The New Year

...is almost upon us and we've pretty much given up on blogging in 2011. This has been the Year of Sickness for us, with at least one of us being unwell most weeks and with many of our plans undone because of illness time and again.

However, in 2012, we hope to be back in Australia. We're hoping that the addition of sunlight and fresh air to our lives diminishes the frequent illness. We'll see how that goes!

At this stage we are planning to move back around March but this isn't definite.

What is definite is the job Mark has been offered at Queensland Theological College from June, 2012. It's a great opportunity to serve God and we are quite excited about it. We had always expected to return to Sydney to serve at Moore Theological College, so this is a bit sudden and unexpected for us, and we will miss our friends in Sydney and the community at Moore. But Brisbane looks like the way forward.

If you regularly pray for us, you might want to join us in praising God for his continued provision for us and for this opportunity. You might also like to pray for the new principal of QTC (Gary Millar) as he and his family move across the globe, and for us as we undertake a similar move. There are lots of details to be ironed out and many decisions to be made. Pray we'll honour the Lord Jesus by being kind, wise and capable over the next few months. Oh, and that Mark will finish his thesis (which is coming along very well).

Here we all are...

We wish you a memorable Christmas and happy New Year. (We're not sure if that's 'you' singular or plural... can't be too many readers left! ;)

JMB

Birthday snow

One of the major things that happened on our weekend was celebrating J's third birthday. He isn't actually three until next month, but his birthday is really too close to Christmas for him to really enjoy it, so being his parents, and slightly omnipotent in these matters, we moved it to a more suitable date.

He had a great day. There was snow, balloons, the birthday boy badge, presents and cake. The presents he opened one at a time and played with each one before he moved on. This was strange boy behaviour that we hadn't seen before.

The cake was constructed with his assistance (mostly he helped check that it all tasted good). He found it in a recipe book (all the cool two year olds read recipe books after all), and specifically requested it. And he blew out the candle with great enthusiasm. (You can see how healthy his tonsils are).

We said thank you to God for giving this boy three years of life, and pray for many more years. Most of all we pray that God will grant him eternal life through the Lord Jesus. JMB