I got kicked out of Tassie the other day to go to Melbourne to spend a few days with my beautiful sister Kate. Mike strongly believes in me having a holiday by myself at least once a year, but I find it really hard to get the motivation to to it, so Kate booked, paid for and emailed me my flights....it wouldn't have happened otherwise, I just get too caught up in all the stuff I have to do.

For some reason I always feel a bit lost if I spend more than a day away from my little family, but its really awesome to be forced to remember that my worth isn't primarily in my role as a wife or mother or servant of the gospel at Crossroads. Following Fiona Haynes elective at the Womens Winter Festival on "what makes you valuable", I kept on telling myself that I'm valuable because God made me in his image and I'm made to glorify him. If all of my "life" was taken away: Mike, Xavi, Star, my ability to cook and clean, my friends, my family...everything, as awful as it would be, I wouldn't be any less valuable at all.

Its so nice to be home, but I'm coming home less tangled up and confused, more determined to love God by loving my family and the people around me.

That said, I'm totally exhausted (as usual at the moment), but I've been totally spoiled by coming home to happy kids, a spotless house, a freezer full of soup, a scrubbed and re-organised laundry and a big fat cheque from the tax office that I wasn't expecting at all.

I'm curious, how do you get away from everything to clear your head and get separate from your to do list?

We're like on the other side of the world.  

We've just spent the last 26 hours travelling to Seattle, Washington in the US and the biggest thing I've been thinking about hasnt been "I'm never doing this again" or "Eeek, hows this going to work"....I just keep on getting struck by peoples ridiculous generosity to us.

Firstly, God has given us this cool opportunity to sit in on something huge, to meet pastors from around the world and to learn from people we respect face to face.  God has given us the means to do this and the heart.  That is totally ridiculous, I dont really know why he picks us for the crazy stuff, but I love it.

Secondly, our christian friends and brothers and sisters have shown us ridiculous generosity in giving us the money to do this.  Its meant so much to us that you're all behind us in our goal of bringing the gospel to Hobart, training pastors and planting churches.  The incredible sacrifice in giving us your money and prayers to do something like this keeps blowing us out heaps.

Thirdly, our brothers and sisters that we've recently met on the phone or online or face to face - the ridiculous generosity of wanting to hook up with us and talk big, to work together with us for the gospel in Australia.  This shows me so powerfully that God is the Lord of all the earth and he is at work everywhere.

Fourthly, our little children have been ridiculously awesome through the adventure so far.  They've been patient and kind and polite and fun and refreshing to us. They've made new friends in airport lounges, looked after eachother, traipsed around everywhere, carried bags, forgiven me for losing nounours (Xavi's special teddy) and taken away from their home and friends to do something big and weird.  They're so exhausted but are still happy!

I hope that makes sense, I've had like 3 hours sleep in the last few days.  Love to you all.

Nikki