Our Journey

797 miles/1270 km

I don't think I have ever driven such a long way in a two day period. I wonder how far you would get from Auckland if you drove 1270 km? Dunedin perhaps? Of course driving from Auckland to Dunedin would take you quite a few days because of the hills/roads/ferry etc. Here in the USA, driving is a piece of cake as I don't think we made many turnoffs on I 80. In fact driving through Ohio was pretty boring, long & straight. Pennsylvania is very beautiful with rolling hills and very green. The closer we got to New Jersey, the busier it became, more lanes, more trucks, more housing. The plan was for Albert and I to take turns driving but I ended up only doing one rotation with Albert driving the rest. We made plenty of toilet stops and spent a lot of time driving through/waiting for roadworks! We had hoped to arrive at our hotel around 3 pm but we didn't get there until 6ish. A twelve hour drive! 

The girls were excellent. I had packed them a travel bag each with lollies, crackers, and goodies that they would normally not have.Generous people from our church had also given us some goodies for the girls for the trip.  I also went to the thrift (secondhand) store and bought some books for them. I also managed to pick up at Aldi some maths and sticker books for the girls! One thing I did on this journey which I don't normally buy is bottled water. Bottled water is pretty cheap here (24 bottles (0.5ltr) for $2.29) as our drinkbottles weren't going to last the distance. This worked out very well and we just replenished our drink bottles. I also froze some of the bottles for our cooler which again worked brilliantly to keep the cooler cool! Thanks to a generous donation we also indulged in icecreams along the way, what a treat! 

Our hotel worked out pretty well too with all of us being able to sleep in one room. The hotel had a pool and so the girls thoroughly enjoyed going for a swim. The room also came with breakfast (pretty standard) and so they had pancakes and yogurt (out of a little container) the next day. We left about 1pm and carried on our journey. It was about about a 3hr drive for which I'm grateful, it enabled us to not be stressed about arriving late or having the drive a long distance on that day. 

Once we arrived at the house (LOVE the GPS!) we were welcomed by Andrea, the lady who overseas the ministry house, who showed us around and got us settled! In the fridge and freezer were homemade meals and groceries! We are so blessed. 

The overseeing Pastor Kuiken came down with bronchitis and so we haven't been able to meet with him yet. Providentially Aaron, (our good friend and he is doing an internship in NY with Pastor Murphy) is staying at our place on Sunday so we asked him to help Pastor Kuiken with the services on Sunday. So now Albert is preaching 2 services in the morning and Aaron in the afternoon! Talk about a steep learning curve, but that is what we are here for! 

We are excited to see what this summer holds but at the same time it seems so unreal that we are here. I can't describe it, it's a funny feeling. There is so much to take in, so much to learn, so many new people to meet (and remember their names!), different cultures, different food. None of it is bad just different. 

Thanks again for all those who are praying for us, it means so much to us. We are not here to have a long three year holiday (of course we do have some 'free' time, and seeing the USA is a HUGE bonus) but we are here to study/learn/mature for God's work hopefully in the future. So thanks so much for supporting us in our journey!

Zara eating mm's!

Kate

Grace and Michaela

Albert

P&M does this look familiar?

State four out of five in our journey!

Three in the bed, Izaak can you spot "Moon Light Star"?

Grace

Sisters at the church!

School

We have been at Faith for the last 6 years and we are very sorry to leave the school behind. We have been soo impressed by their willingness to work together to educate our girls. We've seen Faith as a partner in educating our girls. The teachers are AWESOME, we can't say enough about all of the staff and teachers at the school. All of our girls at school have thrived and are sad to leave. It has been very humbling and a great privilege to get to know other Christians in our community. 

A new education adventure is awaiting us, homeschooling! It scares me. On a funny note, Albert after the parent/teacher interviews, realised that at least two of the girls are about 2 years ahead of where they should be. So his reaction to this was, "so we don't have to 'school' them for at least two years!" Hahahaha, very funny Albert. 

Mrs McLeay at the girls farewell assembly  

Girls from their own class praying for our girls 

Kate and Hannah. Hannah was Kate's buddy.

Weekly update

Mt Ruapehu

Here is another quick bulletin form update:

• Greek - Albert sat his Greek Exam last Thursday and was not very confident about how well he did. It was an exam designed to see how much knowledge he had. The exam tested two years of work, Albert to date has done half a year. He found the exam quite difficult. He was pleasantly surprised and thankful to hear back from his Greek Professor yesterday that he had passed out of the first half of summer Greek. Yet another example of how the Lord has blessed us. It means that we have ample time to settle in before Albert starts his studies. 
• Packing our suitcases - Doing pretty well on this, I haven't managed to fit it all in 7 suitcases as hoped and so we went out and bought an eighth one! I hadn't thought about fitting in all our PJ's and all our winter jackets. We could take the jackets on the plane but I've opted for the less stress option and will pack all our jackets in our suitcase. (which brings me to the next bullet point)
• Weather - Well while we were at staying at Peter and Elizabeth's, Wanganui had it's coldest night in a long time, official temperature was -2C but unofficial -7C. See lovely photo above :). The Chicago weather on the other hand has been very hot, about 36C, they are having a heatwave. I don't think we'll be needing our winter jackets somehow!
• Lasts - There were quite a few lasts, in the last week. My last Wanganui Swim, last lunch with Meg (my fellow Heading dog lover!), birthday lunch with my training buddies, Albert's farewell party.
• The House has been sold, everything went smoothly, and the new owners are very happy.
• Surprise! - We managed to finish all the packing and most of the paper work by Tuesday. So we decided to 'surprise' Albert's Mum with a couple of day visit before I have my family reunion. We had to tell someone and so Albert's Dad was informed but he managed to keep it a surprise and a surprise it was!
• Family Reunion - From Friday until Monday we are having my family reunion at my parents house. The girls are looking forward to it. Unlike Albert's side of the family, the grandchildren consists of one boy and 6 girls! 
• Plane - We are flying out of Palmerston North on Monday afternoon (4 more sleeps!) to Auckland, Auckland to SanF, SanF to Chicago. Time wise we are leaving around 4pm from P'North and arriving in Chicago 10pm the same day. Beyond my comprehension!
• Murray - A new addition to our family, watch out for some of his own blog posts!

Can you spot the difference?

Our table has shrunk! Well not really which is just as well as I'm quite attached to our very nice big table. Albert's brother Josh is babysitting it for us while we are gone. It is really so that Tabby feels at home as we've trained him to sit at the table and eat from it too! hahahaha. 

Here are the girls sitting at our coffee table in the dining room!

Having our last family dinner in our house, sniff, sniff
which was Mac'n'Cheese as per Michaela's request. 

A few photo's of 'lasts' :(

Here are just a few photo's taken this week of 'lasts'. Seeing some of the girls favourite teachers for the last time and our last mainly music session. 

Grace and Mrs Nixon. Grace has really taken to her and has really enjoyed spending time with her. 

Kate and Mrs McLeay

This is Kate's first year with her but this is the fourth year that Mrs McLay has taught our girls. I truely believe that teaching is a gift and she certainly has it! (so do all of the teachers at the school). I really admire teachers! It has been a pleasure to work in partnership with the school to educate our girls. The girls are thriving. 




Mainly Music - last session for us. I have thoroughly enjoyed helping out, what a great team with awesome church support! 

Zara at Boxday. (all songs were done in the box, very cute)

Zara even ate morning tea in her box!

Container!!

It's arrived. The Container that is! I was slightly worried about fitting all our stuff (which currently is in the garage, well most of it) in the container but now having seen the container in real life, I think with a bit of a 3D vision, it should all fit. Will keep you updated :).

Truck arriving at home

Lifted off the truck onto the footpath

Manoeuvring in very strong winds

Phew made it all in one piece.

Just Quickly...

We're pretty busy organising the house and the last of our stuff, so here is a quick update in bullet form :). (In no particular order)

• Greek - Hans V made Albert a mock exam which Albert did last week. He scored 86% on everything he has learned so far! Well done! He is sitting an exam to see what level he can test out off tomorrow afternoon from the Seminary. So prayers for Albert would be appreciated. 
• Container - This will be delivered hopefully tomorrow morning! Albert has the day off tomorrow and will make sure everything is where it should be. Hopefully we can show some pictures in the future. 
• House Packing - I'm on track, Lounge, Girls rooms, all cupboards/wardrobes, Garage are all done. The Garage is full of our stuff, I'm not sure how it will all fit in the container. Brydie is helping me tomorrow to help clean some of my appliances as I can't have any grease on them for three years. (imagine that!)
• Plane Packing - This is on track also, I've managed so far to fit all the girls clothes in two suitcases, my clothes in about 3/4 of a suitcase and Albert's in a suitcase. That leaves about 1 suitcase for our sleeping bags and one suitcase for misc stuff, some toys, cookbooks (Can't live without Sophie Gray) and some of our 'fitness' gear. Not sure at this stage whether will need a 7th suitcase we will play that by ear!
• Rice - You are all are very keen to know, no doubt, what the state of the rice is? Ok I've got about 500grams left, that's pretty impressive I think!
• Done all the health checks, dentists, eye checks etc. 
• School - Girls got their reports today, they are thriving! We also had the parent/teacher interviews today which gave us some good pointers to think about in terms of homeschooling. We will miss the school!
• Lasts - there are plenty of 'lasts' this week, some good but mostly sad :(. 

How I feel about this...

April 2012 

(photocredit Monique!)

I've had quite a few people ask me how I feel about all of this and how I'm coping with our life change. These questions are fair and I thought I would answer some of these in a bit more details on this blog, where I've got the advantage of thinking before I 'speak' but also to give you a bit of an insight into me :). 

How do I feel about this?

First of all let me start by saying that I don't like 'pat' answers and so you will not get any on this blog. My answers or opinions are exactly that honest and to the point! Secondly I'm not a very emotional person and so can come across sometimes as not being very 'excited'. Now to the real answer ;). I'm a 100% behind Albert and although I don't feel qualified (does anyone?) and the future is a bit daunting, I'm trying to be as the Prov 31:v25b woman who says "she smiles at the future". I'm convinced that God will look after me and give me everything I need. God has already shown me in the last couple of months that NOTHING is impossible with HIM. I rest in that hope. 

How I'm coping?

Well, very well! I try to be organised. (I would like to say that I'm very organised but self discipline is an issue!). I make lots and lots and lots of list (thanks to my Mama who taught me that!). It would really stress me out if everything had to be done at the last minute and so I've tried as much as possible to get everything done with plenty of time to spare. I've been blessed with the girls being at school most of this time (this is NOT a good reason to send kids to school!). This has enabled me to do a lot of errands and organising while still being a mum. 

Am I excited about this new adventure?

YES but one day at a time for me, can't look to next week (or tomorrow) yet without 'worrying' about today! So it's not that I'm not looking forward to our new adventure, just like to have everything organised :). 

Life has gone on with the added challenge of moving so, so far the whole experience has been relatively stress free. The next couple of weeks will be busy but not bad busy, just getting things done busy! 


PS: There is snow, Nutella and cheap banana's in the States, what more could I ask for?

A quick update...

Beautiful Wanganui!

Here is a quick update in bullet point format: (in no particular order)

• Sonlight Curriculum - Thanks to Jenny W, I've been in contact with a lady who is using the curriculum. Jane was very patient with me in answering all my questions. So my homework re curriculum is so far so good! Another point Jane raised when I questioned her regarding the cost of the curriculum was that for her own private school, the fees are very cheap but the quality is far superior! WOW hadn't thought about that!
• Tabby - is gone, he deserves a post all on his own as he's the king. 
• Container - We've done some research with regard to how to store our stuff! We didn't want to sell it all but to store it somehow if possible. After looking at different options, we've decided to buy a container which works out much cheaper than hiring one. Hopefully it will arrive in the next week. We are aiming to pack it all on the 30th of June. 
• People Mover - is sold!
• Albert's Greek - He managed to 'talk' to his professor via Skype which was very helpful and he is at looking at doing his Greek Exam soon. His studies with Hans are continuing to go well, although it is not easy to memorise all those words! Both Michaela and Grace have been very helpful in 'testing' Albert using his flash cards. 
• Packing - This is going well. I'm restraining myself, if it was up to me the whole house would've been packed by now. I'm struggling sometimes to see the 'tree' in front of the forest but as a very famous lady once said "The beginning is a very good place to start". Albert is good at starting at the beginning and I was very thankful for his help in tidying up the garage. It's all looking nice and organised now. 
• Rice - Had to mention the status of the rice! It's going well, there will be probably some leftover but the 'end' is in sight! (It was a 25kg bag of rice!)
• Luggage - Worth a mention! Buying one is a minefield, which one oh which one. I didn't want to buy 'dirt' cheap ones just in case it empties itself in SanF nor did I need a 'gold' plated one! We ended up buying 4 brand new ones from a local luggage place in Wanganui. They gave me a bit of a discount and they were very reasonable priced plus they are light. The colours are worth mentioning as we're a mostly girl household. One pink one, two purple ones and one red one. :)
• Facebook - I am on FB if you like to follow me: Hanneke Couperus

PS I've now added an e-mail subscription so that you can get our new post directly to your inbox! (if you wish ofcourse ;) )