Moving around in Melbourne

After staying at four different places in Melbourne we are ready to stop! But we are learning to wait for what the Lord has for us. It's not easy. He continues to change us within and take unnecessary burdens from us. The refining/cleansing process never really ends, it just moves us into new dimensions of our relationship with Him. We are His garden, which He plants, waters, feeds, removes weeds from, causes to bloom and bear fruit when it is right to Him.

After Christmas we moved to Greensborough and stayed with Stuart and Jackie, friends of ours. We welcomed the New Year in while resting (sleeping). The next weeks were spent helping around the house - cleaning, rearranging furniture, sewing curtains (Em), and making a compost crate-bin (Ulf). Stu and Jak had had several house-mates coming and going over the past few years and this was the first time that they could have the house how they wanted it to be. So we were happy to help!

It was (and is) still a time of waiting. We stayed in Greensborough for about a month, which was enough time to get our heads straight after the long journey down from Cairns. We started praying about getting part-time jobs and about where we were to live in Melbourne. This was an exciting new situation for us to be in but we did not want to go ahead and do whatever we wanted or felt right about. We were (and are) waiting for God to move and bring us into what He has for us in Melbourne. At the time, Ulf felt to contact his last employer in Lilydale about cleaning in schools, while Em felt led to apply for a job at Kmart.

After Greensborough, we house-sat a family's home in Watsonia for the Australia Day long weekend. It was a beautiful house and garden (vegies!) - we were so blessed! We were really longing for our own place and God gave us four beautiful days of rest there.

After our little holiday we came to Ringwood to house-sit some friends' house for a couple of weeks. We arrived here on a Monday and the next day Ulf started working part-time at Lilydale West Primary School! We both feel that God has placed him there and we are thankful for this job. Ulf is very much enjoying working again, but we are both aware that we cannot fall into thinking that that is all that God has for us here - to find a place to live and start working. Working is only a small part of the picture - a big picture of which we cannot see in its entirety.

We are continuing to trust the Lord that He has a home for us to dwell in here in Melbourne. In the process we are learning that God Himself is our Home and we will be happy wherever He is.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23: 6

Photos, from top to bottom: Ulf and Stuart cleaning in the lounge room; Getting into the garden; Em sewing curtains; The neighbour's ginger cat that kept coming to visit us for affection (at Stu and Jak's place); The back garden at Watsonia house-sit, complete with vegie patch!; Zuchini flower; Em has been experimenting in the kitchen... this is Honey cake with Strawberry Sauce. Check out her recipe blog at http://emmas-ekitchen.blogspot.com or click link on left.

Byron Bay to Melbourne

God is good!! In Byron Bay we found a great little car within our price range... The car dealer got it ready to go the day after we first saw it (it wasn't registered yet).

So at 7am on Thursday 20th December we set off for Melbourne in our new wheels. We made many stops on the way to rest and eat, and we took turns driving, which helped us both a lot.

At 8pm (and after 1,000kms) we pulled into a caravan park in Goulburn, NSW and stayed in a cabin overnight (all the cheap caravans were taken, a fact Emma was glad of because she doesn't sleep as well in those compared to fixed structures). 7am Friday 21st December saw us setting off again to complete the 600kms that were left between us and our destination. The terrain between Gouldburn and Melbourne does not vary very much and is very sparsely populated compared to the NSW coast. The day before had been quite warm, but after lunch on Friday the rain hit us and didn't stop for the rest of our journey. [Photo, far right: Our new wheels parked in front of the YWAM base in Byron Bay.]

Kristin and Shalvin's wedding

Kristin was Emma's bridesmaid when we got married, so Em was really thankful that we could be at Kristin's wedding on Saturday 22nd Dec. She was honoured to read a Bible passage during the ceremony. [Em's the one on the far right, photo's not so good.]



Christmas Day

This year we celebrated Christmas by having a picnic on the Dandenong Ranges, complete with BBQ turkey & roast veges, reading the Christmas story, and the exchanging of gifts. The first photo on the right shows our view.





Catching up with old friends

Andy and Viv Harvey recently moved back to Melbourne and we have been blessed to be able to stay with them over Christmas. It was also great to catch up with Nigel and Rachel Tilley and their two boys. They are also many others whom we want to see and hopefully will get time to visit them in the New Year.

We are so thankful to God for all He has done for us and how He has safely brought us to Melbourne. We are enjoying being here again and are looking forward to seeing His plans for us here unfold.

Merry Christmas

May you know the peace and joy of Christmas as you celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ this year.

Jesus Christ was born - God came near.