tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55900212009-12-04T22:26:05.042+11:00An online web journal (weblog) of Mike & Vanessa Allbutt. (Updated as often as we remember to.)Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-12958778342350116332009-11-30T10:30:00.001+11:002009-12-04T22:26:05.058+11:00

Hasn't the year gone by fast? If you are like us then you will already be making plans for the new year to come. We are so pleased at what God has done in and through us this past year and we look forward to the year ahead. Mike enjoying a recent surf swell.HousingIn our last newsletter, we shared our expectation of living in the same house until we returned to Australia in mid 2010.

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-32262253677321150182009-08-14T10:25:00.000+10:002009-12-04T22:23:44.153+11:00

If you don't use Facebook then you might be asking "What have you been up to these past few months?".We are doing well and continue to plod along with life here in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Apart from our normal activities of being at the beach, involvement with short-term mission teams, participating in weekly groups & bible studies, we have also had some cool things we want to tell you

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-84353999848898630622009-05-26T10:20:00.000+10:002009-12-04T22:21:39.797+11:00

Greetings from Mexico. We have been in the news for all the wrong reasons of late.Swine fluIf you were wondering how we were affected by the swine flu epidemic, the answer is we weren't at all. In fact, we have never heard of anyone even knowing anyone who was affected. So other than schools being closed down for a week and all public events cancelled or postponed, life has been very normal for

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-10518215260799905032009-03-03T10:15:00.001+11:002009-12-04T22:18:28.940+11:00

It's great to be able to praise God for His provisions and care. We have several reasons to praise Him:MaNeAfter a few months of planning, praying, writing, fund-raising and shopping, we have the first (as far as we know) Mexican Mothers group/Playgroup up and running, called MaNe ('Mamás y Nenes', which is Mums and Bubs). It's been great to see eight different mums come along, mostly with

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-36006984358378482362008-12-31T07:14:00.000+11:002009-01-18T07:16:18.919+11:00

Another year has raced by...and we would all like to share our personal highlights of 2008 with you.Mike's highlights:Just being here in Puerto Escondido and feeling at home is a big highlight. We have been living here over a year now and have settled in well. It has been a pleasure watching my family adjust and grow to life here. Things are not the same in Mexico as they would be in Australia

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-31096064640537384692008-10-12T15:39:00.001+11:002008-10-12T15:42:46.772+11:00

Today I got onto Facebook.

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-65413834274695990732008-10-01T06:43:00.001+10:002008-10-01T06:45:17.274+10:00

Family NewsThey say that time flies when you're having fun. Well, we are not sure if it's all been fun, but the past two years have flown by. We still have vivid memories of arriving home from hospital with a new bundle of joy. And the other weekend we got to celebrate that bundle's second birthday. We did it in style, having a traditional aussie BBQ on the day Mexicans celebrate their shout for

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-86968751120887530752008-08-25T12:44:00.000+10:002008-09-25T00:47:00.482+10:00

We are writing to inform you of a new ministry that we would like to see happen next year. As this year comes to an end (rather quickly) we have been thinking more seriously about our roles here in Mexico, and what God would have us do. It is almost a year since we arrived here and we have been grateful for the chance to settle in to culture, routines, language and ministry. But we are also keen

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-60865594683152706292008-06-16T08:21:00.000+10:002008-08-06T08:25:50.935+10:00

Greetings to everyone. Many things have been happening in the past few months, so sorry this is a lengthy newsletter. But we trust you enjoy the read!Family Updates We recently celebrated Priscila's third birthday with a party. Priscila had been asking for a pink and yellow party for months before hand, so that is what she got! We also organised a jumping castle for the event, which was a huge

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-41382591921794702462008-03-04T06:45:00.000+11:002008-03-09T06:46:35.725+11:00

Life The days just seem to fly by. Mike's day consists of going to the beach in the mornings for a surf and/or chat with the people he meets. He continues to practice and learn more Spanish during the day. He hasn't started formal classes as yet, as he finds it more helpful to keep his own pace. We continue to attend the weekly Thursday night surfers Bible study.

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-80524308471806573722008-01-06T06:43:00.000+11:002008-03-09T06:44:44.934+11:00

Welcome to our (late) Christmas edition. First we wanted to thank all of you who replied to our previous newsletter. If we didn't respond to your enquiry, it's because we are still working our way though the many responses. We felt so encouraged by all your emails and news. Thanks so much for keeping in touch with us. Settling In We are finally feeling more and

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-5815713956857057912007-11-26T06:40:00.001+11:002008-03-09T06:42:38.248+11:00

Greetings everyone, and welcome to our new edition, live from Puerto Escondido, Mexico. Travel After leaving Melbourne, we spent a week in Tassie resting and catching up with family. It was a much needed break. We then flew 14 hours to Los Angeles. We didn't get much sleep, but it was quite a peaceful flight. We stayed in San Diego for a week, adjusting to the new time zone.

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-52319426419585164462007-08-25T06:35:00.000+10:002008-03-09T06:39:28.344+11:00

We have so many things to praise God for: The relatively smooth operation to have Vanessa's wisdom teeth removed, and the speedy recovery The provision of the finances to pay for the surgery, as we had to go privately due to our limited time left in Australia Accommodation has been arranged for us for some of the time we will be in the US

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-68358316141418084552007-07-27T07:30:00.001+10:002008-03-09T07:00:53.507+11:00

Update We are still working towards leaving on October 10, flying out of Melbourne to LA. Mike has until the end of August to finalize all his websites and find someone to hand his work over to. This is currently a big issue for us, so please pray that he will find the right person to take over his work, that it will be someone we can trust and that will do a good job of it. Our support level

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-16513594403037454102007-06-02T18:52:00.000+10:002007-06-03T08:56:18.401+10:00

Family Road-trip You might remember from our previous letter that we were planning a road trip over April. We piled the whole family in the car, along with whatever we could fit in, and drove to Sydney, Brisbane, then back to Nowra, then home to Melbourne - all in a three week period. We spent Easter weekend at the CS national conference in Sydney's northern beaches. This was a good time to see

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-24429515265899476502007-02-11T11:02:00.000+11:002007-06-03T09:00:28.168+10:00

Happy New Year! We trust you had a safe Christmas and New Years. We apologize for taking so long in updating you with our latest news, but as you probably understand, the end and start of the year is always a busy time! Christmas 06 We had a lovely time in Brisbane in November for Roz's wedding. We were able to see many family members that we had not seen in a long time. We also enjoyed having

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-65735020268170492842007-01-02T21:26:00.000+11:002007-01-02T21:27:58.731+11:00

Mike's mum was down here in Melbourne for Christmas. She was feeling unwell and went to the doctor. She flew home to Brisbane early and was operated on tonight.

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-1167115711887498322006-11-01T17:45:00.000+11:002007-06-03T08:59:41.974+10:00

We trust you are well and that you have had a blessed year. Here is some recent news. Our growing family Our biggest news is that Joel has finally joined our family. He was born at 1.30am on Wednesday the 13th September. It was a quick, straight-forward labour and birth, and he weighed 4.25kg (or 9b 7oz). Priscila has taken a little time to adjust, but she loves to give Joel lots of kisses and

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-1158141708092594272006-09-13T19:55:00.000+10:002006-09-13T20:01:48.093+10:00

Very early this morning Joel Michael Allbutt arrived in to this world. He is a fantastic addition to our little Australian family and we love him dearly.In these first 24 hours he has maily slept, looked around the hospital bedroom, travelled with mummy home and then fallen asleep in his own room.No doubt he will want more food soon too.

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-1156852709925471622006-08-29T21:55:00.000+10:002006-08-29T21:58:29.936+10:00

My sister Roz emailed me a sign out the front of the church Rodney attends in Tent Hill, Queensland, Australia.They announced their engagement a few weeks ago and plan to be wed in November 2006.

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-1156760396496640672006-08-28T20:11:00.000+10:002006-08-28T20:19:56.506+10:00

We have found recently that when Priscila eats certain foods her behaviour changes soon afterword. Vanessa heard something on TV recently about an additive in foods in Australia that can be found on packages with the number 282. We researched what this might be and came across this informative article on the subject.Here is a quote from that article:How does it affect people?Reactions can be

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-1156045838957889932006-08-20T13:46:00.000+10:002007-06-03T09:03:14.762+10:00

Leadership Matters Course As we indicated in our last newsletter, Mike attended the Leadership Matters Course in July. Although it was hard being apart from Vanessa and Priscila for two and half weeks, Mike found it a very worthwhile course to attend, and now feels more prepared and equipped to handle a leadership position. Vanessa and Priscila managed to cope without Mike, spending a week in

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-1156040249541105182006-08-19T12:15:00.000+10:002006-08-20T13:56:41.523+10:00

Well another 100 days has past and Priscila is celebrating her 500th day. As a family we went to a local farm and played with the many animals. We all had a great day!

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-1156039963415723312006-06-27T12:27:00.000+10:002007-06-03T09:04:05.974+10:00

ˇHola / Hello Friend! Catch up Greetings from cold Melbourne. We have been in our new home for over three months now, and we continue to enjoy the space and freedom it gives us. Mike continues to work full time from home building websites. We've really seen his business grow well, although he still needs to put in long hours. Priscila Since Priscila

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590021.post-1147346288542586312006-05-11T21:15:00.000+10:002006-05-11T21:18:08.553+10:00

Our lovely first born daughter Priscila Ann Allbutt was born 400 days ago. Time goes by so quick. And before we know it the next one will have arrived. Vanessa is 22 weeks along in the pregnancy.

Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05884085243448642296noreply@blogger.com