Licensing

Weston Community Church hosted a wonderful service on Sunday night, well attended by friends and family. Nancy Parker organised to fill the church with blue helium balloons, each tethered by a long line of curling string. People were invited to write a short message and tie them to the balloons and I have had a lovely time reading those afterwards.

Rev. Bobbi Kilesifu preached a very appropriate (and brief!) sermon based on John 1:1-18 and 2 Timothy 1:8-12 and 2:8-10. The TTFF group (Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifeteen!) from Weston lifted our spirits with 2 contempory worship songs in the service and we also sang my favourite hymn, "Be Thou My Vision".

As we finished, Nancy had organised another surprise and everyone threw streamers, so creating a lovely celebratory atmosphere. The church was full, and it was difficult to get around everyone to say thank you for coming. Dunedin friends enjoyed a light meal beforehand and we shared a fantastic supper afterwards. We had such a good time that the family took Monday off and stayed with our family in Oamaru.

This has been a time to celebrate all the hard work that has gone into reaching this point and I am very grateful for all the support that has made it possible. The gathering on Sunday night was very much an illustration of church, representing all those who have taught me, shared with me, encouraged me and walked with me on this exciting journey. It has been a very special time.

Chris and I are looking forward to celebrating his licensing with our Wellington family in January, another chance to reflect and give thanks with some of the special people who have been part of our lives, and to praise God who is the source and means and goal of it all.

Hannah's Doodle Bear

 

Hannah and her fairy castle cake

  

Still here

We have survived almost a whole week with a five year old in the house. She had a great party on Saturday with a fairy theme. The cake was an outrageous creation, a vision of pink and hundreds and thousands; I think I may have slightly overdone the icing, but I will get Chris to post a photo later, so you can see what you think. The usual party games etc.

We said good-bye to Trev who headed back to work in Wellington Saturday morning after a late night helping us with The Cake.

We still have no firm plans for next year, so we are starting to look at options for staying in Dunedin and perhaps making the most of the time before we start work with some more study.

Hannah's birthday

Hannah turns five today. She will stay at Montessori until the end of the year. Our plans are still uncertain so we thought it best to maintain some sort of continuity. We will have a small family celebration tonight and a party on Saturday with some of her friends.

We enjoyed having my mum and dad, and brother Duncan and his family for Valedictory on Saturday. We went our for a casual family meal afterwards as a way of celebrating the completion of two years of study.

So, parties all round. Chris and I are trying to find some work in Dunedin and I am also recording this week in the hope of finally being able to make some songs available for people on CD's.

Nearly there

We had a quick trip to Oamaru on Saturday and Sunday. The children were not very happy about the idea, as they missed out on the church fireworks on a nearby farm. However, the skies turned cloudy and wet, not too pleasant for outside activities and my brother and his wee daughter Abby were able to join us at Mum and Dad's place. The cousins had a great time, Abby just soaked up all the extra attention and Duncan was able to have a bit of a break; Tracey has having a short break in Wellington over the weekend. Abby is a real live wire, never still for more than a second or two.
My crit service was fine, apart from one poor lady who collapsed towards the end of my sermon. Fortunately, St Pauls is one street away from the St John's depot so professional help arrived swiftly and I had to just carry on, as you do. Chris was a big help. providing technical support with the computer and data projector.

This week we are looking forward to a retreat on Wednesday, the Principal's dinner on Thursday, the Pacific Island students celebration on Friday and Valedictory on Saturday. In other words, a week of celebrations and farewells.

When no news isn't good news

Still no job, still no word on where we might be next year, still no word on where to enroll children at schools.
And yet, we think God is so faithful. We were blessed by the unexpected arrival on a check out of the blue, MJ has sorted a topic for her research paper next year and Chris has succesfully finished his CPE course!
Hannah has been ill with croup the last few days but she is sounding better now and really looking forward to a friend's party today. Zach is also away to a party this afternoon which has delayed our departure for Oamaru somewhat. MJ is preaching at St Pauls tomorrow, where grandmothers on both sides worshipped, and also great grandmothers. This service will be assessed or critiqued, just checking to make sure she really does know what she is doing!!!

We are looking forward to Valedictory on November 11 at 4pm, Maori Hill and also MJ's licensing, 7pm November 29 at Weston Church, North Otago.

We have enjoyed catching up with Jo Ryan and Kathryn Grant recently, we have also seen Anna Konings once or twice and also Jono Ryan.