Retreat to Mt Hutt

Matt and Rachel are friends with people who run a retreat in Methven. They invited us to spend a night with them there, so yesterday after lunch (and after Nick got in as much prep as possible in the morning) we piled into Carl and Miriam's graciously loaned 8-seater, and Matt drove us the 1 1/2 hours to the venue. It is settled in the foothills of Mt Hutt and extremely pictureseque. We had an awesome 24 hours of fellowship and activity ranging from abseiling, archery and the "Flying Fox" to watching a movie and reading quietly. Our hosts, Steve and Monique and their children Megan, Moriah and Blake, were excellent to get to know and we enjoyed the time spent with them as well as the Camerons. All the boys, including little Blake, did superbly with the abseiling. This was a first for Caleb and Aaron who sailed over the edge with no worries. Aaron made us nervous with his totally relaxed approach to the edge, in fact! The archery was also great and the boys loved using a REAL bow and arrow. Turns out their mom was a pretty good shot. After some target practice we let fly with some distance shooting into the field. I think Nick was the winner at that!

Reds, blues and greens

The day started out with sun but after breakfast a huge fog rolled in and we could barely see where we were going on our short drive to church. By the time the morning service was over though the sun was out again and it turned into a gloriously sunny and warm day. Nick preached a rousing sermon on the Great Commission - very challenging and convicting. Came home and made toasties on our George which we took to Centennial Park, along with the boys' bikes. The Camerons had popped on at our place while we were making lunch to collect Josh's bible, so we suggested they bring their take-aways to the park as well for a quick meet-up. I am loving the autumn colours appearing in concentration now - we did not have these seasonal changes on the island!

The afternoon service was again very challenging on Haggai 1 and the rebuilding of the temple, with the application of 'seek first the kingdom of God'.

First southern excursion

Did garage sale shopping for about an hour but apart from picking up a George Foreman lean mean grilling machine which Nick is thrilled about, they were pretty hopeless - some days are like that, but other times you can pick up really great (and usually for us, necessary) stuff. We had a cut off time though as we needed to drive through to Oamaru, an hour south, to collect a desk I bought off TradeMe. Once again we marveled at the beautiful surrounds and thank God for placing us right here. Treated the boys to Mcdonalds for lunch, then stopped in at the most amazing curio shop on the way home. I was kicking myself for not having taken the camera - it didn't occur to me that we would be going directly to Oamaru after the garage sales. The curio/gift shop and restaurant was absolutely laden with pretty, unusual, interesting, useful or bizarre homewares and gifts. The boys bought gloves. This delayed our journey a bit though and by the time we got home the Camerons were already in full swing with garden work and I noticed that some other fairies, who didn't want to own up to the deed, had already been busy during the morning in our absence with trimming of roses. Shirley and Miriam also came in the afternoon to add their expertise and hands to the garden party while Matt and Nick fixed the front step, adding an extra stair so we would have no more tripping incidents. Great job, guys!

Pedal away

Aaron finally had success with his garage-sale bicycle and can now ride very ably up and down the cycle strip on our streets. All the streets seem to be well geared at cyclists, with lanes specially demarkated in most areas. Apparently (and sensibly) it's quite illegal to ride without a helmet so that will need attending to post haste.

Joined up with Carl and Miriam and the boys at Matt and Rachel's place for tea and a roaring fire...a great evening.

Getting acquainted with NZ germs

Felt grotty and didn't do very much at all today, although before realizing that I was actually sick and not just very cold and shivery, I did manage to make tomato soup, plant out some strawberry plants, and hang up a load of washing. Generally I have been 'poorly' with one thing or another since arriving here - I think it's just taking time to build up a new set of antibodies to deal with the unfamiliar NZ germs. Not looking for a sympathy vote though - I'm cheerfully plodding through! And as requested, here are some decor pics - the chair (for you Jax) and the shells in the bathroom:

Here, there and everywhere

Spent a long time in the kitchen this morning chopping veggies and blending tomatoes to make a slow-cooked corned beef meal, and tomato soup. The soup never actually got made during the day but the tomatoes are in the pot, ready for tomorrow. I finished in the kitchen just in time to get to the church for a coffee morning at which Nick did a St Helena presentation to the ladies and gentlemen who regularly attend. It's an outreach sort of morning where various topics of interest are covered. We showed photos from the island and there were several questions afterward from the folk, several of whom had no knowledge of the island (much like us prior to our departure 4 1/2 years ago). Nick stayed on at the church to continue with prep while I took the boys to the Warehouse, where I splashed out on some crafty goodies (it's been so long since I've handled my own stuff and I do miss the feel and smell of the papers and things!) - bought a little bag of tags and a pack of 12x12" papers, although the papers were justified as a legitimate purchase since they went towards bathroom decor. Had just arrived home when it was time to go out again with the Camerons to the kitchen place who are doing a quote for our remodelling. It was educational to browse around their sample kitchens full of gadgetry and clever cupboards - even the boys enjoyed seeing what things did!

Home again at about 3 pm and finally had time to hang up washing - it was a beautifully sunny day (after a few grey days - what a relief) and I was sorry not to be taking better advantage of the sunlight! Matt and Rachel stayed just briefly, just long enough for the boys to play a bit. When Nick arrived home we had a quick confab regarding the bathroom and then rushed out to the Scarborough beach to collect pieces of driftwood to cover a window which has modesty issues. It's slowly coming together!

Boys away, Mom will play

Matt phoned early this morning to ask what the boys were doing, and if he could take them to Temuka with him and Caleb to sell sheep. What a treat for their first un-Easter day of holidays. They were gone for a large chunk of the day, leaving me free to go out looking for some things for the house. I at last found a curtaining/upholstery shop where I bought a piece of fabric to cover the sleeper couch in my craft room, and some small remnants to recover the garage-sale chairs which the boys will use for school, which I duly did during the afternoon. Very constructive day in all!

Fairlie great

Nick officially took a day off today (that's rare for him, especially on a Monday as he likes to launch into his week with a bang) and we joined the Phillips' and Leevers' for the Fairlie Show; "held every Easter Monday in Fairlie the Mackenzie Highland Show is the largest one day Agricultural and Pastoral Show in Australasia" (and Fairlie really is as pretty as it sounds). It was so interesting to walk around and view the various animals on display for judging and the stalls selling clothing, food (nibblies, preserves, take-outs etc), tractors, carpets, crafts and so on. Caleb and Aaron both bought pocket knives which they were really excited about. Caleb wanted to help Jayden open his newly acquired tool too, so got out his knife and sliced through the packaging and Jayden's finger, necessitating a visit to the Fairlie Hospital for 6 stitches. Poor Jayden was so brave and there were no hard feelings from either him or his parents (oooh, don't we feel so bad when our kids hurt other kids, even accidentally!). Other than that and the bitter cold it was a really great day.

Above: Nick signing the huge soccer ball which will be shipped to SA for the World Cup - watch out for it!

Just look at the size of that thing - I've never seen such a large bull! And the llamas (below) were just darling.

Christ the Lord is risen

...He is risen indeed! Praise God for His power and love which raised Jesus from the dead, defeating death and releasing us from our prison of sin. What a privilege to have the full revelation of this event as the gospels lay it out for us, in completion from beginning to end, removing all confusion and doubt. We serve a great God! Our Easter services concluded today with Nick preaching two very interesting messages (morning and afternoon) on what Jesus did on Saturday, and Baptism and Salvation. We spent the afternoon quietly at home together as a family, and after the afternoon service joined Simon and Deborah Bruce at their home for pizza and chips, along with Deb's parents, Alfie and Elsie Orr (Alfie is one of the past pastors of MRBC), and the Camerons. Daylight saving ended today, and while it was great to wake up to daylight, the other side of the day got very dark very suddenly. We are unaccustomed to a 7.30 pm night time! And it doesn't end there...the days will rapidly get shorter as winter approaches.

At the docks

At the docks...ah, a familiar sort of phrase to be throwing around. After a busy day of garage sale shopping where we picked up a coal box and fire tools, bicycles for the boys, spare blankets, clothing and furniture, a hotdog lunch at our place with the Camerons in which Rachel taught me the art of the true Frankfurter Hotdog, and some Warehouse shopping in the afternoon...

...I simply didn't feel like cooking tea. On the island this would have just been tough luck and I would have had to make a plan anyway. Here, I convinced Nick (it didn't take much persuading) that we should pop out for KFC. Yeah!! I won't abuse the take-out-sympathy card too often but it's great to be able to play it when necessary. We took our meal-in-a-bucket to the docks at Caroline Bay, where we spotted some ships which brought a lump to my throat. There are parts of St Helena that I really miss, the ocean life being one of them. Took a walk dockside and found several people out fishing, enjoying the early evening sunshine. We were amazed to see these miniature sharks (Spotties) which were being pulled out in quick succession by some young boys - apparently these are the scavengers and rather ubiquitous. They were readily dehooked and cast back in. They don't have teeth but do come armed with vicious barbs under their fins. Carried on walking down a little strip of land (I wish I knew the proper nautical terms) which ended in a bit of a bird colony - horribly smelly but Nick and the boys had fun scaring the birds off the rocks where they flapped their way into the water and huddled there until their peace was established after our departure.

A good Friday

Nick and the boys walked to church again but I opted to drive. Again had a blessed service led by Grant who did the preaching (last night our other elder, John, brought the message). It was good to have Nick sitting as a semi-normal congregant. Grant invited everyone around to our place after the service for hot cross buns and tea - nice of him to open our home. We had a good crowd of perhaps 25 or so people and almost as many buns - an excellent whirlwind hour of chatting and making tea. The ladies in our fellowship are so great though, stepping into the kitchen to help out so there was no pressure on me. The men don't do a bad job either - Grant's dishwashing evened out the score!

Spent the rest of the day at the Camerons where Matt and Nick produced a bookshelf for our house out of MDF which Matt donated to the cause. Rachel and I were model wives in taking refreshments out to the hardworking chaps.

Rene and Bronwyn and the family joined us for tea and a musical evening where we met another muso, Mark - a friend of the Camerons with an array of musical instruments and talents.

The day leading up to Easter

I left Nick in charge of the boys and their schoolwork this morning to do my second "Bible in Schools" lesson. I taught through the Easter story and facts with my class, not being able to touch too deeply on the significance of the weekend - but satisfied that at least they know the reason for the holiday! Finished the rest of the boys' schoolwork with them, and we are now on holiday for a week or two after a short five-week term. After lunch Petru came to pick me up for a coffee date. She took me to a stunning little coffee shop in town where I enjoyed a flat white and excellent conversation. Later in the afternoon I went out by myself for some shopping, looking for a curtaining shop but getting completely sidetracked on a street which contained a scrapbook shop...having scrapped in isolation for so long it was sheer bliss to walk around the tiny shop with all its beautiful goodies, and all my favourite products too - K&Co and BasicGrey, and all manner of other papers and flowers and rub-ons and twirly bits. Awesome. Did some proper grocery shopping on the way home at PaknSave but it was soooooo busy - with shops being closed on Good Friday apparently people panic a bit and so all go the day before. One could barely navigate a trolley in the fresh produce section - and here I was reveling in the availability of onions, tomatoes, nectarines, grapes...... We had a Maundy Thursday service at the church in the evening - decided to walk to church which is a pleasant 12-15 minute walk, unless it's cold and windy in which case it is an unpleasant 10-minute fast walk. The service was good, followed by the Lord's Supper. We remember our blessing and privilege in coming to the Communion Table.