clean linen

Photo of the day - the book aunty Joy lent me, which I'm currently reading and thoroughly enjoying and noting down all the impactful words of wisdom I'm gleaning from this book: Today was a quieter day where I didn't do anything very tourist-y. I went to church with uncle Mike for his meeting with the executive staff/team. It started at 9am, but they needed to settle some administrative stuff first, so he parked me at the pre-school from 9-10am. The kids were so cute! And I think it's wonderful how they sing worship songs to God and pray and say "Good Morning God" each time they started a prayer. They would also lift their "prayer hands" and they sat through a reading of Moses and how he parted the red sea. Exposing children to the promises in the Word of God is so important, and they're getting it here:) At 10am, I joined in the executive staff meeting. I told them about our CP strategy and how we transitioned into our SDC model....

-4 September, Tuesday- Photo of the day - Having an alpaca seemingly try to bite my face thinking I had food there too (very unglam shot of myself, but it was quite funny:D): At 9am, I left the house with aunty Joy to drive to the meeting point of our Gannet Safaris Overland Tour at Cape Kidnappers. Our driver-guide, Wayne, drove us in a Range Rover into private grounds of some rich man's golf course as we drove out to Cape Kidnappers. The scenery was just beautiful!     You may be asking, "what are gannets?" They are actually birds:) I like how they are so white, and the yellow is a nice, clear, definitive yellow that is not too bright and it almost like gold colour. They didn't mind us there and didn't come flying too close overhead. They just sat there, moved around a little, made some sounds which wasn't too loud or noise:     It's interesting how they turn their necks 180 degrees so that they can tuck their whole...

I really had a grrrreat time with Graham and Mabel:)

-3 September, Monday- Photo of the day - Closest thing I got to Chinese food on this trip just when I was really starting to miss Chinese and Japanese food - STEAMBOAT: The day began with a usual breakfast, then aunty Joy took me and Indie to the National Aquarium of New Zealand in Napier. We made sure to reach the aquarium by 10am to see the diver feed the fish. After feeding the fish, to entertain the many kids who were there watching, the diver did some interesting moves and it was quite funny: At one point, when Indie was still standing very close to the glass, the diver came towards her and gestured that they exchange mouth pieces - he would give her his mouth piece, and she would give him her 'dum-dum'. But she got so frightened probably because she didn't understand what he was trying to do and this weird person was just making actions at her, she ran backwards towards aunty Joy and me and aunty Joy had to carry her after that. One of the...

-2 September, Sunday- Photo of the day is of me with Mike and Lynette Love - the wonderful couple who let me stay on their farm for 2 nights. We took this photo outside of church before we went in for Sunday morning service: It was my 2nd Sunday in New Zealand. I took the advantage of not needing to sit right in front with the Connells and went behind to get this photo of the auditorium during the service. It looks and feels very much like some concert but I think it may help some people to not feel as conscious of the people around them: It was Father's Day, so they had a special service. Besides having a baby dedication, they included 3 games that involved a few volunteer dads come on stage and play the games with the children. After the games, the children then go off for their kids' church while uncle Mike took the pulpit and preached on what it meant to be valiant men of God. Because it was Father's Day, the Connell children who were in Hastings gath...