F E A S T I N G Yesterday was Rich's and my 19th wedding anniversary - - - WOW! It was funny - the night before we were talking about it and I was just about to say, "It seems like it was yesterday", when Rich said, "It all seems like a big blurr." We had a good laugh at our different ways of remembering our special day! I think it's probably a pretty typical male/female difference :) Besides making a nice dinner and giving me some beautiful flowers, he is blessing me with the most wonderful gift this week: A prayer-retreat at the House of Prayer! Since the hours of continuous prayer were upped to 8 per day, it has become possible for us to make a way where I can spend 3-4 hours before the Lord every day this week. I can't tell you HOW MUCH this means to me!!! I am getting unraveled/melting away in his sweet, tender presence. Just Him, my Bible and me - undisturbed!!! - in an atmosphere of worship. It is the best thing EVER!!! The last season of my life where I could have this kind of deep and loooong communion with my lover Jesus was before I got married - it's been a looooooooong time! I soooooo long for Him - - - am soooooo hungry for him - - - sooooo desperate just to BE with him!!! BE - not do! It is just amazingly WONDERFUL - because HE IS!!! He is ravishing me with his beauty, washing over me with his presence. I could go on and on. Wish this could last more than a week! The phrase that Jesus said to Martha comes to mind: "...Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:41-42) For the last 19 years I've been mostly a Martha. Sitting at Jesus' feet and just BEING with him, LISTENING to him without any agenda or time restraint, was a rare occasion in the midst of the busy-ness of raising a family on the mission-field amidst constant change and with tremendous pressures and stresses. Yes, I tried to carve out half an hour or an hour whenever I could, but I was just scratching the surface of communion with him. I'm sure this is the case for the majority of us mothers - - - and that's ok. Our wiping noses, changing diapers and cleaning the toilet, or being taxi for our kids etc are all a beautiful service to him and very worthwhile. BUT - oh - do I ever enjoy this special time with him!!! He is showing me so many things, ministering his amazing love and comfort. I better go now and get breakfast ready for the troops before leaving the house for the day. "My soul will be SATISFIED as with the richest of foods, with singing lips my mouth will praise you. I STAY CLOSE TO YOU; your right hand upholds me." from Ps.63

Highlight of the day Although I must say that church was pretty cool this morning (I actually got to stay in the service instead of doing childrens ministry), the highlight of my day was - - - GUESS ??? Well??? Catching my first waves EVER on a buggy board this afternoon! It was soooooooo much fun! I can't believe I've waited this long for this experience! Somebody looked at me like I was crazy when I told her this week that I have only gone into the ocean ONCE in the two years that we've lived here. "Why did you come to New Zealand if you don't like swimming in the ocean?", she said. Why we came to New Zealand is a whole story in itself. One thing is for sure: it was NOT for the waves and the beach - although they are a fun family activity on a beautiful summer day like today! We got together with two families from Germany that are here at the moment. I even got to hold hands with Nathalie one time as we "rode" a wave right next to each other - mother/daughter bonding at a whole new level :) YAY!

A bit more about our new House The best thing about our new house is that Nathalie's and Jeremie's stops for school-bus are in walking distance!!! Leilani will still have to be driven to and from school until the end of the year, but that'll only be 10min. max one way. There's even a government-run kindi (pre-school) in walking distance for Kylie that I've heard good things about and a park close by! It is an older home with a bit of character and big enough for our family. Leilani and Kylie will still have to share rooms (to Leilani's dismay...), but they'll be fine. A great plus is that it has almost new carpets which is great for our allergy prone family and tiles in the kitchen/dining area - just what we need for lots of playdough and painting done by our little princess! It has a wood-burner for the winter PLUS a winter's worth of fire wood!!! Three other great things about it are the nice little garden, the view - across the bay - photos to follow - and the fact that they accepted our dog Toffee to come along (outside only)! We had already been prepared to give her away, since dogs are not allowed in 90% of rentals and we're so happy that they'll give her a try. She's the best dog you could wish for - quiet, doesn't bark much, doesn't destroy or dig anything up. We'll have to sell our couch set since the colours don't match at all and get another (used) one - plus a few other things. Overall we are very grateful and excited about moving in soon and sooooo happy that we can FINALLY stop looking for homes!!! THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH IF YOU HAVE BEEN PRAYING FOR US!!!!

Found a new rental home!!! Today, we found our new home. Actually, I found it last week, but it was snatched away from me/us. Here's the story: I had an appointment to look at it last Thursday at 12h30pm. I had a "play date" for Kylie with Julia, one of her new friends from the camp at Orama. When I got there I found out that it was her Mom's birthday. So I offered to take care of Julia for a couple of hours while her Mom went out to lunch with some friends. I pushed the appointment to look at the house to 3:00pm. When I got there, a man ran out of his car into the house, just as I was going in and said to the owner (very fervently, I must add) "I'm taking the house!" (He had just looked at the house before I had arrived and called his wife from the car.) He kind of apologized for his behaviour saying that the same thing had happened to him a few times... I had a quick look through anyway and figured that it just wasn't meant to be, although it looked like it could work for us. The day before yesterday, I was driving in town and was just about cut off by a car. As I yielded, the driver looked over to me to thank me for yielding and recognized me. He then followed me to the parking lot of the supermarket where I was heading so he could talk to me. He was the same man who had taken the house last week. I guess his wife didn't like the decor of the house and so they didn't want it anymore. He let me know that it was available again... Now isn't that amazing?! We signed the contract today and will move in in 2 weeks. HORRAY!!! We are very excited that we will soon be able to settle again

Full life It's been another long silence on this blog - - - life has been very busy with hardly any time at all on the computer and internet. Kylie and I pretty much spent most of last week in the car, driving the kids to and from school, sports, youth group etc. - and visiting with friends in town in the in-between times. It started with taking Jeremie to rowing practice just after 5:00am, coming back home an hour later, making breakfast, getting the girls to school, staying in town until Leilani had to be picked up at 2:30om, Nathalie at 3:30pm and Jeremie around 4:45pm (after another rowing practice after school - are they going to the Olympics or what?!). With traffic, I got home about 6:00pm, just in time to do the breakfast dishes, cook dinner, do laundry, take the dog for a walk, get Kylie to bed etc etc etc. It was EXHAUSTING and I was so glad when Rich came back from Fiji on Sunday to help with the driving. I begged him to take care of Kylie two mornings this week so that I could go to the prayer room http://thop.co.nz/ This has been absolutely WONDERFUL!!!! What a blessing to SOAK in the presence of God and spend a few uninterrupted hours with him!!!! I just love him and am THRILLED when I get time just to BE WITH HIM!!! Love it - love it - love it!!!!!!!!! It has become clear to us that it won't be possible for us to buy a house at this time. So we've been spending a lot of time looking for a long-term rental. This hasn't been easy. There is a shortage of rentals in Tauranga and when a good one comes up, there are many who want it and it gets snatched away right away. We can't keep living for much longer where we are right now. The house is for sale and we regularly have to show it (spotless, of course). It is just too far out and too much driving. We are confident that something will open up VERY SOON!!!

Doing well Just wanted to thank you for your prayers!!! We really feel them!!! After a couple of days of discouragement and stress, we are now happily "settled" in our new home. Our hearts are doing tremendously well. We have complete PEACE about our situation, even though we don't understand and don't have a solution. The only reason we pursued the purchase of the home was because we felt God telling us to do it. Now that it hasn't worked out, we can relax and know that we have done our part and obeyed. The rest is up to him - his responsibility! Our hearts were never set on that house anyways. All we wanted to do was follow what we thought was His leading. The cry of our hearts remains - that God would provide a STABLE home for our family - could be a long-term rental OR a home that we buy. Thank you for your continued prayers! School is starting in a couple of days and Rich will leave for Fiji this week-end.

Found a temporary home! Yeah! We found a home we can move into today!!! It is small and quite far away from all the places we need to go to, but it will do for a little while. It is for sale and only available short term. The good thing is that it is furnished and we will be able to bring our dog, Toffee, who has stayed with the owners of our former rental home. This is exceptional for ANY rental!We all missed her during the last 6 weeks and will be happy to have her with us again! The other good thing is that it is close to the beaches (only 5-10min. by car) and very close to the mall. No complaints in that department :)! I am absolutely exhausted - but thankful that we found this solution for the time being. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS! THANK YOU, JESUS!!!

NEVERTHELESS... The financing of the home didn't come through. The "baby" has been stillborn - or so it feels... We don't understand. We are disappointed. We are stressed, since we have to be out of our present housing in 2 days. NEVERTHELESS - we trust in God's sovereignty and what we know about his character."The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness."(Ex.34,9) He is righteous and just in ALL his ways! We have looked at all available rentals and there is none that suit our needs. We are now looking for another temporary housing. There is the possibility that we could buy another, cheaper home with the financing that has come through. But it all takes time. School is starting in less than a week and Rich has to leave for Fiji in a couple of weeks. So much for today. Please pray for us - for God to open up the right solution - and for our sanity:) and strength in the midst of all this and very busy schedules.