Nichols in New Zealand

New Website

2009-09-21T06:56:00.002+12:00

Back by popular demand, we have decided to try and start another website called Nichols in Knoxville. Look for us at www.KnoxNichols.blogspot.com for news about the goings on in K-town.

Hello Everyone!

2009-06-20T00:20:00.003+12:00

Hello Everyone! Its Claire here!I want to thank everyone for being there when we left and when we came back.We are glad to be home but, also miss New Zealand.We really enjoyed our time in New Zealand and wish to come back one day.I really hope we come back some day.Anyway, we miss everyone "heaps!" -Claire

Farewell NZ

2009-05-09T13:35:00.013+12:00

Whangarei Community Church

  Department of Medicine going away party with the specialist doctors and Linda (front row far left) the nurse who coordinated the lung cancer program Lynn started. Dr. John Mpe was recruited from South Africa as Lynn's replacement pulmonology specialist.
Viv, laboratory manager, and me at going away party. Viv gave me a beautiful almost black greenstone carved in the Maori eternal friendship symbol. She drove half our luggage to Auckland and sat with us in the airport keeping me company over coffee (our favorite thing to do together.....the coffee and the talking not the waiting at the airport). It was a sad goodbye as we boarded our international flight and I had to say goodbye to a professional mentor, a personal friend and spiritual sister.
   Helen from "The Fish Bowl" hosted the medical party and was generally good to us all year. She was the closest thing to a mother and grandmother.
   Zara wrote a song for us. That was a Nichols' first. We also received 3 different paintings given by the artist themselves ( one from a patient, one from Herani at church and one from a friend in our community).
Iliase (red shirt) is the sleep and pulmonary function technician who assisted Lynn to kick off the sleep apnea program and pulmonary function lab. They named the new pulmonary function machine "Maureen" after Lynn's first patient who was tested on it. The other people in the photo work in outpatient medicine as nurses and echo technicians.
Whangarei Heads community was a gift from God. At the community send off Lynn quoted the bible verse that talks about "man making his plans but God directing his steps". We felt that was true of the area we happened to rent a house in.
The church going away party was fun and I muddled through trying to share what I think God has taught us this year. There may be a reprise at some point if anyone back home wants to hear about it. Our last Sunday was an amazing service with a message about the "Fullness of God" that left us all in tears (the good moving kind of crying). The worship leader happened to pick some of my favorite songs like "Potter's Hand" by Hillsongs and "In Christ Alone".
Jo made us this beautiful cake of NZ for the church going away party.
The weeks before we left had our last road trip further down the North Island to the Waitomo caves which are a collection of 100's of caves. 5 or 6 are commercially toured.
Phillip and I did the king daddy which started with a 100 meter free repel (abseiling) into the cavern which is pictured above. Then we hiked 2 hours to get out of the cave. It was a guided tour Mom! The rest of the crew did more tame spelunking in caves with water boats and glow worms like stars on the cave walls.

A few weeks before we enjoyed a hike after lunch on Yamana with our sailing friends Pete and Alice we met via Hugh in Charleston. Many thanks to Pete, a professional photographer (pictured on Yamana below), who framed some beautiful photos of New Zealand he had taken. We gave them to the Medicine department as a "Thank You" and a memento for the department conference room at the hospital.

The kids were out of school on break the last 3 weeks we were there so we tried some homeschooling. Anna was replacing NZ coins with trying to learn our US money.

Lake Taupo was beautiful and reminded me of our Lake Tahoe and the local Lake Tellico. We met my brother there for Lynn's and Rus' birthdays. The boys went fly fishing. The girls walked along the shore to the above dock. The nights had ball room dancing, cards, and a general good laugh in the bach with Loida and Rus.

Anna and Andrew's class at Whangeri Heads. There were some sad faces on this last time with them. We had a wonderful community party that my friends Rene and Sharmaine from school put on for us. We showed a video with all the amazing photos of the kids in the various school activities from the last year. I think the whole community was stunned by how much fun the school kids have in all the hands on activities. We were stunned by the outpouring of love and support from the school families we have shared this year with. Rene's Mom had a near fatal car accident the day of the party so she couldn't make it. We continue to pray for her recovery. Sharmaine and I had wanted to hike up Aubrey at night to see the stars but had to settle for an early morning hike due to cloudy weather all week. We talked about God and watched the sunrise at the top. It was a hike I will always treasure as a memento of our friendship in Christ.

As you can imagine the last few weeks have been busy. We had a wonderful time our last month in NZ but found time for blogging was short. There were lots of goodbye parties, hugs and tears as we parted NZ for home. After spending the first night on an airplane across the Pacific we missed our flight out of LA. After a few hours for a nap and a bite to eat at a close by hotel we spent night number 2 on the red eye to Atlanta then on to Knoxville. Better late than never we arrived last Sunday morning with smiles and hugs. This week has been busy trying to set up a household and get our days and nights straight. Our address is the same 1523 Bickerstaff but we have a new home phone of 865-474-1258. Can't wait to share more in person. e-mails are still good at pnichols@summithealthcare.com

Easter- Alive to God

2009-04-13T07:59:00.009+12:00

Easter this year was made extra special by a 3 day visit from the Neimer family, our friends from Charleston, SC.

The kids had a great time with Ross and Dugger. It's a special blessing to watch your friends have kids and then their kids grow to be friends with your kids.

We enjoyed an Easter hike that ended at Peach cove at dusk. The hike back included 800 plus stairs up a mountain side then a moonlit walk back to the car. It was all breathtaking, both the scenery and the hike!

After Easter we rented a sailing yacht for a day trip around the Bay of Islands. It was great to sail around and talk. Sally and I can talk and talk and still feel like there is more we want to share/ask about but haven't covered. The guys are happy to talk church and medicine.

We stopped for a kayak and beach walk on one of the islands. The kids loved hanging on the yacht too.

We arrived back at the dock in time to catch this most amazing sunset come ablaze over 5 minutes. See the progression from the boys to every couple on the dock going for their photo with the sunset.
Below were some reflections on Easter morn.

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead , death no longer has mastery/dominion over Him. The death he died he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives HE LIVES TO GOD. In the same way count yourselves dead to sin but ALIVE TO GOD in Christ. Romans 6:9-11

Happy Easter. I grew up in a Presbyterian Church where Easter morning people would say to you, "He is risen" and you reply, "He is risen indeed."

The resurrection is so powerful. We have access to God himself. The gift of eternal life is not from God as much as it is a gift of God Himself. He is the life. We enjoy His presence now through the Holy Spirit and in heaven more fully later. He doesn't give us comfort but He gives us Himself and He is the comfort. We don't seek power or a good life as much as we seek God Himself. He is the life and the power. We are "Alive to God" because of the resurrection. Enjoy Him and reach beyond wanting what He can give us. Reach to Him. That is our response to the forgiveness we have because of the cross.

Good Friday

2009-04-11T07:47:00.008+12:00

How Deep the Father's Love For Us

How Vast Beyond All Measure

That He should give His Son For us

To Ransom us His treasure

Some may recognize those words are from a song. It was Good Friday yesterday and a Holiday for all in New Zealand. The grocery stores were closed. Most restaurants and cafes were closed. The gas stations were open and busy with boats filling up and heading out to enjoy the beautiful Fall weather. We went to a 10 o'clock service and reflected on this Holiday that for many Americans is just another work day unless you are Catholic. Some of you may know Good Friday is the calendar day that some Christians reflect on Jesus' crucifixion and death. I think many may remember seeing a Passion Play or the Mel Gibson movie The Passion and feel uncomfortable seeing the torture and crucifixion scenes. The English word "excruciating" comes from the Latin root words "like the cross". "Good" Friday is a somber holiday. In yesterday's service I was struck by a few scriptures that I wanted to share.

Luke writes and tells us the night before Jesus died he ate with his 12 closest friends and followers and said," I have EAGERLY DESIRED to eat this Passover (Jewish Holiday) meal with you before I suffer." He knew what was "excruciating" and yet was eager and desired it. John tells us he earlier had said, " I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me but I lay it down OF MY OWN ACCORD." He chose of his own will.

After doing an artwork representing the cross during the kid's church, later last night Anna asked me who killed Jesus and why did they do it? One of the older kids who had been in the main service told her, "Jesus killed himself!" I had to ponder the suicide comment but straighten out a bit that he allowed it, even eagerly desired it, and "no one took his life from him". In His authority He took His own life by "laying it down" of His "own accord". I can't blame the Romans although they executed Him. I can't blame the Jews even though many did not recognize Him or understand Him so sentenced Him to death for blasphemy. Scripture teaches He Himself decided. Even at the point of death while on the cross he said in Luke, " 'Father Into your hands I commit my spirit.' When He had said this he breathed His last. "

Why did he do it? Our pastor yesterday was struck by the friendship Jesus offers. Jesus' words are "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends...I have called you friends." Jesus told parables about hidden treasure in a field and someone going to sell all they had to buy the field meaning that we are a treasure and he gave His all, His very life for us, to buy us.

Ok so I can answer Anna that He chose to die out of love for people but it's the why did he have to die part that is a little harder. The bible describes a mystery I don't fully understand. I have learned through experience that mankind is imperfect. I can see that I certainly am not perfect. Many I know can appreciate that there is or at least maybe a God who is Holy and perfect. The Christian faith is based on belief that something miraculous and mysterious happened on that Friday. Some how spiritually God himself took on our imperfections and paid the penalty of death for it in our place. Not that we won't die physically, obviously we still do, but spiritually we can live on with Him in heaven. The bible describes this miracle in many terms: Jesus taking on our imperfection(our sin), paying the price of death for it, taking our place in a sense, paying the ransom for us as if we were stolen or kidnapped by our sin, redeaming us back to Him as if our imperfection seperates us from God's holiness, atoning/satisfying a just law that we couldn't follow or satisfy no matter how nice a person we are.

When I was 18 I had an epiphany that I could not be good enough, perform enough, do nice things enough to gain God. I had spent a lot of effort trying to and had made a lot of mistakes along the way. Religions all over the world through out history have been filled with people trying to appease God in some way. Humanity has made statues to honor gods, festivals for them, dances and parades too. I remember many years ago standing at a Mayan ruin in Mexico. At the site Mayans had made human sacrifices in a large pit in order to gain favor from their gods. I recently saw a documentary on Hinduism where still today ellaborate parade floats are made to various gods in various cities. The idea of Christianity is different in that Jesus did the appeasing and was the sacrifice that satisifies any wrath from God over mankind's action. Through belief in Jesus we gain that forgiveness not because we are good but because He is good. It is what we refer to as "Grace" or God's favor and goodness to people even though people aren't perfect.

Many I know reject Christianity because they think it is a religion with a judgemental code of do this and don't do that. There is the misperceived idea that you better pray and not have fun or a mean God will come down on you. They get this idea from Christians who pray, don't seem to have fun, are mean and come down on other people. Many people in history have claimed the faith and then done some pretty horrible things. It makes me sad because I know that I don't always reflect the true message of God's love for something He treasures but instead pray then turn around and come down on someone who doesn't do what I think they should. In truth Christianity is a love that lead to a sacrifice on His part on our behalf for a reason that is hard to fully grasp.

The forgiveness because of the cross is extended to the whole world, all peoples, every tribe, every nation, every tongue but it must be accepted by an individual. Each man works out what he believes in. The bible teaches even if he has even a little faith (as much as a tiny mustard seed) in Christ he is forgiven.

Many Christians I know can pin point a moment in time when they started believing while others remember a process of wondering about it for years. However faith develops it always has moments of doubts about something. Faith in Christ leads to a freedom from do this and do that. "He forgave us all our sins having cancelled the written code with it's regulations that stood against us. He took it away and nailed it to the cross" is the message in Colossians. This frees us to just BE with God in a relationship of friendship because of mutual love.

Christian life is not attending a Christian church or being born in a family or a particular nation. It is realizing personally your not perfect and Who is? Becoming a Christian is having a tiny bit of faith that God forgives our imperfection because of Jesus' death on the cross somehow in some way. It is a response to the forgiveness and love God has shown me personally. Christian life is as simple as the verse "To love your God with all your heart, mind soul, and strength and to love your neighbors as yourself." We can't even fully live up to that one but there remains his grace and forgiveness as we try to pursue a relationship with our friend God and a love for other imperfect people who annoy us.

End Of Summer

2009-04-02T22:54:00.009+13:00

Andrew, Sharmaine, and I were enjoying the last days of summer on the floating swim platform at our house in the Bay. I have a wet suit on and am sliding back into the water. Lynn had just driven up from work and had the camera in the car taking pics of his commute home. I included a few at the end of this entry. We all have enjoyed dipping into the bay on these last few days of warm summer weather. The water is actually warmer than mid summer but still cold enough for me to put on a wet suit. Usually I opt to enjoy the sunshine and a book from a nice warm shore rock while I watch the others laugh and play over the page's edge.

In this shot our little bay has the tide out. We walked back down our street after karate where Andrew takes lessons on Thursdays at a community center/hall at the street's end.

This day Andrew brought a swim suit and changed for a swim after karate. The little white building behind is where the community hall is located. I think some folks are trying to put together a going away party with our community friends. Anna and Andrew's class is throwing a party for them Monday. Many have been so good to us and seem sad to see us go. The swing is wooden with "Swing Low sweet Chariot" written on it.

We were walking home after karate. Like at home after school activities mean there is always waiting for siblings to finish lessons. These kids were waiting for karate class to end. They all ventured towards the waters edge with us and collected about 20 or 30 hermit crabs from where the tide was out.

This is the kids' school sign. It's a very artistic school with a teaching philosophy of learning what interests you and promotes your own creativity. The kids have enjoyed it but when we get back we may need to review some time tables and spelling words if you know what I mean.

Claire, Hanna, and Maddie as they were waiting to take off for the class overnight trip to the marine reserve at Goat Island. Claire was excited for days! You can see the soccer field at the school in the back ground. Claire is trying her feet at soccer with these gals for our last month here.

This is Toby Greenwood, Claire's super cool dude teacher this semester (you can't see his pony tail in the pic). He is standing under the awning in the school assembly area. He and his wife Merrin (from Alaska) just had their second child. We got to meet her family when they were visiting from Alaska. People here are pretty laid back. Last I heard they were still thinking through names and the baby was born in January. We got a kick out of some of the options they were trying out. We had to throw a few fun suggestions in too. I can't even pronounce and have never heard of half the names here. I do know there other daughter is Isis and I have heard of that name. I think it was an Egyptian goddess and there was some 70's show about about a super hero.

Anyway here is Claire with her muffins and some of her friends just before leaving for camp.

Lynn decided to take a series of 3 shots on the way home from work a few weeks ago. The commute is worth looking at but he says the distance is getting hard. When you see the photos I don't think you will feel much sympathy.
After leaving the hospital you cut across a few blocks of "downtown" and swing by the yacht basin.

The view on the way home about half way from the hospital. Remember we live at the base of the Head-like rocks on the mountain to the left. The view from our mailbox here on Stuart Road. The swim plat form is a little to the right but out of the photo. If the Hatmakers would put in a pool it would really improve the mailbox view at 1523. They can use our backyard but the fence will have to go around the compound. The view on Interstate 40 is a hopeless cause but I do hope the construction was completed the year we were gone (Ha, Ha).

Hiking Around Northland

2009-03-31T10:17:00.011+13:00

We have enjoyed a lot of hiking recently. Rene, her son Riley, Phillip, and I did a hike 10 minutes from our house going from Urquate's Bay around to Smuggler's cove. You could see Ocean beach off in the distance. It tokk a few hours but was a beautiful hike to the beach.

Lynn and I got away for one night for a much needed to retreat together. It's only the second night together without the kids the whole year. We stayed at a lovely old bed and breakfast an hour south of town in a place called Mangawhai. We laughed because some white New Zealanders say the name like "Maine-ga-why" and the Maori word/way to say it is "Mon-ga-fie". We had a great time eating at a French cafe called The Kiwi and The Frog named after the married New Zealander and French Chef that own it. It was the best meal in New Zealand and the best cheese plate ever! After dinner we walked down the remote natural beach and saw the most amazing stars in a clear moonless night sky.The next day we set out for a 3 hour hike across the beach and up the Bream Head mountain cliffs then back on a loop across a very rocky mile of beach.

This is Lynn before we headed up to the top of the cliffs. The beach behind him is where we saw the amazing stars!

(Above) This is along the tops of the cliffs. The mountain off in the far distance is the Ocean Beach area we live next to.
The view looking back at the Mangawhai surf beach from the cliff tops (above). The trail went through a very lush tropical forest where Lynn took the pic of me (below).I had hiking shoes on but you should have seen Lynn's size 13 jandals (aka flip flops) along the beach rocks for the last hour or so.
There were amazing amounts of shells on some areas of the beach. You just walked for 100 feet of nothing but shells.

This parking lot at the trail head and surf beach is indicative of the outdoor lifestyle here. The kayaks, walkers, surfers, and bikers enjoying the vast great outdoors New Zealand affords.
Lynn often hikes the mountain behind our house (Mnt Aubrey) for exercise because in 30 minutes you can get a good stair climb heart pumping walk with a view at the top. Andrew and I went with him after dinner the other night and enjoyed a rest on the bench for a minute.

The sunset view at the top was worth the hike. The hospital sits about where the sun is setting.

Our time here is setting too and it is hard in ways to think of leaving the beauty here and the people we have come to know but we are excited to see our friends and family back home. Please leave comments to let me know you were here. It takes so very long to upload the photos and encourages me when folks scan over them.

March Madness

2009-03-28T09:14:00.009+13:00

I think I am at least 2 weeks behind on the blog. With work, kids, and the approaching departure the time to blog seems to be sparse. In addition, my Dad has been in the hospital this week in the US but should go home tomorrow. I thought he would like these pictures of the recent sunset from the mountain walk behind our house. The sky has been so clear and beautiful lately with brilliant color at sunset and millions of stars on moonless nights. I wish I could get a picture of the Southern cross. The fish Andrew is pointing at is snapper which feeds at night. We look forward to a promised fishing trip with Andrew, Phillip, and my Dad when we get back. Lynn has been out once with some Phillipino people here I know through work. They fish all night but Lynn called it quits about 2 AM. The snapper is really good eating fish. Our neighbor Stuart gave us some he caught too. After a year on the waiting list his wife Sue had her brain surgery earlier this month. They are back from Auckland and she has been without seizures. It is a big change from the daily seizures she has been having. Phil and Rheba may remember them from the airport upon arrival to NZ. They were headed out for 2 different kids' weddings in England and Thailand.

A few weeks ago the kids went to a Pirate party. Andrew won for best costume because he took the great pirate ship kite my sister sent him for his Birthday last June. The kids have had a variety of friend's birthday parties to attend including a skateboarding for Riley Jack (Anna and Andrew's freind) while I as in Australia and the lazer tag party below for Naomi Abascal's 12 birthday.

Church has been a blessing due to the relationships we have there. It is more like a small group but it allows us all to really know each other's faith in a mutually encouraging way. The kids have been blessed in this way too.

Notice the Upward Basketball flyer. The church is starting an Upward League here as an outreach. Miguel brought all the materials back from California when they visited family last October.

I have two really precious friends and neighbors in Sharmaine and Rene. Rene is Anna's friend Brooke's Mom and has started watching the kids after school for me on the days I work. The above photo is Rene's son Riley who reminds me of my nephew Rhett and is almost the exact same age. He has speech problems and says "Dawn" so cute. Sharmaine's son Leo below is one of Andrew's best friends. He broke his arm sand surfing a few weeks ago and required surgery. They live up a little path behind our house and Andrew spends a lot of time up there. Sharmaine comes and visits over a cup of tea. I treasure our talks about what God has done in our lives. She has a beautiful story of God's redemption and on going emotional healing.

Through common friends we met this wonderful family who have a ministry here and in the Phillipines to help families do devotions together. Their website is www.walkingwithgod.com where they have daily verses to print out and guidelines on how to get started. This is an area we have wanted to grow in for a long time. Colin Pyle (the dad) also loaned me Larry Crabb's book The Pressure's Off which has been really speaking to me about centering on Christ in the midst of things not working out in my life. I think all of us have times when we feel things just aren't working out to our hopes (illness, economy, relationships,etc) despite us doing the right things. If you are in a season of disappointment or struggles in some areas then I would recommend this book. In any event the below photos are from their local fellowship group at their house. Colin is able to independantly fund this ministry and is an amazing example of how a follower of Christ with large financial means can live humbly and give to others greatly out of love for God.

The kids love to go to the Pyle's because they have tire swings, a beach, a man made water slide, and a corn maze on the property.

Having a lazy swing at the Pyle's place is like Mayberry must have been. Peaceful! Despite the March Madness I think we have been more at peace.

Sydney

2009-03-22T17:46:00.009+13:00

Last weekend Lynn watched the kids (took them to the circus with our neighbors) while I went to Sydney for an Australasian Pathology conference. I got to here lots of interesting speakers including the CMO for Seimens and the president of the College of American Pathologists.

This is Manley beach where Nicole and Keith live.

A highlight for me was going to Hillsongs where the message was on sacred joy. It was a well timed message for me as I have been a little blue lately over the job situation in Knoxville. May the joy of the Lord be my strength.

Sailing families

2009-03-18T11:36:00.004+13:00

I've been wanting to write for awhile about the "yachties" we have been meeting. In general, they are families from all over the world who have sold everything, bought a boat, and left home together to sail the world. I thought the words of an actual sailing family do their life experience justice:

Sailing dream comes to an end
http://www.blogger.com/
To:
Nichols, Phillips L. II MD
Cc:
Attachments:
Hi Dawn and Lynn
Wonderful to meet and stay with you guys. Hope to see youal again soon

Please excuse the round robin, it´s an attempt to make up for my slack
communication skills. You can see the photos on www.oceanfamily.net

Final blog, Tutukaka, New Zealand

Our sailing cruising dream is nearly over, all that remains is for us
to move on land after a little more exploring of New Zealand´s islands
and to get my yachtmasters ticket. Our three years living on Yamana has
been an amazing experience, we traveled over 17 000 nautical miles and
visited 21 countries. When I think back to how little I knew before we
set off it seems incredible how much I´ve learnt, from handling the
boat in tricky situations to maintaining every electrical and
mechanical system on board. At some stage I realized that in spite of
being only of average intelligence and dexterity everything I had to
learn or cope with I could, it just took perseverance and tenacity.
We´ve all learnt a tremendous amount, sailing in heavy weather, keeping
one´s cool in difficult situations, self entertaining over long
passages and perhaps most fundamentally embracing the unknown with a
sense of adventure. I shall never forget catching up with the kids in
a seacave to see Ruben dive 20 feet down then disappear into the
rocks, emerging through a 15 foot tunnel outside the cave. Or how
confidently Olive aged 10 steered Yamana between numerous ships in 40
knots of wind through a packed Panama harbour when we were short
handed.

Many people can't really imagine what it's like traveling by sailboat,
so here are some descriptions and answers to questions. For starters it's
not a holiday; for the skipper it's about half a day of work everyday
keeping up with the maintenance. All the regular tasks of living that
you take for granted in a house are so much harder in a small boat,
like cooking at anchor in tiny kitchen with so little bench space, when
heeling over on a passage even eating is tricky, let alone dealing with
meals trying to jump off the cooker. Washing clothes and getting on the
internet can be major time consuming hassles if not impossible in some
places It's very restrictive, you've always got to be mindful of how
much power or water is being used, often when someone walks by you have
to move your body for them to squeeze past, personal private space is
non-existent. As they say it's the most expensive way to travel third
class. Cruising can be very expensive and it can be very cheap, some
months we would spend less then $100, but if you have to replace sails
or engine parts then it adds up fast. The most expensive thing we did
was replace all the rigging, I did most of the work myself and it still
cost about US $5000. We seemed to have gone through a whole lot of
money but once the boat is sold it would average out round US $50K per
year, not bad for keeping a family of four and an old sailboat going.
One of the funniest questions people ask is "do you anchor at night on
an off shore passage?"; once you get going theres no stopping, we set
three hour watches through the night, every twenty minutes or less one
of us looks around for ships and squalls, checks the course and sails.
90% of the time we're at anchor using our dinghy as a car to go ashore,
visit our floating neighbors or go snorkeling.

Our scariest moment was being violently shaken by a water spout
(tornado over water , Blog: 22 June 2007). Our most dangerous moment is
a toss up between being swept by the current under a low bridge in Fort
Lauderdale as we incompetently got off the dock, saved by the boat
getting stuck on post which gave me a chance to get back in control. Or
nearly entangling our masts with a steel boat in 8 foot of swell when
our rudder failed. Our close proximity was due to passing lines and
equipment between us, we could only watch in horror as the mast danced
within each others rigging. (the full story can be read on 16th March
blog)

Many people have asked us about home schooling. Alice did three days
and I the other two days a week, two hours per day, we had books for
maths and english which we steadily worked our way through. We had
some science and reference books for other subjects, we followed their
interest a lot and from the lonely planet guide books presented them
the history, culture and topical issues of every country we visited. I
also taught them to be competent crew, navigating, sail trimming,
diesel engines and rules of the road. They have fitted easily back into
regular school, enjoying the social and sporting aspects and coming in
above average in most subjects. The worst thing about cruising is the
lack of space and the best thing is all the wonderful people we've
meet, both among locals and the cruising community.

Sadly we're coming up to a round of goodbyes as our cruising mates
prepare to head into the Pacific. I'm glad not to have such a weighty
mission in front ofme Not that getting into land life is any
easier especially with our current economic downturn joining the rat
race and earning isn't going to be a cruise. We hope to take on a
franchise Test and Tag <http://www.testandtag.co.nz/>
which should bring us a steady income with minimal management that will
allow us to develop my photography and Alice's healing work. We'll rent
a house before the winter comes then hopefully buy some land and start
building a new dream next year.

The sailing dream will never go away for me, besides buying a summer
sailing business in Russell I have a ten year goal of building or
buying a low maintenance, fast, spacious, sea worthy catamaran. That'
the only boat I'll have any chance of enticing Alice onto. Then
continuing our circumnavigation, there's so many more wonderful places
to visit and people to meet.

We have met a lot of inspirational people out there, like the family
crew of Summerwine who left England in a £6000 coastal yacht with an
£600 overdraft, five years later they are still going strong. Something
I hope will arise from our sailing adventure and blog is that other
people will be inspired to step out of the main stream. If we can do it
anybody can, you don´t have to be gifted and wealthy, merely willing to
learn and step away from the safe secure path. Sailing is not for
everyone, there are many way to live out your dreams, to step out of
the box, perhaps now more than ever is a good time to set a new course.

Yamana is now for sale (click here to view <http://www.gulfgroup.co.nz/displayboat.php?Boatid=92621&id_broker=19>)
for a snip at NZ$168 000, if we are lucky enough to get a buyer it will
be sad to see her go but if not then I guess the dream will live on,
certainly the maintenance will.

I will most likely keep the oceanfamily website going and do the
occasionalupload to show our progress on land. I have for one reason
or other been pretty hopeless about staying in touch with most of my
friends so please help me out and let me know how you´re getting on,
talk about your dreams or just wish me happy birthday for the 17/3 pg@pgpix.com
tel 64 21 686820 or S/V Yamana, Tutukaka Marina, R. D. 3 Whangarei
0173, NZ

Live your dreams.

Pete

Kids Update

2009-03-05T12:48:00.013+13:00

Kids have been enjoying baseball and T ball in town 2 days a week. Phillip has been playing catcher and really likes it.

Claire is all legs and personality.

Anna kills it.

Lynn is coaching which he really enjoys.

Claire recently gave a report on the ills of smoking. The school assembly listened including many parents. Lynn and I were amazed at her boldness.

Andrew is packing up his bag at the end of a day at school. In New Zealand years they are in year 2. Anna is actually in year 3 Math. They will come back to finish up a few weeks of Kindergarten in May and then on to 1st grade next year. Their reading is coming along nicely. I greatly enjoy curling up each night and listening to them.

The schools here have a pool and swim lessons everyday. A lot of the education happens outside.

I had a great time with Claire on a class field trip to Reotahi for snorkeling, hiking, and beach combing.

The school classroom outside under the tent on the field trip was a great place to learn.

With clip boards in hand the students scavenged around to record things they found on how man has impacted the environment as well as items with certain qualities in nature.

I took this photo of Claire's group while we were on the nature walk through the preserve. Claire is on the right end in bluejean shorts.

The highlight for most kids was snorkeling through the marine reserve. I think we listed 20 or so species of marine life we saw during the excursion. Pictured left to right is Hannah, Cora, and Claire.

Claire's group preparing to take off. They practiced snorkeling in the pool prior to this field trip. Next week they go for an overnight camp at a larger marine reserve. Schools here are very hands on in their approach to education. All subjects school wide revolove around a unit theme which for this 6 weeks is "marine life".

On the cultural side we celebrated Chinese New Year when we were in Wellington with Rus. It's the year of the Ox and below is a red gas producing variety in the New Years parade as well as the tradtional Chinese dragon.

These smiling faces of Chinese children living in New Zealand are sweet. Unfortunately there is racial tension here. Many people feel Chinese buying fishing rights in New Zealand as well as their world wide economic spread is a threat. Last week I was riding back from a rural hospital with an Asian colleague when a car harrassed us. Two 10 to 12 yo boys and their Dad sped around us shouting Asian slurs, slanting their eyes, and flipping us off through several red lights. The end result was a police call and a trip to the station for my coworker to file a complaint. I felt so bad for him and it was a horrible experience for me to witness racism.

On a brighter note, a few weeks back we participated in a Maori youth camp with a Christian ministry to at risk teens. Miguel was the devotion leader and we helped out with break out groups to discuss what he shared. It was very interesting to get to know these kids and their culture a little. At the end of the retreat we got up to say Thank you for letting us participate. It was so funny because in the Maori culture we are expected to sing them a song. We hadn't prepared anything! After trying in vain to come up with something we commonly knew the Abascals and I muddled off key through Blessed be Your Name with great embarrassment! The Maori kids then got up and did an AWESOME haka.

Impoverished or Almighty

2009-02-28T09:52:00.003+13:00

I have been feeling impoverished lately. Does anyone else struggle with moments of uncertainty and angst about the way things are going? Whenever we talk to people back in the US we get off the phone feeling scared and uncertain about jobs, the economy, and the future. Several events of late have just been difficult. My mom recently shared a message her pastor friend e-mailed her about remembering "in uncertain times we have a certain God". If I focus on what I know of God and what we have experienced of Him I am reminded he is present and Almighty. It is a daily chose to think about him, yield to His will, draw up to his presence, and take in the words of encouragement and peace he gives. Jesus called himself "the bread of life" that we need to "feed on". Like physical food for our physical body we have a spiritual need for a constant daily dose of God's fresh presence in our lives. I have felt discouraged and disappointed about the way things are going but I am trying to look up, take in, and rely on something beyond myself and my circumstances. I thought this message below from Oswald was befitting.
The impoverished ministry of Jesus
Posted by Oswald Chambers under My Utmost for His Highest
From whence then hast Thou that living water? John 4:11.
“The well is deep”—and a great deal deeper than the Samaritan woman knew! Think of the depths of human nature, of human life, think of the depths of the ‘wells’ in you. Have you been impoverishing the ministry of Jesus so that He cannot do anything? Suppose there is a well of fathomless trouble inside your heart, and Jesus comes and says—“Let not your heart be troubled”; and you shrug your shoulders and say—‘But, Lord, the well is deep; You cannot draw up quietness and comfort out of it.’ No, He will bring them down from above. Jesus does not bring anything up from the wells of human nature. We limit the Holy One of Israel by remembering what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past, and by saying—‘Of course I cannot expect God to do this thing.’ The thing that taxes almightiness is the very thing which as disciples of Jesus we ought to believe He will do. We impoverish His ministry the moment we forget He is Almighty; the impoverishment is in us, not in Him. We will come to Jesus as Comforter or as Sympathizer, but we will not come to Him as Almighty.
The reason some of us are such poor specimens of Christianity is because we have no Almighty Christ. We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment to Jesus Christ. When we get into difficult circumstances, we impoverish His ministry by saying—‘Of course He cannot do any thing,’ and we struggle down to the deeps and try to get the water for ourselves. Beware of the satisfaction of sinking back and saying—‘It can’t be done’; you know it can be done if you look to Jesus. The well of your incompleteness is deep, but make the effort and look away to Him.

Lighten Up

2009-02-21T07:32:00.008+13:00

The serious contemplator may want to scroll down to "Dealing with Waiting" which I started before Lynn did "Messengers" but didn't finish and post until now. For the lighter side, here are some comic pictures from the Girl's weekend in Wellington with Rus while the boys were camping with Miguel. There was a special international Rugby tournament in town and the city was alive with costume clad groups heading to the stadium. Yes the thing to do is to go in costume and many a group was hamming it up. The funnier and crazier the costume the better and I thought I would share some of our favorites from "people watching".

Messengers

2009-02-15T21:38:00.003+13:00

Camping Trip sunset-Ahipara

Campsite and bonfire on the beach.

All boys trip and 4 Wheeling in the surf.

Sand dunes with campsite

Lynn, Andrew, Phillip and Champ...Miguel took the photo

Forgive us for our blogging hiatus. We've had to deal with American "stuff" including buying our tickets home. We'll be arriving in Knoxville at 9:45 pm Saturday, May 2! See you there.

Summer continues to be beautiful. So much of God's peace can be communicated through nature if we stop, look and listen.

Over the past week a few men have at least made me listen. Making some of the preliminary arrangements for returning home have been stressful and anxiety provoking. Watching the news, talking to people back home, and seeing bank accounts get depleted only worsens the sorry state. I took some of this with me into the wilderness last weekend as the boys and I went camping with Miguel (our pastor) and his son, Champ. On the drive up to 90-mile beach I told Miguel about some of my "problems" in America. He thought about them a moment- and then told me that they were a rich man's problems, implying they were not much to really worry about. It's not like any of my issues would lead to persecution, starvation, poverty or death. All real possibilities in a poor man's country. With that dismissal I agreed with him and was able to move on and enjoy my wild west coast camping adventure with my boys and the Abascal boys. The next man sent my way was one of my patients. He is an 85 year old Dutchman who came to New Zealand in the 1940's. I've known him for about 6 months and always find it a pleasure to see him. Despite pretty ragged lungs he's always smiling and making the most of things. He was genuinely saddened to find out I was returning home in May which made me feel appreciated. When he was about 20 years old the Nazis rolled into Holland and rounded up all the young men. Because he wouldn't fight for them they put him in a concentration camp. He said he nearly starved to death but was able to escape and eventually find a boat for New Zealand to get as far from Hitler as he could. Knowing this about him I asked what he thought of the current "crisis". He only laughed and said "You all don't know trouble!" Relatively speaking, he's definitely right about me. The third man I met with this week is my new medical partner from South Africa, John Mpe. He is a respiratory physician like myself. We were talking as we drove back from an out of town clinic and I asked him if South Africa was being affected by the financial issues of today. He, too, laughed and told me that it is so strange for him to listen to the American or New Zealand news and hear people worrying about unemployment going from 4 to 6% or so because unemployment in his country is 40%! He pointed to the road we were driving on and said, "In my country, there would be old and young men lining this road doing nothing because they have no jobs."

After hearing from these three messengers (and God's usual messenger to me- my wife) my heart had peace and hope not that my "troubles" would go away, but that in the grand scheme of things they were minor and - even if they became major- God and my friends and family would still be there for me no matter what the outcome. I am sure everyone reading this has food, shelter and someone nearby who loves them. If you do, give thanks to God. If you don't, leave a comment and we'll help you to the best of our ability!

Dealing With Waiting

2009-02-12T12:29:00.005+13:00

As we wind down our time here I am reminded of the intro we put into this blog. We anticipated correctly and we have learned about ourselves, the people of New Zealand, and our God. It has been fabulous. Each of those could and may at sometime become a blog entry. For now as we plan to return to Knoxville in May I am faced with a season of waiting which is the topic of this blog. I am waiting to say painful "Goodbyes" here and waiting for sweet reunion with you guys back home. However, I originaly entitled this blog entry "Dealing with Disappointment" because the waiting has resulted in anxiety and disappointment from the details of life in Knoxville not exactly falling quickly into a place we like. Let's keep it in perspective I am fortunate to not have to worry about the next meal like many we know who struggle from pay check to pay check. My health is good unlike various family members and the patients we see. My children are well unlike my friends who have lost children (I found out this past week through a facebook reunion that an old college roomate painfully lost a newborn much like I've seen 4 of my other friends experience). Never the less there are still taxes to figure out, busy Knoxville call schedules to work, 2 empty houses to pay mortgages on, a downward sliding weak New Zealand dollar to match the downward turn in savings, 401K, 1029,etc. The biggest pieces of the puzzle of uncertainty are the Knoxville pathology job and my Dad's health. I wonder if anyone can relate to uncertainty? The present circumstances can hold challenges and the future can be uncertain in many aspects. However, walking through these anxious weeks has brought an opportunity for me to seek God for His will and for His security. My prayers have shifted from the obligation or the light affair to a deep appeal that comes from the soul. The Word always speaks to me if I will read it and indeed these weeks I have heard many accounts from the Bible where people have had to bolster their faith and wait on the Lord (like Daniel after refusing Neb's food then trusting God to make him strong and like the syrophenecian woman who asked Jesus to heal her daughter trusting through silence and Jesus' questioning). My sister sent me a beautiful verse about being "joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer". I have sought God through some very honest prayers and my joy and hope are returning. The circumstances have not changed and the uncertainty remains reguarding work and my Dad but my heart is a little more resolved to believe God will work it all out and we will cope with whatever hardships come. It may not be easy but God promises He is a "very help and presence in times of trouble." We saw God come through in so many ways in coming to New Zealand and here we are having to believe him for the return as well.

Marlborough and Wellington

2009-01-26T17:18:00.009+13:00

Picton with it's sound and harbour.

The park at Picton had a little train.

The waterfront at the park at Picton

Horsing around at Picton before getting on the ferry to Wellington.

The kids playing at the vineyard.

The Marlborough region is the Napa Valley of New Zealand.

The Interislander ferry loads cars, sheep, and people for a 3 hour ride across the body of water in between the North and South Islands.

The view from the back of the boat as we left the South Island.

Claire and I on the top outdoor deck of the ferry on this beautiful afternoon.

It got windy later when Phillip came up as we moved into the North Island.

We made it to the windy city of Wellington to see Rus.

A great time was had at Uncle Rus as we watched movies, ate out, and caught up on the National College football championship game (on DVD of course).

Many have commented that New Zealand is more of a vacation than a mission. I guess our pictures from the 2 week vacation might suggest so. Ours was a short summer holiday compared with most who take 3 to 4 weeks off. It was a perfect 2 weeks for us, not too short and not to long. We were tired but went back to work last week. I promise there is work here but the pictures aren't as pretty. Lynn has had a very busy 2 weeks back at work as the first Northland respiratory therapist started from Auckland and his pulmonology replacement arrived from South Africa. He felt excited to see things coming together after 9 months but awkward to train your own replacement for a job you really like.

Kaikoura Whale Watching

2009-01-26T16:18:00.008+13:00

Sperm whale head...

spout...

and tail

albatross with 6-8 foot wingspan

New Zealand fur seals on the rocks

Kaikoura (kai=food and koura=lobster in Maori) is aptly named because it is the major feeding grounds for marine mammals in New Zealand. Less than a mile offshore is a deep trench with food and fish pouring up for the whales, seals and dolphins. Just driving into town we came upon a NZ fur seal colony with 30-40 seals laying and playing on the rocks. We had a very successful whale watching trip spotting about 7 sperm whales up to 50 feet long. These whales have 2.5 tons of oil stored in the top of their heads! They dive deep down and feed on giant squid and other creatures. Other species of whale come to Kaikoura but usually in winter.

Antarctic Blast

2009-01-26T14:13:00.008+13:00

This is a model for a research camp.

The explorers get on these yellow land and water cruisers which we got to ride along a track in. It also had a section of deep water which the truck did float in.

The museum had a room with freezing temperatures and periodic wind storms.

The kids and even Lynn enjoyed the Antarctica simulation with an ice slide.

The US military has a base for Antarctic exploration out of Christ Church right next door to the museum.
We could see the planes parked with ski bottoms ready to go.These planes are pictured landing right on the ice. Sounds better to take the 3 hour flight than a month on an icebreaker boat.

Even Antarctica has a church.

We all enjoyed the museum on Antarctica. Here are some facts we remembered:

1) It's 98% covered with ice which averages 2200 meters THICK and accounts for 70% of the world's fresh water

2) Closest continent to it is South America

3) In winter it is dark for 24 hours a day for 3 whole months. Then in summer the sun never sets for 3 months. It has to do with the tilt of the earth.

4) Anatarctica is 1 1/2 times BIGGER than the whole US and is only partially mapped on the interior

5) Fossils like coal, trees and dinosaur remains means it wasn't allways covered by ice. Some trees buried whole indicate it may have been flooded in a massive flood.

6) It hardly ever gets snow (less than 5 mm a year) even though it is everywhere. It is so dry that dehydration is one of the major risks.

7) Fish live in freezing water by producing a blood antifreeze.

8) Your hair grows twice as fast in Antarctica. Can you imagine us wintering there? We are all already so hairy.

9) Just as there are the Northern Lights visible in Alaska, there are the Southern Lights (or Aurora Australis) visible in Antarctica and in southern New Zealand. The lights appear as luminiscence in the sky during June and July due to atmospheric gases colliding with energized atoms frome the sun...blah,blah, something like that.

10) Hurricane force winds are a regular occurence thus solidifying the museum simulator is as close as I will get. I recommend watching the Disney movie 8 Below for more info.

Milford Sound

2009-01-22T08:56:00.013+13:00

The Milford Sound trip was actually the morning of the Shotover River and Arrowtown drive but requires it's own blog entry due to the majesty we saw. A picture is worth a thousand words they say.

Shotover River and Skipper's Canyon

2009-01-20T07:19:00.014+13:00

Lynn, Andrew and Phillip on the second row.

Arrowtown on the Shotover River back in the 1850's during the gold rush. Mainstreet doesn't look much different now. The old post man's house is now a restaurant.

Instead of panning for gold our kids just splashed around in the water and enjoyed the sunshine after the cold mountain nights. The camper has a heater and we felt luxurious compared with our freezing next door tent campers.

The girls hugging in front of the SHotover bridge reminds me of how as family we are growing closer. There is still arguing but there is a lot of love mixed in too.

A section of this river through skipper's canyon was used when the fellowship went on canoe through the two pillars of the Kings which were really only 10 foot statues superimposed on the cliffs edges.

Great fun was had on the Shot over River. You may recognize it as the river where Frodo had to escape from the ring wraiths after being stabbed. Liv Tyler carried him on her white horse making the flood come like God did for the Israelites.

We went to a hot tub with a view of the river.

The boys did the Shotover river jetboating. You can see the loading dock in the back ground.

It was high adventure but expensive. The girls wanted to go but will get their own special activity later.
The campground has worked out to be a wonderful experience as we have met other families from all over the world. The community kitchen and living room pictured was a place to hang out. Anna played Play-doh with a little girl from Holland who didn't speak English. Her older brother who spoke English introduced them enough to know eachother's name. A family from England camping a few spots over at actually been in Whangarei doing a homestay with some of our Whangarei Heads friends. Their kids at met ours at a Birthday party a few months ago. When we were on the train we met an American family of yachty's whose boat is next to our friend Bob's in the Harbor. On the train we also ran into Gene and Ginnie Baillie from the Anderson Pathology practice I worked in South Carolina. It's an amazing small world.

A Day Around Queenstown

2009-01-19T17:59:00.014+13:00

What do Tuscany, Swiss Alps, and Lake Tahoe have in common? The Queenstown area has images that remind me of all three. After spending the morning flying around on a scenic airplane fight we ended up at a vineyard for a picnic and wine tasting. I wish my sister Kimberly and brother in law Richard were here for this.

The camper van parked right outside the tasting room for a picnic. The winery had a cafe.

Lynn and I walked the grounds after the picnic.

The tasting room was a rare treat for us on a camper van family vacation.

The flight earlier in the day left Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu and headed for the high surrounding mountains called The Remarkables, over a few glaciers, and then on to the Tasman Sea.

The Wakatipu lake is the run off lake for the glaciers in the surrounding mountains. The above and below photos show the grey silty glacier water running into the lake.

The glaciers we saw are small ones compared with the massive more Northern glaciers of Fox and Franz Joseph.

Several high altitude "hanging valleys" with small collections of water can be seen near the tops in the alpines with waterfalls coming off them.

Being in the plane caused the usual "motion nap" for Anna. The pilot commented it was an expensive nap!

Phillip sporting his new wool hat with snow out the windows hardly looks like a summer vacation.

I love to sit up front.

The beach landing at Bay Beach on the Tasman Sea was a highlight.
There is absolutely nothing developed in this mountain into beach area.

The tide was high but here is our plane after the landing on the sand.

Here we are on the beach above contrasted with the snow we went through below to get there.

Many know I am a huge Tolkien fan. This is the area that the fellowship had to traverse to go around Isengard before deciding to brave the deep mines in the mountains.

Our first full day in Queenstown was too overcast to fly over to Milford Sound so we did a scenic flight of the Mountains and glaciers around Queenstown then on to the coast more north of Milford Sound. We flew with the private company that had flown the crew of The Lord of The Rings Trilogy. The pilot was great about pointing out the various places that were used for filming. After the flight we had a picnic at Amisfield winery. Then we went to Arrowtown for a river walk and play in the stream. We toured an old turn of the century chinese gold mining camp. Some of us were a bit grumpy and over the "fellowship of the camper". A little lull is inevitable in any long family trip. Since it was pouring down rain we skipped the evening church service we had been planning on attending and went to the campsite and to bed early. We felt refreshed this morning for another full day of scenic flying this time to Milford Sound. More on the Sound which is actually a Fiord later.

Queenstown

2009-01-18T19:59:00.006+13:00

The road trip to Queenstown went through the mountains over bridges with streams of Caribbean blue water running off the glaciers.

The kids had fun playing play-doh and watching movies like The Lord of The Rings Return of The King. It was amazing to see the movie and recognize the back drop similarities. The road curved it's way to the end point of Queenstown which reminded me of what Lake Tahoe looks like in pictures.

We parked the camper in this up scale lake side town and headed for the top....overview via Gondola (see Gondola car above Andrew's head) and then rode chair lifts (see below) a little higher up to do the luge run several times.

It's an expensive town but with every extreme sport you can think of we won't be for lack of options. Don't worry, with helmets and age limits we may make it to the next town despite things like hang gliding, parachuting, canyoning, and bungy jumping. The latter saw it's commercial birth here. The Pacific Islanders did it long before using vines tied to their feet. We have seen old video footage where the vine was a little too long but men just jumped up with pride after hitting the ground. I don't think we will be trying it, pride or no pride. Maybe some nice scenic flights over the mountains and glaciers. Some pics of that will come tomorrow.

Singing in The Rain

2009-01-18T08:50:00.005+13:00

After more beautiful driving we ended up at the next camp site in lake side alpine town called Wanaka. The town was a buzz with people as it was hosting a triathlon. From the campground we walked along a vineyard and the lake and then had dinner in town. It started pouring down rain while we were eating. The cab service was shut down for the road race and so we walked the 2 KM back to the campsite..... in the rain. About half way I remembered we had left the roof vents and windows open. Lynn dryed the camper out as best he could and I hot showered the kids and put their dry pajamas on. We all laughed about it except Andrew but the next day he asked if we could get a campervan when we get back to Tennessee. We did laundry through out the next morning and then packed up for the last leg to Queenstown.

Mnt Cook and The Lakes

2009-01-17T07:53:00.009+13:00

Breathtaking beyond pictures or words!

To say the scenery is spectacular would be an understatement. If your ever going to rent a camper van this is the place. It's like driving through the back drops of movies like The Lord of the Rings, Prince Caspian, and The Lion, Withc, and Wardrobe which were all filmed on the New Zealand South Island. The above photos are of Mnt Cook (highest peak) and Lake Pukaki.

What a view from this charming stone Church of The Good Shephard on Lake Tekapo.

I have been thinking a lot lately about Emmanuel, God with us. I know people struggling with marriages, the slow decline of MS, the upcoming death of friends with cancer, being sober in the face of alcoholism, and healing from lifelong emotional wounds. The promise of Christ with us as our friend, our comforter, our guide and the hope of life with him after all this is encouraging to me.

Camping life isn't bad in these mountains where cars are sparse and every other one is also a campervan. The campsites are clean and well equiped with internet, large multi-use kitchens, and hot bath houses. In between campgrounds, we enjoy pulling over for a picnic like this one with scenic views. The camper below is in front of our hotel before leaving Christ Church.

The first night at Omerama we had a campsite with wild flowers, a creek and a view of the distant mountains (below). Lynn and the kids enjoyed tubing a short stretch of the creek by our campsite. It all brought back sweet memories of my childhood camping in the Smokies except this time I watched from a folding camp chair with a cold one.

After tubing there was "Spaghetti night" in the camper and then to bed for another day treking through the mountains.

Christ Church

2009-01-16T16:59:00.008+13:00

Christ Church is the gate way to the South Pole. This statue remembers Robert Falcon Scott the early antarctic explorer from England. Seeing the Antarctica has always been a dream of Lynn's but this is as close as I'll go.

Anna and I have a love of the hydrangea flower which is abundantely blooming here in pinks, purples, and blues. They remind us of my grandmother the late Mae Needham and of Pappa who both love them as well.

The botanical garden was a huge highlight of the city.

Christ Church has a trolly system as well as punting (Men pushing boats with long canes) on the Avon River. Both add to the charm of this city.

The city boasts beautiful stone architecture which adds an old world feel.

The Cathedral below and in the background above is a city centre (English spelling used here) piece.

The first full day in Christ Church was spent on a train ride 5 hours over a mountain range through Arthur's pass and back another 5 hours in the same day. We ran into Gene Baillie from Anderson Pathology. Amazing!It was a long day but the views were amazing and a lot of fun (like this photo of Uno) in the cabin car.

This view was of the front of the train from the observation deck.

Below is a gorge we passed along the way.

The big sky views were stunning like this cloud shrouded mountain below.

The boys took photos from the observation deck below.

Some of the mountains were high enough to still have snow in summer like the ones in the distance.

On Thursday we said "Goodbye" to Cheryl and headed out for a trip in a camper van. More on that later.

Orewa and Auckland Farewell

2009-01-16T16:32:00.003+13:00

Our last few days with Lynn's parents Phil and Rheba were spent in the beachside community of Orewa and in the biggest NZ city of Auckland. We enjoyed seeing the boats and going up in the Sky needle pictured in the back of the above photo.Lynn and wondered if Janice of Wyoming was an American and if so what they thought about Pacific Island sailing medical missions ( a suggestion from our friend Hugh).

Pappa seemed to really enjoy watching and playing with the kids. There was mention of this cool rocking and spinning swing being replicated in Knoxville!

It was such a pleasure to get to have the time together with our family and to show them a corner of the world.

The boys caught this Tennessee Titans game but we missed the Florida national championship game.
The Orew condo had a spa pool and heated swimming pool that we went to most days even though the weather was overcast.

Like Dorothy says, "There is no place like home." It was a blessing to have a piece of what makes "home" special come to us for a few weeks.

A Week in Whangarei

2009-01-08T22:18:00.011+13:00

You can see Rheba watching the sunset if you look close. It's been a whirl wind week with Phil, Rheba, and Cheryl but our time together is closing. Tomorrow after work we will head to Orewa for a few days before they fly back to the US. Then it is on to the South Island for us for 2 weeks. I'm not sure what the campervan will do for internet so we may be off the blog for a few weeks. Before we left I thought the family might enjoy these pictures from the Nichols' visit. It will be very hard to see them go and stay behind for the remaining 3 months here. The medical work is coming along and we have made some wonderful friends here but we will return from the South Island and start the finishing work. Showing the area to family this week has reminded me how beautiful NZ is visually. Today when we were admiring the water, mountains, and flowers Cheryl made the comment that it would be hard to believe this beautiful diverse planet just happened. I happened to find an e-mail this week from long ago when all this NZ/Australia ideas started brewing in us because our friend Gene Baillie had been practicing in Australia and working with the Presbyterian church there. It is not glamorous work here and we have not made a lot of money but it has been God inspired, life changing, and breathtakingly beautiful. I hope we have been able to share a bit of that with our summer time visitors these past few weeks and with you blog catchers over the months.

Whale Bay for a late afternoon beach walk. The view in the photo below shows the overlook on the path down to the beach.

We went to an indoor pool with an outdoor high dive which the kids braved.

Papa rode down the slide with Anna.I watched a friend's kids that day and they all wanted to camp out. They didn't sleep outside though.
After church we went to Waipu for pizza and beach time.

Miguel gave more surf lessons. The guys threw rugby ball on the beach.
There was a lot of lazing around too. You can see Andrew with the Abascal's new "puppy".

While we worked on Monday Phil drove the crew around to Whangarei falls (see below).

There was a stop at the yacht basin playground too.

The "Perfect Day" was a motor boat for snorkeling and scuba diving out at the world reknown Poor Knights Islands. Scroll down to see Phil in a wetsuit!

Afterwards we ate Schnapper Rock in Tutukaka. I am not sure who won at checkers.

There were sweet moments around the house like fishing at the dock and....

......barbequing whole snapper with a view of the bay from our deck.

We went to Russell for a day trip to pick up Cheryl who had stayed there a few nights with Nate before he had to go back to work. The 360 view from the flag staff is amazing but can't be fully captured in pictures.

It was a hot day so sitting in the shade was really nice.

Today we packed and did laundry preparing for a nine person departure tomorrow. Then it was off for a late afternoon beach walk at Paihau, dinner at the Parua bay tavern, and sunset watching at Reotahi.

It was a perfect sunset to a perfect week here in Whangarei.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T08:01:00.008+13:00

This blog is a bit in reverse chronological order with our "Sister Christmas Day", New years Eve, and the New Years Day arrival of Lynn's parents Phil and Rheba. On New Years Day you can see Nana above, the first person off the plane, running. I didn't catch a photo of all our happy tears to see them. Our neighbors were in the airport flying to London and Thailand for a month for 2 kids' weddings. They said they also teared at the sight of the Nichols' reunion!

When the LSU tromp over Georgia Tech on International ESPN got boring we headed off to Ocean Beach.

Phillip and Claire in a tidal pool.

Rheba happy to be here.

Phil and I sat and talked about the 50 billon dollar ponsy scheme recently reported.

When the tide went out the boys collected mussels off the rocks. Lynn later steamed them with butter and cream to go with our steaks, yum!

Lynn and his dad.

Anna seen on the float the float she got for Christmas.

Andrew seen with his.

Claire poses in her Billabong surf girl swim suit Lynn gave her.

Nana braved a turn sand surfing.

The kids love digging in the sand.

The pahutakawa red Christmas flower trees are almost faded but there are still a few blooming.

We cleaned out and fired up our "Kiwi Hot Tub". The yard has a tropical garden with a walkway down into a sunken patio with an old bath tub with a fire under it and a chimney. The kids got in.

This was our New Years Eve meal the night before the in laws arrived. It was more like 4th of July.with hot dogs and warm weather.

Andrew had a hot dog and a glass of milk. This is funny because my dad likes milk with his hot dog!

We had Christmas number 2 when the postman delivered my sister's and Lynn's sister's Christmas presents a few days after Christmas.

The packages were all wrapped so cutely.

Andrewtook to the sword. You can see Cheryl suning in the background. Nate got here the next day for 5 nights. After a few nights visit with us I drove them up to Russell to stay alone at a bed and breakfast. He leaves today and we will all drive up and pick up Cheryl who will be here for a few more weeks. Thanks to everyone for all the Christmas presents. Happy New Year! Dawn

Boxing Day

2008-12-28T16:38:00.004+13:00

Boxing Day is an extra holiday occuring the day after Christmas. I think at one time it was the day they opened presents in England. Anyway, here it is another day to go to the beach which is what we did while Lynn worked hard at the hospital. This is Smuggler's cove. After a short hike to this vista you can walk on down to the beach. We laid in the sun, played badmitton, had a picnic, built sand castles, etc.

This is Andrew on the way up to the Vista with Urquat's Bay in the background. We live on the otherside of the mountain (Mnt Aubrey) you can see behind him.

You can see us at the top with the rest of the crew walking on down to the beach carrying floats and other beach worthy Christmas gifts.

Rus and Cheryl decided we needed to buy a catamaran. Easy for them to say.

Hard work was done on making the day's sandcastle.

Anna and Andrew modeled the finished product.

Rus had to leave early the next day. Cheryl and Claire had a girl's time walking up to cafe up the hill (The Deck) for breakfast and coffee.

Christmas Day

2008-12-27T17:00:00.007+13:00

The kids got up about 7 AM and everyone piled in our bed before seeing the stockings and opening presents.

Anna put every wearable gift on and played Andrew's toy guitar for Mimi and Pop pop who can be seen on the computer in the background. Lynn and I snuck in a set 6-6 (7/3) of tennis after presents and before lunch while Cheryl ran at Taurikura.

Christmas dinner had some family favorites like my mom's rolls and Rheba's stuffing. It also had English crackers but they aren't food. Like wishbones you pull on both ends of them. The pullable rolls of paper pop when they break and open to reveal a party hat and a joke. The jokes are corny like"What's the difference in a married man and a bachelor? One kisses the Mrs and the other misses the kisses"

My co-worker and friend Viv joined us for lunch after church. She is seen wearing her party hat and the beautiful new cross John bought her for Christmas.

Anna in her party hat.
Viv put baby Jesus on my sister's Advent calendar I brought from home.

Anna loved the matching dresses Nana got for her and her baby doll.

After lunch new bathing suits were doned and the kids tried out the the splish splash my Mom sent. A water ballon fight broke out with Lynn having the most fun of all. Cheryl and I took a walk and delivered presents to a few neighbors while Rus and Lynn took a swim in the bay.
Phillip and I played Badmitten over the clothes line while some folks napped.

Lunch was a casual affair with the adults on the deck. After an afternoon of activities and napping we watched the second half of It's a Wonderful Life and went to bed happy and thankful for all of you we didn't see on Christmas but feel your impact on our lives.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-27T10:18:00.006+13:00

We had a tree with a ring full of presents from the grandparents.

The lab at the hospital had a Christmas lunch on Tuesday. NZ has a fun flair for the tacky which came out in the holiday hat competition at work. My favorite was Barry with the purple Santa hair below.

My supervisor and office mate Dr.David Wei made his famous Spring rolls (below). Coming to NZ via Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia makes him an expert in Asian cuisine and the spring rolls are fabulous.
While I was at the work luncheon the girls walked around down town with Cheryl in the rain.

My friend Cheryl arrived from Birmingham on Sunday. This is us at Kauri Mountain Beach on Christmas Eve. It has been a real treat for me to have an old friend here to talk to and hang out with. Old friends are dear because they really know you and you have a history together. You understand where they are now because you know where they came from and how they got here.

Despite the overcast weather our Christmas Eve beach afternoon had some touch football. The girls at the beach didn't give me the memo about wearing pink.

We had never been to this beach before (end of Kauri Mountain Road). After a short walk the beach was beautiful.If you look close you can see Andrew at the bottom of this huge tree on the walk to the beach. The boys thought it a good place to "go behind".

Lynn went to get Uncle Rus in Auckland on Tuesday. We ALL enjoyed having such a fun guy share the Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing day with us. I have found my brother is so easy to be with and I wonder what my problem was when we were growing up.

Christmas Eve evening we all spent with our neighbors Nadine and Martin and their 2 kids. They introduced us to a Christmas toast with a glass of strawberries and NZ's version of Champaigne (Methode Traditionelle). They even have one variety which is "fraise" strawberry flavor. After a toast and some appetizers both families and guests headed off to a Baptist Christmas play which was the Mary and Joseph Bethleham story set in a Camp ground. It was different than the traditional candle light service but provided a good base for discussion about German church history and their backgrounds a few nights later. People are so fascinating. Anyway, the Christmas play with Mary in the Campground, Shephards as hippies, and 3 Kings that looked like rappers was a bit strange for us. The Christmas carols were the same sweet ones but we still missed the candles and the contemplative soft singing of Silent Night. After we got home, the kids hit the bed. Rus and Cheryl had their first ever experience of Santa's note, eating a cookie with crumbs left behind and being Santa's helpers.

Sailing into The 40's

2008-12-24T08:31:00.004+13:00

We had cake and presents. On a boat I figured one candle per decade might be a good fire precaution!

The Bay of Islands is always on the top 10 NZ "To Do" list. There are hundreds of islands to sail around.
The "Hole In The Rock" is a Bay of Islands attraction. We took a dingy through it and through the sea cave next to it.

I had a great Birthday last week. It was 3 days and 2 nights of all kinds of beautiful scenary and relaxation. I had such a clear mind for the whole 3 days. We did lots of fun things and I have so many pictures of the kids. I will do another post to show some of the activities.

School's Out For Summer

2008-12-20T08:10:00.010+13:00

We had a great time sailing for my birthday and will try to post some more pics up once our camera battery has recharged. As you can see the Bay Of Islands is beautiful. This is our skipper, Brendon, and the boat is anchored in the background.

Recent sunset from the porch.

The red pahutakawa tree rarely comes in a yellow variety.

Paul(below with Phillip at Halloween) was looking and feeling better when he and Michelle had us over for dinner at their lifestyle plot (Gentlemen's farm with orchard, sheep, chickens, etc). Above photo is their porch as we sat outside before dinner. We played Sardines with the kids when it got dark.
Paul is an artist from England and Michelle is a savvy, smart kiwi with a Maori heritage. In this culture any Maori blood gives you full Maori rights. Some people look and identify themselves as Maori while others like Michelle don't particularly look Maori but are trying to connect with their Maori heritage. Michelle takes language and culture classes offered at the school once a week. I wish I had time to check it out. I enjoyed talking with them about Maori faith and our different Christian backgrounds admixed with our politics and social views. I enjoy listening to them as they have a depth to their thoughts and beliefs. The kids enjoyed the lifestyle plot where they held chickens, chased sheep, and climbed fruit trees like this plum tree Phillip is hiding in. Below is one of the many views of farmland around their paddock/plot. A bit of a digression before some more pics: It is interesting that some people here think that being Christian is a part of your heritage like being Maori or American. One of Claire's friends commented she was a Christian but didn't want to be. It begs the question what does she think being a Christian means. What is really fascinating about Jesus is that he challenged the Jewish way of birthright to a religion and said each person has to believe in their heart and their faith in Christ even if it is small makes them a Christian. Another point is the confusion we are finding about what it means to be a Christian may be because of the lumping of anything western being considered "Christian". Overseas folks sometimes can't seperate western actions (like colonialism, the war against terrorism, and sexual openess) from Christian faith. For example the Muslims we have talked to think the war on terrorism is "Christian aggression" and all Christians are like Sex in The City. It is hard to give a message of love and forgiveness of Christ to someone who has mingled Western politics, a moral decline in Western culture, and Christian religion. For many Muslims it is very hard to conceive there is a difference because there is no difference in politics, daily culture and religion in their own life view in Muslim world. They also have a hard time realizing the freedom we Americans have to look critically and believe this and disagree with that and at the end of the day not behead eachother for disagreeing and still call the whole lot with warts and all "American". I struggled a bit after my Maori 2 day course where the ills of colonialism and Western ways were displayed pretty effectively by a Non-Maori white teacher. After a few days of inner turmoil I came to the conclusion that each of us have 3 "rings of influence" that make up how we think and act: our culture, our religious convictions, and our own self interest. They overlap some but sometimes we act strictly out of one. Through time some things were done here strictly out of self interest (Like the men who ran the New Zealand Company who sold the same land deeds to multiple different English people ripping them off. ) Some things were cultural influence like the British colonialism keeping slaves. Somethings were done out of religious beliefs like the early missionaries planting churches and schools and trying to appeal to the British throne for their Maori friends. Sometimes the lines were blurred- by Christian missionaries, settlers, and Maori alike. The second day of the course the Maori teacher did a more balanced job portraying the struggles the Maori have and the beautiful side of their faith. I especially appreciate the humility they have before God, the importance of family/community (Whanau), and the respect/treasure the earth is to them. Just as he said that drugs and family violence aren't part of Maoridom ideology I feel that military aggression and open sexuality are not a part of Christian ideology. It's good to seperate these things in my mind.

The shallow waters in front of our house have made for great wading as the water here is COLD.

Some of you may have Guitar Hero for the Wii or remember the 70's song called "School's Out For Summer" with a guitar solo afterwards. It has been a bit of a theme song around our house this week. The kids finished the long run of school since August 2007...yes that is 17 months of school with a break here or there for a week or two. They were especially excited for this summer here with Christmas and Nana/Papa visiting in early 2009. I included some pics of the last day of school.

(Above) Lil Ogle is the Whagarei Heads principal.

(Above) Joy is the school nurse, secretary, administrative coordinator and general love on the kids/help out in any way person.

Mrs.Prince and Mrs. Neubold did a teaching job share for Claire's class which meant having input and balance from two wonderful teachers.

Phillip's teacher Ms.McGregor was a new teacher this year and provided a kind and peaceful learning environment for Phillip.

Cheryl gets here in a few hours and we are excited that the Nichols' Bed and Breakfast is now open.

Address For Christmas Cards

2008-12-09T14:46:00.002+13:00

Here's hoping some of those cards will make it over seas to
Nichols
51 Stuart Road, RD #4
Whangarei, NZ

We haven't posted any yet. It maybe a New Year thing for us.

Christmas Time is Coming

2008-12-06T18:23:00.005+13:00

The pahutakawa flower.

Claire's friend Chloe took this photo today while they were playing in our front yard getting these photos of the beautiful pahutakawa red Christmas flower.

This is our driveway showing the early flowering pahutakawa trees at the water's edge. The big balls of blue-purple flowers have popped out along our driveway.

These wirey trees are seen everywhere along the beaches and bays. They are starting to bloom these huge red spiney flowers famous for their Christmas time red bloom.

Half way down the length of Ocean beach is a lava cliff you can walk up where the above photo was taken. You can walk down the other side and continue your walk on the sand.

Ocean Beach is a surf beach (below). They didn't swim but Claire did take this photo of Lynn on their walk.

Ocean beach is where you can see the conservation sign for nesting shore birds Claire's school class made. She made the "Care for nature protect our beach" part with her friend Maddy.

The little mermaid below poses for this beautiful shot Lynn took while they were on a beach walk together.

As part of his effort to connect with Claire, Lynn has started taking her on special walks like the pre-church walk at Ocean beach 10 minutes from our house last Sunday.

Claire and Lynn also took a long kayak ride around the point from the house one day this week.

Boys, all 12 eleven year olds, had fun in the Wap-Wap (NZ for Timbuckto) at the paintball party for Phillip's birthday. Above is the winning team while below is the crew waiting to get geered up.

Phillip is seen getting choked but smiling as boys do.

The twins have enjoyed the sunshine, tree climbing, and sandy beaches but had a very sad week when it was announced their beloved teacher won't be returning for the rest of the school year. The announcement came in a letter from the principal saying the reasons were confidential. There have been a few tears and lots of sad comments. With 3 weeks to go in the school year we are all very disappointed because she was doing such a great job especially in creative ways for teaching reading and they were very attached to her. After next week starts a flurry of exciting weekly events including: my Birthday with a family sailing trip planned, Christmas with the arrival of Cheryl and my brother, Nate's arrival the week after, 2 weeks with Nanna and Papa, and finally 2 weeks of touring the South Island with a final stop in Wellington to see Rus. It's really getting good.

Thanksgiving Feast

2008-12-01T20:16:00.003+13:00

The Pilgrims and Indians in person. Zara leading kids on guitar.

Emily (standing in green) and her folk band.

My garden zucchini and a strawberry.

We had 3 long rows of tables and sat about 70 people.

Thanksgiving came with much to be thankful for. I put out some pics of our church Thanksgiving feast. It was a mix of Americans with Kiwis and a few misc Brits/Africa. We ate with a nice young couple from Charlotte, NC and a family from Miami via Tortolla, British West Indies for 5 years. We had live Scottish folk music from Emily and her 4 string band. The kids read some scriptures about Thankfullness and Zara lead them in a song about how God provides (Jehovah Jirah, My providor in Hebrew). With Lynn's help they had written a play and Claire told the story of American Indians helping the early pilgrims survive their first winter after leaving England for freedom to worship Christ apart from the Anglican branch of Christianity. The Abascals were the Indians with champ as Squanto, an Indian who some historians believe may have been at that first feast. The other kids dressed up like pilgrims and proclaimed how they liked to shoot turkeys (Andrew), play baseball (Caleb), and have friends like Squanto (Phillip). My neighbor Charmayne made some beautiful flower arrangements mostly from my yard flowers, flax, leaves. I think everyone enjoyed the evening and it was certainly good to have a taste of Americana. We haven't forgotten where we are from and feel very much American on soil or off. I like Thanksgiving because it reminds us of basic American values of thankfulness; multicultural respect, help, and coexistance; religious freedom, and of course sharing turkey with family. We missed sharing turkey with you.

Thanksgiving Week

2008-11-25T19:57:00.010+13:00

The 6 of us at Russell with Uncle Rus who took the photo and texted it to Loida back in the US while they talked on his cell phone....technology amazing.

The triumphant two on the swim platform in the bay at our house.

Phillip's birthday is always special. He is becoming a young man.

This beautiful overlook in rural off the beaten path NZ had the Maori graffiti and beer bottles at the overlook reminding me of some of the problems in NZ youth.

Our German neighbors nadine and Martin are both family practice doctors who have been here for a long time because of the lifestyle.

Their daughter Tiarre (pictured with Claire) speaks both German and English. Claire is taking German in school.

Tiarre's brother Tomiko and Andrew are in the same class at school and are both such cute little guys.Claire in 1850's costume with her triple ring symbol which in Maori means "Forever friends"

She used the rest of the dough to make this "I luv U" cinnamon roll for Uncle Rus's visit.

(Below) Lynn with one of his Bay of Islands Maori patients. "Ki Ora" is hello in Maori.Bay of Islands is where this patient is from (see pic below). In Maori culture, the land you are from is very important. It is even more important than where you live now. I like that about their identity.

Rugby and picnic on the beach. No adult was awake to take the picture of the 3 of us sprawled out in the nap.

It has been a busy but eventful few weeks. Purple crayon melted in the clothes dryer but I got the white guest linens washed up and dried anyway for our first house guest last weekend. My brother was here for a quick fun filled time. We went on a long Saturday drive through the country with a stop for a picnic, play and nap on a black sand beach. The kids have all started baseball and T-ball. Phillip is for the first time excited about being on a co-ed team which is pretty funny. With athletics club (track and field) and Andrew's karate they are all really busy right now. The younger 3 are at an old country public school which celebrated it's 150th year at the same site last week. Claire won a division of the bake sale for her Maori friendship symbol cinnamon roll. The school dressed in colonial fashion and had old time games, etc. Phillip's birthday was yesterday and we had a great evening of cheesecake, Butter Chicken (Indian dish he loves), and watching an old Batman movie (Michael keaton, Michelle Peiffer, and Danny Devito). We will have a paint ball party this weekend for school friends. Two sundays ago I sang at church because the 2 singers were both gone. Desperate times mean desperate measures but we all survived. My garden continues to grow with more fun than actual food production. I think each of us has had one strawberry but the salad lettuce has been abundant. The green and yellow "courgettes" (yellow squash and zucchini) will soon be big enough to eat. Pumpkin is called "squash" here but there will be no pumkin pie for Thanskgiving because there is no canned pumpkin (or cranberry salad either). I am going to try to make shift cranberry salad with cran raisens and boysenberry jello (which is called "jelly" here) but I am not very hopeful. Claire has become so brave. She and Lynn took a swim in the very chilly bay in front of our house. Wet suits are required. We have enjoyed our German neighbors who had us over for a barbeque. They had fascinating stories about growing up in Germany, the division/difference between East and West Germany, the wall physically coming down, and the slow pace of real unity in Berlin. I was reminded of the 2 day course I took on Maori and the treaty of Waitangi(1850's but still disputed agreement between the Maori and the English throne). I learned a lot about the history and differences between the 2 cultures. The maori spiritual culture is beautiful in many ways as they relate in humility to God and to their "Whanua", their close community. Lynn continues to enjoy seeing Maori patients and getting to know them. Their culture like other cultures is plagued with problems they are trying to address but underneath are people, beautiful people. The weather is getting hotter with a balmy 82 degrees today. I did the Kiwi thing and hung the clothes out on the line. While folding them inside I could tell a cricket was singing in the basket but I showed him back outside. We will be washing up the linens again in a few weeks as Lynn's parents and my friend Cheryl have ventured purchasing plane tickets to the southern hemisphere in the next few months. My brother will return for Christmas and we will be kicking up the beach barbeque and doning bathing suits with my friend Cheryl. Santa is traveling light this year but apparently comes to NZ on sheep not reindeer. In the mean time Thursday is Thanksgiving and we plan to have a feast with other Americans and a few curious Kiwis at the church Thursday night. I threw in a little about the meaning of Thanskgiving as well as the events of the US civil war with my kiwi neighbor today. It was a bible study but we got a little off the subject when I realized she didn't know much about US history. Anyway, I am really missing family and especially my Houser and Hadorn cousins as Thanksgiving was the time we all managed to get together in the same room. I might need Cheryl's sweet potatoes, Tracy's mac-n-cheese and Sherry's desserts at a coming home party in the Summer when I can try to beat Bucky in Rook, pontificate with Gus over coffee, and laugh with Chris this time about what I have learned about the English. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

The Philippians 2 Attitude

2008-11-17T06:38:00.003+13:00

Paul wrote to the Christians in Phillipi:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Many of you already live this way (mothers, wives and grandmothers). Thank you. Fellow men, you may find this passage a new challenge as I do. Be encouraged!
-Lynn

What is funny is while Lynn wrote this I was independantly doing my morning devotional and was drawn to the same chapter in Philipians. Our pastor had mentioned a verse from it Sunday but spent most of the message in John 1. Anyway, this morning I was struck by the second half of the Chapter entitled"Shining as stars". It talks about obeying as God works in you to will and to act according to his purpose. I feel good about being in New Zealand because I know God worked in us in our desire (will) to come and our (act) actually coming. There are sufferings, though, and v14 reminded me to do everything without complaining and arguing. I complain at least with my heart if not my mouth in a way that brought Lynn to tell me recently that I was chronically dissatisfied with a few things. Ouch! I am asking God to give me a Thanksgiving heart that doesn't complain but is content. The Chapter goes on to say by not complaining and by holding up the truth about God (His word) that we can be different in a "crooked and depraved generation" like shining stars in a universe. I thought about how big and dark the universe is and how small and surrounded and lonely I feel sometimes in a world that seems mixed up on a lot of things. Yet I hope there is a shine. A little light can go a long way in a dark place.
Dawn

The Auckland Church Visit!

2008-11-10T20:13:00.009+13:00

Conference center where the NZ wide denominational service was held with some 20 nations represented, 3 choirs (Korean, Samoan, and Indian), and lots of cultural variety. My favorite part was a parade of national flags represented at the service where we saw Old Glory wave. Also a variety of bible verses relating to "the nations" were read in some 15 or so languages with Naomi (below) reading in Spanish. It was a beautiful thing to hear God's word in so many different native tongues reminding me that His word goes out to all the nations and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord.
Naomi, the oldest Abascal child did a beautiful job reading Malachi 1:11

Miguel and 3 other pastors were ordained in The Church of The Nazarene as pastors to NZ. Only one was from NZ. The other 3 were USA, South Africa, and Australia I think.

We have gotten to know Neville Barton (above) who is the Overseer for the denomination within NZ. He served in Papua New Guinea for 30 some years as well as Fiji. His wife of 40 plus years was also in PNG as a missionary from Scotland.

With 10 kids among our 2 families the Nichols and Abascals were a sight at the Pizza place (above) and the after service luncheon (below).

We enjoyed the variety of music styles present within the service. The above is a Samoan choir and below is a Cook Island choir who got up and sang at the luncheon. We thought about getting up and singing a traditional song like Sweet Home Alabama from our native country.

The Key Note speaker, Dr.Jesse Middendorf (below) had flown over from the denomination headcourters in Kansas to speak at the Centennial Service and perform the ordination. The most curious thing was that he went to Lynn's mom's High School in Valley, Alabama when his father was the pastor at Fairfax Church of The Nazarene during the late 50's. I told him that my thanks goes out to Shawmut Baptist Church who I am told prays for our time here in New Zealand. It is a small world.

The Nazarene church in NZ has a large percentage of Pacific Islanders who apparently have a custom of honoring people with a Lei of flowers. Miguel gave his to Lynn since he has allergic bronchopulmonary problems. Remember Miguel was Lynn's first patient in NZ and had waited in the hospital to see Lynn. Anyway, Anna ended up with the Lei and I thought Aurora looked like a Pacific Island princess (below) with it on.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

ON SATURDAY, WE AND OUR PASTOR'S FAMILY

WENT TO AUCKLAND TO CELEBRATE 100 YEARS

OF THE NAZARENE CHURCH!! WE STAYED IN A HOTEL

THAT WAS DECENT.

ON SATURDAY NIGHT WE WENT TO CHURCH AND

ON SUNDAY MORNING WE WENT TO A 3 HOUR LONG

MORNING SERVICE. ONE OF THE REASONS WHY WE CAME

WAS BECAUSE OUR PASTOR WAS BECOMING PART OF

THERE STAFF!!WE HAD A GREAT TIME !!

P.S. IF YOU GET A CHANCE PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT!!

WITH LOVE -CLAIRE

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Cat's away, The Mice will Play

2008-11-10T08:30:00.005+13:00

Whangarei Falls is the city's claim to fame.

The stream reminds me of the mountains at home plus some ferns.

Whale bay is just another beautiful deserted beach right outside of town.

The kids love to play with Naomi, Champ, Kiarra, Danna, Brooke, and baby Samantha.

Miguel who played college baseball has organized the Northland Baseball League. He bought the kids this huge plastic bat for after church parking lot play. Anna and Andrew will be starting T-ball and Lynn and I will be the T-ball coach. It is really a community out reach program. On the last trip to the US Miguel brought the equipment and programing back for Upward Basketball next Spring.

Anna starting the 100 yard race.

Athletic Club is at Phillip's school but is composed of students from both. Lynn is coaching the high jump. I take a pilates class in town that night. There is a sausage sizzle every week at Athletic Club and plenty of opportunity for grill side conversations and getting to know people. At such a time a teacher recently poured her heart out to me about the NZ problems of domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and school violence from first hand experience. It happens in both countries and is always hard to hear.
Lynn did such a great job managing the kids while I was gone. I found these beautiful pictures of his Sunday afternoon hike to the falls and walk at Whale Bay with the Abascal family after church. It is breath taking.We have started a new sporting season with baseball for Phillip, T-ball for Anna and Andrew on Monday and Tuesday, Athletic Club (track and field) for all 4 on Wednesdays, and karate for Andrew on Thursdays. It could be a busy time until Christmas. Thanks for the packages and letters from Rheba, Mom, Susan, and Nanny. We love hearing from you.

Nelson, Wellington, and Halloween

2008-11-08T09:29:00.004+13:00

The Wellington harbour is beautiful and reminds me of San Francisco. The playground in downtown Wellington has a great clean beach beside it.

We drove an hour north of Wellington to Martinborough where boutique wineries reminded me of Napa valley

Cheryl Crow and John Melloncamp are doing an outdoor concert at this vineyard later this month.

Rus was a great tour guide and companion while I was there.

As always, the roadside scenary is breath taking in NZ. This road to Martinborough shows the panarama.

There is something special about grapes on the vine growing within the rows of the vineyard which reminds me of Jesus' words in Matthew "I am the vine, you are the branches, remain in me and bear fruit (love,joy, peace,patience,kindness,goodness,gentleness, faithfulness and self control)."

While I was away Lynn did a fabulous job with the kids including getting them ready for the school community Halloween party where they enjoyed the candy and time with friends.

Aurora is pictured with her friend Brooke who had a great spider costume her mom, Rene, had made out of pantyhose.

Many thanks to thise of you who prayed for the lecturing opportunity I had in Nelson at the NZ Pathology Society's annual meeting. There were about 70 pathologists there from all over NZ including some trainees. I felt middleaged in an intellectual trough realizing I have been in practice long enough to have forgotten a lot of the esoteric initial training but not long enough to have the depth of experience of the long termers. On any account, the 2 lectures I did seemed well recieved and confirmed my impression that there is a teacher/lecturer buried within me despite the nerves that kept me up until 3:30Am the night before I spoke. I am asking God in what arenas will I swallow my jitters and become vulnerable enough to communicate pathology, biblical truths, or editorial writing. I seem to have a stir of thoughts and ideas accumulating in my head with need of time to sit down and write/organize. I wrote one entitled "The Pros and Cons of Capitalism" yesterday as I reflected on the US election, our American values, my Christian perspective, the more socialist NZ mindset, and the upcoming NZ election today. I can e-mail the essay if anyone besides Summer is interested. Anyway, it was good to be in Nelson and back deeper in the field of medicine I like so much. After the conference I flew to Wellington, the NZ capital city, to see my brother for a few days. He has a beautiful pent house apartment and I was quite charmed with Wellington as a trendy city. It is very compact with walking, biking, and busing to a variety of beaches,waterfronts, shops, and ethnic restaurants. We had my favorite, Indian food, two nights and shared pasta and a bottle of wine at a great Italian cafe another. He took one day off and we drove to the wine district of Martinborough to enjoy walking the vineyards and winetasting. Wellington provided better Christmas shopping so we did a bit of that downtown. We wrapped Christmas presents and watched movies in the evenings. It was just good to be together. He also treated me to an early Birthday present with an entire morning at the Day Spa. Fantastic!!

Labour Day Drive Through Northland's Wild West Coast

2008-11-01T17:31:00.010+13:00

World's largest Kauri Tree

Opononi- previous home of Opo the friendly dolphin

Koru (baby fern). Maori symbol of new life/new beginnings.

Ngapha (pronounced nafa) natural hot springs. We smelled like sulfur for days.

In the Kauri Forest

World's most famous restrooms designed by a Dutch artist. Go figure.

Massive sand dunes.

Primeval.

Forestry is big business in Northland. Unfortunately, it's not too pretty.

Quaint churches dot the countryside. Mostly Anglican. We hug in front of all of them.

Andrew enjoyed his visit to the Hundertwasser Toilets- remember to flush.

What is a mission?

2008-10-27T06:53:00.007+13:00

We made home made pizza last night with Bob, Caroline, and their son Oden.

As the evening got late, Aurora disappeared and we found her asleep in our bed with her sceptre.

The boys enjoyed a litlle airsoft gun battle in the yard.

If anyone doubted that Phillip and Claire are adolescents then these pictures of Claire may make it clear.

The Andertons below with their adopted daughter Cheyenne. They rescued her from neglect and foster care. The above picture hangs in their house and is one they took in India where they have spent some months on a couple of mission trips. They are originally from Great Britain and also feel like God brought them here.

What is a missionary? by Oswald Chambers

"A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.
Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . ." ( Matthew 28:19 )"

The above is a daily on line devotional from My Utmost For His Highest. I had checked the blog this morning and seen no comments on my last entry about the kids. I seem to always want to just write about the kids. It takes less time than some of the deeper things God is teaching and showing me. I always seem to think of topics I want to write about but can't seem to take or find the time to put to words. It is safe to write about the kids because I know the grandparents really miss them and love the pics. There are lots of other people that we are getting to know and share our lives with but it hasn't seemed right to put their intimate life details on the world wide web. Some of them read it! Can you imagine seeing some detail you have told me about yourself posted here. I have already angered one person by mentioning details better left private. I was thinking that some may feel the "mission" lacking and then I pulled up my morning devotional. The above was a God sent reminder that the great controlling factor for us being here is the command of Jesus, the inspiration he gave us to come, to be true to him and to carry out his plans. The needs of people anywhere in the world can be overwhelming with poverty, health issues, and broken relationships. Here it is a culture that struggles with racial issues, land rights, European colonization, family breakdown, unemployment, gangs, drugs, and "free medical care" that falls short of actually taking care of sickness. Lynn and I have jokingly said that the system looks at the patient and says, " You are too sick too treat or you are not sick enough." Many treatments such as antibiotics, chemotherapy, modern pacemakers, portable oxygen, allergy shots, etc just are not offered anywhere. What they do have is rationed to the point that the waits are so long that the patient ends up often past the point of being helped by it. We have tons of examples of people waiting months for surgery and then being past surgical cure by the time their turn comes around. My next door neighbor has a brain tumor that causes seizures and now is causing eyesight problems and nerve damage. She has waited at least the 6 months we have been here and now is scheduled to possibly have the surgery in February 2009! That is just so hard for us to support if "free" means limited therapy and year long waits in misery. Anyway, we just keep doing what we can in the system we are in. I will be lecturing at a national pathology meeting next weekend. Prayers for that would be appreciated. I have always felt teaching was part of my God given wiring so I pray that the information is communicated clearly and understood in a helpful way without me throwing up on stage. As far as spiritual needs, they are all around us as each person we know has a step to take towards God with obstacles they face. For some the first step is believing that God exists in a post modern mindset with the obstacle of seeing Christianity and church as judgemental and uncaring. I love these people and we have great conversations. What people think about God and what The Bible actually says about him has always fascinated me. Aren't we all working out our understanding? I am enjoying reading Finding God in Unexpected Places by Philip Yancey. If you don't know what you think about God you might find this book thought provoking and spiritually insightful. Anyway, I also am very thankful for the friends here who share our faith in Christ and whose next step is with us as we all grow a little fuller in our faith by walking through the obstacles of life. Parenting is a huge area of common ground and like mindedness especially with the Abascal and the Anderton families. There are a ton of other families from school that we have a great time just having fun with as our kids play together. The "kitchen conversations" are great and the people we meet are fascinating. For example about every 10th person has lived months to years on sailboats sailing the world. My pilates teacher and her urologist husband are an example ( 7 years with 2 kids sailing from England to the Eastern US coast, panama canal, pacific islands). The navy seal we had dinner with last night retired at 37 and lived in Mexico, Tonga, etc. Our landlord house owners Mike and Min are fascinating as they biked Asia and Europe for a few years. They responded to the 2 basement floods this week by fixing the drain, doing 3 loads of wet towels including folding, and leaving chocolate and champaigne. We have invited them this afternoon to share the champaigne on their deck as we ask them what it was like to raise four teenagers in this house. He is a psychologist so the answer should be good!

We are exploring different options for reaching out to people with the message of Christ around Christmas time so please pray for revelation and send us any ideas you may have.

Time's Flying

2008-10-23T20:53:00.005+13:00

AURORA!!!

This tree in our yard is pictured 6 weeks ago and then below is the green leafy appearance this week. Spring is full here and with it our allergies are giving Claire, Lynn, and me problems.

If you look close there was a rainbow over Mount Manaia this week. It has been extremely sunny and this was a quick short shower. It is so sunny that the kids are required to wear hats during recess at school.

Time is flying as we pass the 6 month mark. I can't believe it is the end of October. A big thanks to Aunt Brooke and Uncle Matt who sent this beautiful Aurora costume for Anna for dress up and Halloween. They celebrate it here in NZ but it's not a big deal. There are scattered dress up parties. The school is having a party but people don't really trick or treat door to door. As a family our policy has been dress up as a positive character (although Lynn says it doesn't have to be a hero of the Reformation like we heard one church suggest! ha ha) and get the candy while down playing any wickedness. I can respect other views on this one. In any case regardless of how you feel about Halloween it is a landmark for Fall at home and the nearness of Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you don't want a wool sweater, NZ wine or a greenstone necklace you better get your wish list to this Santa soon. I turn 40, ouch, the week before Christmas so you might want to get me a rocker to go with my walker. I am very struck with getting older and with the kids getting older. This is especially true of Phillip and Claire who are adolescents now according to the Prep For The Middle Years CD's I have been listening too (They are by Gary and Ann Marie Ezzo and I would highly recommend them to you guys with 8-12yo kids). I can really see their little child like ways fading into young adult conversations, humor, expressions, emotions, and interests. It is definitely a new era of parenting and a new friendship we have with them. With Phillip and Claire we are still mom and dad but the 4 of us seem to have this buddy time too in a way that we couldn't when they were potty training, etc. They are thinking through things more and trying to understand why in a good way. Anna and Andrew are just plain sweet and cuddly and cute and obedient. Let's just put it like this, Anna is Aurora and Andrew is Batman but Phillip and Claire just want to go hang out at the school party. It is a sweet time because they still want to hang out with us too.

Sunday at the Park

2008-10-19T20:47:00.004+13:00

Kids (Zara,Anna,Caleb,Claire, and Phillip) at the top of the half pipe.

First you hang! (Zara, Anna, and Claire)
Then some slide!
There is only one way down so Anna did it too.
Phillip and Caleb (friend from church) at the top of the half pipe.

Andrew at our house with the home made bow and arrow. Grapes are forming on the vine adjacent to him. Andrew in my veggie garden. I have branched out from the usual Kensington tomatoes to onions, lettuce, peas, green beans, strawberrys, spinach, squash, cucumber, and zucchini.
Claire on the porch of what would be your guest room porch. Note the grape vines on an arbor below her.

Phillip hanging out on the porch.

It was good to go to church today and then to a park with another family. We have been a bit homesick and it did us good today. Despite the homesickness (even a few comments from the kids who have now been in school for the 15th month in a row), we have a definite resolve to finish what was set before us and have a great time doing it. We would love some visitors though!! We are starting to doubt if we will see anyone. The weather gets better everyday. Please note the picture of your balcony off the guest room. If you time it just right you could probably eat grapes from the bed. The strawberries will be in for Christmas and there is nothing like a beach barbeque. I might even have some decent homegrown southern style vegetables to throw in. How about a Poll. Vote by leaving a comment if you would come to New Zealand if health reasons, time off from work, and finances weren't obstacles. We love and miss everyone back home. Keep up the support and prayers. Dawn and Lynn

Fiji-sunscreen,sunsets,sugar,and society

2008-10-14T18:13:00.012+13:00

Fiji rush hour as workers came to and from work by wading or by small boats out in front of the house.
Phillip wind surfing and girls kayaking.
Sand castle making...actually all 4 together, getting along, etc.
Don't laugh, too loud. My brother got us all Vols clothes and yes mine says "Smokey is my Homeboy". Guess what souvenir I am bringing back for the Hatmakers?

Andrew is an Island Boy and the girls made up a song for him to sing, "I'm an Island Boy". Maybe it will be Kenny Chesney's next big hit.
The beach house we rented had a clear shallow beach in front of it. Lots of Fijiians waded to and from work across to Malolo Island where there was a village.
Lots of dishes to wash.
The boys on a Hobey Cat.

Kenny took us around to visit the village including a Fiji day festival where billionare Owen Glenn attended. Owen and the Nichols stuck out in the crowd, for different reasons. Anna in the school library in the village.
Fijiian students practicing a flag ceremony for Fiji day.
The village church but not the one we went to.
Me doing a little shopping for my sister's Birthday. Don't tell!

Lots of sunny weather for sunbathing.
Meals were a fun time at the beach house and we taught the kids to play Rook in the evenings.
Anna and Andrew led Homechurch Worship Sunday Morning at the beach house.

Beautiful flowers we wore in our hair and decorated the table with.
South Pacific Princess

Low tide in the lagoon where we sailed and windsurfed in the mornings.
Great climbing tree outside the house. I didn't get a photo of Lynn and Andrew's gardening friend, Peter climbing trees for coconuts.

I thought I would list the following high points of our Fiji trip

1)The beauty is amazing and everything a pacific tropical paradise is thought to be. The Blue Lagoon movie with Brooke Shields was filmed a few islands over. I didn't feel like Brooke but more like The Grizwalds.

2)We all enjoyed seeing some family and that was great for the kids. Please come visit us and we will take you somewhere fun but perhaps somewhere in New Zealand which is politically more stable.

3) Speaking of political instability, Fiji is loaded with it. The Fijians are naturally black (melanesian) in complexion and were fierce cannabilistic warriors with a tribal system among the various geographically close cluster of 40 some islands. They were heavily influenced by Christian missionaries in the 18th and 19th centuries and remain more "Christian" in outward association with more religious influence evident than in New Zealand (For example bible verse on bulletin board at the school). Most of the earliest missionaries were Methodists ( a few were eaten!) and then later the Catholics came. Sadly, there was tension among the protestants and Catholic missionaries. Although it was a British commonwealth, Fijiians maintained more local tribal control than the Maori did in New Zealand. In the early 20th century the Fijians started importing people from India to work as indentured servants in the sugar plantations. The Indians brought Hindu and Islamic influences and different cultural habits that were not well received by the indigenous folk who have reportedly maintained an attitude of supremecy. The indiginous fijians fear the ever growing numbers of Indians (Indofijians) may mean losing control of their own homeland and being over run by a foreign people. Instead of a melting pot it is more like oil and water as one pastor told me. For the last 100 years the Indians have been lawfully and officially imposed on based on their race and it still goes on. Many have left and I have met some in the hospitalhere in Whangarei. The Fijians today own 80 % of the land (Indians are not constitutionally allowed to own land) but 90% of the sugar crops are worked and managed by Indians under limited leases. The last 20 years has seen many political coups similar to Haiti but through out it all Fiji has been able to maintan and grow the tourist industry by isolating the political issues. Some key political years were the 1987 election which saw a native Fijian Medical Doctor elected as Prime minister with sympathetic ties and backing by the Indians. He was overthrown by the Fijian military loyalists and never regained his elected position despite a world wide tour to appeal. 1997 saw their constitution revised to say that although an Indian could not be president ( honorary tribal chief position kind of like the Queen of England) an Indofijian could lawfully be elected Prime Minister (functioning head of things). Indeed in 2000 the Indian population had grown enough to elect the first Indian (Indofijian) prime minister but shortly after taking office he was held hostage with his cabinet for 8 weeks. A political scramble insued and a new indiginous Fijian loyal government named themself in his place. They stayed in power until recently when in December a year and half ago a Fiji military leader ousted them and had himself named prime minister. He remains in military based control of the country so we didn't venture toward the capital.

3) Back on the island of Malololailai the sweet Fijian people seemed far removed from all the politics. There was poverty with needs for water, housing, employment, etc. Our first night we had a "late night visitor" come to take water from our beach house's water tank (all though it contained mosquito larvae in our drinking water). Articles of clothing/towels/etc were reported to "just go missing" a lot. We did find the people very kind and we even were invited to shop at a near by village, see a school, and attend a Christian service with a small group of sweet locals in the hills behind the resort. Fortunately it was in English and it was a blessing for us to hear the word of God taught (the sermon was on missions) by a Fijian pastor while we were seated with people who work at the resort. They asked Lynn and I to say a few words. Lynn asked for prayer for the US economic situation and election as it ripples across the world and I shared a verse that I had been thinking of that day (Galatians 3:26). It says believers in Jesus are "clothed in the righteousness of Christ" not our own goodness/self righteousness (which by the way we have none) and in that "there is neither Jew or Greek, free or slave, male or female" or anything else that causes discrimination but we are "one in Christ". I was reminded of a sermon on Acts that I heard recently in Whangarei from a minister who spent 30 years in Papa New Guinea and 2 or 3 in Fiji. He said based on the New Testament there is no room for ethnic cultural superiority for a Christian. We are finding that many people lump Christianity in with British empire colonization and all the bad that conquest brought. I have read a wonderful book about women pioneers of the Northland here in NZ and most were Christian missionaries who brought education, medicine, suffrage rights and advocated for Maori against entrepeneurs with more economic self interests. I think sometimes the benefits the missionaries brought are forgotten and their motives misunderstood.

4) One day while on this beautiful pacific resort, my journal page for the day had a translation of Psalm 71:3 which reads, "Be thou my strong habitation, wherunto I may continually RESORT..for thou art my rock and my fortress. " and I thought about the politics, the social injustices/prejudices, the economic crisis, the various militaries of the world, the uncertainty of aspects of life, and I was thankful that God calls himself a RESORT to which I can always go and rest and be safe.

5)Anyway, we had a great time as a family enjoying the hot sunny weather and the resort with the kayaks, the hobey cats, a fishing trip, and snorkeling. We ate a new fruit called Paw-Paw (as in the Jungle book) as well as the biggest crab we had ever seen. We rode bikes, wind surfed, napped, and swam. The last night we stayed at a 5 star hotel close to the airport and had Indian food (my favorite food) buffet and enjoyed watching Nim's Island in the airconditioning.

What A Wonderful World

2008-10-13T09:42:00.003+13:00

I came over to Sydney from Fiji without Dawn and the kids so that I could take a medical recertification exam tomorrow. (Intense prayer for my success tomorrow around 9am Australian EST encouraged!) I miss Dawn and the kids but I also enjoy a few days to walk around a new place and do what I call a "Bill Bryson". If you've read his books you know he just takes off with only a general idea of his direction, meeting new people and seeing what's interesting without spending alot of money.

I've only had one full day in Sydney- but what a Sunday it was. I got up early yesterday and took the train ($5 round trip) out to the suburb where Hillsongs Church is located. The church provides a bus from the train station for all visitors. Waiting there with me were Christians from all over the world coming to worship at this church that has been so influential worldwide. In a way, we were modern pilgrims visiting a site of God's activity. I met people from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Seattle, the Phillipines, Sri Lanka and Holland- not to mention all the Aussies. Worship was inspirational and the pastor's message can be summed up as follows: Life and God are about relationships with other humans and with Him- just as Jesus dared to associate with lepers, we need to reach out to socially isolated people with love- he recommended that the best way to make friends was to be humble and friendly. I applied these principles to the rest of my day with great results!

I returned downtown around lunchtime and ate a whole, grilled Barramundi on the waterfront ($30) while studying a bit. I then bought a Sydney Harbor ferry day pass ($16) and spent the afternoon cruising through hundreds of sailboats and past the Sydney icons. The Sydney Harbor bridge and the opera house are beautiful from the water. While boarding the ferry I met a very nice woman from Atlanta, GA who commented on my Auburn bag with, "I'm a Dawgs fan". The accent was music to my ears. She travels to Sydney a good bit with work and, with true Southern hospitality, gave me great advice on which ferry has the best views. After visiting Manley Beach (where Keith and Nicole reportedly have their Australian home) I was sitting on the return ferry next to two young ladies speaking a funny sounding German. It ended up that it was Swiss-German they were speaking and that one of them was finishing the 3 year Bible college at Hillsongs. To underscore the small-world feeling even more- she is marrying a Maori man from Whangarei in a few months and probably moving there so her husband can be a pastor. Choice!

The day only got better with dinner. I had the privilege of dining with nearly life-long Sydneysider and author Roy Williams. You may recall from an earlier blog entry that he has written the book God, Actually. He has such great insight into the postChristian, materialistic mindset of Aussies and Americans. He also has keen political awareness. It was like having dinner with an old friend as we shared surprisingly similar stories. He just received the good news that an English company is buying the American rights to his book. Please pray for this book's success in America- I wish well for Roy, but, most importantly, I think his well reasoned explanation of a skeptic's path to faith in God can connect to wealthy, successful American couples in a unique, powerful and life-changing way. We both agreed that if any good can come out of the current financial crisis it is that people will realize God made us to do our life's work not just to accumlate wealth- but to provide basic necessities for our families and to express love to Him and to the people around us. For an exhaustive treatise on this subject read Ecclesiastes in its entirety.

Alas, I did come here ostensibly for work. So today is a study day- with a museum or two thrown in for good measure.

Poem Night

2008-10-11T23:54:00.003+13:00

We are back from Fiji with tans and fond memories. I will write more when I can add some of the pictures and have time to tell the stories. In the mean time I wanted to share about the poetry night we participated in with the Anglican pastor friends, Mike and Ann. It was a dinner party before we left for Fiji where in each person brought a poem to read aloud and then an accompaning song to listen to as you sipped on a relevant beverage. It was a delightful evening and I highly recommend both skeptics and poetry lovers to round up some friends to have your own poetry night. It was great fun to hear the variety of poems and the equally thought provoking songs. I think everyone enjoyed preparing for the evening and diving into a poetry search to find a poem to share. I especially enjoyed the following one as it was written by a new friend and attendee of the evening, Richard. I have reproduced it here with his permission. It won't be the same without his lovely wife reading it out loud in the candle lit moment but I hope it touches you whose face is extra special to me or you wouldn't be reading this blog.

Faces

I look at faces,
Catching glimpses
Through the windows
of the soul.
Sounds voyeuristic?
I’m unrepentant -
It’s not a question
of self-control
Cos these windows at least
Open onto the street,
So I look at faces

Faces of strangers,
faces of friends
Windows upon windows
without end.
Rooms lit with love,
rooms dark with pain,
Tears unwept
into lives that need rain.

I look at faces
Catching traces
Of another’s humanity.
Sometimes my eyes
Catching other eyes
Catching people
looking back at me
And I cannot say why
We both look quickly away

Faces of beauty,
Some that are marred;
Seeing loveliness
In the physically scarred;
Seeing ugliness
In an almost perfect form
Frozen faces
dying to be warm.

I look at faces
For God’s graces
Look for his image
Ev’rywhere I go.
A face can move me,
A face can scare me
But beyond all this I know:
In this darkness
the divine spark is
Why I look at faces.

Scroll Down for More on School Production-by Claire

2008-09-29T09:15:00.001+13:00

Tips for coping with the financial crisis

2008-09-27T12:24:00.003+12:00

As we've mentioned before- New Zealanders are very frugal people who prove to be resourceful at making what they already have work. In their words when it comes to most challenges, "She'll be 'right". Here are ten ways we've noted the locals make their dollars stretch further:

1.Kids don't wear shoes- at school, in sports, going places in town. Our kids love it. Caution- their feet stay grubby, to say the least.

2.Do not pay more than $5,000.00 for a vehicle. (Real money should be spent on your boat.)

3.No tipping. I've gotten very used to this one.

4.Save on your power bill with no central heating or air conditioning, no clothes dryer, and leaving all the lights off. Dawn's so cute hanging clothes out on the line!

5.Avoid healthcare until the last minute, and, then, the socialized system hits it a lick and picks up the tab. Things go well until you're really sick.

6.Grow, catch or raise alot of your own food. Every house should have a sheep or two, a boat, a tractor, a garden, and many fruit trees.

7.Do not pay more than $10,000 for a boat and then go fishing as often as your wife and boss will let you.

8.Ignore fashion trends and just wear the clothes you were planning on giving away.

9.Walk alot. In general, most entertainment should be nearly free and involve the outdoors.

10.Repair everything until you can no longer get parts- then you may replace it with a used version bought off your neighbor.

In many ways, these values are very similar to my grandparents' generation and their parents who went through the depression. People living this way seem very content. I hope it is some comfort to those of you facing hard financial times.

A Beautiful September Spring

2008-09-26T23:55:00.004+12:00

The rain is dew.

Wisteria outside our room.

Lynn took these photos from the yard. There is beauty all around and with the financial crisis worsening I wanted to share something to remind us how God takes care of things. A paraphrase of Matthew 6:25-34 might read,"Don't worry about what you will eat or drink or wear because your heavenly father knows you need them. Look at the Lily's of the field, even Warren Buffet is not dressed like one of these. If this is how God takes care of the grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, how much more will he take care of you whom he loves? Seek God first and seek what is important to him and all the other needs will work out."

Thanks For the Packages

2008-09-25T21:31:00.002+12:00

It is hard to see because it is night time but we got 2 care packages this week containing graham crackers, real cereal (NZ cereal looks like fiber and doesn't have any sugar), Hershey Pennsylvania chocolate (Cadbury rules here), marshmellows (Marshmellows are pink in NZ and strawberry flavored which is not so good for S'mores), and lots of Crystal Light (My personal favorite). Many thanks to my friend Melissa and my friend Dawna's dad Steve who each sent a box of goodies. My dear Steve bought my plane ticket when I was 20 or so years old so I could return from a college summer mission trip to go to my interview for medical school. Melissa helped me get through Medical school. I appreciate both your support and friendship over these years. When I turned 21 Steve and my dad drove 8 plus hours to go the 100 miles in snow to fetch me from Johnson City so I could go on the "turning 21" beach trip with Dawna and Carleen before Christmas that year. I think he also came close to getting me out of jail once but that's another story. Lynn says that the crystal light is good Steve but he is really missing good old US 100 dollar bills and wishes someone would think of him.

School Production

2008-09-25T21:00:00.005+12:00

Production

Main character song !!
Anna leading the haka!!Remember our strong Andrew

on the right!!

Twins class doing New Zealand's national anthem(which is

Maori and English).

Main character scene.(Far right is from NZ next is too I am
from Texas the others are from Australia, England and NZ.)

PRODUCTION

Over the past month we (Anna, Andrew and I) have

been working on our school production. The whole

production theme was kiwiana. Each class got to have

about 12 min.. For Andrew and Anna's class they did

a thing about the All Blacks, other classes did: Christ-

mas on the beach, the lost kiwi, buzzy bee pinic, the

stolen L&P recipe, and Ocean friends. I was a main

Character or a linking person. All together we had a

wonderful production!!

Claire

School Work

2008-09-24T06:24:00.002+12:00

All 4 are playing hard here with lots of trees to climb.

Kindergarten/!st Grade in New Zealand
When the tide is out in front of our house you can walk on the lava rock.
The rocks have small pools that catch lots of interesting sea creatures.
We took the Abscal's kayak out for a spin.
The biologist and the boys enjoyed sea anemones and shellfish caught in the pools.

Anna reading into the microphone with her class presenting flags of the world at school assembly.
This is taken on the walk to school...what a view.
Claire down on the shore next to our house.
Phillip had a great week at school camp in Auckland but it is good to have him back.
Claire took this beautiful photo of Anna after her kayak ride with daddy Saturday.

The kids have been busy finishing up this quarter this week. We are all looking forward to a 2 week break for the kids starting Friday. Hopefully Uncle Rus will be here to see us soon. We are hosting a Poetry Party with the Anglican pastor couple Friday so we have been in our literary modes. Lynn is studying his questions for the Internal Medicine recertification exam in Sydney Australia in a few weeks. The Auburn game last weekend was the only game broadcast in NZ and we were very excited to watch it. In the end it was a close loss which has it'sm own heart break. Our UT fan friends are in mourning too. It could be a long fall.....spring here. We are marching on through work and school and fellowship. Welcome back to the Nichols who should be starting their return flight from Spain today. We miss everyone.

For Mom

2008-09-20T17:07:00.005+12:00

The fog this morning reminded me of our Smoky Mountain East Tennessee Home.

My mom had a special request to see some photos of Lynn and I on the blog. I think she was worried I had left him some where. We have admitted that this has been one of if not the single roughest season of our marriage with the move from our comfortable life, the pressures of working here, the lack of family support here, the overwhelming volume of need here, and the over-riding physical and emotional drain of it all. With that said, we are being more intentional about communicating how much we love each other and listening to the burdons, laughs, and triumphs of each day. There is a sweetness to commitment that rides through wavy unchartered waters in a relationship. I love you no matter what, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, in West Knoxville or Green Acres. Photos are compliments of Claire who took some of them when we were horsing around. You can pray for us in this area.....not the horsing around but the communicating.

Whangarei Christian Fellowship

2008-09-20T16:38:00.004+12:00

Miguel praying....church
Worship....church
Vanessa (below) teaching Sunday school during the sermon.
The teaching of the word.....church
The after-church potluck for the Abascals. Community Fellowship...church

Andrew is at the ping-pong table in the back of the church.

Our friends the Abascals leave for a month long furlough in California tomorrow. We thought we would put some pictures of the church on our web page for their family and friends to see along with you guys.

Spring is Sprung

2008-09-14T08:35:00.004+12:00

Andrew and the beautiful girls are beside the budding Wisteria vine on the porch. My friend Rene was hospitalized twice last week and we tried to help her navigate the rocky healthcare system here. As a thank you, she cut Andrew and Claire's hair and straightened the girls hair for picture day last week. We also got a beautiful chocolate cake as well as her desire for her and Brooke to go to church with us. She is a beautiful person and I am so glad we ended up meeting her through the school.
Andrew is a panda bear at the park after last rugby game.

Phillip with Rugby mates speaking at school assembly. Rugby ended this week. The Allblacks won the tri-nation (superbowl) last night.

This is a great treehouse in the back yard of the Abascal's home. They soon leave for California for a month so we are having a post church potluck lunch for them today.
Look closely. Phillip in black is swingin' out over the stream on a rope swing. The boys his age from church had a sleepover at the Abascals. Phillip had to borrow my shoes for a twilight hike up one of the mountains with headlamps. My shoes were really too small for him!!!

Anna, of course in pink, tried the swing too. Beautiful tweens from church (Zara, Naomi, Claire, and Lanah) had a slumber party where they sang praise, laughed, and had fun.
With spring, dolphins have been in the bay next to the house (see dots next to sailboat). We have heard the Orca have come too but haven't got lucky enough to see them yet.
Phillip had a sleepover with his rugby mates. He unfortunately was the first asleep and awoke with permanent marker "tatooes" on his face. The four boys eventually all had decorated their faces for the last rugby game. Phillip got most of it off but you could still faintly see "Hillbilly" written across the forehead but unfortunately it didn't show in the photo. He has really enjoyed his rugby teammates and we were all sad to see the season end.

Phillip is such a natural athlete and continues to amaze us. Next week he will be at school camp in Auckland all week. It is the equivalent of the 5th grade Washington DC trip. By the way, the sports complex has netball courts in the background that will soon be changed into hardcourt TENNIS!! :ast night we went to Ruakaka beach to have dinner with my friend Viv and her fiance John. The beach is beautiful and we look forward to showing Uncle Rus some of these sights soon. He arrived in Wellington last Monday and we are all excited.

Cross Country Running

2008-09-08T20:25:00.006+12:00

By Claire
Hello everyone!Over about the past month I have been training for the Cross Country [a race that you run.] On a Friday a couple weeks ago I ran the race that they did at school and came in 2nd place [for the girls], I was very nervous and ended up doing pretty good! Since I came in 2nd place at school I got to go to barge park which is a park that you can play in and is where they held the big Cross Country. Last Friday was a very challeging day running in lots of mud, also falling in mud standing back up and then in less than 20 seconds falling in mud again. That is when the tears started to fall. I still have the scratches that the fall gave me. I ended up coming in 41 place out of about 100 and something people! My mom said that it did't matter what place I ended up getting but, that I actually got up and completed the race. My friends Maddie and Chloe came 24 and 25 in their race. Phillip came in the big 21st place in his race! We all 4 came in the top 50 in all of our races!!!

Quintessential Kiwi

2008-09-06T14:56:00.013+12:00

(Dawn) Our close Kensington neighbors, The Hatmakers, are doing a school report (Abbie's) on New Zealand and asked about food items because they have to bring one in for the class to try. It got me thinking about what is quintessential New Zealand food, fun, etc. I have include some pics from the last week to try to bring to life some of what we think would characterize New Zealand. For food, I told her that classically like England it would be Fish and Chips (AKA French Fries) like Long John Silvers/Captain Ds. They do eat kiwi fruit a lot too but they have a golden kiwi variety that is a Nichols' favorite. Also, like the American hotdog they have their own version of cookout and ballpark food called a sausage which is thicker and unique ground lamb. It is placed sideways on white bread with grilled onions and their version of ketchup. At the Northland crosscountry meet Friday every school was selling them and I included a picture of Whangarei Heads tent cooking them up in what is called a "Sausage sizzle". The crosscountry meet was a lot of fun and we were so proud of Phillip and Claire who both fell in the mud and yet got up hurting and finished the race in the top 1/4. The barefoot and muddy feet from the race would characterize life here as shoes are often not worn at school. Stores will ask you to take off muddy shoes and come in barefoot. Always go to someone's home with good clean socks because you are expected to remove shoes upon entry.

We had another Birthday Party this week. Our neighbor with the lamb, Leo turned 6 and we had a great time at the New Zealand version of Chucky Cheese. The parties have all played a game called "Pass the Parcel" where music is played and when the music stops whoever is holding the gift gets to unwrap one of the many layers the present is wrapped in. Each layer has a small gift like a piece of candy. The parcel (package) goes round again and again until the final lucky person gets to unwrap the last layer and finds the party favor.

I included the neighbors baby lamb with Anna feeding it. It was a triplet. Most sheep have twins and if they have 3 lambs the smallest one loses out. This little one was brought to our neighborhood to be hand fed. We hear it bleating all the time and have become very attached. Many of you know that I am not a huge dog fan but I am now a big fan of the baby lamb so watch out Kensington.

Also, a tractor is a necessity to put your boat in the water. Even million dollar homes have a tractor sitting in the driveway for the boat. I wonder what the folks at Tellico would think?

Sand Surfing is also big fun. We went to Ocean beach which is just 5 minutes from our house. The kids had a great time sliding down the dune with the Abascal kids (Californian pastor's family).

We even saw Whangarei Heads school principal, Lil Ogle, who took a minute out of her beach walk to slide down on one of the boards. You get a supportive community feel here.

Another major difference is that they are crazy for rugby (the Allblacks at Allblacks.com) instead of American football. Any SEC football games on homemade DVD's will be welcome (particularly the Auburn/UT game!) Send to 51 Stuart Rd. McCleod Bay RD4, Whangarei, NZ.

Character Counts

2008-08-29T11:06:00.005+12:00

Birds outside our window in a feeder made by the twins at church.

Claire, Maddie, and their teacher at Friday school assembly.
Our own Kung Fu Panda on the deck after karate.
He's been waiting for years to Kick Phillip's butt.
The twins receiving awards at the weekly Friday schoolwide meeting.
Butterfly face painted Anna at the birthday party with Brooke's mom, my friend Rene.

Dawn- Shortly after writing "Purpose" I became aware of a gross omission in my run down of reasons why this experience is purposeful. The kids each have their own realm of hopeful benefit and influence. I think Lynn and I recognised prior to coming that the kids would gain valuable lessons. From early I hoped they would realize the world is a vast place with diversity and many opportunities to grow beyond the familiarity of East Tennessee. I pray this experience would give them courage to reach beyond the fear of the unfamiliar and embrace whatever destiny their design and Designer would afford them. We also hoped as a family this would be an experience that would strengthen our 6 person inner circle of relationships. We are becoming ever more tight-knit as mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother. I hope this is a good foundation for the teenage years we are too quickly approaching for my comfort. After arriving in a post-modern culture which is post-Christian they have each grown in their identity as followers of Christ and lovers of God. They are what the Bible calls the sweet aroma of Christ to their friends by showing not the judgement and condemning evangelism expected but the love and genuine friendship which I hope would characterize us here. They are learning to respect and love people who don't necessarily know or love God the way they do. They are learning to identify how their faith differs from other religious belief systems like polytheistic and ancestor worship of the Maori. I think it is bringing clarity in their faith and a part of what the Bible calls "the working out of their salvation". I think beyond that they are growing key inward character traits that I am so proud of them for achieving. Character development is a blessing that is not unique to the Southern Hemisphere and thus we needn't have come all the way to New Zealand for it, but character is something noticibly rich in this time here. RESILIENCE in change is an incredible tool for life. They are learning GRACE as they deal with kids that make poor behavioral choices. They are learning KINDNESS in appropriate ways to treat others. As we meet people they are learning APPRECIATION for the uniqueness of being cared for by Mom and Dad and having food, decent housing, clothes, etc. Anna is growing ever more RESPONSIBLE. Claire has recently shown great COMPASSION for her teacher who is caring for a dying father. Claire and her friend are pictured receiving a recognition and Thank you from her teacher for the card and basket they put together at their sleepover last week. Andrew has shown great COURAGE in starting karate and conquering his timidity there. Phillip is learning EXCELLENCE in what he does at school work, at Rugby (player of the game last week), and Cross Country (First for his age group). They have a saying here that the tallest poppy gets cut off and there is a general philosophy of not trying hard, not keeping score (for example no numerical or letter grades in school), not recognizing authority, not being a stand out, etc. I think we are all gaining an appreciation for parts of our American heritage and one is striving for excellence. You might understand the over generalized NZ lack of drive when you see how absolutely breathtaking the natural scenery is and when it beckens you to just be still and enjoy little things like the birds we give the sandwich edges to outside our window. There are many things to embrace here and so we press on to give every effort to absorb as much as possible and try to share a glimpse in these pictures and descriptions.

PS. I recently discovered that Charlotte Bronte's and Jane Austen's fathers were ministers of the gospel in England. Also, Oswald Chamber's great work My Utmost for His Highest was written after his death by his wife from her personal sermon notes. My point is I don't think we should forget what contribution to humanity may be given by someone in our sphere of influence whether it be our child, our husband, our co-worker, or a dear friend. I hope my kids grow up strong in character, generous in serving mankind for a better world, and love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. Wow, that sounds corney but I do mean it.

Green Acres is the Place to Be

2008-08-22T17:35:00.006+12:00

Dawn's view from the beanbag on the porch Sun on the porch!At last...and our 15 year old cars.
Beach across the street from the "tennis club"
Taurikura tennis courts with a cow field surrounding and the bay across the street

Andrew, Brooke, and Anna at Whangarei Heads School

Whangarei Heads School Ice cream at The Deck

Parua Bay School (Phillip's school) The Sith Lord in front of his school

(Dawn)

Lynn and I had a wonderful Friday off together today. It has NOT rained ALL DAY! With Temperatures in the 70's and skies recently clear of rain, the asphault tennis courts a mile from our house were dry so we played 2 sets (7-5 me and then 6-1 Lynn). The community court reminds us of the old Green Acres TV show and Lynn sings the song to me all the time when I make a face like Zsa Zsa did at the "farm living". Back at the house we had an Al fresco lunch and then I got out a beanbag on the lower deck and read for a few hours. Lynn took the kids for icecream at the cafe just up the hill and then he washed my car at home. Phillip played with some neighbors and Claire is at a friend's for a sleepover. The kids had a big week at school. Phillip won and Claire placed in their respective age groups in their separate schools' cross country races (3K races). The twins ran too and I hear got 2nd and 3rd in a shorter route. The older kids will go on to run in a city wide race in a few weeks. Claire also found out she got a main part in her school's play which she had auditioned for. She had to memorize a commercial they had written and then write and enact script from 2 characters in a portion of a book or movie. She wrote the dialogue and enacted both characters of Lucy seeing Aslan in the new Narnia movie. A star has been born. The twins are very excited about Brooke's Birthday party this weekend. Phillip's Rugby should be on tomorrow too since the weather was dry today. All and all, we are feeling really good. Today was Lynn's mom's Birthday so a very Happy Day to her! Also, our love and prayers to those on both sides of our families with health issues. You are constantly on our minds.

Reflections on why we think we're here

2008-08-16T20:36:00.003+12:00

(Dawn) Well, here we are reaching over the 3 month mark. My friend Melissa Ramsey from Medical School e-mailed me some questions that I thought I would answer on the blog in case others were interested. It's true that Lynn and I feel God planted this trip overseas in our hearts and then miraculously made it happen. It's true that we came out of obedience mixed with excitement to medically serve and some how to share our faith in Christ as we live everyday life within a new community. I guess that makes it a mission all though I am not entirely comfortable with that word. I must be the biggest chicken missionary that has ever been but I am finding comfort that Moses and some others were too. We have shared details about our medical work here which in general has been a very different system and harder to function in than what we expected compared to the US system. Lynn especially is pain stakingly and slowly developing programs to improve the lung cancer and sleep disorder treatments in the 4 hospital system we are working within throughout an area bigger than East Tennessee. This is the bulk of the "mission" which is primarily medical relief to an understaffed, underfunded public health system. Our side job is settling into a Christian community which consists of fragmented isolated churches with 50 to 150 members each. We have done a tour around town and been to churches ranging from Anglican to pentacostal and everything in between. We have 2 different pastors and their families that we are especially fond of spending time with and are making an effort to be a source of mutual encouragement to as they serve congregations here full time. We also have a sprinkling of other Christian friends from the church hunt. We have settled into a very small church that has a heart to follow God and a love for the scriptures but is really struggling in building the infrastructure of a church. We have realized we came to New Zealand burned out on church after working for 5 years in a start from scratch church plant with the last year being especially draining as the church plant transitioned into a new phase trying to say goodbye to Cory and praying for a new pastor. So here we are enjoying not having the formal church responsabilities we had back home. With that said, Lynn has been asked to be on a church board so he is serving again in an administrative role. I have been asked to facilitate a woman's bible study and am praying about how to fit it around the work schedule. We have a nice little church community at work such as my confidant the lab manager Viv, the librarian Gayle (also a fellow American), and Lynn's Catholic nurse Linda who are great to talk about Christ with us. They each have so much to teach us as they share about their different experiences and their faith in Christ. One coworker is a decendent of the Maori that worked with the original European missionaries and has a beautiful heritage of Maori culture mingled with faith in Christ. One friend is living proof that our kids may actually remember these things we are telling them as she has returned to a faith she had as a child after spending many years in an abusive marriage. One coworker just always has a kind and gentle spirit with an encouraging word to remind us how loving God is. You know one of those Christians that just makes you feel good to be around because they are not harsh or judgemental or negative EVER. They make the hospital environment brighter for sure. We have a growing love for the community we are living in around the schools the kids attend. Remember they have been in school since we left and never got a break. We have met many interesting families and continue to talk at ballgames, have playdates, and share evening meals with families that we don't think have any faith. They are lovely warm hearted people with fascinating life stories. We need prayers that hearts would be interested to ask and be open to see who Christ really is and what Christianity is about. It is perceived here as judgemental and old fashioned where we have found Christ forgiving and loving and life sustaining with peace, purpose, and hope. Then there is you! We have been overwhelmed with the e-mails and comments we get regarding the blog. Unless you are my mother, the fact you are even reading this surprises me! Your comments have been at times touching, encouraging, humorous and always enjoyable. Several people have commented on how God is working in their hearts through cyberspace. I pray that the blog would encourage us and challenge us all onto "love and good deeds" as the bible says. That would be an amazing thing to thank God for.