April 5, 2012

And I'm back!

Wow, I can't believe it has been a year since we last blogged. So much has changed. We have stopped our travels {for now} while I am pregnant and we are living in Kingsburg, Ca. 


I am excited to get our blog going again, even though under different circumstances. I thought of starting a whole new blog, but then realized that even though we are not traveling, we still want to take you on a tour of our life and what the Lord is doing. 


So I, Tarin, am taking over the blog with hopes of sharing my road to mommy-hood, and all my design adventures with you. Of course I'll keep you updated on the Hubby as well. Love you all

March 31, 2011

Hmmmmmm...

Sooo, Tarin has transformed our blog into a pretty girly spectacle. ... I don't know if I'm going to be able to do any updating if it looks this girly!!! 

But anyways... It's Friday morning over here! Opening DAy Go GIANTS!!! I'm about to watch the game on ESPN (Thank goodness it's worldwide).  Tarin and I just got back from a body balance class at the gym.  It was pretty good!  She's getting ready to go off to work.  She is super excited today because she gets her hair done.  She's been waiting for that for a very long time!!! I am just hanging out until I have to go do a clinic at Geraldton Grammar school at noon.  For the next couple weeks I just go to that same school for an hour a day teaching different classes some basketball skills and promoting the team!

Another part of my daily routine has been going to see BJ!  BJ is our team physician.  I go see him everyday and he works on my shoulder and tapes it up on days that we have training (they don't call it practice over here).  Those are the only two things I really do during the day besides training at night.. which is usually 3 nights a week.  I have been able to get back in the weight room a little bit.  With the shoulder healing I can do a little more each week.  So that is encouraging.. I don't want to get too skinny ;)

I am going to play my first professional game this weekend against Bunbury here at home.  Our team is 0-3, losing to three teams that aren't that good.  But our teams other American import got in this week from Germany.  He was finishing up a season over there.  He is point guard and a good one at that.  It makes such a big difference having someone that can just run the team.  He's really quick and a great passer.  So the fans are pretty excited for this weekend, being as they get to see our full team play!  I am very excited as well.  Practices this week went well as far as the shoulder goes, but I am still going to take it somewhat easy in the game tomorrow.  The ideal situation would be us playing well and getting a good lead to where I'd only have to play half the game or so.  The next two weeks after this we play tough teams so I want to be ready for those.  That's why I want to play a bit tomorrow to ease my way back into it.  Please pray!! The game would be on at 4:30 AM your time so if you want to see how we did when you wake up just go to ....


www.sbl.asn.au



then to fixtures/results, then click on the box score of the Geraldton Buccaneers v Southwest Slammers in ROUND 3



Things are going well though!! Tarin is liking her job and the shoulder is healing!  The weather is still beautiful out here.  About 90 degrees and a nice breeze!  We love and miss everyone back home!!

TB

March 19, 2011

8 o'clock Tip Off

     This weekend is the official start of the Buccs season! The guys headed out around 8:15am this Saturday morning for Perth to play their first 2 season games. Todd is the official towel & water boy for this weekend :) Good thing he naturally has a servant's heart!

     Because Todd is still not able to play this weekend I decided to stay here in Geraldton and support in Spirit! He just left this morning but it already seems like so long. So I have filled my time doing things that I know he wouldn't want to do if he was here:) I got to go to lunch at Dome(their main coffee cafe here in Gero) with our wonderful host Stacey Heberle and then SHOPPING :) I searched High and Low for somewhere to get my hair done and finally after many salons found one that I think should be good!(your prayers would still be appreciated lol) I also have spent the ENTIRE afternoon updating & customizing our BLOG finally! I have been searching high & low for a cute way to customize our blog & finally found this extremely cute SHABBYBLOGS.COM. Awesome!

     I just realized that we haven't updated you! We should have the minute we got the news.....Todd doesn't have to have surgery on his shoulder! PRAISE THE LORD! It was so amazing to see Him have His WAY.......I, Tarin, really learned a lot in this whole process. After the first week that Todd was hurt, I realized how much I was blaming the doctors for not getting quick results or taking different actions. And one day the Lord just tapped on my heart and said, "Um, hello! Remember me?" And it was as if a light bulb turned on & brightness rushed in and revealed everything I should have been thinking. Even though I trusted the Lord 100% for the outcome of Todd's injury, I realized in that moment that I had not once acknowledged 'out loud' how much faith I had that God was in control.

     So right away Todd & I spent time in His Word and prayed out loud for quite a while & just lifted all of our thoughts to our loving Father. Our prayer was that if it was still HIS WILL that we stay here in Australia and spread His goodness throughout this country that everything that the surgeon had believed to be true would not show true on the MRI. And to much amazement & true thankfulness we received a call last Tuesday saying that the MRI was clear & that as soon as he feels strong Todd can get back on the court!

     So, consequently, here we are on the season opener weekend and Todd is a short week or two away from joining his teammates on the court :) Todd really is looking for to serving his team this weekend from the bench and being just as much of a help & encouragement from that angle as he would if he was on the court.

     Please leave us comments & let us know how all of you are! Much Love <3

March 13, 2011

Update: 3 weeks in the Outback




Okay, well we're not really in the outback since we're on the coast, but we're definitely down under!  The past few weeks we've learned more and more about the culture down here.  We're really starting to settle in!  Tarin started her job this last week!  She's working at a government building that deals with low income housing.  Her first day she was giving the nickname "filing fairy" much to her dislike!  The whole first week she was put to work filing papers, but luckily that was only for the first week.  So things are looking up :) 

I had my first games last weekend down in Perth.  They were short games just to give the teams so time together in a game situation.  Two 20 minute halves, with running clock.  Our actual games will be four 12 minute quarters.  So that will be something to get used to!  I did really well in the first two games.  We won both of them and I had 25 pts in the first game and 20 pts in the second.  The third game however I accomplished something I had never done before....

I dislocated my right shoulder! Not a feat that I am proud of obviously, it lead to a trip to the emergency (which isn't quite as bad as California's emergency rooms).  Turns out that when I was trying to get through a screen set by the other team (something I have done hundreds of times)  I happened to hit him just at the right angle with my shoulder and popped it out of place.  I was going to sub out at the next dead ball, but before that happened a rebound came my way and out of instinct I reached up for it, popping it back into place! So after that I went out and it hurt quite a bit!

So a week later, I am waiting for the results of the MRI I had done two days ago down in Perth.  The specialist I saw down there seemed to think that surgery would be necessary.  We are praying that the MRI says otherwise!!!!

I don't really want to speculate as to what would happen if I do have to have surgery or even if I don't... I'm just going to wait until I know for sure!  I am not in much pain at all and my range of motion is getting a lot better.  The doc said that it would heal up and I would have full range of motion if I don't have surgery, I would just be taking that chance that at anytime It could pop out again when taking my RIGHT arm above my head.  That happens quite a bit in basketball......

Please keep praying!


We are so excited because we just set up our skype account so we can call any number in the US via skype!!!!  It works really good and it's really cheap!! So hopefully we will be calling ya'll a lot more :)


Love you all and keep us posted on how you all are doing and stuff!!


Skype- toddandtarin
Email- todd_brown3@yahoo.com

G'day Mates!

     We apologize for not getting to update you all sooner! We have arrived safely in Geraldton, Australia :) The trip took a lot out of us & we are so thankful to have made it safe. Overall it took about 30 hours for us to arrive. The first couple of days we fell asleep around 7pm and would wake up around 4 &5 WIDE AWAKE........but it has somewhat evened out :) When we arrived at the Perth airport 2 of Todd's new teammates picked us up & drove us to Geraldton. It was a 4.5 hour drive through the middle of nowhere.
  
     When we got to Geraldton they took us to our host home. To much delight they drove us to the top of a hill that overlooks the ocean and much of downtown Geraldton :) The house is brand new and was designed by our wonderful host Stacey Heberle. We did not know what to expect at all coming as far as housing but the Lord blessed us with a great host and a beautiful place to stay as a bonus :)

     Our biggest adventure this week was learning to drive! Todd went first and did pretty well but kept confusing the windshield wipers for the turn signal :) Which looks really funny when it is 95degrees out!! The food has also taken some getting used to :) At first glance it all looks very similar, but so far we have had some bad luck :) It tends to somehow just taste different.

FUN FACTS:
1.) Fast food here is fast but NOT cheap! $9/meal yikes!
2.) No one says "You're Welcome" it's always "No Worries"
3.) "Thank You" is now "Cheers mate"
4.) No daylight savings time over here, they voted against it... said that it wasn't good for the cow's sleeping patterns and such.
5.) Aussie Rules Football (Footie) is very fun to watch!  And everyone here plays cricket, not baseball. 
6.) They love their barbeques over here, but when you go to a bbq, you show up around 8.. everyone talks for a couple hours and then we eat around 10.  So we usually eat before we go to a bbq too.  There is no rush over here for anything.  It really is no worries!
7.) "This arvo" is what they use for "this afternoon".

     Sometimes it does not feel like we are really here in Australia and so far away from all of you. But the  Lord is so faithful & is already teaching us so much. Before we left He gave me these verses for our family:

"But the Word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in His ways, and by keeping his commandments and His statues and His rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord you God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore CHOOSE LIFE, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord you God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." Deuteronomy 30:14-20

     He reminded me of the things He has taught me. That Todd & I know His Word, we know what HE says and as he sends us into this land we are to CHOOSE LIFE. And by choosing life He means to choose Him, choose to spend time with Him in His Word (which He puts in our mouth and our heart) & CHOOSE to declare & glorify HIS NAME among this nation! This was such a comfort and encouragement to Todd & I when we were getting ready to leave home.

     Now that we are here and far from home it has been a little emotional. But again the Lord is teaching us and molding us. Everything is so foreign & different. We are very alone just the two of us. For one of the first times since we have been married the Lord has given me a whole new meaning of HOME. Since June, when we got married, we have lived somewhere new every 3 months.We have yet to actually settle, call somewhere home. And the other night when we were in bed and nothing was familiar.....Todd was. His voice, his smell, he felt like home. It was the most peaceful feeling. He is so familiar when nothing else is. I know he will take care of me, protect me & love me. And in that very emotional moment of missing what I consider "home" Todd resembled my heavenly Father - who is constant, never changing, will  never leave me nor forsake me. More than ever before the Lord truly opened my eyes to see what He means by the true, first love of Christ & His Church - His Bride.

     "And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, 'Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. For it is no empty Word for you, but your VERY LIFE, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.'" Deuteronomy 32:45-47
 

October 3, 2010

Hey Y'all :)

We made it! We have been in Raleigh for a week & a half now. Raleigh is BEAUTIFUL! We love it here :) Everything is so green & lush, although ironically all the locals believe they are in a drought :) If they don't see rain every month they freak out! haha I think we have brought them some comfort by informing them that even in our rainy season, California looks nothing like North Carolina.

We are staying with a super cool guy who has kindly opened up his home (& A LOT of his food) to us. Todd just finished his first week of practice and is enjoying getting back into basketball shape. His team has a lot of great guys on it and we are quickly making new friends. His days are extremely full. He gets to the gym by 8:45am every morning and does not get home until about 4 or 5pm. His routine is the same every day. He starts with 2 hour practice, then the whole team goes into a bible study that is lead by the Athletes in Action coach. After this the whole team heads over to the YMCA for a weight workout. Around 3-4pm everyday the team joins with YMCA's after school program which I get to participate in :) I am glad this worked out so that Todd & I can dont have to spend the whole day apart. Plus, I really enjoy getting to play with kids everday. Because of Athlete in Actions participation with YMCA we get to workout for free. The facility here is really nice. Todd's games will start on October 14 and they will all be within 3 hours of Raleigh. Which will be nice because I should be able to go to them. He is looking forward to playing and also to get to use basketball as a tool to serve the Lord. We are very excited to see what the Lord has planned for him and his team.

I am also enjoying my time here. One of Todd's teammates is also married! It has been such a blessing to have someone to hangout with! We have been able to see Raleigh a bit :) She loves the Lord as well so it has been wonderful to get to share together. The coach's wife has also become a friend of ours and we have weekly "Girl" meetings! It is nice to be able to have that fellowship & I know the Lord is at work. I am also enjoying the scenery! The houses here are GORGEOUS! Everything has brick or stone, big doors and all the houses have tons of trees around them. We are staying in a subdivision, but you would never know because it feels like we are in the forest! Even fast food restaurants have great architecture! 

We are missing home and all of you but truly are cherishing this time that the Lord has given us. We are growing everyday & learning so much. Even though we are still in the US the culture is very different here. The way people live their lives, & eat & go to church. We are doing our best to take it all in and learn whatever we can.

We want to put some pictures on here of the area............our camera was left in Minnesota but will be in the mail soon :) We hope everyone is doing well! Please comment back and let us know how you all are!! We love you & hope to hear from you soon!
"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!!"
All our LOVE,
Todd & Tarin Brown

September 21, 2010

Take that Toll Roads!!

Well it is day 13 of the Tour de Brown and we are going strong! (As is no shave till North Carolina... for me, not Tarin) :)

The day after leaving Indiana we had a really fun drive on some back roads through Indiana and Ohio.  We took the back roads because while going through Illinois on our way to Chicago there were several toll roads on interstate 90.  The first one was only like .60 cents but then they kept going up and a few bucks on toll roads for us is money we could be spending on good stuff like food!  :)  It turns out after a couple of days of traveling on these highways off the interstate, it is much more of an enjoyable drive!  We have seen so many beautiful homes, barns, yards and more.  I would definitely suggest that to anyone traveling if they have the time, because the interstate is so boring anyways!  Tarin was having a very hard time though.  There have been many many many antique stores along the way!

Anyways, we ended up staying at a campground right on the edge of Ohio and Pennsylvania on the night of the 17th.  It was an interesting campground with most of the population being residents of the rv/campground.  The day of driving from Indiana to here was a long one, but it was nice because this location left us only 2.5 hours from Niagara Falls!

So on either Sunday or Monday (it's getting really hard to keep track of days) we drove up to the city of Niagara Falls which was not very pretty, we were in the hood all the way up to the site of the falls.  But then we walked in to the park of Niagara Falls and wow, it is really amazing.  We took a tour on the Maid of the Mist which was a boat that took us down under the falls.  We got to see all of the falls and luckily they gave us a pancho, because you get soaked! The mist is more like a rain in some spots.  Along with Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore this was one of my favorite things so far on the trip.

We were done seeing Niagara around 2PM and we started driving towards a small town of Red Creek, NY.  It is up in Northern NY right on Lake Ontario.  And our campsite was literally about 100 ft from the water.  When we got there it was beautiful, the water was so calm and the sun was setting.  Earlier in the trip we had seen Lakes Michigan and Erie and they were both like the ocean basically with waves crashing and whitecaps out on the water.  So the calmness surprised us.  This turned out to be the calm before the mini-storm.

We knew there was a 30% chance of rain in the area and even though we were hoping it wouldn't rain, we threw together a rainproof cover over our tent so we didn't have an incident like we did in the Tetons.      It did rain.  And the contraption we made DID work! We were happy and found out that the calmness of Lake Ontario must have been a rare occasion, because it was very windy during the night and the next morning as were were packing up.

Onto another long drive across New York and down over to the Boston area (avoiding any tolls i might add).  New York is beautiful!  It must be the best time to drive because all of the leaves are changing colors and it is quite the sight!  Here we stayed at a nice state park about 15 min south of Boston.  This park was deep in the woods and covered about 3500 acres.  With only about 2 other campers in the park it was a little creepy at times, but we survived.  Yesterday we went into downtown Boston and went on the Freedom Trail.  It was very cool!  We got to see a bunch of places that played a big part in the forming of our Constitution and country!  Things such as Paul Revere's house, the balcony where the Declaration of Independence was first read to the people, Bunker Hill, and much more.  Not to mention present day downtown Boston which is just mixed in among all the history.  It was a lot of walking, but a lot of fun.  We stayed at the same campground last night and besides the large amount of daddy long leg spiders that we found over our two night stay, it turned out to be a nice campground.

Right now we're at an Apple store, Tarin's phone has been acting up, so while she's getting that figured out, I'm blogging.  We're going to drive down through New York City today!

The Lord has been taking very good care of us and we know he will the rest of the way (only about 700 some miles more!!).

Keep praying for us though! Love you all!

T&T