Merry Christmas to all....

As this year draws to a close we would like to wish all who read our blog

A very Merry Christmas and a happy and fun-filled New Year

We would also like to remind everyone not to lose the real meaning of Christmas in all the excitment of shopping and presents and food

Remember that Jesus is the real reason for the season -

His birth to a virgin mother, in a lowly manger in Bethlehem.

His visitors of angels, shepherds and wise men.

His life, His ministry, His death on a cross

All so we could be saved from our sins.

What an amazing God, Father and Saviour we have!

Lake Tabourie - 28-31 December & 2-5 January - YeeHaa!

I thought i should actually write something in a posting today instead of just putting up pretty pictures! So if you look at this over the next few days and your coming to Tabazza let me know when you'll be down.

Also, to everyone going on Summer School, The Real Thing or one of the many Beach Missions, you are amazing for giving up your holidays to spread the good news of our Lord, we hope you have a great time and that God makes your time away both fruitful for you and those you are ministering to.

Until next time...

Only 1 week to go...I am so excited!!!

Well he's not mine....

Jesus is the reason for the season.

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Matthew 1:21

What motivates people?

I've been thinking a lot lately about motivation. What motivates people to do the things they do?

What motivates a criminal to commit their next crime? What motivates a politician to take a bribe? What motivates a man to travel from the Blue Mountains to Sydney, every working day, for 20 years of his life? What motivates a recovering alcoholic to take that first drink? What motivates a happily married man with children to throw it all away for one night with a prostitute? What motivates people to spend their whole life believing and following Jesus, only to one day turn their back on it all? What motivates us to keep striving to live a perfect life when we know we'll only fail because we are sinners? What motivated Jesus to come down from heaven as a man, live on earth for 33 years, and then die a horrible painful death on a cross to save the very people whose sins put him there?

Hate? Power? Greed? Fear? Lust? Pain? Anger? Faith? Love?

I just don't know....

This week's update...all about Kristen!

Not much happening on the home front this week....the work front is a different matter! Everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong! And with Lindsay away and me being the "boss", i'm the one that has to deal with it! From a flight being booked for the wrong day to laptop not starting i have dealt with lots of mishaps and i think i've handled it pretty well.....correction - i think God has allowed me to handle it pretty well! Believe me there were moments when i thought i was going to lose it (and one when i did andslammed the phone directory on the ground) but apart from that one slip God allowed me to show patience beyond what i thought i could and gave me calm words when dealing with frustrating people - how great is our God!

PRAISE:
* For God's allowing me to grow through times of trials and stress.
* For giving me Scott to vent to after a crappy day at work!

PRAY:
* For ongoing patience at work - especially dealing with those frustrating people.
* For continued stress-free wedding planning (it's all so much fun, i love it!!!)

As Summer so peotically put it "Give a hoot don't pollute!"

Til next time....

By the way, thanks for all the comments - i really enjoy reading them :o)

Take a minute...you'll be glad you did!

Adam...I take your car and raise you a bus!

Click on the heading - it's a link.

Check it out...looks like the bus has gone into the units - but it didn't!

ps. No bus drivers were seriously injured in the making of this accident.

I'm a Manager!!

It's been a while since i've blogged....i've actually been doing some work....shock horror!!! So i'll fill you in on what's been happening lately:

Been doing lots of wedding preparation - enagement party is booked and invites are done, wedding date has been chosen, church is booked, minister is booked, reception is booked, honeymoon destination has been chosen, and many lists have been made!! It's still fun :o)

Had a really awesome bible study last night. God is so good in the way He allows us small glimpses of His glory. And what about the amazing way He works through His people. We are so not worthy of that!

On the work front, Lindsay, the regular Office Manager, is away til the end of next week so we have a casual in to help me out with general office stuff...and i have to manage her workload!! What a scary thought! For once i am not the bottom of the office rung and it's a good feeling :o)

PRAY:

Kristen

• i have been unwell for a week, pray for endurance and patience through suffering.
• work has been very busy, pray for patience when dealing with people and that i will be wise with my use of time.
• pray that i might have unending patience when dealing with people and wedding stuff, especially my family.

Scott

• work is constantly improving with new head chef but still working long hours, pray for good rest when not at work and for good use of little free time.
• pray for patience with only 5 weeks left of tafe.

Til next time...write me a comment!!!

The news is great...

I would like to announce that as of yesterday afternoon at approximately 5:30pm, Scott and are engaged!! The wedding date is not yet set but we are looking at some time in December 2007...keep your ears open for updates.

The smile has not left my face, like i said...the news is GREAT!!!

Another boring week at work...

Another fun weekend...another boring week at work!

Went to Cirque Du Soile, Varekai with Jodi and Daniel on Thursday. It was totally amazing, awesome, mindblowing stuff - they are so talented!! Had a really great time hanging out with Jo and Dan, having dinner together and watching and paying out the freaky teenagers who were going to watch Panic at the Disco and were obviously in competition with each other to see who could wear the strangest outfit!!! Good times were had by all.

Also had a great time at Simon and Felicity's wedding on saturday afternoon, dancing, chatting, eating great food, and enjoying the general revelry - congratulations guys!

Prayer points:
Kristen - General weariness, both mental and physical. Mentally from work and physically from new fitness training program - feeling good but muscles hurting! Pray for renewed enthusiasm at work and for patience with other staff. Praise for positive results from fitness program, pray for continuing dedication to work through the pain!

Scotty - New boss at work has settled in well. Also hurting muscles from fitness program. Praise for healthier, more positive work environment with start of new head chef. Pray for continuing dedication with fitness program (he's only been to 3 out of 7 - naughty!!)

Black Stump...the dust bowl, not the restaurant!

Well Scott, Luke, Jess and I had an exciting weekend down at Black Stump, the Christian music festival. It was a weekend full of good bands, dust, funny comedians, dust, great converstations with old friends and made some new friends (Hi Andrew from New Zealand!), and a lot more dust...just in case we didn't already have enough! We went down there as 153FISH "the stall", sold some clothes and met some other nice ppl who also sold clothes - lots of clothes were sold, especially on saturday when it was cold and lots of ppl had forgotten to bring jumpers!!!

Some highlights were:
* Stephen Hilaire - a comedian who is absolutely brilliant. James, if you want to borrow the dvd i bought it on the weekend!
* Antiskeptic - always a great performance! Had the pleasure of meeting a chatting to Sean, who is a really nice guy and was sincerely interested in 153FISh and thought the name was very clever.
* Operation Mobilisation - an amazing mission opportunity different from any other i've heard of. If you want to know more just ask me!

Praise for a fun weekend of fellowship, music, and comedy. Praise for old friendships reunited and for new friendships forged. Praise that Scott was able to come down after work snd had a gerat weekend. Praise that 153FISH was well received into the wider Christian community :o)

Pray that we can continue the friendships that were made over the weekend. Pray for bands like Antiskeptic, that they can continue to use their influence over young music listeners to preach the word of God.

Til next time...write me comments!!!

Life and all that stuff...

I'm not exactly sure what you write on these things so i'm going to use it to update you on the goings on of myself and Scott. This way, u don't have to feel bad if you haven't seen us in a while!!

I'll start with me, Kristen. Work has been pretty stressful for me lately. I can't quite work out why it's such a busy time of the year, everyone i ask says "It just is!" Really not helpful, i know that already! So i've been here a few months now and i feel like i'm finally settled in. I know the processes around the office and i don't feel like the new girl - it's going ok. Apart from the busyness...I'm also recovering well from my car accident. Have been through wuite a bit of physio and a fair amount of pain over the past through months but the worst is over and it's all up from here! Please pray for me, that my health will continue to improve and that i will be carfeful not to aggrevate the injury.

I'm also very excited cos we finally start our softball season this week - should be big laugh :o)

Scotty has also had some stressfullness at work lately. They are currently between Head Chefs so alot of the cooking responsibility has fallen to the 2 first year apprentice chefs, that's alot to handle when you've only been in the industry for 8 months! But they are coping and the new Head Chef start soon so that should mean for a better work situation. He's very much enjoying the job which is exciting, and he's also finding tafe is pretty easy, especially when his wonderful girlfriend helps him get full marks for his assignments! Please pray for Scott as he adjusts to working with a new boss, that all involved will be patient and understanding with each other.

So life's pretty good at the moment - it's nice to have people such as Ben, Kathryn and Anna back in our lives and we are looking forward to building on those relationships. Please pray for us as we do this.

So that's me for today, until next time :o)

Welcome to...

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF KRISTEN AND SCOTT!

Proudly sponsored by Kristen's work computer and brought to you by the letter P and by the number 5.

Enjoy :o)