Drews' News Edition #9

Hello friends and family,

We celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary this year with a trip to Cape Point, from which one can see the meeting of the Indian and Atlantic oceans, and another one up Table Mountain.

After more than a year in Cape Town it was a privilege to get to these beautiful places. The past year has been busier than ever as we adjust to life as a family after an international move. There are the small things . . . paying electricity before it runs out, securing the letter box, finding out where to buy coriander seedlings. Then there are the big things . . . passports, making friends, the birth of our fourth child, visits to home affairs for birth certificates and citizenship, getting better security for our house, buying necessary furniture, finding a church.

 There are the delightful aspects of our move . . . making new friends, being invited over to people's homes, having extra household help, finding out about encouraging things other Christians are doing to serve others, diverse people, and seeing the children enjoy their grandparents. We have discovered new favourite places like Helderberg mountain reserve near our home, Boulders Beach where we swam with the penguins, and Blue Jay Farm where we buy fruit from the growers at low prices.

Then there are the hard parts . . . extra paper work fitting in somehow around Dave's full time work and Sherrin home schooling, new shops, making currency mistakes, missing Tassie family, our practice of having the children in church with us being more controversial here, and being burgled (albeit in a completely non-traumatic way).

We are thankful that Dave's work has been a good fit for him so far, although very demanding. It is diverse and stimulating. The whole family had a chance to experience one aspect of Dave's work when he took us with him on a work trip 8 hours drive east in the Tsitsikamma forest. The students were doing practical work there. They were great with our children, playing hide and seek and chatting.

We also enjoyed the beauty of that part of the world, including taking Nate to see his favourite animal the tiger at a wildlife sanctuary. Our lives have felt more divergent here. Sherrin finds it a challenge to develop relationships with people outside of our social strata and race group. In contrast, Dave is in the midst of the Stellenbosch university campus engaging with students from every cultural, economic and racial background. So it is good to find ways, like our Tsitsikamma trip, to combine our lives. A big part of our year has been trying to make church decisions, in part due to looking for diversity. We are currently going to the Stellenbosch Baptist Church where Dave went as a student. We love the diverse congregation and worship. Lets be honest that the couch at the back is also a draw card. It's perfect for sitting with a toddler and a baby!

Our new wonderful blessing, Liberty Anne Drew, was born on April 20^th. We took an opportunity to have a “baby-moon” a few weeks before her birth, and enjoyed a weekend away in a little piece of paradise (a small self-contained cottage) on a vineyard in the spectacular Franschhoek valley.

Libby was born (rapidly) at home; thankfully Dave had the sense to ring our midwife, Natasha, while Sherrin was still wondering if she was in established labour. It is a good thing that Natasha lives only a few minutes drive up the road, as Libby was born in the birth pool only minutes after her arrival! This is just one example of the way God has provided for us, with the best home birth midwife in our area living so close to us. The pregnancy was challenging, especially due to the combination of physical weakness and a new country, but as soon as Libby was born she brought an incredible peace with her.

 Libby is friendly, radiates joy, and sleeps well. It is precious to watch the older children interact with her. Mercy is happy to have a sister and loves to kiss the soft part of Libby's head.

Sherrin's recovery has been a challenge, but in this case it seems like the greater the cost the greater the reward! It is lovely for Dave's Mum and Dad to be able to experience a newborn baby with us as all their other 7 grandchildren were born overseas.

Our older three children are also thriving. Nate and Mercy have made great progress in reading, writing, maths, and understanding of relationship with Jesus this year. We have also done more painting, music and computing. Our larger living area with room for “stations” makes this easier.

They love swimming and ball lessons. Mercy has also taken ballet, which has also been delightful for music appreciation. William has a great life observing and joining in with the play of his older siblings. Our curriculum based on Mummy reading aloud continues to bring sanity to days when children, health and emotions get challenging to manage.

This move has exposed our weakness and need more than ever, and we feel like we have “grown up” without Sherrin's family, friendship networks, and the Aussie government to rely upon. So to God is all the glory for any achievements!

Thanks for reading!

Love Dave, Sherrin, Nate, Mercy, Bill and Libby.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

    Where can I flee from your presence?

8 

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

9 

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

    if I settle on the far side of the sea,

10 

even there your hand will guide me,

    your right hand will hold me fast.

11 

If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me

    and the light become night around me,’

12 

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

    the night will shine like the day,

    for darkness is as light to you.

Psalm 139: 7 - 11

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iSonto #68

 Way back in late April we went on a wonderful autumn ramble to the Salmon Ponds! Here are the pictures. We had a rare take away lunch of pies from "The Cheeky Little Place" in New Norfolk which has lovely quality food.

A huge highlight of our visit to the Salmon Ponds was the appearance of a platypus who delighted in swimming up and down by the side of one of the ponds. Incredible! My best ever platypus sighting and we stood and looked at him/her for a long time.

This was the day before negotiations finished on Dave's job offer at the University of Stellenbosch. This was a challenging time for us with lots of decisions to make, so it was a great time to take a few hours off and get some perspective.

 Dave emded up getting an appropriate offer so we are now off to Stellenbosch in South Africa next week, only nine weeks after accepting the offer! Its been a super quick move to organise. This will be my last iSonto from our little house in Southern Tasmania. Our removals occur this week and then we fly out the following week. Interspersed with the following photos are thanksgivings I've jotted down over the past month and more. We have heaps to praise God for as we've already overcome so many hurdles, including visas, air flights, removals date, the sale of our car, and home maintenace.

Pausing longer to look at insects due to my fascinated company!

Lying in sun on our bed

Autumn sunny house bliss

Mercy curled up listening to Curious George on headphones

Perfect way to remember our Kingston home

Weeding sunny garden beds

Raised garden beds

Ability to read

Picking fresh lettuce

Panadol!

Nate compliance with school work today

60 percent of our family have South African citizenship therefore no immigration issues for them!

Dave vacuums for me

Walking the beach at sunrise

A beach driving distance of where we are moving

Relaxing "date" evening with Dave and no interruptions

Mercy and Nate making their own friends

Able to read a long story without sore throat

Old silicon removed from bath tub

Time to do this

Driving amongst autumn colour in sandy bay

Shopping in quiet on my own

Children behaved while I got moving quotes plus helped someone catch our chickens

Happy new home for chickens

Nate adjusting well to gym

Good physio session despite being in lots of pain beforehand

Watching sunrise

Have medical certificates

Money for Canberra flight

iPod to listen to Anne of the island

Gym sooooo much easier than last year!

Mercy playing confidently a whole gym distance away

Moments to calm down

Waves crashing on shore

Positive party for Nate

Managed to shop, prepare cake, wrap pass the parcel, make pin tail on dog game, tidy house 

Dave helped prepare food

Cherished last cousin party before we go

Mercy said children aren't trouble they are a joy they give cuddles and they play, when told robbers didn't want children as they thought they would be trouble!

Greek salad to see me through paper work

Warm restaurant to work in

Slept all night 9/05

Home made muesli

Friends and family  to celebrate with and who carefully select gifts

Nate delighted with remote control car

Broom to clean floor!

Dave cooked beautiful curry dinner 

New perfectly working lock on front door

Warm car to drive in

Early morning cuddles in front of heat pump. 

Mercy recounting our faith stories: You cried out to God for a husband and children and he gave them, I will pray for children when I am a lady

Mild day for party

Hot bath

Children played happily outside for hours!

Sunshine on washing

Nate learning addition from iPod game

Made lunch peacefully

Did washing peacefully

Played balloon ball with both m and e

Seeing war memorial from taxi at least!

Packed my own delicious lunch

Cloakrooms for back pack

Being on parliament roof and seeing Canberra layout

Privilege of exploring old and new Parliament House 

Looking at books, shops and exhibits in my own time!

Wandering to my own pace!

Found Perfect picture books for children as we move

Stack of certified documents and finance documents for visa applications equals incredible privilege

Able to share nibbles for after church

Dave made hommus

Children played well with others after church

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iSonto #26

This week we are thankful for . . .

* Dave's brother visiting from QLD with his daughter.

* Cousins Elnathan and Meggan being very kind to each other and playing together well.

* A swing for the little ones.

* Mercy and Elnathan laughing and laughing together on a chair

* Mercy walking all the way to the community center happily in the little walking shoes Nate used to wear!

* Our first corn

Elnathan was beginning to make up his own prayers, interrupting Daddy's prayers with "and thank you God for the cars, and for the trucks".

Natey's memory verse was 'Salvation is of the Lord" Jonah 2:9.

Mercy was very excited about her cousin visiting, and rushed to play with the two older children. Meggie loved Mercy's doll. Mercy loves the beach and delighted in the sand and water when we took them all to play there.

From garden to tummies . . .

Here is our future Saturday night dinner, to go with roast chicken.

Encouragement, ideas and inspiration came from "Homemaking" by J. R. Miller which is providing fresh insights into the importance of the way we treat each other in marriage.

One funny moment was Mercy laughing and trying to say "sit down" while she sat and stood from a stool over and over again. She found it funny, anyway, and it is a delight to laugh with them!

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The Centrality of the Home in Evangelism and Discipleship

I highly recommend Voddie Baucham's message "The Centrality of the Home in Evangelism and Discipleship". I have listened to it once on my own, and once with Dave.




Voddie Baucham is an African American who was saved out of a very troubled background. It is worth buying the CD just to hear his testimony of a transformed life! One of his major passions is apologetics. He also recognises the absolute necessity of training up generations to follow God. As a Southern Baptist, he challenges the church to consider the fact that current models of discipling young people are not effective and we need to return to biblical priorities.

One of the most striking facts from his talk is that conversions of young people have dropped since youth ministries have been extended. He rightly points out that a young people are meant to be discipled by their parents, and church programs can never take the place of this. He argues that they often aim to substitute for effective parenting. Unless the church returns to a biblical focus, their efforts will continue to produce little fruit. Parents need to be challenged to take up their responsibilities, and the church should not be attempting to fulfill those for them.

Another stiking impression that I gained from this CD is that in God's eyes disobedience to parents is as serious as sins such as homosexuality, and is just as much a sign of a depraved generation. Often Christians express horror at some sins, but ignore those that are rampant in the church. This must be repented of.

You can purchase this CD from vision forum, at this link. Vision Forum provides excellent service to Australia. Even though I always ask for standard shipment, the books and CDs I order usually arrive within a week or two via courier. I have never had any problems at all with receiving what I order, and the staff are always happy to assist and reply to email queries.

Voddie Baucham has recently released a new book, which you can read about in Crystal's post on her week in reading. It is called Family Driven Faith and I am sure if would be an excellent way to extend the understandings gained from the CD "The Centrality of the Home in Evangelism and Discipleship". Crystal is living out the truths in this CD through reading the Bible to her very young children.

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The babies

I have not posted any pictures of the little men in my life for a long time! Here are the twins with their parents at my brother's engagement party.


Here I am with my second favourite boys . . .


They are more beautiful than ever, I think! Everytime I see them I can't help wondering what they will be like when they are grown. Will they be serving the Lord? Everytime I see them, I pray that they will! I often babysit. Recently Dave was visiting from Melbourne and he came with me. It was wonderful to pray aloud together for the boys. Those dimpled hands will someday be doing a lot . . . for good or for evil. The twins already seem big, and they won't be babies for much longer!

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Excitement and more excitement

Happy New Year! The past couple of weeks seem to have been a whirl of excitement for me, and the whirl will not be ending any time soon!

As if Mike and Christine's engagement BBQ was not enough excitement, the next day our friends from Texas came to visit Tasmania for the first time in ten years . . .

Dianne, Mum, Bethany, me.

The Bewshers used to live here, but moved to the USA ten years ago. I visited them in Texas three and a half years ago. It was good to meet with them and have them come around for dinner.

A couple of days after that I had to go up to Launceston (two and a half hours drive) to the school where I worked all year. We had a Presentation Night where the children performed and certificates were presented . . . a chance to say last goodbyes!

Later that week John Dekker and some other friends came for dinner and games. I invited John months ago via his blog after he posted about some of the unusual games he enjoys. We played a card game called Citadels and it was fun . . .


The next day it was my friend Christina's concert as part of the trio Eden. They played a beautiful variety of music.


Mike and Christine were there, and their adoration of the baby was obvious . . .


Afterwards we enjoyed going out for dessert.

Before we knew it, Christmas arrived. I spent a lot of time preparing for Christmas, as I decided to make Dave a scrapbook as a present and it took me longer than I expected! I kept having to put it away and get it out as well, because he kept coming to visit :). I couldn't wait to give it to him until Christmas day, Christmas eve afternoon had to do! Dave gave me a lovely necklace, which I am looking forward to wearing a lot.

We spent Christmas eve with our friends the Downes family.

Christmas day was made much more joyous by the presence of three small children . . .


and Dave . . .


One of my presents was a picnic hamper, and we recently took if for a picnic beside a river . . .

On New Year's Eve it was fun to go to church. We had an unusual service outside and we brought our dinner . . . another chance to use the hamper! It was a blessing to think about the New Year from God's perspective and pray together. Dave and I stayed up to see in the New Year, overlooking the waterfront near my home with the moon shimmering brightly.

I am now trying to have a couple of day's rest before we set out on our South African adventure. The last week has been full of lots of travel considerations! On Thursday we will be there. I do not expect to be able to post any more pictures until after we return on January 19.

Soon after arriving back I will be leaving again, this time for Sydney. This year I am commencing a Diploma of Education by correspondance, which requires an orientation session in Sydney in late January and early February. I expect the Diploma to take up much of my time this year.

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Esther's birthday party

I have found that Lydia's Thursdays of Thankfulness initiative has helped me to focus more upon being thankful. This week I can think of lots and lots of things to share, but I will not have time for all of them. I am very thankful for a happy time at my niece Esther's birthday party on December 2. Esther turned three. It was fun to watch her enjoying herself. What more could any little girl want than a grandma and a mummy to sing, a daddy to pray, and two new brothers to cuddle, and a dog cake, . . .


What more could Aunty Sherrin want than two baby boys to cuddle at once, and a little girl to grab my knee, and . . .


a boyfriend who likes holding babies.

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Cake making

On the weekend I made a cake for my niece Esther's third birthday. I enjoyed the experience of doing something new, as I have never made child's birthday cake before. In this picture, the dog is in the process of being created. If I get my wish of being a Mum, I may someday be an expert at making such things! Esther found the dog cake very funny, and enjoyed it a lot. Dog cake, ha, ha, ha, ha. Her Daddy took the head to work to share with his workmates, and Esther was complaining that Daddy "took dog's nose to work".

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Pictures of the twins

Esther is a doting little mummy to them! Jeriah is the one with darker hair.

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For those of you who were impressed with my niece Esther's photography skills as evidenced in one of the photos in this post, I decided it would be a good idea to post one of her other efforts taken on the same day. She is a budding professional at less than three years of age . . .


Here is another picture of Dave and I, this time at Brickendon near Launceston. This historic farm was beautiful with the hawthorn hedges blooming. The self timer on Dave's camera took this one for us!

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