Nope, wait. It's sunny.

Ok, so I was a little premature in proclaiming that the rainy season had begun.  Since I wrote the last post, the weather has been sunny and pleasant.  Apparently un-seasonally so.
People are gearing up for Halloween, which is a little yucky.  I'm not sure what the attraction is about having a life-size grim-reaper in your front yard and fake spider webs stretched across the door.  I really don't get it.
Accompanying the gruesome decor are pumpkins.  Big, orange pumpkins everywhere!  People are selling them on the roadside, as well as in the supermarkets.  The boys have each had a field trip to the local pumpkin farm with school and have (unfortunately) come home with a pumpkin of their own.  I just don't know what to do with them to be honest.  Currently they are rotting in the back yard.  I'm uncertain that this is the intended purpose.

Pumpkins aside, things are busy and interesting in our family at the moment.  Last week I attended the Open Heavens conference at church after miraculously snagging two tickets very last minute.  It had been sold out for weeks and I just happened to come across a lady wanting to sell her tickets on Craigslist.  Moments before seeing the ad I had been venting to Ben about feeling a little trapped at home and wondering if I was ever going to get a chance to be involved in something outside of the everyday stuff of mothering.  Ben didn't have school due to the conference being on so he was able to have the kids while I went and got fed spiritually and worshiped so hard I lost my voice.  It was a wonderful few days.  I gave the other ticket to a fellow BSSM wife and stay at home mum.  Yay!

Also, last Sunday I started a prophetic art class.  Hmm, I bet that's got some of you thinking.  Now I'm no artist but since being here I have realised that I feel truly alive when I am creating something. So when I saw the notice in the church bulletin, I felt as though I should explore this new thing I had discovered about myself. When I say 'prophetic art' it just means art that carries a message from God.  Art that is Holy Spirit inspired, for the purpose of building up the church as a whole and individuals too.  Testimonies were given about pieces of art that had brought both physical and spiritual healing.  One young man bravely got up and told the class that up until late last year, he had been severely depressed and into self-harm.  He somehow went to Bethel and while the worship was happening, one of the artists (they usually have people painting whilst worship is on) painted the word HOPE.  After the service, he went up to the painting, stood before it, read it and was healed. Amazing.  I'm looking forward to getting into whatever it is that the Lord has for me in this new arena.

Hannah has started a Suzuki music class on Friday mornings.  She is enjoying singing and bashing the xylophone and dancing around with coloured scarves with all the other toddlers.  Its so fun to watch her enthralled by a new instrument and see her try and do the actions to the songs.  She happily gets up from my lap and waddles over to the teacher for her turn on the drum or whatever.  It brings me great joy to see her stepping into her independence and taking the chances offered to her.

Lachie is enjoying pre-school and today told me randomly 'God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all!'  It was a great moment.  We pray that the truth of that verse (1 John 1v5) is forever etched in his heart.  He is loving learning the alphabet and gets pretty excited when he recognises the letters he has learnt when we are out and about.  Also, thanks to Dora the Explorer, Lachie also counts to 3 in Spanish and will often pipe up with a random Spanish word for something.  As his parents, this is both irritating and amusing.

Overall, life is indeed sunny.  Although we are busy, we are full, life is full and it is a good feeling.  We are being filled with things that we are passionate about, that we have a heart for so it is not a drag or an inconvenience to get to whatever is on the calendar.  These are happy times.

P.S. here is a short video of Sam doing what his class does each morning: THE PLEDGE

Marge! The rains are 'ere!

So yesterday it started to rain in Redding.  The shift from extreme summer heat to cold, wet winter has literally happened over night and 'Fall' has been somewhat bypassed.  Redding locals tell us that once it starts raining, it pretty much doesn't really stop for a few months.  Great news.  I'd sort of like to find a balance between extreme weather patterns for my own sanity but we'll work with what we've got. The boys have relished being dressed in winter gear and were very excited to be able to wear raincoats to school.  I wonder how long that will last?

Last week Ben went to Chico, a town about 1.5hrs away, with his Revival Group (60ish people) for a 3 day retreat.  By all accounts it was a great time of getting to know each other and building relationships.  Ben and a bunch of other guys prayed for a man and saw his leg grow out to match his other one.  Incredible.  This sort of thing is common place among the students as they are so hungry for more of the Lord and willing to give whatever it takes to press in and get it.  Watch the clip of it here. God is Healer!

While Ben was growing legs in Jesus' name, I was holding down the fort at home.  The time went quickly and I was happy knowing that Ben was where he should be.  Its always hard parenting solo but at the moment I'm totally cool with working with Ben to make sure we both get as much out of our time here as possible. Ben actually sent me flowers while he was away with a note of thanks for all my efforts with the kids.  The delivery came at just the right time, I'd had a bit of a rough afternoon and to be completely honest had just spent the last minute or so silently punching the couch in frustration.  Yeah, how's that for a look into real life!  Anyway, my phone rang and it was the flower guy.  My heart was immediately softened as I felt not only Ben's love but also God's love for me.  Of course it brought me to tears and I repented of my couch bashing. Haha!

This evening Ben and I have been looking at all the options available for his mission trip in March next year.  He needs to apply for his top 5 preferences and he is so far struggling to narrow it down to that many!  Every trip would be completely amazing.  There are options all over the U.S., Mexico, South America, Africa, Europe and Canada.  He feels led to apply for a trip to Honduras and Nicaragua. It's purpose is to reach out to the people that live on the rubbish dumps.  They would be taking food and clothing to give them as well as just heaps and heaps of God's love.  We watched this clip from a previous trip and were bawling our eyes out. Have a look here and prepare to be moved.

The cost of every mission trip is the responsibility of the student.  This trip will cost $2400 USD.  It's not factored into the tuition fees for BSSM so we need to raise that amount in order to send Ben there.  We believe that God has got it covered and so Ben's applied in faith that the funds will come in.  We'd love it if you would like to bless Ben financially for this trip.  If you feel led to do so, click here. Thanks so much in advance, lets bring some Hope and Love to a forgotten people group.

In finishing, I just wanted to say how grateful we are to be here, living out our dream.  We couldn't survive without the financial aid of so many people.  Every time I get to the check out at the supermarket I thank Jesus for providing the cash.  Not just enough to survive, but to thrive.  Our God is the God of abundant blessing, and He's pouring it out through so many of you (and your wallets!), so thankyou thankyou thankyou!