The big trip came at the end of January, when we went to Parachute music festival. It's basically 3 days of sleeping in a tent with music playing all day until midnight. What could be better with 3 young kids you may be asking yourself?!!? Let me tell you, LOTS of things.. haha.. All in all it was a great time and got to see some amazing bands, but not the best idea when it's super hot and the kids want to hang out in the tent all day. We ended up leaving early on sunday(the last day) and decided to go to waitomo glow worm caves. Pretty awesome caves, and the kids loved it.
After that we stayed in New Plymouth, at Fitzroy beach for the night. It was a nice black sand beach, and the water was perfect! We all got to have a nice ocean swim without freezing! A bit of a change from what we are used to in CA. So after that, we packed up and headed back to Wellington. It was a pretty nice long weekend, with the last two days the most relaxing! :)
Other than that trip, we have mainly been hanging out around wellington perfecting our laundry hanging and dish washing skills. I'm sure there's more I could write on what has been happening travel wise, but I'll be amazed if anyone makes it this far in this blog. So we shall segway into the next topic.. CHURCH!!!
We found a new church today called "The Street". We are pretty excited about it! In reading our last post about Arise, we were pretty excited about that church too. :) But alas, everything isn't always as good as it may appear. I won't get into it here, but over the course of the ~3 months we were going there, we felt uneasy about some aspects, so we really felt it was time to move on. We continued to go for the past few weeks, as the kids enjoyed their service, and we didn't really have any direction where to go next yet. We had been praying for a while that we could find somewhere better, as it didn't feel like a good fit with us and this is where it gets good!
It all started on friday morning... It was one of those mornings where nothing goes right. Danielle and I slept in a little later than normal, throwing the whole routine off. On top of that I had to leave early as my carpool ride had to be in to work earlier than normal. I usually help get the kids lunches/get them dressed, but it didn't happen that day. So I leave Danielle with three sleepy kids who hadn't eaten breakfast, no school lunches, and no one was dressed. (have fun wifey) haha.. it sure is good to work sometimes! ;) So as I'm working away I get a text around 8:40. It says "the car battery is dead". Now Grayson's school starts at 8:15.. so you do the math. So now that Danielle had everyone buckled in the car seats, she unbuckles them all and pops them in the stroller and runs up the hill to the school. Danielle said all she could do was laugh (probably like a crazy lady) when the battery was dead.
Ok so the really amazing part is coming finally. I knew Danielle was praying for a better day, and I just started praying that God would pour out his love on her. He is so faithful when we ask for Him and His love. It's hard to relay all that happened without writing a book on it, so I'll try my best to sum it up quick like. Danielle had someone coming over to pick up a wrap, she had never met. Turns out she was a midwife, and they have heaps in common. They get to talking and she used to go to Arise church, and she kind of confirmed a few things we had been feeling. Along with that she told danielle about "The Street". So not only did danielle make a new friend we had a new church to go check out. (there was also some other goodness that morning, but we'll save that for another blog).
What is so amazing about "the street" you are thinking to yourself... well here comes my fun part. I have been really feeling like the Lord has been wanting to get into street evangelism (thanks Pops!) so I have been praying about it, that if He wants me to get into it, give me an avenue to pursue it. Lo and behold the second we walk into the church and sit down a slide comes up with announcements saying the church has street evangelism the first sunday of every month. I'm not sure if it can get any clearer than that! So we loved the worship, it was so simple, and yet so powerful. The sermon was great and right out of the bible, and the whole place just felt right. So we shall see how this adventure goes, and what the Lord will bring of it!
I know not everyone that reads this blog is going to be a Christian. And most might even just skip over this part. The real reason I am sharing this stuff, is not only to tell others about the goodness of God and all he is doing to provide and meet our needs, but also so that I don't forget. This has been such a huge weekend of God moving in our lives. We had been really been seeking God for a while on these issues and a few others i have left out. All in one day he answered them. He is so faithful, even when we aren't, and it just amazes me in the ways that He works. God is real. He desires to have a REAL relationship with you. Just reach out to Him! I guarantee if you ask, He will answer. He is not looking for perfection. I know that, as I am FAR from it. I hope I don't come off like I am in writing these blogs. If that's the case let me know! haha... To wrap it up, Look in your heart. There's got to be more to life than just waking up everyday. The evidence of a designer and creator is all around! There is so much freedom that comes from living a life with Christ as the center of it all. Just think about it is all I ask.
If you made it this far, congrats! It is now officially the end! I'll try to be better at keeping this up to date with our journey through life! but for now, it is what it is! :)
