Today I dropped down to meet our newest neighbour who lives a few houses down. Seems like a good guy.
I told him where I lived… ‘up there – the house with the boat outside. Actually we have two boats and one car!’
‘Two boats – want to sell one?’
I thought he was kidding but at 6.00pm today he bought the Queen Mary.
Tomorrow Herdo and Mark and I head out to try and catch a few fish. Herdo is a fairly legendary fisherman and Mark is a neighbour I have only just met.
Me” I’m a lover of fish but pretty hopeless at catching them. Hopefully I’ll learn a bit of these two!
It’s funny how we met Mark”
He and his wife live about a km away also in Brighton, and she is in Danelle’s mother’s group. Recently they decided to sell their house to come and ‘live in our street’ because they like the vibe better here – more parties – more community (their words not mine.) The funny thing is they sold their house in 1 day and have bought a block just round the corner”
They seem like great people so we are really looking forward to getting to know them better.
Part of our dream in moving here was that we would be part of creating a community that people would want to be part of. Its great to see that happening!
Saturday night was Sam’s birthday and ‘dedication’. We called the night ‘Thank God for Sam’.
You may not know that Sam is our second IVF child – Ellie being the first. For 8 years we waited and tried” and tried and waited.
Then on our first IVF attempt Ellie came along. She is a babe!
On our second attempt the first implanted embryo produced Sam, a very happy, chubby little boy. Sam was our first choice for a name because it means ‘asked of God’ – and we did some asking!
We decided to wait until now to dedicate Sam, because we wanted to do it with the community we are a part of. It was great to spend Saturday night with family and friends – many of those friends now being our neighbours.
It was a simple gig with lots of food, drinks and a short section devoted to Sam. Danelle and I shared some of our story, I shared a prayer we had written for Sam and then Herdo prayed for us.
aliens dvdrip download Simple, but meaningful!
Now I have two other similar gigs to do for our neighbours – people who probably wouldn’t call themselves Christians, but who want to do something meaningful for their children. I’m looking forward to exploring what that might look like for them and sharing the occasion with them.
If you’re interested here is my prayer for Sam”
Father we thank you for the gift of Sam
We thank you for our little boy – fatman, boofer boy, chubba bubba”
Who has brought so much joy into our lives – we love him.
Thank you for hearing our prayers when we were at the end of our rope
And giving us not just one, but two beautiful children.
As we pray for Sam, we ask you will watch over his life and protect him from harm.
We ask that he will grow up to be a man who knows what it is to live life to the full as you intend.
Help us as parents to love him and to guide him, to respect his choices, to be patient with him, to encourage him and help him reach the dreams you have put in his heart.
We ask that through our lives and our actions he would know what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
As we nurture him, we ask that he would become a man of conviction and integrity – that he would live a life marked by grace and courage and selflessness.
We pray that as he grows up he will leave a mark on this world.
That he will not be afraid to develop genuine relationships – that he will not be satisfied with a comfortable mundane life, but that he will know the joy of a life connected to God, to people and to a sense of calling and destiny that is greater than him.
We thank you for our friends and family who stand with us today and celebrate Sam’s life. Thank you that we don’t do this alone.
With your strength, we commit ourselves to Sam and to walking with him thru life whatever that may bring.
Thank you for trusting us with Sam.