ladder). Abbie made it all the way and some of the exercising people helped carry Josiah part way up. Enjoy the pics!
Before we left we had family photos taken by the beautiful and talented Devron Enarson. We will be sharing more photos and will be sending the link to family (so dont worry moms you'll get some :) )
if you want Dev's site its here.. I highly recommend her for those of you in the Chicagoland area. I cant say enough how amazing she is.. http://devphotography.com/
by the way.. any of the pictures we post you can click on to enlarge them so if your having difficulty viewing them you can do that :)
I've been meaning to post sooner but week one has proved to be very busy with registration, orientation and lectures starting full on. We have just been trying to get our footing.
We are still settling in to the base and we have had some great opportunities to get to know this "family" we are living with.. and although overwhelming at times to be tossed in the middle of 400 people its been so amazing and we are so blessed to be part of this larger community that truly is like a family! Yesterday was registration day and in the afternoon and evening we had some time to play games, relax and eat dinner together in a nearby park by the swan river. It was a lot of fun! I forgot my camera so I cannot post any pictures :(
There are 14 students in my class including myself. They hail from Australia, US, Switzerland, Canada, and Romania. It has been great to start to hear their stories and how all of them came to be here like myself. Today we had lectures on the need for midwives in the nations and the character of God; both amazing topics. It really blessed me a lot because in the process of moving here and all the changes that have taken place it was so great to hear and be like YES! this is why I am here! It was a very affirming time for me this morning.
We have been drinking so much tea!! I think its because it is pretty chilly here (especially at night).. mostly this is because the lack of central heat and lack of windows in a lot of the classrooms. The direct sunlight is the only thing heating anything up so I find myself drinking cup after cup to warm up! I need to get it under control and also find another hot drink! :)
Here are some pictures of us enjoying Perth outdoors! It's been high of upper 60's almost daily but then drops to like 48 at night.
bike trail that leads to the Swan river that we have been jogging on.. the trail is literally steps away from where we live, takes about 7-10 minutes to get to the river and then runs along it for miles
Perth skyline
Happy 4th of July to our Family and Friends!! We miss and love you!
