YWAM Team

We came back from Paris, not to a quiet weekend of recuperating, but to an evangelism weekend with a team of 8 young people from YWAM in Norway. During the course of the weekend they ran a street evangalism program in the town square, an outreach meeting, visited various churches & had an afternoon with the church youth. The street evangalism was run on the Saturday morning with singing & drama, testimonies, balloon modeling and handing out of tracts. There was also handed out invitations to the outreach program that night & a Christianity Explained course to be run over the next 6 weeks. Unfortunately there was no one from the street contacts that turned up to the night program. However while we were sitting having coffee afterwards a young man came in & Tom & a few other were able to have a good chat to him. He seemed to be searching & although he wouldn't take any of the tracts or Bible offered to him, he did take an invitation to the CE course. So please pray with us that he will come along.

Paris - Day 4

Time to go home, but our flight didn't leave until 3pm so we had a bit of time to fill in. We decided to pack our bags & head out to the train station to the Airport. Once we got there we stopped at a cafe & had a traditional French breakfast. Which consists of a croissant, cup of coffee & cup of orange juice.

Then the search was on. Tom had said I would be able to get crepes with strawberries & cream, something I've been craving ever since being pregnant. However no matter how many places we tried it wasn't to be found & with time running out I had to settle for banana, ice-cream & chocolate instead. I must say it was a pretty good second best!!

With tummys full it was time to head to the airport & catch the flight home. Even that has a funny story. As we were preparing to take off the stewardess came & handed me a pillow & said "for the baby". I wasn't sure what she meant, but apparently it is policy (even though they didn't do it on the way over) that pregnant women have a pillow under the seatbelt to protect the baby if the belt presses in due to turbulance or we crash. I'm really not sure how much good it would do or how glad Little One was for it (he/she did an awful lot of kicking), but I used it anyway.

So now we are home again & slowly settling into the day to day routine again, with many pleasant & funny memories. There are many more photos on our Flickr page.

Paris Trip - Day 3

Today was our 3rd wedding anniversary. The day started with us packing our backpack & then heading to the local baker, where we bought some croissants & pastries for breakfast. Then we headed to the Effiel Tower. Like all the main tourist attractions in Paris there was a long line, but this was one we were prepared to wait for, so Tom joined the line & I found a spot to sit & wait with our bags until the line reached closer to the ticket desk. 2hrs later we were boarding the elevator. The views were amazing, though it is VERY high up!!!

Then it was off to see Notre Dame & lunch, before heading to the Louve. We didn't actually go into the Louve, but there is a couple of amazing glass pyramid sculptures outside that are worth seeing. After that we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before heading out to dinner.

Tom had been to Paris before & really wanted to show me this amazing church on a hill-top, best seen at night. So we decided to find a restaurant in the area. What Tom failed to point out to me is the it is in the "Red Light District". Well it went all right & God kept us safe. Though I did feel a little on edge. After wandering around a bit trying to find a restaurant, we came across a French restaurant "La Poutre". It had the menu in English so we decided to try it. It was quite a good meal. Tom decided to be brave & try snails. I must admit they didn't look very appetising, but I plucked up the courage to try one & was pleasantly surprised that they tasted quite ok, like mussels. I had chosen "fish of the day" as my main. Well that's what I got...the whole fish, head & all!! Then for dessert was profitter rolls.

After all the good food, we needed to walk it off, so headed up to the church. Thankfully since Tom had last been there they had a trolley cart that went up the hill, so I didn't have to climb all the steps. The experience of seeing the church was ruined a bit by the fact that there seemed to be a Rave party going on on it's steps.

All in all it was a lovely day & a very memorable anniversary.

Paris Trip - Day 2

Due to the exhausting day we had had the day before we decided to have a more quiet relaxing day & take out of the city a bit & visit one of the chateaus. The idea was to spend the day out there looking round the chataeu and then relaxing in the gardens. However when we got out to the Chateau we had chosen, Versailles, there were extremely long queues, first to buy your tickets & then to get in. So we decided to try Chateau Fontainebleau. 3hrs later we finally arrived there only to discover that it is closed on Tuesdays!! Fortunately the gardens were still open & we were able to spend the afternoon just relaxing in them.

We decided to have an early dinner in the town where the Chateau was before heading back to our hotel. This was 5:30pm & after walking around a bit we discovered that restaurants don't open for dinner service until 7pm. So we decided on an Indian restaurant to eat at (mainly because we could understand the menu) & then just sat & waited for them to open. It was a really nice meal, worth waiting for, though ended up costing a little more than expected due to the fact you buy all the components of the meal seperately ie. have to buy rice seperate.

Then it was home to the long awaited bed.

Paris Trip - Day 1

Well we're back from our trip to Paris. Well actually we've been back since last Thursday, but I've been really busy on the weekend (see post YWAM) & then sick with a cold, so I'm only getting round to writing about it now.

The trip began with us getting up at 5am to drive to Hamburg. I had a really restless night and so had only slept 2hrs. Therefore I slept the first half of the drive & then we swapped & Tom slept the second half.

After arriving in Paris we had to line up for 1.5hrs to buy our train ticket, as our credit cards didn't work in the machines & they only had 2 "tellers" open. But finally we got our tickets & found our train, & after a 30min train ride were at our hotel, where we simply crashed on the bed & slept for an hour.

Refreshed a little we decided to go see the La Defense & Arc de Triomphe. What I thought was just a quiet short sight seeing trip turned into quite an exhausting expedition. Our Lonely Planet guide said that there was a Garden of Contemperary Art that sounded interesting extending 1km. Well there was maybe a couple of rather unusual sculptures, but nothing of great interest & we could have save our energy for the next stop, Arc de Triomphe. Here we discovered that the only way to the top was 284 steps!!! I was a bit reluctant to do it at first, but Tom insisted it was well worth it & that if I took it slowly & rested lots it should be ok. So up I went. In hindsight I think it was a big mistake, but the view was definately something to see.

By the time I made it back down & had recovered it was time for dinner. I really wanted to have traditional french food, so we headed for a bistro recommended by the Lonely Planet. Well I certainly got my french restaurant experience. The menu was only in french & the waiter only spoke french. So we did our best to guess what we were ordering, though it didn't exactly go to plan. The entree ended up being just half an avacardo with seafood sauce in the middle. I ended up with a huge bowl of stewed beef instead of chicken & Tom ended up with a piece of steak that was almost still running around the room. Despite not being what we expected though the food was really nice. The other interesting experience we had at this restaurant was that you don't get your own table. You are sat wherever you fit. So we ended up sitting with 2 lovely Scottish ladies.

After dinner we decided to take a relaxing, romantic boat ride on the Seine. Well it wasn't quite so romantic as we'd imagined as to hear the commentary in english you had to use these huge like telephone handsets. We had also decided to sit outside where it was quite chilly. But we did still get to see Paris at night.

The day ended with us falling into bed at just after midnight.

For such a time as this

This is a statement that has been coming across my path a bit lately. In the lives of Esther, Joseph, Moses, David, they all found themselves in situations & circumstances that to the normal way of thinking were not positive situations. But God had a purpose for placing them there.

We also see in each case that they didn't fulfil that purpose straight away. With Esther she was in the palace 9yrs before Haman concocted his plan to eradicate the Jews. Joseph was in Egypt 13yrs before he interpreted Pharoah's dream & was appointed overseer. Moses spent 40yrs in Pharoah's palace & another 40yrs in the wilderness looking after sheep, before God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
However all that time they spent before their purpose was fulfilled was not wasted time. God was preparing them for the task ahead.

Now this was all leading to an application to our lives today, but I just can't seem to get the words together right. But it was something along the lines of that wherever you are today God has a plan & a purpose for you being there. Perhap He has a big purpose further in the future or it may be a simple thing for today. He may be using the situation you are in now to prepare you for something later.

TV reliance

As you would know from Tom's post, our TV is in for repair. This has made me realise just how much I use the TV. Now I know you are all thinking "this is good. You shouldn't be watching so much TV". And it is true that there are pleanty of other things that I can do other than watch TV. But when you are pregnant & not feeling very well & want to just bludge, then it is good to have a TV. Not so much for watching rubbish soapies & the like, but you also need a TV to be able to watch DVDs.
So here is me hoping that our TV is soon repaired.

The farther

Okay, I'm just sitting here waiting for Ally to get home from Bible study, our TV is in for a repair, it's too early to go to bed but too late to do anything...so why not write something here.

Well, last time I wrote I told you about three project which I was to do over the cold and dark winter months here in Denmark. So here is the status.

Writing a book: Well I managed to write 1½ page which was the introduction.

Making a movie: I never got started

Building a church: Well, we are all part of building the universal church :-) Actually something has happened in this area. In May I get the oppotunity to run a Christianity Explained course at a local church in Esbjerg. That is if anybody turns up for it. We will be handing out invitations in the area and in the central mall in the weekend the 24-25th of April and the course will start on the 6th of May. So please pray that people will be challenged and show up.

Now to something else. As my dear wife has been posting a significant amount of messages about. I am to be a father. As an opposite to my wife who only recently realised the scariness of this though, I've been terrified since the day we found out. Well, maybe that's an overstatment, there are the odd days where I look forward to it. Most of the time I have a hard time realising that it is really happening and that I'm going to be a father, so I try not to think about. However, now as the time is getting closer and all the questions about a pram, cot, baby seat, diapers, is the baby going to sleep inside or outside (to the horror of many people it quite normal to let our babies sleep in the pram outside during the day here in Denmark, yes also during winter), what name can we agree on and so on. These questions have to be answered and decisions have to be made. The cost of a first born isn't to be regarded as insignificant either. So it's getting hard to not think too much about it. Anyway I still think I won't really understand that it's real until the day I'm holding the newborn in my hands...and then I'll really panic :-)

Okay this is the end of my essay. I'm sure my wife will comment on all my spelling mistakes and funny sentences but I hope you'll get the main points.

Till next time may our magnificent God be with you

Why is it...

that you desire something in life & can't wait for it to happen, then when it finally does you get scared & just wish you could run the other way?

Little One...the gymnast

I felt little one move for the first time on Wednesday. I had been waiting for a while for this as my midwife had said I should have felt it by now & everyone kept asking. I had heard many different descriptions of how it should feel...bubbling, butterflies, fish. Well from my experience it could be described as violent bubbling, like a volcano erupting under water. Or as a trout swimming around in your belly, but definately not like butterflies!! To me it feels like Little One is doing great big somersaults.

New cousin

I just found out today that Little One has a new cousin on the way. Mel (my sister)  is pregnant...due in Nov.

Egg-splosion

Decided to have fried eggs for breakfast today & one exploded right in my face at I was flipping them. Now I have a small burn on the inner corner of my eye.

Thought of the day

This is more of a personal revelation, but I felt complelled to share it in case someone else was maybe in a similar situation. 

For a while now my spiritual life has been a struggle. Filled with doubts & a battle to trust God. Sometimes I'd seem to be making progress, only to fall back down again. Today while doing my bible study homework, the following thought/analogy came to me.

It's like I fell down the muddy, slippery side of a mountain into a muddy valley/pit, where I've been flailing & struggling around. Sometimes I'd make it to the side & start climbing out up the steep, slippery slope through determination & self-will, but Satan would give me a little nudge with a doubt or accusation & I'd slip back down into the pit. Then the thought came to me...I don't need to climb up out of that pit, all I need to do is reach my hand up & cry out to God & He'll LIFT me out of that pit!!!

Oh what hope & what a wonderful loving God we have!!

The end of a career

Yesterday was my last day of work. Not because I'm starting maternity leave this early, but because I was only there for 6mths as intergration into the danish health system. This was a compulsory requirement for attaining my Danish nursing registration. However those that were to assess me decided that my danish was not quite good enough (though I think they were being a bit picky) so I actually don't have my registration. If I wasn't pregnant I could have done another 3-6mths in another ward & be reassessed again. However there is not enough time for that between now & when I would have to go on maternity leave. Seeing as I have made the decision to be a stay at home mum, this means I will most likely never get my registration. While I love nursing, I have always said it was only something until I became a mum. This has always been my ultimate "career goal". So I'm looking forward to having more time & hopefully energy to prepare things for the baby & get some rest.

There's life

Yesterday I had my second visit to the midwife. I got my growing belly measured, which is just over the average percentile. This was good to know as I haven't put any weight on yet (in fact I've lost 4kg). I also heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time. This was also reassuring as I haven't felt it moving yet & the past 2 weeks haven't felt anything at all. So I was starting to wonder if it was alright. So now I'm just eagerly waiting for tomorrow when I have my second ultrasound.