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!

Art deco meets a friend

Before and after of these two unmatched pieces of furniture - mismatched becomes Miss Matched.

House renos

Nick and I have somewhat limited DIY skills, so when I say 'reno' I mean stuff like painting and...well, pretty much painting.  We loved the house when we first saw it at an open day in February this year, but shortly after moving in I realized that I really, really didn't like the heavy oxblood red which was the curtains and feature walls.  I replaced it with a fresh shade of Paradise, and gentler curtains.

("Mo-o-o-ommmm...what have you done??!!!!"  It's called being committed to painting the wall the next day!)

Grandma and Grandpa

I think you're going to be seeing a lot of upcycling projects coming up on the blog.  Before we moved I spent ages on Pinterest, looking longingly at all the ideas which I'd never thought to implement and getting impatient to start experimenting!  We bought these chairs shortly before shifting, and I made them my first project.  They went from this...

to this...

to this!

Moving North (actually South, but...)

After sixteen and a half years of marriage, Nick and I have finally bought a house.  We are thrilled!  The Lord has blessed us with the means (financially speaking) which we would not have thought possible.  We saw our new home for the first time in February, and it was the only one we walked into where we both said "wow".  It met all our criteria - most importantly, open plan living area.  So it's been a pretty crazy week, spending days at the hospital in between packing and getting ready.  Now, here we are - Moving Eve.
'Twas the the night before moving
And all through the house
Not a bedroom was tidy
Not even the kitchen
There were boxes and boxes
Taped and labelled all well
And there was chaos and clutter but lots of excitement.
And this poem doesn't rhyme
Microwave

Caleb, age 15

After the Easter weekend, the boys left for a fantastic week away at their Easter Reformed Baptist Youth Camp up on the North Island.  It's a pretty full-on five-day camp, packed with activities every day.  It was no wonder that the boys came home exhausted and, in Caleb's case, gaunt.  Or so we thought.  While Aaron bounced back to his cheerful and healthy self in a couple of days, Caleb spent the rest of the week in bed.  I suspected he had picked up a bug of sorts, although if I hadn't been desperately ignoring the other worrisome symptoms of what was to come, which had started prior to going away to camp, we might have gotten him to a doctor sooner.  Eventually Caleb was admitted to hospital early Sunday morning and diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. He was actually quite unwell with extremely high ketone levels.  Thankfully the excellent staff at the hospital knew what to do, so over a few days in hospital they returned his blood sugar to a reasonable level and gave us much instruction on living with diabetes.  He is managing very well so far with a steep learning curve into the world of carb counting, blood glucose testing and insulin injections. We give God thanks for His many mercies.

Easter '16

As another Easter rolls around, we look forward not only to reflecting on Jesus' sacrifice for us, in His death to pay our sin wages, but also to the Annual Easter At The Gregorys Non-Tenting Camping Event.  It's an epic weekend of church activities, friends, eating, playing games, crafting, socialising, blobbing...and did I mention that it's fun?

On the way

Bonus flying-fox ride...oh the fun you can have when you walk to bible study instead of driving!

TCS on a high

First day of...High School!  Aaron and Fred are in the brand-new pilot edition of Timaru Christian School's Year 9 class.  

ROYGBIV

And then other walking days are like this.  Both ends of the rainbow dipped into Caroline Bay's waters...stunning! A reminder of God's promises to us and His faithfulness.

A walk in the clouds

We are a week into our brand new daily walks...Nick is already a seasoned walker but I am at the bottom rung of fitness. Not going to let rain get in the way (much) (okay we did...took a way shorter route and couldn't get any speed what with trying to constantly rearrange a windswept and sodden rain poncho).  Well, the rain is a bit of a hindrance.  

Settle down

Last few days of holiday before the new school year begins.  Here we have Tim, Fred, Caleb and Aaron playing what I called "Settlers of Clevely Lounge"...

Back to Nelson

Since our first glamping holiday to Nelson over the end of 2014 and start of 2015, we looked forward to our next one all year.  At last the day arrived, and in a flurry of last-minute tidying and cramming All Our Stuff into the van, we were off. We had a marvellous two-week summer holiday doing a whole lot of nothing, a little bit of something, and eating all sorts of everything.

Kiwi Dani

I had the privilege today of accompanying Danielle to her NZ Citizenship ceremony.  All very interesting to observe, and a very solemn occasion.  Afterwards she and I got a photo of ourselves with the mayor - but just our feet, because...well, those shoes!

Terrific Teens

Happy 13th birthday to my baby! I am now the mother of two teenage boys...should I be worried?  We took two friends, John and Paul, to Inflatable World in Christchurch...fun and tiring. Coke floats to cool them down for the drive home.

Social Sunday

On a sunny Sunday afternoon between services - what a blessing to gather with our church family.  Locations vary week to week and the fellowship is oh so sweet!

Vintage with Viv

My second shoot with the marvellous Vivienne Laursen.  This was a collaboration of efforts - I made the dress and Viv made the hairpiece.  The photoshoot idea morphed from several conversations and a few independent ideas and bits of inspiration.