People People People It's amazing how many lonely, needy and hurting people live among us. You could never tell - well, let's say, most of the time :) - until you start talking with them. I've had the privilege of meeting several ladies in the last few days that really need help or just a listening ear and some kindness. I LOVE PEOPLE!!! When I was just a teenager and grasped by the love of God, I kept walking the streets of my town in Germany, looking at PEOPLE, feeling God's love for them and wishing I could spend my life reaching out to them. I said to God, "Wouldn't it be great if it could be my job to do this - to have the time just to stop and sit on a bench with somebody - being a friend and talk to them about YOU?!" Well, God granted me my desire and I love it!!! Just this week, I met this single Mom with 2 little ones under 2 that is exhausted and needs help and a friend. Then I met another young Mom with a very busy husband and 2 little ones under 3. She is pregnant, too, and feeling horrible - just the way I felt when I was pregnant with Kylie. Only that she has no help at all... and her 14-month old is very active and into everything. Her doctor had just diagnosed her with severe depression... Then today, I had a sad and lonely widow over for morning tea and in the afternoon was able to take home an elderly lady who had been waiting for a bus for an hour and was getting desperate. She knocked on my car window as I was getting ready to leave the parking lot (after going to the optometrist for my contact lenses! By the way, we found my glasses!). It was funny, she kept talking the whole way - and not always nicely - about different politicians and problems with the traffic. When I dropped her off, I said "God bless you" and she got really excited and said: "Oh, God bless you, too! I am a Christian, too!" :) I love it how God directs me day by day! I've had another few guests at the house this week and will have the interns over again tomorrow. Sometimes I wish I could do so much more. But I have learned that I am not the answer to every need :). I need to be sensitive to God and find out when to do what. And then, of course, I've got to make sure I take good care of my family, too! Not to mention catching up on correspondence and our family finances (tends to get pushed to the end of the "to do" list).

Time for New Contact Lenses This is it! I am going to have to get new contact lenses really soon! My optician in Germany told me 2 years ago that my contact lenses were done and I needed new ones. Well, he said, they could maybe hold out for one more year but after that I really needed new ones. A few weeks ago, one of my contact lenses disappeared mysteriously while I thought I had put it into my eye. Since then I went without and just put on my glasses when I was driving the car. My glasses are 19 years old and terribly out of fashion. I've got to confess that I even took them off before I arrived at Leilani's school every day - didn't want to scare the kids - or - more honestly - vanity got the better of me :) Well, today, my glasses also disappeared mysteriously, I had them with me one minute and the family saw them and the next minute they were gone - nowhere to be found! This doesn't happen normally! I have had contact lenses for 19 years now and have only had to replace them once, and my glasses never! The only conclusion I can come up with is that it must be God's way to encourage me strongly to get those new contact lenses. I guess, he is going to provide for them, too! Thank you, Daddy!!! :)

Feeling awkward One morning a week, I am going to a ladies' cell group of our church, where we do crafts - mostly Christmas decorations and gifts. Yes, we're only August, but the weather sure is more Christmassy now than it'll be in December so it's quite fitting! Look at this view from our home this morning at 7:30 with frost - oh, it was so beautiful, but colder than ever - only 45degrees Fahrenheit, 8degrees Celcius - in our bedroom this morning - brrrr. I felt to joing this group because I am starting to befriend the lady who runs it, Deborah. She is just a couple years older than me, has got 8 kids from 19-4, was a pastor's wife and has home schooled for years - just the funnest person to be around and very inspiring! Of course, preparing "stuff" for Christmas comes in handy too and I haven't done crafts in YYYEEAAARRRSSS. I used to love it. Just never seemed to get around to anything more than the essentials. Even now, I really have to fight for this time every Wednesday, but I am loving it. Well, sort of. Let me explain: I do LOVE getting into crafts again, and the feeling of actually getting some little gifts made - and so early - leaves me feeling pretty good. On the other hand, spending time with these ladies makes me realize how "out of it" and "different" I am... Once again. Don't get me wrong! They are very nice people! Every time I change countries and cultures, I feel like a dumb little kid once again that knows nothing and has to learn everything. Sure, there is the advantage of at least speaking some of the language. I stress the "some", because the English I learnt hanging around Rich all these years is quite different to the English they speak here... I was told that there are 40,000 words different between American and New Zealand English - I believe it - and am still learning. The language is actually just a minor in the feeling awkward. Of course, there are all the fine differences in humour and just the "feel" of life that I am learning - and feeling quite out of it most of the time. The biggest gap I find is the vastly different life we have lived. Having lived in Tahiti all these years and then coming here really makes me feel like I am from a different planet! The kind of things the ladies talk about - and it's all the little things of running families and living life - I just can't relate to. For instance when it comes to Christmas and all the decorations, gifts, food, activities etc. - I have never had or done any of it. Life was so much simpler in Tahiti! And they think it strange that we don't have Christmas stockings for our kids and specially "themed" birthday cakes, just to give you a couple of examples. Of course they're too polite to say it out loud, but you can just feel the awkward silence. As a matter of fact, I have learned that the best thing is to listen and stay silent, at least most of the time. How does that saying go? "Even a fool when he is quiet, people will think he's wise." Of course, I do want to join in sometimes, like today when they were talking of birthdays and how the kids can choose their favorite food. They all said what their kids' favorite foods were (like hamburgers etc) and were REALLY quiet when I mentioned what my kids want as special food on their birthday - raw fish... Get the picture? So, I am on a journey again to learn the ways of a new culture. It's always good to eat a bit of humble pie - - - maybe part of God's plan to answer my prayers for killing my pride. Yeah! And - at the end of the day - I can honestly say that all the learning of the past has enriched me greatly! And - who knows - maybe God will allow me to enrich the other ladies too, with some of the experiences I've had! Better stop rambling. All that said, I really do enjoy learning and getting to know these new people and their culture! Thank you Jesus for the awesome privilege we have of living in beautiful New Zealand!

A great catch! Look what Rich and Jeremie brought home tonight! They went out on a nearby river (just 10 min. from here) in the late afternoon/early evening and caught this beautiful trout! Rich LOVES to fish and it makes his day when he gets to go out and do it - the fish is just an added bonus and we'll enjoy eating it, too :)!

Sweet! (typical NZ expression) I forgot to mention that we had the first cell group with the interns yesterday. What beautiful and precious young people!!! What a privilege to be able to accompany them on part of their journey! They've got hearts of gold and such an earnest desire to go radically after God! I already love them and am looking forward to getting to know them better!!! The funny thing is that they could be our kids! (are we that old already??!) Somehow I mentioned about some experience I had in the Philippines and one of them asked me when that was. Well, when I told him it was 22 years ago, he chuckled - he hadn't even been born yet :) Seems like just yesterday when I started my incredible journey into God's heart and my hunger and desire to know him better is just growing!!! By the way, Rich is also having a fabulous time and coming home every day sharing new revelation from the Word - oh, the presence of God!!! It is not easy for him, who thrives on lots of "action", to quiet down for hours in God's presence, but he knows that this is the right thing for him at this time. The action will come again soon enough - looks like he'll be going to Fiji 2 or 3 times before Christmas...

Sooo beautiful! I don't know about you - but when I see beautiful things in nature, it just MELTS MY HEART and fills me with thanksgiving to our INCREDIBLE CREATOR! This morning when I took Jeremie to rowing practice, I saw quite a few trees in bloom - and the most gorgeous colours: pink, burgundy, yellow, red! This blows my mind, because we are still in the middle of winter! We actually had the coldest night in the whole winter so far this week, of course with frost! Growing up in Germany, it was usually springtime, when those colours would come out. Not here! Last week, a friend told me that she knew a family that came to NZ a few years ago with the goal "to experience the cold". Now those people came from Canada, where it is extremely cold winter for 6 months of the year! And it seems that they did experience the cold when they were here! In Canada, everything is insulated and heated very well. Here, because the winter is only about 2-3 months, this is not the case and, as I wrote before, New Zealanders just rough it - often in shorts and bare feet... I am still sitting here with woolen underwear and the warmest jerseys (or sweaters, for the Americans). I better get going with my housework now and I am sure I will be able to peel off a layer or two very soon :)

What a character! I thought I couldn't believe my ears yesterday when I was doing my weekly grocery shopping with Kylie. She kept asking for me to buy this and that and finally - when we arrived at the check-out counter and I still refused to get her what she wanted (in that case it was gum), she argued that it was her birthday (her biggest birthday wishes had been gum and lipstick!). It didn't take much to convince her that her birthday was now finished - she knew. So she pulled her last string and in desperation let out a cry, "Well, then it's Christmas time!" I couldn't believe this! I didn't even think she knew the word "Christmas", let alone the idea that you get gifts for Christmas... Where did she get this from? I have no idea!!! Now, did she really just turn 3 - and not 13?!!

I am soooooo satisfied in Jesus - sometimes I feel that I will BURST with JOY and FULFILLMENT! No wonder we are going to need new bodies when we get to heaven. I'm sure our earthly ones just wouldn't be able to contain all the unspeakable joy and "out-of-this-world"- ecstatic experiences we will have! I can't wait for that time :) It's gonna be sssssoooooooooooooo AWESOME!!! I have 3 sick children at home again today - - - Just a couple of days ago, when I was praying for Leilani on the way to school (as I always do) I was thanking God for her good health and how she is the only one in the family not to have gotten the flu. Guess what? When I picked her up from school, she was sick to her stomach and we just barely made it home in time for her to empty the contents of her stomach in a "safe" place - rather than the car! Now don't ask me why that happened - ugghh... She is getting better now, but obviously passed the bug on to Kylie, who was sick last night with the stomach flu. Yes, she did end up in our bed and yes, she did vomit - in a bucket next to our bed - thanks to my quick reaction :) And Nathalie is still struggling to get the remainders of the flu out of her system. Now I am praying against that bug to get me - can't help Kylie breathing on me ... I am so glad that I didn't have to cancel my planned "morning tea" with a distant neighbour/friend this morning. It was an important divine appointment - thank you, Jesus!!! She didn't mind the germs in the house - I did warn her:)

Can you believe it?!! Yesterday I had a great prayer time for our children and the children of the land with a couple of ladies. After they left, I was inspired to dance to the Lord while listening to some worship music from IHOP in Kansas City. Yes, I do that - I love to dance to Him! I may have to learn to be a bit more graceful, though... I was in such a hurry to throw off my house shoes and start dancing, that I started to move my feet before the shoes were all the way off. The result? I sprained my ankle. Ouch, that hurt! No more dancing, but laying on the floor crying out for Jesus to heal me! After a little while I felt good enough to walk around again and thought I was healed. In the evening, the pain got worse and worse and became really bad. After prayer and some pain killer I went to bed and when I woke up this morning I was able to walk and even clean the house, go to "Mainly Music" with Kylie as if nothing had happened. THANK YOU JESUS!!! I also started to sand down our coffee table, that we got really cheap at an auction. It needs to be revarnished. This is the first time I ever do anything like this, but - hey - why not try something new? It's fun!

Just thinking... Having Flynn here for the last few days kept making me think of Rich - - - when he was about Flynn's age he was dropped off at a neighbour's house by his mom for the week-end with his little brother Bob. Their mom had asked the neighbour to watch the boys while she was moving and she was going to pick them up after the week-end. She never came back - - - and the neighbours ended up being Rich's and Bob's foster family for the next 6 years. I can't even begin to imagine what must have happened to Rich's heart at that time... He was so disturbed that he needed to be strapped into his bed just so that he would sleep and had to have medication to calm down. Poor little guy - - - Am I ever grateful for God's intervention in his life and HIS power to redeem and heal the broken-hearted!

Guess who turned 3 today? What a day it has been! Our little princess had her birthday and it's hard to believe that it's been 3 years since she was born!!! She had a great day with lots of attention, friends and gifts and drifted off to sleep at 6:30pm, which is very unusual. Can you see Kylie's black eye? She hurt herself this week, running, slipping and hitting the kitchen drawer - ouch!

Flynn's back Flynn, our little respite foster boy, came again last night for 3 days with us. I had still been feeling sick every evening (better during the days) and was wondering how I would be able to cope. But - guess what? - last night was the first time I was feeling decent again - after 2 weeks! Thank you Jesus! What a difference! This morning, Flynn, Kylie and I went to "Playcentre"- a parent-run alternative to preschool. We had lots of fun, playing on the swings, playground, dressing up, painting, clay, playdough, face painting and heaps of other fun activities. What a great service for parents!

I love my husband! This is gonna have to be short - I am still not feeling great and really tired... But I have to tell you what a wonderful husband I have! When I can't stand the back pain of the flu, he massages me with tiger balm, when I can't do the shopping and cooking, he takes over, when I have to get to bed early, he puts all the kids to bed (actually Nathalie insists on him putting on her blankets every night and tucking her in - still - yes!!!) and today, he brought me a beautiful bouquet of orchids - my favorite flowers!!! It's amazing how much cheaper they are here than in Tahiti - hard to believe! What would have cost US$30 in Tahiti, cost him US$3 today! Enjoy the photo! Rich has got way more qualities than those, but just wanted to share how much he has blessed me the last few days! Thank you honey, I love you!!!

A little about Jeremie This is my 40th blog entrance since I started about 6 weeks ago! - and I've got to admit that I love writing it! I used to keep a journal yyeeeeaars ago - before babies came into my life. After that, it just didn't fit in anymore - hardly ever. And I usually did it a bit differently, writing to God. So - for my readers' sake - all couple of you out there - I adjusted it abit. Typing goes so much faster than handwriting and it is even more fun adding photos! Speaking of photos, here is one I took last night. I thought Jeremie had gone to sleep at his usual bedtime (9:30pm during the week) when I walked past his room and saw light on just before 10:00pm. When I peeked in, this is what I saw: He had fallen asleep reading his Bible - he'd probably protest and say that he actually didn't sleep but - hey - it sure seemed like it to me :) Reminded me of home schooling time when he'd sometimes fall asleep doing his math - and he even protests til this day saying that he just faked it then. Only difference being that I had him do maths, whereas the Bible he is reading totally on his own - way to go, boy! Keep it up!!! I am so proud of him and love him so much - as, of course, all my children!!! He's a really good kid. Got a great report card from school recently and is much praised by his teachers. He is very diligent, conscientious, patient, helpful, courteous, kind and - as he remarked himself the other day when we asked the children if they knew their strengths - humble :)! Of course, he is not perfect and if you want to know how, just ask Nathalie ;) He's got a tough few days ahead of him, having to catch up on all kinds of school work that he missed in the last couple of weeks being sick. Next Tuesday, he will have to be at school at 6:00am (!) for rowing practice and then in his first period (that's how they call it here) - English - he will have to deliver the speech he is preparing right now, next period write a science test, next period write an algebra test and I'm not sure if I forgot another test. Poor guy... I guess he's got his week-end cut out for him, studying and preparing. He's also recently started drumming lessons at school and was able to buy himself a used drum set. We discovered his talent with rythm when he was beating the tahitian drums as a 2-year-old - and weren't surprised when he wanted to take drum lessons!

Too cute! At the dinner table tonight, Kylie was learning the difference between boys and girls. You should have seen her when Rich told her that girls get to have breasts when they grow up and so will she! She was ecstatic!!! More than if you had told her she was getting ice-cream --- which is pretty hard to beat!!! It was too precious!!!

About Lizards A couple of days ago, Nathalie shared very enthusiastically that she had read in the Bible that lizards were unclean. She was so thrilled to find that her strong dislike for these animals was shared by the Bible! Now, to help you understand, there is a little history of lizards in our family. Having lived in Tahiti for most of our family life, lizards were just part of life. You can't get away from them, they live in every house. Mostly they stay on the walls and ceilings. But every so often they make their way to other places and that's how come that one day - Nathalie must have been around 5 or 6 - she accidentally stepped on one - yuck!!! - and the lizard's tail fell off while the lizard, half alive, half dead, kept running to safety. She may still need some inner healing from that experience one day, but that was the beginning of her very strong dislike for lizards. One house we lived in had sooooo many lizards and they were getting fatter and fatter (they had an excellent diet living in the thatched roof!) and more numerous that we had to do something about it. So Rich went hunting every night before we went to sleep and killed a few of them with a pole with metal spikes on the end (normally used to pick shrimp in the river). I could never watch it, but definitely appreciated the effects of keeping the little critters' population under control. We also had an issue with rats, but I'll spare you that story for now, maybe another time:) Anyway, coming back to lizards, besides Nathalie's thrill of reading about their being unclean in the Bible, I suddenly had a flashback to our last home in Tahiti - - - I don't think there was one dinner where we didn't have some lizard droppings on our table or in our plates. Sometimes, as 2 of them would fight on the ceiling, they would suddenly drop onto our table/plates. I've got to admit that that is one thing I definitely do not miss about living in Tahiti!!! It is such a pleasure to look up at the ceiling and walls, and there is nothing on them, just pure, clean ceilings!

Cool game Yesterday Kylie and I played the best game a sick Mommy can play with her toddler: we traded roles! Kylie was the Mommy and I was the baby. Oh, did I ever get treated nicely! I got to lay down and had stories read to me, drinks offered, the works! And we both had fun! Another good trick for times like these: have books from the library with CDs. So you can save your voice and just look at books together while somebody else does the talking! What a blessing to have a library close by and all those wonderful resources available for free!!! Jeremie went back to school yesterday. He had reached the point of ultimate boredom the day before - after staying home sick for 2 weeks - and, believe it or not, decided that the only way to survive the day was to clean the house! What a beautiful and thorough job he did - I was so impressed - and blessed!!! Today, Nathalie stayed home because she wasn't feeling so great. Lord, please heal her quickly and put an end to this miserable flu in the Betts house!

What an incredible neighbour! I could hardly get over it yesterday, when our neighbour Patricia came by and brought us some home made pumpkin soup and flowers from her garden (yes, flowers do grow in NZ winter!) - because she had heard that I was sick. Now, isn't that most amazing?!!!! This has never happened to us before! WOW WOW WOW! What a blessing!!! By the way, pumpkin soup is a favourite New Zealand dish and has become a regular in our household too. With the right spices, a dollop of sour cream on top and freshly baked bread on the side even Rich, who is not a soup lover - enjoys it for dinner, or tea, how they say here! I have noticed that New Zealanders eat LOTS of soups - it's healthy and economical!