New Zealand - Baby Kirkwood has arrived!

Hello friends!
We have added a family member, started a new DTS, are tackling breastfeeding and sleep deprivation, and falling in love with our little girl - it has been a busy couple of weeks!

Samara Louisa-Faith was born January 8th - she was scheduled to be induced out of the womb that day, but she got labor started about 12 hours before we were to report to the hospital. Dani was very grateful for the timing of that! Her birth didn't go exactly as we'd hoped (what's the saying? "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, it'll probably be somewhere in between..." - that held true for us!), but we were still able to go home from the hospital a few hours after she was born, which was a blessing - and a cost saver!

We welcomed 65 students 5 days later, and started the process of memorizing names (Dani's still working on that!) and figuring out how to have an infant in community! So far it has been great - lots of very willing baby holders allow for afternoon nap opportunities! For the first two weeks, our friend Jasmine was on Kirkwood care duty - bringing us meals, holding little Mara, running errands, picking up supplies, and generally just serving and blessing us. It REALLY helped our transition to parenthood to have her support!

This week is our second week of lectures, so we are getting back into the groove of spending mornings in the classroom - since lectures are happening off site this school, it takes a little more organizing, but the huge blessing of having our own car really helps with the logistics and provides us with freedom to be able to come late or leave early.

We've gotten our one-on-one assignments and we're excited to start working with these precious guys and gals. Dani will be working with three young ladies - Solvar, from Norway, Alyssa, from the USA, and Elinor, from Sweden.  Gabe'll get to spend time with Tobias, from Germany, and Jonas, from Denmark. We're really looking forward to seeing all that this school holds and getting to know these students!

Gabe in lectures with Mara.

Dani and Jasmine (center) and our friends Nat (left) and Jess (right).

Our little girl - we think she's just beautiful!

New Zealand - New School and New Baby... Coming Soon!

In the strange transition between schools, my blogs have floated away along with my normal schedule!  Yet here we are, already welcoming staff members back to NZ, and preparing to start receiving new students for January DTS in just 2 weeks!

The last few weeks have been difficult at times.  It's hard to say goodbye to people who have become such close friends, and also be around so many new faces while you process that sadness (the students of the DTS school which started in October have been here all December).

Dani and I have alternated between investing in new and old friendships, helping with kitchen and maintenance duties here on base, preparing for baby K's arrival, and trying to rest (to recover from outreach in Vanuatu and to prepare for parenthood - sleep while you don't have a newborn, right?)

The last two weeks have been intense, as our ultrasounds have shown that some of baby's measurements have not been increasing as quickly as the doctors would like.  So, the doctors would like to intervene soon to induce labor, while our midwife (and us!) would greatly prefer to see us go into labor naturally - but we all want "bubs" (as they call babies in New Zealand) to be healthy, whole, and happy.  In the midst of many weighty decisions, we have been reminded of how many things in life are outside our control, but also of how many privileges and blessings we receive from the one who is in control.

So we have prayed.  We have prayed for direction and wisdom in all these decisions.  We have prayed and asked Father God to release us from fear, pride, and worry.  We have prayed over baby K, for his/her health and safety.

And we have felt the presence of God, and His peace over us.  And we have been surrounded by love and care from family and friends sending their love across the miles, as well as wonderful support from our community of friends here.  And we have seen Dani's body progress more and more quickly as we trust God to do what we cannot.

So, we rest in the peaceful fact that our Father in Heaven knows every detail of our lives, and all things move forward in His mercy and love.  Thanks to everyone who has wished us well, and sent up their own prayers on our behalf.  We are so grateful for all the support we've been shown in this time.