A Change!

'Showing off' on how beautiful Wanganui is!

This post was been a while coming! I could 'waffle' and 'go around the bush' for a while if you wish ;) or I could come straight to the point! If you know me in real life you know what option I would choose. 


The Beginning. 
Albert's had a desire for a while now (probably before I came on the scene) to become a pastor. This is not to say that he is not happy being a Physio, he is! It is just that something has niggled him over the years. A couple of years ago we attended a conference in Melbourne at the R.T.C as a couple. Murray in one of his lectures challenged the attendees what they where doing with their lives and what more importantly were they doing with their talents God gave them. This gave us lots to think about. We sought advice from family, friends, and our local session as to Albert's suitability. When we got back to NZ Albert talked to his session and they agreed to 'test' him.  This happened over several years, he had to prepare his own sermon, served as an elder, taught catechism, went on home visits and attended plenty of meetings. 


In the middle of last year, PNorth session approved for Albert to study for the ministry. The final step in the process was to get the Wellington Presbytery (ie all the Reformed Churches in the Wellington Region) approval which happened in March of this year. So this means that Albert has had the go-ahead to pursue ministerial studies! 


A lot of questions followed, where to study, where is the money going to come from, what are we going to do with our house, pets, what are we going to do for school for the girls, can he continue in his current job until we go, when is Albert going to learn Greek, how do we fit in renovations into our current life? 


What a change, but a very good change, we're unsure on what lies ahead but we're taking one step/day at a time.


In my next post I'll answer some of these questions :). 

Summer Fun

Some water fun that we got up to in the summer school holidays! The local playground has some water features and on a particular hot day we decided to visit the playground to cool off. We tried the park (see last photo's) but the water on the grass was very smelly and so decided to go to the playground instead. I LOVE the free things in life, they are the best :)!

Sisters playing together

Michaela with the water gun, it was very hard to aim (maybe that is a good thing!)

Zara enjoying her swim

The big smelly puddle at the park

Despite the smell, the girls still had a good time splashing through the puddles, isn't that what life is all about? (We as adults forget that sometimes in our busy lives!)

We're going on a bear hunt...

Have you read or watched We're going on a bearhunt by Michael Rosen? If not you are missing out! An awesome story and he tells it soo well. Anyway after watching the clip quite a few times, the girls decided especially Michaela that they needed to go on a bear hunt in the back yard. A sprinkler was set up as one of the obstacles, togs on, cap on, goggles on!

Notice the finger on Michaela's mouth.

They're not scared!!

(PHEW!)

Natalia Maria-Anna

A new girl cousin!!

Late January, early Febuary we waited with anticipation of the birth of our new baby girl cousin!

As soon as we got word that little Natalia had arrived, we arranged to go over and meet this new miracle. The girls were super excited and Michaela and Grace decided that in order to meet this new girl cousin, they needed to dress up like ladies. So all the Sunday clothes came out including hats. I queried Michael re the hats, and she told me that ladies wear hats and so they were going to wear one to see Natalia! Following are some photos of each of the girls with their new cousin!

Michaela

Grace and Zara

Kate

Zara

Zara's birthday with a difference

Zara's birthday. 

We were never going to have a big celebration on her birthday and as it turned out, I'm thankful we didn't. NZ will remember this day as one of NZ's worst day's in history :(. The fateful earthquake hit that day. I was blissfully unaware of disaster until I got a phonecall from Albert's mum telling me that Louis was all OK. 

I had been at the swimming pool giving Zara and Kate some extra time in the pool as a birthday treat. We had invited guests for dinner that night to celebrate her birthday but they had to cancel to due the earthquake. I think most of NZ at that time was glued to the TV just as we were. We had afternoon tea (of potato chips (green ofcourse to keep with the theme) and lollies (again green)) in front of the TV as I wanted my girls to be informed of this major event in history. They got bored after a while as the TV kept showing the same images, again and again. So dinner that night of Pizza (take-out) was eaten in a sombre manner and it didn't taste that great at all. We haven't had pizza since. Zara was oblivious to it all, thankfully.

Just a few facts about Zara, to make sense of the pictures. Her favourite colour is GREEN!! Her blanket is green. Hence the green cupcakes, I especially bought some green icing gel. It worked a treat!

A family tradition is that on your birthday, the girls all pile into our bed early in the morning and open their presents. We bought Zara a new doll dressed as a flower, and guess what colour it was? We also bought her a little baby my little po.ny.  Zara is excellent in playing by her self and so the presents are giving her hours of enjoyment.
(This week) I found her pony's (she's got a few) lying down sideways next to her bed, they were sleeping, she told me! (I did tell her that pony's sleep standing up!)

Tabby makes an appearance - Is there any meat in those presents?

There's the doll :)

Zara's birthday at mainly music.

Family day 2011

My brother, my parents and us got together in March to have a family day. Here are a few photos.

Who is this handsome man?

Girls playing nicely at Oma's

Like Father like Daughter?

South Island Cousins

Due to the Feb Earthquake in Christchurch, we had some unexpected visitors from Christchurch. My Brother and family came up to the North island to escape from the earthquakes and managed to stay with a family outside of Wanganui. The bonus of this was that they were able to spend some time with us. TJ helped us with the laundry floor and the girls loved playing with their cousins.

Eva

Elijah with a grumpy pose for the camera!

Michaela and Eva

Esther

Happy pose for Elijah

Tabby the cat with Esther, Michaela and someone's hand ;)