Play Date

Anna had a playdate with her classmate, Brooke, who lives nearby. They met at a park across the bay. The view is across McLeod Bay back toward our house with Mount Aubrey in the background.

Climbing Mount Aubrey

Behold the mountain!
McCleod Bay Village from Mount Aubrey
(our house close to the bottom left hand corner)

Great views from high up!
Mount Manaia on the left with Whangarei heads atop. Blue in the middle is the Pacific Ocean at Ocean Beach (what an imaginative name!

Some pics from the week

(Lynn)

We've had some good weather this week for fishing and hiking in the afternoons after school and work. In the first picture look for the kids at the base of the "Tree of the circle of life". Next is a sunset walk down to the fishing dock and ,finally, the first fish caught by a Nichols in New Zealand goes to Andrew who caught this beauty on a homemade bamboo pole using white bread for bait. No, we did not eat this unidentified type of fish but have him in the freezer to use for bait to catch some snapper.

Communication

Happy Memorial Day Everyone! Well sorry we have not been blogging much. We had a busy week last week with me starting work and Lynn finishing up a 10 day "hot week" at work. We managed somehow to buy a car (Old Honda Odyssey), move to the bay, buy a dryer, get a phone line, get a satellite connection and get the ground work for internet at the new place. We have made great strides at settling in finally. Lynn established the internet connection tonight which makes us already feel more connected to the rest of the world. Our new address is 51 Stuart Street, McLeods Bay RD #4, Whangarei NZ 0174. The land line phone number is (09) 434-0087. We have cell phones but they are for hospital use and are very expensive to use otherwise. You can cheaply call our land line through skype for a few cents a minute (see tab at tool bar on skype, just scroll down to NZ and enter the number we gave you) or buy an international calling card at gas stations, walmart, etc for 5-15 cents a minute (directions on the card with NZ's country code). Our skype name is Lynnanddawn and we hope to videoconference with those who have a computer camera. We are ahead of you in time so reaching us after 2:00 in your afternoon through your evening is usually a good option especially on your Fridays and Saturdays because we are already in the weekend days here.

We are continuing to enjoy meeting people at work and visiting churches. We had Lynn's team (medical student and intern doctor) over for dinner last week and that was fun and informative. We may host a couple of college students from Auckland for a few days next week. They are coming up to work at Miguel's church. I think they are probably helping with setting up a Calvary Chapel Christian radio station that is going to be broadcast from the church. We attended another church that has the local Christian school last Sunday. We enjoyed meeting people there. The pastor didn't speak because they have been doing a video series from a Florida church! We had met one of their elders at a park the first week we were here. It is a small town and a small world. I am gaining an appreciation for the world wide nature of followers of Christ and the commonality among various denominations. As my Johnson City pastor Tom Oyler use to say, "The content is the same but the format may be different." We are seeing that here as the churches range from Anglican to Catholic to Baptist to Presbyterian to Pentacostal/Charismatic. Many don't seem to attend a church (94% Lynn heard) at all while some Christians have chosen to not attend because of mistrust in church leadership. People here don't seem as nominal about their Christianity or casual about their faith. Those who believe are hard core and those who don't just say they don't believe at all. Lynn had to give a terminal diagnosis to a patient and when Lynn asked if he could pray with him, the guy just said, "Well, I don't believe in that stuff but if it makes you feel better go ahead." Lynn said that was a first for him. He has a new nurse who is a christian and that was encouraging to him. They together will be working to develop a system to streamline workup and treatment for lung cancer which may have the highest incidence of anywhere in the world. 60-70% of the Maori smoke and the incidence of lung cancer in the woman especially is astronomical. The sleep medicine issues have taken a backseat for now as this area of lung cancer is more pressing. He had 10 new diagnosis last week (his first full week). It is overwhelming at moments but you just try to do the best you can do in the system your in. The need is high but you just get up and pray, work at it, and ask God to move. You know? Sound familiar or applicable to you? We miss everyone and love "y'all". Dawn

First Rugby Match, First Night in Our House

(Lynn)


Good Sunday afternoon. We just attended our first church service in New Zealand and were very refreshed to be back in fellowship after many weeks on our own. The verse for the day is from Thessalonians-"God did not give us a spirit of fear- but a spirit of power, love and self control." As the husband/dad in a family of 6 moving to the other side of the world there are plenty of things to fear- so I find great encouragement in these words. Please pray for our new friends, our patients, and our family. May God bless us all.
Phillip's first rugby match was a smashing success! Literally. His nose got smashed and gushed blood near the end of the first half. As usual, Phillip threw his body full-tilt into the sport and received the "merit" award from his coach and an ovation from his teammates. His club, Manaia, lost a close one (7-5) in a defensive struggle with one of the best clubs around, Hora Hora. He's psyched about the rest of the season. He described the first experience as football without any breaks (and without a facemask!) He was fairly relaxed the rest of the day. He was amazed by the seagulls flying around their heads as they played.

We also spent the night last night in what we hope will be our home for the year. We'll post our new phone number and address once we're sure what they are. The pics above show the view from our porch. The house overlooks McCleod's Bay- the Pacific Ocean is about 5-10 miles to the left. I saw a pod of dolphins in the bay the other dayand Phillip and I saw a large sting ray swimming along. Look closely at the sunset picture and you'll see a little fishing dock which is about 100 yards from the house- fish for dinner, guys!We'll put pics of the house once we get all of our moving garbage out of the way.

Dawn joins me at the hospital tomorrow and the kids return to school. Thanks for the cool messages, everyone. That helps us feel in touch!

Phillip's Field Trip

Hi, I went on a field trip today,and it was to the farm. We walked there.We went there because the art teacher at our school made us draw sketches of Urquharts Bay and the Heads.When I finished my sketch I went over and tried to climb a big rock.And I fell off and my foot landed in cow manure.Then the art teacher told me to come over where they were. I miss you guys. I have rugby practice tomorrow.






Phillip

The kids started at Whangarei Heads School today and seemed to really like it. The community is old but trendy and artsy. The pictures were given to me by the principal. Apparently orcas visited the harbor where our rental house is last week. The school has views of the Pacific ocean from the beach girl Anna's classroom. In the photos our new rental house is just to the right of the houses seen sitting on the water. The school is at the base of the large rocks (look like "heads") on top of the mountain. We are a bit fond of the guy who is renting the house and his mum who lives down the street. He lives in town but is coming out to help us get the furniture out of Mum's garage Wednesday. The pastor and his wife we met are helping me do some shopping for bedding, mattresses, etc tomorrow. People here are very friendly. The kids can walk to school (uphill on the way) but a beautiful 3/4 mile downhill trek back down after school. There is a side walk until you get to our little dead end street running along the waters edge where it is shallow and clear for swimming. Lynn is working hard this week and I am practicing driving the kids the 30 minutes outside of town twice a day until we can get into the house. Much love to you all, I am starting to really wish you were here.