Pictures from today....

Here's what two of the guys in our family were up to today. Steve sent this picture from Fiji from the prison this afternoon. This is the second picture that he has in countries under military rule that he's talked a guard into letting him hold a big weapon! Fortunately he usually uses his powers of persuasion for good!

The other pic is of Aaron flying his trick kite right outside of Steve's parents' house in New Zealand. They have an amazing ocean view!!!

Snow Day!

The kids and I had an outstanding day yesterday! Some wonderful friends treated the kids to a day at Snow Planet, an indoor ski and snowboard run. None of the kids had been around snow for years and since Adam was only one the last time he obviously didn't remember it! None of them had ever skied.

The eldest son of the family we were with is a snowboard instructor at Snow Planet and his three younger brothers are pretty good as well, so our kids each had their own personal trainer to get started. They all had a fantastic time. The girls snowboarded for hours. The boys tried both snowboards and skis and hardly left the slope for the entire 7 hours that we were there!

Moaning and groaning from sore muscles is going on this morning!

The sale on our house in Fiji became final on Monday! Steve's been quite busy not only leading the team but slipping off to the lawyer for meetings about the process of getting the funds out of Fiji. He says the team is great and going very well.

The paperwork for our visas is nearly finished and ready to lodge when Steve returns!

Steve flies to Fiji tomorrow to lead one last team. The end of an era in Fiji for him! But there will be many more in our new location, I'm sure!!! In fact, his brother's bringing a group from the States only a couple of weeks after we arrive. And I'll finally get to meet this last sibling!

Next week while he's away I'll start doing our 'pre-packing'. Anyone who's made major moves will understand this! Yesterday I had a lovely lunch with a friend who's spent time working in the family business overseas before. It was fun to talk to someone who totally understood my packing phobia, my reoccurring nightmares of not being able to find a usable toilet, and how my biggest stress in a new place is figuring out how to feed my family!

We had a few lovely dinners this week with friends as well. At one we showed them the video of the business we're going to work for. It was good to be reminded that all of the changes and extra stresses in our near future are so worth it! The sacrifices seem quite small when we think of the story of Freedom that we're going to get to be part of!!!

P.S. The sale on the house in Fiji is supposed to be final on the 21st. So far so good!

Kiwi's

As our time in NZ is drawing to a close I've been thinking about the people we've met and experiences we've had. First of all I've got to say that we think New Zealand and it's people are awesome! I've had lots of Kiwi friends over the years and there was one particular Kiwi I was impressed with enough to marry(!), but as a general people group they're pretty great as well.

I just learned that 'DIY' is a common enough Kiwi phrase to be abbreviated. It stands for 'do it yourself' and pretty much sums up the Kiwi mindset about life. Don't ask for outside help to do the job, don't wast time complaining about it, and definitely don't pay someone else to do it as a matter of pride unless you've given it a go at least once yourself first.

Kiwi's are very down to earth and fun, too. Where else will you have a salesgirl be merciless in teasing you that she thinks you're cheap when you're buying a gift? Or have a guy on a work crew tell you there's an extra shovel available when you walk past and say 'gidday' (good day). I watched these things happen to Steve, though. People tend to look me over more first before they attack with my different accent!

We have lots of meals coming up with people as we begin our farewells. Steve flys to Fiji on Saturday to lead one last team for two weeks. When he gets back there are only 19 days until we fly out!!!