I'm going NUTS!!!!

I have been without a DSL connection for nearly two months! Two months!!! I'm going out of my mind!!!! I haven't been able to regularly read my blog buddies entries and I have been out of touch with you all for long periods of time. I'm missing my friends and all their life events.

The company that we have signed up with said it could take up to 2 weeks to be linked up. Two weeks!!!!! And that's with us wiring it all up! Two weeks!!!! In Ecuador it took just two days. You heard right....two days and they came, drilled the wee holes in the wall and wired us up. And that was a third world country! Come on NZ!!

I have lots of blogs things to write about but won't do that today. I will inundate you when we are finally connected. Oh what rejoicing there will be on that day. Tomorrow we're off to Blenheim. My sister,her husband and our wee niece (now 5 months old) live there and this is a big weekend for them. Grace, our niece, will be dedicated in church. It will be our first chance to meet her and we will get to hang out with my sister and hubby who we haven't seen yet. It will be a busy weekend but it will be a nice one.
The bit that won't be so nice is this...the Interisland ferry. Boats and I do not go very well together. Something to do with motion sickness, the rollicking waves and the meat pie smells. Yuck yuck yuck. My dad is the same so we may just find a spot to lie down and not move during the whole 3 hour trip. The ferry runs between the North and South Islands, cossing the Cook Strait. It is a very scenic journey...not that I get to see it much:-) At some point you can see the Southern Alps from the tip of the North Island. We have spent much of the week trying to convince Isaac to get on the boat. To date he is a lot happier about it but the true test will be as we board. He should be okay if we bribe him with lollies (candy) and meat pies. Yuck yuck yuck!!!!

Hi all!

It's great to be back, even if I am only borrowing a friends internet connection to chat with you all. We are working on our own connection which should be up and running in a couple of weeks so once that is done I should be in better communication with you all. I've missed you!!!

We are now in our home town of Palmerston North. It's great to be back on familiar ground but this place is SMALL! The town has just 66 thousand people living here which is tiny after the 3 and a half million of Guayaquil. It's a cute city; totally flat which is helpful as we are yet to get a car and are walking everywhere. We've eaten lots of yummy NZ food and are now trying to be better in the food department. My mum's scales say that I have lost 7 kilos in the last year without even trying so I am keen to not gain those back. I like mum's scales ;-)

But let me tell you.....it's cold! this is what I look like while I am typing this, except my scarf is a lot cuter (all pink/purple and fluffy). But my hand are frozen and I'm making lots of mistakes as my fingers begin to freeze over. There's no snow here nor even frosts but the wind is the killer. Today I got a sore ear after walking to collect the boys from school. That's what cold wind will do for ya.

The boys have begun school and are doing okay. The first couple of days have been tiring (they're used to finishing school in an hour and a half whereas now they have 6 hours of work) but today they were both really happy when we picked them up. It's nice to see a smile on their faces.

Nige and I have been hiding away from everyone this week a little but are now finding our feet and are ready to face the world. It will be nice to see people we care about again.

So that's it for this week. I'm hanging out for my own internet connection so will pray that it happens sooner rather than later. See you soon.

Can you believe it? We're in NZ and we're not leaving!!! Bizarre I know!

After 3 weeks in the USA and over 30 hours travelling (Charlotte-Atlanta-Indianapolis-Los Angeles-New Zealand!)on Saturday/Sunday we finally arrived on NZ soil at 7 AM Monday morning NZ time. The flights went well until the last one when my dear hubby felt unwell and ended up on oxygen for a couple of hours! Talk about a freak out!!! They even offered to have him wheeled out of the plane and customs area. I quickly replied that that wouldn't be necessary as his parents, who were waiting for us on the other side of the big doors, would have a mild heart attack if their only son was wheeled out. He did perk up towards the end of the flight and all went well.

We were met by Nigel's parents and brother in law and 2 of his kids (they are missios in North Africa) as well as the current director and his wife and a member of the SIM NZ council. It was so great to see them. Later on that day we hung out with the rest of the family that were in Auckland and called the rest of our families that weren't. It was so nice to hang out with people who understood how we were feeling. They gave us this helium balloon and also a lovely rose. How sweet.

As the plane landed in Auckland we all burst into tears. Partly, I think, from relief but more so from a deep sadness that this was it and we weren't turning back anytime soon. Nige asked if we had to fake being happy when we saw people and I replied that we had to, just for a couple of minutes and then we could be real again. It didn't even end up like that. We were happy to be with family again and then during the day were able to express our pain. They, having all been missios, understood. We didn't need to say anything. It was great!

We have slept reasonably well and are feeling a lot more alive than we did on Monday. We are all waking up early though as our bodies are telling us it is lunchtime when in reality it is just 5 AM. We got to see this lovely sunrise over Auckland on Tuesday morning. It is not my intention to see many of these in the future but for now they are beautiful :-)

So this week is all about hanging out with family (Nigel's family), farewelling his sister and family back to North Africa and then heading to Palmerston North and my parents on Friday where we will be based for the next 4 motnhs. The boys start school on Monday so that will be a good break for us all.

My internet access is rather sporadic at ths time so I will do my best to keep you up to date. Have a great week!