Not long now...

Not long now before our little one arrives, we pack up home here and say good bye to our Fuller friends, see you all again in Melbourne and then turn around to start again in Chicago! We certainly have a lot happening in the coming months!

Praise God we have booked our flights! The longer we left it, the less likely it was looking that we would be able to get good dates - particularly as they restrict the supply of Qantas Frequent Flyer Reward Point seats available and we wanted to book one of the tickets this way. We are leaving L.A. on June 17, which is only 3 days after Clayton finishes!!! So with just 3 months to go and a baby coming soon, we really do have to get our skates on! There is a lot to think through and plan. Packing? Where do you start? I always struggle with that question. Amazingly, after only a year of living here, we do have stuff to get rid of. Fortunately, there is going to be a 'rummage sale' held here in the community. It is tough to be scaling down and reducing our belongings when we have a baby coming. We are trying to keep it pretty simple, borrowing a beautiful cradle, and only buying the essentials i.e. no bouncers or play gyms etc. No paraphernalia. But still, friends are hosting a baby shower so that will be nice.

Speaking of the baby, he or she seems to be doing well, as he or she moves around a lot! Here are some ultrasound pictures that were taken mid January when I was around 6 months pregnant. I would have posted them earlier, but had  not worked out how best to do this. I realised that I could just take a photo of the photos. So here they are. Very sacred glimpses of our unborn baby.

I'm doing okay on the whole, but it doesn't take too much to remind me that I am heavily pregnant. Just walking (as little as 10 m) and I'm having Braxton Hicks contractions. I think that this baby is coming early. I started 'nesting' a couple of weeks ago- cleaning and sorting with incredible focus and with energy that has come from out of no where. Amazingly, I'm still going strong in my reslove to clean, sort and pack up things. The apartment is cleaner than it has ever been!! Then there have also been two nights in the past week when I have had real, but inconsequential contractions - that is - they kept me up half the night, and fizzed by the morning. Not much fun - especially when you have to just carry on the next day exhausted, being mum to two very active boys. Talked to my obstetrician on Monday who said that I just needed to take it easier and drink more. So perhaps it was our final visit to Disneyland that triggered the last episode on Sunday night!

Yes, we realised that our annual passes were coming to an end. We had our last hurrah at Disney on Sunday and truely had a marvellous time. Clayton hired a motorised scooter for my very pregnant self- you know the ones that elderly people use? It was terrific! We visited all of our favourite rides and enjoyed the new Pixar parade and Playhouse Disney show. Turns out that Nathan has grown 1.5 inches since we last checked earlier this year, so he qualified to go on his first ever roller coaster ride. Don't worry, it wasn't Californian Screamin' or the Space Mountain, but a much shorter and more scaled down ride in Toon Town. Still, a roller coaster all the same. Since Nathan was going to go on it, Judah decided that he had better overcome his fears and give it a go too. After all, one can't be out done by a younger sibling in the bravery department. During the ride, Clayton describes Nathan as having been 'pretty on edge' and Judah as being 'terrified, but exhilarated'. Afterwards, I observed Judah to be content with having overcome his fears, but fairly resolute not to repeat the experience; while I observed Nathan to be pretty excited with himself having been on a 'big boy ride'. The following pictures were taken of each of the boys on the roller coaster, prior to departure.

We talked to the boys and explained that this was our last visit to Disneyland because we were moving and there would be no Disney where we were going. Judah was really positive and mature about it and said something along the lines of, "That's okay. Making new friends and just playing with friends is the best thing anyway. That's a fun thing to do." We talked about how we were relieved that the whole over exposure to Disneyland had not made spoilt brats out of our kids, but that they seemed to really value the more important things in life - like relationships - now there's something in that for all of us!

The Playschool group is going well and we are well and truly maxed out and have 42 children registered for the Spring quarter. In response to this, we'll be opening a 4th class, which I'm hoping will be a Korean class. I am in the process of handing over my responsibilities to a committee of parents who will lead in my place. That seems to be going well and I am confident that the program is in good hands and will transition smoothly. It is a good feeling to think that I will be leaving something behind. Birthing the Playschool group here at Fuller has been incredibly rewarding. Parents have found a wonderful place of connection to the community, and the have been able to establish meaningful relationships; while their children have been enriched from the wonderful exposure that the program provides for them to play, learn and most importantly, interact with other children. Here are some recent pictures that I took of Nathan at Playschool.

"Da da!"

The younger kids just love parachute play.

Today at Target they had a big special on Preschool aged board games. All $4! So despite my semi-conscious efforts to not accumulate more stuff before the move, I could not help myself and bought 5 games. I figured that with the baby coming that we would be less active and less out and about, so board games could really help. We had a wonderful afternoon playing game after game. Even Nathan seemed to enjoy it. He's doing a lot better with the concept of 'taking it in turns'. Nath's latest big achievement is riding Judah's big boy bike. It is a two wheeler with training wheels. He loves it as he feels more like a 'big boy like Judah'.

In other latest developments, Nathan is starting to learn phonics and is able to tell us what a number of letters of the alphabet 'say'. Like the 'A' says 'a'. This really took us by surprise as we really didn't expect any of the concepts that Judah was learning to actually sink in for Nathan. Judah is learning to read and spell basic words. He feels so proud of himself when he is able to do it. The other day he drew a picture of himself and myself, and wrote: 'JUDAH' (with the J facing backwards) and 'MUM'. Yes that's right, he wrote 'mUm' not 'mOm'! We were really happy about that, but have sadly had to concede that our children will have to learn all of the American ways - spelling and all!

We've noticed that Judah has started to pronounce some words like an American. These words seem to be the words from phrases that he has picked up in the playground. So like he says, "I can go really fast" saying 'fast' as an American would. So it has started to happen. We try to keep him up with the fact that Australians have different names for things and say things differently, so that he understands both. For example, we still say 'petrol' out of habit, but remind him that Americans call it 'gas'. When you see them, you might pick up on all the American words that they have adopted like, cookies instead of biscuits and candy instead of lollies or sweets. We had to do this so that they would be understood by other people, because over here, a biscuit is more like what we might describe as an inch high scone that is typically eaten with mashed potatoes, beans and meat-loaf or chicken with gravy. Speaking of words carrying a different meaning, we learnt recently that a 'smack' is called a 'swat' over here, and a 'smack' is more like a 'slap'. So living in a state where 'smacking' is somewhat outlawed, I think that we have unintentionally led a lot of people to question our discipline techniques. Oops! Oh and by the way, what they call a 'scone' over here is a densely sweet cookie/cake - sort of like large biscuits that they sell in health food stores back home.

Looking forward to our 2 month stay back home Down Under before returning to live in Chicago. Can't wait to meet all of the new babies and even celebrate new marriages! Official congratulations Mark and Jo!

Do continue to keep in touch.

Bye for now,
Ange

Update from Ange - So blessed...

If you haven't already read Clayton's last update posted before this, you might want to read that first.

God is so good.

I'm glowing...
I'm currently 32 weeks pregnant, and if I'm not glowing on the outside, I certainly feel like I have much to glow about on the inside. The baby is happy and healthy - moving around regularly, and head down - ready to go. Growing well too! Ultrasound measurements, estimate that this bubba will be bigger than Judah and Nathan. I'm physically feeling well and looking forward to meeting this little one. With so little time to go, Clayton and I had better put our heads together and come up with a name or two! Life feels like it has been so busy that we have not had much time to stop and face the reality that our lives are about to change radically.

Aside from feeling good about our third child's imminent arrival, I feel absolutely contented and marvellously delighted in God's love for me and my family. This past year has been the most wonderful season for us as we have been blessed beyond belief.

Blessed in our finances:
I'm learning, that God really is looking out for us and that He really does want to bless us. How is it that we were prepared to take a huge step backwards financially in moving out here for Clayton to study, and yet, a year later, we have hardly gone backwards if at all? We haven't even been living poorly either. I mean, we've enjoyed a pretty blessed existence, and have enjoyed luxuries that most people will never experience. All I can conclude is that God is a generous God and that He continues to be our provider. And what does all that mean in the context that we live in, when there are poor homeless people living on the streets that surround us? Without a doubt, God has blessed us to be a blessing, and while we have not the means to welcome each and every homeless stranger into our home to be warm and well fed, we have had the ability to do the little things to strengthen their spirits and give hope. We're glad that we have had this time to expose our children to the reality that not everyone has a warm bed to sleep in at night. We're even more delighted in the response that this reality has drawn from them. Both Judah and Nathan treat each beggar with respect. Rather than looking the other way and ignoring the man on the corner who jingles his coin collecting cup up and down, they interact with him and engage him in conversation. They bring a smile to his face and plead with their dad to have a turn to give him some money. One of the things that we have observed, is that many homeless people have a greater awareness of God and their need for Him to help them make it through each day. Perhaps this is why Jesus said "Blessed are the poor". I can pretty much say for certain that you and I will never live in such severe poverty, but regardless of how rich or poor we may be, we need to forever acknowledge our dependence on God as our Jehovah Jireh - our provider. As we face this next chapter of our lives in Chicago, we don't yet know how it will all work financially, but in the words of brother K. Conner, "If it's God's Will, it's God's bill." We're feeling a great sense of peace that He will continue to meet every need, and that he will continue to guide us with the resources and skills that He has already given us.

Blessed by community:
We've been blessed by our Fuller family. Living in this community has be the most positive experience as we have learnt more about what it means to live in community - to love and serve one another. Here we have found life long friendships and I have learnt that keeping up appearances is an enemy to authentic community and hospitality. I'd rather have an open door to a messy apartment where okay, so the dishes are piled up and the floor needs vacuuming, but conversation flows and lives connect, than have my 'closed for business' sign up because I feel the need to hide the fact that I'm not perfect at keeping my home in order. I don't mind if people see the real me, and frankly, I'd prefer it if they did. As I'm learning in the book that Clayton and I are reading together, (Abba's Child by Brennan Manning); keeping up appearances is a worthless and destructive exercise. I'll be honest and admit that I'm still human and want people to think that I have it all together, but I'm slowly discovering that there is more freedom in just being myself and being okay with that. I've been blessed to be a part of a community that considers the needs of others - where meals are prepared for families going through a tough time and material possessions are shared; where families care for not only their own children but also their neighbours, so that husband and wife can enjoy a precious night out. You know that Christ is at work, when a family who have just had their third baby, have meals 'taken care of' every night for the next month!

Blessed that God has been working both in and through us:
I'm going to be vulnerable with what I'm about to share, but I feel like the way God has been leading us has been instrumental in tearing down the 'impostor within' that Manning refers to in his book Abba's Child. By this he means the false self that we would like to project and be know by. Okay, so that explanation probably does not suffice, and you'll just have to read the book for yourself, but one of the areas that he talks about is how we start to allow ourselves to draw our identity from our achievements, and interpersonal relationships. Coming out here, we were at last no bodies. We had no reputation to precede us and no position or title that demanded honor or respect. We were here - plain old Clayton and Angela Coombs. It's been a refreshing and encouraging time. So it turns out that people seem to like us for who we are - that's nice. But not the point. We have not had to live our lives preoccupied with acceptance or approval, but have enjoyed living out of who God has made us to be. It has been delightful to see Clayton loving what he is doing and digging deep - not because he has to, but because he genuinely wants to. And I have loved being immersed in community and raising our boys - not a flashy or thrilling life, but one where I feel like I have been able to find myself. So that's right, I was going to share vulnerably with you, well I suppose that having Clayton serving in a full-time ministry position brought with it a certain degree of prominence. We walked away from that because we knew that we needed to be obedient to where God was drawing us to next, but for the longest time, I believed that we were supposed to return to full-time ministry and that that would be the next step. But it's amazing how we can have a sense of what the future holds, but be totally clueless about how it will all unfold and when. God has an amazingly natural yet unmistakable way of leading our lives and He has not led us in the way that I would have expected. Had you talked to me a year ago, I would never have dreamed that we would spend the next four or so years living in Chicago while Clayton worked on a PhD. A more likely scenario would have had us return to Melbourne to settle down and get back into serving once again in the local church. How does doing a PhD fit in with a 'life long call to ministry'? Well we had to settle the issue. Yes we ultimately feel called to serve the local church, but in what capacity? Only God knows. So this is where I get vulnerable; I think that it was my flesh that secretly sought after the prominence that came with ministry leadership, and that I felt that we needed to put ourselves forward and 'make it happen'. But we have resigned to the fact that if we were to give ourselves the permission to push or force open doors that God was not really opening, then we would only be submitting ourselves to a place of toil, putting our noses to the grindstone so to speak. So we are just going to follow God, and trust that He will open the right doors to us in His good time. He has mercifully granted us the opportunity to once again live life without prominence. I suspect that our children's lives will be all the better for this decision, as from what I have observed, seldom do children benefit from a parent's prominence, but rather they thrive on the significance that parents place on their lives by sharing the best years of their lives together.

Blessed with family:
Today we celebrated Judah's 4th birthday. For most, a 4th birthday is just like the third, and not as big a deal as the fifth. But for us, Judah being a leap year baby, was finally celebrating his birthday on February 29! It has been a wonderful week for us, as we have been reminded yet again of the love that our family back home in Melbourne has for us. The delivery man could testify that we have been thought of this week, with the number of packages that have arrived to wish Judah a happy birthday. Then there have been the phone calls, cards and emails as well. With family like that, our children will never have reason to doubt that they are loved. And speaking of family, wow I feel blessed in my marriage to Clayton and blessed at the privilege that it is to have brought children into the world with him and be able to play such an integral part in raising them together. I am convinced that my life is good.



Well it is extremely late, and I fear that this blog entry is long enough that no one will have read it. But since it has served the purpose of helping me reflect on God's lavish blessings and love, I suppose that it doesn't really matter if no body reads it.

That will do for now!