The Rhodes Family: Memphis to Aotearoa

Good evening, dear friends! The other day Michael turned to me and said, "I think I like living in New Zealand." I replied, almost surprising myself, "Me too." We are settling in. We are enjoying a rather different (slower) pace of life here than our typical pace in Memphis. The kids and I have a lot of freedom to bounce from playground to city park, visit the nearby Auckland War Memorial Museum on rainy afternoons, and do a lot of math and writing and reading based on our daily outings. Nova is deep into writing (and drawing) a science journal of baby animals. Isaiah writes thoughtful and insightful reflective responses to the Old Testament lectures he attends of a local Bible scholar (his dad) :). Ames manages to make friends and take care of kids smaller than him at every playground, church event, and everywhere else. Oh, and we also all depend heavily on him to make friends (so we can all get a good look) with the many crabs that scuttle along the beaches at low

Good evening! We have completed Week 3 here in Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud. We have felt/are feeling... grateful, curious, worried, sad, snuggly, excited, happy, content, mad, humbled, shy, overwhelmed, cold, disappointed, relieved, joyful. The six of us have felt a lot and we have felt big.   We are incredibly grateful that the Lord sees, knows us, loves us, and is with us through all of our many feelings. Please pray for us as we navigate many different feelings in this new place. Also, please pray for good sleep for us.   We have certainly gotten through the worst of jet lag, but many nights we are still struggling with sleep. I am not sure the reasons for this, but please do pray!   And praise God with us... for His generous provision through His people and His Word and His creation.   We have been attending church right next door to us, 10 steps away from our building, at Auckland Baptist Tabernacle. Pastor Ken and his wife Raewyn hosted us for lunch last Sunday, an