Orphan Sunday

This Sunday many churches in America will participate in what they call "Orphan Sunday". I don't really know a lot about it, but I do know that my heart aches for the plight of orphans around the world. As many of you already know I have investigated the possibility of our family adopting a child in need of a home and I continue to do so, but right now, in New Zealand, it is proving to be very difficult. There is only one agency in the country that works with international adoptions and they do a very limited number per year, and there are very, very few domestic adoptions. We went to a meeting about it and there were far more people there who were interested in starting a family through adoption than the agency even facilitates in a year. So, for now, while we continue to wait and see if God opens any other doors for us, I am in the process of learning more about the foster care program here. In the meantime though, I wanted to share this video about Orphan Sunday and then a link to a powerful, powerful post that resonated so deeply with me.

Creation Groans from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Here is the link to the post by Missy entitled "I don't want my children to be happy". Good stuff.

And one more video -

"Sometimes I would like to ask God, why He allows poverty, famine and injustice in the world when He could do something about it . . . but I'm afraid He might ask me the same question." Anonymous

Countdown to Christmas

It's November - time to get out the Christmas music! I love, love, love, LOVE Christmas music. Today Paige posted this on her blog and the girls and I have listened to it over and over, I hope you enjoy it. xoxo

Little Drummer Boy from gfc.tv Videos on Vimeo.

Quick Hello

We had a fabulous Halloween and I'll post pictures soon - I'm getting most of them from my good buddy Matt, so that will be Friday's post. In the meantime, last night at sewing I sat next to a dancer in The Nutcracker which the girls and I are going to see on Thursday. Also at sewing I discovered some new music - LOVE!! I'll be taking the girls to see this group perform soon - enjoy.

Oh and by the way - I hope all you Americans exercised your right to vote. xx

Random Links

So all the ballet lessons are just so the girls can one day dance a performance like this from the Royal New Zealand ballet:

I've been browsing real estate listings since our return because I am SO sick. of. renting! My fellow Americans would be surprised at how little there is on offer and how quickly the houses with decent sun exposure (VERY important) get snatched up. Anyway, today after dropping Meggie off at girls' club and heading to netball with Katie and Josie I passed this (click on pink word) and got very excited. It gets great sun, has five bedrooms and three bathrooms and is in a fantastic location (and I love how the listing agent wrote "Even Jacqueline Kennedy would approve). I knew such extravagance would come at a price, but sadly my husband just confirmed my suspicions. Looking on the bright side, we don't even know how long we are here and perhaps at the right time and in the right place the perfect dwelling place will become available - meanwhile we are free to dream!

In happier news, we got to spend the day with Kate yesterday. She is in town from Auckland for a class reunion and it was such a treat to see her and have her hang out with us. We had lunch here at the house then went to our favorite bookstore, Marsden Books, because Kate is friends with Anna who owns the shop. We also ventured over to Seatoun to have a quick look in Liz's boutique, but sadly she was out of town so we didn't get to see her. Wellington put on a beautiful show - the sun was out and it was a balmy 18 degrees, just perfect. Today it was a windy 11 degrees while I shivered on the sidelines of the netball. And they call it "summer netball". I scoff.

That's all from here - two posts in two days, I'm on a roll! xx

More Ballet Exams

Hello dear friends and family! Meggie and Katie had a great time taking their ballet exams last week, we were at the studio from 8:30 am until lunch time, but a good time was had by all.

Meggie and her sweet friend Olivia. These two are going to ride the bus into town together for ballet beginning in February and they are so excited about it!

Olivia, Georgia, Miriam and Meggie.

I'm so sad Meggie's eyes are closed in this! Ms. Tarrant has made ballet an absolute joy for all the girls this year, but she's been especially wonderful for our newest ballerina.

Katie, Pippa, Maia, Scarlett

Dugald and I had a fantastic anniversary weekend - we didn't make any plans other than to spend the entire day together Saturday without children thanks to our good friends Matt and Alison offering to take them for the day. They had fun and we had a fantastic time just taking the day as it came, relaxing, eating, shopping, connecting. Oh for more days like that!

Hugs to all. xx

Island Bay Marine Center

Our visit to the Island Bay Marine Center last week was better than expected! The girls had kind of gone off field trips after last year's trip to the local landfill, due to the smell, but I think this surpassed their expectations. Mind you there was still a smell.

The couple who run the center did a great job - we were all gathered in a big room overlooking the sea and while they talked with the children the parents gathered for coffee and tea in the kitchen. After a time of instruction and questions, they handed out "safety equipment" which turned out to be funny hats for the adults. I was given a big red crab which Ellie thought was hilarious, I was happy to have it as it helped keep me a bit warmer! Then we all walked down to the building where the sea creatures are actually kept.

The favorite thing for the children was the hands-on pool where they could gently reach in and touch or hold the sea creatures - things like sea anemones, starfish, snails and whatnot - but they also enjoyed feeding the turtles and the fish.

Then yesterday we began our first of three ballet exams - Josie had her Grade One presentation. I wasn't allowed in to watch her this year but she sure looked pretty and I know she did a great job!! Meggie and Katie have their exams on Thursday.

We were instructed to arrive quite early so I told the other girls to bring something to do - this is what they were doing while Josie was getting ready. Again I apologize for the iphone pictures, I forgot my camera!! I'm glad the phone does as well as it does given that I can't seem to remember my nice camera half the time.

Lots of love to all!!

A Little This and That

Hi everyone! It's officially spring here and the weather is completely whacky. On Tuesday it sleeted and hailed and the day was bitterly cold. On Wednesday the sun came out and we were so warm the girls wore short sleeves all day. Crazy.

Anyway, life is good here in our little corner of the world. I got to have a "date" with Katie a few weekends ago. One-on-one time with the girls is understandably scarce so it was a joy to spend time with just Katie doing what she wanted to do. We were joined by our good friends Pippa and Alison and we had lunch together at a cafe, got pedicures and shopped.

Last week was killer with all the ballet - every day at 1pm for Katie and 3 pm for Meggie as they prepare for their exams. Thankfully we had a bit of help in the form of some carpooling with friends. One of the days I drove to Katie's class the little girls and I went to the waterfront and Daddy met us for ice cream. Meggie was at a friend's house.

Today we are off for a field trip to the Marine Education Center. Or Centre. Anyhoo - we are studying marine animals in science so when the homeschool group planned this trip I signed us up. The girls have been once before with Hamish and Delaney but I've never visited so I'm looking forward to it.

Dugald is keeping busy with work and we are still plugging away at our school work. The girls started back at gymnastics yesterday and they loved it! All four take at the same time - the little girls in one class while the big girls are in another so I don't have to be there for too long. We had to take a break from horseback riding to have a day free to try gymnastics so next term it looks like there will be some hard decisions about which activities to continue and which to drop. If only I had a driver. . .

I took my sewing machine to be serviced last week in anticipation of the sewing class I start TONIGHT!! I dropped it off with an adapter since it is an American machine and the guy servicing it called to say that it was just blinking when he plugged it in and had I used it here? Um. . . . no. . . So he said it should theoretically work if he just plugged it in since it said on the back of the machine that it could work on both voltages, but he said sometimes the Americans modify the machines so they will only work on our voltage and if that were the case then when he plugged it in it would most likely blow the circuit board and that would cost me $400 and was I willing to take the risk? So, my choices were a machine that doesn't work or possibly a $400 repair bill on top of the $140 service charge. I took a deep breath and told him to plug it in. Thankfully it all worked so now he's replacing the cord for me so I can just plug it straight in without an adapter. All well and good except that it won't be ready for my first class tonight. I'll let you know how that goes.

Finally - I just read this article about the cost of living in New Zealand, there's a debate but in our experience the cost of living is an absolute ton more than it was in good ole East Texas. It's the main reason I came back here with 11 pieces of luggage after our time in the US and would have liked to have brought back more. Two years later I still find the prices here hard to get over.

Lots of love from all of us! xx