Jordan's response to the gospel

Tonight I was reading little book that was essentially a presentation of the gospel for children to Nathan and Jordan. Jordan had brought it to me and asked me to read it to him as it was a book that he'd never seen. Initially, I was reluctant as I had already read a story and was wanting to get the boys to bed so that Clayton and I could enjoy the rest of the evening together. But Jordan insisted, and I mean, how can you really say no to you child asking you to read to them about the Jesus?!

When it got to the part describing and depicting the crucifixion, Jordan exclaimed with a grumpy voice, "That's not fair!". On the last page, the invitation is made to children, "Would you like to invite Jesus into your heart?" Both Nathan and Jordan at once enthusiastically responded, "I do!" Then, Nathan proudly added, "But I've already done that. I've already asked Jesus into my life." (Something he did earlier this year when we were in Australia in response to an altar call that was on a Hillsong Kids dvd.) Jordan then retorted with a but-what-about-me voice, "But I haven't." Shocked that this response was coming from a two year-old, I asked Jordan again explaining what we were talking about, to kind of test if he really knew what he was responding to. He affirmed his desire. So we led him through a little prayer and rejoiced with him with a big hug.

Tonight I was reminded of God's love of children and their childlike faith. It was a reminder, that they are never too young to hear and respond to the word of God. I wanted to share this with you because even after all of this, I was tempted to think, that it was not a real decision because he is too young to fully understand the gravity of it all, but you know what, I don't think that any of us ever come to the place of fully appreciating what Jesus did for us on the cross. When Jordan saw drawings in this little book of Jesus with a crown of thorns and being nailed to the cross, he understood that the price Jesus paid was not fair.

A little chat with Jordan

Sorry about the slight visual delay. I'm not sure why this happened.

A cool place for the Coombs family

It's been such a long time since I (Angela) posted anything on here, that it feels like typing an update has escalated to one of those Christmas letters that you put off writing, just because you don't know where to begin. So rather than putting the pressure on myself to update you on everything that has happened over the past 6 months or so, I thought that I'd just share about our most recent news.

After several months of ongoing health issues (asthma, persistent coughing, and always falling sick), returning home to Australia for three months over Christmas, brought great relief, as well as a clue. My suspicions were confirmed when on returning to our home in Wheaton, I was back to being sick again. Something in our home was making me sick. After some prayful investigations we became almost certain that the problem lied within the centralised heating and cooling system.

Leaving winter behind, meant that we no longer needed to use the heating anymore, and that we could have our windows open. Praise God, I have not been sick now for over a month. But the problem would still face us as soon as the weather demanded our need for heating or cooling. So surely this old house simply needed it's ducts and vents cleaned out right? If only it were that simple... Last summer they discovered that there was asbestos used in the joins of the duct work, and it was deemed that the ducts should never ever be disturbed again. So cleaning them was out of the question.

A few weeks ago, we received from the college, notice to vacate. We'd had had our turn and it was time to make the place available for another international student family. Now we had to look to God to work a miracle. How would we ever find a well maintained, affordable place to live that was within walking distance to the college, with enough rooms to house our growing family? We had been paying a subsidised rent rate (compared to the rest of the Wheaton rental market) for a furnished house, and all our utilities included. So in order to maintain our current level of expenditure, we would need to take a huge step down. Obviously we would need to move out of a house and into an apartment, but there were virtually no three bedroom apartments around. We quickly became discouraged with the available options listed within our budget. Everything was either too small and run down, or a long way out.

A day or so later, it was Jordan's birthday, and we thought we'd take a walk to try out his new bike. We aimlessly wandered around and ended up at a nearby playground. Here Clayton got talking with another young father who he had shared a class with a little while ago. Somehow, it came up in conversation that there was a 3 bedroom townhouse vacant next door to them that was in his opinion; pretty nice. He said that the only problem was that it was furnished, which would be a problem if we had furniture, but since we had none, this would be a huge blessing. He had the keys to the place and was able to show us around. We were impressed. It was neat and clean, the bathrooms were tastefully re-modelled and it even had a dishwasher!

We had tried to call the property's owner, and had only been able to leave voice mail. In that long week of in-between-time waiting, we had started to conclude that perhaps the place was not for lease. One morning while Judah was at school, I drove around with Nathan and Jordan in the car, looking desperately to see if I might stumble across any "for rent" signs. Nathan said that he would like to move into a new place that had a playground. I told him that he'd better pray to God for that one. With that, he said, "Well let's do it now!" and prayed, "God, I pray that we could live in a place that is cool for kids. In Jesus' name, Amen."

Almost a week after leaving a message with property's owner, our call was returned and after a long telephone conversation with the owner of the property it soon became obvious that God had led us to our next home. Not only had she meticulously maintained the property, but she had recently gone to the expense of having a brand new, high efficiency centralised heating and cooling system with (I might add) a hepa filtration system that would help remove dust and dirt from the air! She also explained that she had re-lined the walls and roof with a high grade insulation, that substantially improved the energy efficiency of the home and would subsequently reduce our utility expense. Without going into all of the other details, it was clear that this place had our name all over it. We just had to wait to hear back about the price.

After a lot of waiting, we finally had word on the price they were asking. To our disappointment, it was more than we could comfortably afford to pay. How could this be, that God would set us up in this way, but not come through with a good price. I mean it was a reasonable price (given what's out there) but we were kind of hoping for miraculously sweet deal. Clayton got back to the owner and essentially, counter offered. Because she really liked us and wanted to work with us, she and her husband came down dramatically in price and were able to offer us an excellent rate.

So, in a couple of weeks time, we will move into "a place that's cool for kids". Yes, it even has a decent playground out the back. Thank you God! Nathan's faith has been encouraged, and he is now praying for a baby sister! Actually he was praying for twins, but I told him that he needn't be greedy.

P.S. Interestingly, Clayton was talking to the previous tenant of our college home today, and he mentioned that one of his children also had inexplicable health problems along the same lines as mine throughout the time they were in the house which cleared up when they left. Nice to know that it was not all in my head.

The resurrection changes everything!

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. The go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." Matt 28:5-7

"Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Ac 1:11

I met a new friend the other day; a guy from Sydney who came to Wheaton to interview for a place in the PhD program this coming academic year. As he shared about his journey he told me that he used to be an atheist; one of the zealous annoying kind that delighted in shaking the faith of his Christian friends. But one day a friend challenged him to research the claims of Christianity rather than simply ridiculing them. As he did he reluctantly had to admit that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus was overwhelming. This realisation created a crisis for him, but in the end he came to the conclusion that the resurrection changes everything and that if it was true then the only option for him was to surrender his life to Jesus. And God has used him powerfully ever since.

That revelation is more difficult to grasp I think for people like me who cannot remember a moment when they have doubted the resurrection.
The previous evening Ange and I had been reading through the resurrection account in Matthew. As we reflected again on the implications of the physical resurrection of Christ we thanked God that we by faith had died in him, been burried with him in baptism and through the Holy Spirit have been raised to live a new life. Here are just a few reasons that I think the resurrection is GREAT NEWS for all.

1) Jesus' resurrection and ascension enables him to send the Spirit for whom I am daily thankful.
2) Jesus' physical ascension guarantees his physical return, just as he promised at the end of all things to set everything right.
3) In his physical bodily resurrection and ascension, Jesus has literally brought humanity into intimate relationship with God in his own person. Jesus' humanity is now part of the Trinity itself and that is the guarantee that in Him, we are now united to God.

I fear I have not expressed this too well, but wanted to share at least with the few followers of this blog the joy I have at living in the power of the Holy Spirit following a risen Savior who died for my sins and who now intercedes for me in the presence of the Father.

Nathan's questions

Its been an embarassingly long time since we blogged and most who are still following us would know why. For those who don't we took a trip back to Australia over Christmas. Ange and the kids were there for 13 weeks and I myself came back for what was supposed to be just under 4 weeks in the middle of that time (it turned into 6...). Ange may blog about that trip in time, but a great time was had by all and our plans for future ministry are firming up after a couple of strategic meetings.

Now to the subject of this post. I've been wanting to record some of Nathan's deep questions for a while now. But over the last six months or so he's been asking some probing and theologically deep questions. Here are some examples:

1) "Is God bigger than his house?" (translation: what does "omnipresent" really mean? Is there an "everywhere" that God fills? If so, then that place is bigger than God).

2) "Is God older than his Mum?" (translation: explain the mechanics of the Incarnation please.)

3) "God doesn't have a wife...so his Mum's his wife. Right?" (translation: There exists in humanity a desire to connect with both a male and a female deity. Should we move towards the Roman Catholic approach to solving this by deifying Mary?

Needless to say, in each case, my answers were not as good as his questions.

Thanks for your interest. This blog is something which we intend to resurrect. Watch this space.

Clayton

Judah's Song - God is Powerful!

Judah has often blessed us with spontaneous songs at prayer time.  He really does have a worshipful heart.  Some of what he sings is precious and profound, and some of it is just kiddie drivel (much like our grown up songs if I'm to be honest) but it just about brings me to tears every time.  Anyway, now he's learning to write (he's in the very early stages, so what's in the picture is probably the most he's written at one time) and while Ange and I were preparing dinner tonight he announced that he was writing a song. I helped him with the spelling of "hallelujah" (which I think I got wrong anyway!).  Here's the translation:

God is our fun

He's our King

He's our Lord

For the Lord is our heart.

I love You Lord.

Hallelujah

God is powerful...

OK, so its a first draft, but the kid's 5!  Yes, I'm a real proud dad, and super-blessed by the wonderful kids that God has given me. 

Happy 4th Birthday Nathan

Last week we celebrated Nathan's 4th birthday. We had what he described as being "the best birthday party in his whole life". And it was. We played lots of fun games including a good ol' fashioned egg and spoon race - with real raw eggs! Here are a few photos from the party. Thanks again to family for the gifts you gave, and for those that we were able to get him on your behalf. He is enjoying his new clothes and a Playmobil Knights play set and just loves singing and dancing to his new Colin Buchanan cd.

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.

My Frugal Adventures

A friend of ours recently got us into game of "coupon clipping". To explain what I mean by this; manufacturers will often advertise with coupons, offering a discount to encourage shoppers to purchase their products. So the game, is then to cut out coupons from the newspaper or print them from the internet and work them in such a way that you leverage an already good retail promotion, by working them both together. I've only been doing it for a week or so now, and here are today's purchases.

At Target, we spent $10.41 for all of the the products pictured below!

Here's how it all worked:

Target was running a store promotion where if you bought 4 Special K items, that you would get a $5 gift card. We also had two "Save $1 off 1 box of cereal" coupons and one "buy 2, get $1 off" cereal bars coupons, so the net result was

2 boxes of Special K Blueberry Cereal for $2.78

2 boxes of Special K breakfast bars for $3.78

Total: $6.56 

With the $5 gift card, we put it towards our ice-cream bargain extravaganza:

Target had a promotion where by if you bought 5 Edy's (aka Dreyer's) ice-cream tubs or Frozen fruit bars, you would get yes, another $5 Target gift card. To add to this, we also had five "$1 off" coupons for these products that are usually $3.99 but were on sale for $2.50.

It worked out as follows:

4 tubs of premium ice-cream @ $1.50 each

1 box of all natural frozen fruit bars @ $1.50

Total: $7.50, less the $5 gift card from the Special K promo =  net total of $2.50!!!!)

Then, we had a coupon for "save $4 off a participating Schick shaving product". Clayton happens to use the Schick Quattro razor (4 blades), and had been putting off buying refill blades due their expense. With this $4 off coupon, and the $5 Target gift card from the ice-cream transaction, we paid just 35 cents for a 4 pack of Titanium blades, a product that is usually $9.94!!!!

At Dominic's (aka Safeway), we bought the following for just $7.95 with $18.29 in total savings derived from manufacturer coupons and a great store promotion on cereal.

At K-Mart they were doubling coupons, so this meant that a $2 off coupon became a $4 saving! Here, the following products pictured below were purchased for just under $30. Doesn't sound quite as outrageous as my other purchases above, but actually, some of the items purchased are typically very expensive. Some highlights include: Jumbo pack of Huggies for $2.26, 3 FREE liquid hand soap pumps, and Scotch pop-up tape with dispenser for 19 cents.

Thank you LORD!!! 

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. 

Recent pics of the boys

To see more photos, visit my Facebook Photo Album.

Abundant Blessing

Most readers of this blog will already be aware that over the last few months we have felt God challenge us to step out in faith and begin raising financial support in order to ensure that we will remain here until I finish the PhD. This has been an incredibly daunting step for us. The bottom line is we don't like asking for money - in fact I think very few people do. However, we have been greatly encouraged by the generosity of those that have decided support us and by the growing number of random one off financial gifts. God has truly been gracious to us. He continues to provide just as he always has.

We deeply appreciate His goodness and our family and friends who support us with prayer, encouragement and finances.

Thankful,
Clayton

What's the point Dad?

This semester I've been taking an external subject at the University of Chicago on the gospel of Mark. This is an important part of my training because the University of Chicago is generally acknowledged as quite a liberal school, so its helping to acquaint me with the sorts of things that are said about Mark and more generally about Scripture from that perspective. Overall its been a positive experience and there have been some good discussions in class. I have a presentation to do on tuesday on the last twelve verses and was trying to explain my approach to Ange the other night after a day of work on it. Judah was listening "patiently" but broke in at one point and said "What's the point Dad?" A great question. I realised that it was a really good time for me to take a deep breath and try to explain what I was doing simply (to see if in fact there WAS a point). So I explained that while Daddy's "job" (we might use the broader term "calling" but my kids are still under the impression that I have a job like other Dads...) usually involves telling people about the bible to help them understand it better, next week Daddy will be talking to a group of people who know an awful lot about the bible but who don't believe that its God's Word in the same way that we do. He understood and I asked him how he thought I should approach the presentation. What should I tell them?

His answer: "Love Jesus." Another great answer. I pressed him for more and got the following: "The bible is God’s word. When we read the bible its God speaking not us speaking, because he wrote it. You know this. So you’d better believe it or you’ll be punished. I think they’ll believe it when they hear the punish part."

I couldn't stop grinning and affirmed him lavishly. What a refreshing end to a long day!

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.

A bit of a brag...

Nathan and Jordan still take a decent nap each afternoon, so Judah and I will sometimes get a little quality time together if I'm not preparing dinner or cleaning up after everyone. Today we were working on Judah's reading and made some great progress. After about 20 minutes, he was starting to loose focus, so we started to play a game where I would write a word that he'd not read before based on some of the concepts that we'd just learned, then he had to draw a picture of the word that he had just read. It was so wonderful to see the delight that he had each time he worked out the word. I was so proud that I had to take a photo of it to show you all. He had a bit of trouble with 'robot' as it wasn't really working with anything that we'd just learnt. But don't you just love the pictures? I was interested with how he'd do with drawing an abstract word like 'think'. I think he did pretty well.




And here's a picture of the family that Nathan drew while we were out and about. It's on the back of a bank statement that I had in my handbag - which explains the shape of the paper and the barcode. Child psychologist and loving aunty Georgie says that the presence of hands and fat little fingers, as well as a defined body shape (rather than limbs coming off a big head) are all signs of progress in his cognitive development.

A beautiful song

This is Nathan singing a song that he learnt at pre-school. It is a beautiful song of thankfulness that he likes to sing around the house - it really reflects his heart as he is a very greatful and appreciative little boy. 

Happy 1st Birthday Jordan

I can hardly believe that it has been a year since Jordan entered the world. My only sadness, is that his family back home have not been able to share our joy in watching him grow and have missed out on getting to know him. I thought that I would share a little on our lad...

Jordan Micah Coombs...

Everyday, you light up my world. You are the source of so much joy and delight, and your smile always brightens my day. You are so cute and cuddly. I find you simply delicious! 

You're a curious little boy who likes to explore. You are very independent and seem content to wander around the house playing without me following you. 

You are loving and affectionate and love to give hugs and kisses. You are thrilled when daddy comes home, and will walk as quickly as you can to greet him at the door and will hold his leg until you are picked up and hugged. You LOVE your brothers and you're not afraid to wrestle a little with them either. 

You're a contented little boy and it is a great blessing to me that you rarely fuss or cry for anything. What a wonderful thing it is to have you happy to go shopping or on walks in the stroller with me. 

You are well loved Jordan Micah, and we are so grateful to God for giving you to us.

Here are a few recent pictures from a little photo shoot we had on the Easter weekend - a week before his birthday.

Breaking Bread

I've taken up a new hobby - baking bread. I've tried a number of different recipes, each one better than the last. Most have been pretty disappointing in terms of their crust colour and texture - very dull and lifeless. Like my dad, I enjoy a good crunchy golden coloured crust and a soft, chewy inside. This weekend I struck gold. I stumbled across a new technique and the results were extremely satisfying.

Here's how it turned out:





For those of you who are interested, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two.
1 1/2 tsp salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature.
2. The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Dust a clean dish towel with flour, and wheat bran or cornmeal if desired. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees F. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

Enjoy!

Jordy and George

Jordan at 11 months squeals with delight and chuckles as he plays with his toy monkey, Curious George. He is very fond of this little guy and like to hug him in bed.

Nathan's Bible Tales

You may remember two years ago, footage we took of Judah at 3 years old "reading" the bible.
Well now, here are a few snippets of Nathan telling a few bible stories at 3 and half.



Here's a reminder of Judah at 3 doing a similar thing.

"Is not fire - is only bell"

Feb 28 was Judah's birthday (well for those who remember its actually the 29th but that doesn't come around all that often). We had decided to celebrate at Chuck E Cheese's (A cross between timezone and pizza hut - always a hit with kids) with some of his friends from pre-school. We had to get away by 9.30am and while we didn't think that would be too much of a challenge, we realised that unexpected things can always pop up, so we made good preparations the night before. We had left baking the cake until the morning because Ange wanted to make a giant chocolate chip cookie for the cake and well fresh is best, but everything else was prepared and we went to bed. After a skype call to family first thing in the morning we decided it was high time to make the cookie cake, and that's where things began to go wrong...

You see, the recipe called for two cups of cookie dough, but wanting to make sure it was a winner we had bought pre-made dough in a plastic tub. A brief argument ensued as to what proportion of this tub represented two cups. I won't say who argued which position because it simply isn't important. We together decided to just dump the whole tub onto a flat baking tray and put it in the oven. What could be simpler...?

Several minutes later things were going really well. The lump of dough had spread into a nice flat and perfectly round cookie exactly as big as the (flat) tray (with no sides)...but there were still several minutes to go - it clearly wasn't yet cooked. It kept spreading. And then smoke started pouring out of the oven, because as it spread it dripped over the sides of the (flat) tray (with no sides) and down onto the base of the oven where it began to burn. Very soon the kitchen was full of smoke. The next thing to happen should not have been unexpected, but smoke alarms are designed to be shocking and this was no exception. I swished smoke vainly and visited each of the smoke alarms in turn to see if I could remove a battery or rip them off the wall or something. No luck. This is college housing and this was a college installed system and I think somebody had already thought of that. Ah - that's it. Call the college switch. I dialled the number and patiently tried to explain. "I'm really sorry, we were doing some cooking and the smoke alarms have gone off. There is no fire, but I can't turn the alarms off...(all the while I could hear Basil Fawlty in the back of my mind "Is not fire, is only bell!"). "I'll send the officer" came the curt reply. I was about to explain that we didn't want to cause any trouble and if she could only give me the clue as to how to turn the blasted things off the officer need not come - but she had hung up. Well the officer arrived (very quickly) and we patiently explained what I'd told the girl on the phone. "I'm going to have to get you to evacuate the building" he said calmly. "What?!" I said. (Now I could See Basil Fawlty in my mind's eye as well as hear him. It was all I could do to stop myself from saying "NO. Is not fire. Is only bell!") "I'm really sorry about this" the officer explained "but once those alarms go off there's nothing we can do. The fire department will be here soon and technically they own this building until they reset the alarms. Please leave the house now." I'm pretty sure he doesn't have kids. We were all in our pyjamas and it was -8 C outside. Did he want us to just go and stand in the snow on the front "lawn"? What planet was this guy on? We got into our coats and boots. I'd hate to think what would have happened had it actually been urgent. I went and started the car and turned the heater on. We evacuated the kids there. By that time the fire department had come and some very important men in very important uniforms were bustling about. Even as I picked up Jordan and took him to the car one of them brushed by me. As he did he said in a very important voice into a very important device "Confirm - cooking smoke - over." Um duh. Actually he was very nice and when they were leaving he turned and said to me. "Where are you from?" (Come on Mick bring out Croc Dundee 4 - these people are forgetting our accent!). "Australia" I answered. He brightened. "Well when I get off my shift, I'll have to go and put the wobbly boot on" he quipped with a knowing wink. You folks have a good day." And he was off. Americans, Australians - any help on that one? What the heck's the wobbly boot?!

So back to the story. The cake still wasn't cooked. Nobody was dressed and we had five minutes to leave. Incredibly we almost managed it. I say almost for two reasons. The first is that we took about ten. The second is that the last thing we had to do before we left was to grab the cake. Unfortunately, we were now in a hurry. Hastily Ange grabbed the precious cookie which wasn't quite ready to be ripped off the tray. It prompty disintegrated all over her and all over the floor. She had to change.

It could only happen to the Coombs'.

Judah's birthday was a hit by the way. He had a great time and so did his friends. Now for those who have been as puzzled about my Basil Fawlty allusions as I was about the wobbly boot - here's some context. Enjoy.

Another Jordan update

So out littlest man is almost 10 months old now. He continues to bring us so much joy and has at long last been sleeping better at night. Jordy took his first steps almost 2 months ago and has not looked back since. Although still a little wobbly, he's walking all over the place. Naturally, he's into everything - especially the things that we don't want him to be into! He's now calling me 'mama', Clayton 'dada' and is saying 'baba' when he waves goodbye.

It's been a while since I last took footage of Jordan and I realised that I hadn't captured any of him walking. Here's a little snippet I took tonight before he went to bed.

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!

Meal Time Praises

Selfish yet self-aware

Dad: OK boys. One story before bed and tonight its my turn to pick.
Both boys: Ohhhhhh!
(Ange reminds me that it is in fact Nathan's turn to pick)
Dad: New plan - Nathan gets to choose one story.
Judah: Ohh that's not fair!
Dad: OK then, you be the answer man. How would you make it fair? There's one story and two boys - and its gotta be fair for everyone. What would you do?
Judah: Well.....if I was a man...
Dad: yes...
Judah: If I was a man, then I'd say one boy gets to pick each night.
Dad: Exactly.
Judah: But if I was a boy, I'd say I get to pick every night!

What a great response! In the meantime Nathan has picked a story.

Dad: Now you know the difference between being a boy and being a man. Let's read...

Jordan at 7 months

Today Jordan started free standing for the first time. He had been doing it a lot, so I just had to pull out the camera to video it. I only managed to capture him standing once very briefly, but here it is. In other developments, yesterday he said his first word! No it wasn't 'mama' or 'dada', instead it was 'brother'. It happened directly after Judah affectionately said of Jordan, "I love my brother." To Clayton and Judah's shock, Jordan then responded, "bra-ba" (or something to that effect). When prompted to repeat this numerous times later, he did, and to his delight, continues to receive tremendous praise and encouragement from his cheer squad. While recording this footage, I tried to get him to say it again, but as you will see he's a little pre-occupied and makes an attempt of sorts.

Wunkle Nunkle Gedunkle

Read on - trust me. This is hilarious and very precious at the same time. No the words in the title are not from my vocab list for German!

Nathan was repeating this phrase tonight and other delightful gibberish. I wasn't paying much attention - he is the sort of person that says silly words all the time, and for what its worth...so am I. But he was trying to get my attention with his prattle. When he finally did I grinned at the words. He grinned right back at me and said "Maybe God will give ˆyouˆthose sounds next time Dad." Suddenly I understood. Several nights ago when I was putting them to bed I was praying for them and lapsed into tongues. They have often heard us pray this way but this time Nathan was particularly intrigued. He asked me about it and I explained that God gives us the words to help us pray and that maybe oneday God would help him pray the same way as he helps me.

Now that I was finally on his wavelength, Nathan begged cheekily "Say 'sugarmamadoodle' to me Dad - say 'sugarmamadoodle!'

Classic...

PS: To the non-charismatic readers of this blog I am recording this primarily because it was incredibly cute, not because I am in a hurry to conclude that my three year old is speaking in tongues!

PPS: To the charismatic readers of this blog I need to further clarify that I do not rule out this possibility nor indeed the exercise of any spiritual gift on the basis of age. The Gift of the Spirit and the Spirits gifts are for kids too! After all the kingdom of heaven belongs to "such as these."

More fun with autumn leaves

We've had some pretty chilling weather already, with our first light snow fall in late October. The past few days have brought a welcome change, with blue skies, sunshine and pleasant temperatures. This morning, after we had dropped Judah to preschool, Nathan thought that it would be a fun idea to draw outside with chalk. We've been warned that we need to make the most of the outdoors while we can - so we did. Here was our morning. Just click on the picture below.

Fall Leaves

A few more pictures.

Some cute pictures I took of Jordan with a baby pumpkin.

Nathan loves dressing up and goofing around.

Apple Pie

Every Friday is family night. I like to bake something special with the boys in the afternoon in preparation for our special night. It helps build their anticipation and it's a fun thing to do together. On this particular Friday night we baked our very first apple pie and it was really yummy.




Leftovers...

A few images of our Fall and a day at the 'farm'

Images of 'Fall' here at Wheaton. Just a few snaps I took on a walk we took last week.





The following pics were taken at a 'Pumpkin Farm'. Forgot to take pictures of all those stunning orange pumpkins.

Jordan's first pony ride. 

A few of my favourite 'Fall' things

Sure, each day holds its moments of stress and frustration, but I've been discovering how life's little simplicities can deliver great delight if you stop to let them.

Wheaton in the Fall is simply magnificent. Each time I drive my children to preschool, my heart is warmed by the gorgeous trees that line our streets. Striking red, orange and yellow leaves fall gently on well-kept lawns. The air is fresh and crisp, yet the skies are blue and the sun is shining. Today I went for a walk with my boys to collect sticks for kindling. Nathan picked up an autumn leaf from the ground and presented it to me, "A BEaUtiful flower for you mama." He knows how much I love the leaves, so in a way they are like flowers. It's just funny when he chooses the dirty brown ones.

There's something about the fall here that just makes me feel all sentimental. The autumn leaves are a big part of it, but it's truly fascinating to watch the little squirrels scampering here and there, gathering up stores of food for the winter.

Sharing a home baked pumpkin pie with my family certainly warms my heart, but it's the crackling fire, sharing a hot cuppa (and another slice of pie) with Clayton once the kids have finally gone to bed, and things like stopping to invite a lady bug to crawl on my sons hand. 


I feel like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music when she sang about her favourite things...

When the kids fight
When my sleep's broke
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favourite things
And then I don't feel, so bad.

In a chaotic and uncertain world, it's good to stop and reflect on the simple blessings that God has for us to enjoy.