Thanksgiving

"O LORD, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will give thanks to Thy name;

for Thou has worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness."

Isaiah 25:1

Thanksgiving is a great time for us to remember all the ways that God has provided for us this year and all the many blessings. We are so undeserving and yet He blesses us in so many ways. Even the hard times are opportunities for growth and maturity. We spent the day with our wonderful friends Joseph and Blythe who invited us to spend the day with them and their family. It was a wonderful time and a beautiful traditional thanksgiving meal.

Here are some things that we were thankful for this year:

A good, bible teaching church

Answered prayers

Those in New Zealand who have cared for us financially

Family in New Zealand who care for us

Wonderful friends

Christs death on the cross for our sins

Rock Creek Stables

Having christian parents

Friends

Being able to spend time at the recreation center

A godly husband and four wonderful children

Jesus and the Bible

Guitar lessons

Thanksgiving Dinner at Seminary

This year we were involved in a dinner at seminary for international families. The children had to dress as pilgrims and do a small skit, one of many put on throughout the meal. The purpose being that the new international students would feel welcome to seminary and would learn something about this American holiday. Unfortunately Joel was sick with a virus that night and was unable to play his part but the others enjoyed taking part. We also helped with the decorations and organising the night. It was a great opportunity to meet other international students.

Daniel Boone National Forest

On Monday we went on a family school field trip to this forest. It is a huge area covering 635,000 acres about 2 hours drive east of Louisville. We only went for a day so we just explored as much as time allowed.

Our first animal encounter was this fresh water crayfish. Matthew spotted it first and yelled, "Scorpion, scorpion!"

Natural Bridge State Resort Park

We visited this Natural Bridge first. We had been told it was a beautiful place to visit in the fall because of all the colours and it was. We could not find an information center when we first arrived so we headed out on the instructions we had from a friend. We found our way around OK and enjoyed ourselves. We did find an information place after this first walk and read about all the venomous snakes and what do to in a bear encounter! During our next few walks one of the children were often heard saying, "What was that, did you see that?" Despite the chance of coming across an animal that you would rather not see up close it was a wonderful day and a beautiful place.

The bridge from underneath.

Getting to the bridge.

The view from the Natural Bridge. We also found out later that an average of 40 people a year fall from one of these formations and 2 are killed. It was a pretty long way down and no barriers in sight to stop you from falling.

This was taken from a lookout looking back towards the bridge which is in the far left corner.

A pretty impressive view, especially with all the fall colours.

Caving

On our way down we took a different track which cuts through a cave if you want to take the short cut. The friends who had been there before us let us know about it and had lent us some torches. It was pretty cool and well worth exploring. We only saw one bat and several rather large cave insects.

Whistling Arch

After visiting the Natural Bridge Park we travelled a short distance to another part of the Daniel Boone National Forest - The Red River Gorge. It was also beautiful and had a huge amount of rock formations to visit. We only had time to visit two formations and stop at a swing bridge for a while. We saw some vultures by the river but did not get close enough for a photo. They are big birds. Now that we knew about the bears we made sure we made lots of noise and probably killed our chances of seeing any deer. Still managed to miss seeing a snake. Happy about that!

Sky Bridge

This was the last rock formation that we visited - Sky Bridge. It was also pretty cool.

Fall Party

We went to our first Fall Party. It was a great evening with lots of orange food, pumpkins being the theme. The children had fun playing mafia, then Scrabble and later carving their own pumpkin.

The children helping with the pumpkin carving.

The finished result.

Hubers Orchard and Vineyard Again

We couldn't resist going to Hubers again now that it is apple season. We have struggled to find a good apple and now realise how good we had it in the Bay being able to pick our own really cheaply. We did find a place that sold New Zealand apples for $1:99 a pound. For those of you who cannot be bothered doing the maths that is about $1 an apple. We enjoyed being able to pick our own apples again and they were yummy. A friend of Anna-Marie's joined us and it was a lovely day. Can you guess what the fall theme is here? You guessed it: PUMPKINS! They are rather orange which is a change from gray. People decorate with them and at the moment they are everywhere. Last year we made one into soup, which was OK but in America you make pumpkins into pie, fudge, bread, ice-cream and other desserts. These all taste a little weird when you are use to eating them as a savory food. We joined other families in the fall pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch to pick our own.

An interesting caterpillar (we think) that we found crawling through the field

Having a soda in the soda pop shoppe.

Matthew Again

I could not resist posting this video of Matthew. For those of you who may be concerned we are doing OK financially and are feeding Matthew all his fruit and vegetables.

Rock Creek Stables

Anna-Marie has begun to volunteer at some stables that are just down the road from us. This is a wonderful opportunity as she is not allowed to work here. They trade her a lesson for two afternoons work. The work is pretty hard and tiring but she is doing really well and loves it.

Sereena and Tania

Mark was on Fall break this week so he was able to give Sereena and I some time to do some 'girly' things and to spend some precious time together. Sereena paid for me to have my first ever pedicure. Very nice. We also went to the movies, had Starbucks several times and went on a lunch cruise.

This is the boat we went out on, 'Spirit of Jefferson'. It went about an hour up the Ohio River from Louisville.

Grant, Nigel and Sereena's Visit : Part Two

Time went so fast and we were back at the airport after just a few days saying goodbye to Nigel and Grant. This is a bit of a funny photo considering that Nigel is normally the one in a tie.

After Old Louisville we took them to our favourite places in Indiana; Sonic and the Bass Pro Shop.

Grant, Nigel and Sereena's Visit : Part One

We have been so blessed to have visitors from New Zealand again. The time went by so fast but it was still a very sweet time of fellowship with good friends. They arrived Thursday morning, came with us to Chapel at seminary, unloaded the treats they brought for us from home and then spent some hours resting. Our lunch that day was marmite and tasty New Zealand cheese on crackers, a marshmallow easter egg, pineapple lumps, Kirsty Watson's famous russian fudge and a yogurt (thought we better have something healthy).

We visited Old Louisville which is a group of houses all built in the late 1890's. It is a beautiful area.

We went through this Victorian-era mansion, Conrad-Caldwell House, which has been kept as a museum.

Playing with the Web Cam Part Two

Having Fun with the Web Cam

These are a few photos that the children took of themselves while mucking around with the Web Cam. I thought I would post them just for fun.