I just wanted to post about my son Josiah. Josiah is an amazing little boy. I really am impressed by him and what he can do. He will be turning 4 at the end of this month and I can’t even believe how smart he is, how sensitive he is, and how amazingly helpful he is. I have always that that my kids were special from the moment of their birth, and I will never stop thinking that, but I am blown away by what God is doing in Josiah every single day.

Josiah can now; dress himself, use the potty himself, brush his own teeth, count, sing [he loves to sing], and almost knows the entire alphabet. The other day we were even trying to teach him how to add and subtract and he was totally understanding it. He is one of those kids who really takes time to warm up to you, and doesn’t really jump right into a situation right away. He likes to kind of sit back and think about who you are, and what is actually going on, before he gets involved in something. Once he spends the time he needs, he will quickly start to catch up for lost time.

Josiah loves people and as I mentioned above he loves to help. A few examples are; I will sometimes ask him to throw something in the trash for me, and without hesitation he goes and does it. He will go and get things for me when I need help, like my slippers, my phone, a tissue, anything and will not drag his feet at all, he loves to help.

Josiah is a strong leader. Bethany and I remind him of this all the time, he really has a chance, especially with his sister, to be a leader and show the younger kids what to do and how to do it. Example; Promise wants to do everything that Josiah does, so we have noticed that when Josiah is being helpful and putting his toys away Promise will want to do the same. Or when Josiah is brushing his teeth by himself, Promise will want to try and do the same. It also works in a negative way too. If Josiah is doing something he isn’t supposed to, Promise will also join in. With this in mind we really try and encourage Josiah with the fact that he is a leader. He has major influence in the life of his sister and all the younger kids, and he has a choice to either show them the right things or the wrong things.

I love my son and I just wanted to write and share a few ways that I have seen him change over the past 9 months or so. I will soon write a post about Promise and the amazing little girl that she is, but for now I just want to mention it again.. I love my son Josiah, thank you Lord for such an amazing reminder of who you are and how much you love us.

So things have been amazing here, and we have done a terrible job trying to keep this blog up-to-date. The reality is that I [Patrick] am learning things every day. In my classes, during chapels, in church on Sunday’s, in conversations I’m having with people from all over the world, and not to mention all the things that I have learned out side of all this. God has been changing me, shaping me, growing me. My world has definitely been changed forever. My experience here is only the beginning of what God wants to do in me, and in my family. It will take years to process what I have learned in these 9 short months.

We are just in awe of what God is doing, not only in America and Australia, but all over the world. It has been a privilege to serve and be a part of Hillsong Church. It is a church that has major influence all over the world. In these past months I have really gotten to experience the day to day runnings of the church as well as taking part in and watching the unfolding vision for the church and the ministry all over the world. Here at Hillsong they have a huge heart to reach people for Jesus. Every week, every service, they do an alter call [give people a chance to get right with God, or meet Jesus for the first time] at the end and people respond. I’m not saying that every church should do an alter call at the end of each service but I am saying that these times are very powerful and for the people who respond, you can see that there is something going on in them.

So that’s all for now. I hope that some of this made sense to you and I hope that you are all blessed by it. It is really hard to try and explain what is going on here, but I hope to be able to unpack some of the stuff a bit more before we leave and even after we return.

Questions:

What are some things that God is speaking to you about right now?

How can we start to see things from a Godly perspective?

So since I last wrote something, too much has happened to explain it all, let’s just say that God is good! We founds some amazing friends from the states, we found friends from here in Sydney, Australia, We were blessed with furniture, we found a car for pretty cheap, we found housing that we are sharing with two other families at a reasonable price, and we have been blessed just by being a part of the Hillsong Church. Every week we are just blown away when we hear/see what God is doing here.. We really miss home, but as we have learned here at the college.. “Home is where the heart is”, and at the moment our heart is hear in Sydney as well as back in the states.

My brother got married this past weekend, so we traveled out to Ohio, where I lived for 23 years of my life. Every time we come to Ohio it is like a blast from the past. We see family, friends, church, stores, and restaurants. There is really too much to do, and little time to do it. We were lucky this time to be able to stay/house sit my cousins house. He has a small 3 bedroom house that kind of sits in the middle of everything, so that has been really good and very convenient.

Things are just not the same without my mom though.. It was kind of weird at the wedding. My brother had me be the one to light the unity candle, something the mother of the groom is traditionally supposed to do. It just felt a little weird. Anyway, we have had a great time here in Ohio, and are really looking forward to a few more days.

So we have a lot of work to do before we get to Australia and a little time to do it. I am realizing how much is going into this trip and how quickly I am running out of time and money. I got my CoE letter a month ago and now have to get my student Visa, but before I get that I have to get a passport. We are also going to need to get passports for both Josiah, and Promise. I have never been out of the country before so this is proving to be quite a learning experience. So please be praying for us, and continue to check back here for updates, and hopefully soon, some pictures.

Poll: Where is the most fun place that you have traveled outside of the U.S.?