A Time of Change Pt. 2

So, today I handed in my last comments for the '07 - '08 school year. I then went back home to pack for my trip to see my dad. I saw a Carolina Chickadee, heard a Pilleated Woodpecker ( I love that sound), and heard a fitz bew, fitz bew, which is some kind of warbler, I think. These sights and sounds gave me a sense of renewal and rejuvenation. As spring arrives (lacrosse sticks, the crack of a bat, etc) change is happening. There is a sense of hope (sorry this is cliche). This is a feeling I have been looking for since my dad was diagnosed (see post of 1/31). It also ramped up my excitement for my family and my trip to NZ. It's hard to believe that I am less than a week from departure. Less than a week from the greatest adventure of my life, except for dadness, and less than a week from renewal and rejuvenation. That's part of the need for a sabbatical, after all. I suspect I will learn a great deal about myself and about my life's work on this trip. That's kind of scary, exciting, and renewing, too.

The picture you see is of my dad and the boys two weeks ago. On the bed is my dad on the left (duh), my brother Cal is on the right. Behind them is my oldest brother Buck, my brother-in-law/brother Gray, me, and my brother Nate. This was taken when he was feeling a little better on that day. He has his ups and downs, and he continues to be frustrated and bummed, but there is a sense of rejuvenation in this picture, dad has a little bit of a smile. It's probably hard to see, but at this point he was on a machine I call the lung-sucker. It keeps him tethered to the room. As a result, he has not left this little room in three weeks. My visit with him today he was not tethered. He may have to go back onto it tonight, or tomorrow, but there is some, minuscule improvement. This is renewing to me. There was a glimmer of hope in his eyes today when I asked him if he thinks he could go for a little ride in a wheelchair tomorrow. Just to get out. We'll see, is what he said. It is what he says to a lot of things these days. There is still a long way to go before spring , there is snow predicted at home tonight, still a long trip to make to NZ (benedril anyone?), and still a long way to go before my dad is out of this woods with his lung. But there is hope! The birds are coming back, the family is rallying around dad, there are wheelchairs in the hospital, and NZ is a beautiful country.

Losing teeth

Big news! Tonight, while eating broccoli after a swim in the ocean and while listening to the waves, David lost a tooth. We're all holding our breath to see if the Tooth Fairy comes in NZ and, if so, what she brings. Becky, will, in all likelihood, lose her first tooth in NZ tomorrow. Future pictures of the children will feature blank spaces in their smiles!

Addendum.....on Friday the 29th, Becky lost a tooth, as well! See the gaps? This picture was taken at the top of Paekakariki Hill today when we wnent adventuring.

Ups, downs, changes, and weird creatures

We just finished another beautiful weekend in Paekakariki on the Kapati Coast of New Zealand. In many ways (other than the absence of one very important family member), it seems as though we've been here for a long time. We know our way around for the most part, I smile and say hi to the other parents when I pick the kids up from school each sunny, warm afternoon at 3pm, I go shopping for groceries and other life necessities, I use my local debit card on my local bank account when I shop....I even get frustrated around dinner time when I'm trying to unpack lunch remnants, make dinner, listen to the kids read to me (their only homework so far for the most part) and talk to Jim all at the same time. So in many ways, our experience is proving the truism that "wherever I go, there I am!" Michael asked me the other day if it felt like I was on vacation or actually living here, and I replied, "when you have 3 kids, there are no real vacations." There are wonderful times, but there's no real escape from real life. And that's as it should be.

Some ups: internet and phone "up" as of last Friday, we jumped "up" in joy and excitement as we rode the waves on Jennifer and Michael's boogie boards Saturday evening after dinner, we celebrated our new friend, Melissa's finishing "up" of her Masters' thesis, the kids climbed "up" some really cool sand dunes near our house on Sunday (see first picture on top of sand dunes and second picture climbing them.

Some downs: internet and phone "down" as of Sunday morning due to some technical issues (fortunately back up again as of today), came back down the dunes squealing with delight, a few "down" moments for the kids as they miss their dad and their friends.

Changes: Our address. As lovely as the house we're living in is, we're going to move as of March 20th or even a bit earlier. This house is very expensive and getting more and more expensive as the $$ tumbles. This is exaccerbated by the fact that everything is way more expensive here than we had expected. Additionally, this lovely house we're in is about a 20 minute walk from school and most of the kids friends. Serendipitously, Jennifer and Michael are moving into their new house (they bought and renovated their dream house that overlooks the sea) in a few weeks, but as the housing marketing is tanking in NZ as well, have been unable to sell their old house as quickly as they would have liked. So we will move in there, solving our money and location problems and hopefully bridging the time it will take them to sell their house. Deciding to move was hard because the person from whom we are renting the current house was hoping to have us longer than this. On the other hand, as they say, that's life in the real estate market.

Oh, and the weird creatures....that's the third picture. As we were walking back from the sand dunes to our house on Sunday, we came across this fish skeleton perched on a post. At first, I thought it was art, as Paekakariki is quite an artist community. I found out later that it was a puffer fish, which people tend to save in this way because they're so unusual and beautiful in their own way. I also saw a sand sculpture of a naked lady lying on her side last week when I was running on the beach. I wanted to show it to the kids, but alas, the tide had washed it away! More on weird creatures....Jennifer and Michael took us to one of their favorite places on Saturday, a place called Pokeru Bay, where you can go walking around on the rocks next to the sea and spend hours watching little sea creatures (starfish, shrimp, crabs and much more) swimming around in these endless little pools of water. It was a place to lose yourself.

All for now.....

Taking the plunge!

As you can see, the weather has turned very nice here on the Kapiti Coast of NZ! The pictures you see here are as follows: kids on the beach directly in front of our house (swimming at 7:30pm!), Becky swimming in front of our house after school with her new friend Ayla, and a view of our house from the beach at 7:30pm.
So we took our first plunge into the ocean today...a bit cold, but highly doable at this time of year. The kids have all acquired wet suits, which are a nice to have, but the lack of of one didn't stop Abby from stripping down to her knickers (that's unders for you Americans) and diving in when we were down at the beach after dinner. The kids are all outfitted with bikes, and life is getting easier. I'm told phone and internet will be in today, but I forgot to order the modem, so it may be a few more days. Communications are on the horizon, though. Even opened a bank account yesterday when I was in Wellington. I can't complain.

I do need to get myself back to some semblance of work today, though, so I'm off. I'll keep the pictures and the news coming.

Moving right along.....

Hard to believe we're already on Day 6 in New Zealand! The first picture above is a few of the sunset over the South Island as viewed from our front deck! Not bad...The other is of Abby and her friend, Naomi, in Wellington, where we went this weekend to check out the Pacifika festival, where people from all the south pacific island nations whose people now inhabit NZ come and show their wares, their clothing, their music, their art, etc. It was a fabulous day, even though the weather was a bit cold and windy.

On the technology front, still no internet and no phone at our house, so checking and sending email is intermittent. We hope to have all that installed by end of this week, but it could be a bit longer. I did just get a cell phone today, but that does me no good really aside from calling one or two people I know here in Paekakariki and for emergencies! Calls are 89 cents/minute here, so I have to rethink how I use my mobile phone.

Aside from communications, we're sort of settling in. It's so beautiful here, and Jennifer and Michael have made us feel very much at home. Yesterday, we spent the day at the beach...our first really nice weather day. The day before that, we were in Wellington.

Update on the school situation...the kids had their first day of school on Friday and LOVED it. Abby has told me several times how much she loves school here. I'm not sure if it's just because she's the center of attention or because they get an entire hour for lunch (outside) or because there's swimming virtually every day or simply because it's all so laid back. But we'll take it for now! On other social news, Abby and Becky have joined a Girl Guide troop and Brownie troop, respectively, Abby and Naomi are fast friends, David and Aidan are great buddies, and there's even a friend for Becky...Ayla is the 7 year old daughter of one of Jennifer's good friends. So all is good.

I, myself, have mostly been running around trying to figure out how to get settled enough for everyone to be comfortable.,..food shopping, getting communciations, buying wet suits (yes, the water is freezing) and bikes (we live about a 20 minute walk from school), and figuring out how to pump gas and drive on the left side of the road! Today is the first day I've felt a little like I want to go home to my comforts and my familiarity, but I know this, too, shall pass. We're looking forward to Jim's arrival in a few weeks.

A few funny words you all might enjoy: togs (swimsuit), capsicum (peppers--red, green, etc), buiscits (cookies), trainers (sneakers).

Things I like here: the coffee, the butter, the eggs, the yogurt, the simplicity of the people and of life, the views, very little homework. Oh, and did I say...very little homework?

Things I don't like: the prices, the absence of loved ones.

First Day of School

These pictures are taken from our front deck as the kids got ready to head off to their first day of school this morning. It is a very windy and stormy day....fairly typical for this area, I understand. Still, I'm grateful that we're not experiencing 12F degree temperatures and ice storms the way we would be if we were home. The kids had mixed feelings about going to school. Becky, especially, was a bit apprehensive, so I'll go back there at lunchtime to see how they're doing. The school is very small and friendly, and there are so many wonderful things about it....1 hour outdoors at lunchtime, no shoes if you don't want them, lots of singing, and not as much homework as we're used to at home. It should be a wonderful experience, even if a bit scary at first.

Jennifer and Michael are taking such good care of us here. I sit at their house as I write this before I run off to the nearest town of any size (Paraparamau) to set up home phone and internet service and to do some food shopping. IN the meantime, Jennifer generously lets us use her home and provides us with love and good dinners! The kids each have a good buddy so far. David has Aidan, Abby has Naomi, and Becky has a good friend of the family's, Ayla. All are happy, as am I.

I woke up around 6:30 am today and did a little yoga while feeling the breeze and listening to the waves. Later, I went for a run along the beach. Ahhhh..... I suppose eventually, I'll have to get down to a little work, but that can wait for next week....

We do miss all of you and are grateful for everyone's support as we set off on our big adventure!

We arrived!

After a long trip, we finally arrived here in beautiful Paekakariki! It is really all it's cracked up to be, no doubt. At the same time, I'm a little challenged at the moment with lack of phone, internet, and all the comforts of home, so pictures and long posts are a thing of the future...the near future, I hope!

For now, I wanted to let all of you who might be reading this blog know that we are here safe and sound. We're renting an absolutely lovely house right on the beach...nicer than any house we've ever lived in actually.

In a few days, as we get settled in, I promise there will be more news from the Southern Hemisphere.....stay tuned.

It's the moment we've all been waiting for (by Carolyn)

Today was the day that determined the day that the kids and I would leave for our big adventure. By that I mean that today was the Princeton Girl Choir winter concert at Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. As many of you know, Abby loves to sing. Actually, all of us in this loud family of ours love to sing, and Abby happens to have a beautiful voice. This was her first year in the Choir, and today was the first real concert of the year, so we stayed around here for the big event. It was well worth the wait on many levels. First, the girls' voices (about 30 girls grades 3-5) were angelic. Second, the whole experience of singing in a choir has been great for Abby. Third, so many people we love came out to join us and send us off...my parents, Jim's mom and sister and her husband, Abby's wonderful teacher, Mrs. Siggelakis (who saved the day by remembering to bring flowers...our heads were spinning too fast for us to remember...), and my dear friend Karen (mother of Abby's friend Emma, who is also in the Choir) and her family.

In other family news...

• Abby's basketball team won their first game of the season on Saturday night, beating a tough team by whom Abby's team had been crushed on several previous occassions (see picture of Abby with her teammate, Allyson).
• Becky and David had a sleepover at their friend, Griffin's house on Friday night.
• Carolyn finished up her last US based work assignment on Friday.
• Becky and David got their faces painted at the Peddie School Carnival just before going to Abby's concert (and so showed up painted like a butterfly and a bandit, respectively)
• Carolyn's mom and dad spent the weekend in Hightstown and were a tremendous help with the kids while we packed.
• Sadly, Jim's dad had an incident that landed him in the hospital earlier today, but the word is that he's on the mend for now.

So here we are, acting as though we're calm, when really we're excited (about the adventure), nervous (about the unknown, about being a single parent for a short time), tired (from all the thinking and anticipation), and sad (about leaving Jim for 3 1/2 weeks, our friends and family for 4 months, and Jim's dad when things are so uncertain). Most of the greatest joys in life come with some of those emotions involved, I suppose.....thus the elation of the joy that follows.

Now that I finally know how to post to this blog, I intend to write more often. And for now....final touches on the packing and off to bed.