It's crazy to believe that tomorrow will be the first day of February! (well here at least, not back home....and weirdly, not according to the date on this blog...but it is!) Wow! There are so many things to look forward to this month, I'm sooo ready for it to begin!!! The big obvious one is that this will be the month we get to meet our little bubby!!! (whew! It's about time!) Everything has been going really well and I feel that God has really blessed me with an easy pregnancy! (...If I forget that whole first trimester-which seems so long ago anyway) Thank you Thank you Lord!!!!! I'v always been a bit nervous because they don't do as many tests here or scans as we would back home--so I was always wondering if bubby was "all right", but God gave me an active little inhabitant that moves around all the time to let me know he/she is doing fine! Hopefully the next post on this blog will have a picture of the little bubs! 
Second thing to look forward to this month is my Mom (or "Mum" as they call them here) coming here!!!!! YAY! I'm so excited to just have my mom here to help, keep me and bubs company, and to travel a little bit!! We are going to do some traveling at the end of the month, if everything is going all right with the baby, and I can't wait!!!! I'll think we'll go down to Queenstown and Wanaka, then over to the West Coast and up around the top of the South Island.

 January has seem to have flown by! I can't believe it was almost 2 weeks ago that Sue arrived! Wowzers! On the day that Stacy came in, Sue and I braved the trip into Christchurch to see some of the city, and get their rental car before we headed to the airport. I say "braved" because I'm not the most confident driver on the other sided of the road, and in Christchurch there are so many roundabouts, tons of traffic, and of course all the construction from earthquake damage---all which made me very nervous. However, the trip was awesome and I'm now way more confident of my "city" driving ability--amazing what can happen when you actually face your fears! :) We specifically wanted to see the "container malls" (which sounds strange, but let me explain). Due to all the damage of the earthquake pretty much all of the "city center"  is shut down, you can't walk around in there expect on a specific time during the weekend. There is so much damage, and so many office buildings, hotels, retail centers, restaurants are completely closed and out of business (It's devastating to see). So, right outside the city center gate--they set up a little oudoor "mall" area with retail stores that had been damaged, a couple of restaurants, they even have toilet facilities-- all made out of  containers. (a train box car) It's really neat!! Here are some pictures so you can understand what I'm trying to explain. 

On other things, Sue and her friend Stacy are still here traveling around the Island. I've heard a bit from them and they seem to be having a good time and getting in all the big sights that the South Island has to offer, however there was a major bump in their road, and the reason I wanted to share was to have a wider prayer network for them for the rest of their travels. Sue found out on Saturday that her Father had passed away unexpectedly--Even though I never met him I've heard a great many of good things about him--he was a great man and an avid follower of Christ and very wise in the scriptures. His loss to his family will be great I'm sure, but at least we can have joy that he is finally  to his eternal home with our Savior Jesus Christ. Please pray for her and her family during this difficult  time as they adjust to life without their dad, and traveling mercies for Sue and Stacey and other members of Sue's family as they all travel back home this weekend. 


God Bless!

Yay! This past Tuesday I was able to pick up my friend Sue from the airport!!! Our first visitor from the States!!! Sue will be here this whole week and her friend Stacey is coming out on Monday and they will be off traveling the world of New Zealand for a couple weeks! I'm so happy and thankful that she was able to squeeze New Zealand into her trip!!!! (She came here after visiting her sister in the Philippines!!! Talk about a busy gal!) 
 What have we been up to you ask? Well, we went plumb picking right away the next morning....because apparently I need plumbs constantly (hey-it's a healthy food right?!?) then we headed to their pool for some laying out and reading and swimming in the 80 degree weather! Thursday we headed into the "metropolis" of Ashburton to see some of the local town....and because I had a midwife appt....(sorry Sue). We walked around town a wee bit, did some window shopping, took Sue into the supermarket here to get her acquainted with some of the differences here. Then she got to drive for her first time on the other side of the road/vehicle. She did wonderfully :) All this was done while trying not to be blown away by the fierce Canterbury wind. 
Today we went to Akaroa which is a beautiful city on the water--it's located on the Banks Peninsula and is just an absolutely stunning city and area. Paul wasn't able to come with us, but he had been here before in 08..it was weird not being on a trip with him here, and where I was the one driving! (AHH!) Sue got some more practice on the way home as well. Because of my current state of physical endurance we couldn't do too much hiking, but we ended up finding a great trail where we could drive up a ways, park our car and hike from there. It was beautiful and the perfect weather as well...although we did get slightly burnt...oh dear. We went back down to the city, enjoyed some yummy lunch at a fish n' chips shop where Sue had her first Kiwi burger! Next we wandered around the town along the harbor and into many of the cute shops and the little craft market they had. It was a really fun day!!!
 Not so sure what the weekend holds yet, but I'm just glad there is someone else here!!! 

I'm so blessed to be married to Paul. I may say that often, but truly, I feel like the most blessed gal in the whole wide world. He works so hard!!!!! His last stretch of work before his 8 days off were busy and hard, but he didn't ever complain and was always smiling. However, he definitely needed a small vacation--or just a time to relax and recuperate! We decided to head down to Lake Tekapo and spend a night there, then make our way over to Mt. Cook the next day. Our friends from church have a cottage on Lake Pukaki (on the way to Mt. Cook) and they were going to be there for the New Year so we stopped in and had tea with them New Years Eve. 
Lake Tekapo was so beautiful: it usually is, but we were blessed to go and visit around a time when it was covered with Lupins!!!!!! (I LOVE Lupins) In some spots, there were lupins for miles and miles. They were all along the roadside, the Lake, the mountains, by houses, EVERYWHERE!!! It was so beautiful and so vibrantly colorful!!! We were there on a rather cold and cloudy day, so the Lupins definitely made the place majestic! I know I posted a couple of my favorite pictures in the previous post, but here are a couple more! 

We stayed at a place called the "Godly Resort".....and it's one of those places that....well if you have to give it a name like that, it probably doesn't live up to it. :) but we still enjoyed our time there anyway! 

Next we headed over to Mt. Cook. We were a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to see the top of it while we were there because it was so cloudy--however, it cleared up as we were walking on one of the trails and again, the sight was breathtaking! Side note: I cannot comprehend how some can look at the creation and not see that it was perfectly designed and made by a Creator. You would never look at a picture or a drawing and say, "Wow--I can't believe that this just appeared!" That would be absurd! There was obviously a painter or artist. When I see creation in all of it's beauty, and especially when I think about the miracle of life that is growing inside me--I think wow, what an impressive, wonderful and magnificent God we serve.   
We walked a couple of smaller trails that weren't very difficult but still beautiful. We saw the Tasman Glacier and a beautiful Valley named The Hooker Valley.  I'm so glad we were able to see the peaks. It was crazy to think that people climb these mountains, and kindof makes me want to be one of them...maybe in the future, but probably not when I'm 35 weeks pregnant. 

We finished our small trip at our friend's cottage on Lake Pukaki. Lake Pukaki is a massive glacial lake and at the very end of the Lake you can see Mt. Cook. It's beautiful. We spent the afternoon there having good talks, and dinner. We finished the night by playing one of my favorite games ever...BALDERDASH!!!!!!! I was so excited they had it!!!!!!! We spend the night laughing and laughing and laughing....as it usually goes while playing Balderdash.
Some funny moments in the game: (if you've played the game...you might possibly think these are funny...if not...just skip to the end) 
1. Movie Title: Hello down there!: Lindsay's answer: Movie about Incest and Abduction  (??????) 
2. Word: Hodad....correct answer:  a nonsurfer who spends time at beaches pretending to know how to surf 
3. Monica having to read them behind the couch because she couldn't stop laughing
4. David's turn to go--oh man...I don't think we stopped laughing because he would accidentally mess up everyone's answer, and then cover himself by saying..."well, he didn't write it clear!"
I don't know maybe they are just funny to me....(kindof one of those....ya had to be there things...) but I wanted to write about it so I don't forget the non stop laughing and the good time we had--we are so blessed to have such great friends! 
We headed out around 10:30 and celebrated the "turn of the year" in our car...woo hoo!!!!!! (New Zealand doesn't have the NYC ball drop!?!?!?! what??? haha) It was strange--but we were able to say hello to lots of family who were hanging out at our church back home--so we sortof had 2 New Years celebrations! 

Sorry that turned out to be such a long post....I tend to do that. I'll try to post more often so that they don't end up as long---I realize you have busy lives and probably don't actually read any of this---but thats ok too!! :) 
Happy New Year to you all! We love you and God Bless!