Thank you Kelly family

Last week our team hosted a garage sale...but none of the stuff was ours. Husband and wife CT and Carol Kelly said that if our team was willing to set up and man their garage sale, they would give us all of the money for our move. I had last Friday off, so it seemed like the perfect weekend to do it. Wednesday night our team (minus Gregory who is doing an internship in Colorado) plus a few other brave, kind friends went to their house to start getting things ready. We took four large sized tables, but they were not near enough! The Kelly's said they had never done a garage sale, and they had plenty of things to get rid of. There was furniture, clothing, sheets, kitchenware, toys, stuffed animals galore, trinkets, crafts, a grill, books, audio tapes, the list goes on and on. Wednesday night and Thursday night were spent trying to organize boxes and set up tables. Friday morning Matt and I got up at 4:45am to get ready and get to their house for the first day's sale at 6am. We had a pretty good turn out, and stayed for nine hours that day. It was overcast and sprinkled every once in a while, so the heat did not seem so bad. However there seems to be a big difference between working outside and just sitting outside for nine hours, because we were exhausted by the end of the day! We definitely took a nap after getting home that afternoon. Saturday was the same thing, getting up early and working the garage sale. There was a great turnout Saturday, but this time the wind was about twenty miles an hour all day. A few small glass items flew off tables and broke, and the sheet sets were constantly gaining air and floating away like kites. Our lawn chairs would fly away when we weren't sitting in them, no joke! I'm just glad we didn't lose any money. After it was all said and done on Saturday afternoon, we had sold half the stuff and made just over one thousand dollars. We were so tired, but it was worth the time and effort. We were very grateful to the Kelly family for offering us the opportunity to do the garage sale, and the money will be very helpful to our team as we make our move.
Perhaps the coolest thing about the garage sale was the fact that we didn't really know the Kelly family. We've been to their home once, but it was in a large crowd and I don't think they'd remember that. They offered us this opportunity not because we were great friends, but because we are all believers in Jesus and they wanted to help us with what we are going to do in Australia. That's the cool thing about the body of Christ, we work together in all sorts of different ways so that God's love can be spread around the world.

Chremily's wedding

So Matt and I have this thing, you know a couple will make it if you can put their names together and the combined name sounds good. Our friends Chris and Emily got married this weekend, and Chremily is a great name! Matt was the best man, and I was a maid of honor. I have to share the journey of this weekend, because it's just too good not to.
Matt and I were taking care of my in-laws' dog, and our plan was to have someone come and let the dogs out a few times over the weekend. We had it all worked out, and then late Friday morning Matt called me and said that our air conditioner was out (keep in mind that the temp the past week has broken 100 probably every day). First plan foiled, the dogs had to go to the kennel. I got off work at 12, took the dogs to the kennel, and then finished getting ready in a 93 degree house. Matt, Jenica, and I left the house a little after 3pm, and had to be at the rehearsal at 5pm. We made it there about 5:10pm, but we wouldn't be Harrises if we weren't late. The rehearsal was fun, and the rehearsal dinner (feast really) was amazing. It was at this beautiful house, and the food was homecooked and amazing!
That night a storm started to roll in, and it looked amazing. Little did we know that it was bringing with it horrible hail. Both Chris and Emily's car windows were broken out (along with about five other people's windows), everyone got huge dents on their cars, and it looked like someone shot at the church that Chris and Emily were to get married in. I have to say though, they both took the evening's events like a couple of champs!
The wedding was beautiful (and not too long). Emily looked absolutely beautiful, and Chris looked at her all day like she was the only person on earth. Matt was surprisingly weepy all day...it was kind of cute! I don't think we realize how much people mean to us until they experience something life altering and we get to participate in it with them. There's just something about it that is important and meaningful.
Matt and I are now staying with my in-laws for the week, because it will be at least Thursday until our air conditioner gets replaced. I'm sitting on the couch watching tv with the family, life is good!

Visas, life in Ipswich, and my family

I have much faith in the things that God can and will do, but for some reason the thought of applying for visas to live in Australia brings a great wave of tension and fear over me. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it freaks me out pretty bad! There are a few reasons I get worried about visas; one is that they take a long time to get passed and we haven't applied for them yet (because we don't have all our financial support), another is that they're super expensive and if you mess up and have to reapply you don't get your money back (we're talking over a thousand bucks for mine alone), and the last is that I feel like nothing else can really move forward until we have visas. It wouldn't make much sense to sell our house and all our stuff without visas...what if they don't go through for a while and we don't have a place to live? Okay, so the homeless thing is a bit extreme, but I'm the kind of person who looks about sixty steps ahead and imagines the possibilities as reality. I guess there's nothing wrong with that, as long as I imagine the possibilities in God's world. Anything could happen for our team, the rest of our money could come in in two weeks and our visas could go through in six months with no flaws. We could not have our money by January and be here for six more extra months (which I'm not really hoping for!) Either way, as long as it's the schedule and journey God wants us on I guess I can't complain. To be in His will is the best place to be, even though it might really stink at the time.
This weekend my dad and stepmom visited us from Corpus Christi. On Saturday we did a little shopping (I got a pair of Levi's for $4.40!), saw Star Trek, and ate dinner with my parents and my in-laws. We had a blast! Star Trek was pretty cool, and I'm not even a Trekkie. This morning Jenica ate breakfast with us, so she got to meet and get to know my parents a little. It was a great weekend.
If you've never checked out the links to the right of my blog, I really encourage you to go to the Ipswich Queensland Times website. I was reading the day's new on Friday, and I found something out that really troubled me. Fighting among students in schools is becoming a really big problem there. Last week I read about a student who was knocked unconscious by some kid in a fight, and then on Friday I read about a video of a bunch of girls fighting in a school that got posted to youtube for a few days before it was removed. These kids are getting in really intense fights, and are proud of it! It breaks my heart, and makes me want to show kids and teens in Ipswich that there's more to live for than the hate, judgement, and anger that goes along with fighting. I think God has much healing in store for the families of Ipswich, and while I don't think it's all going to come by my hand I do think He wants our team to be a small part of what He is now and will do through us there.