Brooke's Australia Adventure Update - Summer 2013

Brooke’s Australia Adventure Update – Summer 2013, March 18, 2013

Dear friends,

As I sit and write this I am grateful that the wind is blowing just a little cooler today – after a warm summer, autumn has arrived. Although the hot weather can be difficult while pregnant, I’ve been grateful that this summer has afforded our family more beach days and pool trips. Wherever you are in the world, it is a marvel to see the way the Lord has structured nature and the changes that take place with each season. Each season brings new delights and opportunities to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation. It is also a delight to recognize in our own lives the beauty of each season as it quickly passes by.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-3
“ There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build”

This toddler season of Jeremiah’s life is truly fun to observe and participate in. He’s now 18 months old and has had that first haircut I was dreading last time I wrote you. His curls are gone, but he looks so much like a little boy with the short blonde hair and his eyes look even bigger than ever. He’s got a mouth full of teeth now – 16 in all – and a very cheeky grin J. In terms of teething the incisors were the worst; and he has stopped having day-time naps for Mama ever since. He’s also becoming much more proficient in using words to communicate with us. Instead of “vroom vroom” he is now saying car, “chuck” for truck and bus and they of course all go vroom vroom. He is also saying doggy instead of “woof” but it comes out a little like “dodgy” and sometimes daddy thinks he is saying his name. It constantly amazes us how he’ll repeat things we say and seem to understand – like the word wet, which he used on a rainy day and when the kitchen floor was wet. He is also very good at following instructions – like going to get his shoes when we are leaving the house. Two other things that have impressed us with his word development is that he will say he wants “b” and point and I can know if he wants a biscuit, ball (which he can now say), bird or another thing starting with a “b”. He also uses “na” an abbreviated form of the word “snack.” I know this is all part of the normal development stages for children, but as a first time parent it seems so phenomenal. Jeremiah loves playing with balls as he kicks a ball around the house now and loves playing catch with Kimba in the back garden. His favourite book is one we’ve been lent by a friend also expecting her second entitled, There’s a House Inside My Mummy. We’re hoping this helps prepare him for his sister’s arrival. He does seem to understand that I have a baby in my belly to a certain degree, but it doesn’t seem to stop him from wanting to “kick, kick” when I have him on the change table for a new nappy L. Of course, his sister is also kicking back from within me so it is a bit funny at times being the referee between the two before one is even born! JJ’s personality is definitely fun and he loves to dance and has this one stomping of the foot while turning move perfected. It has been great to see him also begin to enjoy going to bed at night and wanting to be tucked in after his milk. He doesn’t even put up a fuss any more, he just says a high pitched “bye bye” and waves goodbye… This is a precious time as we wait for the arrival of a screaming baby!.  I’ve been really blessed to have a smooth and healthy pregnancy free from the complications of carpal tunnel that I had with JJ’s pregnancy. Of course, as I am entering my third trimester I am feeling the tiredness creep back in and my back is getting sore from the increased weight of the baby.

Luke 18:16 & 17

“But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”  

Apart from delighting in our son and our daughter on the way, our summer has also had other family memories included in it, especially a surprise from my Dad and Step-Mum who visited us for two weeks in February in part to celebrate my 33^rd birthday. It was great to even spend some more time together with Brendan, as the Christmas holidays had been a time we still worked a lot with expectations from our respective work places. While my Dad and Jan visited we were able to explore Sydney and the environs with them and have some lovely time with Brendan’s family up in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. Every time someone visits from overseas and I see their reaction to the beauty of the place we live in I appreciate all the more where God has placed us and it is such a blessing to be able to share what we’ve been given. My dad is a huge dog lover so he also enjoyed quality time with Kimba on daily long walks and runs (something Kimba isn’t getting much from me at 28 weeks pregnant). It was great for JJ to be able to get to know his Papa and Nana better also and vice versa for them, as they hadn’t been able to meet before. We hope that our family will be able to travel back to the US and Canada later in the year to introduce other friends and family members to our children that haven’t been able to meet them yet. It will also have been three and a half years since Brendan and I have been to North America, which feels like a long time. I am grateful for Skype and Facebook technology but really there’s no substitute to face-to-face relationships.  I am so grateful for the family God has provided me in Australia, and the support I have through the family of God here and truly this is home.

Proverbs 27:10

Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you— better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away.”

Life in Young Life continues to be full of adventures in the continuing journey of building relationships with Christ, the community called to lead young people and with the teenagers themselves. Thank you for your prayers for our annual Summer Camp in January, it was an incredible week, truly the best camp I’ve been a part of here in Australia. Why I say that is that many of the discipline issues or disruptions we’ve experienced in other years while not absent entirely this year, were able to be dispelled as there was a cohesive and unified team working together. The core group has now been alongside each other for many years and the trust and accountability we share in our friendships has really allowed for each to do their job well and communicate when problems arose. The fruit of the week also was that there was a great number of young people able to attend from many areas, 76 in all, more than we’ve had in 6 years. 27 kids made a first time decision for Christ, or re-commited their life to Him. The real ongoing fruit will be made, as these young disciples become part of a community of believers back in their hometowns and start growing personally and corporately in the body of Christ. From Sydney there were eight young people who decided to follow Jesus and this was so exciting for me as the speaker, as I wasn’t sure if the youth from my area would tune out as I shared during the week because of familiarity with my talks over the year. It was beautiful to see them at the New Christian seminar receiving their Bibles and beginning to search out the scriptures to see what this new life meant for them. Please pray for all of these baby Christians especially for protection and encouragement as they begin to take steps in their lives. Please also pray for the leaders that are given responsibility to help them to grow and to teaching them about God and His word and listening to His voice in their lives.

We’ve already had one small weekend camp in March since summer camp and we took 24 teens and leaders from Sydney and met with youth and leaders from Bathurst and Canberra to do a waterskiing trip. It was actually the worst weekend weather-wise to accomplish something like this with rain and cold temperatures and we ended up at the last minute securing a community hall for all 42 of us to sleep in. Despite the cold temps, it seemed it was a great experience for the students involved and enabled them to re-connect with friends made at camp. First timers got to experience cabin time for the first time, with its space for reflection and personal growth.. There’s a great momentum to this year and we hope to have another small two night camp during the April holidays (please pray for better weather this weekend) where bush walking will be on the agenda and prayerfully more time of reflection and connection for youth and leaders and God in the beauty of His creation.

Our weekly clubs continue to be a weekly highlight for many teens.  Despite some opposition at one of the schools, we seem to be enjoying a time of favour over the ministry. One of the most exciting things for me in my role is to have brought on two young leaders who show exceptional maturity and promise to be interns for the area. Rachel, that I introduced you to in my last update has become the Ryde intern, and Sarah who joined our team from Singapore last year, has become the Northern Sydney intern. I can see great potential for both of them with regards to longevity in youth ministry and am so encouraged by their passion for Jesus and integrity in their lives. Please keep the ministry in prayer as I prepare to go on maternity leave again at the end of May and for the right person/people to help fill in my role as I am away. I have a desire in my heart to have someone come into work with the area that has a longer-term vision than just the few months I will be on leave, but that can job-share with me when I return in November and can help carry the area in terms of vision and leadership, as my capacity will be even more limited as I parent two little children.  Please also pray for God’s provision to fund these positions and for greater growth to reach out to more young people in Sydney through the ministry of Young Life.

Psalm 133:1-3
“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.”

One more exciting change this year has brought that I’d like to share with you is that I have been inducted into a program called the Arrow Leadership 12 class (http://www.arrowaustralia.com.au). It is a two-year program designed to train and equip key emerging Church leaders. It consists of a few different elements including a reading program, meeting regularly with a mentor, and four week-long residential teaching times spaced out during the next two years. My boss, Glyn Henman, Young Life Australia’s CEO is an alumni of the program and nominated me for it. I was truly grateful to be a part of the induction and am one of eight New South Wales’ participants (and the only woman) and already feel like this program will add to my growth as a leader and challenge my spiritual growth and vision in the next few years. I have just begun our reading list and was gratified to have our first book be one of my favourites from my Flagler days, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. I already feel inspired and though only meeting with my mentor for the first time, excited also by the possibility of having someone alongside me for what the course will help reveal to me in terms of my ministry thus far and where the Lord is seeking to take me. Our first residential this year is when I am 36 weeks pregnant, down in Melbourne, so I may or might not make that depending on when our daughter decides to come, but I’m confident that although there are many things going on that setting aside some time to grow and develop myself at this stage in ministry is a valuable investment of time.

“Christian meditation, very simply, is the ability to hear God’s voice and obey his word. It is that simple. The truth of the matter is that the great God of the universe, the Creator of all things desires our fellowship.”  - Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline

Thank you for taking the time to share the journey!

With loving friendship,

Brooke