thankful
It seems almost silly to post after a full year away from this space, and yet such a memorable year documented and spent away seems to deserve some sort of closure, reflection, remembrance…something.
We left New Zealand with little idea what our lives would look like “after NZ”, and honestly we still don’t fully know. We know that Fairbanks is our home for now, that surprise -we are to be parents, and that the past year was one of the best we’ve had so far. Taking a year “off” feels like an undeserved privileged, and a gift we cannot explain. We do know the decision to leave was the best thing we’ve done for our marriage, for our relationships with God and for our future. We highly recommend it.
For now we enjoy this Thanksgiving in our little cabin the woods, awaiting the arrival of our babe (anytime, baby, you can show up anytime). We reflect on how quickly this year has gone and what little we know about what is next. Clearly the unknown does not bother us like it once might have. If we have come back changed in anyway, it may just be the loss of “our plans” for this life. Of course that doesn’t rule out dreaming.
We laugh about our hermit like tendencies all the while scheming of our next family destination. Spain, South America, Austria, anyone? Okay maybe just a farm in the hillside.
Oh, the possibilities.
one more beach visit
We kind of forgot to post this before we left:
There was no way we were going to hang around the lodge feeling depressed and sorry for ourselves (an empty lodge is a very sad place to be).
So we took Sam (and two boys from ABS) and spent her last few days in New Zealand enjoying the east coast.
hang out time
hot water beach
cathedral cove
trying to make kumera fries (our favorite)
pesky sister was not helping
and now it’s our turn to leave
Packed, having said our goodbyes and moved out of the lodge we spent our last evening in New Zealand at home with our good friends. We ate our meals outside, swam in the pool and played our last riveting game of “oh shoot” (we play this every time we get together) and went to bed feeling okay about our departure.
This has been a really good year (okay, a really amazing, life-changing year).
to pack or explore?
Explore. Definitely.
Tongariro Crossing.
give thanks
Our conversations and reflections and thoughts are saturated with one common theme. Gratitude. We are so very thankful for our lives, and this year and our families and our friends and every good and perfect gift God has chosen to bless us with.
We celebrated this year with turkey chilli and cornbread on the porch overlooking Lake Karapiro. We ended the evening with fireworks. Not traditional, but filled with gratitude none the less.
We have learned a lot about community the past seven weeks. These students became our family as we ate together, lived together, worked together, cleaned together and traveled together.
We got in each other’s space and lives and listened to each other’s stories and shared our own. We’ve been challenged and encouraged.
We’ll miss you
Cliff, Ben, Landon, Seth, James, Dave, Kenton, Baby Rino, Kevin, Kris, Kym, Holly, Sam, Jodi, Maddi, Kalee, Michelle and Jessica.
the end of abs
The last night together we had a Christmas themed banquet.
After eating our fill we prepared for some Aussie Bush Dancing.
The boys came out dressed like this:
The girls came out adorned like this:
Why? We’re not sure. But it was funny.
floating
A common response around here when a student asks, “what are we eating?” or
“where are we going?” or “how long will we be gone?” is : “Do you really need to know?”
Of course the answer is always, “no”. You don’t need to know.
We get lots of entertainment out of watching the students guess what we will be doing next as they assess the amount of food being packed, or note that the packing list only says two pair of underwear (which of course has no bearing on how many days we’ll be gone, but they like to think it does).
On this particular evening they knew something was up, but assumed the worst. What they didn’t know was we were going to float down the river in silence enjoying the magical glow worms along the canyon walls (they really aren’t ugly worms, but look more like stars in the trees).
We laughed so hard, froze, teased each other about the eels (which really are in the river), and enjoyed the absolute beauty a million tiny glow worms emit hidden in the walls of the New Zealand bush.
our attire: wet suits, two life jackets (one on top, one on bottom)
triathlon
One of our final activities together was a triathlon.
Three lengths of the lake (not sure how many meters).
26k bike ride down HoraHora Rd.
9k run back to the lodge.
We finished feeling pretty pumped about the challenge and are thinking of participating in a real one come summer. We asked Sam if she wanted to train with us and her response was, “That was the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life.” Take it she’s not interested.
away we go 