Black Friday

I must apologize - I meant to write this post a number of weeks ago.  It's about something American's refer to as "Black Friday", which has nothing to do with it being the 13th of the month (in fact this type of Black Friday could never land on the 13th).  The Black Friday I'm referring to is, strangely, the day after thanksgiving.  It is the day when there are massive sales on in all the major department stores, one where people queue up for hours to be among the first few in the door.  It is similar to the boxing day sales in New Zealand, only prior to Christmas, which is really helpful (interesting side note: there is no such term as Boxing Day here - if you mention it, people just stare at you all confused...).

Black Friday is an American tradition, and one that seems to be growing each year.  I learnt about it last year, and this year thought I should give it a go.  After our thanksgiving feast (shared with our neighbor Rob and his family) I braved the cold and went out with my shopping list just before midnight.  I arrived at Target (one of the bigger department stores around here) right on midnight, which was their opening time, only to find a queue to get the door that was about 150 meters long.  It took about 20 minutes just to get in the door of the store.  Once I got in the store, I couldn't believe my eyes.  Without exaggeration, every third or fourth shopping trolley being pushed around the store had a 46" TV in it.  Some had two of them.  Apparently the deals on Black Friday are that good.

I resisted the temptation to even go near the electronics section, and headed over to the toys aisle to see if I could grab a couple of small things for the kids on special.  Having quickly made my selections, I proceeded to the checkout line, which, when I walked in the door was only a few people long.  Now however, the checkout line stretched all the way down the front of the store, weaved in and out of a bunch of aisles and all the way down to the back corner of the store.  And this is a department store that makes the Warehouse store in Te Rapa look small.  So I took my place in the queue and shuffled slowly around the store towards the front for the next half an hour or so.

The deals were really good, and it was fascinating to see what all the hype over Black Friday was about.  I'll probably even go and do it again next year just to save a few $$'s on Christmas presents (if we are still here for Christmas next year that is).  It feels really weird being out in a massively busy shop at 1am though...

yes...ma'am

So I was left feeling rather confused the other day when I asked my kids a question and they all responded in unison "yes ma'am"!  I found myself taking a double take and for a moment replaying what I had said and the tone that I had said it in to see if I had in fact come across as being a ma'am!  However I had asked them a simple question and my tone was I thought reasonably neutral.   

So then I smiled and realized that the public school system was having an impact.  The teachers all request that the children respond "yes ma'am" when being asked a question of.  In many ways I am relieved that the kids have picked up on this, as we are wanting our kids to be like little shining lights down there at the school (showing an extraordinary amount of grace and love to those in the playground, lunch room and classroom), however it's not much good if they're on the other hand being rude and disrespectful to the teachers by not using the appropriate expressions.

I go down to the school every tues and thurs for 1/2 hour and read with the kids in Sam's class.  When you ask a child if they would like to read to you, there is nothing more sweeter than seeing the child look up at you and say "yes ma'am".  If any parent were to ask Sam if he'd like to read to them he would no doubt say "yes".  He would not know their name to use their name and therefore he would be left saying "yes" period.  For some reason using the two words ma'am and sir seem to complete the response.  You may or may not agree if you have not experienced a culture that uses these expressions but it is starting to catch on for me and i like it.  All family and friends beware...our kids will without a doubt call you sir or ma'am at some point in your lives.  And maybe even I might too!!  It's weird (I know) but adults use these expressions too when responding to children and to other adults! 

Sonia xo

Our kids are getting Americanized...

When we came to the US, we knew that our kids would probably pick up a bit of an American accent.  It was inevitable and sure enough it has happened.  They are over-pronouncing their r's and every vowel in their pronunciation is sounding more and more like an "a".  But, this is no big deal - we were expecting it.

However, I was left feeling shocked and dismayed the other day when I heard Ashleigh saying that she just doesn't get that "Celsius stuff", and that she only understands temperature in Fahrenheit... !?!  I can't believe it - they are beginning to get warped and sucked in by the American way here.  If Ashleigh comes home wanting to buy cowboy hats, boots with spurs on them and starts to call Sam and Jack "Billy-bob" and "Bubba", I think I'll lose my mind...

Halloween cont.

As you probably noticed from the previous post that Sonia put up a week or so ago, we took our kids out trick or treating on Halloween (we did last year too).  I realize that this may seem just a little strange for some people back home in New Zealand.  We thought it was a little strange too, so I figured it was worth doing a little bit of thinking about, and so here's a few rambling thoughts on the topic, for anyone that's interested.

One thing that we very quickly realized when Halloween was approaching last year was that it is a very different festival here in the States (or at least in Louisville) than it is back home in NZ.  In NZ, Halloween is a celebration of things evil and there is a very dark side to the event.  Churches around the country put on light parties as an alternative to Halloween, and rightly so I think.

But it's a bit of a different animal here in Louisville.  In fact the two different events really bare little resemblance to each other.  For example, before the trick or treating starts for the evening (the unwritten rule here is that trick or treating starts at 6pm) in the street one over from ours (where we go trick or treating) there was a big street party.  Everyone was out in a common area with tables of food, music and it was a big social gathering.  Then they all went back to their houses, sat on their porches with candy and waited for all the kids to arrive.  And arrive they did.  All dressed up in superhero outfits, princess outfits, animal outfits and all other kinds of outfits (I even saw one person dressed up as a whoopy cushion, which was a little disturbing...).  There were probably also a handful of ghost/scary type costumes in amongst them, but I don't recall actually seeing any.  Kids ran from house to house practicing their thank you's as they were given candy.  Parents walked around the neighborhood keeping their kids within their vision and chatting with other parents and friends.  It was a social outing for everyone (O.K. - it was a candy grab for the kids), and a really pleasant one at that.

I can't think of anything else on the very full American celebratory calendar that is as community focused and social as Halloween.  It really is something quite special.  Yes, there are some houses with spooky stuff in the front yard.  There is a street a few miles from us that is known for it's full-on Halloween decorations that look really quite dark and evil.  That side of the festival is still lurking which is unfortunate, but in the mainstream it's not like that at all.

The question is still relevant though - how should we view Halloween as Christians?  Is it OK to go out and celebrate what is, at its core, an evil festival?  Without having done a full study on it, here's a couple of quick thoughts.

1) We have freedom in Christ (Gal 5:1).  We are still to obey God and follow his commands out of love for him, but he has granted us freedom.  However, we are to use this freedom to serve God by loving one another (Gal 5:13-14).  Therefore, is there a great issue with going out and participating in trick or treating, IF we are doing so in order to love one another - i.e. interact with the neighborhood around us and build relationships so that we can share the gospel?

2) Are we assimilating into the culture around us and being ensnared by it?  This question would and should naturally arise.  Could this happen as we celebrate things like Halloween just like it happened to the Israelites going into the Canaanite culture as described in Judges 2?  Well it is worth asking how it might have happened to the Israelites.  When the Israelites, after wandering in the desert for 40 years, stood looking down into the land of Canaan they would have seen a beautiful land with people living in it in wealth and prosperity.  The Canaanites had buildings, fine clothes, rich food and a civilized social system.  The Israelites then would have looked at themselves and seen a bunch of weary desert dwellers, who had tents, ragged clothes, bland food and were, comparatively speaking, completely uncivilized.  They would have wondered how the Canaanites got such wonderful things and would have wanted some of those things for themselves.  It is not surprising then that after only one generation, Israel had assimilated things such as Baal worship into their lives (Judges 2:10) - they wanted what the culture around them had and so did what the culture around them did in order to get it which was to worship Baal.  Is this the case for us, though, as we dip into the cultural norms of those around us and celebrate things such as Halloween?  I think it's different, or at least it should be.  Again, it comes back to our motivations for going trick or treating.  If it is to simply fit into the culture at large and be like them, then we probably need to consider rejecting a celebration such as Halloween.  However, if it is to engage the culture and those around us and to influence them for Christ, then there is no problem with leveraging off a festival of our culture, even if it has less than perfect origins.

3) Should we be worried about the influence on our children being exposed to evil things and concepts.  The short answer here is yes - we should be worried (Matt 18:6 is relevant here I think - "but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea").  We should protect our children from things of the evil one.

Therefore looking at the three thoughts above and evaluating Halloween in both New Zealand and Louisville I think we have a good example of needing to be sensitive to the situations around us rather than using a blanket rule for every situation.

Halloween in NZ.  If I were sitting in New Zealand looking at Halloween approaching, I would look at the three points above and think (1) trick or treating is not a large community affair (or at least it wasn't when we were there last, and it's only been 16 months since we left) and so there isn't much of an opportunity to engage with the community through the event; (2) if the motivation for trick or treating isn't to engage the community, what is the motivation?  Is it just so that we can "do what everyone else is doing", or so that our kids don't feel left out?  If so, then we should take stock and make sure we aren't doing the same thing that the Israelites did - i.e. wanting to be like the culture around us and therefore doing what the culture around us is doing; and (3) there does appear to be a general tone of Halloween being an evil event in New Zealand, or at least that's the way we remember it.  Therefore yes, I do want to shield my kids from that sort of thing, especially in their younger years.

Halloween in Louisville.  If I'm sitting in Louisville looking at Halloween approaching, I would look at the three points above and think: (1) this is a massive community event - almost carnival like where there is lots of opportunity to engage with the community around me; (2) because the motivation is engaging the community (from point 1 above) I am less likely to be doing this from a motivation of wanting to be like the culture around me (although it's good to keep a self-check on that anyway), and (3) Halloween here is not an evil saturated event.  There aren't people walking around dressed as witches or doing anything spooky.  It's easy to keep away from the weird streets and keep the kids in safe territory.

Therefore, as I mentioned before, I am, with only slight hesitation, OK with my kids going out on Halloween here, but I'm certain that I wouldn't let them do it when we get back to New Zealand.  They will be disappointed when they come to their first NZ Halloween, but hopefully it will be a good opportunity to explain to them the importance of thinking about issues from a biblical perspective, and not just doing what everyone else is doing around them, and not using blanket rules for all situations but getting in the habit of thinking biblically about every situation they come to.

Now, trying to teach them how to be self-controlled with their enormous haul of trick or treating candy is another issue entirely...

Halloween

Halloween.

dressing up. candy. a late night out wondering around the neighborhood.   

"the best night ever" proclaimed by Jack at the end of the evening 

Tiger Cubs part 2

Well, as I mentioned last week, Sam, Jack and I spent the weekend out at Crooked Creek Camp, a camp owned an operated by Boy Scouts America.

This would have to be one of the highlights of the year.  The boys had a great time out there, setting up the tent, roasting marshmallows over the campfire, getting Scouts badges and belt loops at the late night campfire-lit meeting, playing kickball, and having a great time on the forts, the confidence course and the nature trails.  This time of year is great for camping, often with fine warm days and nights that are not too cool just yet (camping in the summer time here usually isn't an option - it is just too hot to be in a tent, or even out under the stars and try to sleep through most of the summer).

It was also a great time to get to know some of the other Dads that take there kids to scouts.  Because it is a local scout pack, most of the families live in or close to our neighborhood.

I think camping is well and truly in the boys' system now - it's something that we're going to have to try to do much more of while we're here.

Tiger Cubs

One thing that has been really fun for me in the past month or so is being able to introduce Sam to Scouts.  It's a great father/son activity and a great learning opportunity for Sam.  Sam is at the entry level of scouts, which they call Tiger Cubs, which is great as Sam's most favorite animal of all time is the tiger.

While there has only been a few activities scheduled so far, we have been able to enjoy a bush walk, a day at Churchill Downs (home of the Kentucky Derby) where we did activities such as rock climbing, BB gun shooting and archery, plus smaller things such as a tour of the local library and collecting things outside and talking about them, we've really enjoyed what they've had on the program so far.  This weekend we are going on a camp-out at Crooked Creek where we'll do things like kickball (which is just baseball but you kick a soccer ball instead of hit a baseball), tramping, shooting, archery, roasting marshmallows and all that good stuff.  It might be a bit chilly overnight as the weather has turned quite cold here in the past week or so, but it looks like we'll have fine weather.

Scouts has been great for Sam.  He's always looking for things to do outside, things to build/make and activities to do.  When you live in a new city and on a small section in town it can be difficult to come up with lots of things for a kid like Sam to do.  He's loving it, and it's giving him lots of opportunities to learn new things along the way.

St Matthews Elementary

I want to give you just a little bit of a idea of what the kids' new school is like.  Last academic year (the school year runs from August to June here remember) our kids were doing a combination of home schooling and regular schooling.  They were going to a regular school two days per week, and Sonia home schooled them three days per week.  This worked reasonably well and because the school provided the curriculum which was a "classical" system, the kids learnt a great deal. 

However it was a big pressure on Sonia as the curriculum was very rigid in what had to be done and the timeframes it had to be done in.  We decided that, if possible, we would try to put our kids in the local elementary school.  We have been very blessed to have such a great public school just down the road from us (about 500-600m from us) and we were also very blessed to have our application to the school accepted.  You see, the public school system here in Louisville is a bit strange.  You apply for a school and indicate your preference, but the Louisville school administration, in an attempt to balance out socio-economic profiles of schools, may send your child to any school in the city - they may bus your kids (even 5 yr-olds) a couple of hours each way on buses to achieve this goal.  Most parents around the city don't like the system at all, and we have a number of friends who have very testing times with their kids being bused for miles across the city.  So, we were very thankful to have our kids accepted for the local school here - we would have kept the home-schooling system up if they hadn't been accepted.

And the kids are loving the school.  They love their teachers, they love the special classes like the computer class or the music class or the french class (for Ashleigh at least).  We are really pleased.  And to top it all off, the school's mascot is a tiger (Sam's absolute favorite animal).

Today, they had a "tiger fun-fest", which was a whole-school event which included running races (the tiger trot), a band with the music teacher featuring on saxophone, sack races, egg and spoon race (with pumpkins on tennis rackets instead - it's harvest time over here) plus loads more.  It's a great atmosphere down there, with families involved in everyday school life.

One of the best things about the school according to the kids is the fact that they get to ride their bikes down there.  They are two of the very few that ride to school so they feel very special.  Last year the first downfall of snow was in late November, so we'll see how long the riding lasts. 

All in all, we're very thankful for the school and what it is offering the kids.  We are also very thankful that it is freeing Sonia up a little bit so that she can take a class or two down at the Seminary.  They allow students' spouses to sit in on classes for free (if they're not taking the class for credit), and we figure that we will probably never again be in such close proximity to a resource such as Southern Seminary, so it's great that Sonia is able to learn from the faculty there.  The kids have been at the school for 6 weeks now, and we're all looking forward to the year ahead for them.

Fall festival

Each year, Southern Seminary puts on an event for the families of the seminary called Fall Festival.  It takes place about a month into the academic year (which starts in August over here remember) and is an event that the seminary specifically gears for the families.  And they typically make a really great event.  Last year, our kids had a blast in what was essentially a carnival.  They loved going on the Ferris Wheel and the rocket ship rides etc.

This year, though, they pulled out all the stops.   The theme was Narnia, from C.S Lewis's famous fiction series.  When we arrived, we had to walk through the seminary rec centre which had been set up like a train station and then walk through a massive wardrobe (crafted just like the one in the movie) through to the seminary central lawn which was set up like a Narnia scene.  We were greeted by Narnia characters on the way in, and then made our way through to the central lawn which had Narnia style tents all around the edge, as well as a large fenced in field in the middle which was to be the stage for professional jousters... that's right, there was jousting there, with knights in full armour on enormous horses. 

There was a huge area with amazing bouncy castles, which were fun for all ages - it was quite amusing seeing a bunch of adults and even a few professors climbing in and around and up the bouncy castles.  There was the normal face painting, candy floss and hot dogs (all free), plus you could get a (plastic) sword after being knighted by Peter and Edmund, or have your photo taken on Aslan's broken stone table.

In addition to all this, they fed us all dinner (the festival was at no cost to us), which was catered by a local restaurant.  But the part that got me was finding out that this local restaurant had donated the dinner.  We're talking over $10,000 worth of food.  There is some amazing generosity around here, especially when it comes to the seminary. 

It was a great night - one that the kids loved and will probably remember for quite some time.  It's fun evenings like this that make us feel part of the seminary community and are making this place feel more and more like home... at least for now... :)

The kids with a Narnia character

Sam and Jack on the horse racing bouncy castle

One of the knights on his steed prior to getting armored up for jousting

Patriotism

One thing that is plainly obvious after spending a little time in the US (or at least in Kentucky) is that patriotism is a huge part of the American psyche.  We noticed this from early on, as the kids all have had to say the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America every morning at the start of school.  Even Jack has to say it at his pre-school.  We were blown away one day in the car when we found out that Jack could recite the whole pledge – he hadn’t even turned four at the time!

But it really hit home when we went to a baseball game.  This was not a major game – it was our home team the Louisville Bats against the Tulsa Mud-Hens.  Yes, Mud-Hens.  They deserved the thrashing they got just for having a name such as Mud-Hens.  Anyhow, that’s not what I’m getting at.  It was a minor game between two cities, but it seems that they play the national anthem at just about any sporting event over here, and this game was no exception.

We had just arrived at the game and were walking around behind the seating grandstand in front of all the hotdog stalls etc. when we noticed that EVERYONE had stopped walking, EVERYONE was silent, and EVERYONE was facing in one direction (towards the flag).  I looked around and noticed that all the men with caps on had taken them off.  Then it struck me – it was time for the national anthem.  Like I said, this wasn’t a major game, but still the national anthem held such importance that it made the entire stadium go still and silent.  

We sung the Star Spangled Banner with great gusto, and at its completion everyone put their caps back on and carried on whatever they were doing.

These guys know how to build patriotism.  From the pledge of allegiance at school and scouts, the respect of the national anthem at sporting games to the incredible esteem and honor they give to those that serve in their armed forces, Americans (in general) love their country and their flag.  I think we could learn a few things from these guys…

Canada

It has been way too long since we’ve put something on this blog. Sorry, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind summer. However, I’d like to write a quick summary of our time in Canada, one of the biggest highlights of the summer.

Since arriving in the states, we have been flat out. We were told by others who have come here from overseas with a family that the first six months or so would be a mess and take a lot of getting used to. They were kinda right. After we’d been here for half a year and had survived the first winter, the place started to feel a bit more like home and it felt a bit more normal. But it was still full on.

As the summer and the one year mark approached (remember summer here is June-August) we realised that we had been going full steam ahead for almost 18 months without a real break away. Also, we’ve wanted to go to Canada for years (like, about 10) to take Sonia back to visit the place she spent a year of her youth on a student exchange. We figured that we were more than three quarters of the way to Canada already (from New Zealand that is) and that it would cost over 3 times the price to go up there if we did it later from NZ, so we decided to head off to Northern Alberta, Canada to visit Wayne and Val Schamehorn and their family.

Canada was amazing. It is such a vast country, with amazing diversity. Where we were staying (Northern Alberta) it is mostly forest and vast amounts of prairie land. Sonia had said to me a number of times in the past that the sky was huge in Canada. Approximately just as many times I had thought to myself “the sky is the same size no matter where you are in the world – science kind of dictates that”. Well, it turns out the sky is HUGE!! in Canada. I don’t know how to explain it – I’m sure it is physically the same size as anywhere else on the planet, but it just seems to stretch an unbelievable distance, and in all directions. I’m picking that it’s due to the fact that in the prairie land there are no hills and almost no trees. There is nothing anywhere 360 degrees around you to stop you from seeing all the way to the horizon. It really is something to behold.

It also turns out that it’s not just the sky that’s huge there. The country itself is enormous. It’s enormous and vast. It’s enormous and vast and for the most part empty. Approx 80% of Canada’s population lives within 100 miles of the US border. If you look at a map of Canada you’ll soon realise that the other 20% probably get to have about the size of a small country each if they divided it up evenly. But I got the opportunity to experience first hand how vast the country actually is. I got to go on a fishing trip to the west coast, to a sea side town called Prince Rupert in British Columbia. It was about a 2000km drive, spanning three days (we did it in two on the way back). The thing that stunned me though, was that I had only travelled across approx a third of the country. It’s crazy how big the place is.

We all loved our time in Canada. The kids loved being on the farm up in Manning, riding on quad bikes, catching frogs, going camping and playing in tree huts. And we all loved catching up with so many people we hadn’t seen in a long time (and many that I’d never met before). They were all amazingly hospitable and everyone had time to stop and chat, and if required, spend an afternoon just catching up and “visiting”, as they call it. I think we can learn a lot about the way they structure their lives and the priorities they put on people and relationships.

There is one major downside to having gone to Canada – the fact that we want badly to go back one day. I would love to see a winter there (Sonia already has). We’ve had a winter here in Kentucky with a bit of snow, but we measure the snowfall here in inches and fractions of inches. They measure the snowfall there in feet (even though they use the metric system in Canada – that’s another story for another time). Perhaps one day the Lord will give us cause to go back there, but for now it is a memory that is imprinted in our minds with a vividness and a fondness that we are immeasurably thankful for – a memory that we will cherish forever.

Long Summer days in Louisville Kentucky

So a big hi to everyone back there in little ol NZ! We miss you all. Even after nearly a year! Some things are definitely easier having been here for close to a year but the longing for coming home and standing on NZ soil has not diminished all that much.

We are approximately half way through the summer break here in Louisville and it is very hot and humid. We still spend a large chunk of the day inside as the heat is fairly extreme. However we've managed to keep busy and find enough things to do outside and inside with friends. And we haven't had it above 36 degrees yet, which isn't too bad. We have been assured that there will be some 40 degree days ahead though...

Just to give you a little idea on what the weather is like here in Louisville during summer...approximately 3 weeks ago, Bradd and Sam went camping with a bunch of men from church. They had a fantastic time - Sam just loved sleeping in the tent out in the bush, having a camp fire, and hiking through the woods. However ever since then Bradd promised to camp out with Jack and Ash in the back yard. Well the nature of Louisville summer weather is such that, although it is extremely hot during the day, in the evening thunderstorms will very quickly and loudly roll in. He was able to take Jack out in the tent just a few nights after coming back from the camp. But over the last 3 weeks there have been very few evenings whereby thunderstorms have not been anticipated, and the few that have been clear we have been busy doing other things. Just the other night, after deciding that afternoon that we shouldn't risk going out in the tent due to the possibility of a storm, we even spent several hours in the basement with the kids late at night as there were Tornado warnings in place. Reading the paper the following day, we discovered that there was significant cloud rotation and actually 4 tornadoes touched down in Louisville, one of them just a few miles down the road. Of all the places to hit, one of the tornadoes touched down at Churchill downs (home of the Kentucky Derby), where obviously many of the horse owners, who had horses housed there, were a little nervous about their horses being panicked and getting injured etc.

So tonight Bradd is hoping to get the tent up and camp out with Ashleigh. She has been very patient, but I think it's starting to wear thin. The weather forecast looks good - 0% chance of rain after 9pm, an overnight low of 18 degrees (Celsius) so it shouldn't be too hot (overnight lows here are often in the mid twenties during summer), and most importantly, no thunderstorms or tornadoes.

Tornados - A little too close to home...

Back in October last year I wrote a blog about tornados being boring. I just want to go on the record right here saying that I was wrong.

Those of you that keep up to the minute with the news may have seen that a small town called Joplin in the state of Missouri was hit by a massive tornado this evening (Sunday 22 May, US time). According to reports at the minute, about 75% of the town is in ruins. There are many deaths, and a massive amount of people still missing. Very scary stuff.

But here's the bit that makes it particularly scary for us. We were in Joplin yesterday morning. And if we hadn't altered our initial plans while in Joplin, we'd still be there this evening - in fact, we may not have "been here" at all...

We arrived in Joplin Thursday night and attended the wedding of Jonny and Janaye on Friday(Jonny is a friend from Seminary and Janaye rents our basement). The morning of the wedding (Friday morning), the weather was crazy. It was only nine in the morning, but the entire sky was dark (it was just like night-time) and when it rained it absolutely poured!! While we were sitting eating our breakfast we saw what seemed to be like a river flowing down through the gas station next door. Sonia was a little anxious about going out in the weather however she needed a couple of things for the wedding and the people around about the hotel did not seem that concerned.

Sonia's account of the morning: "So as I was driving around I kept one eye on the sky and one on the road. Approximately 2-3 miles in the distance I could see the dark clouds almost touching the ground. I have never seen anything quite like it before. You could just imagine how tornados form so easily when the massive cloud systems are that close to the ground. Anyhow while in the 'dollar tree' store I asked a couple of ladies if this was normal sort of weather for this time of year. They said "somewhat, but that the darkness of the sky was certainly unusual". So then of course I asked why they would be out shopping given the likelihood of a tornado. However they responded saying that you just keep your radio on, and all shops would advise of a tornado warning should one be given by the authorities but its pretty much business as usual unless warned otherwise. Anyhow I was extremely relieved to have picked up the things I needed and be back in the Hotel with family."

This evening (Sunday) as I type this, we are seeing more and more updates from Joplin on the Weather Channel - it looks like the whole town has been flattened, and this is a "town" the size of Hamilton, New Zealand (population approx 170,000). I've just now tried to call the hotel that we stayed in - there is no reply. Almost all the wedding guests that were from out of town for the wedding were staying at the same hotel as us. We don't know if any of them were still there when the tornado hit. The Weather channel is saying that the tornado was a mile wide.

We are currently in a hotel in St Louis (approx half way between Joplin and Louisville) and we have a Tornado watch here in St Louis as well. We've just had a huge thunderstorm pass through with strong winds. We've had plenty of storms since being in the US, but seeing something so devastating so close to us has us a little nervous, especially as there is no basement in this hotel. We might be a little sleepless tonight.

We are thankful that God has kept us safe and taken us out of the path of the tornado, but are also concerned and praying for those that have been affected by the devastation, particularly those that were at the wedding with us.

Keep an eye on http://www.weather.com/ if you want to keep up to date with it all.

Road rage - Kentucky style

One thing we've noticed since being here is that everyone is so polite. People go out of their way to open doors for you, they call you "Sir" or "Ma'am", and are generally very well mannered. This also flows over to drivers on the road. They are very patient, courteous and again, well mannered. It wasn't until we had been driving here for a week or two that we noticed that we would hardly ever hear a car horn, and if we did hear one, it would usually only be a very short polite honk at the lights if the car in front obviously hadn't seen the green light and was sitting there for quite some time.

Well, that is until we had our recent visitors from NZ...

We won't mention any names, as we don't want to embarrass anyone, but one of our visitors decided to have a go driving on our lovely roads here, and in particular, on our very impressive interstate system. And it was getting off one interstate highway to join another highway that the incident occurred. The unnamed driver missed the sign that signaled that the required off ramp was just ahead, and only at the very last moment realised that it had just about passed. Quickly, our guest swerved to the right (off-ramps are typically on the right over here - naturally), crossing the median painted lines that signified the divide between the interstate that the car was leaving and the off ramp being taken.

Although on sealed road all the time, and there was no great danger or anything like that, there did happen to be a car close behind who obviously got a fright with the sudden swerve in front of him and proceeded to sound his horn, long and hard, in a most un-Kentucky like fashion. He then quickly pulled out to the right and came up along side our car, window down, fist out the window and shouting. After a few moments, he pulled back in behind and then stayed close behind in what might be taken as an intimidating fashion, while the occupants of our car giggled nervously at what had just happened. No great harm done, and it was all over - the guy behind would get over it.

Or so they thought...

A mile or so down the road, the car behind then pulls up beside our car again and stays level with it in the right-hand lane. Sonia, imagining what the guy was doing, suggested everyone just don't look at him. But curiosity got the better and she glanced over... only to see him looking across at our car with a sheepish look on his face and mouthing the words "I'm sorry!!".

?!?

That's right - this guy had been all angry, honked his horn and shook his fist out the window just a moment ago, but it was seemingly so out of character for these parts that he had become remorseful and felt he had to go out of his way to apologise at 70 miles per hour on Interstate 64.

There you go - road rage Kentucky style. You have to see it to believe it...

Mammoth Caves

The other day, we took Sonia's parents (aka Nana and Grandee) about 2 hours south of Louisville to a place called Mammoth Caves. An amazing place, and as you might guess from the name, they're really big...

We took a guided tour through approx 2 miles of the cave system, but there are over 390 miles of caves discovered, with more being explored all the time. They claim it is the largest underground cave system in the world, and I have no reason to doubt them. Inside, they live up to their name to an even greater extent. There are massive caverns inside, one that stretches some 50 metres high.

The caves also have quite a history. Discovered in 1798, tours started there in 1838 and have had tours go through almost every day since then. They also used to have church services in there in the summer to escape the heat. Once down in the caves, the temperature is always the average temperature of the outside air for the past 10 years. This means that the temperature almost never changes (a steady 12-13 degrees Celcius). So there has to be a significant sustained temperature change for years for the temperature to change at all inside the caves...!

We had a fantastic day there, enjoying an amazing part of God's creation.

The Heat is On!

Sitting on the desktop of our computer here, we have two little weather buttons. One has the local weather for Lousiville Kentucky, and one has the weather for Hamilton NZ. For months now, the two have been miles apart. We'd usually check and see that Hamilton was sitting at about 28 degrees, while Louisville was something like -10 degrees.

However, the gap has been slowly getting smaller, to the point where just a moment ago I checked them and Louisville was sitting at 17 degrees and Hamilton was 18 degrees - we're getting close! Admittedly it's midday here and only 6am in Hamilton, but it's still encouraging. Tomorrow, we're forcast to get 20 degrees. Not bad considering we're still in February (third month of winter).

There will still be some colder weather ahead, but it really feels like spring is just around the corner - it can't come soon enough. Anyhow, we're off for a bike ride...

Edit: It's now late March and we've had temperatures in the high twenties (celcius) as well as a couple of small snow falls since this blog post. One of the snow falls was only two days after a 28 degree day... Hopefully it will all calm down soon.

Here's a little bit about Louisville

Just thought I'd write and let you know a little about Louisville.

Louisville is a city made up of a bunch of little cities. The original Louisville (now a suburb called "Old Louisville") was not very large, and is now an inner city suburb. Around it were a bunch of mini cities/towns that over time each grew to the point where the boundaries between cities was so blurred that they decided to make one large city called Louisville. Therefore, with the exception of a traditional central business district, Louisville feels like a very geographically dispersed city. It feels much much larger than Auckland, although the population is probably a little lower (population stats vary wildly for Louisville as it depends on which of the surrounding suburbs you include and don't include). The most general consensus is that the population is around 700,000 to 800,000.

However, it has an amazing inters ate/motorway system going both north/south (Interstate 65) and east/west (Interstate 64) plus two massive circular motorways, one circling the inner suburbs (Interstate 264, which as far as I can recall is at least 6-8 lanes in every part that I've driven on it so far), and one circling the outer suburbs (Interstate 265). This makes for a very efficient roading system. They still have heavy traffic in patches when going into the central city just as any city does, but these are very minor when compared to the likes of what Auckland experiences. All these motorways, and Louisville's not really a very big city for US standards.

Adding to the interesting layout of Louisville is the fact that downtown is located right next to the Ohio river, with the state of Indiana across the river. There are a couple of mini-cities just across the bridge from downtown Louisville in Southern Indiana which are, for all intents and purposes, part of the Louisville city, although unofficially. People who work in Louisville often live over the bridge and people who live in Louisville will often go shopping over in the Southern Indiana suburbs. It's really just an extension of Louisville, even though it's a completely different state. For that reason, the greater Louisville area is often referred to as "Kentuckiana".

We feel like we're reasonably enclosed here. We cannot see any mountains or hills, we simply see buildings, houses, trees and lots of big roads. We had been here a few months and went for a drive up into Indiana for an hour or so and suddenly realised, once up the top of a bit of a hill, that we hadn't been to any elevation for months. It's all just flat around Louisville... One of the really nice things about the city though (outside of downtown) is all the trees and greenery. There are lots of great parks and green areas, and all the suburbs are really old and so have lovely trees all through them.


Kentucky is a southern state with all the southern hospitality and friendliness that comes with that and has the largest protestant seminary in the world sitting in its suburbs (plus a couple of smaller ones). All this makes for a very interesting and uniquely friendly city. It's part of the bible belt but you'd really call this a bit of a bible bubble. There is an incredible number of strong and thriving churches around the city most of which having a large influence from the faculty, staff, or students of the baptist seminary. This makes for a very "Christianised" city. A huge number of businesses are overtly "Christian" in their ownership and operation, and everyone you talk to is somehow connected with a church. But it's the general warmth and friendliness of the people that has been the most interesting. I've often thought that New Zealanders were, generally speaking, a friendly group of people, but as a generalisation, these guys over here have us all beat. We're constantly surprised at the courtesy, politeness and friendliness of the average person on the street, even when they're driving on the road!

All in all, it's a really nice place to live. It's not a tourist destination at all, and while there is plenty to do in the city, there is nothing worth travelling a massive distance for. The possible exception to this is the massive new basketball/concert facility that has just been completed downtown. Although Louisville and Kentucky only have college basketball teams (they don't have an NBA team), their new facility rivals any of the famous NBA facilities in the US. College basketball is huge here...

We're really enjoying the city. It's a nice place to live, it doesn't get the consistent snow of the northern states, and it doesn't usually get the consistently sweltering temperatures of the more southern states. That said, it's far colder and hotter than we've ever experienced!! It's a really great place to have a family - somewhere that we're very happy to be for the next couple of years...

Superbowl Sunday

This Sunday just gone a weird thing happened. About 6pm, the streets all around the city (and probably all around the US) went disturbingly quiet. Football mad fans (that is American football, not soccer) around the nation all converged on their respective couches, or the couches of their friend who has the biggest flat screen TV. And they sat there until approx 10:30pm, with only minor interruptions to go to the fridge to acquire more beverages, to the bathroom to rid themselves of those beverages, or to the front door to let in either their mates who had come to stare at their flat screen TV or to give the delivery guy some cash in exchange for some eagerly awaited pizzas.

The person with the biggest flat screen TV that I know around here also happens to be my neighbor, so shortly after 6pm I bundled up (it's still deep in winter here) for the 15 second walk from my back door to his, popcorn and Coke in hand.

To set the scene, this is pretty much the biggest and most eagerly anticipated sporting event of the year in the US. Cowboy's stadium in Dallas, Texas was the venue - a stadium that holds over 100,000 spectators and cost $1.2 billion to build (that's $1.56 billion NZD). However, Dallas has had bizarre weather over week leading up to Superbowl Sunday, and had struggled to cope with it.

It's interesting here in Louisville to see the reaction to snow. Louisville is approx halfway between the north and south borders of the US, and so doesn't see anywhere near the amount of snow that the northern states get. It is also in the Ohio valley, which somehow seems to limit the amount of snow we receive. Therefore, when we do get a good dumping of snow, schools close, people don't go to work (or at least go into work late) and everything limps along a bit slower. It does seem a little unusual to us NZ'ers observing, even though we're not used to snow on our roads at all. You see, every main road around the city is sprinkled with a salt-like chemical as soon as the snow starts falling, so by 7:30am when everyone's going to work, all the main roads are completely free of snow and are fine to drive on. Even so, things seem to close pretty easily as heavy snow is still reasonably rare (although the last two winters have been exceptions to that). Our Canadian friends here reckon that if they closed schools and businesses back in Canada like they do here, the whole country would be shut down for about 5 months of the year.

Anyhow, it seems that the guys way down south there in Dallas don't see much snow - far less than Louisvillites, and when they do see a few flakes of snow, they all freak out, buy up a bunch of milk and bread from anywhere they can find it, close the entire city, and hunker down in their homes until all the weird white sky dust disappears. Of course the organisers of the event had planned for bad weather. They had planned for two of the biggest weather incidents that could affect the lead up to the game - a snow storm or an ice storm. They just hadn't planned for them both to hit within days of each other. Mayhem ensued and the major metropolis of Dallas didn't know what to do with itself for a couple of days. There were airport closures (just what people around the country with $4000 Superbowl tickets in their airline luggage want), rolling power outages, roads frozen over for days... everything.

In spite of all this, the show went ahead, and we were all able to sit in the warmth of our (or our friends) lounge and watch the game. And it was a pretty interesting game. I haven't watched all that many American football games since coming here, but am getting to know basically how the game flows and a few of the intricacies of the game. All in all it was a good game, with the Greenbay Packers stretching out to an early lead and the Pittsburgh Steelers fighting back to get within 3 points, only to have the Packers hit them hard in the final quarter to round out the game. It was mildly exciting, but perhaps you have to get a bit more wound up in the tradition, the build up and the culture of the game to experience the full effect. I had an enjoyable evening with my neighbor, had the experience of a football Superbowl event and watched a pretty good game of American football. But was it worth a $1.2 billion stadium, $4000 tickets for not a great view of the game, and endless news bulletins about the theoretical chances of getting snow in Dallas? I'm not entirely sure. I'm picking that the game at Eden park on Oct 23 will far eclipse it. Interestingly though, I haven't met any Americans that agree with me on that point yet...

Ps. Sonia came over and watched a few minutes of the game. Her biggest excitements of the game were 1) Finding out that that Michael Douglas was still alive. She thought he died a while back, but he was sitting watching the game with Catherine in the stands in seats probaby worth a lot more than $4000; and 2) that Camerin Diaz is dating Alex Rodriguez - she saw them in the crowd sitting together. It's great to get a woman's perspective on a football game...

Planners. Who needs em...me!

So I have just bought a planner! One of the highlights of a seminary course I just completed was seeing how Mrs Mary Mohler organisers her life. She has so many functions and things going on. Her husband is the president of SBTS, Mrs Mohler organisers the seminary wives institute, they have two children, they are constantly invited to various functions, they are constantly putting on various functions etc. And alongside all this how does she manage her own home?? Well I found out that a planner is the answer!

She puts absolutely everything in it. When she recieves something in the post she writes what she needs to down in her planner and then files it or throws it away. It seems way too simple but it seems to work. She plans her cleaning, meals, shopping, gift buying, thank you notes, prayer, scripture memory. Honestly her planner is full. However it seems to work. She carries her planner with her everywhere. And she says she goes to bed knowing everything is written down and she no longer has to store so much information in her head. I like the sound of that! So just this morning I purchased one. So I'm currently trying to consolidate all the little bits of paper lying around the house into one place and I am feeling incredibly liberated.

However, I have to confess that while I am writing this I am contemplating how I am going to get around double booking myself for tonight! Praise the Lord for the planner.

Sonia :)