The Rollercoaster of Life

What a weird time we live in right? We are totally living history… even if there is another pandemic in our lifetimes, countries and governments will be way more clued up (well maybe some more that others) and likely respond a lot differently - you’d hope so anyway!

Yet here we find ourselves having just survived 8 weeks and more (the kids had colds before level 4 so weren’t allowed at school) with 3 kids in lockdown - what a surreal experience. 

Throughout this time I know different people have had to deal with a huge range of different thoughts, feelings and situations, whether it be boredom, anxiety, loneliness, financial pressure, work stress, exhaustion, or a desperate need for a rest or some time out. While others, like Josh, have loved every moment to take a break from the busyness of life and enjoy some time out. Some may have felt all of these feelings on different days at different times… either way, everyone was living it out at the same time and now we need to work out how to reintegrate into society in a safe way, at the same time too.

But on that rollercoaster of life, God has totally been in control of our family. In our preparation to leave Waikanae this year, we could’ve never quite comprehended that God would sort a whole month off work for Roy to work on the house… but it happened!

The shed painting team

We have managed to achieve many jobs on our property that we never imagined we would have easily been able to do. The trees have been trimmed, the shed and some windows were painted, the grass has grown back from where Roy and a digger ripped it apart to fix the drainage, the gutters have been repaired, even new flooring in the kitchen went down the day before lockdown. We also managed to fit in lots of family bike rides, UNO, hours of sifting through lego for that one piece and kids baking up a storm in the kitchen… now to get them doing dishes!

The window painting team

Gabrielle was due to have her cast off in the first week of level 4. We both had a cough at the time, (the same one the kids had been off school for before lockdown when covid wasn’t a big thing in NZ)… but it meant we got the special treatment. With nurses (it took more than one) in full PPE and face shields, as she screamed and yelled her little heart out, they took off her cast to see that her arm was very infected. This resulted in a quick transfer to the specialists at Wellington Hospital to let us know we would be staying for a semi urgent operation the next day to remove the wires from her arm that were put in when she broke it. After a night in the hospital, just as we thought she was about to go to surgery, the changing hospital system decided to covid test her and put us in isolation while we waited for results. With the all clear at 4pm, we still managed to fit in the operation and go home on that day. A total blessing in disguise, as we are no longer one of the many people on a backlog list of operations needing to be done. If her arm hadn't been infected, we would still be waiting for an operation to get the wires out. 

The cool kids in quarantine at Wellington Hospital

During lockdown, as slow as the days went by, I had the feeling that we needed to do as much as we could, soon enough life would move very fast for us… and it has been.

Near the end of level 4, we talked to a friend who gave us the advice to “just get on with it. You know God has called you to work with MMM, so stop wasting your time, let God sort the details and go.” The last thing to sort was tenants. In the last couple of weeks we have been checking in with everyone who had shown interest in our house seeing if we could track down tenants. We advertised in the church newsletter and on facebook, no interest… but following the advice to ‘just get on with it,’ we decided to shift in early June before Gabrielle turned 7 regardless.

Cooking up a storm

Then on Monday I met with our friend who will manage our property, to talk over the details of what that looked like. We decided that on Tuesday we would publicly advertise it… not my ideal plan as we have had bad tenants in the past. But along comes Tuesday morning with news first thing that the perfect tenants for our house were found! (more on that another time maybe). Thank you so much to all who have been praying for the perfect tenants for us. We are really thankful for that and are grateful that the house will be tenanted by a family that will be able to appreciate it too. 

With that we confirmed our leaving dates… Roy will finish work at the end of next week, the kids will finish school and kindy on 5th June. Roy will take a furniture trailer full of belongings up also on the 5th and drive back on the 6th. Sunday 7th we will pause to have a day of rest, before all going up on the 8th. We will have a bit of time to settle, enjoy celebrating Gabrielle’s 7th birthday with family in Hamilton before starting officially for MMM on 15th June. 

Our kids will then officially be homeschoolers… if lockdown taught me one thing pretty quick, it was that correspondence school, our original plan, wasn’t going to work. I need to have a bigger control of what their education looks like, designing it to meet their needs and interests to get real buy in. I am now in the process of applying for exemptions to school so I can legally do this. I am thankful for good friends that homeschool and have lots of thoughts and advice.

Josh in his office for his class zoom meeting

It turns out on the 7th of June it is exactly 5 years since we left Nelson. That makes Waikanae the longest both Roy and I have lived in one place since we were teenagers. We feel quite settled here, it will be sad to leave, but we know we have big adventures ahead.

On the day we left Nelson, not quite knowing what the future held for us, a good friend ripped out a page of her devotional book and gave it to us. That has been on our fridge until now. In this devotion it talks about a little girl who was taught by her father that if you listen - really listen - God will whisper secrets to you. It was accompanied by the verses, “I know the plans I have for you”, says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 NLT

I think I am slowly learning to hear that whisper a little clearer.

I love how God has every intricate, little detail so covered for us. It seems whatever our need, someone has the skills or means needed to bless our family. I know it hasn’t always been this way, or won’t always be… but for now I am grateful to God for the journey we are on.

This family of 5 is now mobile

If you are following us and our journey and want to hear more about MMM as an organisation or be a part of their ‘Prayer Force’, let us know and I can get you on the digital or hard copy mail outs for these things. 

Rachael, Roy, Josh, Gabrielle and Kelepi

'Exploring at the beach' ended up being 'jump in the water in your clothes' instead.
Apparently children are impervious to icicle water

A different day, same result