de Haas family adventures

Hello everyone! It truly has been too long since we wrote our last blog, so I will apologise in advance for a long read ahead!!! With both of us studying, the homework load and the kids being in school: it has been busy! We probably found a good routine about 2 weeks ago but since then, the kids have been off school many days and now we are on Thanksgiving break so the routine is out the window! We are however grateful for a few days off and looking forward to celebrating our first thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is on Thursday (in 2 days time for us) and we are going to spend it with a lovely older American couple who are hosting all the international families from our Revival Group. There will be lots of food and plenty of kids so it should be a really fun day! I (Elle) will be making pumpkin pie - a super American traditional thanksgiving dish!  Since the last blog so much has happened I will try to fill in as much as possible! Charlee and Declan have been doi...

Hey everyone! Firstly I just want to say we are sorry for being so silent! School is in full swing now and it has been really hard to find time to post and share. I will make some time this weekend and share with you what has been happening. We just wanted to reach out and let you all know about a really exciting part of our BSSM journey!  In late March early April the whole school goes on Short Term Missions all over the world and we are so excited that we have both been accepted onto amazing Mission Trips! Elle is going on a trip to Tijuana, Mexico. When I first heard that I would go on a trip God really placed it on my heart to go to Mexico. I'm not sure why, maybe its because I love tacos or maybe God has an unreal opportunity for me to step out in faith and see Him move! We will be ministering in churches but mostly we will be ministering on the rubbish tip and in the red light district! We will also be on the streets following Holy Spirit and what he is doing! I am ...

What a whirlwind this last 2 weeks have been for us! We have been forced to slow down for a day due to really poor air quality (more on this later) but up until now it has been a huge week for all. Monday was Labor day here, the last public holiday of the summer. We headed out to Lassen Volcanic National park for the day with our other Aussie friends! The photo above was from our walk around the lake at the entrance of the park, it was such an amazing walk and such a great view of Mt Lassen. This is an active volcano the last time it erupted was in 1915, it is more than 8000ft above sea level and most of the year it has snow on it! You can usually see this from Redding but because of the smoke around it has been a lot harder to spot!    One of the other highlights of the park was seeing these Sulfur pools, they are seriously bubbling away and they stink like rotten  eggs. They are unbelievably gross but amazing to see!  The landscape here is...

School in a new country can be scary and exciting all at once! Charlee and Declan have absolutely aced their first week at Bethel Christian School. We started the year with what they call family worship! I feel that every Christian school should start the year like this. Yes, we had to be there super early (a 7:30am start!) but it was so worth it. Just an hour of worship; families are free to join in, welcome each other to the new year and then pray over each other! Charlee turned to me at one point and said “This is so different to school at home!” She was right! T hat certainly wasn’t where the differences ended. In fact it was only the beginning! It’s quite different at the school at the moment as the air quality here has been so bad. To give you an idea in Sydney the air quality reading right now is between 30 - 60. Here in Redding it is struggling to get under 100. Under 100 is safe for everyone (even sensitive groups like babies, asthmatics and the e...

Hello from Redding, California, USA! We pray you are all well and full of hope! I will start by apologising that it has taken so long to pen this post, it won't be a long one as I am typing it out on a phone keyboard and we all know that can be challenging!   As I'm sure you have seen on the news, a few days before we were due to leave Australia a huge wildfire (bushfire) broke out just outside of Redding. It made it into the town a day or so later and a thousand plus homes were lost and a few lost their lives too! In God's grace they contained the fire around Redding and now it is still burning but mostly in the national park. The unit we were due to move into was in an compulsory evacuation area and so our landlords asked if we could put off our arrival a few days but as anyone who has gone overseas knows it was just too hard. So we came but stayed 2 nights in San Francisco to allow a little extra time!  On arrival in Redding it was obvious there was a fire burn...

We're off to Melbourne today (Saturday) for our 15 Min Visa appointment on Monday morning! This is a massive faith step for us, but we are confident God's got our back and it will be successful!  As vocational students we apply for a M1 visa and this allows us to live in the country and study but it does not let us work. As much as this is a challenge because we have to go with all of our money it is also really nice to know we (Chris and Elle) both get a year off working! Pray for us as we go to Melbourne because we need God's favour on our appointment to get these visas approved! For now we drive....... And hope the smiles in this photo last! Till next time, Be blessed! Elle, Chris, Charlee and Declan

Hey everyone, So much good stuff has been happening! With just under 8 weeks to go things are coming together for us as we faithfully prepare to leave Australia on August 1st. We have been so blessed with a unit to live in for our time in Redding. God certainly had the whole thing planned out for us, right down to bunk beds for Charlee and Declan's bedroom. We had kinda resigned to having to purchase a set when we got there with most properties having 2 single (or twin beds as they call them!) or a double in the second bedroom. When I enquired about this unit, the land lord advised there was already bunk beds in the 2nd bedroom, which may seem insignificant to most of you, but for us to know that God has prepared even the most insignificant of things encourages us to keep going in times of doubt (or possibly a few freak outs!!!). We can't wait to send you all a few pictures of our new home for the coming year! We have a Visa appointment in Melbourne late June. It will be ...

Anyone who has known us for a period of time will know we are not people who sit still for long or are happy with the status quo of life! Over the past few years we have been enjoying the stability of living in the same house, keeping the same jobs and growing as a family. It has been an important time as individuals and as a family .......... cue the call of God on our lives! We are a family who are passionate about God and a sold out life to him! Chris and I (Elle) have both been bought up in christian homes and attended Christian schools, we have served whole heartedly in churches together and individually and have always felt the call of God on our lives but never sure what that actually meant! Over the past few years we have discovered a way of living out our faith that we have been longing to find for a long time! They call it a 'revivalist lifestyle' or 'living naturally supernatural" and there are people all over the world living this way. We believe this is...