We are back home again now, after a wonderful vacation. The weather has been beautiful, although our house continues to be an icebox. We've basically been living in one little room with the door closed and the heater on. I miss NY and central heating! At least there you are rarely cold inside, even though it gets much colder outside. But I don't miss the snow - not one iota. We are far enough south now that some of the leaves are changing colors. Deciduous trees are not native to Oz, but the English settlers brought some over. They don't do really well, but some change colors and lose their leaves. I miss the violent red of the maple tree, though. I've realized lately that the reason I love certain things is because of the colors. Like the beach, for example. I do like to swim in the ocean, but I could live without it. But I love the beach on beautiful days when you have the stark contract between the rich greens and blues and the white sand. It is the colors that draw me in and make it irresistible. And sunsets, with the reds and oranges contrasted against a growing black sky. Our Creator is just so awesome! I thought that perhaps living on the coast, I would grow tired of it, or at least become desensitized to it, but I haven't. Instead I've discovered that every day is a bit different. The beach is never exactly the same, just as no two sunsets are completely alike.

Speaking of desensitivity, I watched American Beauty for the first time yesterday. Everyone says it's such a great movie, but I had heard some things about it that really put me off. Well yesterday I finally gave in and watched it. And as far as picture and acting and writing and originality, it was absolutely brilliant. But it was disturbing to me. Perhaps partly because there was some raw truth in it that you don't usually see in movies -- the sadness and meaninglessness behind the "happy" smiles and facades of so many people. Psychologically, it was brilliant. A family that had so many deep emotional needs, none of which were being met. A real family with real needs (some perhaps, a little over the top). Before working at Hillside I would have thought this ridiculous, but now I realize that there really are families like this. A lot of them. But it still bugged me, and I'm glad. There were so many (true or not) sinful elements in this movie. And yes, that's life. We live in a sinful world with sinful people who really do look for meaning in sinful ways. Even Christians do not live perfect lives and quite often (well, I at least speak for myself), fall into sin rather easily. And perhaps it's not this "big." I may not have an affair, but I may lose my temper and in my anger, sin. But sin is sin. No matter how "big" or "small," sin destroys. I don't believe in a hierarchy of sin. James says that if you break one commandment, you are guilty of breaking all of them.
But back to my point. Watching the movie (and I'm not recommending it, so please dont' run out and rent it) has put me in a bit of a spiritual pickle. I know a lot of Christians who watch movies (or TV shows) that I would consider really trashy. But they watch them because of the realistic elements or great cinematography or something else. I don't know. I haven't interviewed all of them. And perhaps they have the "freedom" to do that. I don't know. I can't judge. Maybe, like it says in Romans, I am the weaker brother. But I think that all Christians should be bothered. Yes, maybe it's real life and maybe it will help us to relate to real people and better know how to meet their needs or show them TRUE meaning. But in the meantime are we being desensitized? I don't think ANY sin should sit well with Christians. Not in TV or the movies or real life, whether it be an impure sexual relationship, or domestic violence or taking our beloved Lord's name in vain... And if I'm watching a movie with such elements, whether it have some level of truth or goodness in it or not, if I'm not bothered or disturbed by it, if it seems ordinary and normal to me, then I think something is very wrong.

I guess I"ll get off my soapbox now. I have some very serious thinking to do about this and how it should affect my life. It's easy to talk about, but difficult to really make changes.

Charles and I are currently enjoying some time away from Sydney. Kate and Andrew's parents offered their amazingly beautiful home to us for a few days while they are away on vacation. So we are taking advantage. They live about an hour and a half outside Sydney in the suburbs of Woolongong. But the house does not feel like it's in the suburbs. It is tucked away in the side of a mountain. Yes, we are again in a place where the mountains meet the sea. Just beautiful.
The weather has been amazing for us. We got up and had breakfast at a cute place on the beach, walked to the headland, drove 20 minutes south to another cute town (Kiama) to see a blowhole (which wasn't working very well today because the sea was so calm) and we just got back from hiking up Mount Kembla. We have crammed a lot in today. And something totally cool - on our way down the mountain we saw a Lyre bird. I wish I'd heard it imitate a chainsaw or something cool, but it was cool just to see one, nonetheless.
So that's that. Lots of fun!
We have to head back home tomorrow, which is a bit sad. I could get used to living here! :)

Today Phil, Chuck and I went to Taronga Zoo. It was a beautiful day, but really cold and windy. Nevertheless, we woke up really early, dressed warm, caught a train into the city and then the ferry to the zoo. We managed to get free passes from a guy at our church, which was sweet, and we had a fantastic time. The Sydney Zoo is really surreal because you're looking at giraffes or birds or some animal native to Africa or Asia, but on the other side of their enclosure is a beautiful view of the harbour bridge, opera house, and city skyline. The sky was clear today, so the water was a deep blue and lots of people were out sailing. It was breathtaking. I'll get some cool pictures up here eventually.
As for shows, we saw a really cool "Birds of Prey" show, and a seal show (which are always my favorite.) And after the seal show we turned around and discovered that Rove McManus (a younger, more attractive, funnier, Australian version of Jay Leno, who actually gets prime time hours) was sitting right behind us. We weren't sure if we should say something and be stupid American tourists or just let it go. To my great relief and Charles's great regret, we let it go. But it was cool, nonetheless, to be at a show with a famous person. At first we weren't sure, but we realized that he was dressed way nicer than most people at the zoo, and was getting very special treatment (they even let him go into the penguin exhibit and pet them --- no fair, I want to be famous so I can pet the penguins).
Our favorite thing had to be the monkeys. Usually they are just sitting around bored but today they were fighting and swinging and the younger ones were terrorizing the older ones... it was hilarious!
Anyhow, that was it for our big adventure. Now we are at home trying to warm up. (Although it's not really warmer in here than it was outside.)
Anyhow, that's that for this week's big city adventure!

Cheerio, mates!

I promise a few Blue Mountain pics. So here they are. What a beautiful place!

Looking at the spectacular view of the 3 sisters with two of my favorite Midivaine men! (Dave is cool too, but he was on his way to Europe - lucky dog!)
The valley
Frank and I wearing Phil's firemen hats, attempting to triple our coolness. (It didn't work. The jacket may have helped, but it was too big and made me look silly rather than cool.) Sorry it is sideways. I forgot to flip it.

Today was Charles first Sunday preaching at Hope. It went really well. We studied Philippians 3, one of my favorite passages. People were blessed and were really encouraging to us, which was great! We took communion together. I always love to take communion for the first time with a new group of people. It solidifies us, in my mind, as brothers and sisters in Christ - the Church, receiving God's grace through the sacrament not as individuals, but as a unified body. I eagerly await the day when the Bride of Christ, in her entirety, will feast together, in the presence of God!

After church they had a welcome lunch for us (so much yummy food!) and we watched "The Incredibles," (someone else's choice), which was quite ironic! (If you dont' know why, ask me to explain it to you sometime.) It's funny how one church can have such a problem with something while another sees some value in it.

Either way, it was good times. I am really loving this new church!

Due to unwanted readers making unwanted comments bringing up unwanted memories spurring unwanted anger that could have led to an unwanted jail sentence, I have decided to go private with my blog. It's a little sad for me that I have to do this because it was always fun to get the occasional comment from a stranger who found something interesting in my blog. However, I have found it necessary. Sorry for the extra work, but to those of you who have taken the time and the interest, I am honored. :)
I feel, for the first time in a long time, that I have a bit of privacy. Not that I will take this time to say anything that I shouldn't (you would think I would have learned my lesson by now - especially when I get hammered for saying things that aren't even bad or mean or incriminating at all), but it's nice to not have every move and every word shadowed and analyzed.
However, Charles and I reached a scary realization tonight. Our whereabouts are known. It was kinda fun to be hid away... a fugitive, if you will, far away, with no way for those in the outter-world to make contact with us (unless we wanted them to), thinking that we were hidden from any by whom we would not want to be found.
But alas, that is not the case anymore.
Tonight when sitting at the kitchen table playing Rummikub in pure delight and bliss, the phone rings. Thinking it is a friend from down the road or perhaps a telemarketer (not so good) or maybe even my parents, I cheefully answer the phone on the 2nd ring. And I recognize the voice on the other end. And it is not Phil, and it is not a family member... and my heart starts pounding and I want to SCREAM!!!

WE'VE BEEN FOUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Ok. so this is a little overdramatic. But my heart was, indeed, pounding.)

And I begin to wonder - who gave us up? How did they find out?
And then I realized with sadness... it was my own stupid fault. I'm the one who has the stupid blog that is open for everyone to read. I'm the one who likes to talk about the things going on in my life and talked about where we were living and working. IT'S ALL MY FAULT.

So now what? Do we pretend it was a mistake, that we dont' actually live here? Do we start screening our calls? Will the phone start ringing off the hook with people wanting to wring our necks? I don't know. Oh the terror. Oh the suspense... (oh the ridiculousness of this post...)
But I can't help it. It's late, I'm stressed and I'm tired.

So with that I will say: thanks for reading, thanks for caring, and goodnight!

"When a church goes too long without seeing conversions, it turns on itself. If a church does not taste the nourishment of seeing souls saved, it will cannibalize itself as people turn on each other, trying to recapture a sense of purpose. People get worked up about their musical preferences, or frustrated by the church's organizational weaknesses, or irate about financial decisions and personnel problems. These issues often yield disagreement, division, and strife.
Seeing the transformation of a new convert's life brings unity. When people are converted, the church pulls together. It is not that these other things are unimportant. They do matter; but they are not central. This was the point of Jesus' parables of the lost sheep, lost coin and lost son. When church members see dissension among themselves, they should always ask, 'When was the last time we saw the conversion of a lost soul?' "
~From There is No "I" in Church by Keith Drury

We've been in Sydney for a week on our own now. We've only managed to get lost in downtown Blacktown once and that was the last time we've been back there. You can't even get around with maps around here because they dont' tell you which streets are one way, or which streets don't allow you to make right or left turns onto other streets that you desperately need. Augh!!! But we made it out alive. If our marriage can survive Sydney driving, I think it can survive anything. Charles is a fantastic driver. I would be terrified to do everything that he does. And I've discovered that Sydney drivers are 1000 times worse than even Massachusettes drivers. They stop in the middle of the road, with oodles of cars behind them, and just start backing up. Stupid people.
I've applied for a few casual jobs in Blacktown, but I'm not really expecting anything since I can only work for 6 weeks.
On Sunday we took the train to Parramatta with some friends from church, which was fun. We ate at this expensive place for lunch where we waited over an hour for our overly priced, delicious but small-portioned food. But what should I expect. This is Sydney. They lost the order but wouldn't admit it. The waitress kept saying that the people inside ordered first. However, people who sat down outside, after us, ordered, ate and left before our food came. 3 of us got sandwiches and Jenn got pasta, which she actually never got. We left after an hour and 15 minutes and they still hadn't brought her food. On the bright side, we got free drinks. I milked it for all it was worth and got an iced chocolate (which is kind of a cross between a shake and a sundae. yummy!!!) .
We've been out playing cricket or baseball almost everyday. The mornings and evening are chilly but mid-day is beautiful. And we have a park just a stones throw away. :) We've been sleeping way too much (approx. 10 hours a night) and probably eating way too much. But at least we're getting a bit of exercise. Charles starts preaching again this week so he's had to start writing sermons again. I've been getting my fill of John Grisham, since Graeme has all of his newest books! AND, we've been adopted by the really sweet kitty from next door. We were outside on the back porch reading this morning and she came and sat on our laps and purred and purred. I don't really like cats, but this one has stolen my heart.
Except for the driving part, I'm getting used to city life. I've even been able to sleep without our bedroom door locked, which never happened in Coffs. But then again, I have no choice because our door doesn't lock. The only trouble is, living in the city - especially a city like Sydney, the fashion capital of Australia - it's hard not to wish I had all kinds of money to wear all the latest fashions and such. And not everything is super expensive, but there is so much of it and I just want it all. I'm not normally a greedy person. In fact, I'm rather opposite. I prefer to live simply. But if I lived in the city for long, I could see that changing quickly. So it's a good thing it's only for a couple months.
Although at times i miss the structure and schedule of having a job, I could get used to this life... sleeping late, eating yummy food, playing outside and reading all day! :) We really are being spoiled.
On a really cool note, since 2 of our friends are firemen, we can get free tickets to the Taronga Zoo (which is a great zoo near the harbour...tickets are normally $40 a piece). So I think we'll be doing that sometime next week.
It has been just so wonderful having lots of friends close by. I wish Kate and Andrew could live closer. But we had Phil over Thursday for his b-day (and I burned the cake slightly and ruined the frosting, but other than that it was good), Steve came over Saturday and we spent Sunday with Dan and Jenn! Oh the joys of having friends!!!
Welp, I suppose I should finally get cleaned up and get some work done or something. It's 12:30 in the afternoon. What a bum I am becoming.

If church government (or any government) doesn't do what it is designed to do, or really has no authority to do anything at all, what is the point of even having it?

We've been in Sydney almost a week now. We haven't ventured out too much. It is still a bit scary, and we have vowed to never be out driving between 7-10am and 4 - 6:30pm. Traffic is just so nuts. But we have found our way to the church (which is a good thing) and to the grocery store. It's a nice little plaza for shopping and then there is a really big shopping center with a movie theater, etc., just a couple kilometers away as well. So that is cool. No shortage of things to do.
We had a wonderful surprise this week - we got to see Frank Midivaine again!! When we said goodbye in Melbourne we had no idea how long it would be until we'd see them again. It was very hard. I was so sad. But Charles promised me that we would see them again. He had no idea how easy it was going to be to keep that promise. It turns out that David, their youngest son, who was flying from Coffs to Europe on Friday, accidently booked his plane ticket from Coffs to Sydney for April 3rd instead of May 3rd, so Frank had to make an emergency trip to Sydney so that David could catch his flight out that night. (Thank God he'd given himself a 12 hour layover or that would have been a real disaster.) To our delight, Frank decided to stay a couple days. So Frank, Phil, David, Charles and I played a lot of Cricket on Friday afternoon and then took David to the airport via the fire station (where Phil works - he's a fireman. How cool is that!) so that David could have a ride in the Bronto. Then yesterday, we ventured with Frank and Phil into the Blue Mountains. It was a blast! We explored the adorable little village of Katoomba (where I would choose to live - a quaint little town on the side of a cliff, about an hour and a half from the rush of Sydney) and did a little hike to the 3 sisters (a cool rock formation in the mountains - pictures to come) and all around the area. On the way home we got ice cream and then upon our return we ordered pizza and watched a Footy game. Totally fun! Charles and I were planning to go up into the Blue Mountains anyway, and it was so much more fun to go with Frank and Phil!
God gives us such neat little blessings!
Today we went to Hope for the first time - the church that Charles will be looking after while Graeme and Heather are away. It is such a different atmosphere! The church is set up cafe style and is really laid back,. which is new to me, but very cool. The people are lovely and much nearer our age, which is so fantastic. I think we will fit in and relate very well. We've already made some friends that I am really excited to get to know even better.
So that's that for this update. Pictures will come soon. Keep praying for us!

Cheerio.

Our vacation in Melbourne is over and we are now residing in Sydney. It's kind of a weird feeling. Usually toward the end of a vacation you start looking forward to going home and getting back into a routine. But we didn't go home and as of yet, we have no routine. So it still sort of feels like vacation, but not really.
But Melbourne was fanatastic. We did so much stuff: tons of shopping, exploring the CBD, visiting big cathedrals, playing games (Mafia, Stomp, Smart Ass [which isn't a bad word here]...), seeing a free early screening of Spiderman 3, going to a footy game, riding the trains/trams, eating way too much junk food, way too late at night, going to bed and waking up hours later than normal... After a while it started to screw with our bodies a bit, but it was worth it. It was so good to see Christie again and meet Sam and the O'Briens and the people at Spring Street Wesleyan Methodist church, where Charles did an internship in 2005. (I don't remember how much I wrote in my last post, so if I repeat anything, I apologize.) There were some hard times, like saying goodbye to Frank and Ruth, but overall it was just loads of fun!
Man, there are some great places to eat in Melbourne. I think the best had to be the chocolateria. We had spanish donuts (like sticks of fried dough) called Churros, with strawberries, white chocolate ice cream all smothered in milk and white chocolate. SOOOO yummy! Or maybe the creperie... I dont' know. It was all good.

But out of all the memories of Melbourne, there is one that I cannot get out of my mind. On our last night there, after we had gorged ourselves with chocolate and played pool until late, we were headed to the tram station when we passed a man asking for money for food. We tried our best to ignore him, apologizing that we couldn't help him, and continued on our way. But I was really bothered. I don't like to give money to people. Although I can't judge motives and hearts, statistics show that 9/10 people begging for money use it to buy drugs/alcohol and that is not something I want to support. And besides, I didn't have any cash on me. However, there was a convenient store right there and there was no reason why, if he was really hungry, that I couldn't have gone in and bought him some groceries. I keep thinking about what Jesus would have done. Would he have walked by? No. Jesus not only met the spiritual needs of those who came to him, but he met the physical/practical needs as well. Yet we, a group of Christians, people trying to live like Christ, walked right by and did nothing.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that I missed out on the opportunity to do 3 really important things:
1) Help meet a very real need in someone's life
2) Show someone that I care about them
3) Most importantly, tell someone how much Jesus loves them.

Who will take someone seriously who walks by and says (not that anyone would literally say this) "I'm sorry you're hungry but no worries, Jesus still loves you."
No one. The way you bring people to Christ is by being Christ to them - meeting their physical needs and showing that you love them and care about them... and through that earthly example of Christ-likeness, you can show them their spiritual need and tell them about Jesus.
But I didn't do that. I walked by.
Last night I thought about this so much that I could not sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Matthew 25 which says,

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me,'
They will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "

Which one am I?
Which one are you?

Lord, forgive me for my negligence. Please fill me with a burning desire and the will to help meet the physical and practical needs of those around me, as you did. You have blessed me so abundantly. May I, in turn, bless others.