Officially Counting Down Now... 7,6,5

Well, I hear the weather temperature is dropping in Melbourne which can only mean one thing - that it must be almost time to fly home.  Brrrr.  
Usually there is some new record set on the day we arrive back like, "Oh, it's the coldest day in 103 years today!" Hence our mad dash out to the shops tonight to buy an extra set of thermals.  
We're going to turn our air conditioning on full overnight tonight just to try to prepare our bodies!
With 8 church services, 7 school events plus numerous other activities to keep us busy, this trip is looking like it's going to be another good one!
Here's a rough list of the places where Dave will be speaking, but please check back later for more details including times, addresses etc.

Casey Life International Church, June 30th (am)

Village Church, Dingley Village July 7th (am)

Mornington Christian Church, July 7th (6pm dinner) office@morningtonchristianchurch.com.au

Christian Reformed Church of Casey, July 12th (pm)

Narre Warren Baptist, July 14th (10 am) + Spanish service 1pm

Narara Valley Baptist Church (NSW), July 21st (am)

Antioch House, Saturday July 27th (am) enquiries@antiochhouse.com.au

Narre Warren Christian Church, July 28th (am)

We are so excited to be coming back and sharing about what's been happening over the past 12 months.  We're also looking forward to seeing many familiar faces soon!
Andie :)

Good News!

Well, once school had finished for the year, we headed away on a week's vacation... or maybe I should call it a staycation because we actually only drove about 15 minutes from our house! But still, we got away and very much enjoyed a break from the norm.

It was a week without computers, without work, even without sightseeing.  We didn't even take any photos until we were all checked out and about to head home!
We basically just swam, ate, napped and then went back to the beginning of the list and started it all again.  
It was sooo needed and sooo nice to have both this precious and yet simple time together as a family!
One of my favourite parts about being away was finding "treasures" with the kids around the place where we were staying.  By the end of the week, the children had a whole bag of bird feathers, interesting nuts and various other special things that they had collected.

I had to smile yesterday when Spencer came running in from outside yelling excitedly, "Eli... Eli... where are you?  I've got some really good news.  I found two more feathers in our backyard!" 

Waiting in the car before we went to greet the team.

On the topic of good news... on Friday, the kids and I went out to the airport to welcome the Maranatha Missions Awareness Team who are in town for a couple of weeks.  It will be good to spend some time with them while they are here and Dave is looking forward to having them come out to visit ZOE.

My brain is in a bit of spin since coming home from our week away because just after I finished putting away the last of the washing and finished sorting everything out, I realised that it was time to start re-packing, this time for our trip back to Australia in 10 days time! Yikes!  No really, this is good news too because I am really looking forward to seeing both Dave's and my parents, whom we have not seen in 12 months, as well as all our family and friends.

The not-so-good-news this week has been that on the final day of our holiday, I noticed a big swollen lump on the back of Tobi's neck.  Of course every possible scenario began running through my bed... but after unpacking the car at home, I took him up straight up to the local hospital to have a doctor look at it.  After an ultrasound on the area, the doctor said that he had infected lymph nodes in his neck.  He is now on his second course of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and we are believing it will be all cleared up soon.  He is feeling very little pain in the area now, praise God.
Eliana and Spencer also came down with infections within days of coming home - both developing outer-ear infections in their right ears.  
The doctor said all three children's illnesses were caused by the pool water... well we certainly had done a lot of swimming so that made sense.
We're praying for full health in all three children before flying back.

All the trips back and forth to the doctors have not left us feeling down though.  We have still had a good week catching up with friends, playing at home, enjoying some movie marathons - snuggled on the bed with the air-con going to keep us cool, reading lots of books and just enjoying being on school holidays in general.
Here is what Spencer got up to while I was painting Eliana's nails and braiding her hair yesterday.  He's such a funny boy!  

It's on my to-do list to post a list of all the places we'll be visiting/sharing/speaking at while we're back so keep an eye out.
We'd love to see you if you're around!
Andie :)