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
