Big Weekend At Riverview

Ali, Daniel and I have just returned from 2 weeks back in Australia. After being in California for 6 months we took the very, very long trek back to Perth to take part in the Big Weekend at Riverview , including the Worship Recording. There was a lot of rehearsing, many meetings and much catching up with people - but not a lot of sleep! It was brilliant to be there though and be reminded that we are part of a GREAT church and that God is really up to something and we have the privilege of being a part of it.

What an amazing time we had there! The Big Weekend was incredible with Alun Davies and Andrae Olivier delivering fantastic messages. The creativity was once again absolutely brilliant - the art, multimedia and dance going to new levels, and the worship times magnificent. It was a great honour for us to have Mark and Darlene Zschech with us for that weekend and particularly since we were recording. Their input across the weekend was gold, as always.

I had so been looking forward to leading worship but in the thick of it I lost my voice and was unable to contribute the way I would have liked. It did give me the opportunity to sit out front though and see Ali being part of it. I was able to get some shots - and yes, that is Darlene Zschech out front! Very cool.

I was particularly proud of the worship team over the time we were there too. They are doing a magnificent job.

Eyecatching

Well, I sure have some catching up to do here! So much has happened in the last three months, but I've been unable to share it with you because of the status of my blog... I'll try to fill you in on the interesting things. But for now, something purely aesthetic.

This electrical transformer box caught my eye while we were in Perth. I loved the rich colours of green and rust and the way the elements have aged and weathered what was once a nice neat box. It's not always the clean and perfect that commands our attention. It's not always the fresh and new that speaks to us of deeper beauty.
[Now here is my dilemma now I live in the US - should I spell like an Australian or an American?!]

Back In Business

Well, finally I have my blog back! As you can see by the date of my last post, it's been almost 2 months since I "lost my blog". I actually deleted it by mistake. Well, what I was trying to do was change my email address (Riverview email addresses have changed format), but I could not figure out how to change the email address in my Google account, so I thought I would just delete my Google account and start again. What I did not know was that my Blogger account is part of my Google account and with one "click" I lost the lot. There was a sudden sinking feeling followed by "Oh, nooooo!" (and some other phrases I won't bore you with!) Now, some 6 or 7 weeks later, after emailing Google's help team and being very, very patient while waiting for a reply, we are back in business. So I'll be able to keep everyone up to date with every detail of what's happening in our lives again (but just because I'm able doesn't mean I will does it?!)

Good to see you all again! Ciao!

Doorway To Dreams

A couple of weeks ago Daniel came home with a slip from school saying that he needed to have an immunisation shot for Chicken pox if he was to continue attending school. So off we went to get him a shot. When we left the clinic he had 4 puncture marks in his arms - and none of them from a Chicken pox immunisation. He had to have a rabies booster, Hep A, Hep B and something else I don't remember. He was very brave and didn't even flinch as four times, 1 inch of needle disappeared into his arm!

When we came out of the clinic, Ali and I saw this door and thought it looked cool. Very Mexican style. (Of course, it didn't look exactly like this. I've taken the liberty to experiment!)

Riverview OC Has Kicked Off

Dusk off Newport Pier. Nice!
Took this when Gavin Eva was visiting us
on the weekend of the Riverview OC launch.
(Check out his version of things at El Rancho Relaxo)

This is the mailer postcard that went out to around 20,000 homes in a 2-mile radius of the Cinemas where we meet. We had several people turn up to church last Sunday because of it (even though it was also Daylight Savings changeover and we had to get up an hour earlier!)

Phil Wickham Wocks!

We were able to go and see Phil Wickham live last Saturday night at The Flock. Very, very cool! This guy has an amazing heart, an amazing voice and great songs. He's a real worshiper and a passionate singer.

I've been a fan for a while and have played the CD many times over at home and in the car, however Ali was taken by surprise. She said it was really fresh and she had an incredible worship experience. She was also moved by his honesty and ability to paint great word pictures.

Unfortunately this picture is not from the other night. It was held in a small church building, but jammed full of about 250 young people.

How Could You Not Want To Marry This?!

Huge congratulations to Boof & Bridget who just got engaged! Wooohooo!
I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say "Onya Boof! We are very happy for you. May the road ahead be wonderful (and littered with Booflets)!"

Watch out - The Police are coming!

The Police

June 23, 2007
Saturday 6:30 PM Dodger Stadium
Los Angeles, California

And I have tickets!
Wooohooo!
Ali and I will be there taking part in history.
(Sorry, I'm gloating...)

8 Crazy Weeks

Well we have hit the ground running in the OC. We've now been here for 8 weeks. We found a place to live at the end of our first week here and have been trying hard ever since to bring our lives down to some kind of normality – which is quite hard in a place that just isn’t “normal”! We are loving it though and day by day learning more about the place and the people we now live with.

We’ve visited Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Knott’s Berry Farm, Balboa Island (in Newport Beach), LAX (several times), the Hollywood hills and the Hollywood sign, Hollywood Boulevard, one small bit of Beverley Hills – Wow! Ali has done Disneyland – a childhood dream come true. We’ve driven many, many, many miles and visited countless shopping centers and malls. We visited Saddleback Church, Mariner’s Church, Newport Church and Cottonwood Christian Center. Oh yeah, can’t forget – we went to see Switchfoot at The House of Blues in downtown Disneyland. They ROCKED!

Daniel started 2nd Semester here at Pioneer Middle School. He’s made a bunch of friends, and one in particular who skates and comes to our church.

Somewhere in amongst that we’ve had church 8 times. We’ve had Adam Meredith and Cathie Dixon visiting, then Penny Webb with Jaxon and Tayla and Amanda Powell, then Kristy Howarth and her friend Jo on their way through to Kiev in the Ukraine. Just hours ago we said goodbye to Phil, and Adam will be back in about a week. Gavin Eva will also be here in a week’s time, Adam will be back again and Rian and Jess Van der Merwe will visit at the beginning of April... and then Garrick and Simone at the start of May.

So as you can see, we haven’t been short of things to do. We miss everyone back in Perth (but haven’t really had a chance to feel it too much). We're loving life and looking forward to whatever the next 8 weeks brings.

Maybe you could be part of it?! Drop us a line or come and visit!

Hollywood!

Last week Daniel had Friday off from school so we thought we would take a bit of a drive (it's about 100kms or so) to Hollywood and look around. We drove up as far as we could to get close to the Hollywood sign up very skinny windy hillside roads past some amazing homes and managed to get... this close. (You can't drive or even walk right up to the sign.

As we were exploring this particular bit of the Hollywood hills we came across a horse riding place. It was like being way out in the bush, but it's only 5 minutes from Hollywood central. There were lots of horses, some chickens and a few dogs too. It was a very unexpected but very cool find.

Ohh, isn't that nice!

Even the chickens have big hair!

We took a walk down Hollywood Boulevard 'cause Ali wanted to see the "stars". It's a sad stretch of city that's for sure. These stars on the pavement are as glamorous as it gets. It's a very seedy area and you almost feel sick being there. But at least I can say I've seen Jimi's star!

A Moment To Myself

Yesterday morning Ali went along to Imagine, the weekly women's group for Newport Church (Pastors Jonathan and Di Wilson, ex Hillsong in Sydney). I took the opportunity to drive down to Newport Coast and just look around a bit, take some snaps, and just have an hour to myself.This was taken at Lookout Point on the Newport Coast. I just thought it was interesting and you could make up a thousand stories to go with it. (The guy is actually a personal trainer. I just caught him in the act of sitting down while the 2 girls he was training had gone for a short run. It was about 10:30am and the Marine layer was still fairly thick... there you go - the story you make up is probably going to be better than the truth!)
This is a little bay hidden away along the Newport Coast. (Can you see the puppy dog rock?) It amazes me how many places you can find without going hours out of suburbia.
Driving under a freeway overpass I saw this out of the corner of my eye and had to go back to see if I really saw what I thought I saw. Now is this random chance, or did someone put it there? My guess is that it's a bit of both. Some creative person saw the opportunity to add eyes and a mouth to a random windblown pile of dirt and leaves. Good work! That is very often how creativity works. We take something reasonably ordinary and add an element to it in an unexpected way, resulting in an engaging piece of work.

Winter in California

Well, there sure are a lot of Palm trees in California... We are enjoying being here.
We've had a few Riverview people through in the last couple of weeks which has been nice - giving us a good Aussie fix.

Huntington Beach Pier on a cold Winter's Day.

The Mighty Ducks! Yep - we were lucky enough to go to the 1000th game of the Anaheim Ducks. Ice Hockey is a crazy game!

A Few LA Sights

On New Year's Eve we were given this car - WOW!!! We have been so blessed, embraced and welcomed by everyone here. This was the best gift we could have been given as we've had to do a lot of driving around - getting our bearings and having to shop for stuff for our new home. (Of course, Ali's been hating that! ;-)

We visited Newport Beach one afternoon and saw this vibrant scene. What an amazing area. Cool (and very expensive) houses and lots of character.

Yes folks, we are in America! This is looking back from the Newport Pier. We are wide-eyed and soaking up all the sights and trying to enjoy the journey of settling into a new culture. So far, so good. I'd have to say we haven't found too much not to like at this point.This has to be seen to be believed. It's the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) headquaters with their Christmas decorations dazzling all who pass by on the 405 Freeway. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Famous Laguna Beach.

Laguna Beach sunset.

These "binoculars" didn't work very well but they sure looked cool!

A New Day - A New Life

We left Auckland around 8pm and about 11 hours later this is what greeted us... an absolutely beautiful Southern Californian winter day! This was our first glimpse of mainland USA...

...and the huge expanse of LA. This is a big city... and everything we saw after this was big too! Big Freeways, big cars, big houses, big shopping centres, and some pretty big people too.

Leaving Aoteoroa (The Land Of The Long White Cloud)

I know I haven't kept you up to date too well, but I'll try to catch you up a bit on our journey so far... a little at a time...There was some amazing light as we were getting ready to board the plane for our trip to LA.

LA, here we come! 29th December 2006.