Fruit

Nate has once again proven his green thumb this summer. Our small veranda is over run with tomatoes, bell peppers/capsicums, herbs and various plants. We have already harvested five or six tomatoes and one capsicum not to mention the many times fresh basil and coriander/cilantro have been added to our meals.



And there are more little beauties coming through...

It seems that the more I chop the basil, the better is grows. Look at that healthy fella!

What is Nate's secret to success? Watering and pruning.

As I watch our summer crop grow I am compelled to remember one of my favourite bible chapters, John 15. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit."

May God, our tender, loving Father, prune our lives so that we bear more fruit for His glory.

Foreign visitors

My last two years in Australia, before heading to Mozambique, were spent studying at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, a small but precious school. It was a tremendous time of God working in my life and showing me how His whole Bible points to Jesus. I was also incredibly struck by the on-campus community that I lived in while there. Everyone knew everyone and we ate together, sang together, prayed together, studied together and shared some of the funniest times in my life together! Last weekend I was so thankful to have Prilz, one of my fellow SMBCers come and visit us in KY! Prilz and I lived across the hall from each other for a semester and when I left for Mozambique she faithfully sent me postcards embellished with Aussie flora and fauna and news from home. It's amazing how refreshing and encouraging a simple postcard can be.

A year after I left for Mozambique, Prilz went to Peru as a career single missionary. She and her American husband came to visit me and they were able to tell me a familiar tale of meeting each other on the mission field. I was sad that they were only able to stay one night on their whirlwind road trip but thrilled and thankful to get a good dose of face to face Australian friendship. I forgot to take the camera out while they were here so I had to dig through our photo archives to find an SMBC shot of us.

God bless you Luke and Prilz!

Old news

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while! Nate's sister, Lisa, and her boyfriend, Chris, came to visit us back in May. It was so wonderful to have them here and to explore a little of Louisville with them.

I think Chris's favourite part was visiting the Pirate exhibition at one of Louisville's museums. Later, we introduced them to one of our favourite board games - Settlers of Catan. I think Lisa'a favourite part of the weekend was slaughtering us at it!

Eliana loved having Lisa and Chris here and was mostly in good spirits, but I just had to include the photo below because it's such a classic!