This and that

It has been awhile since my last post because I don't have a lot to report. I realized that things are starting to feel quite normal, "un-blog-worthy" if you will! Not a lot happens in New Zealand from Christmas until school starts up again in early February; stores and cafes close, people go on holiday for weeks at a time, church programs go on hold. We didn't take a long holiday this summer because we wanted to wait until our new niece or nephew was born up north. Sampson finally arrived, fashionably late, and he is adorable! We look forward to seeing him (and his parents too) in a few weeks.

We have a full house for awhile! Matt and Ang have two friends here for about 2 weeks. His parents arrive 2 days after they leave, and my mom arrives 2 days after that! We enjoy playing tour guide to our new home, and they are excited to see the people and places we talk about. We plan to take mom up to the Coromandel for a week, as well as day trips here and there.

We did get to watch the Super Bowl here, live on Monday afternoon; the pastor called a "Staff development day" for the staff and their wives at his house! That evening, Kris and I watched it again with another group of people, explaining what's going on. Unfortunately, we didn't get the commercials over here; people wondered why I would be disappointed at missing commercials until I showed them a few on YouTube! My favorite is the VW one with the Darth Vader kid.

This week kicked off the kid's programs again at Knox. Things went very smoothly and there was a lot of excitement! I am helping this year serving coffee at one of the playgroups during the week, as well as being a leader for the jr. high youth group (called Seismic).

I still have not been able to find a job, so I am beginning to wonder if God has something up his sleeve and isn't telling me yet. I have enjoyed having the time to just meet with people in the church for coffee, helping with playgroup, and will be starting a Bible study this week. I'm still working on SendOutCards a few hours a day as well.