Well we have a lot of snow.

And I mean a lot. As I write it is snowing lightly outside and the house across the street looks like it's frosted. The plough has just driven by trying to clear the roads, and this morning I watched someone turn into our street and drive (or rather slide) down it sideways before getting back on track. 

It's exciting times! I had to dig our car out this morning because it got stuck. The good thing is that everyone drives really carefully, and because it's not too cold at the moment (only -4C) then the roads aren't too icy as far as I can tell. The snow is staying really powdery and soft. There is a lot of the stuff out there though. It is getting to a point for people that they shovel their driveways and they are running out of space to put the snow. 

A couple of 'snow mountains' down our street

I'm not sure what Josh is doing here - maybe we won't try and figure it out.  :)

All along the streets and in the car parks of the stores there are huge mountains of snow - which are frustrating because you can't see around them when pulling out. We have been introduced in our time here to the marvelous invention that is the snow blower. You push it like a lawn mower and it scoops up the snow and throws it off to the side. Very cool. 

Calf-deep snow in some spots - even deeper in others! Very thankful for my furry snow boots!

It was quite a nice, and relatively warm day on Sunday so Josh and I decided to go out for a walk and take some pictures for you all. :) Then last night (Tuesday) it started snowing again, and I think that we got another 6 inches at least. It has only just stopped this afternoon (Wednesday).

Trekking through the snow from the carpark to our apartment

The trees are really pretty. 

 Notice the depth of the snow next to the path in the above photo? It's even deeper now. 

Pathways have had to be chiseled out of the snow along the side of the road.

I love how the snow sits on the trees. Looks like a Christmas card. 

The other day was clear and beautiful. We had sunshine which was really nice - and on my way to nanny at 7:30am the light was just amazing as the sun hit the snow. I didn't get any pictures in the morning, but we also had an amazing sunset - so took a couple of pictures then (when I wasn't driving - trying to be responsible) ;)

Beautiful colors and clouds

"O Lord our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens! 

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?"

~  Psalm 8: 1, 3-4  ~

Hi all!

Heya everyone,

Things are continuing to chug along for us here. There isn't too much to report to be honest. We were blest to have the opportunity to house sit last week - which is always quite nice, it felt a little like a holiday for us, and a bit of a change of scenery so that was pretty fun. 

Josh has continued to have exams - last week he had Church History, and felt that it went pretty well. I think that he still has a few more over the next couple of weeks. It's in some respects nice that they are spread out a bit so he can really sink his teeth into studying for each exam. 

I know that I always seem to talk about the weather - haha - but it's continuing to cool down over here, and I am really enjoying it! All the trees are starting to change colour and they are so pretty. And it is super nice to step outside and there is a real chill in the air. This morning it was 7 degrees (celsius) when Josh left - and I checked the weather report and it is due to get down to 2 degrees later in the week! :D Exciting. Haha we'll see how long that excitement lasts for. 

I have been continuing to teach art classes to the homeschooling kids and it has been a lot of fun. We have been learning a bit about animation, so last week we made Thaumatropes. I even did a video to show you! :D So that was pretty fun. :)

I was reading my devotional today - currently I'm using two, haha they are both really good! One is called The Quiet Place, by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and the other is called 'At the Feet of Jesus' by Joanna Weaver. They are both very good I'd recommend them. Today the one from Joanna Weaver's really struck me, so I thought that I'd share it with you here:

"One of the most powerful testimonies I've ever heard came from David Ring, and evangelist born with cerebral palsy. "Why Mama?" David used to ask his mother when school kids teased him. "Why did I have to be born this way?" Although exceptionally bright, he was caught in a body that wouldn't do his bidding and was constantly tripped up by a stuttering tongue. 
God gave that sweet mother incredible wisdom as she taught her son that perhaps why wasn't the best question after all. 
"Asking why is like going to a well with a bucket and coming up empty every time," she told him. Instead, she said, the question should be, "What can I become?"
What a powerful, life-changing concept for all of us, especially when we're trapped and tripped up by the whys of life. Because when it comes right down to it, life is full of questions that don't have adequate answers.
Such questions haunted my young friend Tom. Though he loved Jesus, he struggled with the whys of his difficult life. 
But one day he showed me his Bible and a verse he'd underlined. "Now I know why my life is the way it is," Tom said. Pointing to the story of the man who had been born blind, Tom read John 9:3 aloud: "This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
Oh that we all might have a vision to see beyond the misery of what is to the miracle of what we can become."   ~Joanna Weaver, 'At the Feet of Jesus'

This message really struck me. My Nana lived most of her life struggling with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Although the pain she experienced from this crippling disease must have caused her more pain than she ever let on, she allowed God to use her epic ways. Her testimony to others was that she handed over her life to Him, despite the pain, despite being seemingly so physically restricted, I saw that God used her so amazingly. Especially in being a blessing to other people and caring for them. What an awesome witness of what God is capable of doing with us in spite of our weaknesses. 

Although no where near as debilitating as what my Nana faced - Josh and I have had to come to terms over the past 8 years with not being able to have children. And too often I found myself asking why on earth God would withhold this blessing from us. However, what we instead have to learn, is that "this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in our lives". I hope that will be the case! Because in writing that, it's amazing to think of what an honour it is to be called to that. :) But we are works in progress, I can't begin to tell you how long it has taken me to get to the point where I acknowledge that. Hopefully God will continue to gently teach me more and more every day - like He already has been. I'm very thankful to Him for His patience with me! I'm sure we all have burdens like this that we are struggling to bear. I hope that you can learn to find a similar perspective to this - because it really is liberating. I assure you. :)

Well, that is all for now - hopefully will get to take some autumn photos for you over the next week and see if I can get them posted up. Take care everyone!

New Tabs

Howdy everyone!

Just a quick update - before I have to pop out and pick Josh up from class (he walked over to school this morning, but it has been raining today, so I took pity on him). :)

You may notice that there are a couple of new tabs up the top of the page (just above this post), entitled 'J', 'H', and 'U S of A'. I thought I'd explain a little about what they are all about. :)

Both of us have been really enjoying getting stuck into learning more about the Bible, and Josh in particular has been finding it really fantastic to devote this time to learning more about our faith! And he has been getting a lot out of it already. I have been really enjoying working my way through some good devotional material, and reading some excellent books - and both of us feel like there are things that we have learnt and read that we would love to share with people! So the 'J' tab (as you have probably figured out by now) is for Josh to update you all on some things that he has been learning that he has found interesting. And the 'H' one is for me - sometimes there is a verse that is just too good not to share. :) 

The 'U S of A' tab is something that a good friend encouraged me to do. This country has a lot of similarities to NZ, but there are also a lot of quirky little differences that we will probably look back on in the future, and perhaps even miss! It's interesting to know what is different, and perhaps we could even learn something from it - so this is our tab of interesting uniqueness from America. :) Things that are interestingly unique to us as Kiwi's anyway (and perhaps a few things that we do that the American's think are 'interestingly unique' too). :D

Hope that all makes sense! And hopefully we can keep this updated for you all too. :) 
Til next time...