A Week of Different Hats...Literally

What a week it has been! It is now Friday, I have officially neglected my blog all week long. For those of you who check it everyday, sorry! It seems that when Josh is out of the country I just run around with my hair on fire. Does anyone else know what I mean? It seems like I have been jumping from house to house meal to meal, conversation to conversation, worship set to worship set, crazy situation to crazy situation, IWT project to THOP projects, and phone calls to emails to MSN messenger conversations with Josh.

The week has been full of variety and adventures, that is for sure. It seems like work and non work are in a continuous flow...with no breaks in between! Monday started out with a wonderful workout, a great breakfast, followed by putting Josh on a plane. Later in the evening Lisa (Josh's sister) and I got lost driving back from Auckland to Tauranga...which as you can imagine was just a little bit dramatic. Two girls lost in the country with no idea where they were! Tuesday was full of reconnecting with old friends and business acquaintances (that I haven't seen since last July). Wednesday we entertained some friends, and Thursday Lisa and I hit a cooking class. Tonight was full of dinner with the in laws, conversations with Grandpa Peter, and IWT fundraising planning. Whew! Maybe now I can take a breath. Well, probably not, the weekend is full too!

The past three days it has been raining non stop in New Zealand, and it does not show any signs of stopping. This is not some light nice rain, this is flooding in New Zealand. Which of course makes everything seem even crazier than it really is. I think the rainy season of winter is officially here. It's time to pull our the beanies ladies and gentlemen!

1 Year Ago Tomorrow!

A year ago tomorrow Josh and I pledged our vows to each other and became man and wife! In honour of this, I put together this little slide show of our wedding day for all to see before we head out to celebrate. So today is full of lots of packing (for our anniversary and Josh's trip to Fiji), finishing my immigration papers, and hopefully an afternoon on the beach with friends, before we head off for some quality alone time.

We hope you guys have a great weekend! We will be back on blogger next week.

On a side not however, I would like to give a shout out to Auntie Liz Price...who I lived with while Josh and I were dating. She has been directing A Midsummer's Night Dream at Bethlehem College, and the Cole girls and Grampe went to watch last night. It was everything a high school play should have been! It was preformed in an outdoor setting, just like a play by that name should be. Good job Auntie Liz! Thanks for a great family night out.

Superb Evening....Superb Husband

I would like to take this opportunity to brag on my husband, and make my father a very happy man. Yesterday, after work Josh was in need of a little physical activity after some long hours of desk sitting while communicating with Fiji. Normally we would head to Mount for bit of a climb, but our muscles just were not in the mood. So instead of climbing the Mount, Josh decided to wax my car! Doesn't it look great! I think it looks about 100% better than it did! Good job Hun!



Today however, we did climb the mount. It was an amazing evening. The ocean was still, the air was clear, and it the temperature perfect. Honestly, from the top of "the Mount" the view was just stunning. Mayor Island, which is 13km seaward looked so close you could swim to it (Family and Bridesmaids, that is the amazing island we went deep sea fishing off of). And Whale Island off of the coast of Whakatane (an hours drive from Tauranga), where Josh's Grandmother lives, looked close enough to kayak to. Well, at least Josh thought so! It was so beautiful!

Honey! What's For Dinner?

The question, "What's for dinner?" has got to be one of the most common questions asked in the world. I know it is common in our house anyway. In my quest of good food and learning how to cook, today I have come up with something quite special...and easy. Well, it is easy as long as you are wearing waterproof mascara! I had a small disaster in the making of this meal. Let's just say that a potent onion, and fresh make up didn't mess well this morning when I was throwing everything in the crock pot. So what is this easy to prepare, yummy, creative meal you ask? Moroccan Lamb with Couscous! Sounds good doesn't it? Here is the recipe for you guys to try.

Moroccan Lamb with Couscous

Instructions: Throw all of this in a crock pot and let it cook on slow for 8 hours!

2 medium onions
2 medium carrots, quartered and sliced
1 kg (2.2 lbs) of cubed Lamb shoulder (and meat works for this)
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chili powder
1, 400 gram can whole tomatoes in juice
1, 400 gram can chicken consomme (chicken stock)
1/2-1 tsp salt

Then using a slotted spoon, transfer veges and meet to a bowl and cover with foil. Turn Crock pot on high until for 10 minutes. Then stir in 250 grams (1 cup) couscous into crock pot and replace lid. Let cook for 20 minutes.

While couscous cooks. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in pan. Stir in 1/4 cup pine nuts and cook until golden brown. Then add 1/4 cup currants (or raisins) and cook a minute longer, or until raisins plump. Stir two thirds of this mixture into cooked couscous.

Serve lamb and vegetables over couscous, and garnish with the remaining pine nuts and raisins. You can even throw some fresh coriander on top to make it pretty!

Te Haerenga Banquet

Last week was a full on week for me personally as we had a banquet fundraiser in Tauranga for a project called Te Haerenga. Being the detail person that I am, I had the privilege of handling a lot of the technical side of the fundraiser. What is Te Haerenga you ask? It doesn't sound like Impact World Tour. Well, Te Haerenga is a cutting edge ministry of Island Breeze (part of Impact World Tour) that is reconciling Christianity and the cultural values of the Maori people in New Zealand. Which basically means that people who would never set foot in a church are getting saved and discipled where they are at in an environment they are used to, as the realize that they can be both Maori and Christian. It's really exciting. Te Haerenga started as an overflow from Impact World Tour New Zealand several years ago. So as a staff, Impact World Tour felt that we needed to get behind this overflow ministry, and help them get on their feet. So we did, by helping them organize a fundraiser.

Anyway, so last week was a busy week for me. It was full of details, like organizing pledge cards and thank you letters, desserts (it was a dessert evening fundraiser), some good quality time with the Island Breeze staff, making new connections with some of Tauranga's Christian leaders, and a great night in which some of "the church" in the city came together to get behind this new ministry and hear how they could partner with this initiative. It was a great success where we were all surprised by the amount of money we raised, and I think it was a huge boost for Island Breeze. So today, I'm very encouraged as I look towards future IWT fundraisers around the country.

Michelle is leaving.....

I find myself in a reflective mood this Saturaday night. Josh and I just got home from a goodbye event for a friend of ours, Michelle. She is one of our semi-interns at THOP. It's amazing how certain people just carry with them pure joy, and light up every room they enter. Michelle is one of those people, she just shine's Jesus, and I am going to miss having her around and singing with her on sets at THOP. It's amazing how close you can get with some people over cups of Milo. Hopefully she will come back sooner rather than later!

The Anti-Smacking Bill

Last night in New Zealand a bill was supposed to pass through parliament that would prevent parents from disciplining their children. According to this law, parents could be arrested for smacking their children. Putting children in time out, and swatting your child’s hand away from an open flame, would also be considered against the law if this bill was passed. By the grace of God it did not get passed last night, but was postponed for two more weeks. The church has two weeks to rise up and take a stand for righteousness in the public sector.

I don’t have any children as of yet, but even this non mother can tell that these restriction on parents rights are ridiculous. If you have an undisciplined generation you will have absolute chaotic society. The present prison system will not be able to contain the criminal offenders produced from children who grew up never being told” no”. Selfishness, lust, and materialism will reign supreme. I hate to think of my future, raising beautiful daughters in the age were boys were never told they couldn’t have what they wanted. Just think about it.

Above the consequences of an undisciplined society, the idea of disciplining your children with a rod is actually God way of raising children. Have you ever read Proverbs? Yes, some people take it to far, and abuse there children. However, those that do this are generally people with alcohol, drug, and anger problems. Let’s treat the source of abuse not the symptoms. A light smack from loving parents who only sought to discipline in love, never hurt me. People, let’s not let New Zealand take away the rights of loving parents because some people need to be treated and healed up from root issues in their lives. Just mopping up the street will never fix the busted fire hydrant.

Camping Report

As I sit here at my dinning room table, I am watching crazy rain pour down. Apparently Fall has arrived in New Zealand and I am so glad we got in some camping before it did. Josh and I had a great weekend just getting away. It's amazing what a road trip can do for your outlook. It just kind of expands your thoughts and makes you think outside the normal box. It makes you get out of the rut of everyday life..that is for sure. It is like oh, "my existence is not just in this city, in the North Island, of a country at the ends of the earth" - however...if you had to pick a city to exist exclusively in, this one would be at the top the list. Here is a picture from the weekend. One nutty thing I did was chase Josh all the way to Cathedral Cove in a mini skirt...that's at least a 3-4 k run. It explains the sweaty Photo.



The weather was beautiful and hot. Also Josh taught me how to kayak which was really fun and I realised it was a lot easier than i first thought. Hahei/Cathedral Cove is truely one of New Zealands hidden treasures, it is stunning! My first night sleeping in a tent was fun, I would definately do it again, it helps to have a husband that knows what he's doing when it comes to setting up a tent and making it as comfortable as possible! All in all, a great weekend and I'm looking forward to our next camping trip.

Camping equals Food and Shopping an Experience with God.

Well lets just get this out in the open - New World grocery store is the best grocery store in New Zealand. For all of those Pack-N-Save fans, I understand it really is cheaper....but when you want to buy American products in a pleasant atmosphere complete with shopping hostesses, New World is the only place to go.

Josh and I are heading out into the wild tomorrow for a weekend of camping before fall sets in for real, so of course I had to run by the store to pick up some camping food. Josh was up in Whangarei (he caught the early morning flight) to pick up a car for IWT, leaving me to prepare for camping. For those of you who know us, I am not really camping experienced, so you can laugh at that idea. All I really know is, if you have food everything will be alright.

I had just left a really good prayer meeting at THOP, were I was really connecting with God...so I thought I would ask him which grocery store to go to to catch some sales. Normally I would have headed to Pack-N-Save because it is cheap but I felt like New World was the go. I thought, hey even if things are not on sale at least i will have an enjoyable shopping experience. Much to my delight though, I really did hear God on this little trivial detail called grocery shopping. It blew me away too because God did it just to show me he cared.

I had a short list of the basics and then was just going to walk the isles to see what I could buy to cook for Josh that would bless him. As I went through the list, I realized that everything on my list was on sale. I mean it everything, even the bread. After I got through the list I started thinking about Josh's favorite foods, lamb, certain types of granola bars, stuff for homemade lasagna. Not kidding you, I walked to the isle and said, ok God if you are just wanting to show me how much you love me by putting everything I want on sale....let lamb be on sale, let those granola bars be on sale, let cottage cheese be on sale. It was all on sale. So, it was amazing. I totally met God while grocery shopping. So all you mom's out there(aka Anna Rikiriki) be encouraged. You can meet God at New World too!

Interesting Facts

Wow what a week, I can’t believe it is Friday and I have yet to blog anything at all…I think I am falling off the blog wagon, and am just barely holding on by my little pinky. I will let you in on a little secret though….it is because all my free time is spent on myspace now. So many people to keep up with, so little time!

This week I started out attending an immigration seminar with a couple other people from Impact World Tour and the Tauranga House of Prayer. It was really helpful in my own immigration journey, and in the journey these two ministries will go through as people come from all over the world to join us. These are some of the interesting facts I learned about immigrating to New Zealand.

1. When filling out immigration applications, you have to be able to prove everything you say with paper proof.
2. If you are not healthy, which is classified by you having a health condition that might cause the New Zealand government above $25,000.00, they basically will not let you in.
3. Once you are granted Permanent Residency, you must remain in New Zealand for at least 184 days out of every year for the first two years. That equals just over 6 months of living in New Zealand for two years.
4. If you want to gain citizenship, you must remain in New Zealand for 264 days out of each year for 5 consecutive years.
5. It is hundreds of dollars cheaper to go through this process if you are already in New Zealand when you apply vs. applying from outside of New Zealand.
6. If you are applying for residency under the “Work to Residency” program, your job offer must be for $45,000.00 a year or more.