January Snapshots

There’s good reason I haven’t written in a couple months. We have pretty much been company or had company for the past couple months, gathering a staggering amount of adventures and memories to share. Not to mention transitioning to a new country, and starting a new school year. I have felt at times like I’m holding on to an exciting ride, all the while not wanting to take any of it for granted.

So…January kind of has to start at the end of December.

December 30 to January 14 — Sydney and Manilla

December 30th we woke the kids at 3:45am, walked 45 minutes to the train station and caught the 5am train to Sydney. I had no idea until that train ride how much I had missed the open countryside! After a 14 hour ride we reached the station where my friend, Fiona, picked us up.

Back in 2002 I studied abroad in Newcastle, Australia. After 6 months I really didn’t want to go home, largely because I found two of my best, lifelong friends in the whole world: Fiona and Kylie. Their friendship is a truly unique gift from God. I have been dreaming of coming back to Australia to see them ever since I left. So the time we got to have with them in January was a precious dream come true. Not to mention a blast!

    

Fiona and John have four kids as well: Leah (6), Gwyn (3, but now 4!), Jesse (2), and Alice (now nearly 6 months!) so we were essentially one large family of 12 for two weeks. The first week we stayed in Sydney, living in Fiona’s sister’s house while their family was on holiday. We saw some beaches, and the harbor, by ferry and on foot, and soaked up the Kelly’s company.

  

The second week we drove over 5 hours to Fiona’s parent’s farm outside the little town of Manilla. I had been there back in 2002, and it was the highlight of my trip to Australia. There are kangaroos in the yard there, and chickens and calves now, which Twill loved. But the best part was seeing Ian and Kathy, Fiona’s parents, again.

   

We stayed in the pig shed that Ian remodeled into a cottage, with a guest book revealing the beautiful trail of those it has blessed.

  

We got to go to the river Fiona played in as a kid. It was pretty low from the drought, but we found one little water slide that everyone tried. The kids had lots of water fun in the screened in porch, because it was very, very hot.

   

On the way back down to Sydney we stopped in Newcastle, walked through the university, and found the flat I had lived in. I was thankful for the chance to share it with my family, but the mosquitoes made it a quick and painful visit on campus. We also got to meet up with my old flatmate, Shelley, spontaneously down at a park on the lake too! All a rather unexpected treat.

  

When it was time to go back to Brisbane we all kind of felt like we lost half our family. Wesley kept wanting to look at pictures of baby Alice. He and Stewart couldn’t get enough of her. The kids really did enjoy each other, and it was great to have so much driving time to get to talk to Fiona. I will forever be so thankful for the gift of those two weeks, and can’t wait to do it again whenever we can pull it off!

January 14 to 18 – Goodbyes

When we got back to Brisbane I asked the boys what they wanted to be sure to do before we left. I was so happy to hear that mostly they wanted to see their friends one more time. So we spent a lot of the last week saying goodbyes to their school friends, like Sonny, Antonio, and Hugo. Louis and Jojo were an added bonus too. I also had to say goodbye to my favorite busker at the Davies Park Markets. He was kind enough to let me take his picture. Chris was very sad to say goodbye to our favorite bakers there too.

  

I really miss my good friend, Lan, and hope we see them again someday.

Among the goodbyes was one new introduction. Andy and Ariel had some friends who were actually from Iowa that they’d been wanting to introduce us to. So we got to spend a day meeting Cal and Rosie, from Clarence, Iowa. They’ve been in Brisbane 44 years, but were still so Iowan. It was a fascinating treat to meet them.

January 18 to 22 – Kylie Comes to Brisbane

Our last few days in Brisbane, Kylie, and her daughter Eva, came to visit both us and Clayton and Katie. Katie was just a week away from her due date, so Kylie was hopeful that she might get to meet her new niece or nephew. Reena Joy didn’t arrive until February 1st, but we enjoyed the time anticipating her arrival together. Kylie filled their freezer with lots of healthy meals, and helped us clean out ours.

  

It was so good to see Kylie in person in this stage of life. She is a wealth of wisdom about healthy relationships and healthy living. It was lovely to walk down to our favorite park on the river with her and chat. I hope next time we can spend time with her whole family on her home turf, but it was great to get to share Brisbane with her since Clayton and Katie are there.

January 22 we said goodbye to the Coffey’s with one more trip to Sea Fuel for lunch, before heading out to the airport hotel. We will forever be thankful for their hospitality and the chance to live in West End!

  

January 23 — Here we come New Zealand

After the adventure to Sydney, the 4am shuttle to our terminal was rather cushy. We had an easy flight to Christchurch and were greeted by Moffat at the airport. There was one funny glitch coming through customs. They held Lewis’ backpack and asked if he had any lollies (candy) that he didn’t claim. Chris and I both looked at Lewis with raised eyebrows, because we knew nothing of the sort. It turned out to be rubber bouncy balls.

  

We were all giddy to explore our new house, and have had many games of hide and seek that started that first day.

January 25 to 30 — Mom and Dad visit

Mom and Dad flew into Christchurch to spend the last few days of summer holidays with the kids and us. We found the local farmer’s market and a neat protected ancient forest hike at the Riccarton Bush their first day here.

When it warmed up a bit, not much, we found the beach at New Brighton.  We weren’t prepared at all, so we told the kids not to get wet…you can imagine how that went. We found that you can get an awful lot of water out of their soaked clothes just by wringing them out.

    

We got to know campus, some local stores, a new church, and enjoyed some quiet days at home painting with Grandpa too!

  

January 31 — School starts

First day of school here at Ilam School! Mom and Dad took off in their rented camper to tour New Zealand for a couple weeks!

This is truly a quick snapshot, not nearly as thorough as I would like, but better than nothing!