Birthday Weekend Adventures (Napier)

For about a year I've wanted to go check out Napier in Hawke's Bay.  I thought it would be fun to visit that region for my birthday.... last year.  But I was 7 months pregnant and really didn't want to sit in a car for 4 hours!  So we put it off for a year.

We decided to do a combined birthdays/anniversary event and booked an AirBnB for a couple nights as a summertime family getaway over my birthday weekend.

We stayed in a no-nonsense, family-friendly farm cottage outside of town (but there was a park with a swingset and flying fox 3 minutes drive down the road, so THAT was cool!). There were sheep in the paddock, an orchard full of fruit, a cement pad for balance-bike practice, a gate to open and close at the end of the driveway, and a big front porch for watching the golden grass blow in the wind.

We had a great weekend - bike riding among vineyards, hiking to a towering waterfall, exploring the "Art Deco" city of Napier, attending a vibrant Farmer's Market, and even some on-the-road fun like watching a helicopter put out a forest fire on the way and stopping for a dip in Lake Taupo on the way home.

Summer time fun

I'm trying to spend a little less time and mental energy on social media platforms, so here are a few little snapshots of some of our daily-life moments:

There is a lot of enthusiastic displays of affection between these two - full body hugging (from Mara), head slapping (from Jemma) - and LOADS of giggles and joint screeching.  We really love having these two little people live in our home with us!

Tomatoes reach a high price of $13.00/kg in August, so I am rejoicing in the abundance of recipes I can make with fresh tomatoes while they are in season!  I also have six tomato plants that are starting to produce tomatoes, so I might need to figure out a way to preserve them... canning pasta sauce or dehydrating them or something!

On Christmas Eve we reached the 9 month mark of Jem being OUT of the womb! It's always surreal to think about how much life has changed since the "due date" photo on the left.

Mara and her Abba are always coming up with fun, unique ways to play together.  Sometimes I'm not sure which is enjoying an activity more - it's such a blessing to see the people I love the most loving each other so well!

 

Stone Fruit Season Returns

 

It is stone-fruit season again!!

Jemma is loving plums, Mara is crazy about avocados, and I don't think I'd ever get tired of the flavour of fresh nectarines! Summertime at its finest ;)

Heads or Tails: A fun story of hearing God and detail management

Last week we took a call from a missionary family working on building their support team that asked us if we'd consider being a part of their monthly support.  We love what they're doing and catching up with our friend, and promised to pray about whether God would lead us to start supporting them.

Yesterday Gabe and I sat down for our weekly "detail day" prayer time - a time when we try to just make a space to listen to God together about whatever he wants to talk about, but specifically anything we've put on our list of things we need to hear God about for direction.

When we got to asking about supporting this family, I was curious to see what God would say.

We set aside a percentage of every dollar we receive to go into an account we've labeled our "Missionary Support Fund."  We use that money to support missionaries each month - some of whom we've been in relationship with for years.  It's always been awesome to see how God provides what we need and, in turn, for others through that fund.

Currently, we spend every cent of what we put in to that fund each month, plus a little bit more fulfilling our commitments of support.  From a logical standpoint, it would seem like we don't have the money to take on another missionary, but Gabe and I wanted to make sure we were hearing God on that issue and not making a decision based on our own logic.

So, we prayed.

Gabe felt like the Lord impressed on him the verse in Isaiah (chapter 54) about the barren woman enlarging her tent pegs - basically, before something has come to pass, acting in obedience to what God has told you.

I felt like the Lord gave me a verse from Joshua 18 about casting lots for answers.

We shared back with each other about what we felt God was saying and decided we'd flip a coin for confirmation, but we were pretty sure God was leading us to start supporting this family.  So we grabbed a gold coin like the one pictured above, and decided heads was a yes, tails was a no, and we flipped it:

Heads.

So then we prayed about how much to support them each month (one of the things we've learned about hearing God and following his direction is to definitely pray about the details and not just run ahead with our own opinions!).  I felt like God gave me a certain number in USD.  Gabe also got a number, but he felt like it was in NZD.  We plugged the amount in NZD into our handy google converter, and the equivalent in USD was the same as the amount in NZD.

I fired off an email letting the family know we would start supporting them for the amount we felt God specified.

And then I told Gabe, "I guess we need to pray to ask God for more money so we can fulfill this support each month!"  So while I was getting porridge for Mara and Gabe was cleaning up breakfast prep, I just simply said aloud, "OK, Father - can you give us more money so we can give more away?"

I checked my email a few minutes later, and last Friday I'd had an email come in from our friend Carrie - currently one of our monthly supporters - that I'd briefly seen was in the inbox, but I hadn't taken time to look at it in detail.  When I opened it up and read through it, she was writing to ask for information on how she could submit our ministry work to the company she works for to see if she could get her monthly gift matched by her company.  Whoa!  That's cool!!

I told Gabe and we were both encouraged that God was, indeed, speaking to us when we'd prayed and that he was going to take care of the details.

Then this morning, I opened up my FB messenger app and I had received a message from a student that was a part of our DTS a few months ago who, himself, has been doing missions work, and he asked if we had a PayPal account because he'd like to send us a financial gift.

WHOA!!! That's COOL!!

I told Gabe and we were even MORE encouraged!!

Sometimes I have moments of looking at myself and our life, almost from a distance or an alternative perspective, and I think, "Are we crazy?  Like, this is really an odd way of living life, making decisions, and just being.  I mean, this is not a normal way of life - our priorities, our finances, our decisions about where we live, what we live without, everything is just a little bit odd."

But then I have these kinds of moments - where Gabe and I together get to experience and interact with the Creator of the Universe who loves us and cares for us and is more conscientious of detail-management and working behind the scenes than I could ever be, and I'm just so, so thankful that our life - the one life we get to spend - is laced with these kinds of stories and adventures.

The Pace of the Children

Today I went on a walk with Mara.  While Mara and I were out wandering, I was reminded of a phrase from Genesis that someone or something pointed out to me a few months ago.  When Jacob and Esau finally meet after Jacob has returned from living with Laban, Esau says in Genesis 33:12, "Let us be on our way; I'll accompany you."

Jacob politely declines this offer by reminding Esau of the needs of his flocks of animals and his children - the nursing cows and ewes with their young can't go at the pace of 400 men of battle, and neither can his children.  Jacob says, "Let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I move along slowly at the pace of the flocks and herds before me, and at the pace of the children."

I used to walk quickly - it was sometimes a point of contention in my marriage when Gabe and I would decide to go for a walk, and Gabe would want to go for a leisurely stroll while I was anticipating an exercise walk (we learned we had to define what type of walk we were inviting the other person to go on with us).

A funny thing happened when our child became a toddler that likes to express her independence through walk on her own two feet, though: I don't often choose the pace of my walking.  Now my pace (typically) caters to my child.  Sometimes this is fast - as we know, toddlers can move quickly! - but more often, it is much, much, much slower than I would naturally prefer, with a lot of stops and starts.  Exercise walking? Not any more! We do the toddler stroll - her legs are about 1/3 my length, so we cover 1/3 the ground at about 1/3 the pace I would normally cover!

Today Mara went up and down the same flight of stairs about four times so she could hold the railing and jump off the last step.  While we were exploring a field, she stopped to squat down and pick daisies - multiple times.  She offered each one to me to hold, and I had dozens of them in my hand before we climbed the hill out of the field.  When we were walking past the playground, she wanted to stop and observe all the different equipment that was available and point at them and comment to me about them.  And going around a flowerbed with roses without delaying for 20 minutes - and likely picking the rose bushes bare - required some significant coaxing ("Come on, Mara - let's see if we can find a trampoline!").

I've learned I can respond to this new pace in life in one of two ways: 

I can be irritated and cajole, demand, shame, get frustrated, or just pick up and carry a toddler (sometimes kicking and screaming) at my preferred, rapid pace; or I can slow down and choose to enjoy the process.  

Today - with that phrase from Genesis rolling over in my mind and the sweet blessing of nothing pressing on my mental agenda for the afternoon - I admired the vibrant colors of the carpet of mini daisies, the white and yellow flowers against the backdrop of a field of green, while we walked.  I was amazed at the fact that my little girl is brave enough to jump (and get air!) off not just the bottom step of a flight of stairs, but the bottom two steps!  I looked into Mara's earnest little brown eyes as she handed me a handful of rose petals plucked from a wilting rose bush and saw the shine of pride and pleasure as I thanked her sincerely for her fragrant offering to me.  I noticed how tall she's getting, and yet how small she still is, how her hair is long enough to curl on her head and glow golden in the sunlight, how her little knees have dimples on them (she has sturdy legs - like her mother always has had!), and how cute her white shoes are strapped onto the wrong feet, because she got her shoes on herself.  

I enjoyed chatting with her, observing her interact with the world around her and learning about how she interprets it and what she finds interesting, and taking time to mentally catalogue and treasure this moments and images.

Because here's what I'm thinking: maybe if I proceed through life at the pace of my child, although the time still goes quickly and these moments feel so fleeting at the end of the day as I watch her sleep peacefully in her crib and as I look back at her rapid growth and development in my phone's photos, at least I won't reflect back on these days with her with regret that I was rushing.  I'll look back on these days, these weeks, these years knowing that I didn't do everything correctly, but I did try to be tender with my little girl, I didn't push her too fast, and I fulfilled (at least in part) my responsibility to take care of her.

As Jacob models, it's Biblical to adjust your pace in life to your child's pace in order to nurture them!  And as Mara says to me, "I go wis Mama. I want to be wis Mama," Lord, help me remember that it is truly a privilege to walk in step with this sweet blessing in my life - no matter how many stops and starts we make in on the journey, because that's a reflection of how you travel with me!

Mara - 15 months

I rarely pull out my "big" camera to take photos for everyday use (my iPhone is so much easier!), but I try to do a little mini session with Samara every 3 months so I have professional quality photos to look back on of her.

Gabe and I took her over to the base on a Sunday afternoon recently to get some pictures for her 15 month developmental stage documentation. Here are a few of my favorites:

New Zealand - A Kiwi Wedding

This past weekend, I (Dani) was able to photograph a wedding for one of our co-YWAM-ers from our base.  Rebecca helps coordinate the School of Primary Healthcare every year, and during the time she isn't helping coordinate the SPHC, she is a huge help in the admin department with developing systems and ensuring we are following New Zealand privacy policies.

She's been a sounding board for me in my new role in H.R., and I've appreciated having some great, thought-provoking conversations with her over the time that we've been here at the base together.

Rebecca married a lovely guy named Gareth.  They've been dating for about 2 years now, and although Gareth isn't a part of the Marine Reach volunteer squad, he's made an effort to come to base functions and get to know people on base a bit.  Gabe and I have both enjoyed over-dinner talks with Gareth when he's around, and we think they're a couple that really brings out the best in each other.

The wedding took place at a local wedding venue - Eagle Ridge Lodge - and it was a stunning setting for a sweet, sincere celebration. Bec and Gareth were both delightful to work with, and it was a privilege for me to get to photograph my first international wedding and have it be a blessing for them.

Here's some of my favorite photos from the day: