Family in Toronto, Niagara Falls, view of Toronto from the Islands, in Kingston with family and a snap of Brendan and I in San Francisco

A few fun snaps from our North America tour: in SF, with Audra and Rowan in Orlando, family in Orlando, with mum in Fernandino Beach & dad and Jan at Legoland Florida

Brooke's Australia Adventure Update - Winter Recap 2013

Brooke’s Australia Adventure Update – Winter recap 2013, September 25, 2013

Dear friends,

I am happy to report that I truly love maternity leave! In the past few months I’ve settled into a really great rhythm with the kids where we are out in the mornings allowing Jeremiah to run off some of that toddler excitement with a variety of playgroups, library story hours, the park or other assorted baby play dates, then back home for lunch and back into the nap routine (yeah!) and then an afternoon at home playing cars (for JJ that is!). I write this during the precious time when both are napping in unison - it doesn’t happen often (and sure enough as I’m writing this one wakes up!) I really am so grateful to live in a country that values the care only a parent can bring to a young child. Here in Australia, unlike in the US where I grew up, parents (either mother or father, whoever is primary caregiver) can receive 18 weeks paid leave by the government at the minimum wage full-time rate. There’s also an option to have your job held for you as you take off 12 months unpaid leave. As I traveled back with our family to the US and Canada this summer and had the opportunity to visit with friends from uni that also have young families most of my friends are stay-at-home mums. Which is wonderful, but I think also reflects that there aren’t the same options for them to work flexibly or part-time or to have their job held for them as we have here. Australia has just elected a new party into the government and our new Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, has promised even more for working mothers, to take effect in July 2015 (a lot of time between now and then if it goes through). Here’s the policy:“The policy grants working mothers six months' leave on full pay, capped at a salary of $150,000. If the father is the baby's primary carer, he will receive the payment at the mother's salary.” I am not sure if this policy will benefit me as I don’t think I’ll be back to full-time work again before we have another child (God willing), but I do appreciate the generosity and again the desire to honour the value of having a parent stay home with a child who is young. As a breast-feeding mother, I so appreciate and value the time I have to really bond with my children and as efficient as breast pumps are, it still amounts to another person getting valuable time with your newborn. I am actually still breastfeeding Jeremiah, who just turned two on the 2^nd of September.  I am allowing him to self-wean, which means when he is ready he will choose to stop having breast milk. Of course he eats all kinds of food and can drink cow’s milk out of a cup, but so far he still wants Mummy’s milk. Even my pregnancy with Christabelle didn’t deter him; he had the colostrum and has been just as interested, if not more in ‘milk from Mummy’ since his sister’s arrival. I have never really had friends who breastfed around me before having children and so when I was thrust into researching it all, I joined the Australian Breastfeeding Association. I also started attending a natural parenting group and I learned the value of breastmilk beyond just infancy, including immunological benefits, which I have seen firsthand as my children are hardly ever ill, not to mention the close bonding I enjoy with them both. I know life will change again once I return to work part-time, but again I feel so privileged to have had this time at home and so grateful that I have the chance to go back only two days while my children are being minded by their Nana and this is really why I love living in Australia at this time in our lives.

For those of you who live far away or we haven’t seen recently, here are some of my reflections on the kids. Christabelle continues to be a very sweet child and has become very interactive as she has grown.  She loves to smile and coo, and makes lots of noises trying to communicate. She is four months now and can roll from her tummy to her back and vice versa and loves to stand on her legs when her mum helps her. She is a delightful sleeper and is happily carried in a sling as we go out each morning to burn off her brother’s energy. Her hair has changed from dark brown to a golden colour and her eyes are still blue, so we are hoping they’ll stay that way and take after Brendan. Jeremiah is a very spirited boy who really loves being out and about and social and he is often noticed for being polite and saying “please” and “thank you” interspersed with his “I need …” or other demands of being a toddler. He is quite loud and often I am trying to get him to be quiet if CC is sleeping, but his energy cannot be contained. Kimba and JJ continue to be best of friends and chase each other around the house and yard numerous times a day. Kimmy, as JJ affectionately calls him, is so long-suffering that he even allows Jeremiah to ride him like a “nay nay” (horse).

We had a wonderful trip to the US and Canada for three weeks in the end of July/early August. It had been three and a half years since we’d been there and it was such a treat to be returning to visit with our beautiful children. They were both very good travelers and we logged six flights between Sydney, San Francisco, Orlando, Toronto and Montreal. Some highlights of the trip were staying in some lovely hotels that included amenities like a heated indoor pool and spa, gorgeous view of San Francisco’s harbor and America’s Cup yachts racing, and yummy gourmet buffet breakfasts. We of course went to see our family and friends first and foremost but also enjoyed doing a bit of sightseeing along the way including: a ferry under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz, Kennedy Space Centre, Lego Land Florida, Niagara Falls and the Biodome and Jardin de Boctanique in Montreal. We got to meet my dear friend Audra’s two bundles of joy – Teagan, who is three months older than JJ and Rowan, who is four months older than CC and we were able to stay with them for a week in total and thoroughly enjoy their hospitality as well as splash parks and parks in their area. It was wonderful to be able to do this season of life together with Audra for a little while as we’ve been such close friends since 1999 and our time at Flagler and serving with Young Life. We have so many different memories together and to have our children run around the house and pick up each other’s mannerisms and words was so precious. Jeremiah picked up Teagan’s question, “What happened?” and Audra’s “yeah”, so we are frequently reminded of our precious time with that gorgeous family. We also got to have some great time with my Mom and Step-Dad in Jacksonville and see what the Lord is doing for them through their monthly ministry gatherings and be a part of their monthly television show. Our time in Florida was also a time to re-connect with my Dad and Step-Mom and Brother and we enjoyed a great time with them eating yummy Churascurria Brazilian BBQ and walking around humid Winter Park on a lazy summer’s Sunday afternoon. Our time in Canada meant time catching up with my Aunt Donna and Uncle Bill in Toronto and getting to see my recently married Cousin Emily and meet her new husband Jared. Then in Kingston, we got to have some great time with my Uncle Glen and Aunt Margo and Cousin John, who is recently engaged to Rebecca, who we also got a chance to meet. There were other catch-ups along the way with friends from Rotary, childhood, church and uni, but one of the most special things about the trip was having the four of us together and figuring out what it looks like to be a family of four. I felt so strong coming back from this trip in my marriage, it was almost like if we can pull off a crazy three week international journey with two children under the age of two, then we can do anything together. I am so grateful to be married to such an incredible man and we just celebrated our four-year wedding anniversary on the 15^th of August and I can’t imagine what my life would look like if I hadn’t come here to Australia six and a half years ago and met him. God really has the best plans for our life!

Isaiah 30:21
“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

We’ve made one big change to our lifestyle since returning from America and that is to go on a sugar detox. I started seeing on friend’s Instagram photos something about a book called I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson. I decided to look up the blog and was fascinated by what I read about the bodies and our inability to easily process fructose sugar. Basically, we are only created to process small amounts of sugar (5-6 teaspoons a day, or equivalent to two small pieces of fruit), but in our western diet where sugar is included in everything we are eating far too much of it and our bodies don’t have the off switch that tells us when we are full as we do with protein, thus we overeat it and it converts to fat. We are on our fifth week of an 8-week detox program and noticed a difference right away in our energy levels being more constant during the day rather than crashing at certain times and my thinking has also been clearer. I’ve also joined a gym for the first time since having our two children and work out three times a week at night while the babies are asleep and Brendan is home with them. I felt in my pregnancies and between my pregnancies I often allowed myself lots of extra treats and didn’t really get back into fit shape and was encouraged by a woman from our church, Emma Mullings, who spoke at our MumSpace at church a few months ago. Emma said that a work out should be treated like any other appointment that has to be scheduled into the diary. She also stressed the importance of Mum’s taking care of themselves as they take care of the rest of the family. I’ve really enjoyed getting back into a fitness routine and having more strength, less back pain, etc. and have felt a renewed confidence about my body as well as those happy endorphins J that help me to deal with stress. I share all this with all of you to encourage you if you are feeling perhaps you need a change in your life, eating and exercise can make you feel incredibly different in a good way.

Jeremiah 6:16
“This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”

I continue with the Arrow course and head back to Melbourne next month for the second residential. I am really enjoying my readings and thinking through different ways of doing ministry and leadership, both through some management business books, as well as some Christian ministry books. We also completed in the past few months, and recruited others to complete, a survey on our ministry called the ‘Leader 360 Review’. You complete a detailed survey on your performance in a number of different categories numbered 1-6. Then, you ask people in your life in a few different categories: your Supervisors, Peers and Colleagues, Direct Reports and Ministry Recipients, to complete the survey as well to provide a picture of how you are doing. It was a fascinating process and one that was both encouraging, as well as challenging, to go through and evaluate. From this process my mentor and I will be clarifying some ministry goals to aspire to for the next five years of ministry. This process is one I am excited to have wisdom and support around me to walk through and already feel as though when I return to Young Life work in November that my outlook will be clearer. I leave you with a quote from one of our recent Arrow books.

From The COACH Model by Keith Webb
“I learned two things about leadership responsibility:
1) It is not my responsibility to change others. The Holy Spirit can and will do it on His own- maybe with me but often without me.
2) It is not my responsibility to correct everything that I think is out of sync with Scripture, company policy, or best practices. The Spirit may choose to use me in this regard, or He may have other means or different timing in mind.”

With loving friendship,

Brooke