October 2005

scarlet pimpernel

Melbourne

Sovereign Hill

with the 'roos

Eyton on Yarra winery

Melbourne Gaol

@ the Ren Faire

@ Pike's Peak

Garden of the Gods

enjoying San Diego

my new dress

Miss Emma

NYC team

Dad @ Ninos

@ the policemen's memorial

Dear Friends,

What a year! I guess my biggest news is that I have moved again! The White House once again packed up and transported to another state in our glorious union, this time back to good ol' Fredericksburg, Virginia. But maybe I should start at the beginning of the year.

The last holiday season found us in Colorado Springs, putting the finishing touches on settling Grandma's estate and moving Grandpa into his new home in Pueblo West. Bridget came home from Bible collage (in York) and it was so nice to have her home again. Christmas was wonderful. My gift to Bridget were tickets to see the Scarlet Pimpernel. On the 17th of December, we dressed up in our velvet tops, platform heels and glitter eye shadow and drove up to Denver to see the production. It was very good and it was great fun to have a night out on the town with my favorite sis. Christmas was over way too soon and Bridget left again for her last semester in York.

The first months of 2001 were pretty quiet for me. I got my driver's license just in time for my dear friend Maegan's visit in March. We spent her spring break together. It was great fun and over so fast! I continued to work for Dad, who was rarely home, and sew as much as possible. I also became more involved in the Journey, the church's young adult group and found a new passion, web-mistressing.

In May Dad had a business trip to Melbourne, Australia. He burned all his frequent flier miles and brought Mom and I along. Bridget couldn't come because of school but she went to Scotland that week on a school field trip so I didn't really feel all that sorry for her! My week in Melbourne was heavenly. I adore Australia and since my 5-week stay in 1998 I had wanted to go back. I was sorry not to make it up to Sydney or Canberra again but I fell in love with Melbourne and the surrounding area. While Dad worked, Mom and I played, doing as much sightseeing and shopping as possible. Actually Dad had quite a bit of free time so we were able to do a lot of our sight-seeing with him. We also used the rental car and took two day-trips into the country, one to Ballarat and one through the Yarra Valley.

It's hard to pick my favorite thing we did...I loved it all. Ballarat was great fun. It is the center of the Australian gold rush area. It was the Gold Rush in 1851 that brought people to Australia and made Melbourne the important city that it is. We spent most of our time at Sovereign Hill, which is basically an Aussie Gold Rush version of Williamsburg. It was really fun and well done, taking you through all the different phases of early gold mining in Australia. We had a great time there.

Our other day trip was great as well. We went to the Healesville Nature Reserve. It wasn't quite as cool as the Tidbinbillia Reserve that I had gone to in 1998 but it was neat none the less. What I didn't realize when I talked Mom and Dad into going there was that in order to get there you had to drive right through the Yarra Valley, Australia's "Napa Valley". We, of course, had to stop and do some wine and champagne tasting. Yummm! We also stopped and had lunch at the Yarra Valley Dairy, which has the best clotted cream in the world. I'm still dreaming about that clotted cream!!

Another highlight was the Old Melbourne Goal. Originally built in 1839, the only cellblock to remain is the 1852 addition. Walking into the block is just like walking back in time. You can't hear any outside noises, only those within the cell. It's creepy but not in a horror movie sort of way, it's just plain creepy. I really enjoyed it.

Soon after we got home from our Aussie trip life got crazy again. Bridget came home in May and we began the moving process. God was merciful and the government moved us so there were no U-Haul trucks involved but there was still the sorting, labeling and the offering to the yard sale god to prepare.

Stressful as it was we did have some good times in our last months there. We spent most of our weekends sight-seeing; doing all the tourist stuff we hadn't done yet. We went up Pike's Peak, went down in an old gold mine in Cripple Creek, went to museums and visited the Garden of the Gods often. Bridget and I were able to spend the day (and a nice chunk of change) at the Colorado Renaissance Faire with some dear friends as well.

I exasperated Mom beyond reason by taking an on-line dressmaking course the month before we moved. She was very gracious and the gown turned out well. The week before we moved I further tested the bonds of motherly love by leaving with Dad to spend a week in San Diego. I arrived home two days before the packers and am still here to tell the tale, proving my Mom is the greatest! (I love you Mommy!)

My week in sunny California was wonderful. It was great to get away from all the stress and just relax. Dad stayed in his hotel and I stayed with Maegan and her family. Maegan and I did a lot of nothing, which was perfect. We did of course go shopping, hit every Barnes and Noble in town, ate at my favorite places and went to the beach twice. I was also able to go to my old church, MVCF, and see some friends which was wonderful. The week was over way too quickly and it was back to cardboard and cleaning.

The move went well. Of course it had it's share of traumas, Bridget's wisdom teeth being pulled that week, Dad & my food poisoning (Mexican food in San Diego), my funny episode with the muscle relaxers (ask me about it sometime) and the not so funny packer problems. Ahh! Another move for the White House Annuls! The trip to Virginia took us 4 days (mostly in the rain) but it took our stuff 13 days to be delivered! It all worked out in the end. Friends were very gracious about loaning us dishes and chairs and it gave us a chance to clean and paint the house.

With the move to Virginia and Dad's new job, my old job didn't exist anymore. I worked for a short time at Dad's old company as a temp, which was a good thing. At the moment I have living off of Dad's generosity and looking for something. Problem is I don't know what I want to do. I am praying a lot and putting out feelers but as of now I don't have a clear direction. I have been keeping busy with the usual sewing, web paging, cleaning, cooking, laundry, sorting and our new kitty, Emma. We adopted her this fall. Having a kitten in the house is a new experience for me but I'm loving it! Emmy is just too cute!

I am involved in our church, Calvary Chapel of Fredericksburg as well. I'm singing with Mom and Bridget on Wednesday nights, involved in the Woman's study, the quilting classes and we are hosting a home fellowship. I am also the new CCFred web-mistress (or web-doulos – with Dad's help), which has been fun and challenging. I am re-doing the site basically from scratch so it has been keeping me busy this month. The new site is up but it's not perfected yet – check it out and tell me what you think! It's all been fun but my money is starting to dry up so I will have to join the real world soon and learn to balance fun with work. I was very glad I was unemployed a few weeks ago though because it enabled me to go to New York City on a mission trip.

Our church sent a team of 13 people to New York to minister for 5 days, sharing Jesus with the police, firefighters, rescue workers and citizens of NYC who are still hurting after the events of September 11th. Dad and Bridget also went, Mom staying home to organize prayer teams It was a wild week. It was a week of very high highs and very low lows. I still haven't processed in my mind everything I saw, felt and experienced.

Our team had the 2am-6am shift at Nino's restaurant two days in a row. For those who don't know, Nino's is a small, family run restaurant not too far from the World Trade Center area. Since September 11th it has been closed to the public, open only to police, fire and rescue personal. They serve those men and women 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all free of charge. It is the coolest place, with the walls covered in posters and letters from school kids and organizations around the country saying "thanks" and "be strong" and "we love you". It is a place where the personal come in from the cold and just relax. The 2-6am shift was really a great shift. We mostly prepped for breakfast and served coffee. It's steady but slow so you really get a chance to talk to people. I loved working there, everybody did, it was just recovering from the whacked schedule afterwards that stunk.

While we did do some sight-seeing, like going to Time's Square and having Lindi's cheesecake and walking around the Ground Zero perimeter a couple of times, we also had day shifts. These shifts were basically talking to people, listening to their stories and, if they wanted, praying with them. We were stationed all around the city, Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center ect. I guess the thing that amazed me the most was that everyone had a story. People throw out numbers like 5000 dead but millions of people were affected by Sept 11. Every single person in NYC is affected and some of them are hurting deeply. What a fallen world we live in, that people could do this to each other...

For me, nothing *totally amazing* happened. There were no police officers lining up to say the sinner's prayer with me, or firefighters crying on my shoulder, I didn't even get into Ground zero. It was a week of small revelations, smiles, serving orange juice, listening and learning to trust God for everything, even for sleep. Just being there was an act of obedience, a gift to my Abba, a way of expressing my love to Him. I learned a lot about myself and the God I serve and I'm closer to Him because it. He was so faithful! When I was at my lowest, down in the dregs He lifted me up again and loved me through it. It was hard but it was good. I had the privilege of representing Christ out on the streets and of hearing a few people pour out their hearts but I'll never really know the impact I had on people that week. It's like Pastor Chris said on the way home, we can only be faithful to what God has called us and then we have to leave the results up to Him. I will never know what happened to the people I talked to, I only know what has happened in my own heart. It was wild.

Our world, our country and our lives are different from last year but God is still God and He is worthy of all our praise, of everything. Let me encourage you if you have never given accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior make this the day that you do. If you have Jesus in your heart, let me encourage you to take Him at His Word, to:

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. - James 4:8
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:10
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. - Romans 12:1

He is an awesome and amazing God. He is always faithful and He will never let you down. May you have a blessed Holiday season and an incredible New Year! To God be the glory and honor forever and ever,

Jenny-Rose

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. ~ Ephesians 3:20-21