Tuesday 29 December 2015

Kiwi wedding #13. A blur of days.

From Boxing Day onwards we were well into holiday mode - interspersed, of course, with lots of wedding prep and planning. Rising with the dawn, some going surfing, others of us on the beach or enjoying the sunshine and warmth...








Monday 28 December 2015

Kiwi wedding #12. Christmas.

The Christmas days segued into one another. We spent Christmas Eve with Andy's family, eating the first course at their house and then dessert at ours...
Christmas Eve dessert

Adele's beautifully artistic tree decorated with shells and natural seedpods. 

Stockings

Christmas wreath

Christmas Day dawned clear and bright. We cooked dinner, went to the beach, ate together and shared stockings...such fun.












Friday 25 December 2015

Kiwi wedding #11 Christmas Eve

I'm spending time in the kitchen on Christmas Eve: a rare pleasure. Working in someone else's house never feels like real work, whether it is washing up or cleaning or baking. I am relishing the time to reflect and ponder while I mix and beat and whip ingredients together.

As I blend flour and butter and sugar together, working them into crumbs with my fingers, I think of Cat's forthcoming marriage. For her, two families blend together. She will no longer be 'just' my daughter, but someone else's wife; daughter-in-law to two others; sister-in-law, cousin-in-law, to many.  Our families are blending together in a unique way...

And my heart is full of joy as I plan and prepare: and a tinge of sadness as I contemplate the change in relationship, a finality as my daughter moves on to the next wonderful stage in life. Blended emotions, forming something as different as flour and butter and sugar form the sweetness of shortbread...

Meanwhile, I find refreshment in the view from our windows:





Kiwi wedding #10

Christmas Eve dawned cloudy, stayed overcast but warm for most of the day, a strong wind slowly growing in its insistency.

It was a day made for wedding planning and cake-making.

We all met together for morning day, going through Cat's incredibly well-detailed planning: a plan for the next week, itemised day by day with tasks individually allocated; a plan describing how each task should be done; and an itinerary for the wedding day itself.  With so much planning and forethought, stress on the day should be minimal and we should be able to achieve Cat and Andy's aims of God-honouring, Inclusive and Fun.

God-honouring. Note to self: be extra patient, extra kind, extra gentle... just extra extra of all those fruits of the Spirit which we aim to grow in our lives.
Inclusive: oh yes. Andy's family (2 welcoming parents, 1 incredibly enthusiastic and organised sister, 3 brothers and wives) have joyfully embraced our daughter and us and we find great gladness in our times together.
Fun. With so much laughter at every turn, it definitely will be. Even if it rains on The Day which, at the moment, it is almost certain to do. But we pray for only the lightest of African blessings for our two young ones.

And then it was cake preparation...more of that later....

Wednesday 23 December 2015

Kiwi wedding #9: Wedding prep


Daughter and daughter-in-law at the end of a busy morning shopping for Christmas AND a wedding.... cake ingredients bought (tick), decorative bushes hired (tick)....

I am so blessed and privileged to spend time with these beautiful women. Their lovely characters are beyond description: both have such caring natures and sharing hearts, thinking of others, serving the poor, living with intentionality.  I could go on and on....

Kiwi wedding #8: travels

Ohope had been a lovely, quiet rest: then it was time to travel again.
Distances seem huge to us: in Guernsey, it takes twenty to thirty minutes to travel from one end of our tiny island to the other.  Here in Ahipara, it is 15 minutes minimum to the nearest town and supermarket.

Our journey took us through the spectacular Karangahake Gorge, once home to a thriving mining industry. Now there are only relics of a bygone age remaining:industrial ruins, tunnels, a railway...

Karangahake Gorge
Whangarei forest

Fern, forest in Whangarei

Kauri


Karui bark

As always, searching for birds: parrots, and the kererur

Fern paradis 
Waterfall
Then we travelled north to Ahipara.
Beautiful Paihia and the Bay of Islands

Remote Northland

Monday 21 December 2015

Kiwi wedding #7 Godincidences

One of the joys of visiting New Zealand is the connections we always seem to find.

It's not difficult, in some ways. Christians connect, Guerns travel...there is always someone who knows someone who knows someone else...

Today, two delightful meetings.

We tore ourselves away from lovely Ohope and made good time to Auckland - so much so, that we were early for our meeting with Cat. So we rocked up to her friend Gael's house, prepared to wait outside, but realised that Gael's sister and brother-in-law were at home.  So were Gael's parents, Ian and Linda.

Originally from Zimbabwe, they moved to New Zealand and now live in Australia.  Before I knew it, I discovered that Ian Spence had been one of Aldwyth and Renee Cowan's young men who would gather at their house on a Sunday for lunch and Bible study. Not only that, but he was the same age as Renee's daughter, Wendy.  Renee has been one of my closest friends since I arrived on Guernsey over eleven years ago: she is my mentor, my guide, my inspiration and my encouragement and I love her. And I loved connecting with friends from Renee's past.

And then I discovered that Linda's father had worked on the same nuclear power stations as my father had done - we threw the names around with familiarity...

Later, I met a friend of one of Cat's flatmates. 'You're from Guernsey?' she asked.  'Do you know the Parkes family...?' And of course I do. She had been at Hillsong college in Sydney and had worked with Chris and Tash Parkes, son and daughter-in-law of my dear friend Ros...

...and just today I had an email from a friend who knows Andy's parents, Sue and Allan, from when they all lived in Arusha, Tanzania....after I had read a book which profiles and praises my friend Lisa's father, Denny Repko, who, in his eighties, is still serving in the Navigators' ministry.

I love these God-connections. His family is worldwide and He loves to connect his children together...

Sunday 20 December 2015

Kiwi wedding #6

The predawn light is soft and grey, birds beginning to sing. Our last morning.

The weather has been warm and sunny: the sea warm enough to swim and surf. Yesterday we took kayaks onto Ohiwa harbour: Ohope beach is on a long spit of land protecting the harbour from the ocean, narrowing, where we are staying, to perhaps 200 metres wide. An easy hop with the kayaks into the calmer waters of the harbour. There was one other kayak and, later, four stand up paddle boards, on a stretch of water so long we could not see the harbour entrance.

There are few people staying in the houses nearby. A chatty dog, which wuffs and warbles as it walks along, excited to be out, passes several times a day. Occasionally people wander along the beach, perhaps one or two groups at a time. Sitting on the deck, gazing at the endless ocean, we are thankful for the peace and rest: we sleep with the sound of surf singing in our ears.
Mayor Island, 7am

Wave cloud over Ohiwa

Just after dawn


Tracks


Ohope Oyster Catchers
 This has been a breathing space. Beginning to recover from the worst cough and cold we have both had in years - #poortiming #we’llbebetterbythetimetheweddingcomes

So up to Auckland later to meet the rest of the tribe: Jonny and Adele, our lovely daughter-in-law; my borrowed daughter Mags and her lovely Louis; Cat and wonderful Andy.  Ahipara tomorrow: whoop whoop! The surf is looking good...