Miscelaneous

“God made you weird, you scream like a boy.” William said this to Mom last night. I have lived with Boys for a while now, so I have learned to make my scream less alarming. Instead of a high pitched scream, I have adopted this low, guttural type of scream. It has helped Leighton at least. I will let you know that I, GC, have locked myself into at least three restrooms since we have been here. Leighton can use the same restroom and it doesn’t happen to him. This doesn’t just happen in NZ. In TC I was locked into a stall at the Hagerty Center during Tyler and Corin’s wedding, for about 5 minutes. I called for Jeanette to save me, but I already had sufficient time to pray, and God took pity on me and released the lock. So, it happens in new restrooms with poorly installed hardware, and in old restrooms that need a new lock or a new door knob, or new hinges. The last place was just after Wellington, and the door knob would not unlock. I tried to unlock an emergency exit, but it had been nailed shut. No one heard my cries for help, no one heard me knocking. I just dropped my head and intensified an already pitiful cry to God for help. A second or two later the door opened. Bathrooms are the devil. One afternoon, we drove around a small town to hunt for a restroom for Samuel, and we almost wrecked the rental car. Mom spotted a restroom and tried to direct Dad to it. When Dad missed the closest drop spot the whole car erupted into instructions and directions on how to get back. Somehow we ended up back on the main road, in the wrong lane, with a truck driving strait at us. We were too close to the oncoming vehicle to correct our position so Leighton got as far right as he could, we passed the guy on the right (with everyone in the car screaming), and quickly turned into a parking lot. All of the roads signs here exclaim: “STAY LEFT!”. At least the guy was smiling at us. He knew what was going on. It is easy to spot the American drivers here. Like Leighton, they signal to turn with their windshield wipers. It is really funny. Samuel asked me to tell you his lament. Somewhere in Queenstown we lost his favorite camo hoodie. He said that "I cried until I had no more tears". He would also like to note that he had this hoodie since he was nine, and that PawPaw and GranDebbie gave him . William wants you to know that: “There’s a bunch of stumps here, with no trees on them.”. Later, he let Leighton into the building after it had been locked and said, “I just helped Dad; I am a powerful kid!”.