Visas!!!

Steve talked to the high commission this afternoon and we have been told we're being granted 5 year visas!!! A slightly different one than we applied for but it will still let us go and do what we want to do, so we'll take it!

Interesting how these things are allowed in our lives. We had all gotten to the point where even though we're anxious to get going, we had accepted the fact that it could take a while. Some of the different avenues we were investigating could have taken a several months to complete.

But now it looks like we'll fly out 3 weeks from today! Thanks be to our Father!

Waiting......

We're still in New Zealand! Our visa didn't come through in time to leave last Friday. It's been a bit of a challenging time as we've been readjusting our expectations and unpacking again, but we're trusting Him for His perfect plan and timing.

I've been reminded of last year when we went to Carlsbad Caverns in the US and saw an evening bat flight. As thousands of bats left the cave entrance at dusk a ranger told us lots about them. One thing that amazed me was that when a bat is born it naturally clings to the rock at the top of the cave. If it lets go and falls it will die, but they very seldom do. That's because when they're clinging to the rock that's when they're actually at rest.

We're clinging to our Rock as we wait!

We will wait until the middle of the coming week and call and inquire about our visas. If there's been no progress we'll withdraw this application and resubmit one for one year instead of five since that application may go through faster. We've changed our flights to leave on November 19th and are asking that the visas come through before then!

Flowers

Yesterday Adam and Rachel were talking about how beautiful the flowers are in New Zealand and Fiji. Adam said, "Rachel, are there flowers in _________(where we'll be living)?"

"No dude, there aren't many flowers because of the pollution, just weeds," she replied.

Adam thought for a minute and said,"That's OK, because weeds have flowers, too."

What a little optimist! The kids have been having a great attitude about going!

Adam Milking

Our kids have been getting so many neat life experiences lately! Here's the latest thing the boys got to try.......

Only 11 Days until we go.....

Our family is all back together again. Steve came back a week ago after his last trip to Fiji and we picked the girls up yesterday from their South Island trip. They had a wonderful time at the camp and got good experience in leading younger campers as well.

We turned in the paperwork for our business visas last week. We are asking that they be back in time for our departure on the 23rd! We have a pretty right schedule until then of getting things done and saying farewells.

We are all getting quite excited to go!

Pictures from today....

Here's what two of the guys in our family were up to today. Steve sent this picture from Fiji from the prison this afternoon. This is the second picture that he has in countries under military rule that he's talked a guard into letting him hold a big weapon! Fortunately he usually uses his powers of persuasion for good!

The other pic is of Aaron flying his trick kite right outside of Steve's parents' house in New Zealand. They have an amazing ocean view!!!

Snow Day!

The kids and I had an outstanding day yesterday! Some wonderful friends treated the kids to a day at Snow Planet, an indoor ski and snowboard run. None of the kids had been around snow for years and since Adam was only one the last time he obviously didn't remember it! None of them had ever skied.

The eldest son of the family we were with is a snowboard instructor at Snow Planet and his three younger brothers are pretty good as well, so our kids each had their own personal trainer to get started. They all had a fantastic time. The girls snowboarded for hours. The boys tried both snowboards and skis and hardly left the slope for the entire 7 hours that we were there!

Moaning and groaning from sore muscles is going on this morning!

The sale on our house in Fiji became final on Monday! Steve's been quite busy not only leading the team but slipping off to the lawyer for meetings about the process of getting the funds out of Fiji. He says the team is great and going very well.

The paperwork for our visas is nearly finished and ready to lodge when Steve returns!