Easter weekend

Just having fun with my camera at the beach

A tree at Kings park

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. We have been very busy lately, unfortunately it hasn't been with anything too exciting. We just had a very busy Easter weekend. The services were amazing. Jeremy put in a lot of work setting up a new stage and preparing for everything. The music was great. Every week the worship seems to get better and better. Over at the children's ministry we forgot it was Easter (oops) and I had to prepare and Easter lesson for the kids in about 1 1/2 days. For the very short amount of prep time I had it actually went very well and a lot of kids showed up. We had an Easter egg hunt and learned about why we celebrate Easter. One of the kids also got baptized on Easter. I think she is only 8 (by far the youngest person I have seen get baptized) and she made the decision all on her own, so we brought the kids over to watch that as well. Since Jer worked so much this week he got two extra days off so we finally got to spend some much needed time together. We made a trip out to Kings Park and walked around the gardens, went to the beach and also made a trip out to the huge IKEA. I was a very good, relaxing long weekend.

We are starting to get very excited about visitors from home coming to visit. My cousin comes in the beginning of May and then Jason Kristin and Landon (Jeremy's brother and his family) come for a week at the end of May. Next my mom is is coming in June and the Jeremys parents and younger brother Jon come in July. We are also a couple friends are coming out twords the end of the year but we aren't sure of exact dates yet. I am very blessed to be able to take a lot of time off while we have visitors so that I can sped as much time as possible with them. I''m sure once people start coming to visit I wont be as homesick and the rest of the year will fly by (at least I'm hoping it will help with the homesickness). I wish we weren't so far away and that everyone could come visit us!

It has been getting much cooler here lately. When we first got here it was always in the high 30's or low 40's. Now it has gone down to the mid 20's which almost feel cold compared to before. When the sun goes down I have to go and put on a sweater and pants. So there isn't much more beach time left before winter!

Homesick

Me with new baby Jayden (he was born with more of a tan then me)

So the last few days Jeremy and I have both been feeling a little homesick. Not necessarily for the rain and cold because we really don't miss that at all but we can't seem to stop thinking and talking about our friends and family back home. I know that Jeremy would give anything to jam with his band mates and I sure could use a coffee date with my girlfriends. Of course we would both love to have hugs from our dads, kisses from our moms and a good movie night with our brothers and sisters. Friends of ours over here in Perth had a baby boy named Jayden on Friday night and at first I thought having a baby around might make me miss our nephew Landon less but I think it might be making it worse. None the less it is nice to here someone call me Auntie Shari on a regular basis and he is extremely cute and fun to snuggle. 

I have started to help out at a play group on Thursday mornings that our church holds for children ages 0-5. Most of the family's don't go to our church and it's getting really huge so they wanted someone form the church to be making a regular appearance so they asked me. I thought it would be a lot of fun but I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. The kids are so cute and would be heaps of fun to play with except the kids all play with there moms and dads which would make me seem a little weird if I walked up to a child and his mom and just started playing with them. So I basically help set up all the toys and then stand around watching everyone (which also probably makes me look like a weirdo). Also I have chatted with a few of the mom's and after they ask me which child is mine and I say "Well i actually don't have any children yet" then the conversation kind of ends and again they are probably wondering why a childless woman is standing around watching their children play. I will give it more of a chance before I ask if I am really need there I think and hopefully tomorrow wont be quite as awkward. Jeremy has been given the new title "Worship Pastor of the evening service" or something like that, which now means he is fully in charge of everything that happens with the worship on evenings.

Jeremy's Birthday/Ministry update

Jeremy lead worship this Sunday at the evening service. It was the first time he played with the band he hand picked to play with him 3 out of the 4 Sundays a month. They were amazing! I can't wait to see how this band grows together. I took a few pictures of him leading but I felt a bit strange taking photos at church so I am going to try to go to one of their practices so you can all see what he's up too.

I have been busy this week making  a new curriculum for the kids to get started on. We felt that the current one we are doing was a bit to young for the older kids but perfect for the younger ones. So now I will have twice the work to do during the week because we have 2 different curriculums going but I am really excited to see how the kids will respond to it. It is 5 weeks on salvation and I think it will be really great and challenging for them. 

Just a few of our friends who came out for Jer's Birthday

This weekend Jeremy celebrated his 21st Birthday! His Birthday was on Sunday and since Sunday is our busiest day of the week we couldn't do anything too big. After we finished the 2 morning services at church we went out for lunch with a few friends and they surprised Jer with a cake. After lunch Jer had a 3 hour worship practice and then it was time for the evening service. We managed to get out to a pub across the street after and about 15 people from the church ended up coming. All in all it was a great day. We decided to celebrate a little on Monday as well because Jer and I didn't get a chance to go out together. We spent the afternoon at the beach with a few friends and then went out for dinner just the 2 of us. It was nice to finally have a date night together.