we beat kim.

Jared and I were married 6 months on Monday.


I was so excited that I told Jared 'Happy 6 Months!' ad nauseam I am sure.


With Hollywood celebrities such as Ms. Kardashian, I guess making it that long is something to celebrate. However, I wasn't excited because we 'made it' that long...I was excited about what the past six months have made us.


In our first six months of marriage:

We sold most of our belongings.
We packed our most precious possessions onto two pallets and gave them to strangers.
We left part of our family.
We joined with partly new families.
We relied on the kindness of others and the grace of God.
We prayed that doors would be opened, and they were.

We learned that some things are just stuff.
We learned new strengths (and weaknesses).
We relied on each other more than ever before.

We started our life in a beautiful home.

We are learning to cook healthy, interesting meals.

We are learning how to drive and how to teach someone to drive on NZ roads. :)

We are learning how to work together and appreciate each others careers.

We are learning how to be honest with each other and ourselves.

We are learning the value of trade me (NZ ebay).
We are learning how to be thankful for every moment.

We are learning how to lean on God.

We are happier together than we have ever been apart.

HAPPY 6 MONTHS!

There...that's the last time I'll say it...promise :)

the little green man

What is faith?

Who defines faith?

Are faith and trust the same thing?

I have been thinking about these questions for a long time. 

I have thought about faith more in the last two months than ever before.

People question what faith is, how we show it, why we should have faith in God.

I notice people around me who struggle to put their faith in God because they seem to find him unworthy to take care of their lives.

I also see these same people putting their faith into everyday things because they can see them, touch them, feel them, hear them and possess them.

And I am one of those people.

As I have been crossing many streets, with cars coming from any and all directions, I have realized something.

I put a whole lot of faith in a little green man.

 

No...not this one.

                                                                        This one.

Do you realize how much faith I have to have in a computer that tells me it is safe to step out onto a thoroughfare where tons of hurtling steel  could squash me at any moment? What if the computer failed? What if a human driver wasn't watching and ran a light?

To step out...to have that kind of faith in something man made...is quite amazing.

As I look around me in the city center, I see people constantly taking a leap of faith and stepping out to what could be their end. They have faith that these man made computers are going to tell them when it is safe to journey on. And as I people watch, I am painfully aware that many of these humans do not have faith in God.

What is so hard about it?

If they can risk their life with the faith that the electronic green man ensures their safety, why do they not think God can take care of them?

What do I have faith in on a day to day basis?

I have faith that my car will start...until it doesn't.

I have faith that the computer running the stoplights is working...until it messes up.

I have faith that my lights will come on when I flip the switch...until a bulb goes out.

I have faith that the men will pick up our trash when I leave it by the road...until they skip our house.

I have faith in God...until...

With God, there is no UNTIL... He simply doesn't stop taking care of us. 

Why is it so hard to have faith? God assures us that we will be safe. He tells us in His Word that He will provide. That He will take care.

Is it because we can't see Him?

Is it because we can't actually hear His voice?

or is it because we are afraid that if we took time to stop making excuses and just have faith, our life would be less dramatic and interesting.

Before we moved here, people always asked me...'How can you pick up your entire life and move to another country?'

I wanted to tell them that I was terrified but that I was sure I wanted to be with Jared forever and wherever he went I would go. I wanted to tell them anything that would assure them that I had faith. But I never told them that...'because of my faith in God, I can go. Because of my faith that He will provide for us, He will take care of our families, He will increase any seed that we happen to sow. I have faith not in myself, and not even in Jared but in the One who brought us together. I can go to a new country for the same reason you can wake up every morning...because I have faith in One who is higher than I.'

If you would have told me at the age of 12 that I would live in New Zealand, a kajillion miles away from anything and everything I ever knew. I would have told you to get a check up from the neck up.

I didn't know faith.

I was so wrapped up in friends, family, traditions and expectations that I would have never given up my dream of being with my family to realize the dream of faith that I am living now.

If you would have told me the same thing at 19, I might have considered your words. But I would have demanded that the realization of this dream be in my time and on my schedule.

I didn't know faith.

After selling stuff and moving as far across the Earth as I can, Faith and I are finally getting acquainted.

Faith and I are going to be best friends if it is the last thing I do. God has so intricately woven Himself into my life story and seeing that, how can I not trust Him?

Stop reading this and thank God for all of the ways that He has shown you that you can trust in Him. The really sneaky ones that you never considered. The ways that turned your world upside down and gave you renewed perspective. Thank him for those dreams that you didn't accomplish so that bigger and better dreams could be realized. Simply, thank Him for being a God that we can have faith in. A God that so immensely worthy to be trusted and loved.

full clearance.

Saturday, Jared and I had the privilege of being involved in some community service on the Highbury side of town.

Highbury has some of the best bakeries and fish and chips shops but is also home to 'The Mongrel Mob' as well as being a low income part of town.

Jared's surgery has a bus that you have heard me mention before as he takes it to Foxton on Tuesdays. As often as they can, they take the bus to Highbury and set up a free dental clinic.

This Saturday, it was our turn to be the dentist and the assistant.

NERVOUS.

The only reason I was nervous really is because I didn't know how to use any of the equipment on the bus. I knew that we would need the sterilizer to be going constantly and I didn't even know how to turn it on. :) Jared's boss and his wife had worked the morning shift and we were to take the afternoon.

When we arrived around 12:30, we met Pearl. She is a Maori lady from the Highbury community that sits as the receptionist. The reception area is a small room with a kitchen and a bathroom. On Friday nights, it is where a group of Maori ladies get together to weave korowai cloaks. The korowai are an ancient tradition of the Maori and you are honored to get one. There are many feathers of indigenous birds that are woven into the cloak. When dignitaries come to New Zealand, they are given one.

             This is the one I gave Prince William when he came to dinner last week. haha.

Pearl welcomed us with open arms and made us feel instantly at home. We secured all of our valuables (keeping my wedding rings and cell phone on my person at all times) and headed to the bus. The last patient of the morning wasn't finished yet so I hopped on the bus to see where, how and when everything was done.

This photo was taken after the day was done but it will give you and idea of how the bus is set up. Jared sits on the stool that you can see and I sit on the stool behind the chair and to the right.

An assistant that usually works with Jared was on standby so that I could observe her in the first few cases. She had to leave by 2, so I knew I would have to take it by myself after a few rounds.

Luckily for me, the hygienist that I had worked with in the previous week was also on the bus. She, along with Jared, were the ones who started it and keep it going. She was telling me about the patients of the day so far. One woman had come in with a face that was absolutely swollen. She had been to the hospital and taken antibiotics three times with no change. Another lady, Pearl's daughter, had been in prison and just gotten out. She required 8 fillings as her teeth in the front were in pretty bad shape.

The first patient we got in was a filling. She had been having a lot of pain in her tooth and it had a hole in it. It wasn't bad enough that it needed to come out though.

The second patient was a large Maori gent covered in tattoos. He came in saying that his back teeth were hurting and once Jared looked and took an xray, there was no doubt that they would have to come out. Jared numbed him up and sent him back to the waiting room. When he came back (after we had put another patient through), Jared began the process of extraction. This guys mouth was so inflamed that the local wouldn't cover the pain. I got extremely queasy because of the amount of blood and pain that this guy was in. Seeing that the local wasn't going to do it, Jared decided that he wasn't going to do anything until the inflammation went down. Jared prescribed him some antibiotics and told him to get in at Carpenter's under a WINZ quote. WINZ stands for Work Income New Zealand.We found out later that the reason his mouth was so inflamed is because he had tried to take the teeth out by himself using pliers.

My first case to be the assistant was the patient in between the two above cases. She was a nice Maori lady in her 40s. When she came in, I noticed that she didn't really open her mouth wide to talk. As soon as she got into the chair, I found out why. She opened so that Jared could assess the situation. Her upper jaw was a mass of decay. She had two full teeth left in the front that were eaten through. The rest of her teeth were broken or simply stumps of root. Jared offered her full clearance. This means that he was going to take all of her teeth out on the top. She would be able to get a denture through WINZ but she could not continue in this condition. She agreed and the process began.

Remember when I got queasy because of the first guy? Well this one was a doozy. I knew that I wasn't the one in the chair and they didn't need a nurse passing out on them so I sat strongly and held my breath behind my mask. I just kept saying to myself, 'Why do all these people drink so much red kool-aid?' and 'oh well...it's just red kool-aid'. Anything to keep myself the assistant instead of the patient.

In the end, Jared took out twelve...teeth...I guess you could call them that. It was more like two teeth and ten roots. She had local and didn't even wince when it was being done. She had been in pain for some time and you could see the relief on her face to have them out..

One of my favorite patients of the day was a lady named Janine. Janine was pregnant and was absolutely terrified of the dentist. Because of that fear, she had avoided the dentist for a long time but couldn't wait any longer. When she told us about her tooth pain, Jared discovered a large hole in one of her molars. He told her it would have to come out. She freaked a bit.

She said that she had hyperventilated at the dentist once before and whoever it was told her that they would not work on her. She thought maybe she would go to the hospital and get treatment with good drugs instead of letting Jared take it out.

This was a new experience for me as well to see Jared working with the public. To see these people coming in terrible pain and he assures them that they are going to be okay. Jared told her that if she went to the hospital, she wouldn't receive anything but antibiotics and that wouldn't help her situation.

She decided to let him use local and take it out. When she got the local injection. she said she didn't even feel the needle (cringe at the thought). She went out into the waiting room and came in later on. She ended up being our last patient of the day. She came in more nervous than before and I assured her that I would hold her hand if she needed me to. I told her that I was proud of her for getting this far and if any dentist would take care of her, it would be my husband.

(I also had to let her know that he was my husband and that he didn't call all of his assistants 'babe' :)

Jared got the tooth out without her feeling a thing. She was so proud that she didn't have that decay in her mouth anymore and that she had been so strong. What this picture doesn't show is the ginormous hole in the other side.

The best part of the day was as we were cleaning up. These patients and their families come by the bus door and say 'Thank You!' and 'Aren't you proud of me?' and 'We love you!'

It truly was an awesome experience and I can't wait to do it again.

Made in Indonesia.

My brother almost got me deported.

Okay Okay. It was me. I was the one who brought in bamboo and straw. two absolutely illegal items.

We got our shipment from the USA yesterday! When I opened the boxes, everything smelled like our old apartment. It made me a little sad since our house here doesn't have the same smell. Even though both are pleasant smells (just in case you were wondering).

Even though getting the shipment was awesome...it is quite a tale in how we did it.

First thing in the morning, Jared's boss calls and asks me to come in as an assistant because they were short staffed. I got ready and headed into work with Jared. I got to work with a hygienist for the day. She is a very nice lady and took it easy on me.

We set up the room and got ready for the first patient. Looking on her patient list, we had a lot of 45's. This means that there is 45 minutes scheduled for their cleaning because they haven't been before or haven't been recently. Some of those didn't show up but the ones that did were interesting. I never would have thought that I could enjoy suctioning blood and saliva from people's mouths. The only part of being a dental assistant that I am not fond of is the quickness with which you have to prepare the surgery for the next patient. You literally have 3 minutes to wipe down everything, breakdown instruments and take them to be sterilized, set up tray and instruments for the next patient and be back to welcome the patient and get them ready. Fun...but nerve wracking.

I also learned of a radio commercial that says 'Jared's back! Jared's back!' and advertises Jared's dental services. Pretty awesome.

The night before, we received confirmation that our shipment would be here. We had to pick it up and have it back to the house by 2:30 so that it could be inspected by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) Biosecurity agent. I had planned on getting Ian's Jimny and trailer to go get the stuff in the morning and have time to unload it at the house before the MAF agent came.

When I had to go in to assist last minute, that complicated things.

At one o'clock, Jared left with the trailer to go pick up our stuff from the carriers while I finished up my last patient. I must acknowledge that at 12:51 it started pouring the rain. Jared met me in the parking lot and we transferred the stuff to the Jimny. Due to the size of the trailer, we were only able to get one pallet at a time.

I had exactly ONE hour to drive home and unload the pallet (in the rain), break the pallet down in order to get it out of the trailer, unhitch the trailer and back the car to it, find my way to the carriers, load the remaining part of the shipment and get it inside...in torrential rains.

I did it in 45 minutes. because I freaked out and went into speedy gonzales mode.

A funny side note, I backed the trailer into the street and got down on the ground to hook up the lights and chain...and...the garbage people came to pick up the trash. Which I was parked directly in front of and not to mention, I was laying on the ground...in the rain. Those people are going to hate me after all of the things that I have put them through. :)

I got everything in without it becoming totally drenched and took a break on the couch. As I was watching a Rachael Ray special about breast cancer and bawling my eyes out, a guy from church came by to drop something for Jared. So he saw my house was crazy messy, im sitting on the couch with my cat and tears were rolling down my face. haha. All I could do was laugh about it.

In about an hour after that, I had my TOMS from Christmas delivered; a visit and wedding present from some great friends; and the MAF agent came to inspect our stuff.

We had put all of our wooden items into one box so that we could declare them together and find them easily.

A few years ago my brother and sister-in-law brought me some wind chimes as a souvenir from Jamaica. I absolutely love them. I have had them in my classroom but I knew that I would want them here because the wind is always up so they would play some great music.

When the agent saw them, he said 'Oh no. no. those won't be allowed. Did you know bamboo is prohibited? Did you know straw is forbidden? Where did you get these?'

MY STRESS LEVEL RISING.

The next moment, in a stroke of luck...they had a sticker that said 'Made in Indonesia'. I don't know what it was about that but apparently that made everything okay because (after smelling the wood and) seeing the sticker, he said 'Oh. Nevermind, you are all good. Cheers.'

What a day.

It feels so good to finally have some familiar stuff. I sold most of what I didn't need so the things that we actually shipped are things that mean to most to us. It's exciting being able to display your favorite things. Even though 'stuff' is not the most important thing...it sure makes a difference when you are so far from everything you are used to.

I haven't mentioned this lately...but I am absolutely stoked to be here. I get a reality check every now and then and realize how immensely blessed I am.

I love my family and can't wait to have them in my house in the future! I am going to keep those wind chimes until forever!!

Cheers!

Sara.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8AshaJQTIk&context=C3a69907ADOEgsToPDskL0AS2Wyh3K0ugdddCSns3D

please watch this.

Clutch.

I have had no excuse for not catching you up on whats happening here in the good ole' New of Zealand!

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it as U S of A.

It's been a crazy week...it seems to stay that way these days.

Sunday, Jared and I went to the Square. We were walking to the Library to get our new cards (we are geeks) and noticed a big group of people playing the bagpipes. 

Right in the middle of the square. We went a spent a little time watching them and trying to figure out how in the world they play them. After that, we checked out a few books. One of mine was a cookbook and so while we ate lunch at the small cafe' inside of the Library, I found some awesome recipes and started our list of meals for the week. We went grocery shopping (with a car!!!!) so we could get the weeks worth of groceries in one go.

Monday, Gaye and I stayed at the house and fixed lunch for Rod and Kent after they went door knocking. It was surreal to me that I was the one hosting door knockers after their hard work. Surreal and kind of cool. All of these years, I had listened to Kent preach about the work in NZ and now I am doing my own little part. Soon, I will be knocking doors as well but the men need nourishment!

Jared found some lamb chops on special at the grocery so we had those for dinner monday night. Wow.

Tuesday it was extremely rainy. I had made plans to go into town and walk home but two miles in torrential rains didn't sound appealing that morning. I decided to stay in and get my house work done until it fined up later on in the week. We had apricot stuffed pork loin for dinner. It was delectable. I know you are probably getting tired of hearing what we eat...but that is a big thing for me here. It is so interesting and different. There are seriously LIVE MUSSELS at the grocery store...

                                     and if I wanted, I could serve weird stuff like cuttlefish balls. 

So be thankful I am eating pork and fish and simple things. :) I realized the reason that I never wanted to cook is because I was so intimidated by those 'Julia Child' recipes...well girl...bring it on. I'll match you step for step. :)

 

Tuesday was also Valentine's Day and Jared had prepared a panna cotta for dessert that night after Bible study. He asked me to stir it and watch it until it boiled so he could go take care of something. I was watching it but I turned around for a second and then I heard...'SPLOOSH!' That joker had exploded onto the range. I salvaged what I could and it did actually come out quite lovely. We celebrated Valentine's Day with dessert while we watched the premiere episode of 'Walking Dead'. That is love. :)

Wednesday was apparently the day to get things done. We were supposed to paint the church building but the weather wasn't going to be great. Jared dropped me off at Capers. I sat and had a muffin and hot chocolate, listening to Adele and waiting on the radiologist to open at 8 am. I had to go to the radiologist so they could read my chest xray from the States for my work visa.

I went to the radiologist and dropped that paperwork off and headed to find someone to tame my mane. This hair had not been cut since the very end of December. It was going up in a pony tail every chance I got because it was being so unruly! I found an awesome places that charges you to breathe apparently. She trimmed my hair and stole 60 bucks from me. Unfortunately here, that is quite a good deal I hear.

I got a call while I was being robbed for my hair, that my xray wasn't readable because it was done on a portable xray machine. I had to go in and have another xray done later that day. My only reason to stay in town was to take the paperwork to the immigration office. Now, it wouldn't be done until after the office closed so I headed home.

Thursday I woke up feeling poorly after not getting good sleep for the third night in a row. I had Jared drop me off downtown because I had to pick up those results. I actually did accomplish my work visa that day! After having breakfast at Cafe' Cuba, I started to feel even worse and couldn't wait to start my two mile journey home...but they needed some time to check my visa paperwork. While waiting for them to approve my paperwork, I found a furniture store that will be a dangerous place to go. 

 

love.

 

 They even let you borrow items and try them out in your home. It is extremely expensive so I don't think I will be going there. I had to wait for a long time so I went to Uncle Bills. It is a wholesale store that I am expecting to be my friend.

I found a set of 3 lanterns and snatched them up for 9.98 on sale. Then I realized I had to carry them home. :)

I ended up purchasing a shopping bag cart that I can use for groceries and everything when I am walking. More about the humor of that later. I felt so rotten by the time I got home that I laid down. When Jared got home, I fixed a roast chicken salad and went back to bed.

Friday, Jared dropped me off at the market with my new troller, which he refers to as my old woman bag. What he doesn't know is that my next purchase may be one of these...

When I got home, I did the laundry and mowed the lawn. I got to Skype with MG, my parents and Sheridan, Ethan and Jody. It was much needed catch up time. I walked back downtown that afternoon to meet a friend for a 'cuppa and a catch up' as they call it. After that, I walked to Jared's office so I could assist him in more dental work for his parents. The procedure took a while as expected and so we went out for Thai afterwords so we didn't have to wait on me to cook.

Saturday Gaye and I worked in the gardens while the boys worked on their lessons and in the garage. I made a pinterest recipe for dinner and a coca cola cake for a get together on Sunday.

I also conquered one of my greatest fears. Learning to drive a manual vehicle.

Rod took me out and showed me how. I asked a million questions and stalled the vehicle once before I got it going. I am nowhere near ready to navigate round a bouts and such but at least it is a start. That clutch, gear, accelerator, handbrake thing makes me want an automatic car even more!

Today was a glorious Sunday. Jared conveyed a passionate lesson on 2 Thessalonians 1 and the need to live worthy lives. I was so proud. Helping in class was fun too as we taught about Jesus in the Temple. We went to the Paki's for a BBQ following the baptism of one of our own in their swimming pool. It is such a big event and I like celebrating it the way that we did.

I have a few blog posts rolling around in my brain, I just want to get them right before I send them into cyberspace. I hope that all is well with all of you. Miss you dearly and love you all mighty much!

Rach

Rockband...

Thursday I had a few appointments and had to get going early. I rode with Jared to work and made some copies so that I would have everything that I needed for the Justice of the Peace later that day. I walked to get groceries and then walked home. I have been cooking a lot lately. Really healthy, really tasty stuff. (If I do say so myself). I have never had any confidence cooking healthy food because my famous recipes include cracker coated chicken and a melted stick of butter= heart attack at an early age. I guess I thought that if food didn't taste like that, then it wasn't good cooking.

Well boy have I been wrong. In the past two weeks, I have made Greek food, Indian Food, lots of good chicken and vegetables, and of course we had Chinese on our date night which I will spill about later. I have really enjoyed cooking a lot and I am slowly implanting recipes into my head. I think having a dishwasher helps.

I walked home with groceries for the weekend (things go bad here quickly so you have to buy frequently). I had to be back up the road at 9 a.m. and left the store at 8:30. That meant I had 30 minutes to make a 40 minute walk and put the groceries away. DONE.

I met with a Justice of the Peace, which is the same as a notary public in the States. She invited me into her home and was a really lovely woman. We look forward to working in the community with her in the future.

When Jared got home, we went out for date night. I had told him that I always wanted to get Chinese in a box and eat it with chopsticks. I don't think I have ever done that. Sad, I know. We walked down to the square and found a place amidst the stone sculptures to eat. A passerby started to laugh as I played rockband air drums with my chopsticks. Had she not laughed, I would have had no idea that anyone but Jared saw me. :) I in turn, died in laughter because I was so embarrassed.

We walked across the square to the cafe Chokolato. They have awesome gelato and hot chocolate. They have a Hot Belgian Chocolate that is apparently out of this world. Anyone who visits is going to have to endure this tiki tour to Chokolato. Jared and I scored some gelato and headed back to beat the parking meter. I had Bigne and Cream and a scoop of Jam Donut flavors. I don't think I would get the Jam Donut again, too cinnamony. lol. Thursday night is late shop night which means that the mall at the Plaza stays open past 6...scandalous. We walked through the Plaza and didn't buy a thing! good for us.

Friday, we had the TV guy come and set up our free view box. We hadn't been able to figure out how to set up the satellite and he did it in a matter of 10 minutes. I had to be at Jared's office by 5 because I was going to be the official assistant for his dental work on his mom and dad. They are staying with us this weekend. We all laughed a lot (luckily). I kept accidentally sucking Rod's cheek into the suction device and trying not to gag him at the same time!Want to feel vulnerable? Try performing dental arts on your in-laws.

I do enjoy the process though. Jared is such a calm and patient dentist. I don't know if I have mentioned before the fact that I love him. Just saying. It makes me so glad to see him working with people the way he does, even when they aren't family. I enjoy helping and learning things that will enable me to assist Jared in the dental mission field.

Dental pains weren't enough to scare them away so to put me to the test I guess, I cooked for my in-laws last night. We had honey bbq chicken, corn on the cob, potatoes, and steamed broccoli. For dinner, I made Apricot Nectar Cake (from scratch) and served it with a choice of apricot or orange glaze sauce and hot tea. It was a hit. Maybe I can do this domestic thing after all. (or maybe it is because they were still numb from the mouth work).

Gizmo is the family cat and last night was his first night in his new home. You heard me...he's moving in. Once he gets us trained, I think he will be okay. He likes to sleep on the bed which I am not a fan of and honestly, Jared got frustrated with him because he tries to sleep on your face. We'll see how this works out.

This morning while the boys went for their respective runs, Gaye and I walked up to the supermarket and got things for dinner tonight. We are going to a small cafe down the road for lunch. The men went to a meeting at the church building, so we are just waiting on them to get back. My neighbor and her two kids came over this morning to say hi. It is good to know that there are such friendly people in the neighborhood.

Who knows what tonight holds but I am sure it will be fun! I hope that you are all doing well! Much Love!

Waitangi Day Weekend

What a weekend!

So much fun stuff and I feel like I have a little bit of energy to start this week off right! I got up and Jared dropped me at the grocery store on his way to work. I walked home and got to see all of the school children in their uniforms walking to Hokowhitu School and St. James School. It was really neat to see all of the parents that walk their kids to school. The moms were dressed in their exercise clothes and trying to look all cute even though you know they went home and went back to bed. :) Okay...that's just what I would do.

My favorite part of the walk home from the grocery store is when I pass the Hokowhitu Lawn Bowling Club. There are enormous hedges that give it a 'secret gareden' kind of feel. When you pass by, you can hear conversations and hear them playing but only when you peek through the gate, can you see them. There are proper older men dressed in all white with their sun hats and everything, having cups of tea and lawn bowling. posh.

By the time I got home, I ate breakfast, did laundry and skyped with mom and dad and thought I would write down everything that happened this weekend before I forgot it!

Saturday we left early and met our friends Carl and Adeline in Marton. We headed to Taupo and got there around lunch time. Two things you must know about me and road trips...1) I get sick if it is curvy. 2) I can sleep through anything.

This will explain how I slept through the curves and had a successful extremely curvy ride.

They kept laughing because we would all be in conversation and then I would be asleep. It happens :) I would rather do that than get sick all over them.

We got to Taupo and went to see the house Adeline had booked for us. It was such a neat house and was perfect for the four of us.

As we were investigating the house (which happened to be up for sale), a car parked at the end of the driveway and sat there looking. We thought maybe we knew them but when we went out, they were just looking at the house. We let them inside to see it and while we were talking to them, they asked if we were in town for the music. They told us that the Doobie Brothers and Little River Band were in town for a concert. We didn't go but it seemed like everyone else in town did. The town was extremely busy with concert guests, vacationers and people who had come into town for the triathlon that was being held around the lake.

We had lunch at a small Turkish cafe that had kebabs. I tried Baklava...which was on my bucketlist to do in Greece...but Taupo will do nicely. After lunch, we went to book our cave tour for the next day and then went to Art in the Park. There were many local artist who had come to sell their creations. I tried to convince Jared to buy a huge metal anglerfish to go over our fireplace but for some reason, he didn't like that idea. lol. It's a good thing that I was joking!

After Art in the Park, we had decided to go to Huka Falls. It is where the water flows out of Lake Taupo and into a river. The President, the Queen and celebrities stay at Huka Lodge when they come to this area of New Zealand. It is a beautiful area and I can see why they would stay at the lodge because security is tight! Not that we tried to get through the gates or anything ;)

Huka Falls is beautiful in pictures, but it is even more breathtaking when you are there.

The picture speaks for itself on this one.

Following Huka Falls, we went to Lava Glass. It is a gallery where you can go in a watch them make blown glass. I really enjoyed the experience. I never knew how hard it was to make blown glass goblets...but now I do. There were two glass blowers. One has been working 16 years and his co worker is a girl from Sweden who has been working for Murano in Venice, Italy for the past 3 years. They didn't wear gloves or anything...which made me a little nervous.

 This is a picture of her adding glass the already made bowl so that he can create a stem for his wine glass.

They are making an embryo...which has many different colors of glass within that shows on the surface when cut. They rub the glass with old yellowbook pages. It keeps him from getting burned but he can rotate the glass without the carbon coming off onto it. The new yellow pages don't have enough ink and newspaper is too thin.

We went to the grocery store to get something for dinner and then after that was put away, we went to take a swim in the lake. It was FREEZING. I don't know who had this idea but some crazy American decided that it would be fun to challenge her husband to a race. The end idea being that she would stop at the shore and he would continue into the freezing water. Unfortunately, this ill thought out plan led to her being thrown in and coming out in a block of ice. You guessed it...I am the crazy American.

Because Lake Taupo is a volcanic lake, there are places where you can dig into the sand and find hot water. Further down the beach, we found a thermal spring and warmed up a bit.

After drying off and having  dinner, we decided to go for a walk down by the lake. Some one had been messing with the 'DANGER' signs near the cliffs overlooking the lake. I found them quite funny.

 

I guess it's all fun and games until someone gets angry and dances off a cliff.

Since there isn't a congregation in Taupo, we held our own worship on Sunday. That morning, we got up and drove two hours to Waitomo. We visited 3 different caves which were all really neat. The pictures from the visitors centre and inside the caves are from my phone but the ones of the glow worms are from the internet.

 

 Visitor's Centre

 Aranui Cave

 Ruakuri Cave

 Waitomo Glow Worm Cave

These are the sticky fishing lines that the glow worms put out to catch their prey. They only live over rushing water so insects are plentiful.

Monday, we headed home even though we could have stayed a lot longer. Carl and Adeline came to see the house and then we all headed over to Kent and Rachael O'Donnell's for a potluck barbeque. It was so great to end the holiday spending time with friends. I am so thankful to the Lord above for my friends in America and my kiwi friends. He has blessed me more abundantly than I could ever imagine. I have gotten a little sad over the past few days thinking about all of the people in the States that I miss. It is so awesome that God knows that and takes opportunity to show me my family and friends here and how amazing they are. God is good all the time! All the time God is good!

Have a great week!

Pictorials.

It is time.

For me to get my act together and upload pictures.

Give me credit though, I don't know how the bandwidth restrictions work so I am nervous about over doing it.

If you want to see pictures of the trip from the States to here...check my facebook page. and if you aren't my friend...hook that up :)

Let's start at the beginning.

I think it is pretty cool that one of the keys to my house looks like this. It would be cooler if I knew what it was supposed to unlock :)

This is a picture from our walk on the Kahuterawa track. I mentioned it here

Okay! Pictures of the house! These are pre furniture and I am going to have to get things all dolled up before I take after pictures. You can see them in about 6 years. jk.

 The living room. Love the shelves. They are beautiful and perplexing at the same time.

 Other side of the living room.

 Dining area. Don't you just LOVE the pink curtains? (easily changeable)

 view from the dining room into the kitchen.

 Kitchen. We have a dishwasher! Good thing I don't have to hang those things out to dry!

 This is a quote down by the wharf in Wellington. Read about my adventures!

 Occupy Welly camp site. They were nice to me although I heard on the news the next day that some of them were in trouble.

Yesterday, Jared and I had decided that it was going to be date night and that we were going to go see Chronicle. We like movies in case you haven't picked that up. :) After the movie, (which I recommend) Jared asked if I wanted to go for a drive. We picked up a hot chocolate and took a nice drive. He had a specific place that he wanted to take me and I sure am glad that he did. He took me to Pahiatua Track. After all the windy roads and terrifically fun corners, we made it to the top.

It is a road that goes over the mountains apparently. There were lots of sheep and deer (farms) along the way. Because Palmy is so windy, the city has installed wind mills up on the side of the hills. It is really cool driving by as they do their synchronized dance.

This was what we saw when Jared pulled up to his destination.

It was cold and windy but that didn't take away from the vast beauty of being able to see for miles.

We are leaving for Taupo in the morning so there will be good pictures to come hopefully. It makes me happy that people read my blog and I really appreciate it. I also appreciate the laughter that I have gotten from the blow dryer escapade.

I got to skype with my best friend today. It is crazy to watch her kids grow over the computer...I am sure it will only get weirder. I love being here even though I do miss home. This is where my heart has wanted to be for a long time. The church here amazes me. They are so helpful, loving and honest. I am going to begin helping teach a class on Sunday mornings and I am excited about that. God id good...life is good  and life is only good because God is good.

Something  I have needed to work on for a long time is taking the time out of crazy busyness to praise God and study. Any suggestions on how people accomplish that would be welcome.

I have a study book that I am working through right now and that is helping. What do you do that helps you walk closer with God?

Have a great day!

Clotheslined.

I used to think of clothes lines much differently than I do now.

When people talked about hanging clothes on the line, I pictured long johns draped on lines hanging between two city apartment buildings. 

I thought people used that when they didn't like dryers or didn't have enough money to get one. I am the type that if I don't want to fold something, around in the dryer it goes again. Even better than that...I used to do laundry whenever I felt like it. There was no planning involved, no back up plan or anything of the sort.

Clothes got washed and clothes got dried. Nothing got ironed. Ever.

When I got to New Zealand, I was eager to test out this hang your clothes out idea. I wanted to see if they smelled like the sunshine. I didn't know sunshine had a smell...but I had heard rumors. :)

My first few experiences went rather well and to tell you the truth besides coming to the conclusion that everyone hangs their undies on the line...its worked out just fine.

The funniest of the experiences came when I put Jared's jeans in early in the afternoon and then went somewhere. By the time I got back, the sun was down. AH!!! Luckily, we have an inside drying rack but I was hoping and praying that they dried out overnight. Jared had to have them for work the next day. All night, (literally) I tossed and turned trying to figure out why I didn't take into account that I don't have a dryer! Why didn't I hang them out!?

So the next morning as Jared is getting ready for work, I go into the laundry room and his pants are...

almost dry. The pockets and the waistband are comparatively dripping. You know how that goes.

Apparently in a moment of genius, I decide to grab the blow dryer and go to town on these pants. I just knew that I was going to catch them on fire. I kept sticking the blow dryer in the pockets, praying and wishing that the waistband would eventually dry out. Even though it seems like it went on forever, 10 minutes later...Jared was wearing those jeans out the door. I apologized for my clotheline ineptness but all he said was 'it must be weird for you, but you are doing great.' Isn't he amazing?

Here he walks in to this American trying to be domestic and she has her hair dryer on full blast in the back pocket!! I must have been a sight to behold. By the way, the above picture is what I dreamed my clothesline would look like...and the following one is what it actually looks like.

I like mine better though. 

1) Because it is mine.

2) because it is in New Zealand.

3) It didn't kill me when I walked into it earlier today...hence the name of the post.

peace!