Friday, May 8, 2009

Our First Year

We can hardly believe that our first anniversary is fast approaching! It's made me think about all that's already happened in our lives and the good things that our Father's done for us. I have an amazing husband that it's been very sweet to get to know more and more. Since even our engagement was long distance it's good to finally be able to 'read' him some now instead of having to ask him what he thinks about everything, for example! We look forward to walking together for many years to come.

It's been a wonderful year and one of the great joys of it has been watching the kids flourish with a dad again. Sometimes a picture IS worth a thousand words................


South Island Trip

The North Island of New Zealand is really beautiful. But the South Island is totally different and in places is kind of like a pristine paradise. Because the climate is quite cold (closest populated landmass to Antarctica!) it's not as populated and especially on the western coast the roads take you pass stately mountains, crystal clear streams, and beaches that look untouched by man. Lovely!

Besides amazing scenery some of the highlights of the trip for us were seal colonies just along the highway, seeing dolphins the same way, and a couple of glaciers. It's Autumn so the trees were in gorgeous color as well. The girls got to bungee jump in Queenstown at the place where the bungee was first invented!

Steve introduced us to many fantastic people along the way! We also got to spend some time with Steve's younger brother and his wife in Christchurch, which was really special.

We loved Christchurch Easter Camp! How hundreds of adults worked together to turn a campground into a place for 4000 kids to worship, learn, have a blast, eat, sleep, etc., blew my mind. What a labor of love. And they do it every year!

We are back up north and are taking a bit of a breather before we head to Fiji for June-July. We are here mostly during the week and are speaking at various places on the weekends. We're looking forward to our time in Fiji where we will lead a number of short-term teams from New Zealand. We look forward to catching up with old friends as well! It will be the boys' first time back since we left and I think will be an important time in all of the kids' lives to reconnect with the place they lived for most of their lives before we move on.


Our family at a park in Christchurch

Fox Glacier

Friday, May 1, 2009

We are finally back from the South Island. Boy, what a trip! It was an amazing one full of beautiful scenery, neat people, and memorable experiences. I'll write more on it VERY soon!

I wanted to make a quick note about comments made on things here. I've received a couple in the past weeks that ask specific questions from people that I don't personally know. Blogger doesn't give me the email address of the person asking the question. If this is you and you want me to respond, please put your email address in the question. I'll answer you but won't publish the comment with your personal information in it. Thanks!