Finally Another Post

Dear friends & family,

If we are not told by friends and family in the US, or friends in Canada, we told by new friends and church family in Tassie: UPDATE YOUR BLOG! So we are. Finally.

What is there to update you on? Updating for one thing. We hope to update once a week or so.

Why?

Martha and I have been praying through a few things and resorting a few things. We've been examining our hearts and lives before the Lord and we have drawn up a new schedule for ourselves. We've been here in Tassie a little while now and the initial settling stage is over. Note that I said "initial."

Tassie is our home. Our church family is our new family. We belong here. We not only know it, but we feel it to the core of our bones too. But it sure does feel weird to be in December and not have any sleet, snow, or ice (and to our Oz friends, the mountain tops do not count). Plus, biological family is far away, and that is not an easy thing anytime of the year- but especially around Christmas. Thus, "initial."

Since November, Martha and I have gone out on a special picnic date (maybe it was a little before?), gone on several visits, and had several people over.

Our home has been decorated a bit and it truly is ours. There is still more to do in the guest room and nursery, but we are taking our time a bit on those. As you can see below, we already have many of the big things for the nursery and baby.

The garden is growing like crazy and there is a pic of that further down too.

I have been preaching on I Samuel in the morning and I John in the evening. Preaching is a constant battle, just as personal devotions are as well, but that is how it shall be as long as we are on pilgrimage here below. Though it is a challenge week by week, I would trade it for nothing in the world. I pray the Lord continues to provide strength and grace for the task.

The Tuesday night church Bible study on Colossians continues to go well, as does the once-a-month "Puritan" Bible study an hour up the Tamar river in George Town. We are currently taking a summer break from them though. Lord willing, we'll begin the church study again the middle of January and the George Town study the middle of February.

Christmas holidays will be spent with Rev. Iain Smith (my Scottish counterpart in Hobart) and his wife Mary. It will be nice to spend a few days with them at their vacation "shack" (that's a holiday house in Tassie) and do some fishing too.

We miss you all very much and we hope to begin the once-a-week-or-so updates in the New Year.

Lord's Blessings to you all.

terry

P.S. Martha here - just want to thank you for the kind comments on last post and let you know that we DID have another pumpkin pie, a scrumptious pumpkin cheesecake, and pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing too. The pie and cake were shared at church Bible studies. Many of our friends were surprised at how good the pumpkin desserts were. The universal reaction was, "This tastes kind of like carrot cake!" It's the spices you use with pumpkin - cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, mostly, that bring that reaction. Anyways, it was great. And thanks again, Mom, for the can of pumpkin. It was a treat for all. :D

Here is our organ! It was given to us by a good friend and member of our church family. It is such a blessing to have it. The organ is very helpful for Martha to learn the Psalm tunes they use here as well to sing our old favorites we would not otherwise have opportunity to. Note that this is the unfinished guest room. Martha decided it was a little... TOO... pink. So it's awaiting a repainting for now.

Here is our little wardrobe in the nursery full of all sorts of goodies that were given to us!

From left to right, a pram (stroller), high chair, and rocking seat that we got from some friends for a very reasonable price.

Here is the cot (crib) we got from them as well. The picture does not do it justice!

This is our garden. On the far left is the corn, and it is over 6 ft. tall! Then proceeding right, potatoes (the foilage growing to 4 feet or so), broccoli (yielding heads over 10 inches across), and tomato plants covered in growing fruit. Off pic there are 4 lettuce plants producing so much we cannot keep up, and capsicums (green peppers), carrots, and a few silverbeets (spinach-type stuff) on the way.

Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!!

Our first Thanksgiving in Australia was a smashing success. We weren't sure how it would all come together. We weren't big enough a family to eat a whole turkey, and turkey is mega-expensive around here. Plus, I don't know how to cook turkey. Aside from that problem, there was the problem of lack of canned goods like cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie filling. What were we to do?

The first problem of not having enough people to feel like a gathering was solved when we arranged on Sunday to have one of the families from church over sometime during the week. Why not have them over Thursday for a genuine American holiday? We didn't know this family too well but a holiday meal is a great way to get to know someone in a cheery environment. I mean, unless all the food burns it's bound to be a happy time.

Of first concern, then, was to make a pumpkin pie. It's a bit of a problem on a couple counts. Not only is there no pumpkin pie filling, but pumpkins are used totally differently in Australia. There are several kinds of pumpkin here, but the only ones to be found in Woolworth's or Coles (the two major grocery store chains here) are short and squat and have bluish-gray skin. It's weird. Plus, the meat is more thick and fibrous - and it's really hard to cut. The pumpkins are generally eaten as part of a baked meal with a roast, along with potatoes and green beans and such. Otherwise, Australians have it in pumpkin soup.

If you don't mind a bit of a bunny trail, I have a quirk about the pumpkins here. When I first visited Australia, I had pumpkin soup at someone's house and rather liked it. But shortly after moving here, I decided to try to make my own. Well, I loosely followed directions from a lady in the grocery store... not a recipe. And I think I used a bit too much onion. And I was pregnant. Perhaps it was a combination of these three factors, but I soon came to loathe the pumpkin soup in particular and baked pumpkin in general. To the point that on one sunny morning during my first trimester, Terry mentioned the pumpkin in our fridge that someone had given us and I promptly turned sick and threw up my breakfast neatly into the cereal bowl. Terry was impressed... but I digress. The point is that I wasn't sure I could handle baking pumpkin again.

Well, I was bound and determined that we WOULD have pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, come what may, so we bought the smallest wedge of pumpkin we could find and cooked it up Wednesday night. So far so good. I think knowing it would turn into something yummy helped, as well as keeping the kitchen well aerated. While at the store, we also picked up a 1kg turkey loaf. It was $17, as opposed to the whole turkeys that were close to $50. And though there were no fresh cranberries available, thankfully there were frozen ones. At least I could make a cranberry relish! Aside from that and the fresh veggies, I succumbed to having instant stuffing and instant gravy - after all we couldn't exactly stuff the loaf or gather loaf drippings.

Because the pumpkin meat is a little more squash-ish than our normal orange pumpkins, we weren't sure how it would turn out. But it turned out beautiful - even better than the picture, though not quite as neat since the crust was not store-bought. The guests, who had never had such a thing and confessed that it sounded rather distasteful, really liked it and had seconds too! I was really happy to be introducing the more scrumptious side of pumpkin eating to our Aussie friends. I'll have to bring pumpkin pie to church picnics.

The ironic thing is that once the pie was baking in the oven on Thanksgiving Day, what do you think came in the mail but a can of pumpkin from my thoughtful mother-in-law in Michigan?! We had discussed the pumpkin dilemma here a few days earlier and she sent it out fast. Well, it wasn't used for that pumpkin pie, but we'll just have to make more! And there are lots of other yummy things you can do with pumpkins; I remember the year we Lipsy's made the pumpkin roll pictured below and how amazing it was. Besides, I'm eyeing a recipe for marbled pumpkin cheesecake too.... yum!

We hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving. We are certainly thankful for all of you, our friends and family far and near. Thanks so much for your prayers for the three of us and for your love shown in lots of little ways. We are certainly blessed of God and He deserves all our praise and thanksgiving!

Well, well, about time I got on the blog! I've had several blog posts in my head that never got published due to the odds and ends that take up the time you thought you had. In the realm of exciting news, though, I must mention that I heard baby's heartbeat for the first time on Monday!! It was absolutely amazing and I couldn't stop grinning afterward.

In other good news, you may be interested in this tidbit coming from Iraq. It's something you most likely didn't read about in your local newspaper. The credits for this article go to Gary Bauer, an excellent and godly man who reports American news via email, focusing on items that would interest American citizens with traditional values. Enjoy!

Good News

There is good news coming out of Iraq that you may not have heard about.
Here is the opening line from a New York Times report last week: “American
forces have routed Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the Iraqi militant network,
from every neighborhood in Baghdad, a top American general said today,
allowing American troops involved in the ‘surge’ to depart as planned.”

One would think such success stories would be front page news.
Unbelievably, the Times buried this report on page A19. What else was in
the story? Murders are down 80%, attacks from improvised devices are down
70% and 67,000 Iraqi citizens have volunteered to join the security forces.
According to Major General Joseph F. Fil, Jr., “The Iraqi people have just
decided that they’ve had it up to here with violence.”

As a result of this success, U.S. troops are coming home. Saturday,
American commanders announced that the Third Brigade is leaving Diyala
province, reducing the number of U.S. brigades in Iraq to 19. Four more
brigades are expected to leave Iraq by the summer. According to the
Associated Press, “The total number of U.S. troops will likely go from 167,
000 now to 140,000-145,000 by July…”

Bit of an Update

Dear friends & family,

Well after having a few posts of mostly pictures it is time to fill you in a bit on life here in the Montifiore Manse.

As I write I am waving to my lovely wife as she waters the bushes in front of my window in todays last rays of the October Spring sunshine. The rose bushes are coming along. The lemon tree almost died due to a few late frosts, but with the quick work of my friend Pat Connors, some chicken poop, sea weed, and mulch, the lemon tree is making a recovery. Plus we now have a genuine vegie patch with carrots, tomatoes, sweet corn (yum!), potatoes, broccoli, and a couple different types of beans.

Our living room is almost complete. Some firends here have given us some beautiful and wonderfully comfortiable furniture. We recently picked up a couple lamps, coffee table, and end tables, all at very reasonable prices.

We have also been noticing that spiders have been attempting to invade the manse. Inside we have only found some little spiders and Daddy Long Legs, but in our garden shed I found a Red Back. A Red Back spider is very poisonopus and can even be deadly, but deaths are not common, and every hospital in Australia has antidotes to Red Back bites. No sightings of the large, and not aggressive or dangerous, Huntsmen Spider though.

Martha and I have been entertaining a bit of late as well. Hopefully we will be able to do more of it! We have had a few people over for meals, a cup of coffee, and some friends just drop by. It is a tremendous privledge and blessing to share our new home and all the marvelous things the Lord has given as we seek to get to know and serve the people here.

This past Sabbath's morning was an especially special and blessed time. We had 5 people become members of the church, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper. The message was from Mark 1:16-20 on the effectual calling of Christ, dropping our old lives, and following Him. The marvelous work of Christ in calling His people ran like a thread through the whole service.

Well I should continue on.

The Lord's blessings be upon you.

Love through Christ,
terry

Tasmanian Wedding Re-celebration Pics !

On September 8th both churches in the SPC (Launceston and Hobart) threw a wedding re-celebration party for Martha and me. The re-celebration was a kind of second wedding reception.

The reception was held in the Tasmanian midlands at the town of Ross. Ross is an old town that is home to the oldest convict bridge in Australia. The bridge has several portraits carved in its stone and the Ross museum claims one of the portraits is of "the Protestant Philosopher" John Calvin. Ross is also a bit of a touristy town with an old church, some preserved homes, and the former "Female Factory" or women's prison.

The re-celebration was held in the Ross town hall.

We had a truly blessed time of friendship and fellowship that truly made us feel at home and part of the family.

Here we are outside the town hall. It was a little chilly so I loaned Martha my suit coat.

Here we are outside an old church in Ross, which sadly, is really just a relic for tourists.

The inside of the church is beautiful and especially so with my bride in it!

From the church we entered the hall to a large reception of friends and church family. Then we sat down together and all watched a DVD recording of our wedding ceremony projected up on a screen in the town hall.

Pat Connors, an elder from the Launceston congregation, was the MC for the re-celebration. The Lord has given him a mind, personality, sense of humor, and amazingly good looks necessary for the task.

My counter part in Hobart Pastor Iain Smith gave a devotional message to us from the Word. He was only given about 3 minutes notice by the MC, in true Tasmanian fashion.

The Lorraine Ten Haaf, a friend and member of the Laqunceston congregation, read apoem for us she wrote for the special occasion.

There was plenty of wonderful tucker (Oz for food)

During the meal they projected all selection of wedding and reception pictures on the screen.

The wedding cake was a traditional Australian Fruit Cake. I had fun opting for an alternate way of cutting the cake.

But we settled on the traditional approach.

Cup of tea with cake

After cake it was present time. One of the many lovely gifts was a painting given to us by the whole Hobart congregation. The painting is of our home "the Montifiore Manse" and it was done by a well recognized artist, and member of the Hobart congregation, Mollie Tomlin.

There was a whole table full of gifts and cards.

As we were about to leave confetti was tossed.

We found our car had been decorated while we were opening gifts.

Pulling out and rattling as we go.

Notice the little dog chasing us. He followed us almost all the way out of Ross. He was amazingly cute.

The dog is still following.


And he is still following.

Some Long Awaited WEDDING PICTURES !!!!

Here are some pictures from our wedding. They roughly flow through the ceremony and end with a couple pictures from the reception. Lord willing, next week we'll be able to put up some pictures of the wedding re-celebration the SPC congregations had for us here in Tassie.

Rev. Ray Lanning, myself, and my groomsmen entered from a door on the far right (off picture). The groomsmen are (left to right & bottom to top) Randy Pederson, Bert Pohl, Todd Munson, and Aaron Rozeboom.

The bridesmaids entered after the grandparents and parents were seated. The first of the amazingly beautiful bridesmaids was Martha's older sister Joanna.

The second amazingly beautiful bridesmaid was Martha's younger sister Lydia.

The third amazingly beautiful bridesmaid was Martha's other younger sister Esther.

The last, but certainly not least, amazingly beautiful bridesmaid was Martha's youngest sister Elisabeth.

Martha's older brothers Daniel and Peter unroll the runner.

Martha's youngest brother Nathanael (otherwise known as "Buddy") and cousin Lanae were the ring bearer and flower girl.

The ring bearer and the flower girl walking down the isle.

My wonderful bride and her father preparing to walk down the aisle.

Presenting the bride.

Me gladly accepting the bride!

Listening with the audience as Rev. Lanning explains why we are here today and its significance.

Rev. Lanning bringing the Word of God.

Martha's father Rev. David Lipsy performing the ceremony.

Exchanging the rings

Our mothers lighting the candles that symbolize my and Martha's lives. My mother is on the right and Martha's mother is on the left.

Martha and I lighting the "unity candle" symbolizing the joining of our lives together.

Rev. Lipsy pronouncing the blessing

Lifting the veil

Our first kiss, literally

Walking back down the aisle as husband & wife !!

The Lipsy family with Martha and me

Martha and I with my mother, sister, and step-father. Sadly, my father could not get time off for the wedding, but he was in our thoughts and hearts.

The bridal party

Bride, bridesmaids, and flower girl

Groom, groomsmen, and ring bearer

Martha and I with her mom and dad (on the left) and my mom and step-dad (on the right)

Martha and I with Rev. and Mrs. Lanning (Ray & Linda)

Just cute !

Enjoying the reception


Cutting the cake