New Zealand Adventure ...part 3

I'm not really sure where to start with the last five days.  While I was there to support and encourage my friend, I had the opportunity to see some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.  New Zealand is amazing...and that is only an observation made after five days.

We spent our time enjoying the outdoors...lakes, woods and beach.  Liz and I enjoyed time with her kiddos and time without...thanks to her wonderful husband:)

I got to learn about Rotarua...and the fact that it sits along volcanic plate means there is a lot to learn and a lot to see...geothermal sights, hot springs, plus gorgeous lakes and redwood trees everywhere we went.  There was the occasional smell...but that was nothing new for me since I live in HK and come from the "mushroom capital of the world."

Most important to me was my time with my friend, who is going through some hard stuff personally and is about to make a big transition.  We had such a wonderful time together.  We have a lot of history together...going back more than a decade...with many of the same passions.  But it had been over two years since I had seen her.  And yes, we picked up where we left off.  I also enjoyed getting to know her kids...they have four of the cutest kiddos and they have grown so much since the last time I saw them.

This trip was an incredible gift from God...one that I'm not sure I deserved, but one that I will never forget.  Not only did I get to reconnect with a dear friend and her family, but I was able to see a beautiful country that, before three years ago, never would have dreamed I would have been able to visit.  And it was a dream I had as a child, ever since my grandmother brought me back a little kiwi charm from her visit.  Which reminds me that the Creator of our hearts, who knows our hopes and our fears...also know our dreams...and this was a dream that only He could make happen:) Enjoy the pics!!

Mt. Maunganui

Geothermal Wonderlands

Redwoods Forest...13,000 acres

Another perfect night for a picnic

Gorgeous sunset over the rolling hills of NZ

Hot springs...like jumping in a hot tub!

Mountain biking!!!  No injuries:)

New Zealand Adventure...part 2

 So I thought I would have more time to write about actually getting to New Zealand, but it turns out that I didn't, so now I am writing in retrospect...sitting in the Auckland lounge, ready to board my final flight home.

I made it to Rotarua no problem. I was tired, but boarded my trip to Auckland...excited and ready to go!!  I had a wonderful trip to Auckland...I really liked flying Air New Zealand.  The staff was wonderful and I enjoyed flying during the day, realizing that I should try to stay awake so I would sleep when I got to Auckland.  I enjoyed reading and catching up on some movies...including two of the Hobbit movies...getting me even more excited to see this beautiful country.

I arrived to Auckland and was picking up my shuttle to my hotel at 12:30am.  It was surreal thinking I was in New Zealand.  The people were so nice and the warm, summer-like weather felt fantastic.  By the time I got into my room, it was about 1am and I collapsed...but not before I made sure I had a wake up call and set an alarm in my room.  My flight was leaving at 8:30am, so I thought getting up at 5:15 and getting on the 6am shuttle would give me plenty of time to make my flight without stress.  How wrong I was...it was TOO MUCH time!!!  I probably could have arrived at 8am and have been fine.  Sure, I would have had to check my carry on bag, but there was NO security and one gate where everyone sat and waited for there flight to be called.  It was quite humorous, but I did meet some lovely ladies and we chatted about their New Zealand experience and what we were doing there.

Finally, I was on my last leg to Rotarua to meet my friend.  My flight was called and I boarded the smallest plane that I had ever seen. It was a short flight...about 40 minutes...and as we flew, I couldn't help but notice the gorgeous land below, and even the fluffy clouds that we traveled through.  The land from above was amazing...rolling hills and blue water.  Coming from my home of Hong Kong it was just eye opening.

And when we landed next to a beautiful blue lake, with a little green island in the middle,  I couldn't wait to see more.  I found Liz easily, since Rotarua was the smallest  airport I had ever seen, and we were off, with a full day ahead of us!!!

My New Zealand Adventure...part 1

One thing that many articles I have read about expats say is that the expat is never the same after stepping out of the box and going through the challenges and difficulties, joys and triumphs of living in a foreign country.  You change...and this trip to New Zealand

is proving it to me:)

I am on my way to a land far far away to visit a dear friend...and I'm going by myself.  I have traveled by myself before, but never internationally, to a country I've never been to before.  This is definitely out of my comfort zone.  BUT...I know I am supposed to do this, and the Lord has been preparing me to do this for a long time.  Even before we knew we would be going to Hong Kong, Andy and I can look back and see some of the events and circumstances that led to an international move...and now an international adventure for me.  Albeit, this is a short adventure...only being gone 5 full days, it is taking me two full nights and a day to get there.  Since I don't plan on posting this blog until after I am back, here are my logistics:

Flight to Singapore from HK that leaves at 9:45pm and arrives at 1:30am
Sleep in airport lounge Thursday night
Flight to Auckland from Singapore leaves at 8:50am and arrives at 11:30pm
Sleep in a hotel in Auckland on Friday night
Flight to Rotarua from Auckland leaves at  8:30am and arrives at 9:15

Stay until Tuesday night and take a red-eye back to Hong Kong.

 Of course, it helps to have a husband who has been doing this kind of thing for years and who has been my biggest cheerleader.  This would not be happening if it weren't for him. And I'm thankful that the Lord has been instilling in me this sense of courage and adventure. It certainly didn't happen overnight.  But this trip is showing me that indeed, I am a different person.

So as I write, it is 5:30am in the Singapore airport lounge.  I've been awake since about 3:45am...and yes, I arrived in the lounge a little after 2am...so not a whole lot of sleep.  The funny thing is that while I was all prepared to show my "gold card" to get into the lounge, when I entered, no one was at the desk.  I waited for awhile...then started to walk around and get a feel for the place. It was vacant.  There were a few people (three) like myself who were there to sleep...but that was it.  So I found myself a massage chair and settled in.

Unfortunately for me, the bright lights and excess noise made it difficult to sleep. There was the elevator music, construction banging, and a couple deep sleeping snorers.  That on top of the fact that the massage chair was NOT built for someone who is 5'2'', and I had a challenging time sleeping.   And by 4am the place was in full swing.  I got out of the chair to find a ton of people milling around, getting food, reading, working, ect.  I couldn't believe how early things got going.  This has actually served me because I don't feel tired...I'm wondering how long this adrenaline is going to last me?  I'll let you know:)

My Hike Up Cloudy Hill

One of my unexpected surprises when we moved to Hong Kong was how much hiking there was where we lived.  In fact, we have a trail that we can access from our neighborhood called Cloudy Hill.  I have hiked up to the top of Cloudy Hill with friends a few times, usually not going all the way due to time or energy limitations...but this past Friday I decided to do something different...I hiked to the top alone.

I have always enjoyed nature and being in God's creation.  And although I would call myself a "beach girl," I grew up going to camp in the woods and love to experience those scents and views that can only be found in the mountains.  I also think I was due some "alone" time after our hectic and crazy holiday schedule.

I woke up early with the rest of the family, got everyone out the door, minus Sarah who was still sleeping, and off I went with my headphones and backpack.  It was definitely a bit cloudy (not a surprise, thus the name) but I did see sun and was hoping that the sun would burn of the clouds and we would continue to have another gorgeous day (now is the time to be in HK!!!)

I have about a 10 minute walk within the Hong Lok Yuen community before I reach the gate...going up hill.  As I walked, I saw several helpers and drivers washing the cars, the woman collecting the trash, and a bunch of students waiting for their bus for school.  As I reached the gate, I had forgotton to get the code from the office, but I decided to chance it since I had gotten that far and did not want to be stopped.  Besides, the door was almost never shut all the way and therefore never locked:)

As I traveled up the stairs to my first view overlooking Tai Po, I saw sunshine and water with islands that I hadn't seen from that view in quite a long time (they don't call it Cloudy Hill for nothing).  The sun was burning the clouds off and the blue skies were beautiful.  I was surprised not to see more people hiking.  As I got up to the first major resting point, there were a handful of people stretching and doing exercises...all very friendly.  I took some more pictures and then kept on my way.

There were so many scents that reminded me of my camping days, and as I continued I couldn't help being reminded of my dear friend, Leslie, who brought me up Cloudy Hill the first time, and a few times after that. The trail was quiet, and I enjoyed listening to my music and enjoying the crisp clean air and the blue skies.  Of course, there were also the stairs that caught me off guard...I didn't remember there being so many at some points.  At times, I tried not to look up and just took one step at a time...kind of a metaphor for this adventure we are on:) After a leisurely trip to the top, I made it and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I sat up there for about an hour...virtually undisturbed...taking pictures, praying and journaling...it was food for my soul.  It reminded me how very important this time is for me and my health, and that I needed to schedule it more often!!!

Finally, I was on my way down...more in a hurry since I was excited to see Sarah, who was sleeping when I left.  I still enjoyed myself, and didn't rush too much since I did not want to lose my footing.  But all those stairs were MUCH easier going down!  I made it down to the bottom to the gate that was supposed to be open.  Of course I had just missed a couple hikers  who went around the corner.  Then, realizing that the door was closed and locked and there wasn't a guard in sight...I hopped the fence, without hurting myself!  It was such a great morning and I hope that I will remember to make time for this more often!!

  

First view of sun over Tai Po

 

Hong Lok Yuen

Top of Cloudy Hill

From the top!

My spot

The locked gate:)

Our Marathon Christmas Trip...with Focus on the Travel:)

It's been a little over a week since we returned from our whirlwind trip back to the states for Christmas. It has taken me this long to get back on track with sleep, routine and schedule, and sanity.  Not that our visit was hard or difficult...it was just FULL.  We didn't expect anything less, and actually it exceeded my expectations.  Our family had very little jet lag on the front end, we got to see so many family friends...maybe even more than I expected, and all in all, it was thoroughly enjoyable.  And while it took me a week to write all of that since I had to get over the worst jet lag I have ever had coming back...we would all say it was well worth it!

Of course leaving on December 19th, the day after school lets out, means that you have to work ahead of the game.  There are no "free days" for packing because not only are the kids in school...but so am I! We had Emma's chapel and multiple Christmas choral and band concerts, as well as classroom parties.  I have learned this lesson the hard way, so I started a good 5 - 6 days in advance.  It's also good to note that I still pack for myself and all five children...Andy packs himself...AND...he was "out of town" all week in Shenzhen and didn't get back and "available" until Thursday night before we left:)

So, by the time the taxis came to get us around 7am on Friday, I was ready to leave, and have a little break...but that break comes after toting 10 carry ons, 10 check-ins and five kids through check-in, security and passport control.  We finally made it on the plane, and here is one of the best gifts I got this Christmas...a business seat ALONE.  My sweet, dear, sacrificial husband gave me his business seat and he sat in coach with all five kids.  I went back and got everyone settled, then took my seat and finally took a breath!

Now, I don't sleep great on planes, usually needing some medication assistance.  And, honestly, I think part of it was I didn't want to sleep my beautiful gift away, so I didn't take anything and only got a 20 minutes doze in between movies:)  I did check on the family, and the kids did great. Apart from kicking a couple seats in front of them, and Sarah's melt down 20 minutes from landing, they were super on the plane.  Thank goodness, since Andy said I could have his seat on the return, too.  I was also grateful for the peace I had...knowing that we were all safe in God's hands...and not feeling this hyper sensitivity to be right with them, given the recent circumstances of flying in Asia.

We arrived in Newark...I waited for the crew by the plane exit.  Everyone was excited to see me, but were not happy when I told them that out of our 16 hr flight, I only slept 20 minutes...oops!(What a waste of a business seat, they said) We are generally the last ones to passport control, since we always need to wait for our gate check-in stroller, and then Andy needs to do "the count" and make sure we have everything and everyone before we can proceed.  This step I have gained patience for...especially since by the time we get to the long line, it has shortened significantly.  After getting through passport, we then get to claim our baggage, recheck our baggage, and go through security again...this is my least favorite part!!!! This is a big reason I dislike making connections anywhere after flying internationally (esp. 16 hrs with 5 kids). But, we didn't have any issues and went on to find our gate about 90 minutes before boarding...by now it is around 5pm, so we had enough time to find some Auntie Anne pretzels.  Our gate was at the end of the  terminal, so it was like a culd-e-sac of gates.  We werent able to sit right near the gate, but could keep an eye on it...or so we thought.  At one point I was walking by and heard over the loud speaker "blah blah blah, party of 7, please report to the gate" I thought,  "who else could be a party of seven?" so I went and checked, and sure enough, they were about to close the gate and were waiting for us!  AAAAH!!  I ran over to the family and let them know...we grabbed everything and ran to the gate...luckily not forgetting anything or anyone:) This may have been the most awkward and embarrassing boarding our family has encountered.  Not only was it a very small plane (we were headed to Dayton, OH), but everyone else was seated and staring at our large number of children and belongings...I can't imagine what they were thinking! We got settled relatively quickly, trying to figure out who was sitting with who, and where to put everything.  By 10 minutes after take-off, I think everyone was asleep...and they slept the entire 90 minute flight...it was beautiful!! We easily got off the plane, collected our baggage minus 2 (left in Newark), and found Andy's parents without problems.

I could go into a similar detailed picture of our two weeks...but that would take too long...so for my record's sake...here are the highlights...
We spent a lovely 5 days in Ohio, visiting Andy's parents, sister and family, and two nieces...Katie, her husband Nate and their new baby, Jackson...and Brittany, a sophomore in college.  It was so great to be with them all, meet Jackson, enjoy some wonderful food, see Kate and Nate's new home, and as a culmination, get to meet Josh's favorite OSU Buckeye football player, Jalin Marshall...thanks to Brittany, who is a friend.

We then flew to Philadelphia on Tuesday, Dec 23rd.  After our 2 hour delay, we got to our accommodations around 11:30pm...exhausted.  Our friend, Jerry, was gracious enough to open his home and he was there to welcome us.  By the time we unpacked a bit and got the kids to bed it was closer to midnight...I think Andy and I got to bed by 1am.  We were up early (6am) wanting to see Jerry off, get a rental car, and had a coffee meeting and shopping to do...all before going to our favorite Christmas Eve service at Willowdale Chapel...which even though we were late...we got front seats!!!

Of course we were up to 3am wrapping...but everyone slept until 10am Christmas am.  This was a Christmas miracle!  Andy and I got some very unexpected sleep, unfortunately we got over to my brother's house much later than expected, but they were gracious to understand.  We had a lovely day with my family, then drove to Mechanicsburg and stayed at my parent's house until Saturday...getting to visit my sister and enjoy my parent's hospitality.  Saturday we drove back to Jerry's, dropped off our stuff, went to a friend's house for dinner, then home by 9pm.

Sunday AM we were up early for church, a wonderful lunch and visit with more good friends, then back to Jerry's in time for our very dear friends, Ron and Rebecca's, arrival from Detroit.  They love us so much that they came, knowing they could only stay until Tuesday.  We had some wonderful quality time...and it was such a gift for them to come since they know what our lives are like in HK.  We did a lot of planning, playing, discussing...and then it was time for them to go.  After they left, our final three days were filled with getting together with more friends, New Year's Eve fun at Isabella's, dentist appointments, and culminated with a wonderful Buckeye Sugar Bowl win versus Alabama...which we all stayed up for on Thursday night (of course, we packed all day so we could watch football by 5pm).  Somehow, we still managed to take 30 minutes to pack the van that came at 9:30 the next am.

Then, it was a 2 1/2 hour drive to Newark, 45 minutes to check-in all our luggage (that's without a line), and then the longest security line I know. We finally made it to our gate, with enough time to get some lunch, bathroom break, and a few squabbles to make everyone nervous around us:)

As we got on the plane, I settled everyone in...kissed them and said I would see them in 16hrs...and went back to my sweet business seat. I sat down in amazement at all that we packed in our two weeks...everyone we got to see, things we got to do, and just in general, the wonderful Christmas it had been.  Sure, there were some people we didn't get to visit (it's the holidays and people travel:) But we really were able to have some sweet quality time with friends and family, and that was such a gift. My return flight was filled with gratitude... and this time I had a wonderful coctail of melatonin after my meal and slept for 6 hours.  Didn't want to disappoint the kids:)

What Happened to November?

I'm not sure where November went.  It seemed to fly by and I am grateful for this post that gives me the opportunity to reflect on what just happened.

The month started out with hosting our first  Young Life event...a nerf gun war/cookout/club for about 30 kids plus leaders.  It was a blast.  Granted it was heavy on the guy side, only about 5 girls braved the competitive nerf gun war...but in the end, it was Emma who found the flag and brought it back to her team in the final game.

The following week was Grace's Soccer Championships.  Her team was undefeated going into the final four.  They played Chinese International School, which they played last year in the semis and won. Although Grace's team dominated, they could not find the back of the net...enough.  They ended up losing 3-2, with a shot differential of about 15-4. They were very disappointed, but pulled it together for the 3rd place game, in which they were playing a team they had already beat earlier in the year.  This game wasn't even close, and I'm afraid both teams knew what the outcome was going to be before the whistle even blew.  We are very proud of Grace, who had a great season and was just named most valuable attacking player.

One thing that did take away the sting of losing is leaving on an international school missions trip two days later.  Grace left that Sunday very early for Indonesia with 35 other students and 6 teachers.  I could tell you second hand about her trip, but she blogged about it so here is the link... http://graacce23.weebly.com/my-blog/my-www-experience

The day after Grace left, Andy took off for a two week business trip, starting in Japan and following in the US.  Its hard to believe, but this was Andy's first business trip back to the US since we moved to Hong Kong, not counting the work that he has done while on vacation. This was actually ideal timing since Christmas was right around the corner...so Andy did a little extra on his trip, which was very helpful:)

The elementary school held their field day that following Friday.  My kids enjoy this day and all three of them made the finals...with Miss Abigail getting third place in her race.  I volunteered for her group, but I always love seeing the other two having a good time showing their athletic side:)

While Andy was away, I played a little tennis...Our club's annual championships occur in November, so I played with my friend, Jackie.  She plays in division 4, but just started this year.  We played in the open division, which is division four or lower. Three other teams ranging from non-league players, to another team from division 4 were on our schedule.  We started out very slow against our most inexperienced opponent (and good friends) We were very behind, but were able to scratch ourselves back to overtime, before winning.  We played better the second match, winning by a decent margin.  By the time we got to the third match, we knew that we would be playing this last team twice.  They were also undefeated, and they were our strongest opponent. We started off strong, getting a good lead, before they came back to tie it up.  Then it was back and forth before we pulled away.  To be honest, I didn't think there was any way we were beating that team twice...and I'm still not sure how we did.  But the important thing was that Jackie and I felt good about our play...and we laughed A LOT!!! but playing from 11am to 5pm is exhausting!!!

Finally, as we got back into the routine of two parents in the house:) we prepared for our first Thanksgiving in HK as a family.  Hitting these moments always make us remember what we have done in the past...this was no exception.  Now that we are in our third year, memories of our first two Thanksgivings certainly came to mind.  Our first Thanksgiving was unique.  Abby, Sarah and I had been in HK for about 8 weeks.  Andy took the older three kids to the Philippines on a missions trip.  I stayed home and had nachos with Abby.  They weren't even that good since Abby was only 4yrs old and didn't have the palate that she has now. The following day, Friday, Marina came to us!!  That was a bit surreal.  I'll never forget opening the door to this sweet woman who we had been skyping with since August.  She had one suitcase and a small bag, and she was ready to get going.

Last year, we were all in the Philippines for missions...serving alongside a few ICS teachers and friends that we brought along.  These friends are another expat family with the same company who happen to live around the corner from us.  They came over this year and we had an amazing meal of a typical American Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, what kept going in my head was that I hadn't had this meal in three years, which caused a significant amount of overeating...but, it was delicious and we had a great time with our friends...and it definitely beat nachos on the floor by  myself (and two sweet little girls)