Christmas and New Year

It seems ages since Christmas now but I finally feel like sitting at the computer and writing something for the blog. The camera has hardly been out of its bag since we got home from England and I really got out of the habit of blogging regularly (as you will have noticed!)

On 17 Dec Lionel heard that he had come a 'close second' for a job (thanks, but that means he still doesn't have a job) so after that disappointment we packed our bags and headed south for a couple of weeks. We really wanted to see our good friends (Dean, Tania, Amelia & Sam) in Cromwell before they move across the ditch to Queensland, so we took the opportunity of spending five glorious days with them. It really was great just to spend time with good friends - talking, eating and helping them get sorted and packed.

We also took the opportunity of being in Cromwell to have a look at our house, meet the tenants and plan for some maintenance. We are delighted to have great tenants in our house and are a little sad at the thought we may have to sell this property to buy in Christchurch...at least we have that option!

Christmas Day was spent at the farm with Mum & Dad, Sarah and the Comerfords (Gray, Julie & family came at tea time). It was a very relaxed day with lots of cold meat and salads, and of course pudding! Josh was very pleased that Granny made a pavlova as that is something he really missed last year! We loved being able to spend this day with family and friends - it just wasn't the same having Christmas Day by ourselves last year! We also enjoyed having Christmas in the summer (although the white Christmas in Basingstoke this year would have been pretty cool - it was just cold when we were there!)

We had a great few days at the farm and Rebecca spent lots of time with her cousins. They even spent a night in a hut that Dad has up in the middle of the farm - they organised their own food and entertainment and had a great night up there together.

It was a very social time while we were in Southland and it was great to be able to catch up with so many good friends. We had a couple of days at Mum & Dad's crib (holiday house) in Riverton and we loved being at the seaside again. Rebecca & Josh had a lot of fun in the water, climbing rocks, picking mussels off the rocks (not that they enjoyed eating them, but Debra & I did) and playing beach cricket.
Josh & Michael trying to decide if they will eat the mussels!

New Years Eve saw us driving up to Queenstown to stay with the Freeborn family for a couple of nights. On New Years Eve we went out for a Chinese meal with some friends (well the adults did, we left the kids at home...) and then went down to the waterfront to watch the fireworks before heading back to the house. I am not really a big New Years Eve person and would be just as happy celebrating the new year at 11pm while camping with friends in the middle of nowhere, but it is the 'with friends' bit which is important to me and we had fun in Queenstown!

We finally drove back to Christchurch on January 4th and felt like we were coming home! We know that this is where God wants us at the moment and although it is tough while we are out of work we are feeling positive. We have made the decision to make Hornby Presbyterian Community Church our church family and are looking forward to being a part of that in 2010.

I am beginning to feel excited about 2010 and all the challenges and joys it has in store, and we look forward to sharing the year with many friends!

A 12 year old in the house

It hardly seems 12 years since I was in Southland Hospital with this little (well not so little) bundle of joy. One of Josh's great delights of the past year is that he is no longer the shortest in the family - yes, I hold that honour and will for the rest of my life! So much has happened for Josh in the time since he took Adam & Isaac to the Aquadrome in Basingstoke for his 11th birthday and it feels like last week...

This year Josh took a school friend, Taylor, to QE 2 pool and they had heaps of fun on the water slides, in the rapids and in the wave pool. Of course they were hungry after all that water and so it was off to McDonalds to re-energise.

Josh is still into his lego and Star Wars and so he was delighted to receive a new lego kit which we had bought in England and shipped back. He also loves his cricket and so a new cricket hat from Rebecca was gratefully received.

Only 3 weeks left of school before we head into the Summer holidays and so we are looking forward to that and a trip south for Christmas.

On the job front...Lionel is still applying for jobs and has been encouraged this week by some positive responses, now they just need to turn into a job!

I have had some relieving and have applied for some part-time teaching for next year so we will see what happens with that.

Life goes on...

Some people have asked if I am going to continue with my blog...I will everyone now and again but I don't know that you will find everyday life very exciting to read about! I doubt you want to read about the fact that Rebecca & Josh went to school (and of course did 'nothing') or that Lionel went to work (that is spoken in faith as he doesn't have a job yet) and the fact that I did 2 loads of washing, luxed the floor and cleaned the toilet isn't that exciting!

Of course we are loving being in a house where we can spread out - the kids have their own bedrooms and they are enjoying having some of their own stuff around. Josh has lego all over his floor and Rebecca... (well it is hard to see her floor).
Josh is playing cricket for the local Springston team and is loving that - he won 'Fielder of the Day' last week and he & Lionel often go down to the domain for some practice at the cricket nets in the evenings. Josh is off to the Zone Sports today - he got through for shot put, 100metres and is in the relay team.
Rebecca has decided not to swim this term but is keen to play water polo next year. She is staying at a friend's place on Saturday night and going to the local fire works display. There are always girls on the phone, on the computer or at the door wanting to talk to her so my very social daughter is settling in well!

The washing machine has just beeped at me so I must go and hang out my first load of the day in the glorious Canterbury sunshine!

A house and a school!

We finally found a house we really liked and our application to rent it was accepted...so we move in at Labour weekend (25 October). We will be out in Springston which is a rural community about 10 minutes south of Christchurch so we are really looking forward to moving in there. It has 3 large bedrooms, so there are definately options for visitors, and a lovely living area with a multi-fuel burner which will be great in the winter. The living area opens out onto the deck and back yard - just right for the BBQ season!

Rebecca & Josh have their first day at Springston School today - a bit of a shock after nearly 3 months on holiday! Rebecca will finish the year there before going to Lincoln High School next year and Josh is in Year 7 so he will also be at Springston next year. There are about 180 students in the Year 0-8 school, 7 classrooms, large grounds and swimming pool. We got a very warm welcome and so I think the kids will do well there. Rebecca isn't looking forward to the fact that they have athletics next week (but at least it will be over with and then they start swimming).

Lionel is still job hunting but plenty of jobs advertised and he is starting to get some response so life is good! Lionel & I are just going out for coffee so catch you later!
Email me for address and phone numbers!

A week at the farm

It was still school holidays here and Lionel didn't have any interviews lined up so last week we headed down to the farm for a few days.
It was great to dig some of our old clothes out of the container and get into the gumboots (for those of you in the UK that is wellies!) Mum had lots of food for us and we really enjoyed a roast meal on our first night home - meat straight from the farm! Rebecca & Josh also spent lots of time in the kitchen with mum baking chocolate chip biscuits, ANZAC biscuits and lots of other goodies.
We caught up with some of our Dipton friends, but the time was short and so we will see everyone else when we are down at Christmas time. It was great to see my brother and his family - they moved into our house when we left and it was interesting to see all the changes they have made to the house. The kids think the addition of a spa pool was the best thing they have done!
The first morning Lionel & Rebecca went out with Dad and had a drive around the farm checking the sheep and looking at all the changes involved in the dairy conversion - Lionel was sorry to see many of the fences that he had spent hours putting up have now gone...but he has moved on! Rebecca really enjoyed seeing all the lambs out in the paddocks. Josh & I also went out with Dad and Josh had some special time with Granddad learning how to use the rifle. That night we went out rabbit shooting and Josh shot his first rabbit (life on the farm with an 11 year old boy).
It was a great few days in the country air!

It is two weeks since we left the UK and it has been flat out.
We spent a week in a self contained unit out at Lincoln (Lincoln Views) and that was fantastic. It was great to have a bit more space to ourselves and we were able to unpack some of our suitcases! We really enjoyed the wide open spaces and if we looked out one window we could see the Southern Alps, out the other side was the Port Hills! We had a huge lawn which Josh loved running around and we were surrounded by paddocks (we really are country kids at heart).
While at Lincoln Views we had hoped to organise rental accommodation to move into but it hasn't been quite that easy....we have looked at 3 or 4 houses and the two that were suitable (and the right price) we missed out on! We are still waiting to hear back about one more - so keep praying!
We had a rental car for a week (I can't remember if I have mentioned it) and we enjoyed the luxury and power of the Ford Falcon XR6, however we are now back to reality. We bought a little Toyota Corolla which will be our town run around and it is doing the job well.
Lionel's job hunting is going well, but slowly! He has applied for a few jobs and now it is just the waiting game.
We are currently house sitting for friends who are down south for the school holidays and it is great to be in a real house! Thanks James & Jo it is a real blessing to be here!
We are all well and settling back into life in NZ - enjoying the food (but not the prices) and good coffee where ever we go! I can't wait to take you out for coffee Monica!

The Long Flight Home

Thanks Monica for taking us to the airport...it made life much easier and it was good to spend those last few hours together!
We were at the airport early and so check-in was really easy because there were very few other passengers around, although the ones in front of us were re-packing their bags so that they weren't overweight. That was a bit nerve-wracking as we hadn't weighed our bags and so weren't sure how close to the limit we were....our limit was 120kg - we weighed in at 121kg!!!How is that for good packing?

Our Emirates flight left Heathrow at 8.40pm and for the next 30 hours all we did was eat, watch movies, get on and off planes and sleep (actually not too much sleep!) From Heathrow we flew 6 1/2 hours to Dubai where we had 2 hours in the airport, then we flew 5 1/2 hours to Bangkok where we had an hour in the airport before flying 11 hours (I think) to Sydney, where we had another hour in the airport before flying to Christchurch where we landed half an hour ahead of schedule at 1.45pm.

After spending about 2 hours getting through customs and MAF (yes, we did have to unpack the tents) it was good to see Annie waiting for us. It then took ages to get the rental car sorted out, but they upgraded us to a Ford Falcon XR6 - a big car, but not enough boot space! Thanks for taking our extra bags Annie! Lionel & the kids were a bit worried about me driving the XR6 - when I took off from the lights and round-abouts my foot was a bit heavy on the gas and we were thrown back in our seats and it felt like an aeroplane taking off!!! Just as well the car goes back before I get out onto the open road.

We spent the weekend with our friends Dean, Tania & Amelia Comerford (Sam stayed in Cromwell) and it was really good to have our first weekend back in NZ with them. We did lots of talking and lots of eating and they helped to keep us up until a respectable hour in the evening. Lionel also enjoyed watching the All Blacks beat Australia (on TV) on Saturday night - a good welcome home for him.

We have been tired, but not completely out of sync with the New Zealand time zone so that has been good. Daylight saving starts this weekend so we will have to put our clocks forward an hour and adjust again!