Update on Zeke, Jaden & Taff

Here's a bit of an update on the three of us not in school! :)

Zeke is growing quickly and seems to be more intelligent by the day! He's managed to work out how to operate the computer and navigate around Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine websites, completing all the puzzles and activities as he goes! While I don't like him playing on it for too long, it does help in those moments where you just need some time to get stuff done! He loves the kids church here. They teach them to listen to the Holy Spirit and prophecy over each other. The spend time worshipping and soaking in the presence of God. It's such an encouragement to know that your kids are being taught what you are being taught! How much more will they flourish in life being taught this stuff now! Zeke also loves to play with his Aussie friends Luca and Amaya. Luca is turning 4 in January and Amaya will be 2 in the same month. So Zeke is right inbetween which suits him well. He loves to play with those a bit older than him as he can communicate with them. Zeke is very excited about Christmas. Christmas is so much more enjoyable with children around!

Jaden is now 6 months old and has just cut his first tooth! Even in the process of immunisations, teething and learning to digest food he still is pretty much a placid and smiley kid! He's also been prophesied over in the child care room at church. It was about him being peaceful and bringing peace to our house. It's so true! Over the past week Jades has been practicing getting up onto his knees and rocking. Lots of development to come in the next few months! I'm looking forward to him being able to move around as I think Zeke will enjoy playing with him more. Zeke is beautiful with Jaden. Loves to include him in story time at bedtime, and loves to roll him around on the floor! We look forward to watching them grow up and play together.

I (Taff) have been doing a parenting group called 'Raising Tomorrow's Leaders'. The material used is brilliant - taken from many different authors and experts in the field. It's been a good way for me to get to know others mums and a chance to get out of the house! I plan on doing a bit of a summary of some of the material we're looking at, so if you're interested in it, let me know!

Recently I've had a few opportunities to sing. I've starting worship leading for the parenting group I'm involved in. There are about 100 women, so it feels like leading at a small church. I'm loving the opportunity to work with another mum who's been involved in the Bethel Worship Team. I've also joined the Bethel Worship Choir (I know, I can't believe it either). It's been a great way to get with other 'worshippers' and catch some of the culture of Bethel myself. The choir sings every sunday morning, and we've just finished a month of Christmas events. We've sung in the mall (shopping centre kinda like the Bendigo Marketplace or small Westfields), the Holiday Feast (community christmas lunch put on by Bethel Church), and a couple of events for the elderly. As part of this, I've also had the opportunity to sing a few solos. It's so nice to be able to do what I love to do. I had come here prepared not to sing for a year or so, but God has provided opportunities for me - and oh how I needed it. I was feeling a little restless not being a part of worship or singing! :)

Recently Dave surprised me with a new car! When we initially arrived in Redding, we purchased a cheap small car in a hurry. The car wasn't the most reliable car I've had, and it wasn't big enough for Dave to sit in the passenger seat! We'd been keeping our eye out for Subaru Outbacks on Craigslist (online classifieds). Dave saw one and got it checked out, then brought it home for me! It cost about the same as the first car we bought as it we purchased it for half its value! The car is in brilliant condition! We then sold our first car for the same price we purchased it. So we basically upgraded our car for $150. Very blessed! Now we all fit in the car and can take a day trip to the snow!

Now Christmas is upon us and we're really enjoying a winter Christmas. Something really special about it. We'll have about 15 people in our house to enjoy Christmas lunch with. But before that, as is the case every year, we will put Christmas on hold for a day to celebrate Dave's birthday on December 24!

Happy Birthday Dave!

Lassen, Redwoods, Winter

As previously mentioned, we've been enjoying some of the natural surrounds of Redding. Lassen National Park is a dormant (yet still active - don't ask me why they call it dormant), volcano. We managed to head up there (about 1 hour away) before the main road through the volcano was closed for winter. Zeke had his first touch of snow which was pretty cool :). For the main part of the day we hiked into 'Bumpass Hell' (great name hey!). You hike in, then walk around on a boardwalk built over hot bubbling, steaming mud pools. It was quite an experience. The smell took us back to Bendigo - the dreaded sulfur smell of the Bendigo Creek, only intensified! We spent the day with our good Aussie and Kiwi friends! Lou and Shane are a couple from Taree, NSW, that we've loved hanging out with. And of course, Tim, our Kiwi boarder was with us - but he's lots of fun too :).

The students all had time off over Thanksgiving. Again we used the time to explore! We travelled with Lou & Shane, and Mike, Bek and the kids - all Aussies! The northern coast of California is famous for it's large Redwood trees. The size of the trees was amazing. The most spectacular drive that we took was though an untouched part of the woods. It was magical! Something mysterious and breathtaking about it. The coastline was just as spectacular. Similar to the Great Ocean Road in parts, but the rocks are grey in colour. Just beautiful. We also enjoyed our first west coast sunset! A pod of whales decided to show off their spouts of water too! My (Taff) first sighting of whales. Unfortunately they didn't want to show off their jumping skills!

We returned to Redding on Thanksgiving so we could enjoy our first Thanksgiving with an American family from the church. Lots of delicious food and great people to enjoy it with.

These days we are enjoying sitting by the open fire as the days are colder. So far, all our wood has been provided free of charge! Today our landlord gave us a truck (ute) full of pre cut wood! It's perfect! Apparently the last couple of days have been unusually cold. I would say the weather was on a par with Bendigo. Doesn't seem to be any colder than what we're used to. The good part is the snow is only half an hour away! Our neighbours have another property there which we have been invited to spend some time there whenever we like.

So our christmas tree is up (with our home made decorations) by the open fire and for the first time all the christmas songs make sense and it feels like a 'real' christmas. We even has christmas stockings hanging from the mantle piece! We'll be celebrating Christmas with the people in our house and some other families from Australia who have no one else to share it with. Although we really miss our family and friends at this time, it should be a beautiful Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!

Partner with Dave's Mozambique Orphans & Prisoners Mission Trip

Many years ago, I went to a church in Queensland and was prayed for by a man (who I didn’t know from a bar of soap) who said “I see you in a village preaching to black skinned people and God is doing mighty things!” When he said this (15 years ago) I felt like “well I can’t see that ever happening! I don’t ever want to go to Africa!” and yet here I am in California America at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministries and God has asked me to go to Mozambique and I cant wait!

We will be joining Bethel missionary Tracey Evans (who sees over 600 children fed by faith each week!) She is amazing & has survive un attacks, witchdoctors & even seen corn raised from the dead! On this trip we will be getting opportunities to minister in a local prison, in the markets, to village children, at local and bush church plants!We will also pioneer an open air church with 150 people from Tracey’s clinic!

We are believing to see people healed, set free from demons, people discipled and people resourced. I can’t wait to prophecy into people’s identities, see them healed, see them saved and see them set free! I was told today that 99% of people we pray for will get healed!

I really believe that this trip is God ordained and that he is going to bring together a strategic team of people who will spiritually and resourcefully support this trip and ensure its success!

For all who would like to partner by praying, I hope to be giving regular feedback during the trip, so that you can pray specifically into what God is doing! To sign up as a prayer partner email me at daveh@suvic.org.au.

If you would like to give into the trip (I need about $3700, plus am aiming to take a gift of $1500) you can make a donation through our bank account below:

Bank: Bendigo Bank

Account Name: David S P Harvey

BSB: 633 000

Account No: 104861463

If you make a donation please also email me at daveh@suvic.org.au as I would love to send you regular updates too.I really appreciate your belief in me & in the power of the gospel of our amazing Jesus Christ! Thanks so much for your gifts, prayers & partnership! I look forward the lives that our team will see changed!

God Bless Heaps!

Dave Harvey

Powerful Encounters at School

Photo top: Olive Branch I was given during first encounter.

Photo below: A Students photo of fire over our heads during FREEDOM shout encounter!

Since I have started God has been really enlarging my understanding of Him and as renewing and redeeming my self image. He has been highlighting areas where I have needed to repent, (lies I have believed, 1/2 truths about Him and me) He has also been showing me people I needed to forgive and has been showing himself new to me.

In one encounter recently God set me up during the week... on the Monday I lost my wedding ring (then I told a mate... he prayed for me...and I immediately remembered where it was)...then on Tuesday in my time with God at the prayer chapel I saw the bright colour RED and when I asked God what it meant, he said "I am passionate about you!"...the next night during a sozo class God we were asked to ask the Holy Spirit to give us a gift...he gave me a girls wedding ring and a clothes rack with kids clothing on it! I had no idea that these were connected until the next day when my Revival Group pastor Crystal was preaching on intimacy with God... I responded and then during worship she felt led to come down and give me the olive branch she had used to preach with. Instantly God hit me... I balled and laughed... then I saw a vision of Jesus and I... except this time I was a bride! then all of the weeks events (my wedding ring, the red passion, the engagement ring and kids clothes) began rushing back to me...then Jesus said to me "where do you want to go today?" "what are we going to do?" It was in such friendly intimate husband wife talk that it blew me away. You see I had always struggled with Jesus and me. I had struggled to intimately connect...I always thought he was on a mission and I had to help him get it done! It was a business relationship and there wasnt much intimacy. What I was now realising, was that I AM his lover! that He passionately desires me! that he wants to go on adventures with me! That he wants to have fun with me! Now when I have my quiet times it's different, it's more intimate, more personal, I'm out of control and never know quite what is going to happen!

The best and last part of the vision was when I saw my boys smiles (Jaden massive ear to ear and Zeke's cheeky smile) and Jesus said "This is how I look at you all the time!" I burst into tears and laughed too! He rocked my world!

Another encounter only a week or so later was when our leaders felt God wanted to set some of us free. So after preaching he set up the open mike and asked for anyone to come up who felt God wanted them to get free, and to shout "FREEDOM!" into the microphone. So the stage was swamped... and I was one of them. After about 40min or so, it came to my turn, and I was shouting for myself, for my parents and for my family. So I let it rip "FREEDOM!!!" before I knew it I was jumping like a Kangaroo! yelling it over and over again... and then I ended up on the ground 15metres away knocked out under the power of God. I got so drunk in the Holy Spirit (2nd time now) that my Aussie mates were paying me out for another 30min and I didnt realise! I feel freer ever since that encounter, and am more susceptible to Gods presence in meetings.

Dave's new miracle bike!

WOW! I never would have thought it!

A mate of mine asked me to go to the bike store with him and help him pick a mountain bike (so we could start riding to get fit!) (I had already been given a girls mountain bike (1980's style) which was ok (sort of)) So we went to the local Giant dealer and checked out a heap of the bikes. While we were there we checked out the cheapest ones, right up to the top of the range in the front suspension models. It became clear to me, as I rode them that the better bike was the more expensive one. So he asked me "Which one do you wreckon I should get?" And I said "well for sure the Giant XTC2" Then he looked at the shop owner and said "We will take two of those ones then thanks!" I looked over at him with a confused look...and he said "You don't mind if I get you a bike do you Dave?" I was GOB SMACKED!

Then I remembered how 3 weeks earlier, I had been in my prophetic class and a young girl was asked to give me words of knowledge. She said "I see a coffee machine"... I replied "well I have been enjoying getting into drinking coffee"(a few weeks later I got loaned a coffee machine)... then she said "I see a bike"... I said "I really want a bike, but don't have one yet" (the girls bike didn't count) And then 3 weeks later God not only gets me a bike, not even the cheap version, but he gets me the best! God is sooo GOOD!

Fun, Family, Friends...life

We've been having so much fun that we haven't managed to get around to updating our blog! Our apologies for those who have been regularly checking for the latest update!

Some of the photos below show what we've been up to. After settling in to our house we connected with quite a few fellow Aussies at the college. So what else were a bunch of Aussies going to do on Grand Final weekend? Eat meat pies and watch the footy! Thanks to our neighbours who recorded the final for us and then supplied the house with the LARGE screen TV, we were able to enjoy watching the ALF final - and what a final it was!!! We were very excited to still feel a part of the footy culture! I can't say all the Aussies enjoyed it, but the Victorians sure did! They did all enjoy the Four n Twenty pies we had shipped up though (found a distributor somewhere in California that we ordered from)!

The Redding Airshow was on the same afternoon. Tim, Anna, Dave and I, and the boys enjoyed our free viewing of the Blue Angels from the traffic intersection outside the airport! Zeke was stoked to see the planes - as were all of us actually! We were amazed by the pilots abilities!

We've enjoyed being able to use some of the free days that Dave has had to enjoy some of the beautiful surrounds. We have enjoyed waterfalls with Nat and Yvonne Parsons, spent a night camping with Tim & Anna, and another couple Jonathan & Rachel, been swimming in waterholes, watching sunsets with our neighbours, and more recently visiting Lassen National Park and Redwoods National Parks (more on them another time). Dave and I have managed to spend a few date nights together too, thanks to Tim and Anna babysitting!

Our first experience of Halloween was quite tame. Zeke dressed up in a pumpkin suit (thanks to our neighbours) which he kept on for about 5 minutes! Our neighbours held a small kids party with Jumping Castle, food, and lots of little kids activities. We had 3 places to be that night, so we didn't send Zeke 'Trick or Treating' which we were glad about after seeing the massive bags of lollies (candy) our neighbours kids collected!

Another American culture thing we have tried is 'Biscuits and Gravy'. We were assured it was great...however I (Taff) didn't find that to be the case! Their biscuits are what we would call scones. The gravy is a white sauce with sausage in it. Not my cup of tea. Some enjoyed it though! Following 'Biscuits and Gravy' we went out to the shooting range - which is just outside along a road - aiming up at the hills! So I had my first go at a shotgun and pistol - shooting pumpkins left over from Halloween!

We have also had a couple of other visitors to our house. Our friend, Suzy, who lives in New York spent a few days with us. We haven't seen her for over 6 years, so it was good to catch up and see her enjoy our boys! Just last weekend we had more visitors from home (Bendigo). John and Judy Mott also spent a few days with us and didn't fail to bring some Aussie supplies for us! The vegemite and weetbix and very precious items in this house! It was so nice to have people from 'home' in our new 'home'.

So we are enjoying ourselves and the surrounds as much as we can before the weather turns too cold! Lots more to tell, but we'll break up the post so it's not too long!

Zeke has his first Vision!

As a part of their culture, kids who attend kids church are encouraged to do "soaking time" - where they all lie down and listen to some worship music and ask the Holy Spirit for pictures. Anyway, yesterday when Taff went to her "Raising Tomorrows Leaders" class, Zeke went to kids church and had his first vision (well that he has told us of!)

While driving home, Taff asked him "So how was kids church Zeke?"

He said "Good!"

"So did you guys lie down and listen to some music today?" she asked

"ummm yes!" said Zeke.

So Taff pressed further"Did the Holy Spirit give you any pictures?"

"ummm yes!" said Zeke again.

"Well what did you see honey?" asked Taff excitedly

"ummm I saw a big strong horse, with a big tail and it had 5 eyes"

We are not sure about the interpretation of this yet, but it is SOO COOL to be part of a culture where your kids are naturally opened up to the Holy Spirit and His voice. "Imagine what Zeke will be doing at our age I thought!"

School is AMAZING!

Wow! I (Dave) have been at school now for 4 weeks and I feel like my brain and my heart are getting ripped open and cleaned out every day! This school is AMAZING!

To give you an idea of what my week looks like, I have classes Tuesday to Friday 12:45 - 5:30pm. We have a name tag which we have to wear, and these have to be swiped into machines (like credit card swipers) to clock into classes. We also have to be at 2 church services (which we are rostered into) be part of an outreach, small groups and AMT's (Advanced Ministry Training (I have chosen Prophecy for my AMT)

We have over 800 first year students on our campus (which is the church) and around 650 second year students at another campus called Twin View. We cant meet all together because we are too big for the facilities! From these large groups we are broken down into 'Revival Groups' of 80 people and then from there we are broken down into small groups of 5.

I go to class usually with Bob (a 20 yr old first year student from North Caroliner who loves Tie-dye and skateboarding and is living with us) in his pickup truck, or I ride a girls bike! which we were given or Taff drops me off. We also have started walking sometimes with the kids too now that we have a pram which is cool as we have been blessed with a house not too far away!

The last 4 weeks have been so packed, I feel like I have done 8 weeks of schooling! I have read 4 books in 3 1/2 weeks and about 50 chapters of the bible! (which is a miracle!) (I have 3 more books given yesterday to read!) On each of the books and bible chapters we read we have some questions and reports to answer to help cement some of the learning.

Some of the best things about the school for me so far have been, the amazing presence of the Holy Spirit! I also am finding I am getting more visions here than ever before (which they have told us is because of the open heaven!) God really is speaking soo much to me! Also the theme for first year is understanding 'who you are' in Christ, and this teaching has been phenominal! I have felt like my heart is getting a makeover, it has answered so many questions about why many Christians are powerless and struggling so much and encouraged me that everyone can live a supernatural life and is called to change the world!

Another thing which has been amazing is the apostolic leadership of the church. They are truly here to empower revivalists! They are encouraging us to take risks, that we will make mistakes, and they are giving us the tools that we need to change the world! They literally really believe in training, equipping and sending out world changers! Even the church runs stacks of equipping and empowering courses, of which Taff is doing one called "Raising tomorrows Leaders" - about parenting revivalists.

Sometimes with all the amazing teaching (Sons not Slaves, Righteous not Sinners, Prophecy, Intercession, Sensing God etc) it feels like there aren't enough hours in the day to 'digest it', but I feel like the Holy Spirit is doing a download on me to help out. It is such practical and yet supernatural teaching, I am soo blessed to be here!

I have just chosen my mission trip for March next year. I felt God put some places and leaders on my heart like Mozambique, Chile, Mexico etc I am excited about this and cant wait to see people saved, healed and set free from the works of the devil! In some of these mission trips students have stepped out in obedience to God and seen miracles like - babies raised from the dead, hospital rooms cleared out and hundreds instantly healed in meetings!

The cool thing is also that in our weekly outreaches into Redding the teams are seeing the same thing! I will finish with a story I heard yesterday from the leader of our outreaches. He talked about how he and a team had been out on outreach for almost 2 hours, and seen nothing happen, all their prophecies were off and they saw no-one healed. So as the team moped back to the car to leave, one of them felt the Holy Spirit tell him to go over to a group of youths sitting nearby. He thought "no, nothing is working tonight we will just leave it." But the Holy Spirit convicted him and he decided to walk over the the young people. Anyway he walked over and said "is there any way that we can bless you guys, did you need prayer for anything?" (expecting no real response) And then one of the teenagers takes his shirt off and says "Yeah I have scoliosis (curved spine) can Jesus fix that?" "Sure he can said the leader" So they prayed a 5 second prayer (its not our prayers that heal, its Jesus!) and the top half of his spine straightened instantly! The young people were amazed! So they prayed again, and the bottom half instantly straightened! Then another boy came up with a broken ankle and they prayed for him and he was instantly healed! Then another with a huge bruise from his shoulder to his elbow came up...they prayed...and it shrunk to a 10 cent piece size...then disappeared! More young people got healed and then they led them all to Jesus! HOW AWESOME IS OUR GOD!

And all this in a parking lot of a shopping centre in the afternoon!

I cant wait to see what God is going to do this year in our lives! I just want to thank everyone for making this a possibility! Love heaps! Dave

Home Sweet Home

So much has happened in the past week. It's been an amazing adventure!

We really enjoyed our stay (3 nights) in the shared house. The family were lovely, as were the people that were in there with us. It was such a relief to be with people and know that we weren't chewing at our savings. During our time there we spent countless hours searching for a house and a car. We were offered a 3 brm place in a great area, however the house was really small. It wasn't worth paying the money for the size of it. Prior to being offered that house, we had looked through a massive 3 brm place with a massive yard for only $100 p/m more. We applied that day and were called up at 9am the next morning with the good news that we could rent the house! The great thing about the house is that it is big enough that we have been able to have 2 borders move in to help with rent (more on them later). The house also reminds me (Taff) of my 2 homes in Bendigo. The carpet and the size of the house (and the era) remind me of the house I grew up in in Spring Gully Road. The bathrooms are big and long with really big mirrors. For those who saw our house in Flora Hill, we had a massive mirror in the bathroom. So we feel right at home here. The yard has lots of grassy area for Zeke to play and kick a ball (without it traveling down the hill to a main road!). We were able to move into the house immediately - just had to buy a couple of beds to do that :).

So we have slowly been filling our house with furniture. We have been incredibly blessed! We went to some yard sales on Saturday and got some amazing bargains; 2 swivel/rocking chairs for $15, and a couch for $15 - all had just been steam cleaned and are in beautiful condition. We also got given a single bed with sheets etc which was amazing. We also picked up a swing and slide set for Zeke for $10! Nothing wrong with it! Just needs a coat of paint to make it like new again. We also picked up a big fridge with ice maker for $60. So the place is starting to feel like home.

In the process of setting up, we met the neighbours. It's a really friendly neighbourhood - in fact I would say that Americans in general are so friendly and hospitable and willing to help out. We love it! Dave met our next door neighbours and immediately got an invite over for tea. Their whole family went for dinner also so we met quite a few people that night. The added bonus - they have a beautiful pool with a waterslide, and a tree house for Zeke to play in. Their daughters, Cassidy and Maciah, are 8 and 10 years and Zeke has taken to them quite quickly. Their extended family includes 2 boys aged 3 and 4 which has also been great for Zeke. Corey (our neighbour) kindly helped Dave put Zeke's swing set together and lent him the tools etc to fix it up a bit. They have also given us their password for their internet while we wait for ours to be connected. After knowing them for 24 hours, they offered to look after our kids while we went out for dinner to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. Very kind of them!

As I said, we've also had 2 borders move in with us. One of the guys, Tim Parr (from NZ), is a good friend of my sister & brother in law. We'd had a little bit of contact with him prior to coming, then when his accommodation fell through we were able to offer him a place to stay. We then got another guy Bob Carr from Virginia to share the room with him (it's a decent sized room). Both guys and their friend/girlfriend are easy going and lovely people.

Last night we had an extra 2 people in the house! Some of you will know Lindsay Stokes (Mark Stokes dad) from Kyabram. He has connections with Tim Parr's girlfriend Anna. So he rocked up on our doorstep last night and will be staying until he finds a place to live. We also had another girl, Rochelle (friend of Bob) crash on the couch. Thankfully the house is big enough that you don't feel like you're getting in each others way.

We also managed to buy a car. Dave still hasn't gone for his license, but will do that next week (found out is wasn't as urgent as we thought). The lady we bought the car from has been very helpful to us also. She's fixed up a couple of things on the car for us and made sure that we've got a reliable car.

We have been blown away with how many great people we've met - neighbours, housemates, borders, friends, people who helped collect our furniture, car seller etc etc. It's definitely made our transition a whole lot easier.

Sometime over the next couple of days we'll make a short video of our home and post it to the blog so you can see where we're living. If you're interested in our address, just shoot us an email and we'll email it to you.

Dave started school today. I'm sure he's going to love it. I'll miss not having him around all the time like he has been the last couple of weeks, however he only has school for half a day each day so I can't complain! :)

We are all well again. Zeke has settled in to his new home very well. He is much happier now that he's not battling sickness and we've stopped in one location. Jaden - still the same - very easy going and taking it all in his stride :).

Hopefully we'll get the video of our house done soon for you all! Thanks for your prayers, emails and skype calls! It's been a roller-coaster ride but we're enjoying the adventure of it!

Best Western to Community Living!

So today we made a move. Not a move to our house, but to a house where there are about 12 people sharing the facilities! Best Western was becoming quite expensive - 6 nights was enough. We found this couple that rent out beds to people needing short term accommodation. Nice and cheap - $15 per night per bed. So now we at least have a proper kitchen to make use of so we don't have to buy meals or cook with only a microwave. There are people sleeping in a bungalo out the back, people sharing rooms in the house, people sleeping in caravans out the front and us; we are sleeping in the garage (yes a car garage), but it's not as bad as it seems! They have made it quite homely in here for us. There are other advantages too - lots of people to talk to and find out local knowledge, acres for Zeke to play with, animals and toys for Zeke, piano for Taff, some handy man work for Dave if he so desires, a nice deck area to sit on rather than being stuck inside, and just being around people who love God and care about you. Tonight we shared a BBQ with heaps of people (extras came) to celebrate Labor Day over here. It was really nice to finally meet some people.

We will be staying here until we find a home. We have prospect of one available on Thursday, and another that isn't available for another 30 days. We'll also be looking for others the remainder of this week. Dave was reminding us today of the message we heard at Planetshakers the sunday prior to us leaving Australia; Neil Smith was talking about Jacob and how he wanted to dig a well but was being blocked by the locals. But he persisted because he had such a conviction about doing it. That's how we feel right now; trying to lay foundations down in the form of a home, but nothing is coming up. We'll keep persisting because we have such a strong conviction that this is where God wants us at the moment.

We attended Bethel Church for the first time yesterday. We went to the 11am service which was so packed that even the overflow room was overflowing! We were in the overflow room for the service. It was a great time of worship - totally free, and a great message. The 6pm service was also full. We had to leave early as it hit 8pm (yes, long service, but totally worth it) and the kids needed food and bed. We're looking forward to getting involved more in the church rather than just walking in and walking out.

So tomorrow Dave will be going for his license, so we can legally drive a car that we will buy (haven't found one yet, but hire car has to be back on Thursday!). Please pray for him! He's a little worried. :) Taff will go for hers at another time. We only need one person to have it in order to buy the car.

Thanks again for all your emails! Keep sending them through. xx

San Francisco

This post is a bit delayed due to the busyness of trying to get set up in Redding! But anyway, here it is!

As we said in previous posts, the trip to San Fran was long and hard due to Zeke not being well. We stayed in a beautiful place - had to start getting used to tipping everyone. Kind of a strange thing, but we have asked a few people and think we've got the hang of what to tip! We were staying in an area called 'Union Square' (the heart of SF that doesn't sleep!). The shops around there were beckoning Taff! But she resisted...at least for now. Will head back down once the baby fat is gone :). Who's coming over for a shopping trip???

We explored the hills of San Fran - just like what you'd see in the movies (ie girls, like in Princess Diaries! Boys, like all the cool car chase movies). They are amazingly steep. We walked across (well half way across) the Golden Gate bridge. It's an amazing structure. Lucky for us the half that we walked was fairly clear - even blue sky. The other half was covered in cloud - a common thing apparently. There are many Piers in San Fran; the most famous being Pier 39. We looked around there; saw 1002 sea lions sleeping on wooden boards in the bay (wild, loud and smelly). Quite an interesting place. We drove past a store called 'Big Dogs' which we found amusing as that's the nickname Dave uses for Zeke :) - and every other male he knows. Unfortunately Taff didn't stop the car to take a photo of it :).

We are looking forward to heading back to San Fran someday. It was a really beautiful and interesting place - only downfall is that it's cold!

We've now been in Redding for 5 days (stripped down to the shorts again). We are staying in a Best Western while we look for a house. We've finding it hard to know what to do first. You need a social security number for a credit check to get a house, but to get a number you need ID, but to get ID you need an address. Same with a car - you need to get a license, but to get that you need an address. Bit confusing, but we'll get there. Please keep praying for a house, car and our health!

We will head to our first Church service at Bethel this sunday. Will be a bit bizarre walking into a place that you will call home for the next little while when you've never been there. We're looking forward to meeting some people though! Missing you all! Please keep sending us comments and emails! We love to hear from you. xx

Family Sickness - Prayer Request

Thanks so much to everyone who has been praying for us over the last week of our journey, we have really seen Gods strength and favor at many times along the journey!

Around 4 days ago Zeke and Dave both got sick, Zeke had rashes all over his body, a sore throat and a fever, Dave had a sore throat and a fever. Zeke battled through and thanks to God, he has come out the other side not needing a doctor and is almost completely well. Dave had to go to the medical centre and was diagnosed with Strep throat, where he was given some antibiotics to take over the next 10 days. But just last night Taff has come down with a bad fever and nausea! So we were wondering if at all possible you would be able to stand with us in prayer to see this attack broken! We really feel like the enemy is having a go at us at the moment! But we know that "greater is He who is for us than he who is against us!". We would really appreciate your prayers too for a house that we could move into this weekend (Hotels are fun for a while!) We love you all and thank you all for standing with us during this battle.

Arrival to the USA

Our journey to the USA so far just feels like a bit of a holiday. We've spent 2 nights just outside LA, now we're in San Franciso for 2 nights before driving to Redding (where we'll live).

I must say that we are very proud of our boys! We dragged them from cars, to planes, to buses, walking through airports, with little time to stop and eat and they were beautiful for us! Zeke especially had to put up with us getting him to move quicker, or be carried. Jaden was his usual placid self which made life easier. People in the LA airport were very helpful seeing that we had 2 young children. Just as we were about to exit the airport, I realised that in picking up our tonne of luggage, we'd forgotten to pick up the porta cot and car seat! So while I waited half way up the exit ramp with 2 trolleys of luggage and 2 tired kids, Dave went back and got someone to collect them for him (which took a long time as they only picked up one thing the first time!).

Eventually we were out of there and in our big American car! We had to upgrade our hire car from a sedan to a Crysler Aspen - kind like a cross between a 4WD and a Tarago. Big! But nice to drive - easy to drive when you're learning to drive on the wrong side of the road! We're enjoying the challenge that it brings. (We won't mention the fact that today Taff backed into a car behind us!). America seems to be the land of the big cars. Quite bizzare.

We spent our first 2 nights in Anaheim (just south of LA) - directly opposite Disneyland. Felt a bit odd being so close to Disneyland and not going!!! It's just not worth it when the boys are so young. Save that one for a few years down the track. Our accommodation had a little water park which Zeke (sort of) enjoyed. :) Unfortunately he was starting to get unwell. He has a rash over his body which we think is a combination of heat rash and ezcema. Possibly a reaction to an additive but we're not really sure. He's getting better so it's nothing serious thankfully. We would love you to pray for our health - Dave and Zeke both a bit unwell. Taff stupidly had some pineapple in a smoothy tonight (something that made her extremely sick during pregnancy).

The landscape around LA seemed to be barren and concrete! Lots of road/bridges going over each other and the hills seem very dry (it is the end of summer though, so probably to be expected). We didn't actually head into the CBD (or Downtown) LA. Not enough time. It also appears that 'Dennys' is more popular than 'McDonalds'. Their servo stops along the highway are more like little shopping centres too!

After our 2 nights in Anaheim, we made the long drive to San Fran. The trip was hard as Zeke was really not well that day. It breaks our heart when he says he wants to go home. So hard to explain to a 2 year old that we actually don't have a home right now. Trying to explain what's happening to him, but when you're not well all anyone wants to do it go home.

So now we're in San Fran and we head to Redding tomorrow. We'll fill you in on our San Fran stay next time. Thanks again for praying for us! Please pray that we'll find a place to call home very soon!

Final Day

Tomorrow is the big move. We are now officially 'homeless'. We moved out of our house last Friday and have spent our last few nights with Taff's family in Torquay (hard place to stay, I know). We're busy trying to do the last few little jobs - and we're sure we will have missed something - including the final packing of our bags and making sure we're not over the weight limit!
We are very excited - even slightly anxious now - about moving over. Life is about to dramatically change. It will be a big few weeks as we try to settle in before Dave starts college on Sept 15.

We want to say a HUGE 'THANK YOU' to everyone who has helped us with the move. Thanks to those who physically helped with the move; thanks Rach for helping Taff; thanks to those who have encouraged us along the way. A very special thank you to everyone who has helped us financially. We have been absolutely blown away by the generosity shown towards us. We can't thank you all personally (cause some of you we don't know) but please know that we are very grateful for your support. Thanks also to those who are praying for us as we take this adventurous step! We appreciate your prayers.

Might be a while before we are connnected via the internet, but we'll let you know how the transition is going as soon as we can!

Thanks again! Don't forget to shoot us an email to keep us up to date on what's happening in your life! :)

The final weeks in Aussie Land!

Two weeks until we fly out of this beautiful country to invade the land of the yanks! We have mixed emotions about the move - excited about the journey ahead and the challenges that we will face, but very sad to be leaving friends and family behind. Thankfully the world of technology continues to grow and we can chat to people on skype! (Add us to your contacts: taff.harvey or dave-harvey). There is also the part of us that is just 'doing' things in order to move - plenty of little jobs that need to be done in order to make the transition smooth.

We have so many wonderful friends and family members that make it hard for us to leave. Thank you for being such a huge part of our lives. Thanks for your love, support, prayers, help, and fun! We hope that this can continue - for the most part (at least for the next two years) this will just be from a distance!

So just over 1 week til we leave the house that we designed, built, and have lived in since we were married. (As much as we love the house, it's getting far too small with 2 kids and no backyard!). A frantic week and a half ahead, then a few days to relax before we fly out on August 27th. The next part of our adventure starts...