symptomatic relief

In Reverse Order

2009-10-06T10:04:00.012Z

So, like I said, the photos are in reverse order. View them as you please. A few oldies but cuties, and some of our recent holiday back the States to visit the grandparents! Needless to say it was hard to leave the brilliant weather and return to cold and rainy Ballarat.

He moved his hat that way!

Soul sisters: Jenelle, Rachel and baby Grace.

One of the highlights of my trip was spending time with one of my best friends, Jenelle, and her 3 redheaded kids! She kept me company during a layover I had in L.A..

While on holiday, Kai developed a fear of water which made bathing quite difficult. Here I tried to change the scenery, but being outdoors didn't seem to help too much!

With an old friend, Jenn, and her daughter who is just a few days younger than Kai.

Enjoying cuddles from grandpa!

In grandma's arms.

What REAL pumpkins look like (for you Brits and Aussies).

One of Kai's favourite holiday activities... getting a wagon ride from grandpa!

We attempted a little hike with my old friend, Jarrod. The pram didn't make it very far.

Out on a stroll in the mountains.

Kai loves cats. This lady's name is Cookie.

Kai decided to display this cheesy grin quite often while on holiday. I think he got it from his mommy.

With Aunite Leigh who drove down from San Diego to visit us while we were back in AZ.

Mmmmmmm...

Kai LOVES mommy's homemade fruit and goat's milk yogurt popsicles!

Having a bath with birth buddy Kiani. Check out photos from when Kai was born. She was born the day before! They were in the hospital together.

While out on a walk around Lake Daylesford, we stopped to feed the ducks and geese.

Kai's bedroom in temporary house #1. (Move to temporary house #2 happening in about 5 weeks. Please pray that we'll have a great place to move to as our previous plan just fell through.)

Just an afternoon snooze.

Is there food coming, mommy?

Daddy LOVES swinging and throwing Kai in the air.

Kai's favourite place to be!

Yuck! What is that kangaroo doing?!

Sitting with his buddy Mackensie.

Hmmm... what animal do we have here??

And now he's giving it a little pet. The roos can actually be quite a nuisance.

Here Kai is just checking out the kangaroo.
I have a season pass to the wildlife park...

A bit more organized now.

2009-08-06T13:25:00.008Z

We managed to get a smile out of him for you here. He does smile and laugh every day, but overall I think he's more of a serious, thoughtful baby. Thanks for the birthday jewelry, Leigh!

Ok, so here was the first time we propped him up and realised he could stand while holding on to something! Notice his look of shock...

Kai LOVES feeding himself like a big boy. It makes a huge mess but I don't mind. I'm sure it's good for developing coordination! We give him avocado a lot. He enjoys it and I like all the healthy fats it has-- he needs the fat! You can just see one of his teeth sticking out. In this photo he was still at the vampire fangs stage.

A better look at those fangs! Thanks, Mark.

And then I dyed my hair and we celebrated our 4th anniversary and my 28th birthday! We went out for dinner at a nice restaurant with live jazz music.

And Mark bought me some gorgeous roses =)

Below is what I did on my birthday... I went to Melbourne with my friend, Bronwyn, plus her two kids and Kai! Three car seats in the back! Hamish, Kai's friend, is in the middle. They're all playing musical instruments. Fun!

We try to play the keyboard with Kai every day. He also likes watching daddy play the guitar!

Here's his first taste of bread... wheat-free millet bread.

Lookin' serious.

Standing so well!

Notice the whole row of teeth across the front now! He has 7 teeth in total now.

We'll pretend he's waving bye-bye. Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Unedited Cuteness!

2009-05-13T12:40:00.004Z

Kai often blows bubbles on the ground... fun noises! He makes LOTS of fun noises these days. He's SO chatty.

Don't be alarmed... he's still breathing! We usually flip him over, but we thought this was pretty cute, and we made sure his mouth wasn't covered.

the blanket

2009-05-04T03:59:00.003Z

Auntie Claire's blanket finally arrived today after three months (thanks Canada post!) and I just wanted to put up a few pictures so that she could see him enjoying it.

Also, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes via facebook, it's nice to hear from friends old and new.

In case we haven't spoken to you in the last little while, we bought a block of land here and are currently looking at builders. Our government is giving away a very generous grant to first time home owners that build a new place so that is what we are going to do! It's all very exciting and at the same time overwhelming. It would be much easier if they had a bunch of options that went together. They could suggest different combinations of tiles and carpet and fascias etc that go together. It's kind of hard to see what all the things will look like when they are all done without actually seeing it. At the same time, I enjoy that sort of thing and have been buried deep in different house plans and colour samples. We'll update you more as things start to happen.
Mark

For you, Mom.

2009-05-03T12:58:00.002Z

Just a few new photos before I go to bed...

Kai's first hair cut!

Playing with daddy's hair.

In Melbourne with Mommy.

On a recent camping trip.

With millet grain all over his face! He's eating solids now...

Auntie Gracie comes for a visit...

2009-03-24T08:28:00.007Z

Miss Gracie Chisholm recently came for a whirlwind of a visit over her spring break from law school. We had a fantastic, albeit short, time together. I feel SO special that she would spend her airmiles to come visit ME (and Mark and Kai, of course).

Mel, Grace, Rachel, Kai
Mel is a chica that I totally dig and WISH I could hang out with more and get to know better. *sigh* She lives about an hour away from me though (in Hoppers Crossing, near Melbourne). Still, we try to hang out when our paths cross. Maybe one day our friendship will be fortuned to blossom and mature. I was glad Grace got to meet her.

Here's lookin' at you...

OK, so here I tried to comb Kai's hair into a mohawk. I'm not willing to put any product in it at this point, but I thought I'd give it a go after his bath while his hair was still wet.

"Yo, what up? Peace to my grammies and grampies out there. And a special shout out to Auntie Laura for giving me these super-cute jammies. Thanks!"

p.s. Mark said he did not notice Kai giving a peace sign in this photo. When I pointed it out to him he informed me that that is not a peace sign. It actually means... something not-so-nice in England. Oops!

Exhibit A: How to occupy a child while you are making dinner: give him some of the ingredients to play with! This lovely outfit is from Auntie Claire. She has excellent taste in baby boy clothes. (I still love the brown with stripes outfit... I just wish it would fit him longer!)

Yes, this is Kai. As we were driving Auntie Gracie to the airport, he was pulling all sorts of silly faces and I happened to catch this one on the camera! What luck. I was chucking (inside joke!) all the way to Melbourne...

I figured you hadn't seen Mark in a while, or Kai pulling a sad face.

Enjoy!

Just a few cute ones...

2009-03-06T12:05:00.002Z

Sorry for not blogging lately! Is motherhood a good excuse?! I'm trying to get Mark to share a few thoughts of his at some point. Until then...

Mom, I took the above shot on Valentine's Day for you. Kai was most interested in eating the flowers!

On our first camping trip. Here's Kai decked out in a hat and gloves (from Iris?) and the cute outfit from Claire. Thanks guys!

And in the tent... Kai slept just fine! It was Mark and I that slept a bit awkwardly in the tent. We put Kai in between us and did our best not to squish him in our double sleeping bag.

So that's that. We're doing well. We're hoping to buy some land and build a house soon with the $29,000 grant (that's right!) the gov't is giving to first time home owners (that are building). Please pray that all would come together with that! We miss you all as always...

Great Barrier Reef

2009-01-23T11:05:00.007Z

In preparation for the journey we introduced the bottle to Kai so Grandma could babysit and we could go on some wild adventures. This is Kai taking his very first bottle from daddy.

Alright, now on to the journey. Kai was a brilliant traveller. He rarely complained and usually just charmed everyone with his good behaviour and his winning smiles.

The first thing we did when we got to Port Douglas, a little beach front town about an hour north of Cairns, was to go for a dip in the pool at our holiday rental house. This was Kai's first swim in a pool =)

He actually didn't mind the pool too much. We didn't have any proper swim trunks for him, so we ended up just hoping for the best and later brought him in in his cute little birthday suit.

And snuggling in his towel afterward. Kai has found his fist now and loves munching on it!

We went on a nice stroll through the Daintree Rainforest.

And then on a cruise along a crocodile filled river!

Along with crocs, there were gorgeous birds and vibrant frogs as well.

I gave Kai a feed on the boat. What a mess he made!

Later we walked along this beach at Cape Tribulation, only to discover a sign on the out way out that said, "Beware of the crocodiles!" YIKES!!! I'm glad I didn't go for a quick dip...

A cute little baby gecko, the blessed animals that crawled along our walls and ate the bothersome mosquitos that LOVED my sweet blood and didn't touch Mark at all. Grrr.

The boys sleeping. Awwwwww...

Kai actually slept in this little travel basket at the side of our bed. He did great!

PLEASE check out Mark's parents' blog (listed to the right as: Mom Colvin) for heaps more photos (and much nicer ones!) of the trip.

Finally, here I am with Four Mile Beach in the background.

The trip was great, but due to a cyclone we were only able to go snorkeling one day, and the colours weren't brilliant. Oh well... we'll just have to go back again! Care to join us?? In lieu of snorkeling, we went white-water rafting, exploring, and out for some yummy fresh fish meals. The weather was still nice and hot and the trip was definitely relaxing. Hopefully our bodies and minds are now fully recharged for the full year ahead...

Smiles!

2009-01-15T10:18:00.003Z

I'll post Great Barrier Reef photos soon, but for now... a few smiley shots of Kai today! He's such a cutie pie!

I tried to get him to sit up on the couch. Here he toppled right over, smiling all the way... It was pretty funny. And by the way, the outfit he's wearing says "6 months" on the tag. He's only 10 weeks old! Such a big boy...

p.s. Mark blow dried Kai's hair after his bath today, hence the fluffiness =)

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T02:37:00.002Z

Just a few photos for your viewing enjoyment...

Christmas is how many days away??

2008-12-20T12:32:00.004Z

I have been BuSy bUsY BuSy these past few days, and thankfully I have had three great helpers: Mary, Caroline, and Lizzie. What have I been up to? Oh... hosting Mark's work Christmas party last night where about 20 people came and 14 of them made chocolate houses. Then today, hosting my friend's baby shower... another 15 or so people were here and 2 more chocolate houses were made. Then tomorrow I am making a salad for about 30 people (for a church fundraiser). This is all in addition to cooking meals for myself and Mark and our FOUR house guests, and feeding a baby for almost an hour every 3 hours! Like I said, the girls have been helping out, and honestly I don't think I could've done it all without them! THANKS!

A quick sidenote: I've been offered some part-time work (teaching a few classes here and there) at the school I've been subbing/relief teaching at. I go in for an interview on Monday and will let you know more after that.

Kai meeting Grandma Colvin. Look, a smile!

This one's for you Leigh. Thanks for the cute outfit!

Bathtime with daddy-- yaah!

Chillin' underneath his play-thing, with Bucky at his feet.

He fell asleep on Caroline =)

And on to some chocolate house making, to carry on my mother's tradition. Everybody loved it, mom!

Kristine was very creative with her house. Notice the potted plants along the side: rolos with some green chopped up candy coming out of the top! Clever.

Notice the brickwork... more cleverness!

Next, on to craft-time. I haven't made much time for myself to do this, but it's been great doing it with guests. First, a way to re-use old light bulbs. Paint and hang!

Finally, some alterations to Kai's room. I tidied it for on thing. But, notice the artwork! I made that! Easy and fun.

Topless

2008-12-06T08:34:00.005Z

Hi. Yah, this is me. I spend a good part of my days these days topless... always feedin' the little guy. I, of course, don't mind the topless bit but Mark is always kindly reminding me about the neighbors. =)

In case your interested... my stomach. I have this line through it now. Well, I had it when I was pregnant, but it is more pronounced now. I think that's where my stomach muscles separated. And my belly button feels absolutely cavernous. My whole stomach still feels squidgy. I don't think that's word, but that's how it feels!

Oh, so cute. Sleeping by mommy while she updates the blog.

And just a few cute faces...

Waving to you =)

By the way, thanks for the socks, Roz =) and thanks, Mom, for the Bamboo nappies! We love them! He's wearing them in these photos, with a green cover. You can check them out at http://www.babybeehinds.com.au

Kai has now slept in the bassinet the last two nights. It's gone well! We really enjoyed having him in bed with us, and might still bring him in for a cuddle, or even to sleep, but it's nice to have it all to ourselves every once in a while.

Calm baby...

Spaz baby! His arms go up with a jolt when he's startled in his sleep.

It says, "Kiss Me".

Meet Kai's friends, Dash and Kiani!

2008-12-01T18:22:00.008Z

We celebrated American Thanksgiving while my mom was out here visiting, and invited the Lawsons as well... that's Deb and Toby, and their little one Dash. Dash was 5 days old here!

I wasn't able to get a turkey =( but we did have a delicious beef roast, yorkshire pudding, and a sweet potato casserole with marshmellows on top (below). They puffed up a little more than I anticipated! Such a dish is really strange to the Aussies, but all the ones I've made it for so far have loved it. Of course, we had pumpkin pie for dessert!

Dash is SO much smaller than Kai. He was 6lb something to begin with, but was still around that weight at Thanksgiving as they loose weight after they're born. I don't think Kai was ever less than 8lbs! Dash is such a cutie =) Below they're doing some cute tricks... Dash's little tongue is sticking out, and Kai is yawning. By the way, the outfit Kai is wearing says '3 to 6 months' on the tag. He was only 3 1/2 weeks here!

And, here's his little girlfriend, Kiani. She's the one that was born the day before Kai was. Again, Kai's putting his moves on... winking... "How you doin'?" His shirt says "Chicks dig me."

He was saying, "Mom, just feed me! Stop taking photos..."

And a bit more early Christmas cheer...

Mark and I are sleep deprived, though doing well. Kai has been feeding very frequently, going through a growth spurt I guess. The house is a wreck (don't look mom!) but oh well. Kai is healthy, we're happy. And in case you didn't hear, we were granted Australian permanent residency which gives us free health care and the right to do things like buy a house. It doesn't at all mean we'll stay here permanently... wherever God wants us to be we'll be.

Kai meets Santa

2008-11-27T21:48:00.002Z

It might be bit early to blog this, but...

Kai's first photo with Santa!

As the Aussie's don't celebrate Thanksgiving (we do, both the Canadian Thanksgiving in October and the American Thanksgiving which we are celebrating tonight with Deb and Toby and Dash!), the Christmas decorations go up in their stores in mid-November. We thought we'd beat the crowds and get a photo with Santa this early. Kai couldn't manage to stay awake =)

Grandma's here!

2008-11-26T12:01:00.004Z

My mom arrived this week to meet her grandson, her first grandchild, for the first time. It was an emotional reunion at the airport!

We've been having a nice time together. The weather has been gorgeous, and we've been hitting up the shops every day, and cooking yummy meals at home. Thanks for the help, mom!

More emotions at home, but this time of the laughing sort! My mom seriously almost peed her pants at the sight of Kai... reminded her of some comedy skit where people wear clothes way too big for them (???). This little outfit and shoes are too big on Kai, but my mom insisted on trying them on him so my dear Aunt Jean who gave the outfit to him could see him in it. I don't think Kai was quite as amused as my mother was.

You know, just doing dishes... with a sleeping baby over my arm...

I think she got what she wants for Christmas...

A few other shots. Me trying out a baby back(front!) pack for the first time.

Such a funny face he's pulling! What do you think he's thinking? Prize for the best line!

Lunchtime!

My 3-week old baby. Yikes, look at his size! Someone at the mall asked me today how old Kai was. There guess was 3 months!

That's all for now... off to bed!

More to the meaning...

2008-11-23T01:50:00.003Z

We discovered the name Kai while in Hawaii on our honeymoon. Kai means "ocean" in Hawaiin. FYI, Kai's middle name, Maddox, was discovered by Leigh while out here in Australia for my birth. Maddox is of Welsh origin, and means "good," "generous," and "son of the benevolent one." I like that last meaning because it's a challenge for me to be "marked by or disposed to doing good, or organized for the purpose of doing good." Back to the name Kai...my good friend, Eric Meyer, has since enlightened me to additional meanings within the name, making me like the name even more...

First, the pronunciation of "Kai" is the same as the greek letter "chi" which is the first letter of "Christ" and often stands as a symbol for the whole word. The "chi" is the "x" in x-mas and the "ch" in "Ichthus".

Second, "Kai" means "and" in Greek (sorry for all the Greek). That makes me think of the Waterdeep song, which I've never totally understood, where they refer to Jesus as "and" throughout the whole song.

"And is the juice in the joints of emotional life,
and is the love that is between God and his beautiful wife,
and has two hands and two feet and a long lovely side,
and rose three days after he was crucified."

Pretty cool, eh?

More photos of Kai

2008-11-14T23:25:00.005Z

Hello friends and family! We're all doing well. It's Saturday here. Mark has had the whole week off work to spend at home with me and the baby... it's gone by SO quickly! He's done a great job taking care of us, making sure I'm feeling loved and Kai has a clean nappy on. Leigh has also been a tremendous help, doing more than her fair share of nappy changes, and helping to keep the house clean and good food in our bellies. Our church and friends have also been caring, bringing meals around every evening. Thanks guys!

We're slowly adjusting to life as parents. It still doesn't quite seem real to either of us, but it's starting to sink in. I'm finally feeling better. I think the after-birth recovery has been more difficult than the pregnancy and the birth! I've just been sore and haven't been able to walk for prolonged periods of time, which is difficult for me who always likes to bounce back quickly and be active. I'm learning to put my feet up and rest. Night-times have been really good, I think. He wakes up about 3 times to feed, and in between he's pretty quiet so I can get a decent amount of sleep. I was running off less sleep at university, so this is fine. In the day-times he still sleeps a lot, but also has periods where he's very alert.

Thanks again for all of your thoughts, prayers, letters, emails, etc... Much appreciated!

The cats are getting used to Kai. Bella is giving him a little cuddle here!

Below: how NOT to do 'no nappy time'. You just can't have enough towels under you.

A better way to do it... (although he still managed to get the carpet a little wet- good aim!)

Kai's first bath at home with Auntie Leigh

All wrapped up in a froggie towel from Aunt Laura

Just being cute!

Notice the little smile on Kai's face! Is he dreaming about my breast, pooping, or farting? Or maybe he's just enjoying snuggling on daddy's lap?

The first book we read to him, "That's Not My Pirate."

I think he liked it =)

And last but not least, some more father/son photos. In the one right below, Mark was snoring very loudly, but Kai didn't seem to mind!

Both passed out...

Kai Maddox Colvin is home now...

2008-11-10T02:24:00.008Z

Hi everyone! Mom and baby Kai are doing well. Mom is tired and sore, as would be expected, and Kai is keeping her busy with all the feeding he's doing, but she's happy and recovering. She is so pleased with how her labour and birth turned out. She is all too eager to show everyone the bare bottom photos (she gave birth leaning over the bed) and birth video! Let her know if you do want to see them ;) We're saying the labour was seven hours long, but Rachel was in denial the first four hours... thinking that her discomfort was perhaps gastro/diarrhea. By the time she figured it probably was labour, she didn't really have time to embrace that crazy wonderful thought... she was just going with the contractions... trying to focus... employing all she learned while a runner at her high school (many thanks to her coaches!). We just about had the baby at home, but made it to the hospital and had the baby within the hour! Her waters broke (with a LOUD pop, like a water balloon bursting) just as we got to the birthing suite, and the baby came out shortly after. She actually didn't realize when she had birthed the head, and was trying to figure out what Mark meant when he told her, "I can see his face!" His head dangled in mid-air for about 15 seconds, until Rachel's next contraction. The environment in the hospital was peaceful and quite with just a little bit of afternoon sunshine coming in through the curtains. Mark caught little Kai coming out. Rachel is so pleased that she was able to stay at home for so long and have a natural vaginal birth with no epidural and no tearing! She does have 'grazing' though, which has caused a lot of discomfort, but the pain is thankfully subsiding. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers during this time.

The happy family

Happy mum

Singing 'Happy Birthday' to baby Kai. Friend Kate brought the cake and the '0' candle =)

Kai's first bath! He seemed to really like it...

After the bath, getting all dried off and warmed up.

Mum and bub snoozing in bed

Proud Auntie Leigh!

Our friends had their baby girl, Kiani, the night before Kai was born. They were right across the hall from us. Kai is already putting his moves on here. First girlfriend perhaps??

Mum getting the hang of breastfeeding. It's been going amazingly well, too easy even. Kai attaches well and eats... all the time it seems.

At home, the cats first weren't sure what to think of the little guy. They seem to be taking a liking to him now. Bella even snuggled with him last night (photo soon to come)!

Proud daddy

BIG yawn!

Fast asleep...

Welcome Kai!

2008-11-04T07:57:00.006Z

Shout for joy!!

Kai Maddox Colvin is here!!!

Born on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at 1:08pm weighing 8lbs 6oz. Everyone is resting and doing fine!! Labour was about 7 hours long, pretty intense at times, but went beautifully well. Rachel didn't need any stitches, Kai was nursed on his own less than an hour after birth.
Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.

Halloween Fun

2008-11-01T13:07:00.005Z

People here don't really celebrate Halloween. I, on the other hand, got very excited about it... more for nostalgic reasons I think. And I just love any excuse for a party, something fun to do, candy, and a nice reminder of home. Leigh and I picked up these masks at the dollar store and wore them around town for the day. We got some very strange looks... and the masks aren't even crazy ones! One man even asked us why we were wearing the masks. "It's Halloween..." (duh!)

Our nice faces

Our mean faces

Leigh's finished product

And mine

And our front door. We had one set of trick-or-treaters. One.

OK, so today (Nov 1) we went mini-golfing. I'll spare you those exciting photos, and instead share these. It was an old-west sort of themed mini-golf place... Now, who looks most 'Mad-Dog' to you??? Please vote =)

Anyhow, so yesterday was my first due date. I think I'll now forget about that and go with the second due date of Nov. 9th so he can still come 'early' =) It's still strange to Mark and me that we'll be parents soon... that we'll have a little baby to take care of! It's only a matter of hours, or days, or weeks now... but not more than three weeks! Wow. Thankfully I've slept well the last two nights (but here I am typing this and it's almost 1am!). I am getting more achy and crampy and I continue to get bigger. My guess/hope is that he'll come this Monday to Wednesday. Overall I'm still doing really well though. Uncomfortable at times, but definitely coping and still enjoying life and my time with Leigh.

We'll keep you posted as soon as anything happens... Thanks for your prayers!

The 12 (or 10 or 8?) Apostles

2008-10-29T00:25:00.003Z

Here's the promised photos of the 12 Apostles! I'm not sure how many are still standing due to the fact that they're made of sandstone... apparently a few have washed away...

No baby yet. Looking forward to meeting him though! Trying to get all the last minute preparations done. Leigh and I made some meals for the freezer yesterday.

If you haven't done so already, check out the blog below... lots of new photos!

No baby yet, but lots of fun in the meantime!

2008-10-26T20:30:00.007Z

We got a the new Macbook (yah!) and below I've had some fun editing various photos.

Leigh (my best friend from high school, here to support me during the birth) has unbelievably been here almost two weeks now!! It's been great and very natural having her around.

I just thought this photo looked cool. I was about 35 weeks here.

BABY SHOWER

I requested that the attendees of my baby shower wear a tiara of wildflowers in their hair!

We then went and had a tea party with cupcakes in the park just down the road from our house.

We ate and drank and talked and shared and played a few silly games and opened presents and

they prayed over my belly =) The white yarn was a symbol of womanhood and unity and afterwards we cut the yarn and each girl took her piece home to tie somewhere to remember to pray for me.

DEBRA'S HOUSE

I have a new friend name Debra (with the short dark hair and dark shirt and her back towards us in the baby shower photo) that I met at Aqua Mums. She lives in a country town named Gordon about 20 minutes outside of Ballarat towards Melbourne. Leigh and I went to visit her the other day and it was just gorgeous outside! Debra is due to have a little boy, Dash, about 4 weeks after me. How fun to know someone Kai can play with already!

This is the view across the road from her house.

And this is me trying to give one of her four sheep a kiss. I left out the photos of me chasing them, trying to catch them... I didn't succeed, but I hope my friends had a good laugh watching me run at 38 weeks!

BALLARAT WILDLIFE PARK

Yep, I took Leigh here. It's the touristy thing to do. Contrary to some non-Australians popular belief, kangaroos are not bouncing to and fro through the neighbourhood, and koalas are not perched in the gum trees at the parks. We do see them in the wild, but not that often, and if it's a kangaroo it quickly hops away. So... here at the park one can feed and pet the creatures. Lucky for us, it's springtime, so there were lots of little roos in the pouches. Have a close look...

This little guy hopped out of his mother's pouch and proceeded to give himself a good belly scratch! It was very funny =)

Our favourite baby animal by far though was this little koala. Oh SO cute! Later his mother climbed over to another tree and proceeded to wrap her arms around him (below). Just precious!

THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD ADVENTURE

At Erskine Falls, outside of Lorne.

On the road, picking wild Calla Lillies along the way.

Mark's best koala face.

Our campsite, right across from a stream and beautiful cliff face, and a 3 minute walk to the beach!

View from our campsite, to the right.

View from our campsite, to the left.

And that beach, a three minute walk away.

Still to come... photos from the 12 Apostles! Stay tuned...

Thanks for the toys...

2008-09-26T01:07:00.002Z

It all started when my mom sent a little tiger finger-puppet in the mail for our soon-to-be-born son, Kai. Bucky, our youngest kitty, adopted the toy straight away and Mark named the toy "Smacky." (Bucky is named after a cat in a comic book, and coincidently, Bucky in the comic had a little toy named Smacky.) Bucky just loves Smacky... plays with him, throws him around, and even has been seen sleeping with him! When my mom then came to visit, she brought a new toy for Bucky, a friend for Smacky which my mom named Smackette. And it continued... she then sent three additional little play toys, all of which Bucky has so much fun playing with. Bucky likes them because she can grab them with her paw and fling them across the room because they are so light and their material catches on her claws. At one point we couldn't find Smackette for a week, and I discovered her lodged between the TV and the wall (about 4 feet off the ground). Must've been a big throw...

Here she is with one of the 'new' toys. Not a bad imitation!

And this is Smackette. You can't tell from the flash, but Smackette is a little pink duckling. Bucky also has this thing with rolling over on her back. I think it's her way of saying 'Hi!' and 'Play with me!' She does it ALL the time.

Bella, on the other hand, is much more cuddly and subdued (except when she's hungry). She just loves Mark. She always tries to snuggle with him in bed before I kick her out of our bedroom. We couldn't believe she could stand the scent of Mark's armpit here. At one point she had her nose right in the armpit hair... eewww!

Yep, so I'm getting bigger! Still feeling overall good, still working out 1 to 4 times a week (plus trying to pull weeds for 20 minutes a day on my hands and knees). Having the occasional back-aches, but so far Mark's chiro treatments and a heat pack are doing the job.

And I couldn't leave this one out with our new haircuts. Isn't my husband cute?! Here we were at my friend Laura's birthday party.

I'm still teaching, although this week and next week are school holidays. The following week I've agreed to do 4 days (for a good 4th grade class I've been teaching a lot lately). I think that might be it though. Leigh arrives the week after that, and I definitely don't want to work while she's here. Plus, I don't think I'll legally be allowed to, even if I was feeling good!

As I write this my mother is attending a baby shower thrown for her by her friends, celebrating me, of course! I called them and it sounded like they were having a lot of fun. I think those ladies have given me all sorts of nice things for our little one.

Mark's work is going well, and the weather is getting nicer and nicer. Can't complain! Looking forward to all that's happening in the next few months!

Father's Day!

2008-09-08T07:34:00.004Z

This past Sunday was Father's Day here in Australia. I celebrated with Mark =) Below are some banana-chocolate-chip pancakes I suprised him with.

And, just for fun, some recent belly shots at 32 weeks. Enjoy! Notice the bassinet in the background. Our little babe will sleep there for the first few months at least. Underneath it is my hospital suitcase, which I still haven't finished packing...

Around the outside of the house

2008-08-16T04:08:00.005Z

Hi! I just thought I'd show you some photos from around the outside of the house. It's still winter here, but spring is right around the corner, and flowers and blossoms have already begun to bloom! I'm keen to start gardening and hopefully have a friend coming around on Friday to give me some Australian gardening tips.

Below is out eco-house at 610 Laurie Street! Notice the solar-panel and the water tank at the side of the house. The glare of the sun has hidden the roof, but it slopes upwards from the front of the house to the back... like the shape of Gumbi's head. The driveway is to the left, and curves underneath the house.

Bella (on the right by the corner of the shed) was keeping me company.

The lush green area in the back is actually all weeds, I think, and that's the area I'm going to plant some veggies!

I'm delighted in the things already growing in our garden: lemon, lime, and grapefruit trees, and possibly orange and kumquat, as well as parsley, rosemary and few others herbs (I think). I LOVE having fresh herbs in the garden because they are just so darn expensive to buy! The blue bins are for compost.

Ooh, I forgot to mention lavender!

There are a few beautiful things growing alongside our driveway as well...

And last but not least, photos from the porch. We love the view!

An Australian sunset.

Finally, just for fun, an easy recipe we enjoy (from "Crazy Plates" cookbook):

Low-Fatty Patties (Thai Tuna Burgers)

1 can tuna
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup each minced green onions and grated carrots (sometimes I do minced green peppers instead)
1 tbsp each soy sauce, ketchup, grated fresh gingerroot, and chopped, fresh cilantro
1 egg
1 tsp sesame oil 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
6 whole-grain hamburger rolls
Burger toppings

Mix it, shape it into balls, flatten the balls, and cook 'em up! The recipe suggests chilling the mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes first, but I don't and they still turn out great. I fry them in coconut oil, but you could also grill or broil them. They are delicious! Makes 4 - 6 patties. Enjoy!

Third trimester, already??

2008-08-15T04:23:00.003Z

We can't believe it.

I am feeling more pregnant these days... because I'm feeling more pregnant and looking more pregnant! The belly is finally starting to get in the way, and with that I'm more achy and am not sleeping as well (but managing just fine). I'm finally starting to take naps =)

From the front (and back), I'm (thankfully) still not really looking pregnant. Mark decided to throw in some model shots =)

Not a very good wine ad... with a pregnant woman in front! I didn' think of that. This was taken at a going away party for one of Mark's colleagues, Sarah.

Last but not least, two people I dearly love... my brother, Reid, and his best friend, Tim, at Tim's wedding this past July. I miss you guys! Wish I could've been there...

I'm off to the gym. Been going 3 times a week. Trying to stay fit! Later... -Rachel

Been a while...

2008-07-29T08:55:00.007Z

We been busy, although I admit we snuck some lazy Saturdays in there as well! I thought Mark looked so cute, snoozing with the cats at his side (Bella is at his feet and Bucky is under the coffee table). Claire, Mark is using the grey blanket with red stitching you made for us a long time ago. This was taken this past Saturday. Notice the nice view out of our living room windows! These windows extend the width of the house, which includes our bedroom. They also go up quite high. Well, there's another set of windows above these ones... and a very high ceiling. They let in beautiful sunshine! I have been so comfortably warm at this new house-- we love it!
Before I delve into photos of the house, I thought I'd give you a little update. We're doing well =) A lot has happened recently. We moved house. I started maternity leave from Starbucks. My parents came to visit for 2 weeks. We just celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary (July 23rd) AND my 27th birthday (July 28th). And then I lost my job at Starbucks!! More details below, or you can just scroll to the photos...

We love the house. It's bigger, nicer, and WARMER. Life feels normal again. It will be (and has already been) a great house to have people over to. Please come and visit! You're welcome always, any time. I started my maternity leave from Starbucks the week my parents arrived in part because I was told I wouldn't be able to get that time off. Even more than that though, it was my way of prioritising my family over a career advancement opportunity. They offered me the position of Assistant Manager (finally), to be moved up to Manager in February of next year. I'd have had to do my training during this month of July (leaving little time with my visiting parents) and they would've wanted me to return in February or March from Maternity leave. That would've meant only 4-5 months at home with my new baby. I didn't have to think about that too hard. Only 4-5 months?! I felt like they were asking permission to steal some of the most precious time OF MY LIFE. No way. Also though, I didn't think it was healthy for me to be on my feet 5 - 8 hours a day, sometimes with very little breaks. Some days were very exhausting and I figured I just didn't need that. With work I was feeling almost too busy to feel pregnant, to think about the pregnancy and to prepare for it. So, I left. And my parents came. They enjoyed the new house and helped us furnish it a little bit. In the photos below you might notice it's still a little sparse. We haven't hung any paintings or photos (accept on hooks they already had up) because we have to ask permission to put holes in the walls. I haven't gotten around to doing that yet. The house is a work in progress, but very live-able and even lovely just the way it is right now. My parents made their usual dash to IKEA and all the local thrift stores with us. They call them 'Op Shops' here, for opportunity shops. My mum found a few things that my dad willingly refinished or repainted, including the wardrobe in the baby's room. He also attached all of the matching door/drawer knobs on the baby items. We took my parents for a tour of the coast via the Great Ocean Road. We stayed the night in Apollo Bay. It was a good time! Next year though, we're planning on meeting half-way: Hawaii! This way we can also visit my cousin Melissa and her soon-new-baby who are living there. Ok then. My parents left, and then we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. I have to say, each year it just gets better! Marriage, that is. People say the first year is the honeymoon year, and the second is the 'reality check'-- a bit difficult, and I can't remember what they say about the third year. I always thought marriage was at least pretty good, but I can confidently say it does just keep getting better! When I look back on it, I've realised, "Oh, that was hard..." but we've managed through it all OK. We didn't really do anything to celebrate (well, we did go out for a yummy breakfast) because our ante-natal classes were supposed to have started that night. They were cancelled and no one told me. I cried. I thought, "I'm trying so hard to be prepared and I'm coming against all these closed doors!!!" As it turns out, I was also signed up for a second set of ante-natal classes through a different organisation which commence next Tuesday, so all is not lost. My birthday was a bit more special =) We spent the weekend together, which started with the lazy Saturday afternoon, pictured above. Mark helped me with some projects for church. We're raising money to buy shoes for all the students (195) of a local school, a school that is so poor that many students don't wear shoes to school! Being wintertime here, it's an especially bad time to be shoeless, so we're stepping in to help them. I'm on the missions committee so I was making all sorts of things for church on Sunday. We didn't actually go to church though. I dropped the items off at a friend's house, and Mark and I continued our weekend together. We spent Sunday in Melbourne, toured the Aquarium, visit a big inner-city church (affiliated with ours) called Planetshakers, and then went out for a very nice dinner. I love nice dinners. I'm a real sucker for them. So is Mark, so it was a treat for us both. We ate at Rockpool, a place that specialises in aged beef. The place smelled fantastic, like an Arizona steak house. The food was good. Mmmm. That was the 27th. As we drove home it turned my birthday and Mark sung to me in the car. And made me open my card as soon as we got home. And made me open my presents from him at 7am when he got up to get ready for work. And brought me flowers home after work. And made me dinner! What a great husband he is! In the evening I went out with a few girls from church. Nothing much, but nice. OK, I'm sure you're reading just to get to this part, or perhaps you've skipped to it. Well, it's true. I've been made redundant. Starbucks announced today that it is closing 61 of it's Australian stores (and there were 400 something to start with). I texted my manager and she phoned back confirming that the Ballarat store was one of the 61. So... it's closing tomorrow! What a shocker! I'm hoping and assuming that I'll get some sort of fair pay-out. I go in tomorrow to sign papers, etc. To be honest with you, I'm not sad. If anything, it was difficult for me to work in that store because I knew what a poor reflection of the real thing it was. And despite my efforts, it didn't change much. I am sad for my friends who are out of work, but hopefully they'll move on without too much trouble. As you can imagine, I feel so relieved and even more confirmed in my decision to have not done management with them! Amen. Anyhow, on to the photos... p.s. I didn't clean up the house at all for you. I figured it had taken us long enough to put some up, I'd better just put up whatever.

Below: our bedroom which I think is nicer and more comfortable than most hotel rooms! This is our new king size bed. Retail: $5000. We paid: $200! What a bargain! It's so comfy. PTL for rich neighbours moving to China. Notice I barely look pregnant from the front! I'm 26 weeks now...

From the side I guess you can tell =) but with a big jacket I can still hide it! Not that I want to.

Our living room.

And dining room.

And kitchen.

Entrance of main bathroom.

Our luxurious bathtub. Notice the window... it also has a view of the city!

Our guestroom. Please come and stay with us!!!

The start of our son's room! My parents helped furnish this. Below is looking to the left.

Then straight ahead. (To the right is our office area and some of Mark's guitar equipment.)

My birthday was yesterday and Mark made it special for me all day! At lunch he brought me home these flowers-- native Australians. I can't remember what they're called. He knows I like old people and nudity...hence the card!

Hope you enjoyed the update and the photos. I'll try to get Mark to write something soon. He's really enjoying work, and he's even starting to work out again, so thanks for your prayers.

Remember, if you want more juicy pregnancy thoughts, go to www.babycolviniscoming.blogspot.com

Love,

Rachel

We're having a boy!

2008-06-18T01:33:00.004Z

We're having a boy! And I'm further along than we thought. Baby now due Oct 31st!

Yawning!

Mark's Birthday Pirate Party!

2008-05-15T12:01:00.006Z

Aaaarrrrggghhhh!

(for some reason the balloon makes him less convincing...)

Yep, that's me.

The jolly pirate Kate. We bake and play guitars together.

One of our pastors, the merry Katie.

The mischievous looking Pastor Scott, husband to Katie and brother of my friend Kate.

Marc. Not sure what look he's going after, but I will say he was fun competition when we went bowling the other night! I beat the boys (Marc and Mark) in both games, with the winning scores of 138 and 139 (no bumpers, of course). Not being an avid bowler, I was very proud of myself. Marc was giving me a run for my money. Marc and his wife Anne let Mark use use one of their cars Wed-Fri on many occassions when Mark didn't have a way to get to work in Donald and Horsham. Thanks guys!

This is Paulie, one of Mark's colleagues. He's from Norway. I think he's trying to go for the 'I'm guilty but trying to look innocent' pirate pose. Paulie also let Mark use his car Wed - Fri on many occassions for months when we didn't have one. Thanks Paulie!

Ahhh, Luke. He's saying, "The next round's on me, boys!" Thanks Luke! Luke has a beautiful wife, Rebecca, and 3 gorgeous little girls. We taught them how to play Settlers, he he he (the evil sort of laugh where I smile and think about my scheme to brainwash all of our friends into playing Settlers with us... Pastor Katie is already addicted to the game!).

The lovely Sarah. She is another of Mark's colleagues. Unfortunately for us, she and her husband are moving to Adelaide this Oz winter, US summer. They hope to start a family soon (woohoo!) and want to be settled close to their families first.

For Mark's birthday we went to a teppanyaki restaurant, one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook the food in front of you! It was a lot of fun. Kate baked some lemon meringue pies for Mark's birthday 'cake.' See below...

In the end our chef wrote this upside down using salt on the grill. Not bad...

Hope you enjoyed meeting some of our friends above.

In other news, in case you hadn't heard already, we bought a car! We got a 2002 Subaru Outback with only 86,000 Kilometres (55,000 miles) on it. It looks good and is in great condition. We think we got a great deal on it and are very pleased to have it. With winter approaching and a baby soon to follow we thought it would be wise to get one sooner than later. Also, with Mark travelling for work 3 days a week, it was getting increasingly difficult to keep borrowing cars. We still bike quite a bit and still want to. I have to anyhow on Wed - Fri when Mark is away with the car. It does make grocery shopping SO much easier, and now we can explore this vast country, at the least take weekend trips! Last weekend we went to Melbourne and watched U2 in 3D at the IMAX Theatre. We both thought it was fantastic, although Mark says the real thing is still better (of course). He's been to two U2 concerts. This weekend we're heading down to Melbourne again, and to Hoppers Crossing for a going away party for our friends Kath and Cliff (the ones we went camping with a few weeks back). They are going to work at a summer camp in Pennsylvania, and then to explore South America and/or Africa for the next 2 years! How fun!!

Now that we have a car ticked off our prayer list, we are focusing on finding a new place to live before my parents get here in 6 weeks! Our house is 2 bedrooms and COLD. We are looking for a 3 bedroom house with central heating, and we think we might've found one... right next door. That house recently sold, and the new owners are remodelling it to rent it out! They are putting a whole new kitchen and bathroom in, and re-painting the whole place. It should be really nice when they're done. Pray that the price is right, and that they accept pets (how could we leave 'pooper and the claw'?? more on that to come). If we have a 3 bedroom place when my parents get here, my mom can help me decorate the baby's room, which I'm sure she'd really love to do!

Another big prayer request is for our permanent residency application to be granted. The main hang-up at the moment is that they want me to have a chest x-ray, but being pregnant that's not a good idea. The thing is, I just had one less than a year ago (to be able to come here) and so I am going to petition to see if that can be accepted, or if they can just wave it for me.

Finally, just thought I'd let you know that the pregnancy is going well. I'm 15 weeks now. I'm still not really showing, although I'm just starting to get bigger. I've been feeling good and healthy apart from the cold/cough I had for 2 weeks (that Mark is now getting over), but other than that I've been fine! Thanks for your prayers. We'll be finding out the sex of the baby in 4 weeks now!

It's all about Rachel.

2008-04-24T05:04:00.005Z

Yaah! I got to be a hippie last night! Once a month our church has a women's evening called Essence. It's like a mini-church service, just for women, to encourage women... and a bit more 'fun' than church. Anyhow, last night was themed, it was FAD night. When I saw that brown wool shawl thing with beads on it at the thrift/charity shop I reckoned it would be warm (and I was right) and went with it.

Here's the whole lot of us. Besides Kate, I also hang out with Anne, in the red on the left, and Jen, in the the very back on the right throwing a peace sign. Our pastor/pastor's wife is in the nice blue outfit in the middle left. Her name is Katie. We went shopping for our outfits together.

Katie talked about how Jesus isn't a fad... how we can't just choose to put him on at some times, and not at others...how sometimes He's treated as a fashion accessory. It's all or nothing. It was a good, encouraging talk.

Later at home I chilled on the bed and the cat's decided to chill on my lap... the both of them!

I just thought the kitten was so cute sleeping in this one.

In other news I have started playing the guitar again. Kate, my hippie friend pictured above, is on the worship team at church and is trying to recruit me to play with her. We practised a bit today, so hopefully soon I will sharpen my skills once again and be able to use my musical talent however God might deem fit.

Our practise session followed my appointment at the mid-wives clinic which Kate kindly accompanied me to. It was really just filling out paperwork. Just that. Next week, on Wednesday actually, I have an 'anti-natal' appointment which I believe is with a doctor, so I'm assuming they'll do some more interesting things at that appointment. Kate offered to come with me to that one as well! The appointment today wasn't without complications though. Apparently the program I want to get into (Primary Mid-Wife) is a public program, and to be in it you have to have public health care. Well, I don't. At the moment I just have private. I wish I had public because it's FREE, but we won't have that until we're permanent residents, so pray that that happens SOON! They almost didn't accept me into the program which did worry me at first, and though I'm technically not accepted until my next appointment after the doctor confirms my birth is a low-risk one, I'm not worried about it now. I know God's looking out for me. I figure if all else fails Leigh and our 5th year doctor friend Paul can deliver our baby at home!

More baby news next week hopefully.

Camping and Kitties

2008-04-20T06:37:00.004Z

Hi! Mark is going to do a little blurb for this later, but in the meantime I thought I'd show you some recent photos.

Our latest camping trip to the Brisbane Ranges National Park with our friends Kath and Cliff.

Playing Settlers of Catan.

Just a pretty bird. Not sure the name.

A real live Kookaburra! Sitting in a gum tree even...

An afternoon stroll through a forest of gum trees.

Our new little kitty, Buckey, sitting next to Mark.

Bella didn't like Buckey at first, but now they're pals.

Lazy cat naps...

Too cute! Bella is sleeping in the dead-cat position and Buckey is in mid-yawn.

New Blog

2008-03-26T03:21:00.006Z

In case you didn't know, we're expecting a baby! I've created a blog in light of this momentous occassion coming soon (well, in early November). I tried to link it on the side but it was taking too long. For now, you can check out: www.babycolviniscoming.blogspot.com if you want just thoughts on pregnancy and the arrival of the baby. If that doesn't interest you, no worries... I've spared you the baby talk! If it does interest you, however, check it out...

I've posted one photo on it so far... a belly shot. No, I'm not really showing yet... the baby is only the size of a blueberry! Mark thinks it's just my belly fat. Well, we can pretend, can't we?

In other news, we spent Easter weekend in Torquay, a surf town just south of us at the beginning of the Great Ocean Road. We stayed in a less-than-nice (but cheap and available last minute) cabin at D'Oro Tourist Farm, and watched the Rip Curl Surf Pro during the day.

We watched a number of heats. Below are some shots from the women's competition.

Megan Abubo, an American competing against...

Steph Gilmore, an Australian and 2007 Women's Surfing World Champion Title holder.

Steph Gilmore ended up winning this competition in the finals two days later. Here she is signing autographs.

The winner get to ring this very bell.

That cabin I was telling you about...

The view across from our cabin.

A dead spider I found in the bathrooms at the Rip Curl Surf Pro. Not dissimilar to the two ALIVE spiders I found in the very tiny shower compartment at our cabin. Yah, I freaked. I just don't know if they jump here yet! Luckily the big, scary looking ones aren't AS deadly.

Mark went surfing a couple times this weekend as well. The beach was gorgeous, called 'Jan Juc.' I thought I had my eye on him the whole time. I kept waving at him, he kept waving at me... but when I went to snap a photo of him riding a wave, I realized...

It wasn't him. Mark was wearing a short-legged wet suit. So what's this guy doing waving at me??!

Wilson's Promontory

2008-03-12T10:16:00.004Z

As promised, photos from our latest camping trip to Wilson's Promontory.

We are so blessed to have friends who lend us their cars. We were able to get away to God's beautiful nature for the 3-day Labour Day weekend. Our campsite was right next to the beach (see below). We simply walked out of our campsite, took a few steps down a sandy path and...

We went hiking (see below), snorkelling, and spent time at the beach.

The view from the top of the mountain on our hike.

Squeeky Beach. The sand actually does squeek. It is white and fine like talcolm powder. It was SO soft. When you scuff your foot, it squeeks! This beach was crawling with internationals.

A little catch up...

2008-03-10T08:52:00.007Z

Yes, this is Bella. Her latest obsession is the outside world! She LONGS to go outside and play and explore, but the vet has said she shouldn't go outside until she has been 'fixed.' Poor Bella. Here she is clinging onto the screen in our bedroom, although she has been known to crawl up our entire 6ft tall screen door in the front. She is still absolutely adorable and so very affectionate. We continue to enjoy her company.

We love having visitors! Our latest ones were Murray Hone and his girlfriend Sarah. They are both Canadians. Mark knew Murray from Green Bay, a Christian camp they worked at for many years together during University. Murray came out for an Australian adventure and was working at a youth hostel in Sydney for a few months before Sarah came out and joined him.

And finally, I love putting things in perspective... this is the road I bike every day, twice a day, on my way to and from work. I find it peaceful and refreshing. In the last few weeks since I took this photo, the leaves have begun to fall! Autumn is here. I'm still enjoying biking everywhere. It takes Mark and I only 10 minutes each one-way to get to our workplaces. Not bad.

This past weekend was a 3-day weekend, out Labour Day. Mark and I seized the opportunity and went camping in Wilson's Promontory, a National Park on a peninsula east of Melbourne. We camped next to the beach and drifted to sleep listening to the waves crash (one of my favourite things!). Over the weekend we went hiking, snorkeling, layed on the beach, sat around a campfire, cuddled in the dark and observed an amazing sky full of stars and shooting stars and just had a nice time together. Photos of this to come in the next blog!

Mark's job is still going very well, thanks for all of your prayers. He has picked up the new technique and is becoming an expert in no time. He is pleased with all of the excellent results he receives from it, and his boss is happy with him!

I had an interview last week for Starbuck's Assistant Manager position. The interview was OK overall, but when I think back on it I really gave some abstract and goofy answers in my attempt to be honest and quick in answering. Oh well. I'll find out soon if I get a second interview. The twist in this scenario is that a school I submitted my resume to a few months back recently gave me call. The principal said he was interested in meeting me. The school is a Christian K-12 school. When I was speaking with the principal in our meeting, he told me that my name just kept coming to his mind and that he had to meet me. He seemed to be a man led by the Spirit, and it was suprisingly great talking to him. We had a good conversation, and I was excited to learn about how he is a man of vision and has great vision for his school. He wants me to join. Now, he couldn't offer me a set job or contract, mostly because I'm not qualified to teach in Australia, but he did offer me the opportunity to Relief (Substitute) Teach and act as an Art Consultant with the Art Teachers and Yr 11 & 12 students (he is hoping to utilize my worldwide art experiences to enrich their art department). So, your prayers would be appreciated for me!

That's all for now. More to come soon!

Getting settled

2008-01-30T09:56:00.000Z

The question everyone keeps asking is, "Are you settled yet?" We've been in Australia for 4 months now, and in Ballarat for just six weeks. Moving from Hoppers Crossing to Ballarat felt like moving countries again. We had made good friends and I was enjoying my work mates in Port Melbourne. We were always looking forward to moving to Ballarat though... to finally having our own place again and being able to set up a home. Below: our cottage on Duncan Street.

You're welcome anytime!

Now, six weeks after moving here, I can say that I'm starting to feel settled. Starting. Really, things are just beginning, so it will be a while before we are in a routine of things. For instance, basketball starts this week for me. I will be both playing in a women's league, and coaching 16 - 18 year old girls. I'm nervous but also looking forward to this opportunity. Also, the leaugue is paying for me to get my Coaching Certificate, which I'm excited about. In other things, I have yet to be made Assistant Manager at the Starbucks I'm working at, but I'm hopeful that will happen soon. In our quest to find a church, we think we've found one (yah!) but until that is confirmed we are still unsettled in that area. We had the pastors (a husband and wife team) of that church over for dinner this week, and our time together was good. We'll tell you more when we know more. With Mark, first he was covering for a maternity leave, then we moved up to Ballarat and he was asked to travel two hours away, three days a week, to cover for some other absent doctors. He is away as I type this. This finishes this week though and from next week he will be able to practice his permanent (for now) schedule of five days a week in Ballarat, and one day a week back in Hoppers Crossing. So, for the both of us, these next few weeks will be a time of settling.

The best word I have to describe Balllarat is 'charming.' It's small, but not too small. Everything is within reasonable biking distances. I'll try to take some photos for you on my way to work. I have to say that I am really enjoying biking everywhere! It was a bummer having our our new-to-us car die on us mostly because of the money we sunk into it, but now I even feel blessed. We're lucky that the weather has been so great lately. It's beautiful and refreshing riding during the day, and peaceful and magical riding at night. We bike to work, to the grocery store, to friend's houses and to church. The aren't many bike commuters in this town so people are always amused at us, but I'm excited to demonstrate another way of travelling that is good for one's health and the environment, and it saves money on car expenses like petrol. To my fellow friends out there travelling solely by bike and public transportation: way to go! I feel united with you... bike riding is that special.

And last but not least, the newest edition to the Colvin househould: Bella! Her name was inspired by Rob Bell, a pastor/author/short-film writer that we have been interested in and appreciated lately. Mark has just finished reading two of his books, Sex God and Velvet Elvis. I've really enjoyed many of his NOOMA videos. Check him out if you haven't already.

Bella is VERY affectionate. We got her a week ago, at six weeks old. Her favourite place in on us somewhere, usually on our shoulder or face (if we let her). She loves cuddling and just wants to be close to us and play with us. We almost called her Beso (kiss in Spanish) because she loves nibbling our ears and licking our lips (Yes! but I never let her. She's cute, but not that cute. No kitty breath near my mouth.)

That's it for now. Again, our address is 3 Duncan Street, Ballarat, 3350, VIC, Australia.

p.s. I just thought I'd share one of my favourite things about work: a regular customer named Bill. I love Bill because he reminds me of all my homeless friends. Bill used to be a teacher and was tragically, brutally beaten up by students (a long time ago). He is now 'different.' I'm not sure what exactly is going on in his head, but he lives with a very mangled arm, and has the looks and similar mannerisms of a mentally disabled homeless person. He always smells and sometimes clears half of our store upon entrance. His clothes are often dirty, and his hands caked with dirt. What I love about Bill is that he's always reading, and often reads aloud to us. He breaks out in song every day, usually Australian ballads of sort. And his laugh... he sometimes goes on and on to me, and I can't unserstant a word, and then he laughs at what he's just said and I laugh because his laugh is so funny, so contagious. I also love the my co-workers all treat Bill with respect. I can't say the same for all of our customers. Just yesterday Bill was telling me about a book he is reading on the Bible. Bill was telling me about the book, about how he was enjoying it, and then he said, "And you know what Rachel, I read that Jesus is going to come back again one day!" He said it with a brief glimpse of delight and wonder in his eye, like a child. It was beautiful and made me stop and reflect, and delight and wonder as well.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T13:29:00.000Z

The past month has been hectic (what's new?), but overall good. Our month old brand new-to-us $3000 car DIED (we are borrowing a car from a friend until Jan. 20th), I had ingrown toenail surgery on Dec. 6th, we moved from Hoppers Crossing (near Melbourne) to Ballarat on Dec. 15th, friends from England stayed with us for Christmas (Dec. 24th - 30th), and our phone and internet lines are not properly working yet-- hence part of the reason why we have not been in touch (though we noticed a lot of you bloggers out there have been slacking as well. Must be the holidays!). I say things are overall good because Mark is enjoying his new company/job and is seeing excellent results with the technique they use (NIP). It's also nice to finally be getting settled into a house and into a job for me. I'm moving to full-time at Starbucks next week. I started my training for Supervisor today, and was also told by Starbucks' District Manager that he was arranging the date for my Assistant Manager interview for me today. Hopefully that will indeed happen soon (in the meantime I'm still looking for/open to other options). Oddly enough the most difficult times for me are when we go to church. I get really depressed/emotional. I think it's because I miss my old churches (Jubilee, SBCC, etc...) and the Christian relationships from them. I prayed for deep, passionate, and meaningful Christian friendships for both myself and Mark in Hull, England and the Lord provided. I need to pray the same for here. Pray with me!

Above: for New Year's Eve we went to Matt's house (in the Starbucks photo below). He's my co-worker in Port Melbourne. He had a little party. Then we left and met up with some friends at Waterfront City in Melbourne for the fireworks! They were fabulous. We brought a blanket and had front row seats. The Lord blessed the evening as well as we sat by a man who just got back from Uganda. He works with Watoto (a children's choir). My friend who was with us also recently went to Uganda and so they were excited to talk to each other.

Matt did a beautiful job of making my favourite drink for me, a toffee nut latte with extra whip and extra toffee nut sprinkles. I won't be having these for a while though... I've given up dairy and wheat/gluten for a month to see if my skin improves. After only a week it has improved, but we'll see how it goes after a month. It used to go up and down anyway. Of the two I think dairy is the real culprit... I'm hoping it's not both as I enjoy eating both!

Above: Katie and James, the highlight of our Christmas. These are two of our friends from Hull, England, still currently travelling around Australia in a van (they're in Sydney at the moment). They decided to come to our house for Christmas! We had a fabulous time. It was SO good to be with people we knew that knew us, and we got to know each other even better. We played games and watched movies and went sight-seeing together and had some good conversations. Thanks for the great visit!

James and Mark went to a Cricket game on Boxing Day. Australia vs. India. I think the 5-day game ended in a draw.

Our backyard. Sorry it's so small. I'm not sure how I can make it bigger for you. It's small, with cemented area and a clothesline in the middle, and it's surrounding by trees (which I love!). The weather has been great and I've been able to lounge around in a bikini tops and skirts! Hooray for summer! It was beginning to feel like Narnia for a while with a never-ending winter.

Our back porch looking into our backyard. Notice the shed in the backyard, the dark doorway which leads to an outdoor toilet, and our dryer which is in our laundry room, also outside of our house. The door to our kitchen is just past and to the right of the air con unit on the right wall.

I'm considering starting another blog to share thoughts about my passion: ethical consumerism. There is so much I want to do with this passion, which will really start after the house is fully unpacked and sorted (we're almost there!) and the internet is up and running. I'll let you know when it begins...

Hope all is well with you!

Again, our new address: 3 Duncan Street, Ballarat, 3350, VIC, Australia.

Catch-up

2007-12-02T10:01:00.001Z

Hi guys! Just a quick blog to send some more photos your way...

Below is our Thanksgiving dinner for you to see. I invited all of my co-workers at Starbucks (3 came) as well as some friends from church. Below, starting from the left is Sahar (from Pakistan), Matt, and Sandra (my manager from Canada), all three my co-workers at Starbucks. Then there's Corey, Joylee, Mel (married to Corey), Kath, Cliff (married to Kath, and he's an American!), all from church, and Mark. It was a great meal and good time with other thankful souls. Too bad I didn't get a photo of the Turkey Mark cooked, it was fabulous!

From the left: Kath, Cliff, Mark, me, Matt, and Sandra.

Jumping right along to the next holiday... this is our Christmas tree! Well, our Christmas eucalyptus bouquet. As we're moving on the 15th of Dec. it didn't seem to practical to get and put up a big tree. We also have very few ornaments, so the smaller the better! I like my Christmas bouquet... it makes our living room smell lovely, and very Christmas-y actually. The scent is strong, and similar to pine.

Finally, I went out on a hen day (sort of a bridal shower for you Americans) with some girls from church. We went indoor rock-climbing, then had a picnic in the park, and then back to one of the girl's houses for food, fun and games. It was a nice was to spend my Saturday afternoon. Below is a shot of me climbing a wall with two overhangs. I did manage to get to the top, which I am very proud of! It's the first time I've made it over over-hangs.

Love,

Rachel

Williamstown

2007-11-18T05:48:00.001Z

It was a gorgeous evening. That's Melbourne in the background. Mark and I went for a leisurely stroll down the pier. Williamstown is about 30 minutes away from us. It's a little area on the bay's edge lined with restaurants, bars, and gelato shops.

These photos were actually taken a couple weeks ago. You wouldn't see me in so many layers these days! It's finally getting HOT. I wear skirts and short-sleeved shirts whenever possible now. Yaah!

So, at the moment, I'm feeling frustrated. I can't seem to be able to arrange my photos on blogger wherever I want them to go. What am I doing wrong? The 'help' said to just 'drag and drop.' When I try to drag, a little symbol of a circle with a line through it appears and prevents me from dragging and dropping. I'm left with boring photos-in-a-straight-line always. *sigh* I know there's worse problems to have in life. Poor me. It's also frustrating not having our own place, especially with holidays like Thanksgiving coming up.

Here's some good news though: we were accepted for a rental propoerty in Ballarat! We move in on December 15! Photos to come soon, at least of the outside. It's a cute, white-weatherboard, 2-bedroom house with a porch out front and lots of rose bushes. It's about 1 1/2 blocks away from the big lake in the center of Ballarat. The lake has a 6km track around it. It will be nice to be so close to it, especially in the summer.

This morning we went to the church we've been going to for a few weeks now. It's temporary, just while we're living in Hoppers Crossing. It appears to be a good church, and has nice people in it, but an observation I'm wondering if I should be alarmed about: the church is comprised of the same sociol/economic group of people (middle-class, white), and they don't appear to be making efforts to reach out to the poor of their community. They have a heart for global missions, which is great, but what about reaching out to the poor where they are? I must say that I loved how our church in England (Jubilee) was comprised of all colors of skin and social/economic groups. I loved that we reached out to the refugees and poor in our community. Doesn't Jesus call us to do that?? Well, we have made all of our present friends at this church, and they seem to be a good bunch of people. I think though, now that we have their contacts, we'll just maintain their friendships, skip church for the next month, and go camping instead! Mark and I can have our own church on the beach or wherever our chosen spot is. Then, come Dec 16, we will be able to start exploring church options in Ballarat. We already have one in mind called York Street Church of Christ. We went to it once and liked it. We'll probably try it out for a while.

I'm off to the store now to buy ingrediants for Christmas Cake. That's right, Christmas Cake. Recipes suggest you make it 8-weeks before consumption date, so I'm already late. During those 8-weeks I'm supposed to feed my creation Brandy. Glub glub. That's the noise my cake will be making as it eats the brandy I feed it. Mmmm. Christmas Cake. I never really like it until I tried some that Jo Maude's mom had made for their wedding cake. I also have high hopes to make my own mince pies! I need to focus on getting through Thanksgiving first. I'm organizing a big meal we're having at our friends' house on Tuesday night, as we're all busy on Thursday.

Happy early Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for blogs... it's a small way for me to keep in touch with you! I'm also thankful for my husband because he's the best =)

Love,

Rachel

Weekend Away

2007-10-28T08:09:00.000Z

We had been feeling a little bit house-bound, so off we went!

Mmmm... homemade ice cream!
We are totally health-conscious, but we're not rigid. That's no fun.
There's always room for sweet things every now and then.

We drove through Geelong to Torquay (a famous surf spot), to hit
the Great Ocean Road.
There were gorgeous beaches along this long, windy road...
and they were practically deserted. Summer fun, here we come!

This isn't a great photograph, but our campsite was nestled in
a beautiful little corner of
The Great Otways National Park.
To the left in this photo is a stream that runs from the waterfall,
pictured below.

Rise and shine!
We woke to the sound of raindrops on our tent. I don't mind rain when we're camping at all, as long as we can set up camp while it's dry, and take things down when the rain has stopped. In fact, I love listening to the rain, or to the sound of waves crashing on a beach. Our next camping getaway (hopefully next weekend!) will be to some clifftops overlooking a beach. Fun and free!

Here's the waterfall I mentioned above. It's called Stevenson Falls. It was an easy 1km walk from our campsite, and it felt like we were walking through a rainforest! I bet we were. What makes a rainforest a rainforest??

This is a sprouting fern. We saw loads of them in New Zealand, and more on our walk to Stevenson Falls. Some interesting facts: the Maori people of New Zealand have adopted this as their symbol, calling it the koru. The koru is the Maori name given to the newborn, unfurling fern frond and it symbolizes new life, growth, strength and peace. It is an integral symbol in Māori carving and tattoos. The koru is used in a stylised form as the logo of Air New Zealand and as an iconic symbol of New Zealand flora.

Here is a full photo of the fern with the koru sticking out on top.

The icing on the cake of our weekend was mountain biking! The trail doesn't look like much here, though it was quite challenging for both myself and Mark. There were lots of fallen trees of all sizes to maneuver over. I often chickened out and just walked my bike over the logs, but I did succeed in crossing a few of them! The landscape varied quite a bit. Overall it was refreshing just to be out in the wilderness, breathing fresh air and getting a good workout. It was fun, albeit tiring, and I can assure you we will both sleep soundly tonight.

The latest scoop on my job situation... I didn't get the Refugee job as I had hoped. I was initially very disappointed, but I feel completely fine about it now. I was looking forward to working with my African brothers and sisters once again, and other refugees. How sweet it would've been to develop such friendships here in Australia. I particularly miss Africa, their way of life and how life felt when I was there. My initial thought is that maybe Africans tend to have their priorities right, but I'll have to give it some more thought (what exactly I miss). I might be able to volunteer with the Multicultural Council, so the door isn't completely closed to my involvement with them. Anyhow, I'm not sad about it because I'm confident that if God wanted me to have that job, I would. I submitted a great resume, and proceeded to have a great interview. God must have something else in mind for me. What? I don't know, but at the moment the only open door has been to work at Starbucks. As they are interested in me managing a store next year, this option might not be a bad idea. I can only really take it a day at time. Tomorrow is my first day working at Starbucks in Port Melbourne, and I'm excited about it and thankful to finally be working. Please pray for me! I hope that it will be apparent if this is the job for me... that I will move up the ranks quickly if I should stay with them. Otherwise, I hope God will direct me elsewhere. Life is short, and I want to be where He wants me to be, even if it's behind a coffee bar. With this job, I could easily study in the evenings, which I hope to do as soon as we become permanent residents. I can also easily be involved in other things, like church things, or playing basketball (which I'm thoroughly enjoying). Dad, you would be proud... in our game last Wednesday we were tied with 40 seconds to go. I stole the ball for a left handed lay-up, was fouled, and then proceeded to make both of my freethrow shots! We won by two points =)

A little tour of our place in Hoppers

2007-10-22T12:52:00.001Z

That's what I call it for short: Hoppers.

We are living in Hoppers Crossing, a suburb (only) 25 minutes outside of Melbourne. I love that it's SO close to Melbourne (pronounced Mel-bin), because there's lots to do and see there! Not that we've seen and done lots there, but we will...

Our address, in case you forgot to write it down before:
c/o Kiro Kids, 1 Johnson Avenue, Hoppers Crossing, VIC 3029, AUSTRALIA
Our mobile phone number: +61 403 825 056

We are living in Hoppers until sometime in December. Mark is covering for a doctor on maternity leave. We are living in the clinic Mark is working at. The clinic is a converted house, so it has all we need. We mostly live upstairs, but we use the kitchen and laundry room which is downstairs. When December rolls around, as soon as we find a nice place to rent in Ballarat, we will move there. Ballarat is a city of about 80,000. It is about 1 hour 15 minutes away from Melbourne. Ballarat is where Mark's full-time job will be based at come January, except for one day a week when he will commute back down to Hoppers to cover a day here.

Here's the house/clinic in Hoppers.

It was quite windy outside when I took the photograph.

Below are kitchen shots. I spend a lot of my time in the kitchen, especially because haven't started a job yet (though one starts next week, more details at the end of the blog). Mark and I have actually enjoyed eating raw-food creations from a cookbook I recently checked out from the library call "RAWvolution." I like the name =)

I'm so thankful that the kitchen came with some gadgets... I only wish it had a blender.

Straight through the kitchen is a little room where we eat. One wall is covered in mirrors, as you can see. It can make for strange meals, trying not to stare at yourself.

Upstairs is our humble living room. Like the homemade bookshelf? And the TV is on a box.

Mark had the brilliant idea of putting tea lights in holes of the bricks of our shelf. It looks gorgeous at night (if cynder blocks can be gorgeous).

Last, but not least, our bedroom. I forgot to mention, we're not sure if we can put more holes in the walls, so at the moment we've just hung a few things on the few nails already up in the walls. No rhyme or reason really.

Another homemade shelf to match the one in the living room. We like them.

So, that's our pad. Not very fancy, but we're thankful for it. We're really looking forward to moving into a place of our own soon though, a place we can really decorate and make a home out of.

OK-- about my jobs. I've been offered work at Starbucks, just as a Barista and/or Shift Supervisor at the moment. That starts this Monday. What I'm really hoping for, and I find out this week, is that I'll get another part-time job as a Refugee Case Coordinator. I had an interview for it last week, and I think the interview went really well. I'll let you know what happens... Thanks for your prayers! It's actually been a rough day for me, missing family and friends. I still feel akward, not knowing what I'm doing here, and not really having any friends (though I must say Mark and I have met and hung out with a lot of new people this past week -- it's been fun and a huge answer to prayer).

Thinking of you....

Love,

Rachel

The last whirlwind of a month...

2007-10-02T06:29:00.000Z

So let's see... I left England on 28 Aug 2007. I can't believe I've been gone from there over a month now! I miss all of you still there. *sigh* So who's coming to visit us first? My landlady, Mel, in November possibly... then James (of First Class) and Katie (of Planet Coffee) in December for our annual Christmas BBQ on the beach, then... who will it be?? (You??!)

The following is a pictures are in sequential order, from our time in the States, to New Zealand, to the land of OZ.

On the way back from Canada visiting Mark's family (photos to come soon!), we took a 6 hour layover and visited our good friends Jess and Tim who had their first child, a little beautiful girl named Adilyn born at only 34 weeks! She is two weeks old and just under 5lbs. in this photo.

Next, my cousin Melissa's wedding. Sorry I don't have any photos of the lovely bride to post just yet. It was a nice wedding, and I was honoured to be her Matron of Honour. She and her Marine-husband, Brian, are moving to Hawaii! How fabulous!

Then we were well-taken care of at Jenelle and Cameron Lemons house in Temecula (in between San Diego and Los Angeles). Grace was able to come down to see us as well. What a treat! Below, Grace is holding Willow, a little girl Jenelle baby-sits. Jenelle is in the middle holding her oldest child, Josiah (nicknamed 'Si' - pronounced 'sigh'), and I'm on the right holding her youngest, Jordan. Thanks for the fabulous time Jenelle! We enjoyed going to their predominantly black church. It was lively with solid teaching. Cam has such a great opportunity working on the staff of that church!

OK-- on to New Zealand, or is it England? Rolling green hills, sheep... did our plane fly the wrong direction? From people's descriptions of it, I always knew New Zealand would look like England (on a sunny day)(and add in some steep cliffs and gorgeous coasts). OK, so it's not exactly like England, but it sure has a lot of similarities. Below is a little lamb which is such a season-shock to my brain. Lambing is in April, not September! Seriously, this will take getting used to. October = spring. December = summer. What?! AND, they don't celebrate anything 'harvest' at all, not even in their autumn-time (March). Janie, do you feel my pain??!!

We stayed on the North Island, in a little tourist coastel town called Paihia. We there we visited the Puketi Forest and saw a diverse mixture of hardwoods, podocarps and kauri. Below is a big kauri tree. The area is also a treasure house for native birds and plants and animals, and includes populations of kiwi, kokako and lesser short-tailed bats.

In some places they built walking bridges because the forest floor turns into a swamp.

The weather was unfortunately bad while we were there. However, it was still winter there, so we can't complain too much. We went ahead and still did a boat tour of the Bay of Islands. We saw a big school of dolphins which was exciting! Our lunch break was spent exporing one of the islands. We'd definitely like to go back to New Zealand when the weather is better...

Finally, Australia!

'A wilful, lavish land-
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand.'
-Australian poet Dorothy Mackellar (1885 - 1968)

Australia is big, very big. The horizon stretches on endlessly, unblemished by a single skyscraper, or any other building for that matter. It is more than seven and a half million sq km in area which means it is as big as the USA (without Alaska) and 24 times the size of Great Britian. Australians are straight-talking, easy-going, and apparel challenged. I've been told, 'Don't come to Australia for respect of authority, modesty or linguistic restraint.'

Some fun 'Strine' or 'Austrayan' words:

Arvo = Afternoon. 'See you this arvo.'
Barbie = The barbeque pit in your back garden, the centre of all social action during the Australina summer.
Bathers = swim suits/swimming costumes.
Beaut = Great!
Bell = 'Give us a bell tommorow' - please phone tomorrow.
Bickies = Bucks, money.
Blugder = Anyone who sponges off anyone else.
Blue = A quarrel, a row, or else, a blunder.

Look at the cute Koala with a leaf hanging out it's mouth! Although there are still many Koalas in the wild, the photos below were taken at the Ballarat Wildlife Park.

What a treat to be able to pet them! They are very soft and cuddly, like teddy bears.

And let's not forget the Kangaroos! We purchased Kangaroo food. If you just shake your hand as if you have food they come jumping over to you.

See the little roo in the pouch??

Scary! Or not? My friends back in England did a good job of scaring me about all of the DEADLY animals here. Well, I'm not afraid anymore. Spiders: a spider-bite death has not occurred in Victoria (the State I live in) since 1956. In fact, the only deadly spider in this region is the Red-Back, but they have anti-venom for it. At a museum in Melbourne on Sunday I was able to learn all about the good and the bad spiders of Oz. Snakes: deaths rarely occur from these guys either. At the Wildlife Park a gamekeeper held Australia's most deadly snake, still with fangs and venom in tact. He wasn't afraid because he understands snakes (and because they have anti-venom). If I see a snake, all I need to do is back away slowly. I'm not really afraid of them anyway since I grew up with them in AZ. Crocs: still VERY scary to me, but thankfully they don't live in this part of Oz. If I am in croc territory, I'm told that I just shouldn't go near the water's edge, but if I have to, to not return to the same place twice. Also, it's best to stay 4 meters away from the water's edge since a croc can only leap 3 meters in a split second. Still scary, I know...

So, how am I doing? Well, it's been tough, I won't lie. I'm confident that God called us here, and He's providing... It's just tough because I don't really have a home to 'settle' into yet. We're in temporary accomodation for another two months. We're thankful for it, because it's free, but it's not our little nest. Probably even more tough is the fact that I don't yet have a job AND I don't actually know what I want to do with my life. Even things I'm interested in (Naturopathy, teaching Art) have to wait until we can afford for me to go to school to get those additional qualifications. Pray for direction and a job. We're also still looking for a church and friends. Mark is doing well and is enjoying his work, so we're very thankful for that. And the other chiropractors and their families have been very welcoming to us. One couple is letting us borrow their car for 3 weeks while they are on a mission trip to India!

We didn't have internet access for a while, but now we're up and running. We also have skype. We hope to find you on sometime, or perhaps we could set up a skype date!

Thanks for your love and support and prayers. We do feel them even across the great big ocean that separates us. Keep in touch!

Love,

Rachel

In the land of Oz!

2007-09-26T05:27:00.000Z

We have safely arrived in Australia.

Our temporary address (for the next two months) is:

1 Johnson Avenue
Hoppers Crossing
Victoria
3029
AUSTRALIA

Our temporary phone numbers are:

614 0382 5056 (mobile)
613 5330 1937 (Neil Davies home number, we'll be here 'til this Sunday)

We're doing well. We're being taken good care of. Thanks for your prayers!

I (Rachel) am a bit overwhelmed by it all. Your prayers are appreciated, especially for me to get a good job, and for Mark to get a good start to his job (he starts tomorrow, Thursday!) and really enjoy what he's doing.

Soon I will post some photos of two very cute twin Koala babies that Mark and I saw this past Sunday at the Wildlife Park! We also enjoyed feeding and petting and HUGGING kangaroos.

Love,

Rachel

Back in Arizona!

2007-09-07T14:42:00.000Z

Howdy folks! Mark and I safely flew from Australia and England and reunited in Phoenix, Arizona. He was waiting for me at the airport with flowers in hand and a smile on his face! Thanks for all your prayers for our safe travels. Mine were unusually uneventful, which I praise the Lord for. It's not easy navigating London and the underground system with two 70 lb. suitcases and a very heavy packback... and a pillow, and a bag of food. Mark had an equally fine time with his layover in Hawaii! He stayed with some friends of mine (thanks Paul and Crissy!) and was able to cruise the island, watch the surfers, and even do some snorkeling.

The morning I left from London I was wearing a wool jacket and scarf, a sweatshirt, jeans, and wool socks (admittedly in part to be prepared for the usually cold airplane flight), to be welcomed into temperatures of over 100 degrees F (and this is at 7pm in the evening) in Phoenix! The warm clothes came off very quickly. I have to tell you, I AM LOVING THE HEAT AND SUNSHINE! Only you friends of ours in England will truly be able to appreciate this. It was definitely initially strange to have sunshine everyday, and warmth everyday. England was unfortunately completely bypassed by summer. One British friend even admitted she has her thermals out already!

We're happy to be reunited, happy to be in excellent weather, happy to be with family and old friends and happy to have proper Mexican food again! Mmmmm.

Take a close look at this photo above... it's me sitting on my mom's lap! The girl next to me is Michelle. I've shown you this photo because below is Michelle and me 26 years later with our husbands at our sides. Our mom's were (and still are) good friends. Michelle grew up in Chicago, but has recently moved to Phoenix, Arizona with her husband. They were able to pick us up in Phoenix, drive us down to my parents' place in southern Arizona, and then hang out with us for the weekend. Here you see us at the rodeo (that's right... cowboys and bucking broncos!) in Sonoita. It was a fun experience!

After the rodeo we drove in to Mexico. My dad wanted to show us the church and Christian retreat center that his church in Sonoita, Arizona helps fund. They are in the poor barrios (neighborhoods) of Nogales, Mexico.

The happy couple reunited!

Shopping in Mexico...

Last but not least, the day after we had a bridal shower for my cousin Melissa who is getting married Thursday, Sept 13th (next week). She is marrying a Marine, and they have just received word that they will be moving to Hawaii! I am very pleased for her and can't wait to visit. I am honored to be her Matron of Honor at the wedding.

Me with my friend, Bonnie, at the Bridal Shower. Abi, thanks for the tanning cream... I have received many compliments on my fake sun-kissed skin!

We'd appreciate continued prayers for safe travels as we still have many airplane flights and long drives ahead of us. This weekend we fly up to Winnipeg, Canada to visit with Mark's family. We are really looking forward to seeing them!

We are both still really excited about Australia. We finally received our 4-year visas yesterday, so that's an answer to prayer. I asked Mark the other day if he saw any kangaroos when he was there and he said, "Only a dead one on the side of the road." How disappointing! Oh well, I'm sure we'll see plenty more.

To all of our friends in England, we miss you! Thanks so much for the book you made us. It's SO special... we love it and will cherish it always.

And FYI, we can't access Facebook from my dad's computer (in case you were wondering why we haven't written back). For some reason it is a blocked site. However, I do anticipate being able to check at Dave and Janie's (our brother and sister-in-law) house in Winnipeg.

Nick and James

2007-08-18T18:31:00.001Z

Hi folks! I'm exhausted... I've been going through stuff all day to prepare for the big move. I love getting rid of stuff and wish I had had less in the first place! Moving is always a good reminder to live a simpler life (at least for me).

"Aspire not to have more, but to be more."
-Archbishop Romero

On the left here is my favourite coffee shop in Hull City Centre. No, it's not a Starbucks, it's a Cafe Nero! The coffee is stronger, and the atmosphere is more sophisticated.

Below is our friend James who came up from Bournemouth
with our friend Nick to visit me! We had such a nice weekend!

I made them pancakes for breakfast. Janie, I tried the healhty recipe you put on your blog! Thanks for that.

Oh, they were sweethearts, and such a pair! We played 5 games of Settlers of Catan... I was SO happy.

Cafe Nero is in the background. The boys are parked in front of our Maritime Museum. They couldn't resist the photo!

Ah yes, a picnic in the Westwood. A very expensive bottle of wine to celebrate the fast sale of my car for a very good price! We also had cheese, olive ciabatta bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, strawberries... and a frisbee to throw afterwards! It wasn't cold, but the mosquitos were out.

So... things are OK... I'm just trying to be overprepared so I'm not scrambling on my last day here. I'm still trying not to worry about finances, but the budget is just so unpredictable. I feel as though I have no control over it whatsoever. Our marriage seems to be a continuous opportunity to trust God for our finances... it's nice for our faith, but I just wish we could get ahead! Hopefully Australia will provide that opportunity. And if not, if we continue to scrape by... so be it. God has always taken care of us.

This coming week is my last week of work! I pleased that I'm able to leave things so well organized. Pray for good closure there.

This coming weekend (actually, starting Thursday night) I am going camping with my church just above the North York Moors somewhere called Sexham. That should be a nice time of fellowship, teaching, and time to say goodbyes. Then Monday I am going up to Newcastle to say goodbye to our good friend Neil, the one who got us connected with Australia in the first place! Wednesday night I'll be staying with friends. Thursday 30th August EARLY... I leave! That's the rest of my time here in a nutshell. Throw in hanging out with people almost every night, and continued efforts to pack. Pray for me =)

Love,

Rachel

Love, Birthday, Cookie-Making, Wedding, Hogwarts, The Lake District, Wales

2007-08-07T17:42:00.000Z

Around England and back again, that's where I have been.

For some reason I thought I'd have more time on my hands when Mark left. Ha. Instead I am having to be conscious about not letting the stress of my situation get to me. On my drive back from Manchester today I tried planning out a daily routine to ensure low-stress for my remaining 3 weeks, 2 days here in England. This involves exercise, meditation/prayer and bible reading in the morning (I now don't have to be to work until 9am! Yipee for summer break!), healthy eating (including trying to finish all of the food in my cupboards!), chill-out time (hanging out with my friends one last time, or reading Harry Potter...), and going to bed early (well, at least on time!). In between I'll be doing all of those last-minute-before-the-move errands. I hope to have a good balance, but my tendency is to work work work.

If you're wondering why I was driving back from Manchester this morning, well, I'll suprise you even more by saying that I actually woke up in Wales this morning, and still managed to work almost a full day here in Hull! Yes, I'm a bit exhausted. My Aunt Jean has been here visiting. We toured all over England. Yesterday we went to Wales to visit very distant relatives. We spent the night there, and then early this morning we headed to Manchester Airport where Jean departed from. I then headed back to work in Hull. If you don't know the geography of England, I basically went from one coast to the other this morning!

A few photos...

No, Mark and I haven't reunited yet (but I'm counting down!!!). I just thought this photo was cute =) I miss him so much. I'm also unfortunately/fortunately? getting used to it, but I guess it means I'm better able to cope now. Mark shared some good news with me today: he passed his Australian Board Exams! ("Congrats Mark! We're all so proud of you!" -Everyone) This is HUGE sigh of relief to a lot of people, but especially Mark who has been studying so hard for months now.

This is from my little 'birthday-do.' There were about 15 of us that went out for Thai food and then to Pave, a popular bar, for drinks afterwards. (With my latest health-kick I've been avoiding alcohol.. mostly... and instead drinking sparkling mineral water. Do any of you know if there are any negative health effects from the carbonation?) Below Jo is on the left, and Anna is on the right. I am good friends with both of them!

Anna wanted to learn how to bake my mom's famous chocolate chip cookies. (Mom, you're now famous in England!) People are even asking for her Peanut Butter Ball recipe from when she sent back lots of tins of them with me last Christmas.

This is Keith, Anna's husband. I really love them both. They are a breath of fresh air, and so loving and thoughtful. Keith is an especially talented musician.

My friend Ros just got married (on my birthday, July 28!) in Oxford. Her father is Scottish, and wore the traditional Scottish dress for the occassion. The wedding day concluded with a traditional Scottish Ceilidh, sort of like a barn-dance. They are SO much fun for everyone. I've been fortunate to have attended a few now, including some in Scotland.

Look familiar?? I'm standing in Christ Church College in Oxford. They filmed parts of the Harry Potter movies here! So you could say I'm standing in Hogwarts. Now, my guess is that some of you out there think this is really cool, and others are thinking, "Rachel, what are you doing reading Harry Potter??" (for whatever reason). Well, besides enjoying the books and using them to de-stress, they carry a special significance here in England. Harry Potter is a HUGE deal here. SO many people have read the books. It's a craze. I like joining in with this cultural enthusiasm, and I enjoy all of the British lingo used (i.e. I enjoy actually having the inside scoop and knowing what's meant).

Ahhh, the lovely Derwent Lake next to Keswick, in the Lake District. Did you know that this is where the Derwent (art) pencils were invented?! They even have a pencil museum. Anyhow, Keswick was beautiful. The Lake District is another world from the rest of England, especially when the sun shines.

I went for a little run on my first day in the Lake District. I ran up a mountain, down through a forest (pictured below), next to the lake, and then up to our B&B. We were fortunate to arrive in Keswick for the tail end of the Keswick Christian Convention. It's a huge deal amongst conservative Christians around the world. Stuart Townsend and Phat Pish led worship/music. Jean was able to attend a meeting on the last night. She was very blessed by it.

No, not the Lake District anymore... Wales! This is Lake Vwyrny and the gorgeous old dam that made it a lake in the first place. The photo doesn't do it justice. The whole view is really breathtaking. I have very distant relatives from here. The town is called LLanwyddn.

These are the rellies. Is there any resemblance? Well, even if we got it wrong, they are about the friendliest bunch of people I've ever met. Mark and I actually first met them about 3 years ago now (has it been that long?). The two boys in the middle, Edward and Hywel, showed Jean and me ALL OVER their sheep farm. Their dad, Gwyn (in the back row) is a sheep farmer. He has over 800 sheep. Next to Gwyn in the back is his wife, Margaret. Next row from right to left is Aunt Jean, Edward and Hywel. Front row from right to left is Peter (Thomas's brother-in-law), Thomas (Gwyn's dad), and Amy (Gwyn's sister/Thomas's daughter).

Oh, what else to say... Jean had a full 10 days here with me. We first went to Stratford-upon-Avon and saw Shakespeare's house and saw a theatre production from the Royal Shakespeare Company. We then went to Oxford for Ros's wedding, and we did a bit of touring as well. In an attempt to save money (my efforts at securing free lodging from fellow church-goers were not successful this time around), Jean and I stayed at a youth hostel. It was her first (shocking) experience. We were in a 12-bunk 'mixed' (male/female) dorm room. The night we stayed they were having a fancy-dress party in the lounge! Jean survived =) Overall, her visit was very nice for me, especially at this time while Mark and I are apart. I cherish the relationships with my family members/relatives!

I'm pleased to report that work has been going better, and as my boss is away on holiday (to Turkey) for the next two weeks, I expect the office environment to be relaxed (though we will still get a lot of work done, as we have a lot to do!!!). Please pray with me that I will finish my job strong, and in an honourable way. Pray also that my co-workers would feel loved and encouraged by me.

I'm thankful that it seems as though summer has finally arrived (and it's only August!?!). I think we might have just had the third day of sunshine this summer... hooray! Pray that the sunshine continues... for my sake and the sake of the Brits!

Thanks for all of your prayers and encouraging notes during this difficult yet exciting time of transition.

Love,

Rachel

Sydney and Bondi beach

2007-08-04T11:29:00.000Z

Some bridge. I couldn't tell you what it was called. ;)

Looking south to downtown across the bay.

The monorail. Short but allows you to see most of the city centre

The beach at Bondi. This is where the NIP seminars are held. Not too bad, beats some travel lodge on the M4.

Surfers 'aven it large at Bondi. Sorry about the blurriness. Our camera isn't so crash hot on moving images. There were even guys out there without wetsuits on that day. It is winter here don't forget, those Aussie's are tough.
It's been a bit more wintery here than up in Sydney. We had snow about two weeks ago. Generally it's pretty mild. Can't wait for summer, I've had winter for about 9 months now!

more pictures

2007-08-02T11:36:00.000Z

Here are some more pictures. The first two are the clinic in Ballarat. The next couple of my free day in Sydney. It was really pretty there, hopefully we'll get the chance to spend some time there in the future.

Okay, so the sydney pictures don't seem to be loading. The connection seems really slow so I'm going to try again tomorrow. Sorry!

I come from a land down under

2007-07-30T10:27:00.000Z

This is the airport in Shanghai. Surprisingly clean, modern and quite easy to get through without any knowledge of chinese at all!

This the clinic at Hoppers Crossing where Rachel and I will be living for the first two months while I cover a maternity leave for another Chiropractor. The building extends behind and all the clinic is on the main floor. Rachel and I will be living on the top floor. It's clean, new and there is lots of space. There is grocery store within walking distance.

I can never get my photos to stay right side up! Must be a rookie blogger thing. Anyway, this is one of the main streets in Ballarat. This is the pedestrianised area. There are lots of really nice coffee shops and restaurants here but I'm having to learn a new way to order coffee. Apparently I like flat whites and long blacks.

This is the other way down the same street.

A lot of the archetcture is between 100 and 150 years old and is quite beautiful and ornate. Rachel thinks that a lot of houses here leave something to be desired but I like the way the town looks. It's not pretensious but it has a certain charm that is remenisent of a time gone by.

Life here is going to be good. The clinic is heaving with patients and I'm going to be run off my feet. I am learning so much. I had no idea about treating kids before but I'm getting the hang of the whole thing. Learning the protocol is getting better too but they keep adding heaps more on to it!! It is so complex and precice but just watching Neil and the others is amazing. We are seeing babies with head asymmetry changing in a matter of weeks with only a few treatments. People come in unable to raise their arm above their shoulder and walk out able to raise it fully. We are already improving my examination skills and I can't wait to finally be on a level with the others that are here.

On the flip side, it's been really tough for Rachel and I to be apart for these three weeks. We still have four weeks to go. I'm totally looking forward to going to the states for a break in September and just having four weeks to spend with Rachel and family and friends.
More pictures will come soon, but blogger only seems to allow me to add five at a time.

St. Andrews, Scotland

2007-07-22T20:21:00.000Z

Apologies for not blogging.

It has been an exhausting few months as we've been preparing for out move to Australia and had a visit from my parents. Now our belongings, Mark and my parents are... gone. Yes, I'm terribly sad without Mark. What were we thinking?! Well, theren't really weren't any other options. *sigh*

Anyhow, here are some photos for your viewing enjoyment.

As you can see, we recently took a trip to St. Andrews, Scotland. We went to celebrate the 60th birthdays of both of my parents. My dad got to golf on the famous Old Course, my mother had a spa day.

Edinburgh

Lots of sad goodbyes. Below: Mark and Earl Gooden

Weekend in Newcastle

2007-05-20T21:29:00.000Z

We had a FANTASTIC weekend in Newcastle a few weekends ago. We visited our friend, Neil Cox. We have him to thank for sending us on this Australia roller-coaster! THANK YOU NEIL! Updated details on the Australia move below. First, Newcastle...

Lots of famous things in the background, including the Tyne Bridge and the Millenium Bridge.

The actual 'New Castle'

Is Mark pulling a monkey face, or did he just discover that his shirt was untucked??

Blue-Steel =)

Just a pretty main street with the Tyne Bridge in the background.

Finally, the latest Australia update (in case you didn't receive it by email):

We have a few new announcements in regards to our move to Australia! We are leaving a bit earlier that we had previously planned on, details below. We decided to do this by email so that you are all in the loop at the same time...

Some of you will remember that earlier this year I was in a difficult job situation and God decided to open the door to Australia for me to work in Pediatric Chiropractics, working with Kirokids. When I told my current boss I was moving to Australia to work, he asked me to stay on until our move. Well, earlier this week he came into my office and said that he has had things in motion since I said I was going to leave and that we should nail down an actual leaving date for me. We perhaps had had a misunderstanding at some point along the line. He was thinking 'end of July'. I was a bit shocked by this because I thought we had agreed that I would stay on until October, but he said that others were coming, arrangements had been made and that after July there wouldn't be a place here for me anymore. It makes sense business-wise, but it was unexpected for me. I've learned that in these situations that nothing is shocking to God and I felt a peace about it, though I wondered what would happen for those 3 months of unemployment for me!

Now, the other side of this is that Rachel's employment has had some changes. The company management has been re-structured, and though these are positive changes for the company, we are unsure of the company's stability. The management has assured Rachel that the company and her job is secure. We are trusting that it will be, but we can't help but be open to other options.

So, there we were. We were planning on leaving England together at the end of October/beginning of November. My new job in Australia wasn't starting until Feb 1, but I would be there from November to write my exams. Rachel's job was in question. That equaled a minimum of 6 months combined with no income and a move to a different continent! But as always, God provides. I called my new boss in Australia and explained the situation and he told me that one of the chiropractors at one of his clinics is pregnant and they have no-one to cover her maternity leave in Oct and Nov. They had thought about asking me to come early but didn't want to put the pressure on me. There is another time I can take the board exam, which I obviously need before I can legally work there, and that is July 31st. Having prayed about it and seeking the advice of our families, here is our plan:

I will be leaving on July 11th to go to Australia and write my exams. Rachel will stay in Hull until the end of August. Our decision for Rachel to stay is for a few reasons. First, this is so that Rachel can stay with her company through the end of the school year and appropriately hand-over to a new consultant to be ready for the new school year starting in Sept 2007. Secondly, Rachel's aunt is coming out in August and has already booked her non-refundable ticket, and Rachel of course doesn't want to miss the opportunity to show her aunt around the north. Finally, this gives us another six weeks of income from Rachel, and it also gives us more time to get things at this end organized. Then, August 30th, we will both fly to Arizona after 6-weeks apart! From there we will have a month with family and friends in the States and Canada, and then we will both fly to Australia on September 22nd in time for me to start the maternity leave cover. My time in Australia in August will give me the chance to really perfect the new technique that I've been learning by shadowing my new boss, something that I am really thankful for and excited about. This means, unfortunately, that we won't be able to return to North America for Christmas, but we are thankful we can at least see our family in September. For those of you we were going to meet up with in December (if you live somewhere from Arizona to Colorado over to California and back to Arizona, we were planning on meeting up with you!!!), please let us know if you are available in September, and when. Thanks!

Dates (again):
July 11- Mark leaves England to go to Australia
Aug 30- Rachel leaves England and Mark leaves Australia to meet up in North America
Sept 22- Rachel and Mark leave North America to go to Australia

Rachel says:

We don't exactly have all of the money we need for this move, but we have been blessed by many things, such as: Mark is able to stay for free with his new boss in Australia for July and August while he is out there to take the exam; when we both go to Australia on August 30th, Mark's boss has said that we can live in the second story of one of the clinics, for free, until December 1st (because at the time we should be able to start renting a place of our own); and his boss has also said that as he and his wife each have a car, they will share one and let us borrow the other until we can afford one. Praise the Lord! What a great boss Mark is going to work for! Our parents have also been generous and supportive in our situation. Please continue to pray for our finaces to make this move debt-free!

I know that this is earlier than we expected to go, and that many of you will be sad to see us go (and we will be sad to leave you), but this seems to be the right way and we are trusting God with confidence that he is taking care of us and watching over our every move.

The church 'leaving-do' will be a picnic at the Humber Bridge Park on June 24th, 2007. You're all invited!!!

We're thankful for your support and prayers during this time of transition.

Love,

Rachel and Mark

Mark's birthday

2007-05-04T16:26:00.000Z

We just celebrated Mark's birthday this past Sunday in Leeds. His actual birthday was this past Tuesday, May 1, but we celebrated it on Sunday so we could have a day out with our friends! We first went go-karting (photos soon to come). Mark got first place out of our whole group. I got last place... but that's OK. I can't be a star at everything =) Afterwards we went to a lovely park called Round Hay Park and had a picnic (see below), played games, and generally chilled out. Everyone seemed to have a great time enjoying each others' company and the outdoors.

Me and my friend Jo (the one who's parents' sheep farm we visited).

I love little lambs

2007-04-28T22:31:00.000Z

We went to our friend Jo's parents' farm this Friday/Saturday. Jo is married to Dave. They're pictured below. We know Jo and Dave from church. They're lovely. We went becuase Jo heard of my absolute love for little lambs. I think they are so cute and I've always wanted to hold and cuddle one. Her parents own a dairy and sheep farm. Score! Not only did I get my fill of little lambs (not literally...this weekend), we also happily consumed raw, unpasturized milk. That's a whole other story, but our ideal would be to drink/eat raw milk and cheese, as the pasturized stuff is void of all natural nutrients. It's difficult/illegal to get though... so this was a treat.

As Mark was petting this little lamb, it started nibbling his trousers!

This was one of many little lambs that I helped bottle feed. Mother sheep will have 1 - 6 lambs, on average 2 - 3. When they have more than 2, the extras are usually bottle fed as the mother doesn't usually have enough milk to provide for them all.

We were also fortunate enough to witness a 'lambing,' the actual birth of 2 little lambs. Within minutes they were both standing and walking! Amazing.

We ate lots of good food and played games on the green grass. It was a very nice and relaxing time. Thanks Jo and Dave!

The latest...

2007-04-24T21:35:00.000Z

Enjoy the photos for now. We've both been SO busy.
Australia is still very much a go. We've already begun
preparations. We're still VERY MUCH excited about it!
We continue to feel confirmed about this huge decision.
Hope all is well.

At our good friend Keith's birthday dinner.

Aaaawwwww... such good friends =)

Our back garden after a freak snow storm! They say 'garden'
here instead of 'yard.' The back garden looks quite different now.
Besides not being covered in snow, Mark's parents helped me
tidy things up. I'll post an 'after' photo soon...

Mountain biking around Lady Bower Reservoir in the Peak
District. It's about 1 1/2 hours away, next to Sheffield.

The mountain bikers =)

Cambridge. While Mark's parents were visiting England, we
met up with them in Cambridge to visit the relatives. Above
is the river we went 'punting' on. Mark was our punter and
he impressively did not fall in, as many other punters did!
(The stick gets stuck in the mud while the boat keeps going...)

Cambridge. Kings College in the background.

Enjoy the photos for now. Mark and I have been SOOO busy.
We're still very much excited about Australia and we're
doing a lot to prepare for it. Hope all is well with you!

My good ol' buddy Danny Franz from Sierra Vista, living
in Cambridge... the day after his pirate party! They have
a sweet house, right across the river from Jesus Lawn.

Whitby. This photo doesn't do it justice. It's a very
picturesque costal town. We took the 'rents here for some
authentic fish 'n chips. They call those places "chippies."

Whitby Abbey-- one of my favourites! It's ghastly.

The beautiful Robin Hood's Bay. The houses you see are
the start a cute (and very steep) little village.

Mark and his canadian friend Kristen making silly faces.
She went to Trinity College with Mark, and now lives in
Salt Lake City, Utah. She's lovely! We had a great time,
and I discovered my latest favourite restaurant: Vanilla
Black. It's a vegetarian (i.e. fresh food) restaurant in York.

Big news

2007-03-14T17:05:00.000Z

No, Rachel is not pregnant.

We are moving to Australia!!! We will be moving to Ballarat, a city just outside of Melbourne near the southern coast of Australia. Please locate it on the map below (just click on the map to enlarge it), as we are already sending out an open invitation to you to come and visit us!

Here's the story of how it all happened (in a matter of about 3 weeks, believe it or not)...

Many of you know that I was really struggling as a chiropractor here in Hull and had not made the transition from student to doctor very well. I just couldn't get my head into it. As the job I'm currently in was coming to a close I started to really search as to if I was even in the right profession. I started to look for some inspiration and confirmation that I was in the right line of work. I decided that I would find the person that I knew that was the most enthusiastic about chiropractic and see if I could get some insight from them. Immediately, my friend Neil Cox came to mind. I had run into Neil at a conference back in Oct and knew that he was practicing up in Newcastle. I phoned him up out of the blue and asked if I could come up and observe him and talk about things. He was all for it and it wasn't until I got up there that he remembered who I was! If I had said 'Canadian Mark from College' he would have known. Anyway, we went for lunch and during the course of lunch I discovered that Neil had recently become a Christian. I was quite surprised by this and asked how it all came about and he told me about how he'd been over in Australia with possibly the world's top paediatric chiropractor, Neil Davies, and how a number of things had come together and he realized that he had to make a decision about God. The rest of the afternoon I watched as Neil treated patients with a different kind of Chiropratic called Neuro Impusle Protocol, a technique developed by Neil Davies. I was really impressed. It involves checking a patients neurology, applying a specific adjustment, and rechecking the neurological involvement for changes. I determined that I would learn this protocol. As Neil and I talked over dinner that evening he told me more about this Neil Davies guy and how he was going into northern Thailand and working with a displaced people group called the Akha. They basically have had their land taken and are living in Thailand as refugees but have no rights there or even access to medical care. Check out www.childrengoldentriangle.org. This really sparked with me as I remembered that before I even went to chiropractic college I had a vision for working in the developing world and working with kids. My intention was that in developing countries not being able to do manual labour means that the majority of job options are unavailable to you. By helping people to move more freely, I could help them to have a better chance at a sustainable living. I went home and was encouraged. I felt that in the rush of looking for a job after graduation and the need to pay back my student loans that I had forgotten my purpose for being a chiropractor but that I had been reminded and that this was going to lead to bigger things. I have no regrets about making the decision to come to Hull, I always knew that it would only be for a season. I began to think about the Thailand thing non-stop and tried to find out all I could about this Neil Davies and the work that they were doing. In my searching I discovered that Neil was going to be in the UK in March to do a series of conferences. I emailed Neil Cox and asked if he thought I could meet up with Neil Davies to pick his brain about working in the third world. Neil (Cox) thought that if his schedule allowed, then he probably would want to meet me. I emailed Neil (Davies) and told him my story, about feeling a bit lost with chiropractic, about my vision for working with kids and the third world and told him that I had Wednesday and Saturday afternoons available and would meet him anywhere in the UK if he had the free time. Neil Cox also sent him an email to let him know who I was. Neil Davies emailed me back and said that he was arriving on the Tuesday and that Wednesday was a recovery day and probably the only free day that he would have on this trip. We set up a meeting for Wednesday, March 7, and that was it.

I need to tell you about some things from Neil Davies point of view so that the whole background meshes together. Neil has five clinics in Victoria, all basically west of Melbourne in a line. Right now they are at capacity. There is a three-week waiting list for new patients. To make matters worse, Adam, one of the chiropractors who is my age has been diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer and has had to stop working (please pray for him). See Adam's profile here http://www.kirokids.com.au/professionals.html. Before Neil left for the trip to England, his daughter, who is one of the Chiropractors at the Ballarat clinic where I'll be working, told him "Dad, you really need to find another chiropractor, and soon! I'll pray for the Lord to provide you with one." Neil's wife said the same thing, without knowing her daughter had. The thought of going through the whole recruiting process again was not that appealing to Neil but he knew that they needed at least one new doctor soon. When Neil arrived in Oxford he went down to the Thames which was in flood to take some time to pray. He told me that he was talking to God and said, "I need a male (to keep the gender balance in the clinic), with a heart for the poor and he needs to be available at the end of the year and I want him to come and ask me for a job" At this point he had forgotten that I was coming... the guy has five clinics, a seminar series and was suffering from jetlag so when I phoned his room that afternoon it took him a few minutes to remember who I was. We got to talking and right away it became apparent that this was a God moment. Everything just fell in place. Rachel and I had previously talked and prayed about the possiblity and what if's of moving to Australia and she could tell that I was really gung-ho about this whole thing but neither of us had expected it to all fall into place like that. During my dinner Neil on the Wednesday he asked me why my wife wasn't here in the blunt sort of way that Australians do and I told him that she was working today. He asked if we could come back on Sunday afternoon and meet with him again. He asked me to go and talk to Rachel about everything and to start to pray about what we should do. I told him that we already were, about Thailand, NIP, moving to Australia and everything. I hadn't thought that when I went down there that I would be asking him for a job but when he asked me point-blank what I wanted out of this meeting it just came out. There was a little umm-ing and ahh-ing but then I just came out and said I'm here to push on doors and to see if there is any possibility of working with you in the future, either just in Thailand or even in one of your clinics.

Sunday came and we drove the 3 1/2 hours down to Oxford. In an email during the week Neil asked if there was somewhere we could go to church that evening so I found St Aldates http://www.staldates.org.uk/. It was a great church with a HUGE emphasis on missions, and it just so happened that they had information flyers on everyone's seats about Burma/Myanmar and the troubles going on there. The Akha that Neil works with in Thailand are from Burma/Myanmar. It was good to learn more specifics. Additioanlly, worship was great. The worship leader there is Martyn Layzell, a big name worship song writer these days. We bought his new album afterwards. Anyway, at dinner Neil asked what we had felt about the whole situation. We said that we felt peace and excitement, and it seemed to be exactly in line with my passions and visions. He then offered me a job right there at dinner! He said that he was convinced that this was of God and we felt it in our spirits too.

Steps forward now include me having to learn the NIP basic and advanced protocol which will get me ready to be able to work the way that Neil and his chiropractors do as soon as I get there. They are also paying for me to get my MSc Paediatrics which is a three year mixed mode programme that I am already starting on here. This will require 8-10 hours of studying a week. Woohoo! Actually, since studying for the american board exams I have found a new vigour for study. I am still taking the American boards this weekend because they will count towards my Australian boards. Australian board are in November and we are going two weeks before so that they can prep me for it. The local radiologist will assist me with the positioning and diagnosis exam and the rest of the staff will get me ready for the rest of it.

Logistically speaking, we will leave England at the very beginning of November, and be in Australia for all of November. I'll be taking the Australian Board Exams, and Rachel will be checking the place out, and finding a place for us to rent. Then we will fly back to North America for all of December and half of January. We plan on spending a good chunk of time with both of our families, and of course our friends! Let us know when you're free for a visit from the Colvins! We will then officially move to Ballarat mid-January, just in time for me to start work for February.

Are you suprised by this? We still are!! I'm sure that many of you will have loads of questions, so feel free to leave comments or email us directly. I have to stop now, as my eyes are bugging out. Thanks to all who have been praying for us in this time of transition.

New Beginnings?

2007-02-26T11:01:00.000Z

Today I am expectant that God is working a miracle in our lives in regards to Mark's career. Maybe this is in reference to chiropractic work, maybe not, but I have faith that everything will be OK. In case you didn't already know, Mark has told his current boss/business partner that he will let him know by the end of this month when he will be leaving that chiropractic practice. As the end of the month is only two days away... please keep us in your prayers!!! There are not any local chiropractic work opportunities available for Mark at the moment, but nonetheless we are trying to stay in the area for the time being to continue being a part of the Hull Jubilee church-plant (a New Frontiers International church). Most people in Hull think we're crazy to consider staying since Hull is thought of as such a dreary, dull place. I'm finding, however, that this place is growing on me! I think my deepening friendships, being a part of the Hull University's Women's Basketball team, and volunteering with Hull One World Shop (Fair Trade Shop) have caused my change of heart. Moving to the States is still a possibility, but Mark is not qualified to work there until he passes the American Board Exams. He receives those results in January 2008. We also do not have a confirmed job offer in the States and are waiting on the Lord's timing for that. To throw a wrench in things, at church yesterday a visiting speaker/prophet prayed for us, and said that we were being 'woven into the tapestry of the church.' He basically implied that our work with the church wasn't finished yet. He also said that Mark would receive closure soon (in regards to his current job?) and join the race again, not behind the others but caught up with them (a new job?). Hmmm. In any case, it's the season of lent and we're trying to pray more. We sure do have a lot of things to pray about!

OK, some photos for you...

Me and Grace in Amsterdam.

Amsterdam

Shaking Vincent Van Gogh's hand in Amsterdam.

Valentine's Day. I took the afternoon off and Mark and I drove up north to Harrowgate and beyond. The forcast said rain, but all we had was sunshine which made for a lovely drive through the countryside!

Near an attraction in Harrowgate called Mother Shipton's Cave.

Ros and Rob

2007-01-29T13:55:00.000Z

These are our friends Ros and Rob. They are getting married this summer. Awww. This photo was taken at a charity event that our friends Keith and Anna held just before chirstmas for a charity called Wellchild. It was an auction evening and it went pretty well. The room was really crowded. Rob lives in Leeds and Ros lives here. We had them over for dinner this past sunday night, or should I say Rachel had them over for dinner. I decided to take a nap at about 5 or 6 and slept right through dinner until my alarm the next morning. I guess I needed the sleep. We are still not sure what is making me so tired and lethargic. I got my blood tests back today and they all came up within the 'normal' range. All I know is that I don't feel normal! Anyway, I guess I needed the sleep and Rob and Ros played Settlers with Rachel late into the evening.
This is a random picture of us in Brekenridge over christmas. Why? I don't know, Rachel must have had it on the camera. I've just noticed how much that touque looks like a tea cozy. If you don't know what that is, ask someone british. It also makes me look like I have a massive brain.
This is us in what I think is Salt river canyon in the middle of AZ on our way up to Pinetop, AZ during Christmas. I think this is where there are some ancient indian drawings on the rocks. Unfortunately, some of them have been vandalized by some mindless thugs.

Pictures aside, it's been another long pause between posts. I guess it's difficult to know what to put down. I don't really know what to expect out of this year. Looking back on last year I can see where my lack of initiative in certain areas has cost me and others around me. I'm still trying to figure out how to really start living. For too long, I've been coasting. Just surviving and all reaction, no proactivity. I don't know why I find it so difficult to do things. I know that it's not any easier for anybody else, but I am trying, Rachel is helping me and we are making progress.

I am writing my American board exams this year in preparation for the possibility of going back. I write my first one on March 16-18. So far, studying is going well. There is just sooo much information to know. I know that lots of things that are in the review books are things that I am learning for the first time. You just have to jump through the hoops and do it.

Tonight is also the first night of our Alpha course at church. It will be interesting to see who shows up and how the whole thing goes. I'm hoping that it will spark some great discussions and that people will want to come back for more next week. If you have never been on an Alpha check out www.alpha.org to see what it is all about.

Another Birthday

2007-01-11T12:47:00.000Z

Today is my Aunt Jean's birthday. Happy Birthday Jean! This photo of the two of us was taken last August.

We are currently training for an Alpha Course at our church. It will start in three weeks time. I'm looking forward to it! I helped out with one at the Vineyard Church last year. This Alpha Course will be meeting at a pub called, "The Mission." A bar is an ideal place for church outreach, don't you think? It will make people feel comfortable. Here, as well, most pubs have the feeling of american coffee houses. I'm not sure what they're like in the States these days.

Tonight we're having some of our friends over to discuss our life predicament, brainstorm with us, and pray for us! Please pray that this time would be fruitful. We have 8 friends coming over at the moment. We can praise the Lord that Mark has done well financially this week. At this point, we just have to take it a week at a time. We're saving pences every way we can, preparing for the time when he might have few patients = very little income. Our greatest sacrifice has been vegetables. We still eat them... just less of them because we now have to eat starchy foods as well because they are cheaper. Beans are also cheap, so I've been cooking a lots of those up which has been good.

Otherwise, things are fine. I've been selling my books on amazon.co.uk (for extra income) which has been fun... I like it when they sell! And I'm not too heartbroken when they go because I know they are going to people that want them. My job is going better than I expected it to this year. I am so thankful for this, because I sort of thought I would be coming back to the chaotic environment I left. I have good co-workers, and we've been able to get things more and more organized every day, even if we have to do it the long way around. Our Malawian friend Henderson (living in Leeds) is visiting us this weekend which will be nice. I love being able to stay connected with my African roots! Maybe I'll have him cook us some ugali and sukumawiki for lunch tomorrow...Mmmm

Again, thanks for your prayers.

Love,

Rachel

Some familiar faces

2007-01-10T16:59:00.000Z

p.s. For some reason the blog man wouldn't allow me to put exclamation points or question marks in this entry. Please add them in where appropriate as you read this yourself.

It was my good friend Casey Bailey's birthday yesterday... I thought I'd put a photo of him up on my blog to celebrate. Happy Birthday Casey. This photo was taken at Eric and Carolyn Meyer's wedding this past August.

This is a photo of me and Mark on the train in Munich on New Year's Eve.

Now to show you some of the people I work with. This is Caroline Flood, a lovely Christian young lady, a year or two younger than myself. She's great... can't you tell by that smile. She's also single guys... plan a trip out here to visit me (and meet her). Caroline and I work most closely together.

These are the other ladies in my office. From the left, the pregnant one is Joanne. She actually just had her baby... a little girl, on Jan 7th. Next is me, of course. Then we have Justine and Joanne (#2). They both moved here to help out with the church plant, and I was able to give them jobs with me. It makes for a nice office atmosphere. Then Caroline. Then Ginny (Virginia) our amazing administrator/receptionist. She does and excellent job.

Mark made it safely to and from Bournemouth, and as a couple madly in love, we are happy to be in each other's arms once again. Thanks for your prayers.

-Rachel

Up-and-Down

2007-01-08T20:10:00.000Z

Apart from sleeping on a boat the last two nights, things in general have been up and down.

I would have never guessed at this time last year, that at this moment we'd be where we are, in the situation we're in. At times I'm excited at the challenges and possibilities (both to stay here and to go), at times I feel sick to my stomach... like today. Mark discovered that calling to register for the American Chiropractic Board Exams (the exams he needs to take and pass in order to practice in America) wasn't quite enough. He needs to sign up in person so someone can notarize his forms. The deadline: tomorrow. The place to show up in person: Bournemouth (a mere 5 hour drive to the south coast of England). So, I'm home alone and Mark is making the trek by himself, after finishing his workday at 7pm. He returns tomorrow in time to see his afternoon patients. Ugh.

On a brighter note we met up with our dear friend Grace Chisholm this past weekend, in Amsterdam of all places. It just happened to be the most convenient spot where our paths could connect. We took a glorified ferry over, hence the nights on the boat. We didn't do much sightseeing. We just talked and drank beer for breakfast and had pancakes for lunch and falafel for dinner. We walked around and eventually toured the 'Bodies' exhibit. VERY cool... where they plasterize cadavers (?? I think that's what they do). It completely blew away those abstruse drawings of the human body from elementary school by making learning about the body so accessible and understandable. It also wasn't gross. I had never seen a cadaver, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Back to real life... At this point almost everyone knows about our possible move. I say 'possible' because it's not for sure. We do believe if we work hard Mark will generate the patient base we would need to survive. The catch is, I think the time we need is less than the time we have to work with. It isn't impossible, but it will be extremely difficult for us to stay. Despite our confusion, as we were planning on staying here longer, we are reminded that God's plans will prevail. If He wants us here, He will provide for us to be here. I have a little card I've put up in our room stating, "Expect a Miracle." We're torn because we generally don't like life in England, yet we will grieve if we have to leave our church. We desire to stay a part of it and continue to help it grow. The tug is for Mark to work with Dr. Roberts, my former chiropractor in Arizona. Dr. Roberts is a great Christian man with a similar heart to Mark's. I think Mark would flourish with him, and I want to see him flourish. The catch is that the practice is in my home-town... a place I didn't expect to move back to so soon. It's filled with pro-war Republicans (nothing against you personally if you are one) and small-town politics. I'd look forward to returning as the different person I am from who I was when I lived there. I'd look forward to befriending those I previously turned my nose up to, and to serving those I didn't have enough time for, but it wouldn't come without much difficulty. Have you gone from 'the world' back to a small small town before that seems so out of the rest of the world? Can I do it? We've thought about living in Tucson (for my work possibilites) and then having Mark communte to Sierra Vista (a 1 hour commute each way). He's up for it. We'll see.

So the POA is to have a meeting with our closest friends here, on Thursday evening, to help us brainstorm our situation and pray about what to do. At the moment, some people from church feel like we are considereing abandoning them. They reminded us that they don't yet have jobs, and still they are committed to the church. ouch. It's true, but I do know that we have many responsibilities to consider, such as: We currently pay £900/month for just Mark's student loans. If we fail to make payment, his parents' farm (they co-signed for the loan) will be re-possessed. I don't feel we can, in any way, put their farm in jeopardy. If God wants us to stay here, I sure hope He does it without us having to risk their farm or us having to rack up any more credit card debt. If we do leave, we hope to leave with our church's and Guy's (Mark's current boss) blessing.

In the meantime, we're asking my co-workers and everyone at church to help pass out Mark's business cards! Please pray for their willingness, enthusiasm, and success in doing this.

And please keep us in your prayers in general during this up-and-down time. We welcome any words of wisdom and encouragement.

Colorado and Arizona SNOW!

2007-01-03T11:51:00.000Z

The first destination on our Christmas vacation was Colorado! We visited Jess and Tim Dunbar.

Here is the happy clan (Jess, Tim, Mark, Rachel) at Jess's aunt's house in Winter Park. The house was really nice and we were all blessed to stay there for free! I would describe it as knick knack heaven. Every possible form of stuffed moose, moose wall hanging, moose themed thing you can imagine was there. It was also supposed to look like a ski lodge with old ski lift signs and stuff. Kinda cool. Kinda. We were really thankful to have such a great place to stay at while we were up there.

Jess and Tim took us snowshoeing while we were there. It's basically hiking, but with snow. It was great fun but it really highlighted how out of shape I am now. The elevation change from sea level to 12,000 ft really had me sucking wind every 30ft or so. I'm sure I could acclimatize but it was slightly embarassing how exausted I was.

Rest. Very important when hiking.

These tracks are where we tried to slide down the hill on our bellies once we had reached as far as we were going. I think Tim ended up going the furthest. I'm sure he sprayed teflon on his jacket before we left. I mostly dragged myself across the snow.

Then... we went snowboarding in Breckenridge, Colorado. Leigh came up from San Diego on her way to her grandparents in Colorado Springs. We stayed with her uncle Rick who drives snow cats for the Breckenridge Ski Resort. We even got to go up in one of them at night. The ride was amazing! It's a pretty complicated machine. Just the joystick had 36 different functions and there was a whole other panel of switches and gauges. We had a great time snowboarding. Check out Rachel's new helmet and goggles, hot stuff! We were caught in Breckenridge by the Denver blizzard. Our flight was cancelled and we had rescheduled for the next day but that got cancelled as well. The next flight they could offer us was christmas day. No good. We ended up driving with Leigh to Colorado springs to see if we could catch a flight there. We could, for a mere $1500. We ended up renting a car and driving from Denver to Phoenix where Chuck picked us up and drove us the rest of the way. The was long, but oh sooo beautiful!

Rachel and her cousin Melissa in Pinetop, AZ. That's right, it snows in AZ!!!

The next blog down is a continuation of our trip but we had to post the pictures in two goes.

Here's a little more about what is going on with us in the next year. I had my review just before we left and it didn't go well. My boss was happy with my improved management of patients but said that I am just not generating enough patients. He brought me on to grow a practice and I haven't managed to do that. So, he is phasing out my new patients that he gives me from the practice over the next three months in an attempt to try and get me to get my own patient base. Realistically, this is not going to happen. If it does, it will be an intervention of God and I believe that it still could happen but we have to make contingencies. While we were home I had a meeting with Rachel's former chiropractor, Dr Roberts, who is coincidentally looking to take on another doctor this year. It seems that we could work very well together, and so we are pursuing the reality of me working with him. I have decided to write my American board exams in March and May leading to the possibility of us moving back to Arizona.

Please pray for us in this area as we try to honour everyone involved. We want to be used by God where ever we are and we also believe that God wants us to flourish and use the gifts and talents that He has given us. Rachel would be moving again for the sake of my job. Please pray that God would give her meaningful work that she would be excited and passionate about. You all know how organized and amazing she is, it would be a shame to not see her used to her full potential. We would be excited to live near family and within driving distance again of many of our friends. You can come visit us too as soon as we are settled.

Let us know how we can bless you too! As we prepare to potentially leave England (yay!) we will be selling and giving away lots of our stuff that we won't or can't take with us. Let us know if we have something you want. Does anybody need a loft bed?

AZ, then to Munich for New Year's!

2006-12-10T18:37:00.000Z

This is a picture of Salt river canyon on our way up to Pine top. There was no snow when we got there but on the first morning we had about 4 inches. Katie (Melissa's friend) had never seen snow before and they went out and made snow angels at 3 in the morning. It was great spending time with family just playing games and going to movies.

This is the front gate at Dachau concentration camp. Arbeit macht frei means 'work brings freedom' but sadly it did not for the tens of thousands who passed through this gate between 1937 and 1944. We went there on our first morning while the others slept in. I felt it was important to go. I went to Auschwitz (in Poland) when I lived in Lemgo, Germany which had more of an impact for me than this one because it is more intact but it was still harrowing to see. I firmly believe that the propensity to commit this kind of evil lies just below the surface of everyone. It made me thankful that I have been saved, that had it been me who had done these things that God's grace could still reach out to me, and it made me thankful that so far in my life I have never had to experience war or the breakdown of society.

On to happier things, this is one of the many squares in Munich and the tree was pretty. Enjoy.

This is us on the subway on our way to the insane fireworks. Note the dixie cups of champagne. In Europe you can drink alcohol in public. It is still a little weird to see teenagers chugging beer on the subway, but there you have it. There is no central firework display in Munich, instead, everyone brings their own and they just light them off in the street for about an hour around the midnight countdown. They were going off everywhere, I got hit in the leg with a rocket that fell over before going off, there were bits of firecrackers fall from the sky everywhere. It was a health and safety nightmare but really quite fun. Definately not one for the kids.

Here you can see a few rockets going off, the amount of smoke in the picture should give you more of an idea about how many there were.

Forever and a day....

2006-12-07T18:39:00.000Z

That's how long it's been since we last posted! Sorry about that, I used to blog at work on my lunch breaks but computers are now for 'work related' things only. That's okay, but it means that when I get home I rarely feel like getting on the computer. We have somehow lost the cable that connects the camera to the computer. I was looking forward to putting a whole bunch of pictures on but I'm going to have to make do with the ones from my phone's camera. Here are a few and I'll talk you through what's happening.

Okay, scratch that. I just tried numerous times to upload my picture onto blogger but it was having none of it. Sorry! I know some of you have been waiting with baited breath for new pictures for ages.

Here's what I was going to put up: A picture of us at a deleriou5? concert, my sign on the boards at the hockey arena, us at Rachel's work christmas dinner from last night and a funny one of the so-called large pumpkins that they have here that I mentioned in blog back at halloween.

Oh! We got one photo up. You can guess which one it is...

As Rachel mentioned below, we'll be on our way to America in 5 days and I can't wait to hit the slopes, see friends and family, and generally relax and eat too much. I'm sure we'll have time to blog then. Till then, we love you all.
Mark

From Rachel:

Month in reflection- work work work! And a few fun things. I've been working a lot because, well, there's lots to do. Occasionally (today, for instance) I think about finding a different job. Ironically I was talking to my co-workers at our team meeting this past Monday about the rewards of commitment. Ha. I'll stay with the company at least through next July. I've also been working a lot because I find I get more done when everyone else has left the office and the phones have stopped ringing. Most importantly, I have been working a lot because I am taking off work next week! We leave next Friday for the States! Woohoo! School doesn't actually get out here until Wednesday the 20th, but my last day will be Thursday the 14th. Yyeeessss! I can't wait. I generally don't mind/semi-enjoy my job, we're both just really looking forward to a break =) Now for the fun things... a baby shower for a co-worker who is due in January! A Black-Tie Chamber of Commerce dinner (Mark looks HOT in a tux!). A few ice hockey games. A visit from our Malawian friend Henderson who is now living in Leeds. Thanksgiving dinner with some Canadian friends. **My brother Reid and his wife Laura making a whirlwind visit!** And... basketball practice! That's right. I am now practicing with the Hull University Women's team twice a week! Don't be too impressed. They haven't grown up with b-ball, and it's only the university's second year of having a ladies team. I don't mind rockin' the court though =) It's a fun way for me to get exercise, and I anticipate it to be a good area of ministry. I hope to help coach the team at some point, but I'm also happy just practicing with them.

Pumpkin Scooping And More!

2006-11-03T18:58:00.000Z

The final products. Pumpkin carving (scooping, as they say here) is quite a no-no here amongst Christian circles. Little did I know... I invited a bunch of church friends over for the event! They came, and happily carved away, but they didn't take the pumpkins home. Guilt by association I imagine.

Oh, the fun. We then watched a not-too-scary movie afterwards: Shawn of the Dead. Seen it?

This is from Liverpool. I went to a little club/pub three stories undergrounf called "The Cavern Club." It's apparently where the Beatles got their start! I had a really nice evening there. The bands performing were doing a benefit for Oxfam (calling the evening 'OxJam') to help fight poverty. Yah!

This is a photo of me and my former Starbucks boss, Mark. We got on really well. He's the manager of the second store I was at here. Mark and I are working on developing a good friendship with he and his boyfriend.

And finally... this is a photo of our church plant! This was taken on the first Sunday we met together. We had a big lunch together afterwards. The church plant is going well, but please keep praying for us. You know the devil will always try to work his way in somehow.

Mark and I are off to Bournemouth this weekend to visit Earl (his best man) and Sarah, and their 10 month old daughter! We can't wait to see them.

pumkins and crossed paths

2006-10-23T08:45:00.000Z

Hello out there, I've got a bit of a slow morning so I thought I'd do a bit of blogging in between patients. We have some pictures but they are all on Rachel's phone and she is in Liverpool for the next few days so we'll have to try and get them on when we can. Last friday we had some people over for a bit of pre-halloween fun. We carved pumpkins. Most of them had never carved a pumpkin before! What do they teach these kids here?! We also made pumpkin pie, which I luuve. I always forget that when comparing Uk sizes and Canadian sizes that there are major differences. We'll post a picture later of the pumpkins that we saw in the local grocery store. The label says 'large pumpkin', in reality it is about 6 inches around. An extra large, would possibly qualify for a medium back home.
Sometimes the strangest things happen, this week I had contact again with someone that I thought that I may never see again. Isn't it strange how God allows different people to cross our paths at the most seemingly random moments in our lives? It made me realize that I still miss Canada and the friends I had there. After being away for 6 years I guess I had pushed those friendships deep down because I found it difficult to maintain a real friendship without those shared experiences. There is a good lesson to be learned there, I need to spend quality time with my wife, our future kids, our current families and most of all God. Without going through the experiences that form memories together it is difficult to say that you have a relationship. We can't live in the past and our actions speak louder than words. Thanks to the miracle of modern technology we can all keep a glimpse of what it going on in each others lives.

Off to Liverpool...

2006-10-16T07:07:00.000Z

Hello everyone! Just a quick blog to let you know that we are doing really well despite working hard and long hours, and therefore not having much free time. We travelled together to Birmingham two weekends ago for a conference of Mark's, and then to Manchester this past weekend for another conference of his, and now today I'm off to Liverpool for my job. My company has a branch in Liverpool they want me to help with the next two days. It's been fun for us to do a bit of travelling!

A few weeks ago I heard a stirring talk-show on the BBC discuss 'aid' to poor countries. At the end they concluded it definitely isn't a long term solution, but it's been ongoing for over half a century in some places. Aid actually debilitates people. What they(the poor countries) want (they had representatives from many poor countries) is to work, to feel pride and accomplishment in what they do, and to get paid appropraitely for their work. They suggested that through trade (not aid), through paying a fair price for what we're getting... we can help bring people out of poverty and give them that sense of accomplishment in their lives.

Then I was blessed in Birmingham to step into a shop that promoted fair-trade items. In this shop I picked up a "New Consumer" magazine and in that magazine I was challenged by my lifestyle/consumerist ways, but then I was actually given ways to live a more God-glorifying life... a life that helps fight poverty through what I buy/don't buy. I've always tried to be somewhat 'fair-trade', but I never felt as though I had all the equipment I needed. I never knew where to look, or what sources to trust. This magazine didn't give me all the answers, but it has put me on the right track. It's given me a place to start and some leads to follow. It also had an article on organic cotton... something I didn't think twice about before. I figured, "I'm not eating it, so I don't care if it's organic or not." Organic cotton is about saving the lives of the cotton pickers in third-world countries (from the chemicals used on not-organic cotton), about taking them out of poverty through trade, not aid, and about preserving the earth. I'll tell you more about this later.

Since then my mind has been reeling about real ways to fight poverty. I think I'd like to go on to get my MBA and use it to assist businesses to be fair-trade.

I'm excited about this, and if you are too, let's talk! Again, I'll tell you all more about this soon.

I'm off to Liverpool now...

Love,

Rachel

p.s. Please email me with your current detaills, including a mailing address for your Christmas card, and your current phone numbers. Thanks!

Better than nothing

2006-09-28T20:23:00.000Z

I have been intending to blog for DAYS, but what was holding me back was my lack of success in downloading the photos off of my new mobile phone onto the computer. It's so much more fun to post blogs with photos, and I was looking forward to sharing photos of an ice hockey game that Mark and I went to a couple weekends ago. Mark is the newly appointed team chiropractor of the Stingrays, Hull's professional ice hockey team. The game was great fun, and the Stingrays won! We have free season tickets, and I'm looking forward to going again.

Since I couldn't get the ice hockey photos, I hope the ones below will do.

This was taken in Canada at Mark's grandfather's funeral this past August. Despite the circumstances, we had a great weekend being together with Mark's whole family. We also got to see/meet our neice for the first time! She's beautiful =)

This was taken in Arizona. That's right, it's the whole Carlson clan! Reid, Laura, Charlie, Elaine, Rachel and Mark. Notice how tan Mark looks in comparison to the rest of us... I hope he shares that with our kids! My mom spoiled us rotten in Arizona - we were really blessed =)

This was taken at my birthday party in our back garden this past July 28th. Sorry you couldn't make it! We had champagne and a delicious coconut cake that I made. Mom and Dad Colvin-- notice the champagne glasses we're using (an heirloom from grandma Colvin).

In case you haven't seen it yet, this is the impressive double-loft bed that Mark built us with his own two hands. He even designed it himself. So far it's holding strong! We use a step ladder to get up in to it.

I have finally started to feel settled here. I think it's a combination of a steady job and being a part of the church plant. Whatever it is, I'm thankful. My job is going well. It keeps me busy and challenged, and I especially respect one of my bosses, Sue. I also managed to hire two of my fellow church-planters, so it's nice being with them on a regular basis. The church plant is also going well. It's not perfect, and just the other day Mark questioned me about how critical I was being of the church. I just want the best, and I've been at some great churches. I have mellowed out about it. I've started a married women's prayer group on Tuesdays at dinner-time (lunch) (and they call dinner, "tea"). That's going well.

I'm off to bed, but to all of you fellow bloggers, thanks so much for helping us to stay connected! I love reading all of your blogs, and I check them faster than you add in new ones. Keep 'em coming =)

Love,

Rachel

2006-09-16T08:36:00.000Z

Once again I have been neglecting my writing duties... It always goes like this when I start a journal too, Gung ho for the first little while and then it peters out. So, anyway, life has been going better for the last two weeks. Rachel mentioned in the last blog that my job was not looking so secure so I thought I would update and expand on that. At Chiropractic college we learned a great deal about the body, and about how to identify what goes wrong and about how to adjust body parts etc. What we didn't learn was how to put together a management plan and how to communicate that to a patient. There was no correlation between how many times do you have to do A for this condition before moving on to B and so on. This partially because chiropractor disagree widely on these subjects but we ended up with no guide. I had been treating my patients based on whether they were feeling better or not, rather than taking control of the situation and saying 'you need X treatments to get better over this period of time for this condition to get better and stay better.' When my boss sat me down and we looked at my stats for that last year I could see that instead of treating the condition was purely using if they 'felt okay' as a marker for stopping treatment. We've talked about different strategies, more about what to do and when. I think it's going okay right now. The last two weeks have also been my two busiest ever, which also helps. I'm not out of the woods yet but it's certainly a step in the right direction. In all jobs we make mistakes and there are periods where we do little and everything happens for us while at other times we work very hard for little reward. Learning a profession involves identifying what works and what doesn't for a business as well as for a patient. I appreciate everyone that has been praying for us during this time. My relationship with my boss is still good, he's pleased with some of the other things that I've been working on that have just come about, like I'm now the official chiropractor to the Hull Stingrays, who are a hockey team that is in the top league in England. I just have to make sure that I see some sustainable results over the next few months.
On another note, our first service as a church plant is tomorrow so we'd appreciate some pray for that. I am really starting to get excited about the whole thing.

Where we live

2006-09-12T16:46:00.000Z

These photos were taken on the day we left for America. It was a grey day, and I was in a rush, but you get the idea...

This is the street we live on, St. Mary's Terrace. Our house is up on the left.

Sorry the photo is sideways. This is our house (just the middle window and blue door)! We rent the bottom floor. The window you see on the bottom is our living room.

Around the corner and up the street you will find the Westwoods, a pasture for cows and a nature preserve/forest area. This is what it looks like inside the Westwoods. It's never crowded with people. I always manage to find a little hole where I can enjoy the trees and meadows in quiet and peace.

-Rachel

The Rust/Meyer Wedding

2006-09-08T18:34:00.000Z

These are photos, in no particular order (because, despite my efforts to put them in an order, the computer uploads them any which way it wants to) from the recent wedding of my dear friend Eric Meyer. The wedding was held in the Inyo National Forest, just outside of Yosemite, near Mammoth Springs, California. At the end of the wedding Eric and his new bride left for their honeymoon...walking in to the forest. They went backing through Yosemite for 9 days! Notice their appropriately decorated backpacking backpacks.

Mark and I had a wonderful time. It was even just like old times, for a few carefree moments. Our highlight, besides simply being with cherished friends, and being witness to the covenant of marriage, and spending time with some of my best friends' son, and being in the great outdoors, was slipping out into the night to relax in a natural hot spring with our good friends Jess and Tim. It was located in the middle of a big field. Around us was a bowl of darkness, lined with a mountainous rim. Above us, a million stars twinkled and sang and dazzled us by shooting here and there. We sat in silence and soaked up the beauty and wonder. *sigh, smile* After California we then headed to Arizona and spent a lovely time with my family (photos to come). My mom spoiled us! Now we're back in England, back to reality. Sorry it's taken me so long to blog. We both started work the next day, and have worked every day since. It's now Friday night and I have forfeited hanging out with some girlfriends just so I can write to you! I actually wasn't dreading coming back. I was even looking forward to it, which suprised me, considering the difficult time I've had here. This time, I had something to look forward to. The church plant has officially started, and so has my new job! The church plant has brought renewed purpose for being here, as well as a load of much needed and wanted friends. The job has brought fulfillment and worth, and I actually am really enjoying it, and it pays well! My official job now is: Secondary Recruiting Consultant/Business Development Executive/Office Manager. Basically, I work for the substitute teaching agency I was teaching for. I now interview and hire teachers to work for us, as well as liase between our teachers and all of the secondary schools in the area, as well as provide training and development for our teachers, as well as support schools in any worthwhile projects they are undertaking, and as well as wine and dine our clients and teachers. The 'managing the office' part will come in due time (a lot of changes within the office just occured). So, there you have it. Scratch off all of those other jobs I told you about. None of them really worked out. This has come at a good time, as there are now issues with Mark's job. He hasn't been seeing enough patients as his boss would like him to, and his boss told him nicely (honestly) that his patient numbers have to increase or Mark is basically out of a job! Mark has three months to improve, so we would really appreciate your prayers in this area. Mark is an excellent chiropractor, he is just struggling with the management side of things (as he wasn't really taught how to properly manage his patients). His boss is now taking the time to go over manangement issues with Mark, and we hope that that solves the problem.

random update

2006-08-21T08:54:00.000Z

Okay, so Rachel was worried that if she started blogging on my site that I would stop blogging and since it's been nearly a month since my last entry I decided that I wouldn't prove her right.
Life is an interesting series of ebbs and flows. A week ago we buried my grandfather. A slightly strange and somewhat surreal journey back to where I grew up. On the one hand I wanted to spend as much time with family as possible, on the other I wanted to show Rachel every detail about where I grew up and what I did and with who. I was weird to run into people that hadn't see me in 15 years, or not consistantly at least. I tried to think about what I was like at that time and what they would remember me for. These people were still intimately connected to my family but I had no connection to them.
It was great to finally see my beautiful little niece, a million pictures can be viewed on other links to this blog. It was good to be with family and I was surprised at the little pang of homesickness that I felt for Canada. I guess most of the time I just stuff it down inside since there is nothing that I can do about it. I'm pretty sure that we will end up in either Canada or America at some point in the future but I'm not exactly sure when. It will take a bit of financial security and the right open door for it to happen.
Last night we went to our favourite restaurant with Keith and Anna, and Jon and Abby. We were able to have some great discussions and I realized that I need to pick Keith's brain more on theology. He has some great things going on in his mind. More later on, we are really looking forward to our vacation in Cali/Arizona this week.

Summer Job

2006-08-09T15:14:00.000Z

I've gotten a summer job, working for the supply (substitute) teaching agency I work for during the school year. My official job title is, "Recruitment Consultant." If I'd like it to, it will turn into a full-time, well-paying job starting in Septemeber. I'm just waiting to see if I get the internship I'm applying for, but in the meantime... I'm enjoying myself.

Last night we went with three other couples and Guy's wife Louise to see a movie. The movie wasn't good, but the chemistry with all of the people, christians and non-christians, was great! Last night was the first night in a long while I felt like I was surrounded by a decent sized group of people that both Mark and I really get along with. Two of the couples are here for the church plant, one is coming over tomorrow night for dinner (I've been impressing a lot of people with my cooking lately). Another couple who we just really like, non-christians, is having us over for a BBQ and Settlers on Friday (and we've let them borrow Carcasonne so they can teach themselves and play that with us soon!). And we're continually thankful for how well we get along with Guy and Louise... Louise in particular, for me, is a joy to have around. I love her personality. Thank you for your prayers for friendships for us.

Chris, our thoughts and prayers are with you. Thank you for caring for Grandpa so well.

-Rachel

Ugly Duckling

2006-08-07T21:18:00.000Z

This past Sunday we were in the mood for something a little bit different. We decided to drive an hour and a half away to a city just outside of Leeds and attend an Abundant Life Church. This church has it going on! They are so with contemporary society and culture here, and so with the times... yet sadly they're an anomaly amongst churches in England. Hey, but I'm praising the Lord they exist in this country and I only hope the Vineyard continues to pursue cultural relativity, as well as our new church plant. Martin Smith, the lead guy in the Christian band Delirious, was there and he played a worship song for us, "Lord, You have my heart." It was the first worship song he ever wrote, and he said he sings it every day still. It's the prayer of his heart. It was touching to have him play it for us, and to be able to meditate to it as he played. It was my first time even seeing Martin (we're already on a first-name basis), so I was excited. The pastor had a great sermon as well. The topic was 'Identity.' Where do we find our identity? In our career? Our money? Our looks? Our friends? Our family? I had been struggling with an identity crises for a while, so the sermon struck chords in my heart. Though knowing my identity should be in Christ, as His child, etc etc, I slipped into finding my identity in my job and my friends and my education. Then England came, with no job, no friends, and no education. Who am I??? I asked. He told the old story of The Ugly Duckling, how the little 'duck' found his identity in his nest, but couldn't reconcile his differences with the other ducks, and so decided that he must not be very good. You all know the story... he was actually a swan! It was only when he was drawn into the still water to follow some unforseen force drawing him to some beautiful creatures that he was able to see his reflection, to see himself for who he truly was. The pastor said we're all drawn to others that are like ourselves... spiritually, and it's important that we find them. He said even as Christians, we're not all going to be alike (which we all know but it's nice to hear it from a pastor). We need to find and worship with our soul-mates, basically.

I was encouraged on the identity side of things. My job slinging espresso and nervously awaiting substitute/supply teaching calls in the morning does not define who I am. I am an instrument of the most high God! I was also somewhat discouraged though... I've known all along the importance of Christian community. I've longed for it especially since I've been to England... so has Mark. The pastor confirmed our need to be around other Christians like ourselves, yet we ask, "Where are they?" We continue to hope and pray we will connect with people in the church plant. In the end however, this world is not our nest, it is not our home. Our home is in heaven and there reside our soul-mates who have gone before us. We will one day be with our true family. That's something to be excited about! It's a reason for me to hold my head up.

-Rachel

!

pseudo-carpenter

2006-08-07T07:59:00.000Z

Rachel is worried that I will stop using this as a creative output if she starts using it too. I recognize that it is good for us to have some separate things but I figure that I share my life with her so sharing my blog shouldn't be that difficult. We had a nice weekend. Saturday we both worked but I was finished much earlier than Rachel so I installed a set of shelves that I modified to fit in the closet at work that I've been meaning to do for the last week or so. Yesterday we went to Abundant Life in Bradford for church. Martin Smith from delerious was there and it was a great service, it really felt like home.
I really love working with my hands. If I had been a cabinet maker I would have been fine with that too. I'm planning on one day building a dinning room set for us. My old pastor Greg built one with a skil saw, a jigsaw and a drill. It was really impressive. I like his idea and I've already got the picture in my head of how I'd like it to look. I built the bed that Rach and I have now, I'm sure I could do a table. Like all things, it would require a few tools that I don't have but I'm sure that I could arrange it. I'm going to wait until we are back in North America so that we don't have to try and ship it when we eventually move back.
I've been dreaming of the Okanagan again recently. I'm sure that I have rose-tinted memories of the place due to the fact that I worked there at camp for so long. Recently I saw a picture on a blog of my sisters friend andrew of his dock that goes out onto Lake Okanagan and it made me jealous but content to know that I had my time there too and someday I may return.

Anniversary trip to Belgium!

2006-08-03T17:19:00.000Z

These are photos from our lovely first-year anniversary trip to Brugge, Belgium! We ate Belgium waffles for breakfast, took a canal boat ride, walked around the city centre for a bit, and then went on a 4-hour countryside bike tour. The bike tour was the highlight of our time in Belgium... the weather was gorgeous as we biked along canals, in tall tunnels of trees, alongside picturesque little villages, and down country lanes. Enjoy!

-Rachel

the roads are unsafe once again!

2006-08-01T14:07:00.000Z

Well, I passed. I've always thought I was a reasonably good driver but you know how it is with tests, there's always the little things that catch you out. I passed first time, which is good, the pass rate for the centre is less than 40% (due to driver's with not enough experience taking the test). Everybody thought I was crazy for not taking lessons first. I did borrow this set of books and interactive DVD's from someone to preview before taking the test. They were the awful hip-with-the-kids kind of cringy videos that you can just hear teenagers mocking all across the land but there were a few useful points.
Apart from that, Rachel is having toe surgery (again) tonight, so I'm staying home with her. Tomorrow we at home group, Thursday we are having Kevin and Sarah around to play settlers. I won last time and Kevin wants a rematch, and Friday we are hanging out with Matt and Nadine who have just moved to the area to be part of the church plant. I think that we are going to get along with them pretty well.

Conspiricy against Canadians

2006-07-31T07:56:00.000Z

Okay, so I'm slow at getting the pictures on the blog. I've downloaded them onto the computer at home but I don't usually blog from there. I usually use the computer at work on my break. Today I am taking my drivers licence test at 11:41. Why? It's because the UK won't recognize my ability to drive a manual (standard) car. I had to trade in my Alberta drivers licence because it was expiring but when I did they said that I had to prove that I took my licence on a manual car or I would only qualify for a licence for automatics. This rule does not apply to Americans. Only Canadians. So, since I have a manual car I have to take the test again. They will allow you to have a manual licence if you can prove that you did your test on a manual but the Ministry of Transport in Canada doesn't keep a record of that and refuses to send a letter to verify what it cannot prove. Have you ever tried to drive like you did when you were trying to pass your test since you actually did your test? It's surprisingly hard. You just do things reflexively, like signalling and checking your mirror at the same time. Apparently here you also get marked down for gearing down instead of putting it in neutral and using the brake, something I failed my licence for not doing the first time around in Canada. I'm fairly confident that I can do it. If not, I'll be sure to wave when you pass me on the bus.

Ink blot tests (it's not rude)

2006-07-27T10:51:00.000Z

This is pretty cool. Concentrate on the 4 small dots inthe middle of the picture for about 30 secsThen look at a plain wall and start blinking.Who do you see?

I'm really fascinated by optical illusions. There must be so much more that we don't know about how the mind works.

coming soon

2006-07-27T08:12:00.000Z

I will finally get around to posting some pictures of our trip to Brugge (rhymes with bruise) either tonight or tomorrow.

Everybody's going to war

2006-07-27T07:38:00.000Z

So, there's more fighting in the middle east. I don't believe that we will ever see a lasting peace in the region. Generations that grow up with hatred don't easily let it go. I used to feel that there was hope for Northern Ireland but until the intervention of God's mercy there will be no peace. It's kind of hard looking from the outside in to understand what makes one man's hatred for another become their all consuming thought. It seems that being forced to be in close proximity to other people who have fundamentally different philosophies combined with poor or slow economic growth is a receipe for disaster. An us vs them mentality that becomes about blaming all your troubles on someone else. The kids in the high schools here hate immigrants because they feel that they reduce their chances to get a council house (social-subsidised housing). The level of ignorance here sometimes astounds me. I think that it is so dangerous when people start to think that because they were born somewhere, that gives them certain fundamental rights that nobody from the outside should have as well. I think that all of us who've had the privilege of living in north america should be thankful that we can live without the fear of hatred. Yes, I know that there is racism and gang warfare and the have vs the have nots but for the most part most of us are worried about if we are going to miss our favourite show, or if our team is doing well, or if our kids are going to get place on that team they were trying out for, not will one of my family die today. To summerize I'll quote Moxy Frouvous (a canadian band from the 90's) "What makes a person so poisonous righteous That they'd think less of anyone who just disagreed? She's just a pacifist, he's just a patriot If I said you were crazy, would you have to fight me?
So we read and we watched all the specially selected news and we learned so much more 'bout the good guys. Won't you stand by the flag? Was the question unasked. Won't you join in and fight with the allies? What could we say...we're only 25 years old? With 25 sweet summers, and hot fires in the cold. This kind of life makes that violence unthinkable, we'd like to play hockey, have kids and grow old.
Fighters for Texaco, fighters for power, fighters for longer turns in the shower. Don't tell me I can't fight 'cause I'll punch out your lights and history seems to agree that I would fight you for me that us would fight them for we."

food folk and fun (without McDonalds)

2006-07-20T07:50:00.000Z

okay, so now I'm getting some flak from my family for not telling them that I was doing a blog. Well you can all just settle down because I haven't told anyone that I was writing a blog. I was just going to write a few and let there be a little bit of a build up before I announced to anyone that there was anything worth reading. So, quite frankly, I'm surprised that you even found it in the first place.
Now that I have your attention, I might as well have your help. As mentioned below, I don't have a clue with all things computer related. I would like some help with the following: Change and update my profile page, change my background, learn how to post other things (like some people I know have cool background music when you log in to their blogs) And yes, both of you can link me to your blogs. If you tell me how, I'll do the same for yours.
Anyway, here's the update for the week. Last night we had people over for dinner. Rach met this guy at the library who is from Minniapolis and he and his partner are both living and working in Beverley for the next 3 months. We had them and Ed and Lesley over. Ed is a british boat pilot, and his wife Lesley is from California. So, we had a big ol' America fest in our backyard last night. We made great food. Starters was garlic bread but try this next time. Crush garlic, add butter and add pesto. Add in liberal amounts to fresh french bread and grill. Mmmmm. Then we had a split pea and sausage soup that Rach made up with Raspberry Mojitos that we invented. Try it next time you go out. Have them make you a Mojito and ask them to add some raspberry puree. Mmmmm. Then for dessert we were going to have Pavlova but it got too late so we had coffee with Timtams. If you've never had a timtam, you've obviously never known any real australians. They are a chocolate covered biscuit that you bit opposite corners off and use as a straw to suck coffee up into it and then shove the whole thing in your mouth as it melts. Hmm. I'm obviously going to have to take some pictures and post a sequence of how to do this.
Anyway, we had good food, new friends and a good time was had by all.

2006-07-18T09:38:00.000Z

Me and the wife.

the black stuff

2006-07-17T21:24:00.000Z

My wife and I went to London this past weekend. I had a two-day conference, which after a week of work left me pretty exhausted. I actually took a nap between patients this morning. Going to London is always a slightly surreal experience. On the one hand, it's kind of like being on vacation because there are things to do and see there that you can't do or see where we live. On the other hand, London is just a big dirty city. It's outrageously expensive and heavily polluted as evidenced by going back to the hotel at the end of the day and blowing your nose. My nose was filled with black junk like I had been down a coal mine or like when you are following a friend down a really dry single-track trail on your bike and you just eat dust the entire time. I can't imagine what it does to you if you live there.
It got me thinking as to what else is the black stuff in my life spiritually. What little things do I not even notice that I let into my system that affect my health? The only time I notice is when I pray and I blow a load of gunk out. It's funny how I'm perfectly willing to walk around with my spiritual nose full of junk, affecting my ability to 'smell' but I can't stand to have my real nose dirty. I guess the answer, as always, is to spend more time in prayer.

You may actually learn something

2006-07-11T09:21:00.000Z

I admit it. I am a technophobe. When you are a 32-year old male, this is seen as decidedly uncool. I have never owned a playstation, I don't know how to use any computer programs outside of word and excel. I like gadgets but I don't know anything about computer related stuff. Possibly the thing in this world that I loathe the most is the telephone. I don't even like talking to my wife on it. Why? I don't know.
It seems that when guys get together the way that they determine a pecking order is through the demonstration of knowledge of a particular mutual interest. Musicians do it, sports nuts do it, poets, doctors and even guys that just sit and watch tv do it. I just can't get excited about computers. Obviously I'm using one right now, I get the irony, but if walk into a group and they are talking processor speed or which phone is the best I just tend to nod my head and look for someother people to talk to.
There's nothing worse than being stuck in a conversation with someone who wants to prove their worth to you by displaying their vast knowledge of a subject that you are completely uninterested in. I catch myself doing it sometimes. The other person answers you with an "uh,huh" or just nods. The more excited you get about finding someone who finally agrees with you about why Macs rule, or why the canucks can't get their defence together or how Josephine's Aramaic text is flawed but still superior, the less the other person engages and they get that eyes-glazed-over-i-wonder-if-I-can-pull-the-fire-alarm-and-get-away-with-it-look.
We have a friend who whenever he talks to Rach and I at church launches into some really exclusive obscure rant that leaves Rachel completely out of the conversation. At first, I didn't even recognize it but now I recognize that this guy doesn't know how to talk to women so he talks at me in an attempt to open a conversation. The only way I've found to include Rachel is to interrupt and explain what he's trying to say and have him explain to her what he's trying to tell me. More and more, this guy will actually try and start a conversation with Rachel if I'm not around and she has been patient enough to try and listen to his techno-ramble. What a wife.
Anyway, I guess the whole point of this babble is that be aware of your audience. Don't mistake shared mutual interest as friendship and don't be afraid to be the one in a group where you might know the least. You may actually learn something.