Well what a treat to wake up to a sprinkling of snow on our thanksgiving holiday morning. Well actually we awoke to Ashleigh's squeals of delight and quickly realised what the excitement was all about. We promptly got on as much snow gear as we could find and were outside by 7:15am playing in the snow. The kids were fascinated by the snow the entire day however after going for a bike ride in the afternoon Jack very adamantly declared "I do not like cold".
Just the day before we had spent thanksgiving with friends from seminary who cooked a massive turkey and various other sides and desserts. It was a lovely day and we have been made aware that thanksgiving is in many ways a feast of great proportion, more so than even Christmas. It's a time of being thankful, spending time with family and friends and eating massive amounts.
We were also told the morning of the snow arriving that some shoppers had camped out overnight in the snow to be the first through the doors of some of the bigger shops that were opening at 3am! Apparently the day after thanksgiving has become the biggest shopping day for US retailers. Similar perhaps to NZ's boxing day, just a whole lot bigger.
So the kids have had their first taste of thanksgivng, their first taste of snow and also their first real break from school since starting in August. It's been quite a special few days.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 26, 2010
"I fought the law and the, law won"
You'll never guess where WE were the other day. Of all the places we had imagined going and visiting both since being here in the US and prior to our adventure here, we did not anticipate a US court house being one them. But, the other day that's exactly where Sonia, Jack and I found ourselves.
You see, Sonia had a little mix up as to which red lights you are actually allowed to go through here, along with a little confusion regarding left and right, all while not having her license with her in the car, and then, what do you know, I find myself sitting at the back of court, rising with about 100 others in the courthouse as the Judge enters the room and resides. I can't quite recall her name, but something in my memory is telling me that her name was Judith, so I'll go ahead and call her Judge Judy.
So I'm sitting at the back of the courtroom, trying to supress urges inside me that want to yell "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" and other lines from famous court room movies. However, the grumpy looking sherrif at the door with his hand far too close to a Glock 9mm helped me to keep my seat and my voice down.
Despite not really wanting to be there, I was fascinated with the process. Like most processes that we've observed so far over here, the courtroom process involves a lot of people (many of them not doing much), a whole lot of time, and a vast array of steps in the process that must have taken someone a long long time to dream up. However, despite all these things rallying together to prevent us from making progress in the system, our decision to bring Jack along to the courtroom suddenly paid off. One of the guys near the front of the room who were yelling out names of the accused seemingly at random, looks over in our direction, and says "You! The lady with the baby - what's your name". Sonia very wisely contains her natural reaction to point out that Jack is in fact almost 4 years old and tells the man her name. He finds her file (yes, in a big box of paper files - only Judge Judy is important enough to get a computer in this courtroom, and even then she doesn't seem to use it), and asks her to come up to the front of the room. After a brief discussion, he realises that this case is pretty simple and that all Judge Judy will want of Sonia is to get her Kentucky drivers license (we are still on NZ drivers licenses and haven't been able to get Kentucky licenses yet - that's another story - we're still doing battle with that particular system). He says that he'll suggest that the Judge postpone the ruling date until later in the new year which will give her time to get her license (hopefully enough time - it will only give her 6 weeks) after which she'll only have to pay the $20 fine for the red light incident. Sonia then returns to the pews in the back of the courtroom to await the call from the dreaded (but very young looking) Judge Judy.
We sit in silence at the back of the room. The hussle and bustle of the courtroom activity blurs and fades out into a dim muffle in the background, and time seems to slow down. Somewhere in the room a clock ticks slow and loud. I turn my head to look at the sherrif by the door and he looks my way and flexes his fingers near his hoslter. Suddenly the muffle is broken by the ballif calling Sonia's name for her to stand before the bench. Sonia approaches the bench, Judge Judy continues to ignore her computer and picks up the paper file, reads it for a moment and tells Sonia that she needs to come back early January for a continuation of the case. Sonia thanks the Judge, turns around, walks back to me, and we pick up our stuff and walk out of the courtroom, making sure that I address the sherrif as "Sir" on the way out. He manages a fake smile, barely masking his apparent annoyance, probably due to the fact that he hasn't been able to shoot or threaten to shoot anyone yet today.
However, as we walk out the door I reflect on the fact that the whole ordeal has actually turned out OK, and that it won't cost us much, and even that we won't have to pay until next year. Just as I was reflecting upon this, a young guy in a sharp suit walks up to me, shakes my hand and says "Bradd - have you been getting into trouble here already?" It's a guy from Immanuel (our church here in Louisville) who I didn't know was a lawyer - very embarrassing. The bad situation that had just a moment ago gotten all better, just took a dive again.
It doesn't take us long to get over our embarrassment though, and as we tell him what's happened he laughs and offers to take care of the rest of the process for us so that we don't have to come back into the courtroom again for the next hearing, all for no cost. And he can get the date of the hearing changed for us if we need more time - brilliant! It was all working out good again.
I drove home glad to have the whole thing behind us, and making plans to make flash cards for Sonia with red and green lights and left and right arrows on them. It's been an interesting experience (although Jack says it was all completely boring), but one that I'm not keen to go through again in the near future. The guy with the Sherrif's badge and the trigger happy index finger put me off the whole thing.
Bradd
Ps. A small amount of poetic license has been used in the above narritive, despite the fact that I'm not in any way poetic. 1) I have no idea what the Judge's real name was. There is a chance it may have been Judith or in fact Judy, but it's a pretty minuscule chance. 2) There may or may not have been a clock in the court room. If there was, I couldn't actually hear it. 3) The sherrif at the back of the court house was in fact a reasonably nice guy, although stern when he needed to be. I have no idea what sort of gun he had - I was just impressed by the fact that all the sherrifs in the room were carrying them. I had no inclination to give him a reason to draw it so that I could read the brand.
Pps - this is now Sonia. Wow talk about poetic license. Drama, drama, drama :) I just feel I should explain this wee incident. He has been dying to tell this whole story however I have still been a little too traumatised to speak of it. However just to shed a little light on the picture. The cop told me that you can never go through any red arrows, period! But in Louisville here if you sit at a red right arrow you will have not only one or two people honking their horns at you but five or more and this has happened to me so many times now I can no longer count. So after three months of observing everybody treating red right arrows as give ways, early November I very innocently went through my first red arrow treating it simply as a give-way. Unfortunately it was a left arrow which is far less tolerated ....and well you now know how the rest of it went!
You see, Sonia had a little mix up as to which red lights you are actually allowed to go through here, along with a little confusion regarding left and right, all while not having her license with her in the car, and then, what do you know, I find myself sitting at the back of court, rising with about 100 others in the courthouse as the Judge enters the room and resides. I can't quite recall her name, but something in my memory is telling me that her name was Judith, so I'll go ahead and call her Judge Judy.
So I'm sitting at the back of the courtroom, trying to supress urges inside me that want to yell "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" and other lines from famous court room movies. However, the grumpy looking sherrif at the door with his hand far too close to a Glock 9mm helped me to keep my seat and my voice down.
Despite not really wanting to be there, I was fascinated with the process. Like most processes that we've observed so far over here, the courtroom process involves a lot of people (many of them not doing much), a whole lot of time, and a vast array of steps in the process that must have taken someone a long long time to dream up. However, despite all these things rallying together to prevent us from making progress in the system, our decision to bring Jack along to the courtroom suddenly paid off. One of the guys near the front of the room who were yelling out names of the accused seemingly at random, looks over in our direction, and says "You! The lady with the baby - what's your name". Sonia very wisely contains her natural reaction to point out that Jack is in fact almost 4 years old and tells the man her name. He finds her file (yes, in a big box of paper files - only Judge Judy is important enough to get a computer in this courtroom, and even then she doesn't seem to use it), and asks her to come up to the front of the room. After a brief discussion, he realises that this case is pretty simple and that all Judge Judy will want of Sonia is to get her Kentucky drivers license (we are still on NZ drivers licenses and haven't been able to get Kentucky licenses yet - that's another story - we're still doing battle with that particular system). He says that he'll suggest that the Judge postpone the ruling date until later in the new year which will give her time to get her license (hopefully enough time - it will only give her 6 weeks) after which she'll only have to pay the $20 fine for the red light incident. Sonia then returns to the pews in the back of the courtroom to await the call from the dreaded (but very young looking) Judge Judy.
We sit in silence at the back of the room. The hussle and bustle of the courtroom activity blurs and fades out into a dim muffle in the background, and time seems to slow down. Somewhere in the room a clock ticks slow and loud. I turn my head to look at the sherrif by the door and he looks my way and flexes his fingers near his hoslter. Suddenly the muffle is broken by the ballif calling Sonia's name for her to stand before the bench. Sonia approaches the bench, Judge Judy continues to ignore her computer and picks up the paper file, reads it for a moment and tells Sonia that she needs to come back early January for a continuation of the case. Sonia thanks the Judge, turns around, walks back to me, and we pick up our stuff and walk out of the courtroom, making sure that I address the sherrif as "Sir" on the way out. He manages a fake smile, barely masking his apparent annoyance, probably due to the fact that he hasn't been able to shoot or threaten to shoot anyone yet today.
However, as we walk out the door I reflect on the fact that the whole ordeal has actually turned out OK, and that it won't cost us much, and even that we won't have to pay until next year. Just as I was reflecting upon this, a young guy in a sharp suit walks up to me, shakes my hand and says "Bradd - have you been getting into trouble here already?" It's a guy from Immanuel (our church here in Louisville) who I didn't know was a lawyer - very embarrassing. The bad situation that had just a moment ago gotten all better, just took a dive again.
It doesn't take us long to get over our embarrassment though, and as we tell him what's happened he laughs and offers to take care of the rest of the process for us so that we don't have to come back into the courtroom again for the next hearing, all for no cost. And he can get the date of the hearing changed for us if we need more time - brilliant! It was all working out good again.
I drove home glad to have the whole thing behind us, and making plans to make flash cards for Sonia with red and green lights and left and right arrows on them. It's been an interesting experience (although Jack says it was all completely boring), but one that I'm not keen to go through again in the near future. The guy with the Sherrif's badge and the trigger happy index finger put me off the whole thing.
Bradd
Ps. A small amount of poetic license has been used in the above narritive, despite the fact that I'm not in any way poetic. 1) I have no idea what the Judge's real name was. There is a chance it may have been Judith or in fact Judy, but it's a pretty minuscule chance. 2) There may or may not have been a clock in the court room. If there was, I couldn't actually hear it. 3) The sherrif at the back of the court house was in fact a reasonably nice guy, although stern when he needed to be. I have no idea what sort of gun he had - I was just impressed by the fact that all the sherrifs in the room were carrying them. I had no inclination to give him a reason to draw it so that I could read the brand.
Pps - this is now Sonia. Wow talk about poetic license. Drama, drama, drama :) I just feel I should explain this wee incident. He has been dying to tell this whole story however I have still been a little too traumatised to speak of it. However just to shed a little light on the picture. The cop told me that you can never go through any red arrows, period! But in Louisville here if you sit at a red right arrow you will have not only one or two people honking their horns at you but five or more and this has happened to me so many times now I can no longer count. So after three months of observing everybody treating red right arrows as give ways, early November I very innocently went through my first red arrow treating it simply as a give-way. Unfortunately it was a left arrow which is far less tolerated ....and well you now know how the rest of it went!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tornados are boring (well, this one was at least)
So, we had ourselves a little bit of excitement here the other day. It was an unusually warm morning with a strong warm wind (apparently that's a tell-tale sign that it might be tornado weather), but we were carrying on our day as per normal. I (Bradd) went off to seminary, Ashleigh and Sam went off to school (it wasn't a home-school day), Jack was at pre-school and Sonia was at home catching up on some of her own study.
It was 11:30 in the morning, and I was walking into a lecture when the emergency sirens started sounding all around the city. One of them is at the top of one of the seminary buildings, so it was hard to miss. Everyone around me stopped for a moment, shrugged their shoulders and then started heading down to the basement. I figured that this must be regular enough for everyone to not be at all phased by it. However, anyone with a mobile phone also immeadiately started calling spouses/children/schools etc. to make sure their loved ones were taking shelter, so it was obviously significant enough to be taken seriously. I didn't have a mobile phone on me so just wandered down with everyone else to take shelter in the basement. The little child in me desparately wanted to get outside and look around for a big twister forming in the sky. But everyone around me kept saying "better safe than sorry", so I stayed put.
At school and at pre-school, the kids all had to go to the basements of their buildings as well. Sam reckoned it was pretty boring going down there and waiting, practising getting down and covering their heads with a book, and about 30 minutes later we were given the all clear and headed back.
The tornado did touch down along the Ohio river near downtown Louisville, but did little damage other than a few downed power lines and trees.
All in all it was a bit of a fizzer. No huge tornado ripping through the landscape. No cows flying past as they're swept up into the atmosphere (as I assume usually happens with most tornados). No debri smashing windows and crushing cars. I guess that's a good thing, but none the less a little boring compared to what happens in the movies. And I missed 30 minutes of what is always a great lecture.
Oh well, I'm sure there will be another one before we end our time here...
It was 11:30 in the morning, and I was walking into a lecture when the emergency sirens started sounding all around the city. One of them is at the top of one of the seminary buildings, so it was hard to miss. Everyone around me stopped for a moment, shrugged their shoulders and then started heading down to the basement. I figured that this must be regular enough for everyone to not be at all phased by it. However, anyone with a mobile phone also immeadiately started calling spouses/children/schools etc. to make sure their loved ones were taking shelter, so it was obviously significant enough to be taken seriously. I didn't have a mobile phone on me so just wandered down with everyone else to take shelter in the basement. The little child in me desparately wanted to get outside and look around for a big twister forming in the sky. But everyone around me kept saying "better safe than sorry", so I stayed put.
At school and at pre-school, the kids all had to go to the basements of their buildings as well. Sam reckoned it was pretty boring going down there and waiting, practising getting down and covering their heads with a book, and about 30 minutes later we were given the all clear and headed back.
The tornado did touch down along the Ohio river near downtown Louisville, but did little damage other than a few downed power lines and trees.
All in all it was a bit of a fizzer. No huge tornado ripping through the landscape. No cows flying past as they're swept up into the atmosphere (as I assume usually happens with most tornados). No debri smashing windows and crushing cars. I guess that's a good thing, but none the less a little boring compared to what happens in the movies. And I missed 30 minutes of what is always a great lecture.
Oh well, I'm sure there will be another one before we end our time here...
Sunday, October 17, 2010
James 1:2-4
So I’ve been listening to some good stuff of late …. Disney's Bambi on audio CD!! Yes I know it’s odd, but such is the nature of homeschooling and in it I often hear Thumper saying “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”. So hence, the blog’s been pretty quiet of late!
However I wanted to write and let you know of our struggles as they are likely to continue and sometimes there seems to be no easy answer. Lord willing I pray that the He will make us all healthy once again and pray also that our time here in Louisville will not be detrimental to the kids’ physical wellbeing.
These are our struggles and we would appreciate much prayer.
1. Sam has struggled with severe allergies. Apparently people who don’t suffer from allergies will often get allergies to some degree when living in Louisville. He has lost some weight which would be nice to put back on.
2. Ashleigh and Jack have complained of sore tummies most nights since being here in Louisville. Both also have lost weight.
3. I (Sonia) have had a rash around my mouth and chin that flares up then fades continually, but never actually disappears completely. Ashleigh also has a slight rash around her nose.
4. Bradd also has gotten pretty lean (this is not neccessarily a bad thing so you do not need to pray that he will put it all back on!), but is tired and struggling to get to sleep at night.
5. Finding whole food over here is possible but it is a little more difficult and at least a third more expensive. I believe that food and change of diet has been the major contributor towards the kids feeling unwell and the rashes arising. However the longer we are here the closer I am to getting their diet as close to what they had at home as is possible.
Please pray with us as we sort out the above food and health issues as it would be really nice for all to return to good health.
On the bright side, which there always is…there is another NZ family over here at the mo (Mark & Tania Gordon) who have been amazing to us . They are so thoughtful and kind and seem to know just what we need and when. They have made our time here really enjoyable and we will miss them incredibly as they fly home mid January.
Other highlights:
1. We often think we see rockets in the sky. We are told they are likely to be army planes but they fly straight up for miles (as far as the eye can see)! So we still think they’re rockets :)
2. Bradd and I got to go out for dinner the other night, as Mark Gordon was staying over and he offered to look after the kids (very sweet). Amazing hospitality was shown by the waiters. We could have had free Italian bread and dipping sauce all evening and then after chatting with the waiter for a few minutes he said “dessert was on him!” We were so full that we had to decline (stink aye).
3. It appears we have been getting a reputation for our reasonably casual church attire during the summer, where we were constantly in shorts, t-shirts and jandals. So much so that just today (being the middle of fall/autumn as temperatures are cooling off) a member of our church exclaimed to Bradd “Hey, it’s you Bradd! I didn’t recognise you with your pants on!”. Bradd burst out laughing and the guy quickly realised what he’d said and clarified “ach-hem arr… I mean in something other than shorts!”.
4. We still find the squirrels fun. They’re all over the place and always have nuts in their hands or mouths, and we're always laughing at them.
5. During all the rough patches (above) we've been able to look forward to and count down to Grandma (aka Mum/Lillian) visiting us! That's right, she found a super cheap air fare and is coming over to visit us at the end of October. We're all looking forward to seeing her in person. Skype is great, but it will never be able to replace a real hug.
Signing off for now. Lots of love to you all. We miss you heaps and hope life back in NZ or wherever you are is all good.
However I wanted to write and let you know of our struggles as they are likely to continue and sometimes there seems to be no easy answer. Lord willing I pray that the He will make us all healthy once again and pray also that our time here in Louisville will not be detrimental to the kids’ physical wellbeing.
These are our struggles and we would appreciate much prayer.
1. Sam has struggled with severe allergies. Apparently people who don’t suffer from allergies will often get allergies to some degree when living in Louisville. He has lost some weight which would be nice to put back on.
2. Ashleigh and Jack have complained of sore tummies most nights since being here in Louisville. Both also have lost weight.
3. I (Sonia) have had a rash around my mouth and chin that flares up then fades continually, but never actually disappears completely. Ashleigh also has a slight rash around her nose.
4. Bradd also has gotten pretty lean (this is not neccessarily a bad thing so you do not need to pray that he will put it all back on!), but is tired and struggling to get to sleep at night.
5. Finding whole food over here is possible but it is a little more difficult and at least a third more expensive. I believe that food and change of diet has been the major contributor towards the kids feeling unwell and the rashes arising. However the longer we are here the closer I am to getting their diet as close to what they had at home as is possible.
Please pray with us as we sort out the above food and health issues as it would be really nice for all to return to good health.
On the bright side, which there always is…there is another NZ family over here at the mo (Mark & Tania Gordon) who have been amazing to us . They are so thoughtful and kind and seem to know just what we need and when. They have made our time here really enjoyable and we will miss them incredibly as they fly home mid January.
Other highlights:
1. We often think we see rockets in the sky. We are told they are likely to be army planes but they fly straight up for miles (as far as the eye can see)! So we still think they’re rockets :)
2. Bradd and I got to go out for dinner the other night, as Mark Gordon was staying over and he offered to look after the kids (very sweet). Amazing hospitality was shown by the waiters. We could have had free Italian bread and dipping sauce all evening and then after chatting with the waiter for a few minutes he said “dessert was on him!” We were so full that we had to decline (stink aye).
3. It appears we have been getting a reputation for our reasonably casual church attire during the summer, where we were constantly in shorts, t-shirts and jandals. So much so that just today (being the middle of fall/autumn as temperatures are cooling off) a member of our church exclaimed to Bradd “Hey, it’s you Bradd! I didn’t recognise you with your pants on!”. Bradd burst out laughing and the guy quickly realised what he’d said and clarified “ach-hem arr… I mean in something other than shorts!”.
4. We still find the squirrels fun. They’re all over the place and always have nuts in their hands or mouths, and we're always laughing at them.
5. During all the rough patches (above) we've been able to look forward to and count down to Grandma (aka Mum/Lillian) visiting us! That's right, she found a super cheap air fare and is coming over to visit us at the end of October. We're all looking forward to seeing her in person. Skype is great, but it will never be able to replace a real hug.
Signing off for now. Lots of love to you all. We miss you heaps and hope life back in NZ or wherever you are is all good.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The latest happenings
Just thought we'd write and mention a couple of the highlights of this week.
For Bradd and I
1. Just today we were given a dining table and it is lovely
2. Bradd is begining to dig out a sandpit
3. I (Sonia) cleared out the gardens
4. Bradd & I got to spend a couple of hours by ourselves without kids which was lovely... even though we were cleaning the kids school! The bonus was that we are able to get a discount on the kids fees and after 4 hours I was rather happy about that!
5. Homeschooling is becoming easier
6. Bradd is passing his greek to date :) And really loving the classes in general
7. We have met a family with kids similar ages and sexes to ours who are also keen to be friends so the kids have had a number of play dates
8. Praying through scripture. It adds a new dimension to your prayer life. You should try it. Start with Psalm 23 and see how it goes. Read one line and then pray about whatever comes to mind and then move onto the next line, then pray etc. Psalms is a good place to do it as God gave these inpsired lyrics as examples of what he would like us to say/sing to Him
For the kids
1. A lovely lady from school came around with a carload of toys for the boys (some brand new) and a couple of really beautiful dressups for Ashleigh. They were completely amazed. Ashleigh spent the entire afternoon in one of them which was a white wedding dress. Bradd, I noticed kept looking at her as if realising she was growing up very fast (aarrgghh)
2. Another lady bought the kids 2 big ships that can go in the bath and on dry land. They are fabulous and the kids have spent endless hours playing with them. 3. Sam had his 6th birthday at the Louisville Zoo where they saw lots of animals and even went into the dinosaur exhibit which has full life size robotic dinosaurs strategically placed in the bush. They make noises and even have liquid dripping from their mouths. Ashleigh took a wee while to relax and Jack kept saying it was time to go home and had his fingernails gripping my shoulders (the dinosaurs were very realistic as you might be able to tell from the photos).
4. Our nieghbour took Sam shopping on his birthday to buy him a remote control plane which at present is still sitting on top of the St Matthew's police station roof (approx 6-7m high). Bradd is presently organising accomplices to do a midnight mission, with ladders and baleclavers, to retireve it.
5. Ashleigh won a $50 voucher to a hunting and fishing shop which we love to go to just for a look. If you come visit we will take you there. It's very cool.
Well I'm sorry if this feels like a bit of a download but it is once again getting late and church starts at 9am so I best be getting some sleep as those 45min sermons, although brilliant, require an attentive mind and sometimes although the mind is willing... the body can be very weak.
All our love
The Trebilcos xoxoxoxoxo
For Bradd and I
1. Just today we were given a dining table and it is lovely
2. Bradd is begining to dig out a sandpit
3. I (Sonia) cleared out the gardens
4. Bradd & I got to spend a couple of hours by ourselves without kids which was lovely... even though we were cleaning the kids school! The bonus was that we are able to get a discount on the kids fees and after 4 hours I was rather happy about that!
5. Homeschooling is becoming easier
6. Bradd is passing his greek to date :) And really loving the classes in general
7. We have met a family with kids similar ages and sexes to ours who are also keen to be friends so the kids have had a number of play dates
8. Praying through scripture. It adds a new dimension to your prayer life. You should try it. Start with Psalm 23 and see how it goes. Read one line and then pray about whatever comes to mind and then move onto the next line, then pray etc. Psalms is a good place to do it as God gave these inpsired lyrics as examples of what he would like us to say/sing to Him
For the kids
1. A lovely lady from school came around with a carload of toys for the boys (some brand new) and a couple of really beautiful dressups for Ashleigh. They were completely amazed. Ashleigh spent the entire afternoon in one of them which was a white wedding dress. Bradd, I noticed kept looking at her as if realising she was growing up very fast (aarrgghh)
2. Another lady bought the kids 2 big ships that can go in the bath and on dry land. They are fabulous and the kids have spent endless hours playing with them. 3. Sam had his 6th birthday at the Louisville Zoo where they saw lots of animals and even went into the dinosaur exhibit which has full life size robotic dinosaurs strategically placed in the bush. They make noises and even have liquid dripping from their mouths. Ashleigh took a wee while to relax and Jack kept saying it was time to go home and had his fingernails gripping my shoulders (the dinosaurs were very realistic as you might be able to tell from the photos).
4. Our nieghbour took Sam shopping on his birthday to buy him a remote control plane which at present is still sitting on top of the St Matthew's police station roof (approx 6-7m high). Bradd is presently organising accomplices to do a midnight mission, with ladders and baleclavers, to retireve it.
5. Ashleigh won a $50 voucher to a hunting and fishing shop which we love to go to just for a look. If you come visit we will take you there. It's very cool.
Well I'm sorry if this feels like a bit of a download but it is once again getting late and church starts at 9am so I best be getting some sleep as those 45min sermons, although brilliant, require an attentive mind and sometimes although the mind is willing... the body can be very weak.
All our love
The Trebilcos xoxoxoxoxo
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
We've moved in!
So we’re 4 weeks down, 152 to go! And we are so missing our weetbix! We have chewed through countless boxes of cereal trying to fill up in the mornings it’s incredible. We are also missing griffins’ bikkies, golden syrup and marmite. These are reasonably minor issues we realize but going without them as well as family and friends makes us miss home a bit (o.k so a lot!!)
Accommodation
God has blessed us with a lovely little house to rent in a quiet area. The kids’ rooms are upstairs in the converted attic, which they love.
It didn’t take much to move in as we had little more than 10 suitcases. As you can imagine, the house was pretty empty with nothing to sit on, eat off or sleep on. However we are gradually acquiring some things that people are kindly loaning to us. We still don’t have a washing machine, dining table, couch, or drawers for the kids but we are getting by. Apparently our landlord has said that in a couple of days he may have a washer, dryer and other furniture for us that have been left in one of his other properties which would be an incredible answer to prayer.
Bradd
Bradd is one and a half weeks into seminary and really enjoying it. He’s got Greek as one of the papers this semester, which is proving challenging. And he has a bike!! Yay now we are not having to come and pick him up in 5:00 traffic and in a car that is over 40 degrees inside (it takes the whole trip to seminary to cool off!).
Me (Sonia)
I’m getting everything ready for school for the kids, which starts next week (30 Aug). We have had a number of orientations this week, several meetings for me and picnics for the kids to meet their class mates. I have been organising uniforms, books oh and going to the Kentucky State Fair! Very fabulous.
The Kentucky State Fair
So apparently the Fair is not to be missed if you live here. The Fair is pretty much like the field days although one major difference is that they spend some serious money on showing their animals. Like the day we went the beef cattle were setting up for the competition the following day. Some of these animals get the royal treatment. Hair washing everyday, drying with a big blow-dryer, brushing, superb feed and they are huge, fat and hairy (as they get housed in air-conditioned barns all year round so that the hair won’t fall out!). Amazing. When I asked what the incentive was to participate, they said “it was purely their love for the animals that they were showing”. What a hobby huh! It seems like it consists of paying a whole lot of money to watch an animal get fat and hairy…must be a southern thing.
The kids also got to see a dog show where the dogs involved are often seen on tv over here in commercials. The dogs were doing backwards flips, walking backwards and doing all sort of tricks. They even jumped up to 29 feet (horizontally, like long jump) into a pool of water to catch a Frisbee. A 3 legged dog jumped 25-26 feet. For the kids this was the highlight. They also got to see baby chicks hatching in an incubator which was really sweet.
Well we hope this has been an enjoyable read for you and one day soon we will try to write more frequently so that the blogs don’t become so lengthy. Our internet has not been working so great since we have been here in our new home so we apologise for the lack of skyping and contact. We are really missing you all.
All our love
Bradd & Sonia, Ashliegh, Sam and Jack xoxoxoxoxo
Accommodation
God has blessed us with a lovely little house to rent in a quiet area. The kids’ rooms are upstairs in the converted attic, which they love.
It didn’t take much to move in as we had little more than 10 suitcases. As you can imagine, the house was pretty empty with nothing to sit on, eat off or sleep on. However we are gradually acquiring some things that people are kindly loaning to us. We still don’t have a washing machine, dining table, couch, or drawers for the kids but we are getting by. Apparently our landlord has said that in a couple of days he may have a washer, dryer and other furniture for us that have been left in one of his other properties which would be an incredible answer to prayer.
Bradd
Bradd is one and a half weeks into seminary and really enjoying it. He’s got Greek as one of the papers this semester, which is proving challenging. And he has a bike!! Yay now we are not having to come and pick him up in 5:00 traffic and in a car that is over 40 degrees inside (it takes the whole trip to seminary to cool off!).
Me (Sonia)
I’m getting everything ready for school for the kids, which starts next week (30 Aug). We have had a number of orientations this week, several meetings for me and picnics for the kids to meet their class mates. I have been organising uniforms, books oh and going to the Kentucky State Fair! Very fabulous.
The Kentucky State Fair
So apparently the Fair is not to be missed if you live here. The Fair is pretty much like the field days although one major difference is that they spend some serious money on showing their animals. Like the day we went the beef cattle were setting up for the competition the following day. Some of these animals get the royal treatment. Hair washing everyday, drying with a big blow-dryer, brushing, superb feed and they are huge, fat and hairy (as they get housed in air-conditioned barns all year round so that the hair won’t fall out!). Amazing. When I asked what the incentive was to participate, they said “it was purely their love for the animals that they were showing”. What a hobby huh! It seems like it consists of paying a whole lot of money to watch an animal get fat and hairy…must be a southern thing.
The kids also got to see a dog show where the dogs involved are often seen on tv over here in commercials. The dogs were doing backwards flips, walking backwards and doing all sort of tricks. They even jumped up to 29 feet (horizontally, like long jump) into a pool of water to catch a Frisbee. A 3 legged dog jumped 25-26 feet. For the kids this was the highlight. They also got to see baby chicks hatching in an incubator which was really sweet.
Well we hope this has been an enjoyable read for you and one day soon we will try to write more frequently so that the blogs don’t become so lengthy. Our internet has not been working so great since we have been here in our new home so we apologise for the lack of skyping and contact. We are really missing you all.
All our love
Bradd & Sonia, Ashliegh, Sam and Jack xoxoxoxoxo
Friday, August 13, 2010
Wow is it ever hot!!
A big hello to everyone,
Wow is it ever hot. We've come from NZ winter into one of Louisville's hottest summers ever, with many days reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).
One day last week we decided to set off on a lovely family day to the zoo. Little did we know the temperature was likely to be a record high and it ended up reaching 38 degrees Celsius with the humidity index taking the temperature up to 45 degrees Celsius. Fortunately for us the zoo has a fantastic splash park which made the day a whole lot more bearable.
We've been searching long and hard for a house and have come to the conclusion that buying isn't going to be the best option and so are currently going through the process of signing up for a rental place. Please pray that this will all go smoothly and that our application will be accepted.
Study starts Tuesday for Bradd, although the pre-reading assignments have already started. They had orientation day today at seminary which was really enjoyable. It was very apparent that seminary has a very long, rich and diverse history.
We've settled on a school for the kids which has them at school for 2 days and home for 3 days of the week. Please pray for me!! (Sonia)
Overall we are really loving the city and the people. Its been a hard couple of weeks so far being cooped up in a hotel/apartment and trying to juggle all the necessary tasks with 3 kids in tow who are hot and sometimes sad to be missing all their friends. However we are looking forward to having a house, settling down, us all being able to invite friends around and getting into some sort of routine.
We've found ourselves a lovely little church - Immanuel Baptist Church (http://www.ibclouisville.org/), everyone is really friendly, the kids love it and we are really enjoying it so far.
A couple of funny moments...
Apparently there is an unwritten rule at the seminary rec centre that woman have to wear one piece bathing suits! I wondered out of the changing rooms and barely got two feet out before being told this by the lifeguard. So I asked him which piece I should be taking off (haha). But he handed me a big x-large, to my knees T-shirt that I was to swim in.
Another time we had to hurry to get in the car to meet the real-estate agent. The kids were in the pool so we just stripped them off and made them run to the car with towels around them. While we were running to the car we passed a group of stereotypical southern women in the carpark and just at that moment Jacks towel fell down and with a classic southern accent one of them yelled "WHY, HE'S NAKED! DAT BAWS NAKED! HE AINT WEARIN NOTHIN BUT A SMILE!" They were just about rolling with laughter and we had a laugh too, but mostly at their accents.
And since we are in Kentucky we thought we should check out KFC. Upon entering the restaurant Ashleigh noticed a life sized statue of Colonel Sanders and she turns to us and said "Mummy, Daddy..Mr Pallesen is here". Those of you that know Kemp might see a small resemblance.
Anyhow, we are pleased to be here and although not everything is working out as we thought it would we know we're in the right place and where God wants us to be. Even Sam has picked up on this fact and he tells us that "we can't go home yet because if we did we'd be like Jonah and God would send a big storm and a big fish to come and get us!" Cute huh!
Lots of love, we'll post again soon. Sorry this one's been longer coming than we'd hoped.
Bradd and Sonia
Wow is it ever hot. We've come from NZ winter into one of Louisville's hottest summers ever, with many days reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius).
One day last week we decided to set off on a lovely family day to the zoo. Little did we know the temperature was likely to be a record high and it ended up reaching 38 degrees Celsius with the humidity index taking the temperature up to 45 degrees Celsius. Fortunately for us the zoo has a fantastic splash park which made the day a whole lot more bearable.
We've been searching long and hard for a house and have come to the conclusion that buying isn't going to be the best option and so are currently going through the process of signing up for a rental place. Please pray that this will all go smoothly and that our application will be accepted.
Study starts Tuesday for Bradd, although the pre-reading assignments have already started. They had orientation day today at seminary which was really enjoyable. It was very apparent that seminary has a very long, rich and diverse history.
We've settled on a school for the kids which has them at school for 2 days and home for 3 days of the week. Please pray for me!! (Sonia)
Overall we are really loving the city and the people. Its been a hard couple of weeks so far being cooped up in a hotel/apartment and trying to juggle all the necessary tasks with 3 kids in tow who are hot and sometimes sad to be missing all their friends. However we are looking forward to having a house, settling down, us all being able to invite friends around and getting into some sort of routine.
We've found ourselves a lovely little church - Immanuel Baptist Church (http://www.ibclouisville.org/), everyone is really friendly, the kids love it and we are really enjoying it so far.
A couple of funny moments...
Apparently there is an unwritten rule at the seminary rec centre that woman have to wear one piece bathing suits! I wondered out of the changing rooms and barely got two feet out before being told this by the lifeguard. So I asked him which piece I should be taking off (haha). But he handed me a big x-large, to my knees T-shirt that I was to swim in.
Another time we had to hurry to get in the car to meet the real-estate agent. The kids were in the pool so we just stripped them off and made them run to the car with towels around them. While we were running to the car we passed a group of stereotypical southern women in the carpark and just at that moment Jacks towel fell down and with a classic southern accent one of them yelled "WHY, HE'S NAKED! DAT BAWS NAKED! HE AINT WEARIN NOTHIN BUT A SMILE!" They were just about rolling with laughter and we had a laugh too, but mostly at their accents.
And since we are in Kentucky we thought we should check out KFC. Upon entering the restaurant Ashleigh noticed a life sized statue of Colonel Sanders and she turns to us and said "Mummy, Daddy..Mr Pallesen is here". Those of you that know Kemp might see a small resemblance.
Anyhow, we are pleased to be here and although not everything is working out as we thought it would we know we're in the right place and where God wants us to be. Even Sam has picked up on this fact and he tells us that "we can't go home yet because if we did we'd be like Jonah and God would send a big storm and a big fish to come and get us!" Cute huh!
Lots of love, we'll post again soon. Sorry this one's been longer coming than we'd hoped.
Bradd and Sonia
Thursday, July 29, 2010
We're finally here!!!
Hi to all you lovely people,
We have finally arrived at our destination Louisvile (Loo-er-vill, Loo-is-vill or Loo-ee-vill). However you wish to say it, it does not seem to matter around here. Everyone we have met seems to call it something different.
After a very tough good-bye, 3 plane trips and not a lot of sleep over the 48 hours prior to arriving we seem to have spent the most part of the first 2 days here sleeping.
We had a couple of people meet us at the airport which was really nice and they'd bought us a few groceries to keep us going for a day or so, so that was amazing. Really fabulous actually as we were just shattered!
We really had no hiccups during the trip. In hindsight we know God was in control as take a look at the following:
1. Morning of departure we still had no accomodation despite a whole lot of trying...suddenly we heard (4 hours from departure) that a room was free!
2. Most of our 10 bags were 1-2kgs overweight...they decided to waiver the fee!
3. All our carry on bags were at least 1kg overweight...they decided to ignore it!
4. The guy on the plane beside me asked to be moved at the begining of the flight so his mum and him could sit together...so we had an extra seat to share between us all!
5. We found it really tough to sleep on the plane...but the boys slept for 6hours straight!
6. At LA airport you needed to pay $50US for every bag overweight...they let us shuffle a few things around so that only 1 bag was overweight and even then they only charged us half price! Thankfully they didn't even weigh our carry-ons!
7. A couple of the bags seemed a littly bit on the fragile side..but all ten bags made it to Louisvlle in one piece! However since arriving at our hotel 2 bags have pretty much fallen to pieces (as in handles have broke etc) and therefore had they broken during the trip they would have lost their destination tags!
8. Ashleigh had a very sore ear during the decent of our first flight but she was happy for the most part...upon arriving at our hotel she fell to pieces and was in suddenly a lot of pain. We realised in the morning that her eardrum had burst...once again it would have been a lot worse if we had to carry her as well as everything else during our flights.
So we are incredibly grateful for all your prayers and we are 100% certain that God wants us here for now.
What can we tell you about Louisville?
Louisville feels like quite a big city, with significant motorway systems. But it also seems really small townish where everyone seems interested in where we are from and keen to have a chat.
It is very hot and humid and thunderstormy and people seem to have their air-conditioning very cold, so in the morning we are never too sure how to dress.
Funny things to note so far?
We had to buy a GPS to get ourselves home from the car rental place. Thought we would need one at some stage but had a laugh when neither of us had been paying enough attention.
Kids are waking in the middle of the night not being able to go back to sleep for hours and feeling like they're ready for another meal. Bradd ended up watching motorcross on TV with the kids at 3am.
EVERYONE comments on our accent and thinks it's really entertaining. This can help a lot in that everyone seems to instantly become your best friend - everyone goes the extra mile.
The cheese here is orange?!? It seems they add orange colouring... Not sure why... Also the butter is white instead of yellow...
All in all though, we're having a good time and really looking forward to getting out and having a good look around the place. We've been keeping close to the apartment so far, and looking forward to visiting the seminary and friends tomorrow.
We'll try to keep this blog up to date while we're here so you can see what we're up too. Lots of love to everyone back home.
Bradd and Sonia
Ashleigh, Sam and Jack
Friday, May 28, 2010
We're Moving to Kentucky!!
Welcome to our blog,
As this is our first post it might be short! However we would like to let you all know about what's happening over the next few months.
On 27th July we fly out to Louisville Kentucky (via LA and Chicago). At present we are begining the pack up of our house as the sale has gone unconditional. We have been very blessed to have a quick private sale. We move out on the weekend of the 26th June and settlement date is the 2nd of July.
Bradd has completed a paper towards his theological degree over the spring (NZs Autumn) semester via correspondence so is getting into study mode again. Sonia is looking into schooling options and accommodation in Louisville.
We are all really getting excited about the move. We have been encouraged over the past months to see Gods hand at work preparing the way for us and are looking forward to trusting in Him more and more throughout the journey.
Until next time.
Bradd & Sonia
Ash, Sam and Jack
As this is our first post it might be short! However we would like to let you all know about what's happening over the next few months.
On 27th July we fly out to Louisville Kentucky (via LA and Chicago). At present we are begining the pack up of our house as the sale has gone unconditional. We have been very blessed to have a quick private sale. We move out on the weekend of the 26th June and settlement date is the 2nd of July.
Bradd has completed a paper towards his theological degree over the spring (NZs Autumn) semester via correspondence so is getting into study mode again. Sonia is looking into schooling options and accommodation in Louisville.
We are all really getting excited about the move. We have been encouraged over the past months to see Gods hand at work preparing the way for us and are looking forward to trusting in Him more and more throughout the journey.
Until next time.
Bradd & Sonia
Ash, Sam and Jack
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