January '09 Newsletter
Happy New Year! Hope you and your family enjoyed the Christmas season. I know that we did! In case my wintery-chilly northern hemisphere friends forgot, it is summertime here so the holidays are all about backyard BBQ’s and going to the beach.
I’m sure you are aware of what a whirlwind 2008 was for our family…and I mean that in the best possible way! Let me at least try to summarize my year. Since living in Sydney I have been able to make some great connections here with people, who I believe, will play key roles in helping with the work in Ukraine. Also this year I was asked to share my story in a few articles for magazines both here in Australia and in South Africa to which I received great email response from people with similar stories who had been encouraged by mine. You might remember that last May I had the privilege of going to the Hillsong women’s conference in Kiev, Ukraine and was able to take a few of the Joshua House girls there with me. Another awesome experience while in Ukraine was getting to meet with Ps. Sunday Adelaja, the pastor of the largest church in Europe…he is such an encouraging man who inspires me to believe big! And of course, some of the most precious times were the ones spent at the Joshua House on my trip in May and on that extra special trip there at the end of July…you know, the one where I came back engaged!
Jeremy and I got married on the beautiful South Island of New Zealand and the day couldn’t have been more perfect…there is no doubt that God’s fingerprints are all over this union. The boys adapted quickly to having a new dad. I have to say that I feel sorry for Jeremy sometimes…having to jump into the deep end of raising three sons where most dads get to learn along the way, but I know that God picked him for the job and has equipped him with all he needs to be the best dad ever. Besides, for any of you who know Jeremy you would know that he is always up for a good challenge!
So we were married on October 5th, had a short honeymoon in NZ then went back to Sydney. I had the flu for a couple of weeks…anyone who saw our wedding photos could probably guess why! If you haven’t seen them, I have pictures of me in the lake with my wedding dress on and we also took pics of us in the snow. The photos were totally worth it if you ask me! Haha As soon as I was better we packed up and moved house...just to the next neighborhood…but any move is a big move! Just two weeks after that, as soon as we had unpacked the house, we took a 2 ½ week trip to the States for Thanksgiving to let all of my family and friends back home get to meet Jeremy. We had a great time catching up with family and were glad to get to spend some time with Ps.Rusty & Leisa and all of our wonderful church friends at The Rock in Alabama. We also had an extra special Thanksgiving Day because Beto’s mom flew to Tennessee to visit with us a few days.
We only got back to Sydney the second week of December, and we were so happy to finally be able to slow down for the holidays and just enjoy being a new family. Christmas was so nice and relaxing, we spent Christmas Eve together just the 5 of us. Then on Christmas morning we opened our gifts, went to church, relaxed all afternoon then spent the evening with some friends of ours who pastor a church here in Sydney. They are American also and we always agree that you can’t find good Mexican food on this side of the world, so I brought the fresh salsa and they made the main dish and we had a great Mexican Christmas dinner! On that note, I have to tell you about Gabe’s favorite Christmas song, “Police-mommy-dot….Police-mommy-dot” this is to be sung to the tune of “Feliz Navidad.” While we were in the States Gabe was waiting in the car with my mom listening to Christmas music while I ran in to a store. I came back to find him singing his heart out as mom explained what he was trying to sing. I thought it was cute…hopefully it will bring a smile to your face as well!
As 2008 has come to an end, I pray that you have had no regrets. I hope the New Year brings you hope and the best of all that God has to offer you! I have never been one to make New Year’s resolutions, but I have asked Jeremy to help me be faithful to update everyone on all that God is doing in us and through us. Please keep us in your prayers as God has already given us some really BIG dreams to fulfill for this coming year. We will share some of these ideas with you in the near future…but beware, it could be contagious! You never know, you might find God tugging on your heart to get involved in one of the projects that He has already put heavy on our hearts!
On the more practical side of things, Jeremy & I are trying to update our database. If you are receiving this email to an old account could you please forward us your new current email address? It would also be helpful if we could have your phone number and home address. If you know of someone who might like to get our updates maybe you could forward this to them or send us their details as well. Thank you for your help in that…it will just make it easier to get information out to you.
Thank you for believing in us and all that we do. We can see God’s favor and we are believing Him for great things this year. Be blessed and have a Happy New Year!
Love,
Holly Everett(Chapa)
Click here to view our Engagement Announcement - August 2008.pdf
Or click here for the text only version (for those people who have trouble with the PDF).
