Passo Passo

With the hail damage last month, we put in an insurance claim to get the guttering repaired, and clear roofing over the back 'carport' replaced.  We decided to leave our van and Caleb's car, but Aaron's car was worth getting assessed.  As expected, it was written off as so many cars are being - a repair is not economically viable for these lower value cars.  So, the hunt for a new car began.  We found this beauty on TradeMe, and drove up to Christchurch to collect it today.  Aaron drove it back all the way on his learners licence (with Nick supervising of course), and did superbly on his first little road trip.  Coincidentally, that's Caleb's Passo parked behind Aaron's new Passo...yup, the boys are now driving the same brand of vehicle!

Officially Kiwi Clevelys

Ten years and three months ago, Nick and I started the odious process of filling in the necessary paperwork which would allow us to touch down in Aotearoa and live temporarily on a work permit.  A few years after that there was more paperwork for the next work permit, and a few years after that we could apply for residence.  Now finally, we have reached highest pinnacle of belonging in New Zealand - we attended our citizenship ceremony today and swore our oaths of allegiance.  The mayor asked us which rugby team we would be supporting now.  Caleb, ever the quick-wit, said, "whichever team is winning"!  We are so thankful to the Lord for His gracious hand on us, and for our FriendsWhoAreFamily in NZ.

Goodness gracious, great balls of ice!

We've noticed that spring weather in Timaru can be pretty crazy.  We'll be sweating it out in shorts and t-shirts one day, then lighting a fire the next.  Today was a day of Much Excitement with the biggest hailstorm we've seen in Timaru EVER.  Sure we've seen a few bouts of hail over the last nine-and-a-half-almost-ten years we've been living here, but nothing like this.  No wonder the young kids at the school where I'm employed were scared - they've never seen anything like this in their lives!  In the aftermath we have a few broken gutters, half the leaves from our trees lying in the garden, and three pock-marked cars.  But others were far worse off - we've heard tell of broken windows, leaking roofs, and car dealerships whose entire fleet may need to be written off.

Second one with wheels

Congratulations to my 'baby' who bought his first set of wheels today!  Aaron has been diligently saving his burger-flipping and fries-cooking money, and was able to buy this Toyota Spacio entirely by himself.  The dealer was surprised when Aaron uncovered two extra seats in the boot - a little hidden feature which makes this into somewhat of a family van.  Safe travels, my boy!