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
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
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
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