Today we are hearing about what Sam has been up to since he graduated from BalCC. In 2013 Sam moved to Oregon in the United States to marry his wife, Crystal. Here Crystal shares with us what Sam has been doing for the past eight years:

“Sam started out at some odds and ends jobs when he first moved to America (from office help to random handyman work, to managing properties for a friend), but he really started finding his calling about when he joined a local tree company. He thoroughly invested himself into learning the trade, the trees, etc, and after a couple years on the job, split off and created his own tree business as an arborist trading as ‘Good Bloke Tree Care’. He has owned and run this business successfully for almost six years. God has blessed his work and Sam currently has two employees.

Marriage was hard to get used to at a young age (we were 21 and 23) and with culture differences, but with the support of family, church, our pastor, we got the hang of it! The Lord has continued to grow our friendship and love over the years, and we have FUN together!

In October 2020, we welcomed our first baby, Charlie Rae Blackmore, a PERFECT baby girl! You would probably all picture Sam as a boy dad, but man does he make a KILLER girl daddy! He is so gentle with her, but also loves to play around and chase/run after her/play wrestle (she’s only thirteen months, but she can take it). He makes her giggle a lot, and we often find ourselves just watching her and connecting even deeper in our marriage as we both find SO MUCH JOY in parenthood. On that note, we are eighteen weeks pregnant with OUR SECOND baby girl right now. We can’t wait for the girls to be close in age and grow up together! We are also so excited to travel back to Australia when things open up more so that his family and close friends can meet the babies!

I’m sure you all have recovered from Sammy’s ratbag-ness by now (and I’m sure you have repeated some stories around the dinner table about him many times over the years). I’m happy to confirm that Sammy is still Sammy! Cheeky, fun, upbeat, POSITIVE…and ornery (that’s American for ratbag). I’m sure he’s toned down a lot over the years though, but he can still give it to ya!



Sam is still playing those drums! He volunteers on the worship team every month and every now and then finds the time to hit the kit for fun. His girls are his biggest fans!”