Gordon Family News

Rafting Trip

2012-02-04T00:35:00.002-05:00

My Dad is a great outdoors man. He owns several rafts and goes on several trips most summers. This year Rachel and Joel were able to go with him and loved it. They rafted down part of the Rangitikei River which has only three or four grade three rapids but is otherwise pretty calm but fun to raft. It is also a very pretty river to raft and camp next to. The trip took three days and two nights.This is not Rachel and Joel but some more experienced rafters on the trip with them.

They both had to learn how to cook over the fire and look after themselves.

Matthew's 11th Birthday

2012-02-04T00:23:00.005-05:00

Now that Matthew has a summer birthday we spent the afternoon at the park and the beach. Very thankful to God for blessing us with Matthew. He starts intermediate (middle school) this year. Wow where does the time go?

Opening presents.
Rachel, delivering the cake.
Aunty Leanne and little Isla.
The cake.

Summer Vacation

2012-02-03T21:53:00.009-05:00

In January we were very blessed to be able to go on a family vacation for a few weeks down to the South Island. Some very generous friends allowed us to use their holiday home up in the hills just outside of Christchurch. It was a beautiful home with incredible views. It was a very refreshing and relaxing time.Some of the destruction left from the 6.3 earthquake that hit Christchurch in February 2011. 185 died in the earthquake and many areas in the city have been deemed unlivable. In the two weeks that we were there we felt at least one earthquake almost everyday. About three of them were 5.o or over. Those ones were a little scary. We experienced in a very small way what the people of Christchurch are facing every day.
Driving out to the beach, these containers are placed against the cliffs to protect the traffic and pedestrians in the event of another large earthquake.
Enjoying the ocean.
Flowers and notes left on the fences keeping people out of the CBD.
Since the CBD has been unusable since February this container mall was set up, it was very well done.

Having competitions with the slug gun.
Anna-Marie was the first to hit the can, she was pretty happy with herself.
Rachel and I out rabbit shooting one evening. Rabbits are a pest to farmers in New Zealand.

There were great views all around us.

Mark and Joel kayaking in Akaroa, a cute little town not far from Christchurch.
Matthew has started to become interested in photography. He took this photo of seagulls with Anna-Marie's camera.
The rabbit that didn't get away.

Matthew and Anna-Marie enjoying the spa.

Christmas Update

2011-12-29T02:47:00.004-05:00

A very big Merry Christmas to you all. Can you believe another year has come and gone? Last year at this time we were in the mountains of Northern California, and the Christmas before that we were at Disney world in Florida. This year we are celebrating our first Christmas with family in 5 years, we are looking forward to it. We wanted to wait until our last event was over before we updated so that we could add some photos. Last Sunday we had a Naenae community Christmas dinner, we had about 170 people come, and it was a wonderful evening. The scattered photo’s are of the family at the Christmas dinner.

This Year

We can now look back on a year of mixed emotions with a real sense of thankfulness to God. We did find the re-establishing process long and at times difficult. There have been times of loneliness, frustration, and missing the States. However, as we come to the end of the year we can see how God is shaping us and the work that He wants done here. A special thank you to our supporting churches, Heretaunga Christian Centre, and Riverbend Bible Church, Immanuel Baptist Church and Buck Run Baptist Church who have encouraged us in so many ways this year.

Naenae for Christ outreach

The highlight of this year has been the establishment of a weekly outreach in our community, Naenae. We started this in March and have opened the doors at the community center for 36 Sundays. We finished, for the year, last week with a Christmas kai. What a privilege to preach the gospel to 100 adults at the dinner. We asked those who came to write their names and contacts on a piece of paper, if interested in a church starting next year, and/or a women’s fellowship group. Six people indicated an interest in church and 14 indicated an interest in a women’s group. Some of those on the list were very weary of us at the beginning of the year and it has shown us how many barriers have been broken down.

Preaching

Mark has had the joy of preaching 9 times at our home church this year, 5 times in other churches, and 35 times at the little “church service” at the Naenae for Christ outreach. This “church service” attracted an average of about 6 (from the community) earlier in the year but the last two months has seen on average about 16 coming. We continue to believe that the Word of God will not return void but will accomplish the task of saving and sanctifying sinners.

Other Ministries

We have also been involved this year in running the Christian group at the high school Anna-Marie, Rachel, and Joel attend. Mark ran a Bible study out of a church right in the heart of Wellington city. This remained small throughout the year but will continue next year with a bit more of an evangelism focus. Mark ran a 2 month church planting home group for interested people, and he trained 5 youth leaders in how to study Scripture and prepare and preach a sermon. We have also just written an evangelistic tract especially suited for our community. It has all local photos and the fictitious story that runs through it is about a couple from Naenae. We are hoping this encourages our Naenae for Christ team in their evangelism. If you want to have a look at it, send me your address and I will send you one, your comments will be helpful.

Family

The children are all doing very well. They all did very well at school and have enjoyed being in school for the first time. We are so thankful to God for the work in our children that He has done. They minister with us at Naenae for Christ and have been sharing Christ at their secular school. Anna-Marie had a pace-maker inserted when she was 4 years old and in January next year she needs to have it replaced, a heart valve fixed, and an old lead taken out of one of her veins. This is going to require open heart surgery, so we are preparing ourselves for that. Please remember Anna-Marie in your prayers.

Tania has taken the longest to adjust back to NZ living. We have had to work through some difficult times but the Lord has always enabled us to do this. Tania is in the process of getting her teaching license renewed so that she can do some relieving teaching next year. Mark has missed the States but hides it better than Tania. He now looks back on the year with thankfulness as he sees God’s hand in our lives. His leg issues put him out of action for almost 9 weeks this year, and he did waste a bit of time, but he does desire to be more focused next year.

Church Plant

We will enter 2012 having not yet planted a church but still confident that all we are involved in is laying the foundations for a church to be started. The desire to pastor the people of Naenae is growing stronger and the outreach we are leading seems very likely to end in a church planted. We have struggled to find interested people to join a church planting team but the last two months has brought two families to light.

Next Year

All of the ministry opportunities this year are continuing next year. In addition we are adding a women’s fellowship group to our Naenae for Christ ministry which Tania will be involved in running. We also hope to establish a youth work in Naenae. We praise God that the two churches in the US and the one in New Zealand that have financially supported us this year, are continuing their support for 2012.

Prayer Needs

Anna-Marie’s operation in Jan or Feb
Word of God to do its work in people’s lives
That the tract would be used to bring many to Christ
Family unity and continued submission to Christ above all else
A church planting team raised up from those showing interest
Naenae for Christ’s ministries, drop in center, women’s group, and youth work
Thanksgiving for churches continuing their financial support of us for 2012

Thank you all so much for your support this year, we have needed the financial support and we have desperately needed the prayer support. We have valued the e-mails, occasional Skype conversations, and the facebook likes and comments. You are all very dear to our hearts and we thank you for your continued support and care of our family.

May Christ continue to be your all in all

With much love

Mark, Tania, Anna-Marie, Rachel, Joel, and Matthew Gordon

Merry Christmas Friends

2011-12-25T05:18:00.001-05:00

The Gordon Children

2011-11-09T00:53:00.014-05:00

It has been several months since an update. I must apologise as we have sent out a few update emails and I have forgotten to copy them to this blog. Before the end of the year we will attempt to update you all on ministry but for now here is a family update on how the children are doing.

Matthew had a rough start to the year with too many challenges. He was so sad to leave America and still says that he is half American as he lived half his life there. He also went to school for the first time just a few weeks after returning to New Zealand and this was a little difficult for him. He is doing really well now though, he enjoys school and is doing much better. He is especially excited at the moment about gymnastics and photography classes which Anna-Marie is actually going in to help teach.

He continues to be very talkative and friendly. Tonight he had us in fits at the dinner table telling jokes. He still loves to serve wherever he can and is a great little help at Naenae For Christ on a Sunday afternoon.

He is just beginning to enjoy reading more. He enjoyed watching the rugby world cup with the family and likes to go out and kick the soccer ball around. He has made a few friends and is enjoying church.

This is Matthew with his cousin Grace having fun in the van.

Helping on Father's Day at Naenae for Christ. Helping Anna-Marie take bubble photos for a photography project.
At the zoo with a friend from church.
Joel has settled in well into New Zealand life. He spent some time at the beginning of this year fishing with his Grandad and hopes to go hunting with him this summer. He is doing very well in school and is nearly finished his Year 9 (Grade 8) school year, his first year of high school. He was picked for a special sports and math class and played basketball and cricket.

He goes over to the boxing gym twice a week and trains with the Junior boys and is really loving it. It is great having the gym and the Graham family next door as being in Naenae we are a little isolated from others that we fellowship with, who are in Upper Hutt, about 20 minutes away.

He has grown so much this year. He eats a lot and just seems to get taller and taller. He has also been writing his testimony recently and has been talking about baptism so we are prayerful and praising God for this growth in his life. He enjoys the youth ministry at church and attends the Wednesday night bible studies most weeks.

Rachel turned 15 back in May and is growing into a beautiful young women. She has just about finished her Year 11 (Grade 10) year in high school and has done really well. She received several awards at the prizegiving last night and quite a few awards at the school sports awards including being nominated for sports women of the year. She has played both soccer and basketball this year and this would be her favourite part of school. She has been picked for a special elite sports class next year so she is very excited about that. She was also our only child to attend a youth Sports Camp up at our old church in Hastings. The quest speaker was an American from California, Brent Eldridge. In keeping with the theme of sports she is also helping to run a women's fitness class at the boxing gym.

She has had her learners drivers license for a few months now but because of some recent changes to the law she cannot sit her license for another year and a half so she has a long time to learn.

She continues to put God first and faithfully shares with her friends at school and serves at church. Settling back into New Zealand has not been easy for Rachel but I think she has grown through the experience and has continued to mature. She is such a joy and often brings laughter to us all.

All dressed up for the Sports Camp Awards Dinner.
Rachel and good friend Susanna from next door all ready to paint Susanna's closet.
Rachel being her very competitive self on the basketball court.
At Sports Camp in Hastings, NZ.
Receiving an award at the Heretaunga College Sports Awards.

Anna-Marie is just a few days off turning 17. She is finishing up her Year 12 (Grade 11) high school year with just exams to go. She has done very well at fitting into public school life. She had to pick up at NZQA Level 2 quickly without having done Level 1 but should have no trouble passing at this stage. She has loved her photography class and has become more and more interested in it. With the boxing gym next door and a growing relationship with the boy next door, she has been spending lots of time at boxing tournaments where she also takes lots of photos, in fact she takes lots of photos where ever she goes.

Public school has been a challenge but, by God's grace, she has been faithful to share her faith with others and continues to be a blessing to us and even helped me teach a study to the other young girls at church earlier this year.

She has had her learners license now for about 6 months and drives very well. She was quite a confident driver from the start so it hasn't been too scary teaching her.

She also has her first job. I would love to have a photo of her in front of KFC, in her KFC uniform but sometimes the photographer will not allow herself to be photographed.

We would appreciate your prayers for her as she prepares to have her pacemaker replaced in February. The battery is low so she needs to have the unit replaced but they are also considering removing the old leads she has going through her veins into her heart as they are beginning to cause problems in one of her heart valves. This would mean that she would have to have open heart surgery and removal of these leads is quite a delicate process so we will keep you informed and would covet your prayers.

She has only had the opportunity to do one of her other great loves once or twice since being here but I have included a great photo of her riding.

Snow, Snow, Snow

2011-08-16T16:23:00.003-04:00

I spent our 4 1/2 years in America telling everyone that our winters were reasonably mild compared with Kentucky's winters and that it never snows in Wellington, only to be proved wrong on our very first winter home. We have just woken up to our fourth day of freezing rain, hail, snow and strong cold winds. Apparently it is the kind of storm that Wellington has about once every 100 years. Lots of people here have never seen the snow or played in it so it is quite an exciting event. The schools have closed which is unheard of, but the kids don't seem to mind. They have spent two days traveling up to the hills in Upper Hutt for a little snowboarding and snow ball fights with our neighbors.

Update

2011-08-11T18:07:00.002-04:00

It has been awhile since we have blogged but to be honest with you not much has been happening. The reason for this has been the unexpected injury to Mark's leg. Today he takes back the crutches that he first got on the 1st of June. Yes, 9 weeks later, he can take them back. He is just able to walk without them and will take about another 4 weeks before he is fully mobile and walking like normal.

The swelling in the calf has gone down but still a band remains, he is in no pain and is doing lots of stretching exercises to strengthen the knee and calf muscles. He has been able to drive now for about three weeks so his regular ministry activities have all begun again.

The Naenae outreach continues to function well. The main focus at this time is gathering around us a team of people with a similar passion for the gospel who are equally desirous to see a strong Bible teaching church established in the Hutt Valley. Would you please pray for this endeavour as it may prove a little slower than we first thought.

All of the family are really good at the moment, lots of learning opportunities and Anna-Marie has just secured her first job, and guess where it is, Kentucky Fried Chicken!!!!!! Yes she has started working at KFC about three minutes drive from our house. Both the girls have got their learners car license now. It does not take long in these years for family dynamics to change somewhat.

Thank you to all who continue to pray for us. We feel your prayers as we are carried along by the Lord in good times and in times of discouragement, so thank you so much. We endeavour to pray for you also and would love to hear from you so as we can pray more specifically for you.

May God richly bless your labours for Him, take care

The Gordon Family

Jarrod's Baptism

2011-06-27T03:38:00.003-04:00

What a great privilege it was last Sunday to be involved in this young man's baptism. This first photo is me briefly sharing on what baptism is.Jarrod sharing his testimony with myself and Billy looking on. Jarrod has been involved in the boxing academy in Naenae for a few years. In his testimony he honored the Grahams for their love for him and their patience with him.
This mobile baptismal pool is shared among three different churches. Both Billy and I had the privilege of immersing our new brother in water, symbolizing his new identification with Christ's death, burial, and glorious resurrection.
May this be the first of many!!

Ministry Update

2011-06-22T02:45:00.002-04:00

It feels like things have been moving slower in the last few weeks but maybe it has just been Mark who has been moving slower. He has been seeing a physiotherapist for his knee and it is feeling much better. He had an ultrasound last Friday to see what the problem was with his knee but a new and more immediate problem was found - a blood clot in his calf. This can be quite serious so he is on blood thinners and has blood tests several times a week to check his levels. He sees a specialist in a couple of weeks so we will keep you updated.

Last Sunday was an exciting day for us. It was announced at Heretaunga Christian Center, where we are fellowshipping in Upper Hutt, that they will be supporting the church plant. This is great news for us as we feel it is important to have a local church involved. We hope to move on from here and begin a homegroup for people who may be interested in being a part of a plant in Lower Hutt. Later that afternoon was Naenae for Christ. It was a great afternoon. We held a sports day for young people and had a great crowd of kids. Mark was able to preach a gospel message afterwards to the kids and also to our regulars, about 60 people.

Below are a few photos of the afternoon.

Rachel Turns 15

2011-06-22T01:44:00.002-04:00

Here's a few photos from Rachel's 15th birthday. She had several friends over and they had a cupcake cooking and decorating competition, watched a movie and slept over.

Rachel has done really well with the move back, although she misses people terribly back in the States. She is enjoying public school and is doing really well in all her subjects, but more importantly is growing in her faith and having many opportunities to share with friends.

She is busy playing both basketball and soccer for the school, doing school work, being involved in church youth group activities and in Naenae for Christ.

We thank God for Rachel, she is a great blessing to us.

A Little Break Away

2011-06-09T21:25:00.002-04:00

We have just come home from a wonderful Bible conference at our old church in Hastings, the Impact Bible Conference. It was a fantastic time of fellowship. However Mark spent the conference on crutches. His knee has been very swollen and he has been having to stay of it completely until we can find out why it is so swollen. I'm sure I don't need to tell all who know him how frustrating this is for him.

Several weeks ago now Mark and I were able to go away for a quiet weekend for our wedding anniversary. We stayed in a little quaint town about an hour from where we live called Martinborough. We drove over to the ocean for the day to see a seal colony and walked up to a lighthouse.

20th Wedding Anniversary

2011-05-18T04:20:00.003-04:00

I have been married to my wonderful husband for 20 years today. I love him more every day. Being back in New Zealand we were able to have lunch today in the church that we were married in that is now a cafe. God has been so good to us through the good and the bad. His grace is sufficient!

We did not have one wedding photo with us during our time in the States, so this is for all of you who asked to see one.

Mothers Day Outreach

2011-05-12T03:54:00.004-04:00

The other Sunday for Mothers Day we had a special outreach for the ladies. We tried to make the afternoon a real treat for them. We had some ladies doing pedicures, manicures, hair, makeup, and we had lots of beautiful clothes to give away. We also had a special afternoon tea for them. It was so exciting to serve these ladies and to be able to get to know them better and to share about the Lord with them. Some were in tears as they received clothes and other items.

Things I love about being back in New Zealand

2011-04-11T03:20:00.006-04:00

The Beauty: I took these photo this morning on my walk. Matthew attends a little Christian school about 10 mins from home up on a hill. I leave the car there and go for a walk on fine mornings. The view is beautiful and I love hearing all the birds and farm animals. New Zealand really is a beautiful country.

The Food: There was lots of food I missed while in the States and it is good to be able to have that again. It has been a shock to us though how much food costs here now, especially butter, milk and cheese which are all foods that we export huge amounts of. For some reason they are very expensive here. I have been enjoying my lattes though, the milk really does taste good.
The beach: It is great to be close to the beach again. We are even close enough to wake up to the sound of seagulls sometimes.

Obviously there are many other reasons why it is good to be back, like family and friends and ministry. But, there are also many things we are missing about being in the States. I miss the sweet fellowship with those at Buck Run and Immanuel. In fact we sung, Nothing but the Blood of Jesus, on Sunday and I couldn't sing it without tears, remembering how we use to sing that at Immanuel. Also on Sunday when we were serving the unchurched of Naenae I thought a lot about the example of the people at Immanuel and Buck Run. It makes me rejoice at the journey that the Lord has taken us on and makes me excited about the future.

America Day

2011-03-31T02:59:00.005-04:00

We decided a few weeks ago to have an American day where we would drive around and take photo's of things that remind us of America. So here we go. Please note, all spelling will be in the Mother's English.
Would you believe it but 5 minutes from our house is an American football field. This definitely reminded us of the States.
If you can't see the sign I'm holding up it says, "Hershael." This is Hershael York avenue. We pass it most days when we take the kids to school. What a wonderful reminder it is of the love shown to us by Dr. York while in Frankfort, Kentucky.
KFC is not the same in NZ that is was in Kentucky. But passing this sign reminds us that we have been there, and that our hearts are still somewhat there.
We spent an amazing 3 weeks before we came home in beautiful, northern California with our dear friends, Ben and Chelsea. We experienced Alta, Sky Mountain, Lake Tahoe, and Yosemite national park, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Cornhole, that wonderful American game we learned. We came home wanting to make some, and what do you know, our neighbours, had already made some. All I had to do was paint them up, and only one colour came to mind, Kentucky blue!!
No, I am not worshipping the sign, but almost. This sign reminds us of the four and a half wonderful years we spent in Kentucky.
Never went to Wisconsin, but these burgers are quite good. So, that was our first America day. Just an excuse to think about you all, not that we need excuses. How about one of you doing a New Zealand day and go and take photo's of everything that reminds you of NZ :)
Now a couple of local scenery shots. This is looking down on Wellington harbour, Wellington city is in the background. We are up on Wainuiomata hill, about 8 minutes from our house.
Anna-Marie and I on the Petone wharf. Wellington city again in the background. Petone is about 10 minutes from Naenae.

Some Random Photos

2011-03-28T20:03:00.005-04:00

During our first few weeks here in NZ we went away with my sister and her family to Lake Taupo. It was a wonderful time and now that we are well and truly into the school routine we are pleased we took the time to do it.Joel in the process of falling off.
Mark kneeboarding.

Celebrating Matthew's 10th birthday.

Matthew went out on the boat on the morning of his birthday and caught this trout. His cousin, Caitlin, caught one also.Joel water skiing.
Our first trip to the ocean and our first fish'n'chips just a few days after we returned for my nieces birthday.
Anna-Marie and Ashleigh.
Matthew and Grace.

Sunday afternoon outreaches

2011-03-21T04:34:00.003-04:00

The Naenae for Christ team (made up of believers from Heretaunga Christian center in Upper Hutt, and ourselves), have started opening up the Naenae community hall on Sunday afternoons. The Lower Hutt city council has kindly allowed us to use it this year on Sundays, for free. Below are some photos of some of the things we do.

Part of the afternoon involves us giving away sausages (A sausage in bread with ketchup and onions). There is always a good line-up for this.

We have just developed a kids corner which has gone over well.

Meet my younger sister Joanne. She is available to mend items of clothing or other items, she also teaches crafts to those that want to learn.

Table tennis is a big part of the afternoon with three tables available.

And, surprise, surprise, we have cornhole. It is such a hit, we have since painted them up. Cornhole is not really played in NZ so we were surprised when our neighbors, the Grahams, said they had made some. We also serve a snack for everyone sometime throughout the afternoon, and we have a give-away table that even the community people have started bringing stuff to put on it. Throughout the afternoon you can see Naenae for Christ people sharing the gospel, teaching a little child how to play table tennis, or just chatting with those in the community who come because they are lonely.

The afternoon finishes with a time in the Word of God. This is not compulsory to attend but we have had around 10 members of the Naenae community stay for this. It is such a privilege to serve your community with food, a place to come, prayer, and the Word of God.

Mark

New Zealand Update

2011-03-04T03:04:00.003-05:00

Wow, where do I start? I am sorry that I have not posted anything about being back in New Zealand yet. I keep taking my camera with me places and then not taking any photos so I have finally decided to just go ahead and post without any.

We spent our first 5 days home at my parents just relaxing, getting over jetlag and enjoying being with family. We then went on a little vacation with my sister and her family to a little place by Lake Taupo. Uncle Paul took the kids fishing and we went swimming, boating and walking and just relaxed. It was a really sweet time with family.

We then went to Hastings, where we came from 41/2 years ago, to visit and to arrange the pick up of all our stuff which was kindly stored by good friends all this time.

We came back to Upper Hutt and got straight into tidying up the house in Naenae. We spent almost three weeks painting, hanging curtains and fixing up. We have lived here now for nearly three weeks and Mark has only just got his office completely organized. We are enjoying our little house. It was nice to be able to paint it just the way we wanted it.

The children all started school. Anna-Marie, Rachel and Joel are at Heretaunga College, a high school in Upper Hutt. Matthew goes to a little Christian school called Maranatha. It has been quite a change for the family for them to all be in school. The older three have been quite challenged at High School and have been a little surprised at the level of disrespect and the openness of sin from their peers. They have already had some opportunities to share the gospel with their friends which is exciting. Matthew had a hard time at school at first but is doing much better now and looks forward to it every day now.

Mark has been very busy getting the house organized. I am so blessed to have such a diligent husband :) He has also preached twice and has begun meeting with a couple of guys in Wellington for a bible study. He has been visiting a new believer in the neighborhood and has been running with a young man who is interested in the things of the Lord. He begins preaching this Sunday in the local community hall. Please pray for this outreach. It is a group of very sincere, faithful believers who hope to reach our community, Naenae, for Christ. We meet to pray every week on a Tuesday night and will be out in the community every week.

You also would have heard about the earthquake that we have had in the South Island in a city called Christchurch. Thanks to everyone for their concerns and prayers for this country and for Christchurch. They are still pulling bodies from the rubble and people are still without power, water and sewage. We have had two earthquakes here in the last three days which is nothing unusual but has people a little nervous because of what has happened in Christchurch.

We are definitely missing America. We talk about our lives there all the time. It already feels like some distant memory which saddens us. We miss the fellowship with all the wonderful dear people we met and came to love but we are thoroughly enjoying seeing and being with our extended families, seeing old friends and beginning ministry. We are excited about the future and what the Lord may do.

More updates to follow, hopefully with a few photos.

Lake Tahoe

2011-01-29T00:36:00.001-05:00

On our way home we drove home via Lake Tahoe. Beautiful!

The Grand Canyon

2011-01-22T01:24:00.004-05:00

I have always wanted to see the Grand Canyon and I was not disappointed, it was amazing, in fact awesome is a better way to describe it. We only saw such a small part of it and yet it was so vast. Great to see another wonder of God's creation.

The Hoover Dam

2011-01-22T01:11:00.003-05:00

Just out of Las Vegas is the Hoover Dam. It is an incredible place, well worth the visit.

Ben, Chelsea, Noah and baby Eden, hiding under Chelsea's jacket for warmth. It was so much fun to travel with the Saunders. Their children did so well in the motorhome and on our day trips.

Las Vegas

2011-01-21T17:27:00.004-05:00

We have arrived in New Zealand safely but before I post about that I have to update with our last few weeks in California. We headed off on a road trip with Ben and Chelsea, all 10 of us in a motorhome lent to us by a kind friend from their church. First stop was Las Vegas. We arrived at night and drove down the strip, had lunch at Circus, Circus the next morning and started walking down the strip to see the sights in the daylight. It wasn't long before we decided it was not a city to visit with children and decided to get out of there. They certainly have their reasons for calling it Sin City.

Yosemite National Park, California

2010-12-28T22:30:00.006-05:00

We are in Modesto, California with the Woodfield family. We go back more than 20 years and have not caught up with one another for quite some time so it has been great spending time with them. They took us up to Yosemite National Park for the day and it was incredible. It is an amazingly beautiful place.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T20:39:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas to all our wonderful friends and family.

A White Christmas

2010-12-23T19:33:00.006-05:00

This is the view from the lodge window where we just spent the last couple of days. We are in Northern California spending several weeks with our good friends Ben and Chelsea Saunders who we lived with in Louisville for a year. Every second year they get together with extended family at this camp up in the mountains. It was an incredible time, in an incredibly beautiful place. We are very thankful to the extended Saunders family for allowing us to enjoy it with them.
Joel snowboarding.
The snow cat that we came in on. With so much snow you cannot drive all the way to the camp.

The cabins where we slept.
Matthew and Joel spent hours making tunnels in the snow.

This is us with the Saunders family. Ben and Chelsea with Noah and Eden and Ben's parents, Scott and Dena. They are such wonderfully hospitable people.Rachel with Noah.
Noah and his cousin with Santa Clause (Uncle Mark).
The children acting out the Christmas Story.

Anna-Marie's 16th Birthday

2010-12-06T17:52:00.006-05:00

Cathy kindly allowed Anna-Marie to have a party here and she even provided all the food and a yummy cake. This is the first time since we have lived here that we have had snow before Christmas which has made everything very pretty but at the moment it is VERY cold. Anna-Marie had a lovely evening and then all the girls slept over and went, in the snow, to the mall and the movies. It was a sweet time with her friends and was very sad for her and Rachel to have to say goodbye to her Louisville friends.

Anna-Marie and all of her friends who came to help her celebrate. She has such sweet friends.

Around the table ping pong.

The chocolate game, of course.

Yard Sale

2010-12-06T17:23:00.002-05:00

Several weeks ago we had a yard sale and sold all our household goods. It was quite a mission to pack up and move out and get rid of everything. The Lord blessed us with a nice warm day and the yard sale went well; we only had about three boxes of stuff left over to donate or throw away. Here are a few random photos of the kids and some of their friends. We are now staying with a sweet friend of ours who has a house big enough for us all. It is a relief to us to have that part of the journey done and we are now pretty relaxed at Cathy's just enjoying our last few days here.

Sad Farewells

2010-11-26T16:10:00.002-05:00

Our wonderful friends, the Trebilco's, hosted a farewell in Louisville for us last weekend. We spent our last Sunday at Immanuel Baptist Church and spent time with friends in the afternoon. It was a sweet time but very sad to be closing this chapter of our lives.

Joel is at that, "Don't take photos of me" stage.

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T15:41:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was thanksgiving here in the States. We have now moved and are living with a wonderful friend, Cathy, who has generously let us take over her house. We have three more weeks here before we fly to California. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day at Cathy's with some of her family and with some other dear friends, the Bishops. The Bishop family leaves on Friday for the Ukraine to adopt a little girl so we will be saying our goodbyes early but we are very excited for them. Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday and we certainly have so much to be thankful for.

Cathy had the table set beautifully.

Adam cutting the turkey.

This is what most of us did after lunch. Anna-Marie took over the spot by the fire.
Cathy, Anna-Marie and Rachel.
Mark and the boys play fighting.

Exchanging gifts.

Times of Change

2010-11-14T22:10:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow will be the 15th November which means that in just month we fly/drive to Sacramento, California. Anna-Marie, Matthew and I are flying and Mark, Rachel and Joel are making the three day drive. Mark is driving so that we can get the rest of his books over to Sacramento ready to ship back to New Zealand.

It is a very bitter, sweet time for us. We have come to love it here in the States and really feel at home in Frankfort at Buck Run Baptist Church. The year here has flown by but it has been well worth it. Mark has enjoyed working with Dr York and everyone has settled into the church very well. The people have been wonderful and extremely welcoming, despite the fact that we were here only for a year.

I thought I would update you on what the next few months hold. This weekend we are having a garage sale to get rid of all of our belongings that the Lord has provided us with, pack up our clothes and books and move in with a dear friend for our final three weeks here. We travel to Louisville this weekend to say goodbye to Immanuel Baptist Church and all the people there who are very dear to us. They want to pray for us and send us out to do the Lord's work in New Zealand and are also graciously supporting us financially.

Buck Run Baptist Church is also hoping to support us so we will be having a Wednesday night missions dinner for us and also a Sunday School class farewell. The children also have different farewell get togethers organised. Anna-Marie's will be in conjunction with her 16th birthday. So really the next month will just be a whole lot of very sad goodbyes.

In the next month we also have to achieve several things in preparation for coming back to NZ including writing exemptions to homeschool the boys. Not a job that I am looking forward to but it must be done.

We are spending about three weeks in Sacramento with our dear friends Ben and Chelsea who lived with us back in Louisville. We are very excited about seeing them and spending time with them and their wonderful extended family. We are hoping to travel a little and visit the grand canyon and Las Vegas. Mark is thinking that to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary we should get remarried by Elvis in Vegas! I don't think so!

Please pray for safe travel, especially for Mark, Rachel, Joel and Ben (who is flying over to help Mark with the driving - yes we do have wonderful friends) who will be driving 2200 miles.

Pray for us as we say our goodbyes.

Pray for us as we continue to raise support and seek the Lord's will for our future.

Thank you to all those who have faithfully been reading our blog over our years here. I guess it will change soon from updating our New Zealand friends on life here in America to updating our American friends on our ministry in New Zealand.

Mexico Part Two

2010-11-01T12:07:00.005-04:00

Enjoying some fresh coconuts.

Rachel with the baby of a house they visited. Her group shared the gospel with this family.
Rachel and Anna-Marie outside the brick house that the team built for a local family of five.

Ready for church.
Practicing a dance routine that the whole group learned.
The best part of the day and the only way to cool off in the very hot weather, a swim.

Mexico Post One

2010-11-01T11:23:00.007-04:00

I know it was months ago but I am finally getting around to posting some Mexico photos. We were given two CDs with every photo that was taken on the trip so it is a little difficult to put them in any sort of order. This first group of photos seem to be all Anna-Marie but photos of Rachel will follow.

This is the girls accommodation.

Anna-Marie with some ladies that they were able to share the gospel with.
Anna-Marie giving her testimony. The man next to her is the translator. She would say a couple of sentences then give him the microphone to translate.
Making balloon animals and playing games with the local children.

Apparently the boys kept throwing the girls in the pool in their clothes so to pay them back the girls threw most of the boys clothes on their roof. The boys were very unimpressed.

The guilty group of girls looking pleased with themselves.

Football Game

2010-10-30T09:53:00.003-04:00

With just a few months left in the States we finally went to a football game. Several youth from Buck Run attend a school just across the road from us called Franklin County so quite a crowd from church attend their games. We tailgated first (BBQ next to the car) and then went to the game. The school band and cheerleaders all made for a very American atmosphere.

This is Rachel with our wonderful Youth Pastor Zack and his wife Jennifer and their little boy John Owen. They work tirelessly with the youth and are greatly appreciated.

The band.

Anna-Marie with a friend, Josh.
Matthew with his friend, Connor.

Red River Gorge

2010-10-13T21:48:00.003-04:00

We took a New Zealand family who have moved to Louisville for seminary out hiking to one of our favourite places. We have been out to the Natural Bridge several times now and have always loved it out there. It is great to have some other New Zealanders near by and exciting for New Zealand to have more men willing to come over here to study the Word. We are just sad that they have only just got here and we are about to leave.

World Equestrian Games

2010-10-13T21:13:00.002-04:00

Due to the generosity of a dear friend I was able to take Anna-Marie and her friend Bobbie to the World Equestrian Games. They were held here in Kentucky just about 20 mins from Frankfort at the Kentucky Horse Farm. This was the first time they had ever been held outside of Europe. It was great to be there and to attend one of the events.

Golf

2010-10-02T19:24:00.002-04:00

Mark took the boys for their first round of golf this afternoon. Here is a little bit of the action.

Camping Trip

2010-10-02T19:11:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago Mark went with the boys and some friends on a camping trip to the Red River Gorge while us girls were at a sleep over to end a summer book study that we have been doing. We had been studying a book called, "Girls Gone Wise, In a world Gone Wild" by Mary Kassian. It is one of the best books I have read for teenage girls and was a great study, and a great group of girls.

Here is a few photos of the camping trip.

Anna-Marie's Photoshoot

2010-09-23T09:58:00.003-04:00

We wanted to take some photos for Anna-Marie's 16th birthday which is not until December but we thought we would do them now while it is still warm and before things get crazy with the move. She is very photogenic. I cannot believe she is almost 16, time goes so fast.

Kentucky River

2010-09-17T15:58:00.006-04:00

Not much has been happening lately which is why there has been a lack of posts, sorry. We have been busy getting back into school and trying to get our heads around leaving Frankfort in 3 months. Flights are booked, some plans are made but there is still a lot to do. Please pray for us as we continue to make plans, raise funds and seek God's guidance. We leave Frankfort for Sacramento on Dec 15th to spend time with friends and then fly to New Zealand Jan 12th.

A friend took us out on her boat for an afternoon. We had a great time, it was a nice break from the school routine and we were blessed with beautiful weather. We have been so blessed over the years here with different people offering to do these types of things with us. God is good.Joel knee boarding. Joel was the star of the day, having a go at knee boarding, skiing and wake boarding. He got up first time on all three and seems to have great balance.
Rachel knee boarding.
Matthew and Mark knee boarding on their stomachs.

Joel on the wake board.
Cindy, who took us on her boat showing us how a pro does it. She is surfing behind the boat with no rope.
Matthew driving the boat through the slow, no wake zones.
Just a random photo I like of Rachel.

Upward Soccer

2010-08-23T09:03:00.002-04:00

Summer is over and school has begun once again. Home schooling is going well, it really helps that the children are self motivated, the girls especially. It has been good to get back into a routine again.

Our church runs a soccer program for younger children called Upward. Matthew is playing and Rachel and Joel are both assistant coaches. Matthew was a little unsure about playing but he has really enjoyed his first few games.

Rachel helping coach her team of 4 year olds. Not an easy task.

Mexico

2010-08-11T11:52:00.002-04:00

We are still waiting on photos from the girls Mexico trip and will post some as soon as we get them but for now here is a letter from the girls:

Dear Family and Friends

Our mission trip to Merida, Mexico was a huge success! Our days usually consisted of building a simple, two room brick house with a concrete floor, and ministering to the neighborhoods, going places like the Salvation Army or Community Centers, going to parks at night and sharing the gospel with hundreds of people.

We were able to finish the house on time and bless the family. They were incredibly happy and thankful. God used us all mightily and many people came to know the Lord. In all, this missions trip was as good as it could have been. We both learned a lot, both about God and about ourselves. God definitely become more real to us during the trip. We could see the ways in which He helped us as we both did things that we could definitely not do on our own, it was all God. He helped us step out of our comfort zone and share the gospel with many people, and give our testimony in front of hundreds of people.

This trip also made us realize how blessed we all are in America and New Zealand, even with little things like air conditioning, and not having tarantulas and scorpions crawling around your rooms.

Thank you to all those who helped us financially with the trip. We could not have gone and done the things we did if it weren't for you guys. God definitely did a work down there, and you are all a huge part of that. Thank you all!

God bless
Love from Anna-Marie and Rachel.

Summer

2010-07-25T14:09:00.004-04:00

Well, I thought I would post a few photos to show you what we have been up to lately. The girls left for Mexico on Wednesday. I received a email from Anna-Marie today and her and Rachel are having a wonderful time. They are finding it very challenging but are loving it. She said it is very hot and they have seen 5 or 6 tarantulas every day but that they have had many opportunities to share the gospel. They are spending some of their time interacting with the locals and some building a home for a church family.

This is the Sanchez family that the team is building the house for. Anna-Marie in Mexico

Anna-Marie and Rachel with their good friends Taylor and Courtney.

Praying before departure.

Anna-Marie has found somewhere to ride. She had not ridden for about 5 months and was really missing it so this a real blessing.

Teaching the chocolate game to some friends of Anna-Marie and Rachel.

We have been going swimming with a family from church at their parent's house. It is a great place to be in this heat.

Fergus

2010-07-05T11:24:00.002-04:00

While we were in Fergus we went for a day trip through a Mennonite community. We went to a local market, which was great and had a picnic.

Canada - Niagara Falls

2010-07-02T18:52:00.003-04:00

The first thing we did when we crossed the border to Canada was visit Niagara Falls. We spent several hours there. They are pretty amazing. We then went on to a little town called Fergus in Ontario where we stayed with a friend from seminary.

Lake Erie

2010-07-02T18:43:00.002-04:00

On our way to Canada we spent a night at Lake Erie. It was great to see some water again and walk along the beach.

Rachel's 14th Birthday

2010-06-10T21:48:00.003-04:00

Wow, Rachel's 14, time goes so fast. We were not able to do much on her actual birthday so last week she had three friends over to stay and to go to a ball game. She has such wonderful friends. Megan took these great photos which I have borrowed. Rachel has become a lovely young women. We love you Rachel!

Fun in the Sun

2010-06-10T21:16:00.003-04:00

In May and June in Kentucky we have beautiful weather, a lot like summer in New Zealand. It gets so hot here in July and August that we have been trying to be outside as much as possible. We have been playing cricket, soccer, tennis, going hiking and swimming. Tonight we took a bush walk and a drive and saw 52 deer, 4 groundhogs, a turtle and a raccoon.

Mark is still busy at work preparing to preach this Sunday, counselling and preparing a new members class. Next week we head to Toronto, Canada to renew the girl's visas before they head to Mexico on a missions trip in July. Mark is preaching at a church up in Fergus, Ontario where a friend of his from seminary is the pastor. We are thankful for the opportunity and are looking forward to our time up there. On the way we are going to visit Niagara Falls which I'm very excited about.

I hope the photos of us swimming as the cold weather hits New Zealand don't make you all too jealous. This photo of Rachel and Joel swimming in the creek which runs behind our church. It looks different now than it did in the photos of the flood.

Joel's summer hobby, reading. I paid for them all to swim at the local pools. I could have left Joel at home to read and saved some money!

Matthew with his friend, Connor.

Summer Vacation

2010-05-31T16:48:00.005-04:00

Friday was Anna-Marie's, Rachel's and Joel's last day at Dorothy Sayers. Matthew still has a little bit of school to finish up at home but not much so we are now on summer break. It feels good to be at the end of another school year. Dorothy Sayers was a great blessing to us, I'm not sure about how I'm feeling going back to home schooling in August now with two high schoolers.

We have been trying to get outside as much as we can lately as the weather is beautiful, a lot like a Hawkes Bay summer, but it will get very hot soon so we are enjoying it while we can.

Mark took Rachel and Joel kayaking this morning. Their youth pastor at Buck Run Baptist Church helped Mark get some kayaks together. They had a great time. Here are a few photos of the kayaking and some other random photos.

A few days before school ended Anna-Marie needed to visit several historical sites. This is a photo of her at Camp Nelson.

Ben's Graduation

2010-05-17T16:25:00.002-04:00

I was wonderful to attend the graduation of our good friend, Ben Saunders, we know how hard he worked. Ben and Chelsea are the couple who lived with us for a year and were an incredible blessing in our lives. We will miss them! Rachel with Ben and Chelsea's little boy, Noah. He is so cute!

Ben taught Joel to grill while he lived with us so Joel spent all night grilling about 50 burgers.

Matthew helping with the little ones, his favourite thing to do.

Ben, Nicola and Amy's Visit

2010-05-15T16:12:00.002-04:00

Last week my sister Nicola, her husband Ben and their daughter Amy came to visit. We had not seen them for two years so Amy had changed so much. It was great to see them. We only had a few days to show them a few of the sights around here. This is us in front of the governor's mansion here in Frankfort. We spent a little while playing at the park. Matthew and Amy had fun on their scooters.

I gave Matthew the camera and he took some pretty good photos, this is one.

Spring in Frankfort

2010-05-15T16:05:00.002-04:00

Spring in Frankfort is really pretty. Here are a few photos that Anna-Marie took.

Frankfort Flood

2010-05-15T15:50:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago we had a lot of rain and the little creek that runs behind the church flooded. It came into the church entrance and up a couple of steps but thankfully the damage was minimal.

Anna-Marie's Spring Break

2010-04-25T19:49:00.003-04:00

Anna-Marie went with a friend and her family to the mountains in Tennessee for a few days over Spring Break. Her friend, Bobbie, took these great photos so I thought I would post a few.

Mark's trip to Manaus, Brazil

2010-04-20T19:22:00.002-04:00

The Lord has been incredibly gracious to me and allowed me to spend 8 days in Manaus, Brazil. A team of 9 from Buck Run went to build some benches for this church below. Manaus is situated in the north of Brazil, in Amazonia.

The finished product. The benches in the front were the ones we built. We finished 100 which enables an extra 500 people to have seating.
Here is the team, I am the bearded one in the back middle.

We had a few days to trip around and no one goes to the north without taking a ride on the Amazon. The Amazon (brown water on the left) meets with the Negro (black water on right) right at Manaus. Its an amazing thing to be bitten by mosquitoes on the Amazon!

Here I am heading into legitimate Amazon rain forest, what a privilege and joy. As soon as this photo shoot was over I scurried back to the boardwalk! This area floods in the rainy season and about half way up the trees were big black termite and ant nests. They know where the water level is going to be and build their nests just above it; amazing!

Here is the wonderful family that 4 of us stayed with for the week. Gregory and Sandra, their daughter Lurissa, and her husband. Sandra spoke very good English. Obrigadu (Thankyou) to this lovely family.

Buck Run Baptist Church

2010-04-20T19:02:00.003-04:00

Below is a photo of us outside our new church in Frankfort, Kentucky. The church is called Buck Run Baptist church, and it is at Elkhorn Forks. We are privileged to be here for a year. I (Mark)am assisting the Pastor; Dr. York in all areas of pastoral ministry in the church. Dr. York was my preaching professor at seminary.
Here is my little office situated in Dr. Yorks office. They are not my books but his. The photo below this one is Dr. York preaching the morning sermon.

Here is a great photo of the inside of the church with Sereena in the foreground.

Sereena's Visit

2010-03-21T17:53:00.003-04:00

It was great to have Sereena visit earlier in February. She game over here before the Shepherds Conference in LA where she was meeting up with Nige and some other pastors from New Zealand. Mark also went over to the conference to meet up with Nige, Russel and others. He missed most of the conference though as he had to go down to Mexico to renew his visa.

Sereena brought us over all these New Zealand goodies, thanks to everyone who pitched in.

Sereena standing in the door of our townhouse. We had had quite a lot of snow a few days before she came.

We took her down what we call "Deer Alley".

We also took her to the Capitol building in Frankfort.

A couple of photos Sereena took from the road.

Sereena and I spent a day out at the Creation Museum. It was great to have some time together and catch up.

Joel's 12th Birthday

2010-03-21T13:10:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry that it has been a while since we have blogged. The computer I normally use has broken down. We had a very special visitor for Joel's birthday, our friend Sereena from Hastings. I will blog more about that later. Joel's birthday was the day we had to drive Sereena to the Louisville airport so it worked out well to get together with some of his old friends and play Lazar Tag and then take them out for dinner. He had been saving all his money for quite a while to buy an electric guitar, so the cake was a guitar cake. He is now the proud owner a blue Rogue Rockateer.

Basketball

2010-02-26T13:35:00.004-05:00

I'm finally getting around to putting on some photos of the girls basketball season. They have played for their school, Dorothy Sayers Classical School. They had a great season, coming first in their region and going on to the semis in the state tournament. They are such a great group of girls with wonderful committed coaches, it has been a blessing to be a part of this team.

The final score. We are the home team. This was their first game of the tournament which they won so they went on to the semi finals, which they lost. They had a great time though, and it was a good experience for them.

Frankfort, Kentucky

2010-02-13T18:52:00.004-05:00

Frankfort, where we live, is known for its many deer. The photo and video are of our favorite drive, a stretch of road about 1 mile long (1.6 km), where we always see twenty or thirty deer just grazing along the side of the road. As you can also see, we have had alot of snow. This picturesque photo is taken from the back door step of Dr. York's office (and mine also). It looks out over the back parking lot of the church we are interning at, Buck Run Baptist church, Frankfort, KY.

Matthew turns 9

2010-02-08T20:57:00.007-05:00

On January 20th Matthew celebrated his 9th birthday. It was a Wednesday so we normally go to church for a meal and bible study. Matthew attends choir on a Wednesday night and loves it so he was content for us to attend church on his birthday. We did have a family birthday lunch and a cake. Matthew asked for chicken, rice and a sweet potato casserole (with marshmallows on top).

Matthew also got to celebrate his birthday with friends in Louisville one evening. They went to Chucky Cheeses, which is great for birthday parties. It has pizza, arcade games and a huge play area. They had a fun evening.

Family Photo

2010-01-11T11:01:00.002-05:00

A friend of ours from Immanuel Baptist, our church in Louisville, very generously took some professional family photos of us as a going away gift. We have never had any taken and for those of you in NZ you know how expensive this can be. For those of you who did not get a Christmas card from us we apologise. We would have loved to send more out but we have to count the cost as the postage is expensive. So this is a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all and here is the family photo for those who we were unable to send one two.

More Snow Photos

2010-01-11T10:20:00.004-05:00

It has now snowed for three days here. The snow is pretty but we got so sick of being inside that we decided to walk in the snow over to the park to find a hill to sled on. The only problem being that the only thing we had to sled on was 'For Rent' signs.

There is a large deer population here and we have already seen over 10 deer at different times. Even though we see them almost every time we drive, having been deer hunting in New Zealand, I still find it hard not to get excited every time we see some.

We had our first full Sunday at Buck Run Baptist church yesterday. We enjoyed the fellowship with the saints and are looking forward to our year here. Mark started work, officially, today.

From the surf to the snow

2010-01-07T18:15:00.005-05:00

This is us enjoying the pool at our hotel in Orlando. Below are photos from today at our townhouse in Frankfort. It has snowed all day so the children had a day off school as the schools close.

The Beach

2010-01-07T18:02:00.004-05:00

Our last stop in Florida was the beach. We spent two nights at Daytona Beach and were blessed with a warm enough day to paddle in the waves. It was really nice to be at the beach again. It has been a couple of years. The beach has hotels the whole way along it and was a hive of activity.

The boys building sand castles with the girls in the background.

The view from our hotel room. We did not use the pool, it is unheated and freezing.

Kennedy Space Center

2010-01-07T17:44:00.007-05:00

On the way to Daytona Beach we spent the day at The Kennedy Space Center out at Cape Canaveral. It was a really interesting place. There is lots to look at. You can go into the actual control room used for most of the Apollo flights and see old space suits and go inside old ships. It was a neat place to visit.

The Holy Land - Featuring Matthew

2010-01-03T15:58:00.007-05:00

Our wonderful hosts who we stayed with over Christmas gave us tickets to a park called The Holy Land. It is like walking into Jerusalem in the time of Jesus. There were several shows to go to and a Scriptorium which was great. The gospel was preached clearly and we had a great day there. Matthew was feeling very photogenic that day so Anna-Marie became his personal photographer. Matthew would call her over, "Anna-Marie, Anna-Marie, take a photo of me on this."

Christmas Day - Sea World

2010-01-03T15:16:00.014-05:00

On Christmas Day we went to Sea World. It was a great day to spend there as it was not too busy. Sea World was probably our favourite park.

Mark, Anna-Marie, Rachel and Joel enjoy the roller coasters. They went on this one and one called The Kraken which is one of the top 10 roller coasters in the world.

Matthew does not enjoy some of the faster rides so we don't make him do the roller coasters but we talked him into doing this one, as you can see he did not enjoy this one either.

We have always loved aquariums and Sea World had some great ones. This is a leafy seahorse. We had Christmas dinner at a restaurant with the shark tank along one whole wall.

The whale shows were amazing! If you sat in the front rows you got soaked.

A dolphin show Anna-Marie's camera ran out of battery, but once it got dark there was another whale show, then an ice staking show with fireworks to end the night. It was a great day with a great atmosphere throughout the whole park. While waiting for shows everyone would be singing Christmas carols and doing the Mexican wave. It was a lot of fun.

Disney World

2009-12-31T10:58:00.011-05:00

We enjoyed our two days at Disney. We were so blessed to have had a neighbour whose son worked there and he was able to get 3 of us in for free each day. The first day we went to Hollywood Studios which was great. The kids enjoyed the stunt shows and some of the rides were amazing.

This is the exact replica of a street in New York that you can walk down.

Later on, in the evening the street is lit up and it pretend snows so that you feel like you are in New York.

This is day two at Disney. We spent the day at a park called Epcot. The rides were great and there were also pavilions of different countries that you could walk through.

Matthew studying the map.

Vacation - Florida

2009-12-28T10:53:00.009-05:00

Our first day in Florida we went out on an airboat and went for an hour trip around a lake to see the wildlife. There is an amazing amount of animals done here. On this one trip we saw heaps of birds, turtles, alligators and deer. It was a great trip.

Spot the alligator.

Our Airboat Captain.

The bird life was amazing. We saw several bald eagles and many other birds.

This is the biggest one we saw. When we got close it dived under but not before Anna-Marie and Joel got wet from it splashing its tail.

Vacation - Savannah

2009-12-28T10:38:00.009-05:00

Our first stop on vacation was Savannah, Georgia where we stayed with Alan and Cynthia Boson. Alan and Cynthia are the parents of a friend from seminary and church who we met early on. Alan is a New Zealander so they flew our flag for us. They were great hosts and took us out sightseeing for the day.

The city of Savannah is very beautiful. It is a very old city and they have preserved it well.

We visited this orphanage which was the first orphanage in the US, established in 1740 by George Whitfield.

GRADUATION

2009-12-11T20:33:00.005-05:00

Mark has graduated! It is hard to believe in some ways. Today has been a great day of celebration and thanking God for this stage of our lives coming to an end. We move on Monday and are busy packing and cleaning. We leave for vacation on Thursday so you may not hear from us for a few weeks. Thank you to all of those who sent messages congratulating Mark, they mean a lot to us, it really does feel like quite an achievement for the whole family.

Mark with Dr York who he is doing the internship with.

Mark with the president of Southern Seminary, Dr Albert Mohler. The family photo in the warmth of the Legacy Center. It was -3 oC today!

Dorothy Sayers Christmas Concert

2009-12-09T19:29:00.003-05:00

Joel and the girls sang in the Dorothy Sayers annual Christmas Concert last Friday night. This song is in Latin which all students 9 and up learn. This choir is the Middle School (Intermediate) and High School choir.

Chef Joel

2009-11-18T12:29:00.003-05:00

Joel has become quite the chef. He loves to cook waffles and pancakes. Recently he has been cooking us these yummy oat pancakes. He especially likes to make us all breakfast when the girls have their friends over for a sleep over. The only thing I don't like about it is the man-mess he leaves in the kitchen!!

Anna-Marie's Baptism

2009-11-11T19:13:00.002-05:00

We were blessed again to watch Anna-Marie baptised on Sunday. We are very thankful to the Lord for His work in her life. I hope you enjoy the video.

Rachel's Baptism

2009-10-18T11:23:00.002-04:00

This morning we are thankful for God's faithfulness. This is a video of Rachel's baptism this morning at our church, Immanuel Baptist. We praise God for drawing Rachel to himself, showing her her need for Him, and saving her through the blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Cross Country

2009-09-26T17:07:00.010-04:00

Both Joel and Rachel are running cross country this year. They are both doing really well and enjoying the season. It has been good for them to train together and have the "friendly" competition of seeing who gets the best time. Cross Country is a huge event here with hundreds of children running in each race. A strong finish from Rachel.

This is the girls middle school team. Just three of them. They are all good runners and usually come in the top 50. This day they all won a medal.

A strong finish from Joel

We told Joel off for this photo. We told him he should be trying too hard to have time to look around and spy us out. He has been running harder and won a medal for 20th place at their last race. Rachel came 7th in her race.

This photo in some way shows the crowd we encounter at these races.

Creation Museum

2009-09-04T10:24:00.009-04:00

One post I forgot to do of Mum and Ashleigh's visit was our trip to the Creation Museum. It is only an hour away from us and it is pretty impressive. The grounds are beautiful and the museum is very well done. Here are some of Anna-Marie's photos from that day.

The models are really detailed and well done.

Matthew

2009-08-31T10:46:00.005-04:00

We didn't want to leave Matthew out so here's a few photos that Anna-Marie took of him. She had a photography lesson a while ago from a friend and wanted to practice some things. Matthew was a willing model, he got all dressed up and then marched around seminary posing for her.

School

2009-08-31T10:25:00.005-04:00

School starts tomorrow for the kids. Dorothy Sayers changed their uniform policy on us this year so we had to go out and buy new uniforms for the girls but they do look smart. Joel has to wear this shirt and tie which makes us laugh as unlike Matthew he hates to dress up.

Joel with a funny look on his face because he is looking at his Latin book.

Lemonade Stand

2009-08-27T15:47:00.003-04:00

It is a very American thing to have a lemonade stand at some stage in the summer. Joel and Matthew along with two of the boys from next door set this one up outside our houses. They did really well and actually made $10 each, $40 in all! They also sold 'Walking Sticks' which was just bamboo cut from a plant at seminary :-).

Abandoned Kitten

2009-08-27T15:35:00.003-04:00

We came home one Sunday from visiting friends in hospital to find this cute little kitten in a box with some food and water at our doorstep. Someone had just left it there! We were very unsure what to do with it as one of the girls who lives with us is allergic to cats and it is not practical for us to keep it. Our neighbours were able to take it which was great as we are still able to watch it grow.

Contemplating

2009-08-27T02:40:00.003-04:00

I have been laying in bed contemplating a few truths:

Firstly God is good. He has been so faithful to provide our every need and His grace and mercy has covered all our sins, beyond my comprehension.

Now for some much less important truths:

no 1 - Mark still snores, although not as badly as he use to.

no 2 - The Hanson's (the Canadian family we helped move in yesterday) have a really nice coffee machine.

no 3 - I have very little will power when asked to join good friends for coffee even when it is not DECAF.

no 4 - I'm blogging at 2:30 am which may indicate that I am still very sensitive to CAFFEINE!!

no 5 - I must be in the mood to blog as this is my 4th post in less than 5 hours.

What have we been up to since Mum and Ashleigh's visit???

2009-08-26T22:07:00.007-04:00

Good question. Here I am, still blogging Mum and Ashleigh's visit and it has been over a month since they left. We loved our time with them and were sad to see them go. We tried to talk Ashleigh into being home schooled and staying in America but she missed her family too much, aye Ashleigh :-).

Well, for the last month we have been trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer. We went for several more trips to Kentucky Kingdom before the water park closed and have been able to spend time outdoors as we have had a very mild summer.

Rachel and Joel have started cross country training which has been going very well for Joel. He has been running 5-6 times a week sometimes running as much as 3 or 4 miles, (5 to 6 km). Rachel, however, has been having trouble with her knees. It has to do with the rate that she is growing and her tendons having trouble catching up with her bones. She is resting it at the moment and we are unsure at this stage whether she will be able to run.

We have also been busy getting to know a precious family from Canada, whom we met through our blog. They were looking for some information on Dorothy Sayers Classical School, where the girls went last year, and found our blog. They had just come back from 6 months travelling around New Zealand and were about to make the move down here to Southern Seminary so we became instant friends. It has been great to be able to minister to them in the same way that we were ministered to when we first arrived. We helped them move into a house today, our children get on really well, and we have a lot of fun talking about their time in NZ.

Talking about school, both the girls and Joel are attending Dorothy Sayers next year. Over the last few weeks we have been getting uniforms and sitting Math tests in preparation, stationary shopping still needs to be done and so does some more organising here at home. Matthew does not seem to mind the idea of it just being him and I for two days a week. He is looking forward to Mum time. I'm so blessed.

Mark however has not really had a summer break. The day after class finished in May he started working on his summer classes for his England/Scotland trip. He worked hard at the pool or for the housing department at seminary, or on class work until he left; and when he got back from the trip he had a huge amount of work to do. He worked hard but in the last week he still had 85 pages of books to read a day (not easy books to read), two book reports, a 7 page paper and two exams to do. He completed all this by 10pm on Sunday night and started fall classes at 8:00am on Monday morning, poor guy. He is looking forward to being done now and really does need a break from the books. He should be able to graduate in December, thank you Lord!

This semester Mark has a slightly lighter load than in the past, which is a nice way to finish. He has three classes; Systematic 3, Old Testament 2 and Applied Ministry. Applied Ministry is a class where he has to do at least 4 hours face to face ministry a week. He is going to do this by continuing to teach a Sunday School class on the family and by visiting the people in the class. I am excited about this as I get to be a part of it. We have always loved serving in this way in the past and it will be nice to be able to do it again.

Well now to the kids. Anna-Marie continues to do well. She had a pacemaker check not long ago and all is well. God still graciously provides for her health care needs through a foundation here. She is still riding horses and volunteering at the stable once a week. Her riding has really improved and she looks like quite the pro now. Anna-Marie enjoyed school last year and did really well, winning several awards for academic achievement. She is excited about school starting and loves to do homework. Her and Rachel also are having lots of opportunity to do some babysitting for several families in the church which they enjoy. She still reads a LOT and is best to live with when she has a good book. She did read several more theological books this summer, including 'Why Christians can't trust Psychology', 'Emotional Purity', 'Soul Searching' and 'Unveiling Islam' which was good for her.

As I mentioned earlier Rachel is having problems with her knee which is slowing her down physically. This is a little frustrating for her as she is still very athletic and enjoys being on the go most of the time. She is also enjoying the opportunity to babysit and is very good with young children. We sometimes call her the kid magnet! She is very patient and sweet with children and they enjoy her. We have a little girl next door who is eight and she has five brothers so Rachel sometimes invites her over for some 'girl time' and they watch a movie or bake together. She is not shy and will often introduce herself to someone new at church and chat away, we love that about her. She loves to read and we also asked her to read some more theological books this summer. She read 'Lies young women believe' and several others including the Left Behind series for teenagers. She also did really well at school last year and is looking forward to school but mainly to see her friends, I think.

Joel is looking forward to school. It will be a very new experience for him but he already knows several boys his age there through friends of the girls and through cross country. He will have a wear a tie which makes us laugh as unlike Matthew, he does not like to dress up. I will post some pics when the time comes. He is also great with little kids and him and Matthew get on most of the time and still enjoy lego and star wars. Their play has also become much more physical and they are often having stick fights out the back yard. Joel mows the lawns for us and is growing in responsibility, something that school will help quick start. He is a good runner and swimmer and we look forward to seeing how he does in the cross country meets. He also loves to read but as this summer was not too hot this year and we have 5 boys next door to play with he did not do so well with his summer reading.

Matthew continues to be the little boy who lights up many peoples worlds. He is still a chatter box and will chat away to anyone about anything which can be dangerous sometimes. He still makes us laugh a lot and comes out with cute sayings. He is also growing up though and is now quite the boy and really looks up to his Dad. He loves to play outside also but still loves to be the leader and for everyone to do what he wants to do, at all costs. He is really great with children younger than him. We had a family with three young boys around a few nights ago and he got the children's bible out and read stories to them and then explained them. I hope his theology was good. We decided not to put him into school this year as he is so social we could not imagine much work being done and he is at a great age academically for some one on one time. Even though he can not run with the team as he is not enrolled in Dorothy Sayers he has been training with them and has been running between 1 and 2 miles. He runs like he talks, with lots of bounce and energy.

I have been helping in a ministry at seminary this summer called the Attic. It is a place where people can drop donations, clothes, books, furniture, kitchen stuff. You name it, it's there. We sort through the donations and organise it, no easy task. It has been good and the children have been really helpful but I am not going to continue doing it through the semseter with still having all four children home to school three days a week and Matthew all five. I am enrolled in seminary wives again this semester and am taking Dr Mohler's class on Worldviews. I am excited about it but I am hoping that I will understand it. Anna-Maire is able to attend the class with me which will be good. Worldviews is a good thing to learn as a teenager.

Well that's our update, it has been awhile coming, I am sorry about that. Look forward to hearing what's going on in your world's. We would love to hear from you.

Louisville Bats Game

2009-08-26T22:00:00.003-04:00

To give Ashleigh a real taste of America we took her to a ball game, here in Louisville. It was a fun night. Here are a few pics.

Frankfort and Louisville, KY

2009-08-26T21:38:00.007-04:00

One Sunday we took a drive to Frankfort, which is the capital of Kentucky. Being the capital it has the capitol building of Kentucky which has beautiful grounds. We had a picnic lunch here.

One of the houses we passed on a scenic drive that we took from Frankfort to Lexington. The drive has many horse farms and we even saw a deer.

We then went for a hike that Mark and I had done before, just outside of Lexington. It has some great views.

At the very end of our hike, Ashleigh nearly stepped on this snake. She screamed but still managed to get this great photo.

Chicago

2009-08-18T20:24:00.013-04:00

While Mum and Ashleigh were here we wanted to do some kind of trip. Some friends of ours here at Seminary have family and have spent time in Chicago. We were able to stay at their parent's place and they showed us the sights. It was really helpful, I would have never done something like this without Mark. Ashleigh took these photos as she was the only one who was faithful to remember her camera. Thanks Ashleigh. This photo is of the boys at the zoo. Chicago has one of the best zoos in the States. It was pretty cool.

The Sunday we were in Chicago we went to Broadview Baptist Church which is a large black church. It was a lot of fun, their choir was amazing and they also baptised about 6 people that day.

Millennium Park.

The famous Navy Pier.

We ate pizza at a famous place in Chicago. You can write on the walls in this restaurant so the children had fun leaving their mark.Ashleigh and Rachel with Janet, our guide.

Mum and Ashleigh's Visit

2009-08-05T12:31:00.012-04:00

While Mark was away we had my Mum and my niece Ashleigh visit from New Zealand. They were here for a month. Ashleigh had been saving for the trip since we moved over here and it was so good to have them visit. We did lots of things around Louisville, went on a few day trips and went to Chicago for 5 or 6 days. Here are a few random photos of some things we did around Louisville. More later.

Dessert at the 'Old Spaghetti Factory'. A beautiful restaurant in Louisville.

The girls at the slugger museum.

Ashleigh with 'static' hair at the science museum.

Krispy Creme is the famous American donut. The children get a free donut for every "A" they receive on their report card so we had saved getting these for when Mum and Ashleigh were here.

Picking blueberries at Hubers. We went back there for Mark's birthday a few days ago to pick peaches as they are his favourite fruit.

Lounging around at the Bas Pro Shop. I think Matthew is pretending to be a bear or something.

Ashleigh ordering lunch at Sonic.

I took Ashleigh and Mum to the stables one day to watch Anna-Marie ride and Ashleigh took this lovely photo of her at the stables.

An Update

2009-07-27T16:11:00.008-04:00

Well, I know it has been a while. So here is my attempt to update you with what we have been up to, starting with Mark. As you probably all realise it is very expensive for us to live here in the States with Mark only being able to work 20 hours a week and with the New Zealand dollar being so bad against the US. So in an attempt to help us finish seminary as quickly as possible Mark went to England and Scotland on a seminary trip which will equate to 3 classes. It was a great trip which he thoroughly enjoyed. The classes included were Church History 2, Puritians and History of British Christianity. It has meant that his entire summer has been taken up with school work but it does mean that he will be able to graduate in December of this year. Something the whole family is looking forward to. Here is a few ramdom photos of his trip.

Dover Castle.

A thousand year old church at Dover.

Big Ben, London

Shopping at Harrods.

On the London Eye.

Rachel's 13th Birthday, Part One

2009-05-29T10:58:00.012-04:00

For Rachel's 13th birthday we brought season passes to the fun park in Louisville, only 10 minutes from our place. We had never been and thought it would make for a good summer gift. We were able to take six of her friends to the park for the day on free friends passes and had a fun day. I can see us spending quite a bit of time there over the summer, especially at the water park as it gets hotter.

Rachel and Taylor on a ride which makes most people feel ill. Joel did it once and is not keen to do it again. One boys was actually sick on this ride. Yuk. Mark and some of the kids on the boat ride.

The water park where we spent the later part of the day. This also has 4 or 5 great slides. The pool is a wave pool which Matthew really enjoys.

This video is of Matthew and I on the Ferris Wheel.

Mother's Day

2009-05-15T18:13:00.007-04:00

My request for Mother's Day this year was a family picnic. While the weather is nice you just have to make the most of it here. We went to Bernheim Forest and had a lovely afternoon. The kids treated me very well buying me a special lunch and even finding me some New Zealand cheese from my favourite, but too expensive store, Wholefoods. The also bought me my very own MP3 player. Now I don't need to borrow the girls all the time to go to the gym. Thanks guys, I love being your Mum.

We always appreciate the wildlife and often end up with far too many photos. Here are a few. One aspect of wildlife we didn't appreciate this time was the deer tick that we found on Matthew the next day and had to burn off. Not nice.

Fishing in Kentucky

2009-05-12T18:37:00.008-04:00

We had our first experience fishing a Kentucky river last weekend. Two brothers from church took the children and I. It begun before dawn when they picked us up, the next stop was McDonald's for the compulsory chicken biscuit and sweet tea, also compulsory was country music on the way. We caught no fish, probably due to several inches of rain the day before and a flooded river but the kids and I still had a lot of fun.

We were fishing down the bottom and up the top of this dam. apparently it is normally a trickle and you can easily walk across it.

Fishing here in America still involves putting a worm on a hook, not Anna-Marie's favourite part of fishing.

Ben and Anna-Marie

Joel and Rachel wading with Eli. The only catch of the day were fresh water crayfish which later escaped in our house. Anna-Marie found one by standing on it with bare feet; yuk! She wasn't very impressed.

Rachel and Joel ended up very wet. Joel fell in a few moments after this photo was taken as his hand is right by a snake that he hasn't seen yet. He got quite the fright.

Thunder Over Louisville

2009-05-01T09:34:00.006-04:00

The Kentucky Derby is here. Louisville goes crazy over the derby and one of the things they do is called Thunder Over Louisville. It happens two weeks before the derby and begins with an airshow and ends with the biggest fireworks display in North America. It was incredible. These are not my photos as I forgot to take my camera. I borrowed these off the Internet.

Sunday School Class Lunch

2009-03-21T18:09:00.007-04:00

Mark has been helping to teach an adult Sunday School Class on Manhood. We invited the class and their families around for a pot luck lunch and had a lot of fun playing "Around the world" ping pong and football.

Sorry I'm still having trouble uploading videos, but here is another link.
A video of the ping pong:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1347810864432063857

Welcome Noah

2009-03-18T10:40:00.002-04:00

Ben and Chelsea, who lived with us up until December, have had a beautiful baby boy, Noah Scott Saunders. Matthew loves to hold him.

Basketball

2009-03-18T10:33:00.004-04:00

The basketball season is over but I realised that I had not posted any basketball photos. Here are a few of Joel.

The Girls Basketball

2009-03-18T10:20:00.003-04:00

The girls really enjoyed their basketball season. It was the first year that Dorothy Sayers had a team so everyone was learning their way but they had a lot of fun doing it.

More of Joel's Birthday

2009-03-10T19:49:00.006-04:00

Just a few more photos of Joel on his actual birthday. Just trying to make him look taller than Mum, but unlike the girls he is not yet.

Joel's 11th Birthday

2009-02-21T20:52:00.005-05:00

Joel had a few friends over last night for a sleep over to celebrate his 11th birthday. They had a fun night. His birthday is actually tomorrow and I spent a while today making him some more cupcakes to take to Sunday School, but he has gone to bed sick. We have had a virus going around the family. It is pretty nasty but short lived. Poor Joel may end up spending his birthday in bed.

Paoli Peaks

2009-02-10T17:50:00.004-05:00

The girls school went skiing as a group to Paoli Peaks, which is only 1 hours drive from Louisville. We went as a family for my birthday as I love to ski. We had a great day. It was not as good as New Zealand as it was really just a hill where they make their own snow. You can see the snow machines in the picture above. There were 4 or 5 different ski runs. The deal was great though. They do a package where you get a lift pass, ski lesson, ski equipment hire and lunch.

I am having trouble uploading videos onto our blog so here is a link to some of us skiing.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5591766636538976640

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1417796996132433291

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2113256771667569208

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9079919772106108264