[Kid Inspiration]

It’s Thursday, which can mean only one thing. My friend the slightly humorous Funny Man Dan has posted his weekly thoughts on his blog. To celebrate one year of the Thursday Blog I have written a moving tribute to the man and the myth, so jump on over there and check it out.

I am putting the finishing touches on my message for the Napkin Conference in Las Vegas next week!! Now it’s a big investment for Justyn to get me all the way over there, so he has asekd me to guarantee certain things during my message; 1. a minimum of 16 chuckles and 4 big laughs. 2. At least 2 moments of clarity and revelation and 3. A minimum of 30% of the conference in tears (more than that and I will just be overdoing it).

(okay he hasn’t really).

(if you thought he had, you should get out more)

(To LAS VEGAS and the Napkin Conference!)

(Ha).

Speaking of conferences, we are almost at our annual Colour Conference here at Hillsong, and Rob just announced their Planet Shakers kids conference coming in April.

Let me tell you about my new son! Orlando Wakerley is the MAN. He is now 6 days old and lovin’ life. One child is great, but let me tell you I am really working on a family here. And our 4 year old Brooklyn is just the most delightful boy to ever be born. When your kids are healthy and happy you honestly feel like you can take on the world! God’s grace has covered us is the only way I can describe it. ESPECIALLY when you work with so many families facing sickness and issues — never take it for granted!

And that’s what hot!

Yes, my rather slow moving plan to populate the world with people genetically related to me has taken another giant step forward! You’ve read it on Twitter, seen him on facebook, well here he is on a blog! My new son Orlando Stephen Wakerley. Born on the 12th February at 2.09pm EST.

This is adding to my first child the oft-mentioned Brooklyn Justice Wakerley.

I am truly blessed in more ways than this short and humorous blog post can convey. A trouble free birth and a healthy progeny!

Why the name? Well calling a boy Betty would have just been silly.

Orlando… we like the sound of it, and it’s nice to keep naming our children with places found in various states littered around the USA.

Stephen… my fathers name. A man crazy enough to follow a dream and see miracles happen as a result.

Wakerley… kinda had to use that one (btw if you’re ever in England, you simply must visit my wood… Wakerley Wood).

Gifts may be dropped off at our estate located somewhere within that ancient forest, just follow the hounds and the sound of tea being brewed.

Hey you need to do this!

I pasted some text from the Kiva website below, I love this concept!

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I just made a loan to someone in Benin using a revolutionary new website called Kiva (www.kiva.org).

You can go to Kiva’s website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business – like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks.  Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent – and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.

The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back – and Kiva’s loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Cyriane in Benin.  They still need another $250.00 to complete their loan request of $475.00 (you can loan as little as $25.00!).  Help me get this entrepreneur off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to Cyriane too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=148474

It’s finally easy to actually do something about poverty – using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they’re using it for.  And most of all, I know that I’m helping them build a
sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Join me in changing the world – one loan at a time.

Thanks!

———————————————————
What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

‘Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.’
– BBC

‘If you’ve got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you’ve now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.’
– CNN Money

‘Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.’
– The Wall Street Journal

‘An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity…All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.’
– Entrepreneur Magazine

Brooklyn will have a younger brother coming soon in Feb 09. Yay!

Okay, um… how about what I just twittered.

Sometimes I wonder… “Why is that frisbee getting bigger?” …and then it hits me.

We got back from our Holiday last Monday and I completely changed (with the help of Jetlag) my sleeping patterns. I have been getting up at 5/6am for the last week and getting to bed heaps early. Even on Monday, my day off, I got up at about 6:30am. Unheard of.

So I need to change my blogging time as well perhaps and make some early morning posts while I am up and about.

Our U.S.America three week experience was sensational! We had so much fun and packed so much in we needed a holiday from our holiday upon returning to Aus. Hollywood, Disneyland, Disneyworld, New York, Washington D.C. it all got seen, photographed and videoed for posterity.

Shout Outs to:

Jasmine Waring in L.A.

Dustin Aagaard and family in Orlando

Wendy and Doug Pinto and family in Maryland

Holly and Wladimir in NY

Mike.

You all (and so many others) made our adventure forgettable! Thanks so much!

I had read about this service in all the cool blogs and now I get a chance to try it out. Wireless Internet in the air with a wi-fi enabled plane.

We are flying across the states right now on the way to a connecting flight in L.A. To finish our remarkable three week hoilday in USAmerica.

Remarkable as I will need a break just to recover from it all. With Disney and NY throwing us some serious mileage in the walking department.

And dropping some major coin at the feet of Spongebob, Mickey and Broadway my account looks like the stock market chart of a US bank right now. But what a sensational time we had.

So while I read responses to some tweets and facebook comments all while sitting 15,000 feet in the air, I ponder if I really want to be this connected when the last great excuse for not knowing what is happening in the world was ’sorry about that, I was on a flight’. Although I won’t miss the approximately $320 for 17 seconds of talk time on those in seat phones where you swiped your credit card and wiped your bank account (is it just me or am I funnier in the air), maybe it’s the sensational US medication I just took when feel like I do right now hoping that I can recover from some late nights in NY watching jazz in the places I had only previously heard about on the recordings I have listened to.

(example above of a way to long sentence without purpose)

I love America and her diversity.

I honestly think we should plant some more cities in Aus.

Peace.

I am sitting in the Mall at the Nickelodeon Hotel in Orlando Florida usin’ some free Wi-Fi too write this post. I haven’t blogged but have been twitterin’. Check out Twitter.com/kidinspiration

I love holidays and this is proving to be one of the best ever. Great people, fun times and my mind focussed not on work but on my family and fun.

This is the biggest holiday we have ever had in ten years of marriage and working so we are making the most of it.

So my prescription for a holiday is go far far away. I think it helps the mind to be in another time zone and hemisphere of the globe.

Anyway work hard and rest well, right now I am resting well… As much as you can rest in Disney World

As of September 18, 2009 I have been married to my beautiful Beci for 10 years!

So this year we are celebrating! In July we are heading to the US of A for three weeks of non-stop serious full-on Holidaying.

So starting in LA and then on to Florida for some Disney action (For my son not for me really, I probably won’t even go on any rides, well maybe a couple for research purposes). After that we will be making our way to Memphis/Nashville and driving up to New York via Washington D.C.

I am pretty excited about this trip, it has been a long time since we have taken such a long holiday and it will be very well appreciated.

Too all readers in the USAmerica region of the globe, if have any must see locations to visit, hot travel tips or even just some ‘I’m really jealous’ remarks then please let me know below in the comments.

Have you ever dropped some dreams?

Maybe you realised that you didn’t want them as bad as you thought?

I started dropping a few as I approached 30. Albeit they were things that I had wanted since I was young enough to watch Fraggle Rock and Macgyver on TV… like being an international spy or living in a tree house.

But a few of them I consciously let go.

Like becoming a world renowned Jazz musician (I have a Diploma in Jazz performance from Christchurch Institute of Technology). It just would be too much of a departure from where my life has headed and even though I get to use my musical gifts a LOT, it just ain’t gonna happen. And to tell the truth I don’t want it that bad any more.

But I hope that in your life that there are NO dreams that you have simply given up on because they look out of reach and impossible. If you still want it deep down then never give up on it!

So as I hit 31 years old today <nudge nudge — 4 Jan –> and feel slightly reflective and a little disturbed at the grey in my rather scraggly beard here is David Wakerley signing off and tremendously blessed that God has given me so many of the dreams in my heart I had to get new ones!

Happy Birthday.

Merry Christmas.

So I am at the second Christmas service on Christmas day.

There is one firm way I know my son is really my son – We couldn’t wake him this morning to open his Santa gifts!

He refused to get up and cried when we got him out of bed. What’s with that!! It all changed when he realized there were presents.

I totally scored with some Wii gear!

Merry Ho, Ho, Ho!

Have been on a break the last week.

A whole week without a phone, a TV or people.

I highly recommend it.

Back into blogging and society in general from Monday this week.

So it’s midnight and I just finished a song (hopefully) for our upcoming kids album.

My wife Beci is in bed and here I am all inspired about kids worshipping God and keeping her awake.

I think it will be a powerful song. Talking about Jesus being near, and wanting to spend the rest of our lives in His house. “I’m so glad you’re here, I’m so glad you’re near…” well I don’t want to ruin it

But man is it a process. Getting a song written is like giving birth to a baby that sometimes refuses to come out. Or at least that is our experience.

This year has proven to be just as tough as always to find the God songs. But I guess not much worthwhile is easy. The pain of creating can lead to great beauty.

I hope and pray that is true for this years album, that the kids at our church and ultimately around the world would encounter Jesus. Because if they do, they will never forget it. And they will never forget him.

On holiday for a week with the family – but before I go, here is some muppet youtube awesomeness!

So I think I got a little excited and may have not been clear in my previous posts re: the Apple Store opening.

I didn’t actually sleep out overnight, but did go to the opening (5pm) the following day, the queues were huge, so came back later that night with Mike ‘Voltage‘ Vogel.

Here is MIke who now has almost completed his transformation into an uber-nerd… just like me

So I drove into the city before heading home tonight as people had started queuing for the opening of the Sydney Apple Store from 8:15am this morning. I got there about 9pm… there are about 20 people camping out for the opening of the new store!

I mean, there’s not even a new product coming out, just a store to sell stuff in. Which isn’t to say I am not heading in tomorrow at 5pm for the official opening… but camp out over night!!

Front of store… lot’s of glass, and apparently second largest in world after London.

Now the iPhone comes out here on July 11, so Apple really has got twice the mileage out of this launch. A bunch of pres for the opening, and then what’s sure to be bunch of press for the iPhone!

Start of the queue, first five have iPhones… (apparently there are 25,000 on the Optus Network already)

More Queue.

SO I reckoned there might be a few thousand here by tomorrow 5pm… and I will be one of them!

In 2001 my Dad began his first journey to India that would set in motion the journey towards establishing the Children’s Home in Bhachau…

On January 26, 2001, a large earthquake, registering 7.9 on the Richter Scale, devastated the area of Gujarat, northwest India. Five year old Rukshana emerged from the rubble an orphan. Her mother had been killed a week before in an electrical accident; her father was crushed in the rubble of their house. A photo of Rukshana, with a bandage over one eye, featured in the March edition of World Vision’s Impact magazine last year. Her image haunted many New Zealanders, among them Steve Wakerley of Christchurch… [Read On]

It has been a massive journey for my parents… as their three boys (me being one of them), left for parts uncharted (to Australia), they both have found that better late than never is the theme of the second half of their lives!

When I was growing up I remember conversations/discussion/prayers about Bali, which I imagined an exotic paradise filled with wild natives (any one who has grown up hearing about missionaries will know exactly what I mean). In some parallel universe it seemed I could have grown up a missionary kid, instead of playing left wing in my local Southbridge Rugby team in country New Zealand.

Now I may be completely off course and remember things through the filter of memory but Bali could have been an opportunity that never eventuated for whatever reason for us.

Now that their life has taken them to this incredibly challenging, frustrating, totally out-of-depth, but eternally significant experience I am in awe at their tenacity and faithfulness to the call of God in their lives.

They are making steady progress toward the finishing of a fantastic facility to eventually be used for::

• An orphanage for local children
• A free medical facility for those who can’t afford any kind of health-care
• A vocational training centre.

The people that will benefit from this ministry will be the poorest of the poor – children and adults who haven’t the means to bring up their children, eg. widows, orphans and the disabled.

So anyway, check out the site at: bhachau.org for more info.

As you may know I am holding a domain auction with the (however small or large) proceeds going directly to them, have look here.

I’m proud of you Mum and Dad!