Away From Home

Castle Hill

November 18, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We stopped on our way to Cass to eat a late lunch at Castle Hill and explore the rocks. The boys had a lot of fun! This is the view down the valley as we walked out to the hill.

Looking the other direction from the trail.

We were heading toward those huge rocks directly ahead of us. There were a lot of tourists, mostly Oriental, there when we arrived, and then a busload of them arrived as we started walking.

This rock is out in the paddock by itself.

We were amused, watching the tourists. This pose seemed to be the favorite of the day. Most of the people from the bus just walked out here, took pictures all around, and headed right back to the bus. One or two, though went up into the rocks, then had to run back before they got left behind.

Our boys wasted no time climbing up into the rocks. There are all four of them, at least a hundred feet up. It was a lot easier climbing the backside of this rock than it looks from this side!

Mr. Inventor and Mr. Intellectual had great fun practicing their rock-climbing skills.

Mr. Sweetie had fun finding caves.

Mr. Diligence and Mr. Sweetie did some climbing, too, but in slightly tamer places than their big brothers.

The valley behind the rocks is quite different from the front.

Castle Hill Station

Mr. Imagination called this rock a rabbit.

Cass

November 17, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We got to spend three nights in a cottage in Cass, near Arthur’s Pass, owned by some friends of ours. What a lovely place to spend time relaxing and being together as a family!

Some of the mountains we saw on our way there. This first one is leading up to Porter’s Pass.

The cottage we stayed in.

A mountain in front of the cottage. There is a row of trees directly in front, but if you go around them, this is the view.

The red building is the Cass Railway Station. We enjoyed watching the trains going by at all hours. Except for the daily passenger train that goes from Christchurch to the West Coast and back, all we saw were coal trains carrying coal from the West Coast to Christchurch, and presumably, empty cars going back. I didn’t get any pictures of the trains while we were there, but saw this one after we were out of the mountains, going home.

We roasted sausages and marshmallows our second evening there.

One of the days we were there, it rained all day, so we stayed inside and played games.

That evening, I allowed the boys to roast a few marshmallows in the stove.

Kaikoura, Including a Plane Ride

November 13, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The Sunday after the funeral, we went to Kaikoura for church as usual, and took the two aunts (one of my sisters and one of Gayle’s) along. Both babies at church fell asleep during the afternoon meeting!

After we left church, we took our sisters to the Aquarium. The little ones loved the touch tank.

The Aquarium is in a building on the New Wharf. When we came out, there was a fishing boat tying up to the wharf, and we watched it unloading. Then, it went out into the bay to anchor for the night.

We went out to the Peninsula, where my sister let Mr. Imagination take some pictures. We saw seals, ducks, and seagulls.

We climbed the steep path to the top of the Peninsula. The tide was high that afternoon, and the colors were amazing. This picture doesn’t even come close to doing the beauty justice!

I was amused, when we came back down and Gayle was bringing the van to where we were, to see these seagulls catching a ride!

A friend at church paid for a plane ride for our sisters, and there was room in the small plane for Esther and Mr. Diligence to go, too. They had amazing views of the mountains and the Peninsula.

Dead Boring Concert 2016

November 6, 2016 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

The last Saturday of September was the annual Dead Boring Concert. As usual, a lot of talent was displayed as children from the various families played instruments, recited poetry they had written, or performed skits. Our family always sings, and this year was no exception. The first song they sang was, “My Ways Are Not Your Ways”.

Oft the way to the goal seems so weary and long,
Trials almost take away my song;
Then we sigh and we cry and we ask,
‘Father why does this life my wishes all deny?’

Chorus:
My ways, my child, are not your ways,
My thoughts are higher than thine.
Let me lead you each step of this long weary day,
Let me clasp thy trembling hand in mine.

It is my heart’s desire to do His blessed will,
And to serve my Master every day;
But when things all go wrong and the world doubts me still,
Then, oh Lord, I cannot understand.

So I’ll leave all to Him, He has promised to share
All my load and ev’ry care to bear.
There is joy in my heart and on my lips a song,
Even tho’, Lord, I don’t understand.

After singing that song, the boys recited the poem, “God Hath Not Promised”. Interestingly, a number of years ago Gayle had the children in our church memorize that poem. The next week, Esther had bad seizures which nearly took her life. Now, our children recited it in public–just before another severe trial.

God hath not promised skies always blue
Flower strewn pathways, all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptations, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing kindness, undying love.

The last song was “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”.

Oh soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness to see
There’s a light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

His words shall not fail you, He promised
Believe Him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying
His perfect salvation to tell

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.

These videos are quite special to us now; they are the last recording of Seth before he died about a week and a half after the concert. I do apologize for the shakiness. I was taking care of the two youngest and asked a friend to take the video; she didn’t have a tripod.

Dead Boring Bike Hike 2016

November 4, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The end of September, our boys rode in the annual Dead Boring Bike Hike (with our homeschool group). That morning before we took off, Mr. Inventor offered to pull the smallest trailer he had built, with Mr. Imagination in it. The little fellow was THRILLED to get to go on the bike hike for the first time! Here they are ready to go!

The annual group photo. So hard to get everyone together!

They’re off! As usual, the mothers admonished the boys that it’s not a race. As usual, it was a race as soon as they were out the driveway!

I drove behind Mr. Inventor and Mr. Imagination for a few minutes, till we got through the biggest hills and I let Mr. Sweetie out to ride on the flatter land. Seth, who had an injured foot, and Little Miss rode in the van with me. I put Little Miss in the front passenger seat, and she was excited to get to see out the window! I thought I had a picture of her delighted face there, but apparently it got deleted. Mr. Inventor won the race two or three times, other years, but this year, because he was pulling his brother, he came in sixth. He figured it was about time to let someone else win the race-that-is-not-a-race!

Raising Your Family for Jesus Conference

October 26, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

One of Gayle’s uncles from Ohio came to visit us for a week, with his wife, on their way home from teaching in Nepal for a week. We thoroughly enjoyed having them in our home; they have always been special people to us. Because he is a gifted preacher, we had asked him if he would speak at a conference while he was here, so we organized one for Monday this week, which was Labour Day. We had a wonderful day there, with about 65 people present at various times through the day. As you can see, the children had a good time playing between the sessions! If you were not there, and would like to listen to the messages, go to this link. To download a message, right click on the icon and select the download option. If it doesn’t work, please let me know and Esther will work on it again. Thank you for coming, Uncle Curt and Aunt Janie!

Trip to Dunedin, Part 5—The Miscellaneous Pictures

October 7, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

How would you like to live on a road like this? Our friends do! We kept the van in first or second gear to go down it!

I love the old buildings in Dunedin! Christchurch had them when we came here, but a lot came down in or since the earthquakes.

We still don’t know what the Chinese Gardens are like. It cost to get in, so we did free things instead.

Saturday morning we had to drive south of Dunedin to pick up a turkey Mr. Inventor bought to be the new father of his flock. This is the farm from which we bought it.

The boys were fascinated with the man’s junk pile!

Random scenery on the way back to the city.

In the Settler’s Museum. Mr. Handyman twisted his foot Saturday climbing Mount Cargill, so he was glad to rest awhile.

We walked a block or two in Dunedin after dark, and saw this amazing garden. There are two sets of stairs coming down the hill, making an X, with the flower bed in between. I think the flowers were pansies, and the green plants were celery!

There are a lot of stone fences around the area.

A couple more old houses I liked!

And a beautiful church.

I liked the bus stops, too. So much prettier than Christchurch’s glass and metal ones.

Inside the Settler’s Museum—trying to figure out how it was welded together!

I don’t know what this is; it’s on top of a hill between Oamaru and Dunedin.

This building is in Oamaru; I saw it on our way home.

Trip to Dunedin, Part 4—Inside the Train Station

October 5, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

I have never seen mosaics like on the floors inside the Dunedin Train Station. This was the center of the lobby you walked into when you went through the main front door.

This is the landing of the staircase to the second floor,

…and the steps themselves.

The floor all the way around the top was like this:

Looking down from the balcony on the second floor: The top picture in this post is the center of that floor.

The walls around the main lobby are incredible, too!

And check out the iron work on the stairway railing!

The iron work was the same all the way around the balcony over the lobby.

The rest of the artwork was amazing, too.

I guess these three pictures should have gone with the last post, outside the station, but here they are. This is a close-up of the sculpture on top of the tower:

Even the doors are beautiful!

These plaques are on the inside of each of the pillars in front of the building. I’m guessing that the pictures represent the important or outstanding features of Dunedin.

Trip to Dunedin, Part 3—Outside the Dunedin Train Station

October 3, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

The Dunedin Train Station is the most photographed building in New Zealand, the second most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere (after the Sydney Opera House). I can understand why. We took so many pictures of it that I’m dividing them into two posts. It is an incredible piece of architecture. This station was completed in 1906. One hundred ten years ago, people built beautiful buildings!

The gardens in front of it are absolutely amazing, too, even this early in the spring, or late in the winter—whichever you choose!

This is the steps going down from the porch in front of the door.

I let Mr. Intellectual give us a sense of scale for one of the pillars.

This excursion train is still in use.

An end view of the building.

The other side of the building, the platform side.

Standing on the platform.

Coming up next…the incredible artwork built into the inside of the building.

Trip to Dunedin Part 2—Climbing Mount Cargill

September 29, 2016 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

While we were in Dunedin (pronounced Doo-NEE-din, in case you wondered), we stayed with a family who live on Pine Hill, on the road to the Mount Cargill Lookout. Saturday afternoon they took us up to the top, and we hiked around for an hour or two. It was quite a strenuous walk for those of us who are terribly out of shape, but the scenery was worth it. The boys took the opportunity to practice rock climbing. This is Mr. Inventor.

We went to a rock outcropping that overlooks the city of Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula. I hustled Mr. Inventor away from the edge with his little sister. It went straight down a long way there.