On American soil...

I made it back to America without to many problems. I had spent the day in Auckland with my Aunt and Uncle doing some last minute shopping and packing. I filled one whole suitcase with food and goodies to bring home to my family. I got to the airport around 6pm for my flight that was to leave at 9:45pm. When I checked my bags in, I was well over the weight limit. The limit is 23 pounds and they wont allow your bags on the plane if they are over 32 pounds. Well, at least one of my bags was over 32 pounds and the other one was really close. My Uncle told me that knowing my bags were going to be really heavy, I should pick a young guy at the counter and flirt with him and hope he is lenient. It was a young guy at the counter who checked me in, but I didn't have to flirt with him. He just put them through and told me that he hoped his supervisor didn't catch him. I was very grateful, thanked him, and prayed he didn't get in trouble for helping me out.

Our flight was delayed for over an hour while they tried to fix a door that wouldn't shut properly. While it was a nuisance to be delayed, I was very thankful that they fixed the door. We seemed to make up the lost time as we landed about 20 minutes late. As we landed the flight crew told us that if we hurried, we could get to Customs before another plane load of people that had arrived late. I am glad they told us, because as I got to the customs line, there were about 15 people in front of me. Only a minute later, I looked behind me and the line behind me had about 50 or more people. Those poor people would have waited for an hour or so.

Half an hour later, I had breezed through customs and was very relieved to make it out of the airport. Sam came and picked me up. We took the scenic route home and I loved seeing the beach and familiar places again. More than that, I loved having the time to catch up with Sam. After I got home and dropped of my bags, I went to a Bridal shower for Julia Van Dyke. Julia is Sam's sister and is getting married next weekend. I arrived pretty late, and made a grand entrance. But the best part was getting to see many of my friends and celebrating with Julia her upcoming marriage.

Today, I took things really quiet. I slept late, and then had a nap in the afternoon. I was trying to set my internal clock back to American time and get some much needed rest.

The airplane I flew back on

My Suitcase full of Food

More People...

Below are some pictures of some of the people I have caught up with over the last couple days.

On Monday night, the Bisleys, Bensons, Leysers, Campbells, Andrea and Kirsty popped over to say goodbye. On Tuesday night I caught up with a number of Aunts, Uncles and Cousins from Mum's side of the family. On Wednesday I caught up with Nana, and Dad's side of the family.

Andrea and I

Rowan and Wendy
Aunty Ali
Emily, Anna, and I (cousins)

Matt (cousin)
Anna and Matt
Nana and Peter
Nana's New House
The Leysers and I
Kirsty Morton and I
Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins
The Bisleys and I
The Bensons and I
Me and Amos

Coming Home...

The last two days I have been in Christchurch. I have spent most of that time visiting with extended family. Tomorrow I leave Christchurch at 5:40am and fly to Auckland. I will spend the day in Auckland before flying out to LA at 9:40pm.

I will post again once I get to Auckland, as I am using someone elses computer. I cant wait to get home and look forward to seeing everyone again.

Packing Pallets...

Today, I packed the pallets. Myra and Annah Bisley helped me and we got the last of the boxes taped. The Lord was gracious to keep the rain at bay for a few hours while we packed. There was quite a bit of shuffling the boxes to fit them all on three pallets. But in the end we did it! When we got them packed, I ran around them with the shrink wrap. The moving truck showed up around 1:30pm and we loaded all our belongings on the truck. It was kinda sad to see it all go, but now I can relax. It is all finished.

5 days and counting...

Only 5 days to go! You know its bad when you start counting.

This past weekend has been all about finishing things. I had boxes to finish filling and sealing. I had people to finish catching up with. I had items to finish collecting from people. I had shipping details to finalize. It has been busy. I even squeezed in a doctors appointment to get a TB test done. I still have to go back on Monday for them to read the test, and make the prognosis that I have never had it or been exposed to it. This was part of my requirements for coming to school in America.

Which reminds me that I got my Visa! It was delivered with my passport on Friday morning. I will be allowed back into America...Hallelujah! This has been a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

Tomorrow will be a big day. I have to have my shipping package ready for pick up by lunch time. So it will be all hands on deck at the Bisleys. Then I have to have all my belongings packed and ready to go as I am going to be flying down to Christchurch on Tuesday morning for the duration of my stay in NZ.

On the road... again...

On Thursday morning, around 11am, my package from America arrived. It had themissing paperwork that I needed and I was elated. I quickly packed up my things, said goodbye to my Uncle and headed down to the American Embassy. When I found a parking spot, I feed the parking meter so I could be there for an hour, just incase I had to wait to get to the front of the line. However, when I got up to the Embassy, I was the only person there. I handed my paperwork over, and asked when I could expect to get my passport back. They told me that I should have it by Monday at the lastest, but possibly even the next day. I was feeling a little lighthearted, so walked around Auckland city for the hour. It was nice to be out and about, visiting some shops and tourist spots.

After that, I headed out of Auckland. I decided to take a different route home from my drive up, so headed in the direction of Tauranga. When I realised how close I would be to Paeroa, I just had to stop and see if the huge L&P bottle was there. L&P is a soda that is world famous in New Zealand. It all started in Paeroa which is what the "P" stands for. The "L" just stands for lemon.

I came across the Victoria Battery Mine ruins in the Karangahake gorge. I had fun playing in the arches of the battery taking self portraits with my camera, but I wished I had Beckie there to take the pictures. No doubt hers would have turned out much better than the ones I got.

I made it through to Tauranga and Mt Maunganui just as the sun was starting to set. I wished I had stayed to see it set all the way, because the clouds turned a brilliant gold colour then a vivid pink and purple. But I wanted to push through and get to Te Puke before I lost all the light of day. In the last picture of the giant kiwifruit, you can see the last remnants of the colourful sunset.

For most of the day, I had glorious weather for sightseeing and driving. By the time I got to the last set of mountains between Taupo and Hastings, I had started to drizzle, but by then it was dark and I couldn't see anything anyway.

I have to say that I have been surprised with just how small New Zealand is. But there is so much to see. I have only shown snippets of the things that I could get to by car. There are so many other places that you can explore if you get out and walk. But I didnt have the time. However, I thoroughly enjoyed just driving through the countryside and seeing my beloved country where I have so many memories.

My Trip South

Tip Top Corner

Huntly Power Plant

My mode of Transport - A Mazda MPV

L&P Bottle in Paeroa

The river that ran through the Karangahake Gorge

Victoria Battery Mine ruins

A portrait in the ruins

The road to the ruins

Mount Maunganui

Sunset at Mount Maunganui

The giant Kiwifruit near Te Puke

Waiting...

Today has been a really laid back day. I haven't done anything productive and have just sat around the house all day. That sounds terrible, but I loved every minute of it. It has been nice to just take one day and not have to think about doing anything.

In the last couple days, New Zealand has had some pretty bad weather. There were numerous tornadoes in Taranaki that have left hundreds homeless. The South Island has had a cold snap that has caused black ice so bad that even the police are doing things on foot. And last night we had gale force winds that knocked out power to thousands of homes in and around Auckland and Northland. Thankfully we were not affected by the power outage, but the Prime Minister has issued a state of emergency for Northland which also sustained some severe flooding. All that to say that the weather has been miserable in Auckland today. There have been unending grey clouds and it has been cold.

At lunch time, Uncle John and I went and picked up Aunty Lyn from work and the three of us went and got some lunch at the Hollywood Bakery in Albany. I had to laugh when Uncle John mentioned in passing that for once he finished his food before Aunty Lyn. In Aunty Lyn's words "the Greenings learned to eat fast, or they missed out!" Mum, it is kinda scary how much you and Aunty Lyn are alike at times. Did you know that almost all of your siblings love and are addicted to Sudoku? Scary! As a side note, I think you get to steal another one of Aunty Lyns family boasts. Reuben is now the tallest cousin, taking the title from Aidan who is 6"5.

In the afternoon, I decided to get out of the house for a while, so I went for a drive. Below are just a couple pictures I took along the way. I only have a couple as I couldn't be bothered getting out of my nice warm car or openning the window to take more.

Throughout the day, I have been tracking my package of paperwork from the States. It is quite incredible how many places a package goes before it gets to your house. My package has been to Sylmar, CA, Louisville, KY, Honolulu, HI, and Sydney, Australia. At the moment it is on its way to NZ.

Tomorrow I hope to get the paperwork to the Embassy early so that I can be on my way back to Hastings.

Looking across the harbour at the Auckland City Skyline

Looking out the other side of the harbour at the Harbour Bridge

The Embassy...

When I arrived in Auckland last night, I caught up with my Aunt and Uncle and was very disappointed to hear that my visa paperwork that I had been waiting for still hadn't shown up. I didn't sleep well with the knowledge that I had an interview at 9:30am the next morning and I still didn't have the most important piece of paperwork for that interview. I got up about 6:30am and tried getting hold of someone in the International office at Master's College. I tried a number of times during the next 90 minutes and couldn't reach anyone. I prayed at this point that God would show me what to do next since I couldn't reach anyone else to help me. I also prayed that I would accept the outcome of the morning, even if I had to stay in NZ longer.

I thought to call the embassy to make another appointment, in case I couldn't go through with today's one and knowing how busy they are. I was right. The next available appointment was not till the 16th; three days before I flew out, which was not enough time. I then explained my situation to the guy making the appointment, and he was so friendly and helpful. He told me that not having all the paperwork happens often, and that I should go to the appointment as they would still interview me.

I then called Mum to let her know the situation. I was pretty upset about it all and needed to hear her words of wisdom. She encouraged me to just trust the Lord and let me know that if I couldn't come back till later, then that was ok. God is sovereign and His ways are perfect, especially when they are not our ways. I knew all this already, but I felt better after hearing her say it. She offered to keep trying to contact the school and to find out where my paperwork was.
I raced down to the bus depot and arrived just as my bus was leaving. I had to wait 10 minuted for the next one and finally left the depot at 9am for a half hour bus trip into Downtown Auckland. You might remember that my appointment was at 9:30am, and I still had to get a courier bag from the Post Office that I didn't know the location of.

I am very thankful that I took my Uncles advice to take the bus. As we got out onto the motorway, I noticed the backlog of cars. It would have taken me an hour just to drive into town and then to try and find parking... As it was, the buses have their own lane, kinda like a carpool lane. So we went whizzing by hundreds of cars and the bus stopped right down the street the embassy. As I got closer to the building I noticed that the shop on the corner was a Post Office. So I whipped in there and grabbed a courier bag.

I was 10 minutes late as I rode the elevator up to the Embassy's floor. Between a stressed morning, lack of sleep, crying, and not eating breakfast, I felt rather sick as I walked into the waiting room. Thankfully, there were four people ahead of me, so I had about 50 minutes to relax and recover. When I got to the front window, the lady behind the counter took the paperwork I had and explained that I would still have my interview, but would have to bring back the missing paperwork in order for them to issue the visa. I then waited another hour for my name to be called for my interview.

Praise God for His mercies. My interview was so quick that I didn't even realize that it had just happened. He didn't really ask me any of the questions I had been told they would ask. The guy who interviewed me admitted that he was only new to the job, and didn't really know what to do with my case. He told me to go ask at the first counter what I should do next, then he handed me my passport, but took my incomplete paperwork. I was a little confused as I still didn't realize that I had just had the interview, so went to the other window and explained what had just happened. The guy at the first counter went away and talked to my interviewer. When he came back, he basically said that had been my interview, and when I bring in my paperwork they would issue my visa. Not wanting to beleaguer the point, I accepted at face value that I will be receiving my visa as soon as I hand in the missing paperwork. It was an exhausting morning, so this afternoon I took it easy and even had a nap.

Mum let me know that she had reached the college, and they had found my paperwork, and would be overnighting it to me. So I should have it by tomorrow. I will then be able to drop it at the embassy tomorrow or the next morning and should have my visa in two or so days. I am so grateful for all the prayer that I know went up on my behalf. And I am truly thankful that I know a sovereign God who knows what I need the most. I will not be comfortable till I have my passport and visa in my hand, but I am at peace knowing I can trust Him with my future.

Roadtrip...

Monday...

Today, I drove up through the middle of the North Island of New Zealand from Hastings to Auckland. It was a gray kind of day with most of the country under clouds from an impending storm. I hit a little bit of drizzle in a few places, but for the most part had a beautiful drive. This is the first time that I have done this drive myself, though I have driven it many times with my family. I was surprised how quickly I would come across landmarks, because as a child I remember it being a long trip. It is a 282 mile trip, which is roughly the same distance as going from LA to Hickman. But it is a far less boring trip than going to Hickman. There is so much to see and do along the way, as you can see from the pictures.

My trip (green route)
The Hawkes Bay Beach

Highway 5

Heading toward Taupo

On the other side of the mountain range

Huka Falls, Taupo

The Rock (continuing family tradition)
Woodcarving in Tokoroa

The Sheep and Dog in Tirau

The Shepherd in Tirau

I found these pictures that I hadn't put in my other post. So I am adding them here.

Sunset over Te Aute College

Te Aute College Chapel at Sunset

The Trailer before I unpacked it

The Weekend

Friday…

Today has been miserable. It started raining in the night, and has continued through the day. The temperature has dropped and it is supposed to snow down to two hundred meters. I don’t know what that works out to be in feet, but I know that it is low. It is the kind of cold that sits in your bones and doesn’t leave. I have spent as much time indoors as I could, while still working on sorting through my parents stuff.
I took a break around lunch time and went to see Wendy Campbell’s new house. Wendy is one of my best friends here, and she recently got married. It was so fun getting to see her little home, and to see her as a wife. I loved looking through her wedding pictures as I wasn’t able to make it for the wedding.
I joined Juniper’s family for dinner tonight. It was fun getting to catch up with two of my favorite little friends, David and Bethpage. They gave me the grand tour of their house, and Divvy, the joker that he is, tried to lead me into a closet saying it was another room. But I knew better and almost got him in there. Elijah, the youngest, was a little star struck I think. He wasn’t born till after we left, but I have no doubt that he heard about us all the time. He had so many things to tell me, and lots of questions to ask. I think he is going to take after his mum.

Saturday…

Today, I took a day off from all the packing. I felt a little guilty, cause there is still so much to do, but I needed the break. I spent the whole day with Andrea Northcott. Andrea has been a very special friend to me over the years and I loved having the whole day with her. We went to Warren’s Bakery for lunch, and I got my mince pie. Then we wandered around town and went shopping.
At 2pm, we went to a baby shower that Karen Major was throwing for Bernice Leyser, Juniper’s mum. It was a lot of fun, and I even won a couple of the games we played. I caught up with a few different people, including Jan Clark, Kirsty Watson, Dalwyn Hoskins, and Cynthia-Louise Demetrius. After the shower, I went back to the Northcott’s home for dinner. Andrea’s boyfriend Chris came for dinner so that we could meet, and I could get to know him a little bit.

Rainbow over St. Johns Church, Hastings

Sunday…


I have to admit that I skipped church today. I am so exhausted and I am fighting off a cold. When I got up, my throat was raw, and I’ve been coughing all day. I still had a lot to do before tomorrow. I wanted to have all the boxes back on the trailer, so that I was not leaving my stuff strewn all over the Bisley’s property. While they were at church, I had the house to myself. This allowed me to get a lot done and I finally got it all finished. The trailer is now repacked with only the stuff we are taking with us.
Tomorrow is a big day. I am setting out for Auckland. I have my appointment at the embassy on Tuesday at 9:30am. I am going to drive up tomorrow. There are a few places that I want to stop at along the way. I will post again tomorrow night with some pictures for you.

Wednesday and Thursday...

Mice! I hate the smell of mice. I came to that conclusion today as I unraveled the plastic that was protecting the contents of our trailer. I saw evidence that the mice had explored every inch of the trailer, but thankfully no sign of them. When we left NZ four years ago, our family put all of our precious belongings in boxes on our trailer. Then Dad shrink-wrapped it in plastic to keep the moisture and bugs out. I was surprised at how well the plastic did its job. There appears to be almost no damage to our belongings. It looks like the mice only got into one crate, but did some extensive exploring. Part of my job here has been to go through many of the boxes and take out all the things that we no longer need. It is a big task, but I hope to have it done by next week.
I only got to work on the boxes for a few hours this morning, as I was to have lunch with the Mitchell family - Andrew, Helen, Joel, Liam, Jessica, Tabitha and Stephen. I was joyously welcomed by the children who have all grown up so much. I got to meet Stephen for the first time, and he is looking so well. He had a cleft lip when he was born and it was operated on and repaired to where now you can’t even tell by looking at him. The Mitchell’s have bought a new house since we went to America, so I got the grand tour and then after lunch, we sat outside in the sun and caught up on all the family’s news. It was a glorious day and got to about 60 F. As I was leaving, I wanted to get a photo of them, only to discover that I had forgotten to grab the battery for my camera which I had set to recharge overnight. But thankfully I had a video camera which takes still shots. So the photos below are not the best quality, but that is all I had to work with at the time.
I had planned to go back in the afternoon, but I enjoyed myself too much at the Mitchells. By the time I left, I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to get down there and back before dinner. So I went back to the Bisleys and continued to work on my boxes. I knew from Mum’s master list which boxes had things that needed to be removed and which didn’t. So by the end of the afternoon, I only had five boxes left to open. At that point, I had to call it quits for the day. I was so dirty from all the dust and mouse droppings, and I was supposed to be going out for dinner. After a quick shower, I headed for the Spurgeon’s house.
I had a nice time with the Spurgeon Family. The kids were a little shy to begin with as they didn’t really remember me. But they soon warmed up and I even got a hug from all of them before they went to bed. I was surprised to hear that both Adam and Joel, the two eldest, had been to PFC this year. They are getting to be so grown up. PFC is a camp to prepare kids for Convention and is run by the Home schooling group we were both apart of. Convention is a competition that the Accelerated Christian Education schools and home schoolers compete in once a year with their Bible knowledge, music abilities, arts and crafts, and athletics. I once again forgot my camera battery, so please forgive me for the poor quality of these pictures.
Thursday…
I spent most of today iwith Juniper, boxing up books and tapes. We did get it finished and the Mazda MPV van, which I have been driving around, was fully laden. There were about 15 boxes of books, one large filing drawer set full of tapes, and a smaller, half size filing drawer set full of tapes. I also had a coffee table and my manrobe in there, which is a small, stand-alone, wooden wardrobe with drawers. On the way home, I stopped at Te Aute College to get a picture of the sun setting over the school’s chapel. It was another beautiful day and the sunset was spectacular.
The Bisleys and I went to the Benson’s house for dinner. It was just like old times except without the rest of my family. Our three families would often have meals together, since we all home schooled and had children about the same age.

Jessica and Tabbitha

The Mitchel Family

Andrew, Liam, Tabbitha, Helen, Joel, Jessica and Stephen

(Starting at the left going clockwise)

Sunset coming back from Mitchells

The Spurgeons

Joel, Julia, Karen, Luke, Brad, Jonathon and Adam

(Starting in bottom left and working clockwise)