See the Little Man Here

He's been learning some new tricks:



And practicing his consonants (and a few dirty looks too):

Red, White and Green

Here are a few snowy winter shots of our home, brought to you by special request from Verity and Em (two of our bestest friends from Holy Trinity church in Adelaide, Australia):

This is, obviously, the front of our house.



This is our front walkway, some of the neighbor's houses and, obviously, a lot of snow.



This is the pile of snow I created while shoveling our driveway.





And here are a few of my favorites so far from Christmas:

A couple from my immediate family celebration.





And one from my Mom's side. Look at those hoons!



Just click on the photos to bring up larger versions, and remember there are lots more where these came from here.

Merry Christmas!

Obviously this is a little late, but better said than not. We miss you all and wish we could give you a big hug. :) As for the Aussie's, keep your eyes peeled for pictures of our house enjoying a WHITE CHRISTMAS! I was very excited this year 'cause last year when we came back to the US for 2 weeks over Christmas there was NO snow. Very sad. But yes this year is great: at least 6 inches of pure white bliss.

Well Christmas was crazy this year since it was our first year living in town and that means we're able to go to all 7 Christmas gatherings. And Alex was not napping. I think it was because of a new medication he was taking. I stopped giving it to him yesterday to test out my theory. Christmas was great - a little too hectic for me but great none the less. Brian outdid himself again with my present. He bought me a craft table with a nice office chair and mat to slide on. I'm so excited to finally set up my sewing machine & to organize my letter writing stuff. Brian got a new flash for his camera - it's fancy so I'll let him tell you about it. Alex's gifts of course far exceed ours but that's the way we like it. Plus it's not about gifts - we haven't had any material needs in many years.

I was talking to my sister and was reminded of how much we need to rely on God for our strength and support in every situation. Both of our families have been going through moving & chaos across many miles with children and it's so amazing to see her continue to push forward despite the current struggles. So hey big sis, we miss you all and hope California treats you better in the next few weeks.

Alex would like to have some attention please. He's becoming quite vocal about what he likes and what he doesn't like. Don't worry he'll let you know. One of his favorites right now is the new found joys of a teething biscuit. Even though, it's way to big for him to eat it all, he refuses to let anyone take it away. He will demolish it! As you can see most of it ends up on his face or hands. I don't even bother with the rag I just take him straight to the sink for cleanup.


He just cut his 3rd tooth and the 4th is on the way. He had a 3 1/2mth break between his first 2 teeth & these. I thought maybe they were stuck in his jaw and wouldn't come down. But the doctor reassured me they would come, eventually.

So I'm (Sarah) feeling pretty good cause Alex was decent last night. He is 81/2mths old and he still gets up to feed in the middle of the night! Lets just say he's stubborn - we did the sleep training trust me, it didn't work for him. He just doesn't like to sleep. He's a great baby but it's just something about sleep.

Alex's thoughts on taking a nap - the progression to crying:
Wow it's kind of dark in here (He's saying this out loud). I know they are doing something without me. Why did they put me in this room all by myself. Come on, I'm soooo cute you know you want to play with me. Where's my entertainment? Now listen here, I am not tired (rubbing my eyes and yawning). I WILL NOT go to sleep. Da, ga, baba....ba....ba....................................

30mins later WAHHHHHHHHHHH! That's it I've taken a nap now get me up. Oh you're here, how wonderful!

Hmm..

Well it's been a really lonnnnnggg time since we posted anything. Let's see, we are moved into the house and have all of our worldly possessions - well except for maybe 50 old school books still sitting my mother's house (Sarah)! I swear I'll get them soon. :) I am really getting back into cooking and trying new recipes each week. That really isn't too hard since I've only been building my repertoire for the last 2 years. Today I'm trying another chili recipe and this one cooks for 8 hours! I'm sure that's nothing in the world of chili but for me that means I have to get up on time & hope Alex takes his morning nap so I can get it simmering before lunch.

Alex is getting to look more & more like a little boy. He's walking along furniture and about ready to cut his next 2 teeth. We've been waiting only 3 months for them! He's also starting to have problems with reflux again but hopefully his medicine will soon ease his pain and mine!

I had a dream the other day that I was rested and slept every night uninterrupted but then I remembered I'm a mother and if we really plan on spacing our kids every 2 yrs it'll be a long time till that happens. I did however have a wonderful night of uninterrupted sleep last weekend!! That doesn't mean that I didn't wake up, but nobody else was waking me up.
Brian planned a wonderful night away at the B&B we stayed at on our honeymoon. We went out to dinner, drank some wine, spend quality time with my hubby, got to relax in a jacuzzi! and slept in a feather bed and then wake up to breakfast. Oh it was glorious. And to top it all off I felt so relaxed that I couldn't wait to go pick up Alex (it had been a rough couple weeks) and I'm still loving every minute with him. :) Thanks to my wonderful husband!

It's been snowing in Michigan and I love it! It doesn't really stick around but I love to see it fall and I know that when it really does pile up I'll probably be singing a different tune but for now I'll enjoy it.

I Need, I Need, Gimme, Gimme - Bob

I've been thinking some lately about how blinded I am to my spiritual need by my total lack of physical want. It's easy to forgot my absolute dependence on God when all my physical senses tell me I need nothing. I'm reminded of a passage from Proverbs which says "give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD ?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God." My danger definitely lies at the "too much" end of things.

I think the situation of the church of Laodicea is especially appropriate. In the book of Revelation Jesus says to them:

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent."

I feel like Jesus' words are directed right at me. I have a false sense of plenty that needs to be destroyed. I'm wrapped up in the illusion that the physical world is all that matters. It's hard to turn the whole world upside down.

I think that giving can help tranform us. I think of this event from the book of Matthew:

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,'and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

From what I can gather the response of the mainstream church in America (and Australia) goes like this: Our physical prosperity is fine as long as Jesus, not material wealth, is our master. The rich young man is thought of as an extreme example who needed to take extreme action to realize his dependence on God.

I'm pretty sure I agree with that, but I think I'm a lot closer to the rich young man's situation than I'd like to admit. Relative to my neighbors just about anywhere else in the world I'm fabulously wealthy, and I'm probably pretty close to being just as attached to my wealth as the rich young man was. I need to take action too. I certainly don't think the material wealth I have should continue to be used to create a life of excessive physical plenty for myself. Jesus teaches that it should instead be invested in what he calls "treasures in heaven." I've heard others teach that we should "give until it hurts," and I like that. I'm not sure if it goes as far as Jesus did though. Wise stewardship of what God has given us needs to be practised, but I think in order to remove money from its throne I need to give in a way that forces me to depend on God materially. To give until faith and money become entangled. Then I will truly be able to call Jesus my master. My illusion of plenty will be shattered so I can see my destitute spiritual state and my absolute dependence on Christ for salvation.

Home at Last

We're finally starting to feel settled in. We're into the new house, I'm getting spun up at the new job, Sarah is feeling more comfortable as a mother with her own space to be motherly in, and we're starting to get involved with some things at church. I think it'll still be a little while before the feeling of normalcy sets in, but who needs that anyway?

Here are some pictures. There are lots more here.

Alex was a spider for Halloween:



Alex got a new outfit from Uncle Steve and Aunt Kelly, and Sarah got a sweet new fleece:



Mark and Val got married (Congratulations!!!):



Here's my self in the new house:



And here are Grandpa and Grandma meeting our little buddy for the first time:

The Big Surprise

My ongoing struggle is, in a way, with priorities. I'm pretty sure I have the right ones in the right order on paper. The hard part is making consistent decisions, even small ones, in a way that correctly reflects the priorities. I suppose I could call that realized priorities.

My realized priorities definitely tend to center around myself, and sometimes my family. Big surprise.

Marriage and fatherhood have turned an embarrassingly bright spotlight on my selfishness. They've also been two incredible relationships that God has used to change me. I'm learning that neither relationship works unless my relationship with God comes first. It takes a lot of faith to make God my realized first priority. It's a lot easier to get wrapped up in the here and now and effectively worship the lovely and talented Mrs. Cooper or the chubby cheeked little cherub, or even myself. God's got a lot of work to do, and even though I hate it sometimes I'm glad he's on the job.

The Deal

Michigan, Michigan. Good old Grand Rapids. I never expected to be back again in this capacity. A job. A car. Almost a house. A church. Family. Friends. So many feelings, so much history. It's good to be back, very good. But it's hard too. Our life is not as much ours as it used to be, but that's because our relationships here are with family, and with friends that go back to childhood. I'm ready to settle down for a while, but it's scary. We're putting down so many roots I'm afraid we won't be able to make a change even if we want to. I'm enjoying work and looking forward to becoming competent and productive in a new field, but it's scary to leave what I'm good at behind. It's tough to come back as adults to a church we left as children. What is our place?

I know we made a good decision, and I'm not complaining. I expected it to be hard. It's good to know that God is with us. Being with family again is amazing. Seeing our long lost friends is incredible. Getting to know them all again has been a beautiful thing. The chance to own a house is one I thought we wouldn't have for years, if ever. The first week of work has been good, and I think the job will be a great challenge. Fitting back into church will be a stretching and growing experience, I'm sure. So all in all, hard but good. Painful but joyful. Challenging and growing. Forcing us to our knees in prayer and into faith for a life we know we can't live on our own.

I don't know how to say it!

I miss Adelaide and all you wonderful people!! I was thinking, once again, about you all this morning and just wishing I could give you all a big hug. I think about each and every one of you but I won't mention names for fear of leaving someone out. But you know who you are :) Alex misses you too - in fact he was just talking about his rellies (spelling any Aussies?) this morning. He was telling me the whole story about how he loved it when you all would hold him and make him laugh. And then he made me cry cause I was remembering it too. We miss you!

He's on the Move!

So my friend's website inspired me (Sarah) to finally put a post up!

Alex is crawling yo! He has been doing some mad army crawls for the last 3 weeks but this last week he started officially crawling :) The doctor said he's gonna be trouble (uh huh) and wouldn't be surprised if he was walking by 9 months. He's also begun the stage of stranger anxiety! So sad since, as most of you know, he was such a smiley & friendly baby. He still is but a lot of times just stares at people instead of constant smiles :(

What Alex has not been doing is sleeping on his own...but we're changing that. A little history. Alex always demanded to be wrapped to go sleep - even after he started rolling. Like an idiot I continued to wrap him instead of trying to teach him to sleep on his own. When we decided to visit friends in DC, which was when he turned 6 months, he became too mobile to be wrapped. Thus came the end of naps and sleep as we knew it. So here we are in a hotel, with a very rude lady next door, trying everything we can to get Alex to sleep. We struggled until last Thursday when we had enough of him waking up 5 times a night and not napping and decided we would sleep train him. Thanks to Brian's strength we conquered the night time pretty well. The task now falls on me for naps which I had geared myself up for today. I put Alex down, expecting a long fight, but after 5 minutes of silence I peeked my head in to see him sleeping like a what? A baby! No way! I know I know it's just one nap but it does start my day out brilliantly.
So...enough about Cutes. I can't wait to move into our house. I can't believe we are going to have one but I am so excited to have a backyard and not have to balance Alex & groceries up stairs! I'm excited to see how horrible I am at decorating. But I am up for the challenge now that I have a sewing machine and a few relatives that are pros at this sort of thing.

We miss all of our friends in Adelaide and DC. Our visit to DC made me want to move back there 'cause all our friends are having fun & having babies :) Everyone asks us about Australia and I would like all you Aussie's to know that we give high praise and can't stop raving about Holy Trinity. I well up with tears every time I think about you all!

The House

We had the inspections done on Friday the 28th, and everything looked good. Lord willing we'll be closing on the 19th of October and moving in at the beginning of November.

The husband of the couple that currently owns it said the house was originally built by a man as a wedding gift to his fiance. As he was completing the finishing touches they called the wedding off, so only two of the closets have lights that come on automatically when you open their doors. : )

We're all moved into our temporary lodgings. We'll probably be here in a furnished apartment until we move into the house. We had our first guests tonight, two couples that we've known since our formative years. All three of us couples now have one son each. We'll see if we can pull off triple daughters here next.

Here's the house, at least the outside of it (click on the picture to see a larger version):

Virginia Visit

Sarah, Alex and I flew into Reagan National Airport on Saturday afternoon. We went to good old Immanuel Bible Church on Sunday and saw many many friends that we will be missing a lot once we're back in Michigan. Since Sunday we've been hanging out at the hotel and at friend's houses getting as much time with them as possible before going back. Tomorrow morning Sarah and Lex will fly back to Michigan and I will pick up a U-Haul to bring back our stuff that was air shipped along with the things we left in storage here while we were in Australia. I'll also be bringing back a washer and a dryer that our friends are selling us.

On Friday we'll be applying for the mortgage and attending the inspection of the new house! So exciting.

Stress Relief

Sarah and I put an offer in on a house this evening and our offer was accepted. We looked at more than 20 houses in one and half days. The house we got is far and away the nicest of the bunch. It was owned for the last 15 years by and interior decorator who made it the most absolutely impeccable house I have ever seen. We are super excited and grateful.

If you are looking for a real estate agent in the greater Grand Rapids area then I whole-heartedly recommend Rod Osbeck. His knowledge, commitment and personal touch were incredible. He runs against the crowd in a lot of really good ways.

This One is for Our Friends in DC

Sarah, Alex and I will be in DC from this Saturday (Sep 22) until Thursday morning (Sep 27). We would love to see you guys. We'll be attending Immanuel on Sunday. What time is the Venture service now?

The Final Decision

Sarah and I have decided to that I shall accept an offer of employment from H.T. Engineering (my father's gas and oil pipeline engineering and consulting company) in Grand Rapids, MI. We asked Alex for some input during the process, but he just smiled really big and some drool came out of the corner of his mouth.

I had to turn down several very attractive offers for Naval Architecture positions in Washington, DC, but the chance to live near family and old friends and work for my Dad was too good to pass up. We're definitely sad that we won't be going back to our friends in DC though. It's been a hard decision to make, but we're thankful for all the options that we had.

We're now in the process of settling in; we just bought a Scion xB, and we're starting to look for a house. We're still missing Adelaide and all our friends from Holy Trinity and GCA. We're going to call you guys once we get settled in. Please keep praying for us, there are still a lot of fairly big decisions we have to make. God bless.

The Long Hello

The little Cooper family is doing well. Life is always a bit off kilter when you're homeless and unemployed, but we're enjoying it. We've got a car coming next week, and hopefully some sort of job decision, or at least a narrowing of the field. It's difficult for me to predict a winner at this point since the possibilities all have such diverse strong points. It does look like there are good seminaries in both DC and West Michigan, so we should be able to work something out with further schooling.

We're still missing our friends in Adelaide, and Adelaide itself. I doubt we'll ever stop missing them until we're all together again. But then we never stopped missing our friends and family back here while we were there.

Well, we'll let you know when we know what the next step is. Who knows when that will be. Hopefully sooner than later, right?

We're In The States

We said our goodbyes:



Flew to the States:



Stayed in the Hilton:



And were recieved with much joy in Grand Rapids:



Check out Flickr for more photos.

Now we're adjusting to the time change, enjoying our family and friends here and missing our friends back in Adelaide something terrible.

Alex

Here he is delaying sleep:



And here he is playing on his mat:



Just think, many of you will see him in person in a few short days!!!

Brian's Take on the Last Five Weeks or So

My goal here is explain what's been happening since June 20. June 20 was the day that the Commonwealth of Australia decided to go with the Spanish ship design rather than ours. The next day my coworkers and I had to pack all our own boxes and computers up and move them to a segregated working area. The day after that, Friday, June 22, our managing director announced that 24 out of 44 employees would be fired. There was some question over the weekend as to whether I was one of those 24 or not, but on Monday, June 25 I was asked to pack my things and go home. I have been without employment since then. The good news is that the Commonwealth is still relocating us back to the States, and the company's severance package is much better than anything we would have gotten in the US.

That first week after I lost my job was a very stressful whirlwind. Our pastor at Trinity here in Adelaide offered me a traineeship for two years, but we soon found out that we would not be able to get work visas for it because I have no formal training or experience to qualify me for the position. We also explored a few other options that would enable us to stay in Adelaide for a while longer but everything fell though. Sarah and I have really enjoyed living here and have made good friends that we'd love to spend more time with. We've been through a lot with them, and it's going to be very hard to leave.

I also poured a lot of energy into sizing up the job market for Naval Architects back in the States, and looking at seminaries. I sought the advice of my friends, fathers and mentors as to whether I should continue in engineering or transition into some sort of full time paid position in the church. I think our path at this point is to seek full time engineering work in the States and find a good seminary that will do correspondence courses. That way I can start a Masters of Divinity or some such degree and work on it slowly while we save up and decide whether or not we should jump into seminary or church work or missionary work full time. Our thinking on these things is enlightened and informed further by new opportunities fairly often, so don't be surprised if our "path" has taken a couple twists and turns by the time we talk to you next.

The second week (which was the first week of July) was much more enjoyable. It was less stressful in a decision making sense, but more stressful in a taking care of Alexander sense. We had to go to the US Consulate in Melbourne in order to get a Consular Report of Birth Abroad and a Passport and a Social Security card for Alex. We decide we would drive and make a little holiday out of it all. We left Monday afternoon and arrived in Melbourne by the most direct route late that night. We stayed right in downtown in the Victoria Hotel. The next morning we went to consulate with all our paperwork and citizenship proving documents and met with success face to face. We raised our right hands and swore that all we had entered into the blanks was correct and true, and little Alejandro became a United States citizen from birth. We spent the next couple days touring around Melbourne. Here is some photographic evidence.

These are from a walk we took around Melbourne's park lands:















These are from the Melbourne Aquarium:





And these are from a trip we took up to the top of one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne:







On the way back to Adelaide we took the Great Ocean Road. It is a much longer, much funner route. I know it's not a word; deal with it. The road follows the coast and has many beautiful sights and many beautiful curves. Much fun to drive upon. Here are some shots of that two day journey:









When we got back home to Adelaide I started applying for some jobs back in the States.

The Sunday after we got back to Adelaide (July 15) our friend Calum arrived from Japan to spend the week with us! We had a grand old time reliving the days of bagging groceries and cashiering at Family Fare together. We also made some great new memories four wheel driving, wine tasting, touring, sitting in the sauna and jumping into the freezing cold pool, taking pictures and checking out the crazy Australian fauna. Here are some photos from that week.

These are from the Clare wine valley:









These are from Cleland Wildlife Park:











This is Calum pretending to be mad at me for crossing the road against the light.



And these are from a little four wheel drive and Mt. Lofty tour Calum and I did:









Sadly, Calum had to take off the morning of Sunday, July 22. Sarah and I kept ourselves very busy making moving arrangements and courting potential employers before the arrival of our next guest on Wednesday morning. Alec Glass had been in the Philippines for the previous four weeks doing some missions work at a university there with the Navigators. We had a glorious week of camping in Innes National Park, almost drowning in the monstrous surf, speaking of the deeper things in life, watching kangaroos and repeating the four wheel driving. Alec took off early in the morning on Thursday, August 2. Here are the images captured during his time in Oz.

Here are some from Warrawong Sanctuary:





These are from our camping trip to Innes National Park:















While Alec was here I received one job offer from a company in DC and learned that my previous employer in DC would know at the end of August whether or not they could take me back. There is also an opportunity to work for them in a government office near Norfolk, VA which I should hear back on sometime soon.

On Saturday, August 4 we hosted a farewell party for ourselves. It was lot of fun, and we've almost eaten all the left over food now. Sarah whipped up quite a delicious mix of goodies including veggies and dip, crackers and cheese, cream cheese brownies, sausage rolls and fruit pizza. So good.

The movers are coming on August 13 and 14, and we plan to fly out on the 16th. We plan to spend a night in Los Angeles to break up the travel for the sake of the sanity of Sarah and the time zone acclamation of Alejandro. We should be in MI for about 4 or 5 weeks before gallivanting off to whatever city and job we end up choosing.

We are extremely sad to be leaving this place and these people but we are also very excited to see our families and friends back in the States again, and to introduce them to Alex!