The current Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has been in that office since 1999, which is really hard to imagine! My oldest daughter was born in 1999 and in some ways it seems like a lifetime ago. Anyway, we'll see if the Kiwis are as eager for change as the Americans were. The Kiwis have a voting system called MMP which stands for Mixed Member Proportional Representation. It's different from their former system of FPP (First Past the Post, which is basically majority wins). The MMP system means that each party's share of the seats in Parliament would be close to its share of the overall vote. At last count I think there were 20 political parties. . . including one called "Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party". Aotearoa means "land of the long white cloud" in Maori, which is of course New Zealand, and they do spell legalize with an s here. All of this is why I am confused and it's probably a good thing I can't vote.
Speaking of Americans, I am NOT getting political here, I just wanted to say that it was weird getting the election results before dinner. That's one advantage of being a day ahead and a few hours behind.
In other news, I was supposed to do my very first sea swim on Wednesday and I had psyched myself up for the challenge of getting my wetsuit on and entering the frigid water, but alas, it was not to be! We woke up to gale-force winds so thankfully the swim was cancelled. I honestly wasn't sure our coach would actually cancel, these people are TOUGH and they are out in just about any weather. I've mentioned before that I often feel guilty when it is blowing and raining outside and I decide to drive the half mile to the grocery store rather than walk, because I almost always pass someone I know hoofin it in the horrific weather.
No new news from the girls - they are all doing well. Even Ellie seems to have her temper a little more under control, could she be turning the corner?? I can only pray. Dugald is quite busy at work, he just returned from another short trip to Auckland last night. He was there for some work but he also got to see Kate and her family (he stayed with them) and attend a Mercy Ships board meeting. We're looking forward to heading up to Auckland as a family next month for a Mercy Ships 30-Year Reunion. Don and Deyon, our good friends and the founders of Mercy Ships, will be there so we are all excited to spend time with them as well as Kate and family and our other Mercy Ships friends.
It's hard to believe it's almost Christmas! Especially since we are in the middle of spring. My brain is all muddled with the seasons turned around. I miss the changing leaves that usually accompany my Christmas music. I always try to hold out until Thanksgiving to play it, but I usually don't make it and whip it out just after Halloween. And as far as Thanksgiving goes, I'm trying to muster the energy to cook and celebrate it. It is one of my favorite holidays so I think we'll have to organize some friends to come over and celebrate it with us. I could barely manage cooking for it in Texas in my gigantic kitchen with two ovens, who knows how I'll sort it out here, but I'll figure out something!
I'll try and post more photos of the little ones soon! Hugs to all.
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