After a full schedule last month of camping, traveling, coronavirus fears, and flights to/from a very wet week in Sydney (much needed for the country!), we have decided to slow down a bit to relax and recover as we are back in NZ.

We are staying put in Whangarei for a bit and have been incredibly blessed to stay at a lovely Accomodation owned by the Antiochian Orthodox Mission Priest (Fr Michael) and his lovely wife (Kh Karen)! They have the chapel on the lower level in the home, so there may be a chance we won't be late for church on Sunday 😬.

We are very much enjoying this amazing, HUGE, comfortable home where we can catch up on school, walk to town, do the laundry, and enjoy a bedroom for each of us with our own radios and showers! Woohoo!

Thank you for your prayers for our eldest daughter as she slowly recovers from a concussion from a fall off a mountain bike. Thank God she was wearing a helmet and all brain scans negative. Docs said it will take time and rest to heal.

Also, great news that the marina has accepted responsibility for the launching damages to our boat and they have begun repairs! Another huge answer to prayer.

So, we are staying out for a bit. Getting caught up on doctor appointments, tax prep, home life management, unpacked all our camping gear, and cleaned out the car. Mamabear and I even went out on a date to see the movie 1917-wow, very intense!

Mamabear has just started an incredible cross-stitch project of an icon of Christ for the upcoming Lenten season. I recently finished reading The Covenant, an incredible story of the settlement of South Africa by James Michener, who wrote one of my favorite books, The Chesapeake. I love the way he weaves fictional family stories throughout generations of nonfictional events.

That's a quick update for now....more to come some other day...