Hello Little Miracles Families. I pray this blog finds you well and enjoying the crisp chill in the air. Nothing like a beautiful Aussie Autumn/Winter to keep us smiling.

As many or most of you know, from my previous blogs, I recently returned to the beautiful Central Coast from an amazing trip to Rwanda. There are so many stories I would love to share with you all and to those who have partnered with us in different ways can I say a HUGE Thank You. Every bit of involvement helps in ways that are hard to express (more on that in a later blog….)

Anyway, whilst in Rwanda I was touched by their sense of community and how they gather together with such strength. There is a real sense of family and connectedness within this country that is literally rebuilding from the core up. In seeing this I was reminded of our communities, the ones we live in, the soccer, netball, dance, art communities. Whatever communities you are involved in, there is something common that binds you together. Whether that is sport, perhaps even a wine club or a dinner club, there is something common that brings you together to commune which results in community.

So, this week I would like to pose a question to you. In your immediate community, which is family. Yes, that is our first community and sadly, many don’t see family as a community but I assure you, it is. If you stand back and look at family with a community twist, what is the common thread that binds your community | family together?

Community looks different for many families so whatever it is, perhaps it’s surfing or maybe it’s hiking or bushwalking. To others it maybe your early Saturday morning cycling trip or, it could be cooking | baking, maybe you like to come together as a family around food. Again, it could be music or even a certain kind of movies. I know for our family church and our involvement in serving at church was and is something we still do together. I can’t tell you the stories we have and Rob and I love hearing our children share their stories about serving. There is a richness that has deep roots simply because we found something that we all loved. In saying that, I promise you there have been days when I have had to drag my children out of bed (when they were young) to ‘get to church on time’. All of that adds to the story.

Whatever your thread looks like can I encourage you to let it weave deeply throughout your family. Build your community around common interests. Find something that draws you all together, something that helps you establish a community that is on the same team. Trust me when I say this is something you will never regret.

As I think about Rwanda and how strong their communities are and how rich family is, even through the eyes of great forgiveness I have come home inspired to keep my community strong. Community = Family.

Have the best week and be blessed.

Much love,

Susanna