Vicki and Yong's Newsletter 08 12

Greetings and Happy New Year! We hope you’ve had a great time celebrating Christmas! For us the season has reminded us to be thankful for our families and for being part of God’s family, made possible through the person of Jesus.

Highlights of the last couple of months include:

• A trip to Bright in Victoria to visit Vicki’s younger sister Joanne and her husband Joe.
• A family day near Sale with a group of parents with babies Caleb’s age
• A church service of dedication for Caleb
• Being interviewed for a TV program

Some notes from Yong

In the last couple of months we’ve been able to speak at a couple of churches about our future ministry with Kingdom Aviation. Our first church talk was at the Maffra Community Church who showed a great interest in the ministry with aborigines. Their warm welcome really overwhelmed and encouraged us enormously. A couple of people singed up as our prayer and financial supporters. What a blessing to receive through God’s wonderful servants! We also had opportunity to talk to Lockington Community Church and some of church members were quite excited about our future ministry. We were very thankful for the opportunities to share with other people and to be encouraged by them! Please continue to pray for more opportunities to share what we will be doing in West Kimberley, WA. We are also exploring some options to join a mission organisation so that we can go under the banner of a larger organisation.

Last November I got an interesting phone call from KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), which is equivalent of ABC/BBC/PBC. They were interested in filming us for their new program called “Global Network – Korean” that shows the lives of Koreans abroad. A producer name Yoon Min Lee came and filmed us and a couple of other Koreans elsewhere in Australia. With help of Gippsland Aeronautics, I was able to fly to Essendon airport to pick him up and fly over Melbourne CBD. Yoon Min came to our home with big his camera and had dinner with some of our friends. The next day he came to Gippsland Aeronautics to film me working on airplanes and interview some guys I work with. The whole experience was very interesting. As I was talking to him, I learned that he is Christian and his father is a pastor of church in Korea. It was good to see a faithful Christian working in the broadcasting industry! He only stayed two days and moved to next destination for his filming. Unfortunate thing is that anything to do with Christianity had to be edited to remain neutral. I believe my life without Christ is meaningless and everything I do is for his work. I was disappointed to not share what I believe is important. After all of the hours of filming, I learned that our interview did not actually make it to air. I was very thankful to Brian Creek who loaned me his car when mine broke down on the day Yoon Min arrived and to George Morgan who allowed KBS to come and film Gippsland Aeronautics.

A walk with Vicki

With our car packed very full we set out Christmas Eve to travel to my parent’s house in Northern Victoria. It took us nine hours to get there, including three quick stops to visit friends and feed Caleb! From our full car, into a house full of people, we celebrated the Christmas season with parents, sisters, brothers in law and nieces, plus extended family and friends.

It seems as though any extra time in the last month has been spent getting ready for Christmas in some way. Being on maternity leave for this Christmas has made preparations the easiest and most relaxed I’ve had in years! Apart from Christmas, the last couple of months have mostly been filled with the daily activities of life around home – feeding people, washing clothes, washing dishes, cleaning and meeting with people.

My time at home is sadly coming to an end as I prepare to go back to work mid-January. An opportunity came for me to fill in for the head of the nutrition department which is good, but I’m sure I will miss spending my days with Caleb! A great bonus is that Gippsland Aeronautics is allowing Yong to work part time. I will work four days a week and Yong will work one day a week, so that Caleb will have one of us at home with him every day. Yong is really looking forward to being a home dad for a while!

Caleb’s world

Over the last couple of months Caleb has been developing quite quickly. He is now sitting by himself and also dragging himself all over the floor with his arms. We were greatly entertained by Caleb’s facial expressions when he started eating solids. His favourite food is apple with rice cereal. Caleb is still content and happy, laughing and giggling at the strangest things like a piece of curling ribbon or a soft cloth moving over his face or being spun around as he’s held. He wasn’t terribly impressed with his first experience in the baby pool, but tolerated being held in the big pool without any fuss. We want to get him used to being in water, which means a few more trips to the pool over summer.

A significant time of blessing for us was having a dedication service for Caleb. Family and friends gathered to celebrate Caleb’s life and witness as we vowed to raise him in a Christian home. Caleb himself refused to have a sleep before the service and ended up falling asleep on the Reverend’s shoulder during the service!

From Caleb’s point of view, his first Christmas was noisy, exciting and sometimes overwhelming as he competed with his older cousins for floor space and toys. The most enjoyable part was probably the wrapping paper which is great for scrunching and chewing (not too much got eaten though).

For those who pray for us:

• Give thanks with us for God’s provision throughout last year
• Caleb’s safe arrival and good progress with growth and development
• Direction for future ministry
• Pray for our preparations for moving to Derby
• Joining a mission group and Partnership development
• Suitable vehicle and housing
• That our understanding and love for the indigenous people to grow
• Preparation for renting our unit and for a suitable tenant
• Pray for us as we transition to being a stay-at-home Dad and a Mum working outside the home for the next few months.