Advice Needed...

Okay, so this post is especially for all those mommies or mommies to be in blog-land. I'm in need of some baby book/scrapbooking advice. I love being creative and I didn't want to do a normal baby book/scrapbook, so when I heard about this particular creative idea I was stoked! I want to start an online baby scrapbook that also has a blog/journal feature. Yesterday I set out to research companies/designers that did this, and I was overwhelmed with all the options. So this is where you come in...those of who have an online baby scrapbook...do you like it? Who would you recommend? Your advice and wisdom is appreciated!

On another note, we have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, and we get to hear bub's heartbeat...cannot begin to express our excitement! I absolutely LOVE my OB, however, at the first appointment you get a pregnancy orientation of sorts, give blood and urine to confirm pregnancy, and thats it! So this is the first time we'll get to hear our precious bub's hearbeat. I'm packing the kleenex. Tear will be a flowin!

Important Announcement...

Yep, that's right, we're PREGNANT! We're both SOOOO excited. I'm 11 weeks, so our due date is Valentine's Day 2012! How appropriate. We've had a blast spilling the beans to family and friends. Its been such a blessing to be surrounded by so many that are absolutely elated for us! But my favorite moment, so far, was telling my precious hubby.

Here's the scoop...So let me back up about a week and a half prior to the glorious day. My monthly visitor was late and I'm NEVER late. I'm like clockwork. So I got a bit suspicious. And not gonna lie, giddy with the possibility we could be pregnant. Woke up the next morning, took the test, negative. I was crushed. And a lot more upset than I thought I'd be. Fast forward a week and a half. Saturday night. Still no monthly visitor. Along with some other 1st trimester symptoms, but I'll spare you the icky details. But I pushed the fleeting pregancy thought out of my head. I didn't want the disappointment, yet again. However, I woke up EARLY, EARLY Sunday morning with unexplainable joy and peace. I can't put into words what I was feeling. I went straight for the bathroom and took a pregnancy test. My hubby was still snoozing in bed. Sure enough I was pregnant. However, due to my negative test just a little over a week ago, I took about 5 others...OCD, much?! And they all came to the same conclusion: I was carrying a precious bubs. As much as I wanted to wake Bri up, I wanted to tell him in a creative way. So I contained my excitement, which if you know me, you know how difficult this was.

I knew Bri was due to be up in just a few short minutes, so I got back in bed, to not seem suspicious. However, I think the smile from ear to ear at 5:30am, might have been a bit of a giveaway. But Bri didn't let on that he knew. He did keep commenting what a great mood I was in so early! I sucessfully kept my mouth shut as Bri headed to prayer meeting before morning service. I made it all the way through student small groups and service. Since it takes Bri awhile to leave on Sundays, I left church a tad early and picked up a picnic lunch, a card, and 2 onesies. I picked him up from church and told him I had a surprise since he's been so busy with work (true, story).

I took him to our 1st date location: Lake Jacomo. We had a picnic lunch. Before we ate, I gave Brian the card and told him to open his present. As soon as he opened that onesie, his eyes welled up with tears and exclaimed, "Are you serious?!" We celebrated over our picnic lunch with many, many tears and laughter of thanksgiving. My hubby's tender spirit never ceases to touch my heart. I can't wait to see him as a "daddy."

Our concieving is so special. We were told getting pregnant would be extremely difficult, and possibly a hard road for us. But our God is ABLE! And we're spending this precious days so thankful for our bubs. Its inconceivable how much I love this baby that I've never met. So thankful. I will leave you with a couple more pics of our special day...

Whats in YOUR hand?

After a night full of chronic coughing, chills, sweats, burning sensation in my nasal cavity, and really anything else that did NOT include sleeping, I decided to go to the doctor. My precious hubs took me to the doctor first thing on Wednesday morning. I must back up and say 2 weeks prior to this, I went to the doctor and found out I had a bacterial infection. Got some great drugs. End of story. Or so I thought. Back to present day, the doctor informed me on Wednesday that the zpack of antibiotics did NOT clear up the bacterial infection and it actually got worse. I had pneumonia. What? I don't think this doctor understood. I didn't have TIME for pneumonia. I had a full week and NO time for sitting in bed sick. As my to do list for the week was whirling around in my head I heard my doctor, "Erika, Erika...." I snapped back to reality to hear his strict instructions. He went on to tell me he was going to prescribe some heavy duty anitbiotics, but I needed to be in bed the REST of the week and then take it easy for the next couple of weeks. I think his exact words were "SLOW DOWN" until you feel 100%. If you know me, those are dirty words. Slow down? Does he understand my week? Or month of April for that matter? There is NO time to slow down. However, my coughing fits and exhausted state won over. I was just gonna have to do just that. Slow down. Sleep. Let myself be sick.... And this is where God began to work...

Before I go on, I must brag on my hubs. He has been nothing short of AMAZING through all of it. He has waited on me hand and foot. My love for him has only grown.

As I was lying in bed, absolutely miserable (feeling VERY sorry for myself), the Lord stirred my Spirit to pick up my Bible. "Really, God?! Now?! I can barely hold my head up." But I've argued enough with the Lord to know that he ALWAYS wins, so I decided to cut it short and just be obedient. I grabbed my Bible. And I began read story after story of women who used what they had to minister to others and bring glory to God. And I knew God was asking the same of me, "Erika what is in your hand. Right now. What do you have?" All I had in my hand was a kleenex. Ha! But in all seriousness, I didn't understand why God was asking me this question NOW. There wasn't anything I could do lying in bed with pneumonia. "God I don't have ANYTHING in my hand. Wait until next week. I'll use whats in my hand next week. But I can't do anything now." I closed my bible, and I went back to feeling sorry for myself. But that nagging question kept me from my pity party. "Whats in YOUR hand, Erika?" I gave up. Again. Grabbed my bible, journal, and kept studying these women's stories that all used what the good Lord put in their hand. And I noticed something about EACH woman in all these different stories, they used what God gave them AT THAT MOMENT. They didn't wait until they were in a position of more influence, power, or had more time. They used what they had at that moment. Let me show you.

In 2 Kings 4:8-17, 8:1-6 we find the story of the woman of Shunem. She wasn't, in the world's eyes, anything special. She wasn't a queen. Didn't have a lot of money. Wasn't in a position of power. She was a simple woman who used what she had, in this case her home, as a place of ministry. Later on when tragedy threatened to hit her household she maintained the right attitude and right atmosphere in her home, despite circumstances. She used what was in her hand...

The 1st chapter of Ruth, we see a broken Naomi who has LOST everything. But Ruth used what was in her hand. She refused to leave Naomi. She was loyal to her desolate mother-in-law. She didn't wait until she'd made enough money, or earned a position of prestige. She used what she had. "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severly, if anything but death separated you and me," (vs 16-17). Ruth used what was in her hand...

The story of Abigail, found in 1 Samuel 25, shows us that despite her wicked husband she used what was in her hand. She showed sound judgement, prudence, and a sober mind in her response to her husband's insulting behaviour toward David and his men. Because she used what was in her hand, she prevented her household from ruin.

I can recall so many times reading these stories of God using these AMAZING women and thinking, I can't wait for God to raise me up. I can't wait until God gives me my platform. I'm gonna do great things for him. And I don't think I'm alone in this thinking. So many times we tell God, "I'm gonna do great things for you...one day." "When you give me 100 people in my ministry, we're gonna do great things for you." Or "God when you raise me up as a person of influence in my community, we're gonna see a great revival." When I read these phenomenal stories over the other day, the ONE thing that struck me was, they USED what was in THEIR hand RIGHT then. They didn't wait until they had more money. Or power. Or influence. They used what God had placed in their hand. At that VERY moment. In that specific circumstance.

I'm typing you from Day 5, on the couch, with pneumonia. But I'm using whats in my hand. I'm not waiting for my circumstance to change.

What's in YOUR hand? For such a time is this...

Good.

One of my favorite songs right now is "Forever Reign" by Hillsong...thats a shocker, I know. My favourite line in the song is the opening line, "You are good, you are good when there's NOTHING good in me." Nothing. Such a strong word. It sounds pretty harsh. As we sang this over the past weekend, I really began pondering the word "good." And then it appeared in a bible study I'm doing based on Titus 2. I think the good Lord is trying to tell me something...

Good. There is a big movement in our society to "do good." A big emphasis is being placed on doing for others. You see a lot of commercials on TV promoting all sorts of activist groups that Hollywood Stars are founding. In light of our current events with Japan, New Zealand, Australia, the list could go on and on; everywhere you turn people are "doing good" to help these victims of injustice. Do participating in these worthy causes make us good? Is being good defined by doing something nice or helping other people? Many scholars will tell you that as humans we are born good. There is some level of goodness in us. Leading psychologists teach that we are the product of our environment and that defines our state of "good." However, after studying the Word, it is NONE of these...

"I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, my sinful nature," Roman 7:18.

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and ALL our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away," Isaiah 64:6.

The list could go on and on of the scriptures I found on humanity and being good. And the conclusion was the same, there is NOTHING good in me. In other words, in my FLESH (key word) there is NOTHING good in me. Now this seems like a bummer, but here is some good news...

"Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" Jesus responded, "Why do you ask me about what is good?" "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments." Matthew 19:16-17 *I strongly urge you to grab your Bible and read the rest of the story. Its life changing, but its another post:)

These two verses teach us the definition of good. The LORD is good. He is the standard of goodness. We don't measure up. We can do good all day long, and we still won't make the cut...on our own...in our flesh...here is where it gets "good"...

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1st John 1:9

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:15-16

These verses, among a ton others in the Word, tell us God offers his goodness to US. God who defines GOOD desires to cleanse us. We can receive his goodness. God can clean our "filthy" selves and make us new. We can try and give and do all day long, but on our OWN we will always come up short. It is ONLY in the saving power of Christ, through salvation, can we as humans receive goodness. If you are reading this, and do not know Christ or have recieved his goodness through salvation, and want to know more, please leave me a comment or email me at elopperman@gmail.com.

And here is the good news for us as Christians. In our flesh we are nothing but filthy rags. But by the power of salvation, we are more than conquererors (Romans 8:37). We are co heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). The same POWER that conquered the grave LIVES in ME (Ephesians 1:18-20). This is LIFE changing. Powerful. Doesn't get any better than this. If this truth doesn't make you want to jump up and down, worship, give HIM praise, please take a minute and check your pulse...

By receiving his GOOD, we can then and ONLY then give goodness to others. Bring justice to the unjust. Serve the unlovely. Dont' get me wrong, earlier when I discussed the world's view of good as doing good deeds, I wasn't downplaying or saying we shouldn't do good. But in order to truely DO good we must FIRST understand the definition of good. Without the Lord, our good deeds stop at that. Just a deed. But in the power saving grace of Jesus, who is good, it is only then that we can truely pass goodness on. It is only through Christ that it becomes more than just a deed. This is the call of the local Church. We are to give goodness to others. Bring justice. Be the hands and feet of Christ. Afterall, the SAME power that rose Christ lives in ME and every believer. Let this change your every thought, word, and action.

He is GOOD.

Back in Business...

We're back in business with a new name, new look, and new location-back in the good 'ole US of A! I thought it was only appropriate that we change the name since we are no longer in Oz. Thus, "Brian and Erika's Aussie Tales," no longer fit. However, this crazy, amazing, wonderful adventure the Lord's placed us on is NOT over, so stay tuned for ramblings on love, ministry, and just life with us!

cleaning and sorting and packing...oh, my!

I think I could probably end this entry at the title, because that is exactly our lives right now. Cleaning. Sorting. And packing. Oh. My. However, I'm trying to get better at updating especially during this precious season of our lives. We'll see how I go at keeping this promise. I'm about as good as a politician during campaign time when it comes to blog updating promises (insert laugh here). Since I'm making list after list right now, I thought that would be appropriate for this post. I mean, why not, I'm practically making them in my sleep...

1. Speaking of sleep, I can't sleep past 5:30am these days. Between the sun and my endless thoughts of EVERYTHING that needs to be done before December 3rd, I'm wide eyed and bushy tailed FAR too early these days. The hubby appreciates this-ha!

2. School is winding down for Brian...he turned in his last BIG projects/assignments on Monday. And he sighed a HUGE sigh of relief. However he has a HUGE Theology test on Friday, so say a prayer for him! Aside from this, he only has a couple small assignment left. I'm such a proud wife. I'm beaming as I type.

3. The end of the school year for Brian brings the Annual Graduation Ball, which is my FAVORITE part of the year. Everyone gets dressed in their finest for an evening of dinner and dancing at Darling Harbour. Its a BLAST. Perfect way to end the school year. Of course anything that requires me getting all dolled up will be a favorite of mine! I know you're shocked...

4. Brian graduates on November 29th. There will be tears. I'm stocking up on tissues. Words cannot express my pride or admiration for my husband's achievements. I know its probably obnoxious to read about all the gush and goo, but I can't help myself.

5. We are spending a majority of evenings sorting and cleaning for our Giveaway/Moving Party. We decided to have a BIG party complete with food, music, and good company, however, the catch is you can't leave the party without taking something out of our apartment with you. We are giving away everything from our fridge to hair accessories! It should be a functional yet a fun way to get together all our friends. Any excuse to have a party, right?!

6. At the moment, I cry at the drop of a hat. No seriously people, I'm EXTREMELY teary at the moment. Its becoming a reality that we are really leaving. This has been such a precious season in my life that I am going to miss dearly. I've grown so much in my faith and personal walk with the Lord, and made some of the best friends of my life here. Currently I have broke down in the following places: at a cafe getting coffee with a friend, after an extremely encouraging phone call, work, cleaning our apartment, and just walking along the beach over the weekend. You name it and I'm getting sentimental over it.

7. Christmas Music. I'm listening to it. Yep, it is ONLY November 4th and I'm in the full swing. I actually started 2 days later than last year...I don't know how I let that happen! Since Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in Australia (obviously), I start Christmas early! I'm not trying to overlook the importance of Thanksgiving because trust me, this girl, loves me some Thanksgiving, but I just can't resist those catchy Christmas tunes...

8. Speaking of Thanksgiving, we are celebrating with some friends this year! We're doing Turkey and all the trimmings. Brian is determined to find some American football to watch as the rest of us slave away in the kitchen. We will post pictures for sure!

Well, I think that sums us up in a list. I hope this season does find you thankful for all you have. I'm trying to savour each and every last moment in the beautiful country and thanking the good Lord above for all He's blessed us with in this season.

all our love,

b & e

Update on all things "Opperman"

Sooo...neither Brian or myself have done an exceptional job keeping you all updated through the blog this past year. We tried. It was always in the back of my mind, "Erika you need to update the blog." I would even reach for the computer, but then something else would come up. Argh. And so this was the story for much of our hectic past year. However, you can count on us to keep you informed on the "BIG" stuff...so on with the "big" stuff...

Words cannot express our time in Australia. We have learned heaps about this fantastic "new" culture, ourselves individually and as a couple, ministry, but most of all faith. I have never understood what it was to COMPLETELY surrender and rely on the Lord until our time in Australia. I could tell you story after story of the Lord's provision and blessing that would nothing short of SHOCK you. Unbelievable. Part of our faith journey has been our future. The Lord's next step. The "whats next" question...

"What is next," you may be asking yourself (if not, please humour me). As Brian and I began praying about our "next step" the Lord kept bringing the word surrender to both our minds. Brian and I spent a lot of time in prayer surrendering our will to the Lord. And after much, much, prayer I told the Lord I wanted what he wanted. Whether that was to stay in Oz and do another year, or return home I just wanted my desires to aline with his. However, we didn't know what was next. Enter God. I will spare you all of the details of how the Lord orchestrated our next steps, but they are NOTHING less of a miracle. God never ceases to amaze me in how he provides and continues to bless us beyond our WILDEST imaginations (and if you know me that is WILD-ha).

Rewind about 2 months ago. We received a call from a church back home asking us our future plan. I really wanted Brian to say, "Your guess is as good as mine." However, he didn't. He kindly explained we were probably going to stay for a 3rd year, but were open to wherever or whatever the Lord had next (as corny and churchy as that might sound). As it turns out, they were wondering if we would be willing to be considered for a position in their worship ministry. After much prayer. And more prayer. And EVEN MORE prayer (got the idea, yet?). We told them we wanted to be considered for the position. So that began the process. A resume, video of Brian leading worship, much prayer for wisdom, and many Skype interviews later, they called to offer us the position. And we ACCEPTED.

Brian will be the Worship Pastor at Abundant Life Baptist Church in Lees Summit MO. Words cannot express how thrilled we are to serve at this amazing church. We had the honour and privilege of attending there for a couple of months before moving to Sydney, and absolutely fell in LOVE with the church. Before getting on the plane to go to Sydney Brian said, "If we could end up at a church like Abundant Life, it would be a dream!" And now look at us. God is so faithful. Blows. Me. Away.

As giddy as we are about returning to the States, this is a bittersweet time. We have days filled with packing and goodbye's ahead, which will be difficult. We have made some incredible relationships and it will be hard to say "goodbye" to our Australian "family."

But there you have it. You are officially updated on "all things Opperman."

We love you so much. And love doing the journey with you. We cannot express all of our gratitude to you for all of your love, encouragement, and prayer throughout this precious season in our lives. We are blessed. Beyond words. Our cup runs over.