Brann's Farm

Well it has been a long time since we've updated our blog. We've been busy. As usual life is busy but we've also experienced a great deal since coming to New Zealand. This video is from a place called Brann's Farm. It's private farm that is open to the public for camping, sliding, swinging, tubing, hiking, glow worms and fun. Our kids love this place and it is awesome that the owner's open it for us to enjoy. There are acres of native bush to hike through as well as a grove of California Redwoods. Enjoy the video and we hope to have several updates in the next week.

Christmas And Boxing Day

For my mother and other lurkers out there here is the long awaited Christmas day and boxing day video. For Boxing Day (the day after Christmas for you USAers) we went to Graham and Linda's house to have fun and feast all day. As you will see from the video it was as much fun as promised so watch the video, laugh and enjoy!

Star of The Week

During the last term of the year both Sara and Jace received Star of the Week for their class. It is given to a student who shows improvement, works hard, or simply does a good job. They were both excited to win. Sara and Jace are adjusting well to life in New Zealand. Sara had trouble joining in at the start but has sorted that and is doing well. Because the school year is different here Jace was behind his age group. We have a wonderful friend in the church who has been tutoring Jace on reading and he is already ahead of where Sara was after a whole year of Kindergarten. They want to put him in year two which is like the States' 1st grade after only the equivalent of 6 weeks of Kindergarten. We are unsure about that and continuing to pray about it. They are both making friends and enjoying life. They just finished a week of gymnastics and Sara will be taking dance and Jace will be playing soccer this first term of School. They are growing up so fast.

Well many have asked so here is a video of all the things we have been doing. You will see lots of sights, some nz music compliments of Mumsdollar. You will see some of our travels, some play time at Grumps house, bike riding, whale rescue, thermal activity, beach time, crazy hair night, Jace's b day and on and on. Enjoy the show.

Kiwi Central is our church's holiday program that happens several times a year between terms. This video is from our last program in October which had a pirate them. The kids had a blast (so did the adults). As you can see from the video there was never a dull moment. Hats off to our Children's Pastor Sue Wilks and all her staff for putting together such a great program. Friends and family pay attention because the Moore kids make a few special cameo appearances in this video.

Free Willy er uh Knobby!

Today while traveling to buy a $50 freezer for $450 I heard on the radio (yes mom they have radio in New Zealand) that a 23 ft fully grown male Orca had beached itself in Papmoa. This beach is about 10 minutes from our house and being the awesome parents we are we wanted out kids to see a whale in the wild so to speak. Apparently we weren't the only awesome parents listening to the radio because a few thousand of our closest friends showed up with us to see the spectacle. As you can see from the photos they brought in a backhoe to create a channel for him. So we decided to wait since it looked like he might be free soon. We were not disappointed. I've seen twin engine jet boats put out less wake. Knobby, as he was called, sensed open water and with a surge that rivaled any speech given by William Wallace he pushed in one great effort and freed himself. It was AWESOME. A bit anticlimactic that he swam like a drunk frat boy after a party but still way cool. Kids were chuffed (that's a good thing by the way) and it was worth the wait in the rain.

We Are All Here...at last

Well we are all in New Zealand. The kids have started school and are loving it which is a huge answer to prayer. Amanda is eagerly awaiting her review by the nursing council. It is definitely a hurry up and wait situation. Youth stuff is going well. We took a group to the snow to snowboard a few weeks ago and below is the video. We love our rent house it is very nice and we are sad that we may actually have to move out sometime. The weather has been nice and we are planning a trip to the beach with the kiddos on sat to eat at the cafe in Maketu. Keep praying for our transition we know there is still much to come for us.