Brooke’s Australia Adventure Update – Spring 2011, October 26, 2011

Dear friends,

I think the best way to start this update letter is to quote from a song by REM: “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” I feel as if life has changed dramatically in a short time frame, even more than Brendan and I could have anticipated three months ago when I wrote my last update. Yet, God continues to prove His complete faithfulness in each area of our lives.

The first huge news item is of course our gorgeous son’s arrival at 6:01 AM on Friday the 2nd of September. He weighed in at a healthy 3.98 kg (8.7 lbs) and measured 52 cm (20.47 inches) and came out screaming and peeing – which was a great relief to me, and immediately made me cry. His arrival was not the hoped for natural birth we had planned to have in the birth centre. However, we did have a few hours to labour in the centre before we moved to the delivery suite to induce and eventually have an emergency c-section, a whopping 41 hours after my waters broke. It was a mini-marathon and I am so grateful to my amazing husband who was by my side every minute of it and for our doula who was with us for a record 26 hours – her longest birth experience… and for each and every person who helped at the Royal Hospital for Women – truly an amazing team. Instead of heading home a day after the birth like we’d planned, I had to stay in the hospital for 6 days and 5 nights. Thankfully due to the mercy of an Irish nurse Brendan was able to share the last two nights in hospital with me as we established a feeding plan to boost my milk supply. This was probably the hardest part for me, learning how to breastfeed and how painful it can be. Praise God that everything has been healing well and Jeremiah Jasper continues to grow very healthily. We are incredibly blessed to have become parents to this miracle –every baby must be a true miracle as each body part is so perfectly formed and resembles parts of you and your husband. God is so faithful to us! We reckon JJ has more of my colouring in hair and perhaps my nose, but Brendan’s eyes and chin (actually Brendan thinks his blue eyes will become hazel like mine)… but who knows! He’s only 7 weeks old! We so look forward to seeing not only his physical characteristics develop, but also his personality and the gifts God has given him.

Psalm 127:3-5 The Message
“Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? The fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children! Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you; you’ll sweep them right off your doorstep.”

Before Jeremiah’s entrance into our lives I was very grateful to be a part of the hiring process for the maternity leave position at Young Life and am glad to say that Tjaart Kruger and I had a month of working side by side before I went on leave. Tjaart and his wife Madelie are from South Africa and came to Australia to study at Hillsong College. He brings to the position a wealth of youth ministry experience and a passion for the Lord and young people and a calling to one day become a senior minister back in his homeland. What a joy for me to see how God has provided so richly for the area as I am on leave and I have felt that the work is out of my hands and God is carrying it on and growing it in great ways as I am on leave. I was able to have a few weeks before the birth to also rest and prepare for the changes, which I really appreciated. From what I hear from Tjaart, the area continues to flourish and Brendan and I look forward to being a part of the annual Trivia Night fundraiser on the 12th of November (where Brendan will again reprise his role as Quiz Master). It has been a blessing to have the YL kids: text, send Facebook messages and call, wanting to know if JJ had arrived, how he’s doing and when they can see him. I am so grateful to be able to do this ministry and am looking forward to seeing how life will be when I return to this ministry. Our first entry will be the annual Extreme Summer Camp, from the 15th-21st of January 2012 to be held in Jindabyne, NSW. Applications are out now; if you know of any young person that would benefit from a week of camp where Jesus is introduced and the gospel message unpacked, please let me know. Opportunities to serve on camp also exist and you can find out more information on our website: www.younglife.org.au.

In other news, in February Brendan and I moved out to a rented townhouse in Dundas, closer to my work and the community I minister in. This move was dictated by needing more space as we were going to expand our family with JJ’s impending arrival, as well as wanting to save money on rent so we could save to purchase a home. In May, the Strata for the complex (the owner’s association) informed us that they were going to do a pest inspection. They found that there was some old termite damage underneath the floor of the room that we had planned to be JJ’s. At this point, I was 28 weeks pregnant so we asked Strata to make the repairs as soon as possible. Three builders later, fourteen weeks after the inspection, and when JJ was a week and a half old, we were informed that repairs could begin and we were asked to vacate our house for a week. This wasn’t so bad, as Brendan was still on paternity leave and it was a good excuse for us to visit our family in Newcastle and share little Jeremiah with them. The surprise came when after just one day in Newcastle we received a call that when they pulled up the floorboards in the room, the ceiling below caved in… spilling the three construction workers out into the room below. It turns out that there wasn’t just old termite damage, but indeed a live nest with active termites. An engineer was called in and the full damage to the house couldn’t be assessed, so our landlords declared the house unlivable and ended our contract… less than 7 months into the year lease and when our son was just one and a half weeks old… But, we were not in despair. Brendan’s family took us in and accommodated us so generously. What a blessing it is in many ways for me to have been able to live with them at this time as I was unable to drive until 6 weeks after JJ’s birth because of the c-section. My mother-in-law Barbara is so hospitable to help me so much with everything – from laundry (which, let me tell you is a lot for a little baby) to cooking and just sharing life and tips on motherhood. Brendan also was still on paternity leave for a week and a half after we found out, so it meant we had some time together to really talk about our next steps as a family with housing. We took it as an opportunity to try to move forward on purchasing our first family home, rather than rent again. The timing seemed to be right also, as the governments’ first time home owner’s grant for exisiting properties (rather than new ones) ends at the end of this year, as does the stamp duty exemption, both of which can save us a lot of money. So, we began our search for homes to buy and started with the same area we’d just been living in. After only two Saturday’s of house inspections, we made an offer on a unit and I’m happy to report after some negotiations (Brendan is incredible at this!), our offer was accepted! Truly, it is unbelievable how quickly all this has happened! We have a great peace and hope for this place as a home we will grow in as a family, and plan to be living there by mid-November. The new home is located just south of Sydney’s second CBD of Parramatta, in an area called Holroyd Gardens, which is the site of an old brick refractory that has been turned into parkland. There are three children’s playgrounds in this park, one for toddlers, one adventure playground for older kids, and a practice track for children to learn to ride their bicycles. It is a beautiful area and very close to some friends from our Connect group – which is great as we can continue to meet together and hopefully grow in ministry to our neighbours. Please rejoice with us in God’s provision and pray that His favour will rest on the settlement details.

Psalm 16:5-7
“LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.”

All of this change was not always easy for me as there have been many things in the past few weeks or so that I could not control at all and have been very different to my idea of how things should or would be. Yet, I have been amazed again and again at how God is with us, and have been reminded that He will never leave or forsake us, that His plans are for our good and better than the plans we have. Life with a newborn reminds me to take life as it comes, each day is different and can be filled with much joy, some unsettled or tear-filled times, some legitimate needs to be met (hunger, sleep, nappies needing to be changed) and lots of cuddles. I know that some days it will be hard for me even to find the time to take a shower and read my Bible, that routine is hard to find, but that it will not be forever. As a super independent person who likes to give, a season of receiving, forced in many respects by some of the birth story of this little man that I love so much and then due to small bugs that ate our house, has made me again realize and appreciate how interdependent we are created to be. I am dependent in many ways in this season, and my son is even more so. His whole existence in this time is as dependent as it was inside my womb for the 9 months prior. My work right now is to care for him and to relish it… and what happens outside of that is a bonus. What this season has also reminded me of is how incredible it is to be a part of the body of Christ and to see how the provision of God comes through brothers and sisters who step into help when hard times come. I was overwhelmed by people’s generosity around JJ’s birth – from gifts, hand me downs of clothes, to home cooked meals and then with the house drama – many offers of places to stay and houses to house sit in this season. I feel it is just like when I first moved to Australia and was studying in Newcastle and dating Brendan in Sydney and had so many homes opened up to me and was so reliant on the generosity of others. In this season I am even more dependent and with a dependent and therefore, even more grateful.

Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

There are many dreams and desires Brendan and I share for this next season, but I truly am learning – or re-learning, to surrender all my dreams and hopes to my Abba Father. He has all the best in mind for us all and as I seek to hear His voice and give Him what my desires are, I can trust that He will not only take care of us as a family, but give us above and beyond what we can ask or imagine, as it is not about us, but His glory. As we see Him provide, it speaks of His faithfulness and love and not our worthiness in any sense.

Ezekiel 34:31
“You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD.’”

With loving friendship,

Brooke

A few more photos of our precious son

Photos from JJ's first 7 weeks