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.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)