Meet Taylor and Kristina
Taylor and Kristina, tell us about your family.
We are a new family of three. Kristina and I have been married for six years now and we have a ten-month-old son, Harvey. We also have two kelpies, Kai and Koda, who keep us busy around the house as well. We currently live in Box Hill, and we love people, eating out/food, long lunches, and bush-walking in the Blue Mountains.
What does a typical week look like for you both?
Kristina is currently on maternity leave with Harvey but is a primary school teacher at Arndell Anglican college and will be returning next year. At the moment, she’s enjoying every moment she has with Harvey—going for walks, visiting the local park, and attending playgroup and swimming. Taylor is a lawyer and is the principal of his own law firm located in the Gables, specialising in commercial law and litigation.
Our week is fairly normal, being mostly made up of church and Bible study, running, working, spending time together, walking the dogs, and spending time with family and friends. Taylor also likes to get out in the bush on Saturday mornings for a trail run.
What do you enjoy doing together as family on a day off?
We love going for a bush walk in the Blue Mountains on our days off as a family. One of our favourite places to go is Narrowneck Plateau at Katoomba (the best bush walk/trail run in the world in our humble opinion), because it has amazing views of all of the surrounding valleys and sandstone cliffs. We also love heading to the beach, reading on the sand, and swimming in the ocean.
What are the things you appreciate the most about living in the Box Hill area?
Kristina: We both grew up in the Hawkesbury, so I enjoy how central it is for everything we need—especially church, family and work.
Taylor: I appreciate the people. It is a growing area and many of our friends have moved into the area, or we have made friends that live in the area or somewhere nearby. I am an extrovert and absolutely love spending time with people so having friends nearby and within close reach has been a real blessing.
How long have you been Christian, and who was it that first told you about Jesus?
Kristina: I grew up having a works-based understanding of Christianity. It wasn’t until Taylor’s family moved to Pitt Town seven years ago and invited me to church that I first understood the importance of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We had a lot of people praying for us, but I’m particularly thankful to God for how clearly Greg Peisley shared God’s grace with me.
Taylor: I grew up going to church with my mum and dad as a child, but then I stopped going to church when I was around fourteen. Around this time, friends and cricket were my main priorities and then this morphed into friends and worldly fun being my main priorities the older I got. I ended up coming back to church in 2017, when I was 25, and became a Christian in November 2018 while doing a Christianity Explained course with Greg Peisley, the minister at Pitt Town Anglican Church. My parents are Christians and have been my whole life, so they have constantly spoken about Jesus throughout my life, but it wasn’t until going through the Christianity Explained course with Greg that I fully understood God’s grace and that I was a sinner in need of God’s grace.
What’s something that has encouraged you from God’s word recently?
Kristina: I’ve recently started reading James, which points out that our actions reflect our faith in God. I know that works do not save us, but they do reveal the character of our trust in God. We are called to put God’s word into action and to follow His example by loving our neighbours as ourselves.
Taylor: I’ve been reading Acts recently, and I’ve been particularly encouraged by the stories about the early church and the spread of the gospel and Christianity. It is extremely encouraging to see throughout Acts that the spread of the gospel is unstoppable and that, through the apostles, Christianity has spread unchanged from that point at around 30–50 AD to now, despite all the obstacles or opposition that has taken place along the way. I am also particularly encouraged by the faithfulness and the courage of the early Christians who—despite opposition and persecution—continued to preach the gospel faithfully and truthfully. I think that is a great example and lesson for me (and anyone else), regardless of the culture and time you are in. It’s a great reminder that people need to hear the gospel, and we have been sent to do just that.
What are your hopes for your family?
Our greatest hope for our family is that Harvey and any future children of ours will grow up to know and love Jesus and that God will continue to use Kristina and me in growing His church. We also want to be a family that faithfully serves Jesus through our local church, whether that be Box Hill or beyond.
And lastly, is there an amusing and/or strange fact about yourselves that you’d be happy to share with us?
Kristina: Growing up, Taylor loved Steve Irwin and that love has continued. We now own 3 snakes and 3 lizards.
Taylor: It’s not overly strange, but Kristina and I are both avid scuba divers and have our dive master certification, meaning we could work at a dive shop if we wanted to. I also have caught the running bug in the last five years and have run in multiple ultra marathons.
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