Our family's life in New Zealand
One afternoon, the end of December, we had a furious rainstorm blow in suddenly. It only poured for half an hour or an hour, but we got quite a lot of rain in that time. One of the boys was out in it for half a minute, and you can see from the picture how soaked he got! The wind was from a direction that pushed the rain up under part of the porch roof, and we had a waterfall on the porch!
The gutters could hardly keep up with the downpour.
Our children made a couple of movies last week. I enjoyed them so much that I want you to have the opportunity to see them, too. I know some of you already have, but for you others–enjoy!
If you’re interested, here are more pictures from our new house.
“Rabbit Hill”–this is what we see when we look out the north living room window.
Panoramic view from the top of “Rabbit Hill”. Our house is down at the extreme left of the picture.
That’s me, in the van, coming with lunch for those who went earlier.
Looking from the top of the hill, past our house, to the hills beyond.
The progress in the kitchen so far.
I’m working up a bed along the front of the house to plant tomatoes and basil in.
The house, our van, and the container. The container will be moving; the permanent site is not ready yet.
We can see the train from our new house! This passenger train goes from Christchurch to Picton and back every day.
The story goes that he was pretending to be asleep!
The owner came while we were there yesterday, to start taking out the trees in the paddock we’ll use for a garden. I liked seeing the boys all lined up on the water tank to watch!
He pushed the trees over, then pulled them out and around to a burn pile.
The trees are all down in the garden now!
Just some random pictures from the past month around here.
The youngest participant in the library’s summer reading program!
We removed all the books from our shelves and packed them. He thought it made a nice place to hide!
Not sure what this was all about!
The books I weeded out of our collection–I think he lost his balance as he brought them in for me to sort and list!
The youngest (Nathan) loves to play with toy animals. When I told him it was time for bed, he was holding all three of these ducks, and very carefully set them down. I had to laugh when I saw how they were arranged in order of size, and in a straight line!
We have a cute visitor this week–a California quail!
Our harvest from the garden a few days ago. I have a hard time believing that this is the equivalent of the middle of June in Michigan!
Two of our cuties–numbers 5 and 7 (James and Nathan).
I knew I’ve been neglecting this, but didn’t realize it’s already been nearly a month! Can you tell we’ve been working at the house? That’s where we go when we can spare some time at home (which isn’t often, as it turns out). We’ve been over there two days a week, so far. It’s a good thing we can’t move in for a few weeks yet–it will take that long to get the place cleaned up! Here are a few pictures of what’s happening so far.
This is the driveway.
The cattle stop has a big plum tree growing through it!
Our shipping container/sleepout.
The audience watching the container being unloaded included these curious girls.
The overgrown house, from the north.
Looking toward the house from the gate at the road–south side.
Inside the container.
Some trees have been taken out.
Now we can actually see the back of the house!
The path from back of the house to the road. The footpath is totally over grown, so we’re working on uncovering it.
My favorite feature in the kitchen–a wood cook stove!
View from the kitchen window. This is the only countertop space so far.
Gayle is remodeling this area to make more countertop space. There was a space here for a frig and chest freezer, but it was too short for modern fridges.
One whole wall of the kitchen is cupboards!
Our eight-year-old borrowed a camera yesterday from his sister and went around the place taking pictures of anything and everything. He wants to make a book of these pictures so he can remember this place! I asked if he would let me post some of his pictures, and he was happy to grant permission. So, enjoy his first set of pictures!
The boys’ museum.
Part of the big garden
A raised-bed garden
Inside the museum
The pullets we bought
Indian Runner ducklings
Ducky Lucky setting on a nest
The laying hens.
A pretend fire in a play hut.
More of the big garden.
My Rosemary plant–I’m hoping I can move it to the new house.
Ginger likes to sleep in the strawberry bed.
Inside the greenhouse
The boxes I’ve packed.
The Indian Runners again.
The shell and fossil collection
The photographer!
A geranium by the porch.
In other news, we’re working towards moving. I’ve packed a grand total of five boxes this week (up to 32 altogether), and did a lot of sorting and pitching. That feels good! We’re still working on sleeping quarters; we have a bid in on a sleepout. The auction closes in 44 minutes. I’ll report on the results another time!
Update: I had a phone call, so didn’t get this finished, and now the auction has closed. We got the sleepout! Someone else wanted it, too, but weren’t willing to go as high as we had decided on. It is a 20-foot shipping container that has been insulated and lined, with a glass sliding door in one end. Just a plain shipping container is more than we’re paying for this, and then we’d have to convert it yet.
Our children participated in the annual Dead Boring Concert on November 2nd (for those who don’t know, Dead Boring is the name of our homeschool writing group). They sang two songs; I’ve included the lyrics in case it’s hard to make them out.
The Value of One
Could it be that up in heaven, God is sitting on His throne
Anticipating another sinner will soon become his own
Years of wasted living and years of toil and strife
Are just about to be over as he receives the gift of life
Chorus:
Go sound the horn! Strike up the choir!
A sinner is saved – saved from the fire!
No more in darkness, he’s received My Son,
All heaven’s rejoicing, that’s the value of one!
The Holy Spirit has been working to soften up their hearts
All He needs is a willing servant to simply do his part
Can you imagine up in the heaven the joy there will be that day
As a sinner bows his head to pray, can’t you hear the Father say?
Start construction on his mansion there on hallelujah’s street
He doesn’t know yet what is waiting when the Savior he will meet…
I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin
I wouldn’t let my dear Saviour in
Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night
Praise The Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
Just like the blind man, I wandered along
Worries and fears, I claimed for my own
Then like the blind man, that God gave back his sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I was a fool to wander and stray
For straight is the gate and narrow the way
Now I have traded, the wrong for the right
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the light
No more darkness, no more night
Now I’m so happy, no sorrow in sight
Praise the Lord, I saw the light
After the concert, while we were standing around eating cookies and chatting, our littlest and another little boy just seven weeks older discovered each other. They spent about 10 minutes hugging, over and over, to the delight of everyone around.
Here I am again–no new posts for awhile! So, you can enjoy a random sampling of photos from the past couple of weeks.
How do you like this for a place to do your math lesson?
Look at that tail wagging!
We are enjoying salad every day.
Baby in the woodbox!
Playing with a birthday gift.
New Zealand road block–these two people sat here talking on the road by us for at least 15 minutes! Not much traffic on our road.
First you empty the cupboard…then you climb in!
Starting the moving process by sorting books–baby wants in on it, too.
Building a birthday gift: a model cathedral.
Ah hah! Now I can get Esther’s door open!
See the trail of rose petals he left behind? He loves picking huge roses and bringing them in for us to smell.
Camelia–the rest are just a sampling of the roses around our house.
Every morning and evening, I go out and milk the cow. It’s a great time to be outside (most of the time), and very peaceful. Most of the time, I get to be by myself out there! Right now, I’m milking along the roadside, because we have her grazing there. Here are a few little glimpses of milking time.
I get to enjoy these roses along the house as I walk out to milk.
Here she comes! My obedient cow comes when I call her.
I often get to see this duck and her 12 ducklings when I’m out to milk.
I get to watch these sheep and lambs across the road.
I can see these hills just past Cheviot from where I milk; the one with the road up it is the Camel’s Hump.
Ready to milk.
This beggar practically always joins me, rubbing around and asking for attention, waiting for his milk.
These two came out to see me, too.
And the news of the week? We have to move. Our landlord’s son wants this house, so within 2-3 months we have to find somewhere else to live.
We went to South Bay, the south side of the Kaikoura Peninsula, after leaving church yesterday. We walked up the steep path to the top of the peninsula, and then Gayle offered to go back and drive around to the other end to pick us up if we wanted to walk across the top. Sounded like fun to me, so we did that! I had never been across the entire top; we’ve walked around at sea level twice. It was a gorgeous day! The sun shone part of the time, and part of the time clouds came over. The colors were so vivid. A sailboat left South Bay about the same time we did, and we watched it tacking around to the north side of the peninsula. It arrived about the same time we did.
The sailboat leaving South Bay.
Right after the carpark, we crossed this bridge along the edge of the bay.
Cabbage trees are in bloom!
New Zealand Flax is blooming, too.
Starting up the path up the cliff.
These two went back for the van.
See the sailboat?
Near the end–they came back to meet those of us who lagged behind.
The sailboat entering the bay on the north side of the peninsula.