Taylor's Little Adventure

Nana and Grandad planned to take Taylor to the beach this morning, but when we woke up, it was cloudy and raining. So they changed plans and went to the hot pools instead, and then when the sun decided to come out, they then headed to the beach. Taylor loved every minute of it! Here are a couple pictures of the fun:

Having fun on the waterslide at the hot pools

Lovin' the sand, lovin' the water, lovin' the beach, lovin' life.

If only I could know what you were thinking....

Looks like sea gulls like hot cross buns, too!

Today

Today was one of those glorious days in which I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything, except stay at home and attend to the needs of my husband, our daughter, and my own heart. I enjoyed every minute of it, and hope I did all three well.

'Nuf said.

Windows, screens, flies, and pest control

I'd like to offer a brief, un-solicited endorsement for my favorite new product when it comes to the topic of pest control. But first, a bit of cultural education for my overseas readers to help set the stage. One of the funny things about homes in New Zealand (especially older homes; not sure about the new ones) is that none of the windows have screens in them. Now, for those of you who, like I once did, live in a climate in America in which the windows remain closed for 360 days out of every year due to the presence of heat or air conditioning, it may seem like a non-issue that windows can be screen-less. But, unfortunately, neither heat nor air conditioning exist in most homes in New Zealand, which means that come summer, the windows are open all the time. (Actually, if you are a true New Zealander, the windows remain open all year round, regardless of the temperature outside. But that's a whole different topic for a whole different post. In our house, the windows stay closed during the winter). Anyways, open windows during the summer (sans screens) mean only one thing: the presence of a myriad of flies and other annoying bugs. Constantly. Why there are no screens in the windows here, I have no idea. Maybe I should go into business here selling screens for windows. I bet I could make a killing. Especially if I find all the North Americans in the country and target my business toward them. Anyways, I've been driven crazy by the flies for the last 3 summers we've been here. Until about 9 hours ago, when Aaron bought and installed this cool thing on our wall that squirts out an insect deterrent about every 7 minutes or so. Although the house isn't completely bug-less at present, I've noticed a great improvement already. Give it a couple more days, and I'm hoping we could be borderline bug-free around here. I think that every home in New Zealand requires one of these. Maybe my next business will be promoting the new-found Robocan.

All that to say, if you don't own a Robocan and if you're frustrated by the endless number of flies in your home, head down to your local Mitre 10, and buy one today.

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

It's been raining all day long. And it sure doesn't show any signs of letting up any time soon. Some days I can't stand this weather, but today I don't mind as much. It lends itself well to a whole afternoon of sitting in my room in silence and solitude with the candles lit and the commentaries out. Oh, wait. That's for another day when the house is empty and I don't have the responsibilities of being a mother and doing the grocery shopping and entertaining the cutest little 3-yr. old in the world. Not that I'm complaining about that part. But there are some days when I can't help but wonder what it would feel like to have a good solid chunck of time to myself. Blah, blah, blah.

Aaron has been out in the rain all day playing golf in a championship tournament in Rotorua. Sure hope he's enjoying himself despite the lousy weather.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to checking out this local noodle joint for the first time tonight. I sure hope it's as good as I'm imagining it to be, or else I'm gonna be quite disappointed.

Saturday mornings in the prayer room

...Are usually pretty quiet. A lot of people in our community have designated Saturday as their day off, so most of the time it's a small little crowd that gathers together to spend the morning in the prayer room. Although the numbers are low, Saturday mornings have consistently been some of the sweetest times. Today was no exception. There's just something about a small crowd gathering for no other reason than to be before Jesus and to lift up our voices in intercession on behalf of this city and this nation.

This afternoon we diverted from our normal routine of grocery shopping for something lots more fun ~ one of Taylor's little friends, Noah, had a birthday party today! Steve and Trena threw a great party, and Taylor had the time of her life playing with all the kids there.

Aaron is playing in a golf tournament all day tomorrow, and Nic is away for the weekend. So except for church and grocery shopping, tomorrow promises to be a low-key day. A much overdue low-key day.

Long Overdue Update

Wow. What a month it has been. It feels as though I've scarcely had time to sit down and read a blog, muchless write one. So here's the scoop on what's been going on in life recently.

• Family. It's been great having Graeme and Sabrina around! Taylor, especially, is thoroughly enjoying all the time with and attention from her grandparents. They're getting settled in and trying to establish some sort of routine, but doing really well.
• THOP. It's been a great start to the new year. Neither of the interns who applied for the Feb. internship were able to come. But this has actually worked out really well, as we've been able to focus as a community on what we're really about at our core: prayer. It has also allowed us time to invest in the establishing of infrastructure, long-term planning, and leadership development that will be necessary to sustain growth in the future. The prayer room is open from 8am-noon Mon-Sat and 6pm-10pm Mon-Fri. We've also moved yet again to a new facility ~ somewhat. Those who have been following this blog for the last year may remember that last Feb we unexpectedly had to move into the church nursery b/c the main building wasn't ready yet. Well, at the start of the year, we were able to move downstairs into the Kidsworld room, which has been great. It has a full sound system, and plenty big enough for us. Well, just this past week, the Pastor and his wife offered to us to move upstairs and use their sanctuary, if we'd like to. We decided to take them up on their offer ~ and it's been awesome! Especially since we can use their drum kit! Our little community is awesome; they are so genuine and hungry for the Lord, and it's really fun doing this thing together.
• Travel. Aaron has several trips lined up throughout the next several months. One of the perks of having grandparents around is that we're planning a week of "Taylor and Nana/Grandad bonding time" in April so that I can join Aaron when he goes to Sydney! I can't remember the last time we got on a plane together to go somewhere just the two of us. Actually, that's not entirely true. I can remember. It would have been 4 years ago, before Taylor was born. It's going to be awesome going away together for a week, not to mention the fact that I get to see Sydney!
• Hospitality. When it rains, it pours. After several months of not doing much in the line of entertaining, this week alone we hosted company for a meal at least 4 times. Graeme's brother and siter in law were in town, so we had them for a night, we hosted a welcome back party for Graeme and Sabrina, had two couples over who are moving/have moved here, and also hosted a couple girls from Kansas City who have been in town for a few days. It's been fun, but sure has been pretty busy!
• The mundaneness of life. It all sounds so exciting ~ going here, doing this, family in town, etc. etc. etc. And it sure is exciting. I love what we do and wouldn't trade it for the world. But lest I give a false impression that life is all a party, I won't hesitate to say that there is no shortage of the less-glamerous day-in, day-out rigors of life. Laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, paying the bills, and running errands abound in good measure, as they always do in the life of any mom.

All in all, we're alive and well down under, carrying in our hearts the vision from Isa. 24 that the earth will hear singing from the ends of the earth (that's New Zealand!), proclaiming the glory and majesty of the Righteous One.