La La Hey

A small slice of downtown. Roaming the downtown park and beach area of Queenstown. My boys do not prefer to walk on the bridge, but almost always the on rails. Playing near the river that flows to the bay. The boys are fascinated with this game. They first watched a woman play the game and applauded her efforts as she played. She smiled and thanked them. This is the garden area. Disk Golf is big here, and a course is set up in the park. It made us wish Bubba were here. The boys have also enjoyed playing at the skate park. The Poplars are starting to change. No rock is too big.

Queenstown, New Zealand

A day at the beach.

On the drive out to Queenstown.

Queenstown is beautiful, and more modern than I anticipated. Leighton is very impressed with its growth in the past twenty years. Our accommodations are in-town, so we have been able to walk everywhere. They have really good coffee here. Downtown has a large natural area with a beach, and a large rose garden. Many people have rose gardens here, as they have an extended growing season as compared to TC.

The boys are out exploring with Justin (Leighton's friend), and I am taking a few minutes in an internet cafe to catch up on the blog. This place is great, but would be better if you guys could be here with us.

We celebrated Easter with a local church, and shared a family Easter basket instead of individual baskets. I found a candy shop with all sorts of goodies, and one very large chocolate egg. Everyone here exchanges chocolate eggs for Easter. The children's church leaders gave the kids welcome bags with chocolate eggs. The church has a skate park in the parking lot. I would give you the name of the church but I do not remember it. Great music, exuberant worship, the kids begged us to bring them back that night but we had other plans.

We spent Saturday night with Justin and Rebekah. They invited us to diner at their house. It was a great night for Leighton and Justin to catch up, and for Rebekah and I to get to know each other. The boys had a Men in Black "double whammy", as Justin put it.

Monday morning we caught up with the Cochran's for breakfast downtown. It was great to meet them and hear their stories of Leighton's visit with them twenty years ago.

I've only got a minute left before my card runs out, so love to you all, we miss you!

Tuesday and Wednesday

Our home for the next 24 hours or so. A beautiful view of the Tasman Sea, and recycling stations for our use. On a side note, I am sure that people outside of America generates less trash. Moving cross-country through America we saw a lot of trash, litter, and used up old stuff left to rot in plain view. The only exception was Colorado. Only in the last few years have we been educated about our own wastefulness and abuse of God's creation. As Christians, I think we should lead the way in caring for God's creation.

The storm that came in that night was powerfully loud. Like a rain storm in south Texas, but more intense, and it lasted through most of the night. The storm in that rain forest reminded me of how powerful God is. We all slept well that night.

These three pictures are from the pancake rocks and blowholes. Pictures and video do not really do the place justice, but we want to share with you what we can.

William is a tactile learner like his Mom.

This is from Franz-Josef. It is a double rainbow, though I don't think it came across in the video.

Favorite Quotes

"Mom you are more beautiful than Satan, but not as beautiful as God" - William

"William, chew like you have a secret." - Mom "William doesn't have any secrets." - Samuel

William - "Are there trees in the desert?" Mom - "There are cactus in the desert." "Cactipus!"

"Oh it's heaps!" Our young friend at the sight of the lunch table.

William walks between Leighton and I, holds our hands, and says: "Dad you are holding Mom's hand. The love goes through me to you. When it comes from Mommy and goes to me it gets more love then goes to you." Daddy asks Samuel, "Do you want some love?" Samuel says: "No." He is ten.

"Does God have germs?" - William "I have no idea." - Dad "No way." - Samuel

"Dad, can you get 'permaket' marker off with a 'wipie'?"

William, about his new stuffed animal (a sheep): "Mom I love Fluffy with all my heart, soul, and strength, but not as much as I love God. But I love him as much as I love you and Dad." I am also made aware that Fluffy likes to read the paper in the morning, and wants a red Mohawk.

"Do stuffed animals die?" - William

Abel Tasman National Park

A great place to explore! I love my boys.

Punakaiki (puna-ky-kee) & Beyond

Our friend Lois, from Nelson, told us a story about a friend who took her children to the aquarium. One of her youngest was lost for a bit, but turned up later. When she found him she noticed that he was a little wet, but wasn't alarmed. Later she got home and put the little one in the shower, and came back later to check on him and found that he had a penguin in the shower with him. He had brought the penguin home with him in his backpack. (The penguins here are small.) So, the Mom called the aquarium and told them that she was so sorry but that her son had brought a penguin home. They replied that it happened all the time, and not to worry. She responded that it was not a penguin from the gift shop, it was a real penguin.

This is the West Coast of the South Island, and the Tasman Sea. Across the way is Australia. Our taxi driver in Auckland let us know that Kiwis (New Zealanders) dislike Australians. ( I think the word he used was hate.) A bilboard for a phone company declares: "Australia is scary, calling home shouldn't be." It has been a few days since we have had internet. I think today is Wednesday. Sunday was great. We were invited to Nelson Baptist, by our friends, and house hosts: Deirdre and Wally. Theirs is a smaller congregation, but it felt good to gather with them. There is a sweetness in worshiping in small numbers with people who love God. Pastor Hamish is new there, but it is clear that Jesus is the center of his message, and that he and his family love Him. After the teaching we had tea and chatted, and then were invited to lunch at Lois and Simon's house. Pastor Hamish and his wife Cheryl joined us, along with all the boys. Each family has three boys! They understand the difference in raising more than one boy. They were very hospitable and we spent an unhurried afternoon eating and talking. Social cues are more difficult to read in different cultures. I hope that they enjoyed our time togther as much as we did. On Monday we left and headed south west to Punakaiki, and the pancake rocks. This is the favorite part of the trip so far. It is amazing.

What a Glorious Day

William likes. He is so excited because we are standing on the roof of the car.

William accidentally hit Samuel with a rock. It really was an accident. His rock ricocheted off another rock. When William tried to show Samuel what happened, he hit him a second time.

The sheep were afraid of me (GC). I really wanted to pet one.

A sailboat behind the rocks.

Today we explored. This kind of natural beauty feeds our souls. And the boys were great. We found a solution to our problem. We decided, after much thought and intensive prayer, to give them an allowance each day, for whatever they want to buy, as long as they do not argue, fight, whine or complain. If they do argue, fight, whine or complain they lose a dollar, no warning. As soon as we made that announcement, they added up how much they could make by the end of the trip, and announced that they would save their earnings to buy something really big. I am sure that there may be holes in this genius plan, bad parenting or whatever. If you posses this particular insight, please hold onto it until June 1st. Right now we are enjoying the peace. The people here are friendly, and make great coffee with pretty designs in the foam. We had a great chat with our house host today. She is a Christian and is knowledgeable about the spiritual history and health of this place. She is helping in her congregation, and has been praying for the spiritual health of the church in Nelson. They have problems with witches who pray against the church, and the church health is deteriorating. We sense a heaviness here. Our friend speaks of a sense of helplessness among the people. Tomorrow is Sunday, and I can't sleep. We are going to church with our friend, so I should try. Hope all is well in TC, and Texas. We love you all. Goodnight.

The Beach

I think this is Rabbit Beach.

My boys.

Samuel is an airplane circling the ruins of his sand castle. (His words.)

My William.

Life is always good at the beach.

From Samuel

Well, my life started in Oregon. I was born there and then we moved to Texas. Then we had my crazy brother. Two years later we moved to Michigan. We've lived there for six years. I was only nine when my Dad started talking about New Zealand. After a while he said five words that excited us for a long time, "lets go to New Zealand", and here we are in New Zealand. Well that's my story.......................! ANY COMMENTS?

Notes From the Trip

Each morning Leighton and I wake early. He goes out for a walk and I have time, before the boys wake, to read and pray for an hour or two. For the past two months Chili is with me as I read. She keeps me warm. I miss her. We are enjoying the sunshine here. The morning and evening are cool, but the afternoon warms up nicely. No Snow. Yesterday, I lay down for a nap and William came and lay beside me. His face was not three inches from mine and he sang to me: One way or another I'm gonna find ya I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha One way or another I'm gonna see ya I'm gonna meetcha meetcha meetcha meetcha One day, maybe next week I'm gonna meetcha, I'm gonna meetcha, I'll meetcha I will drive past your house And if the lights are all down I'll see who's around It's his new favorite song. Leighton got in touch with Justin yesterday. (We are having some difficulty in calling from here.) We will meet up with him in about a week. I am glad that we have time to rest before we see him. I think we are all adjusting to being together so much, and the physical demands of this past week of travel. I am learning new things about the boys. William is very verbally expressive and can be quite demanding, he is like me (GC) in this. Samuel is more passive about communicating his feelings, though he does find ways to express his desires (much like LC). I have seen these tendencies before, but they have flowered on this trip. We are all learning how to respect and love each other better, with our own individual flaws and abilities. That's all for now. Hope you are all well. Much love to Nathan and Lauren. We miss you guys very much.

Day 10

We started this trip 10 days ago.

On Tuesday, we leave Traverse City for Grand Rapids and stay the night with Harvey's family: Steve and Lois. Dan is also there, but Michael is out fighting fires. Great start to our endeavor. Great conversation; I like these people.

On Wednesday, Steve drives us to the train station (thanks again:) and off to Chicago we go, sans William's baby (his stuffed animal- cat) which was left in our car. At Chicago we board the California Zephyr to San Fransisco, and make all kinds of friends on the 3 day cross- country trip.

Friday ends in San Fransisco. We say goodbye to Mechama, and hoof it 5 blocks to the hotel. (This statement should evoke all sorts of empathetic sounds and emotions. If not refer to the photo, somewhere below, of the packs that we carry.)

Saturday morning we take a taxi to the airport and board Air New Zealand.

We skip Sunday altogether due to the international date line.

On Monday we land in Auckland at about 4:30 am, take a bus to our apartment, and then a big nap 'till lunch. The rest of the day, and part of the next, we wander the streets of Auckland, eat really good food, and wonder who gave our children such exuberant genes?

On Tuesday we hop a small plane to Christchurch. Once in Christchurch a bus takes us to the car rental. After we pick up our car, Leighton learns to drive on the opposite side of the road. We are in a big city here, so this is really frightening, but Leighton does very well.

On Wednesday we drive 5 hours to Nelson, were we are now, and try to catch up on our rest with 2 very energetic boys, a sick Mom, and Dad trying not to get sick.

It is now Thursday and my amazing husband has taken the children to the pool so that I may have some time to rest. Did I mention that He got the groceries yesterday? I think I'm in love:)

Pictures

GC's morning quiet time, and look Flat Chili is there too:)

The boys in the a.m.

On the drive to Nelson.

Sheep being herded by dogs.

Auckland to Christchurch

Driving from Christchurch to Nelson, and the cottage, on the opposite side of the road.

Waiting in Auckland for our plane to Christchurch.

Lunch with the boys, downtown Auckland.

:)

Auckland

Samuel's: Seagull at the Warf

Subway Station

That's my William.

The boys sitting on light ports to the subway.