Phillip's in Auckland

We just got done spending a few wonderful days with Alan and Donna Phillips. Besides being our friends, they are also from one of our partnering Churches Lake Cities, and Alan serves as our mentor with MRN and he chairs the missions committee at Lake Cities. The Phillips came to encourage our team as well as be apart of our work here in Auckland. The above picture of the Phillips is at one of our PNO (Parent's Night Out) events, Costume themed. I think Alan was some sort of gangster!

We took them all over introducing them to our city, our life, our love. It meant so much to us to have our mentors with us and experiencing everyday life with us.

We also had the opportunity to introduce the Phillips to our good friends the Skeltons. We shared in a meal and played some games. We had a great time!

Thank you to all who made it possible for the Phillips to come to Auckland. We enjoyed them and sent them back in as good of condition as they arrived! We look forward to them making another trip to Auckland.

3 More Sleeps!

As they say in NZ, 3 more sleeps until my parents come for a visit! Yeah!!! We are so excited to see them again in our part of the world! Last year they were able to come out for a visit and to help when Gavin was born. This time around they will get to play a little more with both kids! Justin and I have already asked for a date night! And Rylee has requested a date with Grandma and PaPa as well! Seems like we have a full on schedule for them already! Please pray for their safety as they travel over to see us.

Mommy and Kids Date Day!

So I decided to keep Rylee home from kindy today so I could have some good time with her and Gavin. We are zoo members so I decided that would be the perfect place for us to spend the morning. It is an absolutely beautiful day, a little breezy at times but overall very nice! I was not the only one with a thought for taking my kids to the zoo! There were heaps of other mums and families there. Rylee and Gavin seemed to have a really good time. For Rylee, just being out at the zoo is fun, seeing the animals is good, but the most exciting part for her is the ice cream! We packed a picnic lunch to enjoy after our walk around the zoo. And then her ice cream for dessert! Gavin ended up snoozing before the trip was over. But it was a great way to spend the morning with my kids, away from our normal routine!

PNO - Halloween Themed

So for this month's PNO (Parent's Night Out) we decided to have a costume party. All of the team dressed up as you can see above. We had a great time with it. We are only allowed to have 30 kids in the community house at a time, and this month we had 27 kids at PNO!

We played lots of games like, relay races, bean bag toss, limbo, we even had a piñata! We had face painting, pumpkin painting, and whole lot of snacks. The kids seemed to really enjoy themselves.

As you can see above the two little boys had a great time as well. Gavin was a pirate, Caden was a giraffe, another one of their mates came as a little devil! They were all really sweet outfits!

Above are some of the kids with Hannah Montana (aka Miley Sirus, aka Amy Jo Smith) getting ready to take their turn hitting the piñata! It was a great night and a great service to the community. We had many first time kids and new parents who were appreciative for a night out alone! We continue to find favor in the community thanks to God and we continue to enjoy ourselves as we work.

Be watching for next month's PNO: Pajama Party & Movie!

Cherry Unleashed

Don't know how many of you know this or not, but I have started a new blog called Cherry Unleashed. My thoughts can no longer be contained in this blog! From now on this blog will be primarily to update people on our family life & on our mission life on the field. I know that is why many of you come to this site and I am thankful for that. But if you are also interested in a little refreshment of the soul I would challenge you to go to www.cherryunleashed.com. It is here that we will face tough issues together and discuss what is means to live in this world and to belong to God. I know it is a hassle to go to two blogs, but I feel we can all benefit from them. I write primarily for myself hoping others get something out of it as well. Below is an excerpt from my other blog:

Too often we try to be something we are not and too seldom we try to be who we were made to be. I am a coward, I am a fake, I am a messed up follower of Christ. This is me unleashed, untamed and not quite dangerous...yet!

Service Day(s)

Last Monday some youth from Otumoetai Church in Tauranga came up to Auckland to help us with a couple of days of service projects. On Monday afternoon, we all went to the community house and cleaned it from head to toe; well the best we could. The community house is where we host the Ice Box after school program and also our "Parent's Night Out" events. It had been a while since the building had been shown some love, so we were able to clean it up a little bit and get it looking fresh again. That evening we shared in a meal together with the youth and with their leaders Nick & Bex.

On Tuesday, we all did a prayer walk over Massey. We split up into two groups and prayed in different areas of the community. We prayed that God open doors for us, as well as, work in the lives of those around us. That afternoon the youth went to the community house and helped out with the holiday program. They lead the kids in some fun games. They were a big hit there.

It was a great couple of days working along side another congregation. Big thanks to the youth and Nick & Bex from Tauranga for being so faithful in the service to the Kingdom of God.

Sorry I don't have pics up, but if you go to www.skyandmo.com, our teammates have a couple of pictures from the service projects.

Rylee's First Curls

Rylee and Justin went to get their hair cut this past week. Rylee has been telling me that she has wanted some rings in her hair. I thought I understood that to mean curls, but she had a different vision in mind. One of which I still have no clue about! At any rate, she had just finished her haircut when she started to get upset. Our hairstylist asked what was wrong and Rylee cried and said that she wanted curls in her hair! So our sweet hairstylist arranged for Rylee to get some curls in her hair. She sat so still and quiet while getting them done. At the end when she saw the final result in the mirror, she just lit up. You could tell she felt beautiful! I took her on a fashion walk and took lots of cute pictures of her. I think she enjoyed the attention! When we got home she said, "I really do look like a doll, don't I?" :) Guess she had heard that phrase used a couple of times!!!

Weekend to Omaha

Rylee and Gavin

Hayley playing at the beach

Jen, Dane, Hayley and Toby Skelton

Gavin and Toby playing at the beach

This past weekend our family journeyed to Omaha Beach for a short holiday. Some friends of ours, the Skelton family, went with us and we had a great time sharing life and simply relaxing. Things have been a bit crazy for both of our families lately, so we decided to kick back and enjoy some time together. They have a 2 year old little girl, Hayley, and a 9 month old little boy, Toby. Gavin and Toby are so cute playing together. Although, Toby has mastered crawling so he is leaving Gavin behind these days! Rylee and Hayley always enjoy playing together. I think Rylee enjoys having someone to boss around! Although the weather did not allow us to spend much time at the beach, we enjoyed playing games, visiting a local market and eating some yummy foods together.

SheepWorld

This month was our turn to choose our team date day event! We wanted to go someplace new that would cater to our kids. So we choose to go to SheepWorld. I know, it sounds a little weird, but it was actually kind of fun!!! We were able to pet and feed sheep, hold a bunny rabbit, and watch a sheep shearing show. We were educated on how sheep are hearded by the sheep dogs and then we had a live demonstration of the dogs at work. The show was fun and entertaining. The highlight was after the show when they brought in about ten little lambs for the kids to feed. Rylee was able to feed a little lamb. It was cute! Gavin just wanted to pull the fur of the sheep!

It's Holiday Time Again!

The next two weeks are a holiday for the students. Rylee will be home from kindy during this time. I know she enjoys being in school, but a little home time is always nice! We are looking forward to a few playdates with her friends from kindy. Rylee has become such a social little girl at school! It is so fun to listen to her talk about all her friends and what they did at school that day! She is looking forward to one of her good buddies joining her in morning kindy after the holiday.


We are also going to be taking a little holiday ourselves this coming weekend. We are heading off with some of our friends here to a little place north of Auckland. We are looking forward to sharing time with them as well as needing a little family time! Weeks have been flying by lately and we need some quiet time to focus on our family!

"...realize that stopping, resting, is actually the secret to getting more done, to understanding and living our true priorities, to enjoing our lives, and to experiencing the presence of God." --K. Kent

The Bluegirl Group

Do not fear....Rylee is not sick! We ventured to the American store on Saturday to see if any new goodies had hit the shelf. They had not received their new shipment so we were a bit disappointed, but Rylee wanted to buy something! So her special treat was a bag of Ring Pops. You can see she choose the blue pop to eat on the way home! She likes to pretend she is putting lipstick on, thus the blue lips! When we noticed the car had become very quiet, we looked back and saw this little face staring back at us! Too cute not to share!!!

Rylee's 1st Disco Party

After two weeks of planning for the big night, Rylee finally got to go to her first Disco Party!!! The invitation said to come dressed up, so Morgan sewed up some groovy bell bottom pants for the occasion. And we had to have a coordinating headband as well! All dressed up, we headed off to the party. The party was held at a local school in their gymnasium. The lights were out and lots of little glow sticks were flickering all over the room! A hired DJ was there playing the greatest hits from the 80s, 90s and today!!! The music was definitely catered to the adults, but the kids enjoyed bee bopping around to it! It was so cute watching the little kids! Rylee is quite the dancer. I am thinking she gets her moves from her dad! After the scheduled hour, she was ready to call it quits. She didn't exactly party til the cows came home, but definitely until her little feet were ready to sit down!

Teaching @ SPBC

This past Friday Elijah, Skylar and I had the privilege of teaching a class on Evangelism at SPBC (South Pacific Bible College) in Tauranga. It was so great to share what we have been doing here in Auckland with the students and hearing about their plans for the future. We split the class into three sections: why we do what we do (Theology), what we do (methodology) and how we will bring this all into a Church Plant. Lij took the first section, Sky took the second and I tool the last section.

It was a lot of fun putting the lessons together and reliving all the events we have done over the last year and a half. To rethink why we do what we do and seeing what God has in store for us as His children. And also to dream of the future as to what all this could become with God's help.

We look forward to sharing with the school many more times in the future. I love teaching so this fulfilled a passion of mine. Thanks SPBC!

Team Fun Day

Back when the Speer's were here with us in Auckland they recommended that once a month or so we take time out as a team and have some fun together. We have grown to realize the importance of taking some time out for ourselves. We can get so busy in our work that we don't take the down time we need to stay at our best and be as productive as we should be (this includes days off weekly, holidays or vacation, and team fun days!).

So, this month the Peters decided where we would all go. They chose the hot pools in Wairea, just north of Auckland. There are about 8 or 9 pools at this place, slides, kid pools, and even a movie pool (you can watch a movie while relaxing in a hot pool).

We had such a great time and it was exactly what we needed to relax and get away for the day. After the pools everyone came back to our house for a little food and games. It is awesome having a team that you can hang out with and have fun, as well as work along side.

Parent's Night Out

So this last Friday we did our second "Parent's Night Out". This time we had 9 kids including our little ones. It was an awesome night connecting with some families in our community and hanging out with their kids for a few hours.

We played the Wii, watched movies, did crafts, and just ran around in circles chasing each other. Kids are a blast to be around and keep you on your toes for sure.

A couple of Rylee's friends were able to come as well (see pic above). It was hilarious watching them all together and as you can see from the picture above they weren't afraid to be silly for the cameras.

The "Parent's Night Out" has been a great way for us to show God's love to our community. It is a service that is very needed among any parent; to be able to have a break for just a little bit and get some personal time. We are going to continue to host these events once a month. Please pray that God provides us with more families to minister to.