Got the results of my glucose tolerance test today at the midwife appointment and it was all good! So I don't have pregnant diabetes and I can keep eating normally. Thank God :)
So, whilst I probably won't be going on a massive sugar binge, some moderate celebration is in order!
Everything else seems to be going ok with Baby B. She's getting bigger! But all good so far. Thanks for all your prayers.
Community Gardens Tour
I went on a tour of Sydney community gardens today. It was organised by the council and it was free and lunch was provided! A bus took us around for the day and we visited four gardens in the inner suburbs.
I didn't get any pictures. But it was cool to meet lots of interesting people and get inspired. There were some wonderful old ladies at one place we visited. Their generosity was quite overwhelming and it really reminded me how things like that stand out.
I particuarly liked the Woolloomooloo garden which was really diverse (I think it was based around permaculture principles). They even have a coffee plant there! (and when the crop ripens they get it roasted at the local Toby's)
I didn't get any pictures. But it was cool to meet lots of interesting people and get inspired. There were some wonderful old ladies at one place we visited. Their generosity was quite overwhelming and it really reminded me how things like that stand out.
I particuarly liked the Woolloomooloo garden which was really diverse (I think it was based around permaculture principles). They even have a coffee plant there! (and when the crop ripens they get it roasted at the local Toby's)
Sage
I wonder who first thought of using sage in cooking? It must've been an accident. Sage is one of those weird herbs that smells and tastes completely foul when it is raw but totally changes when you cook it.We've been getting into sage quite a bit lately. I bought a small but very productive pot of it a while back and planted out about 20 little plants into my front garden (in amongst the flowers - I was going for a bit of a cottage garden look). Anyway, there's so much of it now that it's been fantastic and has inspired me to be a bit more adventurous in cooking with it.
I used to think 'what on earth do you do with Sage?'. I kind of knew it was supposed to be good with chicken but I couldn't imagine how! The only thing I used it for was frying leaves until crisp in a little butter and crumbling it over the top of my pumpkin risotto.
Then we discovered lemon parsley ricotta ravioli with sage and butter sauce. Mmm - a pain to make but worth trying! So that expanded my repertoire a bit more.
Last night we took a giant leap forward though. I had a craving for roast vegies and decided to do roasted chicken marylands to go with them. Such a good idea - you can stuff the herbs and garlic under the skin and because they're still relatively small pieces they don't take forever to cook (about an hour and a quarter, less if you panfry a bit first like I did).
It was amazing! I'm so using sage with chicken again sometime. And it was a really cool dinner. Takes a while, but cos it all goes in the oven it's really not that much effort. It's the perfect roast for when you can't be bothered doing a roast.
[photo courtesy of Stock Xchange - www.sxc.hu]
Sugar Mummy
When I had my checkup on Thursday they got me to do a 'sugar test'. Basically, it involved drinking a cup full of clear liquid which was pretty much as sweet as straight cordial (yes, I have tried it before) and then getting some blood taken an hour later. Ooh, as a side point - apparently the blood collecting lady is called a Phlebotomist - cool hey!
Anyway, so I did the sugar thing and the results came back as 'elevated'. This means I have to do a longer test to check out whether things are ok (some women develop gestational diabetes). I'm not too anxious about it, but I am hoping that it will turn out to be ok. It's not something to get too worried about (particularly as I haven't even had the full test yet) and it can be managed... it's just, well... I guess it would be nice if it was all ok!
Anyway, so I did the sugar thing and the results came back as 'elevated'. This means I have to do a longer test to check out whether things are ok (some women develop gestational diabetes). I'm not too anxious about it, but I am hoping that it will turn out to be ok. It's not something to get too worried about (particularly as I haven't even had the full test yet) and it can be managed... it's just, well... I guess it would be nice if it was all ok!
Picking small group leaders
Most churches want their small groups to be more than 'just a Bible study' but who you pick as a leader says lots about how you really think about the groups. If the main, or only, characteristic you're looking for beyond godliness is Bible knowledge/ability to teach, then it's not surprising if the small groups don't flourish in other ways.
It'd be cool to try picking leaders based on their hospitality or strength in relating to others or gift for evangelism.
It'd be cool to try picking leaders based on their hospitality or strength in relating to others or gift for evangelism.
Church Planting Bibliography
Ed Stetzer has just posted his Church Planting Bibliography on his blog. Shiny.
Kicking it old school
Your friend and mine, John Owen, gives these requirements for the profession of faith of anyone to be admitted as members of a local church:
• Competent knowledge of Jesus/the gospel
• Profession of submission to Jesus
• Consent to the doctrine of self-denial and bearing the cross
• Conviction and confession of sin and trust of deliverance in Jesus
• Faithful discharge of spiritual duties
• Care in avoiding sins
It's the third one that really struck me. It reminded me of Tim Chester's stuff on incremental discipleship. When I grow up I'd like to make sure that self-denial and bearing the cross is expected and taken seriously in my church.
• Competent knowledge of Jesus/the gospel
• Profession of submission to Jesus
• Consent to the doctrine of self-denial and bearing the cross
• Conviction and confession of sin and trust of deliverance in Jesus
• Faithful discharge of spiritual duties
• Care in avoiding sins
It's the third one that really struck me. It reminded me of Tim Chester's stuff on incremental discipleship. When I grow up I'd like to make sure that self-denial and bearing the cross is expected and taken seriously in my church.
Learning from the masters
While College has been on break I've been meeting with more church planters. Last week I met up with Shane Rogerson and this week I met up with Hans Kristensen and visited Wayne Pickford.
Each conversation was very different and they were all really helpful in their particular ways. Even if I wasn't working towards planting a church these conversations would have been incredibly valuable, the sort of thing that would be worth doing for anyone heading into ministry.
Meeting Wayne was crazy. The last bit of the highway into Wollongong is like the Southern Outlet but longer and Berkeley feels like home. On top of that I did adopt-a-block in a pretty rough street with one of the guys from the church. It was fun, eye opening and a bit scary. It's the clearest image I've had so far of what life might look like for us in the next couple of years.
Each conversation was very different and they were all really helpful in their particular ways. Even if I wasn't working towards planting a church these conversations would have been incredibly valuable, the sort of thing that would be worth doing for anyone heading into ministry.
Meeting Wayne was crazy. The last bit of the highway into Wollongong is like the Southern Outlet but longer and Berkeley feels like home. On top of that I did adopt-a-block in a pretty rough street with one of the guys from the church. It was fun, eye opening and a bit scary. It's the clearest image I've had so far of what life might look like for us in the next couple of years.
The Tour
The last few days have been awesome. We've had Simon and Mel (Nick's bro and his wife) staying with us and we've had a great time hanging out with them. In between lazing about with books and watching How I Met Your Mother we've been giving them the tour. The special Nick and Bron tour of Sydney. They'd both been here before so there's no point doing stuff like the Opera House, ferry rides, Watsons Bay etc. Sydneysiders might be horrified... but here's what we did:
They
arrived on Saturday morning and after a little rest we went for a walk to the Eveleigh Markets. Mmm, check it - Chorizo roll with tomato relish. Then we dragged them over to Shenkin in Erskineville. Shenkin is Nick's favourite cafe and the baristas - Israeli brothers Ben and Bar - know him well.
On the way home we managed to thoroughly confuse Mel about the geography of Newtown by taking all the backstreets. But we did get in a little visit to the community garden to pick up some eggplant to go with our olive bread for lunch. By grilling it and basting it with olive oil, garlic, chilli and herbs I managed to convert Mel to the eggplant. Seriously, you should try it. Later on, we feasted from the Sultan's Table and discovered How I Met Your Mother.
On Sunday there was more rest (these guys hadn't had a holiday in ages and they were tired!) and some not very good chicken soup. And we went to Church.
Monday they checked out the Botanical Gardens. Turns out Nick and I wrote it off because we only saw a little bit of it. Apparently it is much cooler than we thought. So that's good. Monday night we drove out to Ashfield in the pouring rain to demonstrate the lengths one should go to to get awesome dumplings. We had dumplings, dumplings and more dumplings followed by deep fried red bean pancake. Awesome.
I think by Tuesday we were all a bit full. I seem to remember there was Campos though. Oh, and that's right - we went to Redoak. How could I forget! Those of you who've been to Redoak before will know the joys of the India Pale, Oatmeal Stout, Irish Red Ale, Belgian Chocolate Stout, Blackberry Hefeweizen... oh how I could go on! Anyway, I still enjoyed it lots - albeit vicariously. (well, ok, I did have a little bit of the Belgian Chocolate one).
The Dessert Tour of the Inner West was the highlight of Wednesday. First off, Mel and I went to Urban Bites for Chai Latte to get the sugar flowing. Now, nicely warmed up, we all headed off for our road trip. The first stop was Haberfield where we sampled the awesome Ricotta Cannoli and visited the Cremeria (cheese shop) and the chocolate shop. Next stop was Petersham - little Portugal. Sadly, Sweet Belem was closed so no Portugese tarts. We have promised to send some back the next time someone visits us though.
Lastly, I knew I had to do Baklavah. But the problem is, I prefer the more moist Greek style Baklavah and according to Dan the best place to get that is San Souci... too far away that day. So, based on the name we decided to hit up the Hellenic Bakery in Marrickville. It wasn't perfect, but really, who needs perfection when you can buy a whole tray of Baklavah?!
We finished off the day with Thai for lunch and a quiet arvo before dropping them off at the airport. Oh yeah, and a sample of the rolled up Mozzarella with smoked salmon, spinach, olives and onion that I bought at the Cremeria in Haberfield. Sliced and grilled of course.
My dare to go head to head with Mel in a dessert match will have to wait for another day... perhaps one when I'm not pregnant! Whilst I maintain that I could 'dessert her under the table' - I kinda suspect that we're pretty evenly matched.
Well, there you go: good food and even better company! Thanks for coming guys - we really enjoyed having you around (and the excuse to go a bit crazy and enjoy some of the awesome food that Sydney has to offer)
They
arrived on Saturday morning and after a little rest we went for a walk to the Eveleigh Markets. Mmm, check it - Chorizo roll with tomato relish. Then we dragged them over to Shenkin in Erskineville. Shenkin is Nick's favourite cafe and the baristas - Israeli brothers Ben and Bar - know him well. On the way home we managed to thoroughly confuse Mel about the geography of Newtown by taking all the backstreets. But we did get in a little visit to the community garden to pick up some eggplant to go with our olive bread for lunch. By grilling it and basting it with olive oil, garlic, chilli and herbs I managed to convert Mel to the eggplant. Seriously, you should try it. Later on, we feasted from the Sultan's Table and discovered How I Met Your Mother.
On Sunday there was more rest (these guys hadn't had a holiday in ages and they were tired!) and some not very good chicken soup. And we went to Church.
Monday they checked out the Botanical Gardens. Turns out Nick and I wrote it off because we only saw a little bit of it. Apparently it is much cooler than we thought. So that's good. Monday night we drove out to Ashfield in the pouring rain to demonstrate the lengths one should go to to get awesome dumplings. We had dumplings, dumplings and more dumplings followed by deep fried red bean pancake. Awesome.
I think by Tuesday we were all a bit full. I seem to remember there was Campos though. Oh, and that's right - we went to Redoak. How could I forget! Those of you who've been to Redoak before will know the joys of the India Pale, Oatmeal Stout, Irish Red Ale, Belgian Chocolate Stout, Blackberry Hefeweizen... oh how I could go on! Anyway, I still enjoyed it lots - albeit vicariously. (well, ok, I did have a little bit of the Belgian Chocolate one).
The Dessert Tour of the Inner West was the highlight of Wednesday. First off, Mel and I went to Urban Bites for Chai Latte to get the sugar flowing. Now, nicely warmed up, we all headed off for our road trip. The first stop was Haberfield where we sampled the awesome Ricotta Cannoli and visited the Cremeria (cheese shop) and the chocolate shop. Next stop was Petersham - little Portugal. Sadly, Sweet Belem was closed so no Portugese tarts. We have promised to send some back the next time someone visits us though.
Lastly, I knew I had to do Baklavah. But the problem is, I prefer the more moist Greek style Baklavah and according to Dan the best place to get that is San Souci... too far away that day. So, based on the name we decided to hit up the Hellenic Bakery in Marrickville. It wasn't perfect, but really, who needs perfection when you can buy a whole tray of Baklavah?!We finished off the day with Thai for lunch and a quiet arvo before dropping them off at the airport. Oh yeah, and a sample of the rolled up Mozzarella with smoked salmon, spinach, olives and onion that I bought at the Cremeria in Haberfield. Sliced and grilled of course.
My dare to go head to head with Mel in a dessert match will have to wait for another day... perhaps one when I'm not pregnant! Whilst I maintain that I could 'dessert her under the table' - I kinda suspect that we're pretty evenly matched.
Well, there you go: good food and even better company! Thanks for coming guys - we really enjoyed having you around (and the excuse to go a bit crazy and enjoy some of the awesome food that Sydney has to offer)
Glorious Simplicity
Check out these beautiful photographs, now published, from a blog that I used to follow called Worksongs.
C.R.E.A.M.
I've been thinking about money lately. Partly inspired by my experiences at Castle Hill, partly from talking to Ben and partly from Mikey. Shane's just posted a reflection on it on his blog. Here are a couple of thoughts:
- Being stingy with money isn't the same as using it wisely. I reckon sometimes churches tend to be stingy rather than wise.
- If you really want to do something you'll always be able to get money to do it. Churches are full of people who are generous and willing to dig deep for a good idea.
- It's important to spend money on stuff that isn't directly ministry but will help enhance ministry.
- Spending money on something says that you think it's worth something. If everything you do is really budget then you're communicating that it isn't really worth my time.
- Don't wait until you have the money for something, you'll never get it until you stretch for it.
Dumpling Happiness
Another important thing happened while mission was on - I learned how to make dumplings. Bek taught me how to make little crescent shaped ones with pork filling. They were awesome! It's actually not that difficult. Well, it's a lot easier than making ravioli - which we also did. So when Nick came home on Friday for his day off I made a whole plateful of dumplings for our lunch. Ahh, dumpling happiness.
A piece of advice from mission
A pastor should always be reading about and talking to pastors of churches the next size up.
New Zealand beer appreciation
Last night a few of the guys from church sampled some awesome beers from NZ. It was a beautiful night. Todd, who is a freaking awesome butcher, hooked us up with NZ scotch fillet steaks and NZ wagu burgers. He also did the cooking for us. We also watched this video.
These are the beers we tried:
Mac's Spring Tide
Mac's Gold
Mac's Hop Rocker
Monteiths Red Ale
Moa 5 Hops
Moa Noir
I won't give tasting notes but Moa was the absolute standout. Mac's Hop Rocker was also choice as.
These are the beers we tried:
Mac's Spring Tide
Mac's Gold
Mac's Hop Rocker
Monteiths Red Ale
Moa 5 Hops
Moa Noir
I won't give tasting notes but Moa was the absolute standout. Mac's Hop Rocker was also choice as.
College Mission (aka Work Experience)
My mission team was out at St Paul's Castle Hill last week. My head is so full of things I don't know how to write about it. Maybe I'll just chuck out some stuff and you'll get a feel for it.
- About 40 people became Christians over the 8 days!
- St Paul's is big, apparently the biggest Anglican Church in Sydney, weighing in at around 1100 people
- They had a barrista come in every day at morning tea to make us coffee
- We were really superfluous. We didn't do anything that the church wasn't already totally equipped to do. It was more like work experience than helping a church out. Really the whole church just gave and gave to us
- Everyone I talked to loved Tasmania. Several of them want to move there
- Katie Gillespie is the kids worker and she's great. I'm beginning to think that the next paid staff member for our church plant should be a kids worker
- John Gray is the senior minister. He gave us so much of his time. On Monday morning he gave us two hours and permission to ask him anything. Throughout the week he was available to talk to and on Thursday night he and his wife Robyn had several of us over for supper.
- Talking with John was one of the big highlights for me. He had so much good advice and his outlook on things is open and godly and refreshing
- I was already convinced of the value of large churches but seeing it in action was something else
- I was billeted with Mike. We had a great time with our billets and Mike made me laugh so much I cried at least 4 or 5 times over the week.
- I'd be really happy going to church there
Chapter 3
There's a few details to fix up, but our blog re-design is complete. I hereby launch Chapter 3: Are we there yet?
Quick update
Nick has been on college mission this week. He came home late Thursday night for our day off yesterday. Unfortunately he woke up feeling all flu-ey and sick so he's currently in bed and resting. Please pray that he gets good rest and gets better very soon. There is a holiday coming up but it's going to be pretty busy doing his doctrine assignment - and Simon and Mel are visiting us - so hopefully he'll recover quickly.
If all her kicking is anything to go by, Baby B seems to be going well. She's very active! Sometimes it feels like there's a sea monster in there. I'm 27 weeks now, so into the 3rd trimester (ie, last 3 months). My tummy is getting bigger but it's not enormous yet. Reacing my feet has become very difficult though. [how on earth do pregnant women cut their toenails?!] Thankfully everything has been good health wise and although I'm slowing down and not so able to lift heavy stuff any more, in general pregnancy is going very well.
Last night we watched Juno. It was pretty good but it made both of us feel seriously old! Anyway, it was much better than The Quantum of Solace. What a crap movie! It was probably made worse by the fact that I didn't remember anything of the previous one (other than that I though it was pretty good) and so I spent the whole time totally not knowing what was going on. Anyway, if you haven't seen it don't bother. Go watch Bourne again or something.
If all her kicking is anything to go by, Baby B seems to be going well. She's very active! Sometimes it feels like there's a sea monster in there. I'm 27 weeks now, so into the 3rd trimester (ie, last 3 months). My tummy is getting bigger but it's not enormous yet. Reacing my feet has become very difficult though. [how on earth do pregnant women cut their toenails?!] Thankfully everything has been good health wise and although I'm slowing down and not so able to lift heavy stuff any more, in general pregnancy is going very well.
Last night we watched Juno. It was pretty good but it made both of us feel seriously old! Anyway, it was much better than The Quantum of Solace. What a crap movie! It was probably made worse by the fact that I didn't remember anything of the previous one (other than that I though it was pretty good) and so I spent the whole time totally not knowing what was going on. Anyway, if you haven't seen it don't bother. Go watch Bourne again or something.
