Week 3

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, and took us on a rainy but very pleasant walk to Judges Bay, and many others have been so generous to us as well.

There is so much to share! Here are a few highlights. :)

Feelin' the love. Michael's students pranked him in his first week by filling up his office with 400 balloons! He called in the recruits to help with the popping.

Slides and playgrounds. The kids and I are taking very seriously the task of exploring the vast numbers of cool playgrounds in Auckland. The slides here are incredible. The "flying foxes" (zip lines) are spectacular. Oh, and Isaiah and Ames have played several full field rugby matches one on one. Nova, Jubilee and Mom cheer and laugh on the sideline. 

SHEEP! One of Michael's students, Bronwyn, invited us, along with another American family, to her farm as it is lambing season. The pictures do not do it justice. What a gift of a day! It was such a delight to be in such a peaceful place, to see her work as a farmer and shepherd (she calls them by name!-- Psalm 23 and images of the Lord as our Shepherd more real than ever). As of last Saturday, 57 lambs had been born. She is bottle feeding two and raising them by hand as they were rejected by their mothers. One of those is the one I'm holding. Let's just say the lambs are NOT potty trained and I figured that out as I was holding it. :) Bronwyn's father has farmed this land for many years, and her family has farmed it all the way back to her great great grandfather, who cleared the land and started farming it about 150 years ago.

The Wild West. We spent a day at Piha, a wild, gorgeous beach on the western shore of Auckland (about an hour drive from where we live in city center). The kids got wild as well and hiked barefoot (Ames), jumped all the way in the frigid water playing hide-and-seek with the waves (Nova and Jubilee), and traversed sandy and rocky terrain for hours on end (Isaiah).

Pizza. It might be a little pathetic how relieving it is that we have Sal's New York style pizza just down the street, a two minute walk from our apartment. Pizza, as it turns out, does wonders for homesickness. :)

Just happies. Nova is writing a story on Mom's computer and Isaiah is her editor-in-residence. It is so amazing to see all four kids take care of each other in the midst of so much transition. Old friendly trees to climb also are helping us with the transitions.

I hope all those pictures show up ok! I am also working on creating a YouTube channel. Mainly for silly short videos we make of our different outings. I'll provide links if I can figure all that out.

Much love,

Rebecca, and the rest of us