Highlights from 2011

Here is a summary of highlights from this past year.

January

• Our darling little angel, Mia Grace Victoria was born on Jan 17th. The boys were so thrilled to finally have a little sister. She is a very precious girl, and is the recipient of a lot of love.

Newborn Mia

The whole family together for the boy's very first visit to the hospital to meet their baby sister

• Grandma and Pop Coombs stayed with us for a few months around Christmas and Mia's birth. What a blessing it was for Ange to have an extra two sets of hands around to help, and for the boys to have some quality time with their grandparents.

• Shortly after Mia’s birth we survived an incredible blizzard where we received 21 inches of snow in a single day. If you watch the cheesy video clips I put together below, you'll begin to appreciate just how much snow we had accumulated.

• Sledding and snowboarding.

June and July

• A summer of fun at the pool: Jordan's initiation with the super-duper water slides, Nathan learning to swim, and Judah's fun on the diving boards.

• Clayton had a serene time with nature (and his computer) at Whidbey Island (just outside of Seattle) writing over 17,000 words in less than a week. After a year of hard work and two week long writing retreats, Clayton is finally submitting the first draft of his dissertation any day now!

• Our third annual week long stay at Green Lake Wisconsin for a "Vacation with a Purpose" (otherwise known as family camp).

A family snap shot out by the lake

August

• Clayton flew to Oxford University for an all expenses paid trip to present a paper he had written which he hopes will be published in one of their journals.

Clayton outside Queen's College where he stayed

September

• Judah and Nathan starting at Clapham School, the miraculous story of provision surrounding this, and the incredible blessing that a classical Christian education has already been in just a few months. Judah's favourite subjects are history and composer study while Nathan's favourite class is gym.

Judah and Nathan's first day at their new school

October

• Angela and Mia traveled home to Australia to be with family for a number of milestone events including Great Nanny's 80th birthday and the birth of our precious niece and cousin Tara Caitlin Coombs. It was wonderful for the family to finally meet Miss Mia, and for Ange to spend some quality time with family. Mia even got to enjoy her very first Aussie beach experience.

Great Nanny's 80th celebration

Our sweet baby niece and cousin Tara

Mia's first visit to the beach. She LOVED it!

• The boys time away with their dad camping out in Wisconsin while the girls were Down Under.

Devil's Lake, Wisconsin (as you can see, a more appropriate name would have been "God's lake")

Judah, Nathan and Jordan surrounded by lots of Autumn colour!

November

• Exploring Washington DC together - highlights included the National Art Gallery and Smithsonian Institute’s Natural History Museum. We then staying with good friends Heidi and Daryl and their four children in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving.

We had fun drawing together. This is Jordan (and Ange's) picture of the landmark US Capitol building.

Judah was more interested in drawing a construction crane than any of the historic architecture.

Nathan out front of the National Art Gallery.

Riding the subway was a definite highlight for the kids.

Outside the White House - this was as close as we could get!
Mia for president?

Nathan and one of his drawings in the car on the way home.

December

• Clayton and Angela celebrated their 10th anniversary and are grateful for their four children and deepening love for each other.

Clayton and Angela with Mia (taken in September)

The whole clan.

The Chicago Air Show - view from Lake Michigan

Some good friends of ours Bonnie and Reid Bristow invited us out on their sailing boat to watch the Chicago Air Show. Apart from the sea sickness, we had a wonderful day and some spectacular views of jets and planes that soared above us. Reid a commercial pilot, who once served in the air-force, was able to tell us about each aircraft as it flew by, and tell us what it is like to fly many of them. Here are a few shots from the day. Unfortunately, it was a rather hazy (foggy) day, so none of the shots were particularly good of the city.

Family Camp

Last week we were blessed to be able to attend our first ever "Family Camp" at Green Lake Wisconsin. No, we were not 'camping' as such, (although we have pitched a couple of tents together as a family) but we were attending a Christian non-denominational conference for families. 

Every morning our boys attended a quality children's ministry program, while we sat through two excellent teaching sessions. The first of these was on marriage and parenting and, the second, an exegesis on the first few chapters of 2 Corinthians from a wonderful old theologian. In the afternoon we rested, and enjoyed the beautiful lake - playing on the beach, canoeing, paddle-boating and even fishing! Each night after dinner, the children were watched and even put to bed by a baby-sitter, while we worshipped and enjoyed another session of preaching, this time - insights from the story of the prodigal son, and then enjoyed the rest of the evening kid free until 11pm. 

It was a wonderful time of refreshing and refocussing. Clayton and I both came away from our time at Green Lake feeling better connected to God and each-other, having heard from God with regards to marriage, family and even with a bit of vision and passion for how the Lord might use us as a couple when we return to Australia. 

A Family Update

Here's a quick note on where we're up to from both of us.

The spring is wonderful here. Gone are the freezing temperatures, slippery roads and multiple layers of clothing. The temperature is steadily in the 20s (celsius) (70-80s fahrenheit) and the trees and flowers are in full bloom. If you've never experienced this kind of climate before, you've never experienced the relief and joy that a change in the season brings. Imagine the world under snow and having to stay inside one month and then bright and balmy with patches of stunning tulips in bloom the next.

Clayton has completed one academic year of his PhD and has passed some significant milestones. He has successfully defended his dissertation proposal, passed the candidacy interview (off his L Plates now), passed the German competency exam and started learning Latin, presented a conference paper in Boston and submitted his first article for publication. All in all he's on track to finish mid 2011 for a December graduation (just in time for our tenth wedding anniversary!).

Angela: Hmmm, what to report.... No doubt it's common for mothers with young children to look back on a month, a year or even longer, and wonder, "What have I done with my life?" When so much of it is consumed with the mundane; wiping bottoms, spills, sticky hands, dishes and runny noses, is that it? Is that all that it amounts to? Thankfully, there is a lot more purpose and reward in motherhood. Fortunately, the mundane is cheerfully contrasted by the joy and pleasure that one's children can and do bring. And compassionately, God meets us in the mundane. If we look for Him, He is there. 

The boys: Judah, after one year of pre-school, is getting ready to start (US) kindergarten (= AU:Prep) in the Fall (late August - the start of the school year over here) and Nathan, who has been in 3 y.o. pre-school a couple of mornings a week and absolutely loves it, is excited about the prospect of going more often as of the new (Academic) year. Both Judah and Nathan are growing in their knowledge and love for God and surely must bless the Lord with their sweet prayers heartfelt songs. Jordan has well and truly crossed over into toddler-hood and loves to be considered "one of the boys", joining in wrestling and desperate to start pre-school! All three are a continual blessing in our lives (though often a challenge). They are all so different and we're very thankful that God has made us a family.

Update on Clayton's Study from Ange

Thought that the blog deserved an update on Clayton's progress on the PhD as that is the reason why we are out here in the first place!

He wrote a paper last semester for which he has been invited to speak on at a theological conference in Boston next month. This is an exciting opportunity and a real privilege. They have agreed to pay for virtually all of his expenses including accomodation, meals, registration and a large portion of travel expeneses. (He'll have to pay just $150, so that's not bad). I suppose that what he hopes to offer to this gathering of theologians is the chance for them to witness that it is possible for a Pentecostal theologian to make sense! hehe :) Actually, it works out well, as attending this conference would have certainly been worthwhile, but completely unaffordable.

Clayton taught his first lecture this week. He thinks that it went quite well, especially considering that he had only a couple of days to prepare it and that he was largely unfamiliar in the specifics of the area of study. (He found out that he would be teaching the same day that I put my back out and was left flat out in bed for days.) He was up late the night before the class madly reading. I volunteered to 'help' and stayed up reading primary documents dated back to the 300's. Fun! Actually, it was pretty interesting reading. One of the fascinating things that came up, was how the translation of scripture into different languages has led to significant divergence in doctine. The example that came up was of how the concept of 'penance' arose from the word 'repentance' being translated as such. Fascinating stuff that really helps vindicate (for want of a better word) Clayton's love for the ancient languages of Hebrew and Greek.

He seems to be doing well in his course. He has already overcome his fist hurdle of learning German (there is a lot of theology written in German). Next he has to do the same with Latin. He is getting a clearer picture of where he is going with his dissertation (thesis) and is enthralled in his research area. He's engrossed with the writings of some of the early church fathers, who in his opinion, were God fearing church leaders who upheld the authority of scripture, so he says that their work is great to read. He is really getting into it - sometimes I feel like I'm married to the character Ben that Nicholas Cage plays in National Treasure, or Indiana Jones (minus all of the action adventure hero stuff). It's exciting to see him passionately researching something historical from an angle that no one else has ever investigated, and Clayton being Clayton, is excited at it's potential relevance to us in the church today. What can I say, I married a brilliant man :)

He seems to be coping pretty well with the ongoing pressure and the never-ending piles of books that he has to read. It seems like regardless of how much work he has, he still manages to put the family first which is a real blessing.

Brutal Weather

It's FREEZING here!!!! Most of you who read this are either enduring an extremely hot summer Down Under, or are blissfully cruising through a Southern Californian 'winter'. So please spare a thought for us. Today will be our coldest day yet. As I write, it is currently minus 24 degrees Celcius, and it is expected to drop a further 3 degrees. Tonight on the weather report, the 'windchill' factor was categorised as 'brutally cold'. Brutally! So what do you do? You don't go out unless you absolutely have to. So we all stayed home today. Even Clayton worked from home. They say that in these sorts of conditions, your skin burns and any moisture freezes, so don't go out particularly if you have a runny nose!

We made it!

Firstly, let me apologise to those of you who have emailed, that I have not been able to personally respond to yet. We have been here for less than a week, and have been insanely busy setting up and have been in survival mode.

As you can imagine, we've been super busy and extremely exhausted. Jet lag has been a real bummer with a baby and two young boys. For the first half of the week they were up and ready to start the day around 3am and ready to collapse and sleep for the night in the afternoon! - not very helpful when you have so much setting up to do. So most days I have been falling asleep (sitting up) while Jordan has his afternoon feed and both Clayton and I have been dropping to sleep for the night around 7:30pm.

The flight went reasonably well. We missed our flight to Brisbane, so were put on a direct flight to L.A instead. This was a wonderful blessing. When Clayton rang up to check, Qantas had told us that we only had to come in an hour early to check in. Turns out we were ill informed and should have been there 2 hours early. The flight was soooo long, but the boys did well. It really helped that the boys had their own tvs to watch kids shows on. There was enough to keep them going. They also managed to sleep which was a relief. I even managed to steel half an hour of sleep for myself. Jordan was a little unsettled from time to time, but nothing we couldn't manage.


We love our new home. It is big and charming. The boys are happy here which is the main thing. There are 5 split levels- the basement, then a floor with what we will make a playroom and separate bathroom, next up there's the ground floor which has the kitchen and living areas, then followed by our bedroom and the main bathroom, then the boys room, study and attic. So we have more than enough space! (A huge contrast to our 2 bedroom apartment in Pasadena.) The other awesome thing is that we have loads of storage room. Yippee! We are really grateful to God for this house. We have had hot humid weather, so the central A/C has been helpful. The weather is 'muggy', but there is often a gentle breeze which helps.

Wheaton is just lovely. A very charming place to live. The streets are lined with gorgeous trees and the homes are like something out of a story book. The people seem friendly too.

The college is amazing! The facilities make Melbourne Univeristy look like backyard institution and needless to say Fuller is certainly dwarfed. They have fabulous facilities here and beautiful buildings. We've already started to make use of the sports and recreation facilities. Clayton and I have used the gym and the boys had their first 'swimming lesson' with dad a couple of nights ago. We've been eating at the cafeteria for dinner too. It works out cheaper than eating out, but more expensive than eating at home - certainly an excellent solution when you have not yet bought any kitchenware and the pantry is empty!

We took the boys to see their preschool and to meet their teachers yesterday. They are both looking forward to having preschool in their lives. I'm still a little overwhelmed by the prospect of all of the taxiing, but we are on the top of the list - should a morning position become available for Judah - so please pray for this.

Oh yeah, we bought the van that we had settled on - a Honda Odyssey. We managed to find a lovely sliver 2002 van with tinted windows and leather seats. A real answer to prayer. It had only had one owner and was well looked after so it seems like it is brand new - all except for the miles! We think that we did okay on the price too. Thanks God.

This weekend we hit Ikea and attend our first church service here. Still have no idea which one we'll go to. We really need to pray through this very important decision. We've decided that the most important element will be that the children's ministry is just that - a ministry and not simply a child minding service. Really just want to find a healthy church that ALL of us can be a part of and grow in.


Update on Jordan: He's 4.5 months old now and clearly indicated that he was more than ready to start on solids. Boy can that kid eat! He loves it and cries if I stop and he hasn't had enough.

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!

"Oh say can you see" - some BIG news from us.

In short: home in July - off again in August

Hi all who still read despite how infrequently we post.

Well this week some big news broke for our family (no, not the baby yet). I have been accepted into the Wheaton College Graduate School to study a PhD in Biblical and Theological Studies beginning this Fall (September). Suffer me to give you a brief story of how this came about.

Several posts ago I wrote about how I had undergone a 'revolution in my thinking' and was considering doing doctoral studies in theology at the conclusion of my masters. At that stage I was planning to apply for several schools including Wheaton College in Illinois and Fuller.

However, during what I can only describe as a playful interaction in prayer oneday I felt the Holy Spirit dare me to apply only to Wheaton. At the beginning, I wasn't willing to respond to this, feeling that I needed to at least give the PhD thing a reasonable chance by applying broadly. But in the end I decided that I was good for the challenge. After all, if I got into the PhD I wanted to be sure that it was God and not just my own willfulness. So in December, I mailed off my one and only application - to Wheaton College and then tried to forget about it and see what God would do. As I mentioned in my earlier post, Wheaton offer six positions only every year. These positions are fully funded and also include a small stipend for (some) living expenses. Roughly sixty people apply each year.

It was a long wait during which Ange and I came to be very settled and surrendered about our future. If I was offered Wheaton, I'd accept and we'd move to Illinois. If not, we'd return home for good at the conclusion of my masters in June and seek God's will in Melbourne.

On the last day of January I got an email from Wheaton calling me in for an interview. They were interviewing 15.

Well the trip to Wheaton was quite something. It is a lovely town and the college campus is simply stunning. The average daytime temperature while I was there was about -10 Celsius. At night it was much colder. Since December we had both sensed deep down that this was just going to happen, and getting called for the interview only served to confirm that, so I did plenty of research while I was there visiting a church, a primary school (yes - Judah just turned four. school next year - scary) two kindergartens and a real estate agent. In the interview itself I was confident to the point of being reckless and was quite jovial with the panel of 7 senior professors. I simply figured that if it was God's will for me to get in, the panel would hear what they needed to hear despite me, and if it wasn't, then, well, at least I got to see Chicago :)

Well I wish now that I hadn't told you the ending because I have no way of communicating how tense this process has been (at times) for me. Despite the underlying hunch that we would end up at Wheaton and the certainty that God was leading us, not knowing for sure one way or the other was killing me (Ange as always was more settled) and since we'd been tossing this round since late september I was just busting to know one way or the other.

I returned from Wheaton on wednesday of last week. The following monday I got a courtesy call to let me know I was in.

So have I finally shut the door on returning to some sort of Church based ministry? Absolutely not. I just figured that last time Church ministry found me I was minding my own business and getting on with what God had put in front of me so nothing's really changed. My passion remains to build His kingdom by serving His Church. I'm not really fussed what the outworking of that is, because now more than ever I'm convinced that God is ordering my steps and all I have to do is, well, keep walking.

Our plans:

I will graduate from Fuller on the 14th of June. We will give ourselves a couple of weeks to pack up and sell up here, and plan to be back in Melbourne by the beginning of July. We will have about 8 weeks to spend heaps of time with our families (we will have a new baby to introduce and the boys will have a cousin on each side of the family born during our brief visit), catch up with as many friends as we possibly can and get fresh visas for our next stint. It is anticipated that the PhD will take 4 years for me to complete under normal circumstances.

We are relieved to finally know what lies in the immediate future (this emotion would have been the same either way actually. We are grateful for God's continued clear leadership in our lives and his provision for our needs. And we are excited about this next season of our lives.

Much love to all.
Clayton

Update from Clayton

Ange is doing really well. We went to the doctor (for our first visit) last week and had an ultrasound and whatnot. It was wonderful to see the baby for the first time. Ange is nearly 15 weeks now and everything looks normal. The due date at the mo is April 24 which could mean early to mid April for us, though this is quite a different pregnancy (yes yes I hear your thoughts loud and clear - we also think so, but only time will tell whether 'different' equates to different gender).

Judah and Nathan are well. Nathan's 'picking' is finally healed, (recall that since June Nathan has had an open sore on his forehead because he keeps picking the scab). Nathan's communication is beginning in earnest which is very precious. He is a very affectionate boy and often initiates cuddles and says something which translates to 'I love you' (ayubyoooo). Judah is a thinker and a strategist. He always has a plan; always has an agenda, which can be very annoying when we're trying to put him to bed. He calmly explains his agenda highlighting the conflict with ours with phrases like 'I was just...' (with accompanying exasperated hand movements). From time to time this is also accompanied by 'How many times do I have to tell you Dad?' We are doing our best to frame him in at this stage and he is sometimes disciplined when he crosses the line into insolence, but really its so cute, and its great to see how his mind works and the things that are important to him. Nathan had been pleading with us for a bed for several weeks. He would hop on Judah's bed at night and refuses to get off - 'NO - I syeep doodah bed' (he curls up, shuts his eyes and sucks his thumb to make the point.) So a couple of weeks ago we went to IKEA (what a miserable place that is) and got a bunk bed. They absolutely love it and despite the horseplay nobody has fallen off the top bunk yet which is yet further proof of God's existence not to mention his personal care for us.

I am in the midst of a revolution in my thinking. I've always thought of lecturing in a bible college - training up the next generation of church leaders - as being my dream job. Getting paid to use my gifts, and not having to keep pulling programs off. However, I somehow felt that I would not get it that easy and was destined for another season of hard yakka in the front line before retiring to academia later in life. Though officially the story has only changed to the point that we are now flirting with the idea of further study, both of us have an incredible peace and a deep sense that this is indeed what God had planned all along. Of course the nature of a faith step is that I may well have to turn around and say 'you know what, scratch that last bit - we got it wrong', but at the mo, we are just going with what we know. We still feel very much called to serve the Church. But the benefit of the PhD is that when we return I will actually be qualified to do something that I love and we will be released to go where God positions us and serve the local church in whatever capacity God opens up for us without the pressure of looking for a job, as perhaps may be the case without the PhD. Furthermore, what better way to serve the Church than involving myself in training its future leaders?

SO. What does that mean? Well I need to pull together a few PhD applications before January when the deadline is. I will be applying for at least two schools over here - Fuller and another one near Chicago called Wheaton. If I get into Wheaton, we will think very very seriously about taking it. They accept 6 PhD applicants per year (out of a pool of between 50-60) only. Each of these get a full tuition scholarship and a stipend for living (which of course doesn't total cover living expenses unless we decide to live on porridge and sleep in the library but would be a darn sight better than the situation we're in at Fuller where we're paying hefty tuition and living expenses with absolutely little respite). For what its worth, I have looked at PhD programs around the Melbourne area, but could find only one bible college in Mulgrave that offers that award. Mulgrave's Phd is 100% research based (ie go and write 100,000 words and come back to me, and oh, that'll be $30k thanks), while the programs here all involve a significant coursework component which would allow me to develop to an advanced level in a number of areas such a biblical languages.

Anyway, I've been very self indulgent and this is turning into some kind of journaling exercise. The above represents nothing more than how we currently believe that God is leading us. We are simply trying to be obedient to His promptings and faithful in the gifts that He has given us. I would ask you to keep us in prayer as we walk down this road and discover where it might lead.

We’re all enjoying life here immensely and would love to hear from you all more.

Much love to all.
Clayton

Coombs Family Update

Sorry that it has been so long since I last wrote an update. I can't believe that the last time I update the blog was for our camping trip to Yosemite! Boy how time flies.

We are loving the our time at Fuller. We are well and truely part of the community now and loving it. A more centralized apartment was one of the perks that came with taking on the role as community coordinators here. So we're here on the ground floor and have a patio area and access to the courtyard with a nearby barbeque and small playground. Living in our new apartment has meant more spontaneous socialising, and outdoor fun for the kids. We were recently reflecting on how God had generously answered the prayers that we had made when we had originally started looking at housing options here. We basically had one of those 'wish list' type prayers that just seemed unreasonable and totally unrealisic - to pay the cheapest possible rent, and live in the nicest possible apartment! Turns out that 5 months into our stay here, we are living in arguably the best apartment in the whole of Fuller Housing, and paying close to the cheapest possible rent (after a rent reduction that comes as a form of payment for being community coordinators). God is so good at blessing us.

We are really enjoying being part of Christian Assembly - the church that we have made home. There's something incredibly genuine and authentic about the worship and leadership there. We have just started leading a Life Group through the church, but will be focused on reaching Fuller students and families- there is an alarming number of seminary students who are either disillusioned with the church, or just haven't made church a priority. So we have a heart to reach them and reconnect them with a healthy church experience.

I've recently launched a playgroup/preschool cooperative within the Fuller community. We're running a trial run over the summer for a limited number of families (although 12 has quickly grown to 18!) So far it is going really well. We have support from the Seminary and will be officially launching the Preschool CoOp in the 'Fall' (that's their Autumn). It has taken a lot of time and effort, and continues to, but I have a terrific team of parents who are working hard to make it happen. Our next move is to expand the program to accommodate more families - kind of a must, given that we have not even officially launched it yet. I guess that I'm just really thrilled to see something get off the ground that serves to meet a real need that was not previously being met. Families are getting connected, and children are having a blast!

Clayton is studying hard. He's doing a Greek intensive (learning biblical Greek in 10 weeks instead of a year!) Loving it though. He seems to have a knack for languages. Wish I could say the same. He has found out that he can finish his Masters in Arts Theology (in biblical studies) (with overloading) by spring (that's the start of 2008), and be ready to start the Doctorate of Ministry program here. This particular program is designed for ministers who are in full time ministry, so studens of the doctorate program take on one subject of course work per year and fly over here a few times for intensives. We have both really felt like this is the most obvious next step, before heading home to Australia in time for Christmas 2008 for him to work through the main bulk of the on-site intensives so as to reduce future travel expense. It will then just be a matter of finishing off the doctorate (hopefully while serving in a full time ministry position) with one subject a year with an intensive class that is taught by Fuller professors in Australia. While both Brian and Mark were here we were able to talk with them about their experience in the program and both seemed to feel that it enriched their ministry to the church.

The boys are growing up so fast. They are at the stage where they have become good friends and love to play with eachother. One of their favourite games is play wrestling! Whether it be on our bed or in a grassy place, they just love to push one another to the ground and climb all over eachother. It is strangely, quite lovely to watch. The boys have found new friends in two girls who recently moved into the apartment directly above us. They are 5 and 2.5 years, and have been adopted from Ethiopia. They really are delightful little girls and play so nicely with our boys.

Judah is doing really well these days. He is well adjusted and settled in now and seems to be really enjoying life. He is also quite the hospitable type and is often asking people if they would like to come to our apartment to play or eat with us. He just loves having people around. Although he is loving life over here, he still talks a lot about his family and friends back in Australia - recalling memories from time to time. He is really looking forward to having my mum come to be with us in a few weeks. We are learning more about how he thinks and realising that he has a great mind. For example, he builds lego structures with perfect symmetry and draws complex and detailed pictures. The other day he was drawing all of these continuous lines all over his page and when I asked him what he was drawing, he replied, "I'm drawing a road system." He loves riding his 'big boy bike' (with training wheels of course), and playing with his little friends. We've started him earning pocket money by collecting plastic bottles and cashing in at the recycling centre. He is enjoying this.

Nath is going through that 2 year-old stage where he wants to be independent and do everything that his brother can do. This can be a little frustrating at times, like when he insists on walking down stairs all on his own, and he carries on and resists you holding his hand. Talking heaps as usual too. He can say some funny things. The other day I was smelling his feet, and I said to him, "You have stinky feet!" He then grabbed one, pulled it up to his nose, and exclaimed, "Smells like hamburgers!" We both then cackled laughing as he repeated this a number of times realising that it was humorous. We bumped into a fellow Auzzie in a local park the on the weekend just gone, and he commented on how Nathan had the begining of an American accent! I suppose that it was only ever a matter of time.

We are living more like residents now (as opposed to tourists) - doing less sight seeing and making less frequent visits to Disneyland. Actually Disneyland is to be avoided during the summer holidays - imagine waiting in the hot sun in a queue for 90 plus minutes! We'll probably brave it again when my mum comes in late August - early September when the crowds are less impressive with kids back in school.

Anyway, loving life and yet still looking forward to being back home.

Keep in touch.

Angela.

We got the job!

After two rounds of interviews, and what has seemed like around a month of waiting, we finally found out that we have been chosen to take on the role of Community Coordinators within the apartment complex that we are currently living in. This has been a huge answer to prayer financially, as this job will credit us with a substantial reduction in our monthly rent. It is a job that I should be able to manage largely on my own - even with the kids. Furthermore, this role would not violate my visa restrictions which prohibit me from gaining employment.

Our appointment as Community Coordinators also means that we will be changing apartments. Fortunately, it will not be a big move. Actually it's just across the courtyard. Our new apartment will be virtually identical, except that we will be on the ground floor, and have doors leading out to the courtyard! So it's 'goodbye' to the noisy freeway that we currently overlook, and 'hello' to a great barbecue and the complex playground, both just steps away.

From what we have been able to gather, the primary function of this role seems to be to help build 'community' - organising social events, welcoming new arrivals, helping manage conflicts or issues arising from living in close community and there even seems to be a more pastoral side to this role. The more practical aspect of the job seems to be things like, liaising between fellow residents and the housing office, publishing a monthly newsletter, opening up apartments for those who for some reason do not have their key card on them and other general 'house keeping' duties. It's estimated to take up an average of 12 hours per week.

We will be assuming our role as Community Coordinators as of July 1, but the apartment will not become available until July 8.

Coombs Family Update

Hi, sorry that I have not been posting quite so regularly. Over the past couple of weeks I haven't managed to find the time. But hear I am, the boys are asleep, and I have a moment of calm. Rather than sharing a thought or experience, I thought that this time I'd give you a run down on how we are each doing.

Clayton:
Clayton is doing really well at balancing the pressures of an impressive study load, with family life. I've been impressed at his increasing capacity as he will often rise as early as 5:30am even after studying late into the evening. Fellow students are astounded at how parents like Clayton are keeping up from week to week, doing so well, and yet still actively involved in raising their young families. I know that only a generation ago, men had very little involvement with their children, but I only have to look at how wonderfully my son's lives are enriched by having their father take such an active interest in their lives.

As I type, Clayton is in week 8 of 10 for this quarter. So far, he is doing really well. He is absolutely loving the challenge and the tremendous satisfaction that comes from gaining a slightly 'fuller' revelation of, and deeper insights into God and His character, though his study of the Minor Prophets in Hebrew. Already very thankful for being able to study here at Fuller, as subjects like these are simply not available in Australia. He is also very grateful for his lecturers; for their depth and breadth of knowledge. And it seems that his lecturers love him too!

Judah:
Well, Judah has been journeying though a rather rough patch, but seems to be through the worst of it.  About a month ago we decided that it was time for him to be rid of his beloved dummies. When he was ready, he did so - fully understanding the permanency of his actions. We had a little ceremony. Judah threw his dummies, and Nathan his bottles, down the trash shoot. There were high fives all around, cheering, praise and shouts of excitement.
Anyway, Judah was doing just fine until it came time to go to sleep. How could he sleep without them? Well, for the next few nights, I would sit by his bed side stroking his head until he would fall asleep. Naps were another story. He just didn't know how to go to sleep during the day. On top of being short of his usual sleep quota, our son was also (for the first time), showing signs of feeling unsettled with all the changes that where in his life. It seemed that any changes, even the smallest and pettiest, were the source of great insecurity.
In all of this we found that Judah was remarkably in touch with his emotions and able to express some of his troubles with us. One of them was to do with not having a house to live in. Perhaps living in an apartment was all too much like living in a hotel, and somehow lacked the sense of permanency and security that he was looking for.
So it seemed that his dummies had provided a greater source of comfort and security than we had first realised. For a few weeks, our little boy found it hard to hold himself together with regular tantrums which were becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
In desperation, we turned to God, who was able to reveal a few insights in Judah's soul. We also sought wisdom from a few family members and friends. We've discovered a real blessing in having a child psychologist in the family - Thanks George - your wisdom, insights and strategies were both practical and effective. Thank you to those of you who prayed for us during this time. Your prayers made a big difference. Judah is now back to sleeping well, even back to taking his nap, (although I'm having to restrict it, in order to ensure that he can go down to sleep at night). We haven't had any major tantrums now for over a week, and there has been a massive improvement in his behaviour. We still get the usual 3 year old battle of the wills, but all in all, he's back to his usual happy self again. Praise God!

Nathan:
Nath is changing a lot. He's just gone 20 months and is growing like crazy. He has a lot more hair. Since we've been here, I've had to cut it twice already! He's getting stockier too. Still a cute size, but just more solid. He's more active than ever. Very much the wriggly boy. Loves to be able to walk around independantly and will wriggle and squirm free of you so that he can run about and do his own thing. He still enjoys a good cuddle though. This morning Clayton and I were having a hug, and reaching his arms up towards us, he pined, "I want tuddle. I want tuddle."Every day we are left astounded at his development. He seems to have quickly acquired the skill of constructing sentences in order to effectively express himself. He's even using words like I, I'll, my, mine, and me correctly. Some examples from today, "I want breakfast", "I'll do it mama!" and "Give me the wallet!" He will still occasionally refer to himself as Nathan instead of 'me'. Like, "No, don't push Nathin!"  I almost forgot to mention that he has started trying to recite his numbers in order, 1 to 10! It's amazing what is coming out. It's not even like I push him or make any special effort with him. I take no credit.

Me:
I enjoyed a lovely Mother's Day on Sunday. I was woken to receive presents; chocolates, body lotion and bottle of massage oil. I was given a card that said on the cover, 'For you, Mommy'. (Gotta love the American spelling). I was granted a luxurious sleep in, and brought a beautiful cooked breakfast; omelet, toast, OJ and fresh fruit. We attended the morning service at church, and came home for a nap before heading out to Santa Monica Pier. We had a lovely afternoon together. Judah and Nathan kept on insisting that we were at San Diego. (We'll take them there some day.) If only everyday could be Mother's Day. Monday morning came around all too quickly and with a great thud!

I've been enjoying my new friendships a lot and just loving the Fuller Wives Support group. Realising that although this is a really close community, it is also a very transient one. There are students coming and going every term.

Caught up with some family friends Tom and Janette Boland, from the church that I grew up in. Spent half a day at Disneyland with them which was really nice. It's amazing how you can just take off where you left off with friends that you haven't seen for so long.

I'm enjoying interacting with Clayton and what is going though his head. It's making me hungry to get into some study for myself. I am considering the possibility of doing a few subjects next year. At the least, I'll audit some subjects - that means sit in the classes and have the option of completing assessments. It's virtually free, you just don't get the piece of paper for it.

So that's a summary of how we're all doing.

A place we can call home - for the next little bit

It's our second week now, and we love it. That is, Christian Assembly Church in Eagle Rock. It is the first place that we have truly felt at home in. The direction, health and warmth of the community at CA has really appealed to us. As has the quality of the children's ministry, the solid teaching and the church's commitment to mission.

CA is not in Pasadena as such. But it's probably a 5-10 minute drive. Although the church is large in number, the actual building itself is not terribly big, so you attend one of four weekend services, and feel as though you are part of something a little more intimate. So although it is a big church, it doesn't have that 'big church' feel that can sometimes be overwhelming at first and difficult to connect with.

This weekend we attended the Sunday night service which is supposedly an identical service, but targeted toward 18 to 35s. We are interested in this service because there are a lot of Fuller students who attend. (It's also nice to have the weekend more freed up.) After Fusion services, they operate a cafe where they serve an afforable and tasty meal, coffees, smoothies etc with live music. The proceeds from the cafe go directly to support the Christian Assembly orphanage in Kenya. It's a good place to connect. Judah and Nathan had a bit of a dance, and toward the end of the night retreated to a corner to play with some toys that were there.

Next week we plan to visit a Life Group that meets in Pasadena. We're looking forward to getting involved and serving with this group of believers.

Settling in

As anyone who has ever travelled will realise there are some cultural adjustments that we've had to make. Here is one humorous incident as an example:

Coffee creamer
What is coffee creamer?? I'm at a disadvantage here as I've never really developed a coffee habit, so I'm unaware generally of the world of coffee - we may well have this product in Australia. However, even if we do its prevalence and placement in the refrigerator section at the supermarket is definitely different over here. Oh, is coffee creamer any good I hear you ask. Well I don't know - I've never experienced it in coffee. But drinking it straight...well it sure ain't big M. Now the story.
Probably our third day here, and we were severely under resourced. We had no car, no mobile phones, no duna or blankets on the bed, no pillows, no rubbish bin, no food...for those who've seen Dumb and Dumber, it was one of those 'our pets HEADS keep falling off!' experiences. Apologies to those who haven't - um please don't rent it out and see it, it was squalid and mainly unfunny, though it had a few good lines! Anyway, it was a bit of a vicious circle. OK, lets go get some provisions. How shall we go? Ah no car. Go where? Um, lets call up and check? Ah, no phone (yes we had a landline, but we didn't realise until fully two weeks into our stay that you had to dial '1' in front of every number so we thought it didn't work - highly frustrating). Well lets get a mobile phone. But where? Lets call around...ah no phone...lets use the internet (one of our neighbours generously neglected to password protect their wireless network. Its OK. we have our own connection now. Hold the judgement...gosh). Ah nothing within walking distance. Well lets buy a car then...ah no car yards within walking distance...well lets call around...anyway, you get the picture. This particular day I had decided that I was GOING to get a mobile phone each for me and Ange in the morning and if I still had the energy, I'd jolly well buy a car in the afternoon.
Hmmm. the morning was a testing time. I walked probably 10 minutes to the local 'Target' store. They had prepaids, but in Australia, prepaids are a bad deal right - gotta get a contract. I asked somebody at Target where another mobile phone (Cell phone idiot) shop was. 'Oh you just continue down Lake' I was told. When I overcame my lack of a sense of direction (which is only further confounded by the fact the cars go the wrong way) I proceeded down Lake. I had walked another perhaps 10 or 15 minutes when I saw a bank. 'Focus on the task at hand' said the little white angel on my right shoulder'. 'But you'll need a bank account at some stage' argued the little black angel with horns on my left shoulder'. Guess who won? Well a full hour and a quarter later ("What's your social security number sir?" "Um what's that? I brought my passport...) I emerged from Wells Fargo bank and continued 'down Lake'. I walked for what felt like another half an hour and after asking several times to make sure I hadn't missed it, finally found the mobile phone shop. I waited for ages, and was finally served. I equivocated, educated myself about US cell phone connections, bantered backwards and forwards with the salesman (playing the naive Aussie card does make friends quickly but it didn't get me a discount this time). Finally (I seem to be using that word a lot) I made my decision and went to sign the contract...'what's your social security number sir?' 'What's that...I brought my passport...?'. The long and the short of it was with no 'social' and no credit history I would have to pay $400 per connection - 1000 bucks Aussie - to be held for a year, just in case I proved to be bad news at paying bills. Naive Aussie. Nope - no way around it. Sorry. YOU'RE SORRY?!?!
By this stage I was ready to get anything. I found a mobile phone shop I'd missed on my way back would you believe, heard the same story and just got two prepaid connections.

Where does coffee creamer fit into this story? Patience.

Anyway, on my way back, I stopped in at Target for some provisions. I might as well get some groceries while I'm here I thought (Target here sells groceries too). So I loaded up with a few essentials that I thought I could fit in my backpack, and before I checked out I thought - boy I need a big M. Of course I realised that they wouldn't have big M here, but, well any flavoured milk would do. Just beside the milk, where I expected flavoured milk to be I saw it. 'Macadamia and white chocolate' it said and 'coffee creamer' in fine print. What an interesting and irresistable comination I thought...coffee, macadamia, and white chocolate...must be tried. The sad thing is that even though it was not what I expected I toughed it out and drank most of the bottle. These americans sure do like rich things I thought. Rightly curious and feeling a little green I read the nutrition information table. Even then I didn't get it. 2 grams of fat it said (Big M has 4), and 9 grams of sugar (Big M has between 9 and 9.6 depending on the flavour...per 100 mL serving size). Convinced it was better for me than big M but just inexplicably sickly rich, I kept drinking...until I noticed the 'serving size'. Wait for it.

ONE TABLESPOON!

I guess you're supposed to just put it in your coffee...

I passed!

Yes, that's right I have got my Californian drivers licence. Such a relief to have that out of the way. It's not just that the steering wheel is on the left side of the car, but the indicator is also on the other side, so that also takes a bit of getting used to. In the driving test, on one occasion, I flicked the indicator the wrong way. The assessor just assumed that I had misheard her. At least I didn't flick on the wind screen wipers instead - I've done that countless times. Yesterday, after putting both kids into their car seats, I (twice) went to the passenger side door to get into the drivers seat! I'm actually getting used to driving on the other side of the road quite quickly. Although, every now and then, I go into 'auto pilot' and revert back to my Australian habits. Don't worry mum, it mostly only happens when there are no other cars around.

Our first week in the US

The flight:
The flights actually went really well. The boys were surprisingly very well behaved and I think that they generally enjoyed the new experience - very interesting for them. Other passengers actually commented on how well they did. We packed activity books, story books, sticker books, extra snacks, a few toys, sleeping bags... We made use of the bassinet for Nath - Judah had trouble sleeping on the chair and consequently SLEPT VERY LITTLE! He even tried to get comfortable in the bassinet - despite exceeded weight restrictions. All in all we had great success flying and are very grateful to God for this.

Arriving at our new place:
Arriving at our apartment was exciting, although also quite daunting as we realised all the things that we would need to do over the next few days and weeks. We had power, but no telephone, no pillows or bed coverings (we brought sheets from home so we managed to get by) and no lights in the bedrooms ( this is because they do not have lights!) I think we're supposed to use lamps in the bedrooms instead. The community coordinators had left a bottle of drinking water in the fridge and some toilet paper - so that was helpful.

Life here:

We are settling in here quite nicely. The boys got over their jetlag in a matter of days and are back to their normal sleep cycles. Both boys are adjusting very well - probably better than we are! So far we have made friends relatively easily - the level of community and friendship, the love and willingness to serve and support is lovely. We have really been taken back by it all. We've managed to get along to a playgroup, and I have attended a Fuller wives support group that had a great creche for both boys - they both love it. We've also discovered a children's playroom and outdoor play area all safe within our apartment complex - so the boys are thrilled.

We're really happy with our place - it is quite new and clean. One of my favourite parts is the laundry - because there is no laundry! We have a neat little cupboard with an awesome washer and dryer. We're loving living in a small place because it is easier to keep up with and organise.

If we look outside our 3rd storey windows, and look down,(see picture) we see a major freeway, but if it's a clear day, we can see a marvelous range of mountains that seem quite close. Apart from living alongside the I -210, we are really enjoying living with so much within walking distance. We're right by the Fuller Campus - which is really pretty and there are great shops just a few blocks south. We like Pasadena - it is one of the nicer parts around L.A. It seems like a fairly safe place to be. Having said that, I don't think I'll be heading out to the shops on my own after dark. So far probably the worst part of living here is the smog levels. If you look to the horizon, you probably won't even see it!

Contrary to what we had heard, the shopping here is quite expensive. We thought that stuff over here was generally less expensive, but this is only the case for some things. If it's American, it is probably cheaper than what we pay for it back home. So like for example Fisher Price toys and Apple Mac, i-pods, Levis, Nikes etc are all cheaper here. But your general everyday stuff like groceries is quite costly. For example, a little jar of herbs/spices, that might be around AU $2 back home, is around US $4 here!

The Roads:
Towards the end of our first week, we are still understandably, a little nervous about driving around here, so you could say that we've become more safety conscious. I mean, imagine negotiating the traffic, navigating around unknown territory and driving on the other side of the road - all with the most precious cargo in the world - your kids. So needless to say, we've been looking at Volvos! I mean and who wouldn't be when for the same money, you could choose between a 10 year old Honda, a Toyota or a 5 year old luxury European car. Yesterday afternoon I drove home a beautiful 2002 Volvo V40 1.9T Turbo Wagon! It's got driver, passenger and side window-curtain air bags, and 4wheel ABS, and being a turbo, I've got sufficient power at my disposal for slipping on the the freeways when other drivers want to cut me off.


We also got ourselves an in-car tracking /navigational system and it has become our best friend. We've called her Madison (after the name of our street.) She really helps take the stress out of driving around here - particularly on the labiryth of freeways and ramps. Look at what we've conquered! See picture:

Church:
We have visited Mosaic - Irwin McManus' church. We were delighted to find that like CityLife, there are no titles; Irwin is just Irwin - not Pastor Irwin or Reverend Irwin as it can be over here. Actually, I'd go as far as to say that it is probably more casual thant CityLife. Irwin preaches in jeans and a T'shirt. To our relief, we fit right in wearing jeans and rubber thongs (or flip-flops as they call them here). Many would consider Mosaic rather cutting edge, and I think that we'd agree. Irwin targets his 'conversation' (message) to 'humanity' rather than just Christians or the lost, so that some how it is incredibly relevant to both! The average age is 24 and the majority (80%+) is single! So it is very much a young adults church! We're praying about whether or not this is where God wants us to be. I think that if we did get connected with Mosaic, that it could potentially re-focus and reposition us in a big way. One of the things that impressed me about the church is their acute focus on their reason for existence. They are not about helping make Christians feel comfortable and looked after. They are all about serving and reaching the lost. I was also really impressed with a article that Irwin wrote about restoring broken lives. There are some incredible testimonies in this church, of tragically broken lives being transformed and renewed by Christ. So that's exciting. Anyway, we have not fully settled on Mosaic yet. We really want to be sewing our lives (over the next 2 years) into the church that God want us to be a part of - and not just the place that seems hip and happening if you know what I mean. Will keep you posted.

That's enough for now. I'll try to keep future posts a little shorter.