So not doing a good job...

Oh I am soooo not doing a good job at this. My apologies once again.

Well, family and friends, I would say a lot has happened since I blogged last! Let  me TRY and give you a BRIEF update. 

Josh finished off the semester at the end of November and did QUITE well! I am so proud of him! He starts his next semester in a few weeks with a pretty intense load including Greek 1! Yikes!

Josh also has started a new job which was a total blessing from God. Literally. He somehow got connected up with guy that was praying for someone that he could hire to manage his tire and small mechanics shop that he just opened up near the Blue Mountains. This job is better pay, a way better work environment, and he gets compensated for gas to and from work… not to mention that he is able to use all his past years of experience in managing the shop. He is pretty pumped about this.

I am still working at the café but have some potential new jobs in the works… will update you as things come to pass! As far as my health, I am totally blessed to say that after six months of the worst stomach issues in the world, I am completely healed! Not kidding! I had done several tests—full blood, parasite, ultrasounds, celiac, etc—and was ready to head to a gastro- specialist to see what he could do as nothing seemed to be showing up on the tests. I just so happened to get connected with a girl (the wife of one of Josh’s friends when he lived here before) who has been living here for 7 years with the same EXACT issue as I was having… she had the same symptoms and the doctors couldn’t seem to figure out what it was… they ended up diagnosing her with celiac but she knew that wasn’t it as basically everything she ate would bother her. However, as soon as she would go back to the states to visit family, she would be fine! She told me that on her 3+ week holiday in California she ate EVERYTHING and had NO issues and even lost weight! After chatting to her on the phone I was comforted by the fact that there was someone else out there with the same issue but I also knew that only God could solve this… no doctors…

So, as we have entered 2013, the vision of Hillsong Church for this year has challenged both Joshua and me: believing with faith and expectation for God’s blessing upon all of our lives. This has been so hard for the both of us in the past as we have felt so undeserving of God’s blessing… like we have had to earn it… In this mind-shift, we have been both praying and believing for God to do GREAT things in His Church, His people, and us. So, I began praying and believing fervently for God’s miraculous healing upon my body…a complete wholeness to my system.  It was as if a switch had by hit in my body after this mindset change… It was about the second week or so of January when my bloating was disappearing and my stomach pain was going away. I slowly started adding foods back into my system that I hadn’t been eating… my body wasn’t reacting to them! I am now eating any and every kind of food without a bit of reaction! I know that this is only by God’s healing touch. There is NO other explanation for it as I have done nothing else differently. I am so excited and blessed to see the power of God upon my life!

On another note, Josh and I have had the opportunity to do a bit more traveling and sightseeing, which I am so excited about! We were invited to our first Australian wedding at the end of November in Hunter Valley, wine country. My work Christmas party was an outing to the Sydney Aquarium (I got to see where Nemo had settled. Hehe). I got to experience my first New Years’ Eve in the city, watching the AMAZING fireworks from the balcony of our friends’ house! Lastly, my sister, Sarah, came to visit for two weeks! We explored a bit more of the city together and traveled up to the Gold Coast and got to see Surfer’s Paradise and Brisbane. We had an absolute blast!

Josh and I are looking forward to an AWESOME and eventful 2013 filled with God’s grace and blessing! We hope this post finds you all well! We honestly think of you all quite often and look forward to seeing many of you on our visit back home in June for Jordan’s wedding!  

Much love,

Team Therrien 

At the Graduation Dinner with our new friends, Eli and Lena

The famous Shark Tank at the Sydney Aquarium (this tank was used in the Amazing Race!)

My apologies for my silly coworker, Alyce. :) 

I got the privilege of watching one of Josh's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes 

and seeing him fight. :) 

Christmastime at Hillsong Church 

They did a beautiful job decorating the entire campus with Christmas decorations 

for the whole neighborhood to enjoy! 

Dinner in the city

New Years Eve in the city with our good friends, Cam and Sus

The giant duck in Darling Harbour! 

Apparently this duck travels all over the world! 

 Photo taken from our Harbour Cruise with my sister, Sarah 

The view from the Eye Tower-- you get to see the entire city from the top of this building! 

Top of the Tower with my sister 

I got to do some more exploring of the Blue Mountains with my sister. 

To the left of me is the famous "Three Sisters"

Surfer's Paradise in the Gold Coast! 

This is the view from Josh's friends' (Graham and Leah) house in the Gold Coast. 

You literally can see this from their living room! 

Visiting the Botanic Gardens in the city of Brisbane 

Brisbane skyline