Snow at last!

http://www.nzdigital.org/Flaky/Rain.htm

Click on the link above for some pictures of Saturday.
We had 2 inches here on Signal Hill, so everything was cancelled and we had snow ball fights etc, well later in the day. To begin with, the snow was so dry it wouldn't pack into balls!!! We all had an awesome time, rescued one or two silly people who insisted on driving up the hill, despite the fact kids were sliding down on bags and toboggans. It was a super day, the whole neighbourhood came out of their houses and talked to each other.
Then it rained, so the roads were clear for church on Sunday! God is good!
Yesterday was a late start because of road conditions and Chris had to cancel the weekend leader's retreat because of the road conditions; when they set out the Northern motorway was still open but by the time they got there twenty minutes later, it was closed. So the boys rescued a number of vehicles that had slidden, turned some folk around and generally made themselves useful.
There is still snow on the hills today and we've been having snow flurries and hail which makes driving interesting at times. However it will be the frosts later in the week that will be dangerous. Wednesday morning there was a breeze and some cloud cover but as the forecast is for fine settled weather, we will be seeing more icy stuff soon.

Where did that week go?

Wow! What a week! We started with snow and ice and frosty frosts and we are heading towards the shortest day on what feels like black ice. Out of control!

Janine celebrated her 12th birthday on Friday and we all went out to the Cambodian noodle house, slightly more upmarket than the one we usually go to. We had a birthday party and one person to sleep over on Saturday. I took her shopping a couple of weeks ago and sorted out the clothes situation and Chris organised the computer game side of things - how sexist is that? And she is just waiting for the official release of the next Harry Potter book, which we had organised for her months ago!

Chris worked really hard on Sunday, taking two services, helping with the congregation meeting in between, a baptism class in the afternoon followed by youth group in the evening...whew! Over the next couple of weekends, he has a Leaders' Retreat, Connect and Youth Group camp, so he is plenty busy planning, organising and setting up for all that.

MJ is still slogging away on her thesis proposal, and writing said proposed thesis while waiting for feedback and permission to go ahead. Go figure!

Katarina has been learning about exam technique and study notes this week as she encounters exams for the first time. This has been a good learning experience, you know, the little things like making sure you don't get stuck on a question and not finish the whole exam, or wasting time on little marks and then not getting the big easy marks because you've run out of time.

Hannah has come home today with yet another party invite - what is it with parties at this time of year? She loves a good party does our Hannah, so it is all good.

And Zach? Zach continues to organise play dates at suitable venues i.e. those with Age of Empires computer games (which we don't have at home) and blitzes Civilisation, and Star Wars Lego at home. He is agitating for an upgrade on the Star Wars game but so far, the furtherest we've gone is to rent a PS2 version for a week. Not that he spends all his time in front of a screen I hasten to add, he is also kicking balls around at school most afternoons.

Jack Frost's first visit - but not the last....

I've had a busy couple of weeks learning more than I probably wanted to know about premature babies with two friends in Queen Margaret at the moment; Caroline from Leith Valley and wee Jack and Nic with even smaller Nina. Nic, the daughter of our previous minister at Lower Hutt, married a Southland farmer. Today they moved Nic up to the fifth floor - that means she is much better. In fact, Nic and Caroline are in the same room which should make visiting simpler.

We've just had parent teacher interviews at Opoho school. This is always a pleasant time for us; Hannah continues to progress in leaps and bounds and Zach's teacher has figured out a way to keep him engaged. Both teachers have the good sense to enjoy teaching our children and the children love learning. Long may that continue!

Chris had a big weekend, preaching on Sunday and taking communion at North Taieri, plus a men's breakfast on Saturday at the airport, getting the inside lowdown on the fire engines and jet engines. They even did some demo's for the boys, emptying litres of water on the tarmac. Wow!

We've just bought a lounge suit, half price sale, been talking about this for years. So the living space is looking quite different now. It is my favourite colour - chocolate!

Soccer was cancelled because of the snow and wind chill on Saturday. Which worked out well, as Chris was over at the airport at the time. And Janine sang with the Year 8 girls in church on Sunday which went down a treat. Mosgiel is such a supportive church!


And this week we have my cousin Jo staying with us for a couple of nights while she does a pharmacy assistant's training course and some sightseeing. That's us, folks!

Queens Birthday weekend

We've just been to the museum; they have great activities for the kids, included a "royal" trail today which got them out of the house and moving for several hours! It is a beautiful day today, so they are down at school now playing on bikes and scooters.

Chris and Katarina are away doing firewood chopping as a youth group fundraiser. Seems a waste of a lovely day, but at least they won't get too cold and dirty.

Chris and I went to Ministry Appraisal training on Wednesday which I thought was good value. We've also had the Callenders over for tea and gone out to the Lanes, plus several evening meetings in addition to the regular Tuesday night home group which is growing by leaps and bounds. No wonder the weeks are flying by!

I ran an All-Age service on Sunday which got people out of their seats and talking across the age groups - well, mostly. Some of the older folk are pretty reluctant for this sort of thing, but we jsut jolly them along quietly. It was great to be able to preach on Sunday as well in the second service, although it did make for quite a busy week.

We also had the first post-grad theology students meeting which was a useful forum for sharing ideas and hearing about other people's work. Nothing much has happened with this group this year and after enjoying the vibrant School of Ministry community last year, I am keen to see some sort of support network maintained.

Janine is planning her 12th birthday party; most of the people she wants to invite are from Mosgiel. Now isn't that interesting!!!