Freaky Friday

Had a most interesting day at school, quite unlike any other - our new principal, Bethany Rentoul, visited the school for the day along with one of her daughters who will be starting in the new term.  First impressions were favourable, from our side anyway - let's hope it was mutual!  The special occasion necessitated a large gathering for morning tea along with some delicious eats, and then another large gathering an hour later at lunch time.  Great to have the BoT with us for lunch as well - we certainly made a festive gathering even if the laughter was more from nervousness than actual jollification :) I did individual photos of all the staff during the lunch break as well - some were keen to let their hair down!  Scary Chairman of the Board...or ??

 

Mr Willers, below, has the boys' class one morning every week, in which they mostly do fun stuff like play music and learn how to gamble. (This pic was taken before everyone came in and just in case there are worried parents reading this blog, it WAS posed, and he doesn't REALLY teach gambling!) 

 Tea was fish'n'chips at Patiti Point.  It was really cold though so we didn't hang around for long. 

 

Upstaged by the bridesmaeds!

Back into the work week on Monday - felt really grotty at school so left at lunchtime and came home to sleep.  Some sort of mild flu or something I should think which developed into tiredness, a mild cough and a slightly runny nose, thankfully nothing more.  Thursday evening we had Graham and Liz around for a quick tea - they are in the process of shifting and a drop-in for the other half of a large cheese and macaroni was just the ticket.  I left them in Nick's capable company around 7 pm to get back to the school for Miss Carter's Hen's Party (Toni Carter is Caleb and Aaron's teacher - the boys think very highly of her - she's quite superb!).  Kere and Lisa, along with Janet, did an excellent job of the arranging of games and silliness, although they turned the spotlight on themselves so as not to embarrass Toni.  We laughed and laughed!  Amazing the drama talent that had been quietly hidden...

Fun to watch the ladies' reactions as they came through the door - Chrissy, Joy, Petru and Linda (all TCS staff) get their first glimpse of the maids-of-horror.

Toni - appropriately dolled up

Some ice-breakers and gettoknowyou stuff (apologies to Petru and Linda who trustingly took many squares of toilet paper and had to share many facts about themselves as a result :) )

Unlike St Helena, NZ has never seen a nation-wide toilet paper shortage, but if ever there were to be one it would have followed on after this evening's fun!

Ahem...intentionally awful!

How many Hughes?

Had the privilege today of luncheoning at the Moore's place between morning and afternoon services.  They've had houseguests for a week or so... a family of 10 from Wales!  8 children in all (so far).  It was lovely to meet the Hughes brood and we thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon of much laughter and excellent fellowship.

Them cauliflower ears

Nick was off early to Ashburton with Grant, to meet with the elders of the Grace Baptist Church in Christchurch - they try to have a regular meeting at a halfway point.  With our combined family camp coming up in October it was time to touch sides again!  Petru kindly drove Aaron to his ukulele lesson - normally he wouldn't mind missing a lesson but his teacher has given him the tablature version of Pink Panther to work on, which Nick has been helping him with - he couldn't wait to show her the progress, and he really is doing well with it.  I think the uke has finally clicked with him and now he's keen to improve.  Nick was home after lunch and we had a quiet afternoon together - a bit of grocery shopping, some reading, playing music etc.  And then off to Rugby Street for rugby!!  We gathered with a crowd of South Africans and the occasional kiwis to watch the SA vs Fiji game.  I was bored but found their shoes amusing and confusing - apparently rugby boots are not regulated by colour laws.  I did learn about cauliflower ears so it was an educational evening!

Josua Botha

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post - this week has been focused on our dear friends Andreas and Danielle whose baby boy was born prematurely on Tuesday, at only 18 weeks.  Josua struggled for life for a few hours before the Lord took him to be with Him - he is now safe in the hands of an infinitely loving and just God.  We grieve with Andreas and Danielle and have shed many tears together, along with the rest of our church body.  A graveside service was held on Friday afternoon in which Nick delivered a beautiful message of comfort and hope - "although we don't know the why, we know the Who".

Ec 3:1,2,4

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."

A small crowd of friends gathered at the Bothas after the service and I think there was just a little bit of healing that happened - I took great comfort in seeing Andreas and Danielle able to laugh.  There will still be many times of mourning, but to everything its season.

Bone Fire

Nick was off early with Andreas to chop wood and spent the whole day out, so the boys and I had to amuse ourselves in some way.  We met up with Danielle for a chai latte at Mitre 10's coffee shop, but I realized that I had left my eftpos card at home so any further shopping was postponed...went home, cleaned the house a bit, then went out again after lunch to the Warehouse (where everyone gets a bargain) - found Danielle and several bargains there.  I bought a small bookshelf for the lounge which needed some assembling, so did that when we got home again, vacuumed up all the bits of polystyrene which escaped from the box, and rearranged the lounge a bit.  All good.  Played the violin in the afternoon; the boys were outside enjoying the sunshine and mild weather.  At 5.15 Nick still wasn't home and it was time to head over to the Camerons for their annual Spring Bonfire - Nick met up with us there later on when the fire was well underway.  We debated the origins of the word 'bonfire' - Matt had a theory, I had another - both made up and both somewhat believable if you're super gullible. Actually, according to Wikipedia, the name 'bonfire' is believed to be derived from the Celtic custom of burning the bones of the cattle which were slaughtered at this time of year - a 'bone fire'.  There you go. 

Huge pile of rubbish to burn...any old bones chucked in there?

Ah, my young terrorist - balaclava and all!

Some of the Snook ladies - Jemima, my violin teacher, far right.

Bit of saturation and contrast there for you Matt!

Of course no bonfire is complete without marshmallows!  Caleb Cameron above trying not to get too close while Hannah, below, happily got herself as muddy as possible - good thing it was dark so she couldn't see what was actually on her fingers :)

Finding our place

The boys and I got home 'early' from school this afternoon - that is to say, we were home shortly after 4 pm!  It had been yet another balmy day and the sort of afternoon that makes you want to be doing something other than nothing.  Took us a while to make an actual game plan, but eventually went to McDonalds for tea, then down to Caroline Bay to enjoy the sunset.

 

 I love this one of Nick walking on the beach - it just struck me again how tiny we are in the universe, but God is so intimately involved with us! 

Islandish

A bit of an update on the weather...after an incredibly mild winter (aside from the snow), spring is well underway.  We're down to single layers of clothing or short-sleeves - I'm convinced that we were so much colder last year but perhaps (hopefully) we are acclimatising!  We've had days and days of sun, but a strange fog rolled in this evening.  As we sat eating tea at 5.30, we could see clouds blowing along the street outside - reminded us of sitting at our diningroom table at Piccolo in Longwood, St Helena, where we could see the fog rolling in across the grass!

 

Strange things

On Thursday we had Aaron back at school albeit with a bad cough still, and Caleb spent yet another day at home. He was a bit unsure about wanting to be back at school on Friday having missed so much work, and he did struggle a bit, but all was well. Saturday was another busy day with Nick doing a bit of helping in one direction, and me doing a bit of helping in another. All we had left together was the late afternoon and evening, but it was enough to go to the Warehouse (where everyone gets a bargain) to shop for Father's Day pressies for Nick. The boys and I chose some things while Nick meandered around on his own. Sunday mornings are a bit too tightly scheduled with Nick going over his sermon for us to celebrate, so we did the gift-giving on Saturday night instead. The boys thought Nick's antics hilarious of course!

Sunday was a lovely day with the monthly fellowship lunch between services - and we had Graham and Lizzie playing acoustic bass guitar and piano respectively, which along with Nick's and my guitar and mandolin made quite a jolly band!  We had had in mind to text the Camerons after church to pop on, but they beat us to the punch and brought pizzas and chips to our place after the evening service for tea.  It was most excellent to catch up with them - it's definitely been way too long in between!