And we're back!

So it has been a long while since our last post. So much has been going on it has been hard to get the time to sit down to write an update - and the unfortunate thing is, the more days that go past the more there is to update you all on! 

It has already been just over a month since we returned from our wonderful summer in Canada. It was very hard to leave that wonderful church - the people were just an amazing encouragement to us in the short time we were blessed to spend with them. It's a big deal for people to welcome strangers into their lives and homes, but they did! And it was an amazing example to us and we only hope that we can repay the favour in the future! We told lots of people to come visit us in NZ - so are anticipating there being an influx of Canadians flying into NZ in the coming years! ;)

Josh was able to preach every week, and found it to be a really valuable experience. Both in gaining some confidence, and also in learning more about what he needs to learn more about! It was also a valuable experience for me to be a part of another new congregation, built new relationships and learn from others (there was a lot to be learnt and plenty of people to learn from in Abbotsford who were excellent examples) so that was a massive blessing. 

Another blessing from our trip to BC was the opportunity we had to catch up with 4 friends from New Zealand!!!! It was just amazing. I spent time with my friend Charlotte, we caught up for the weekend with our buddy Hugo, and I also was very blessed to have a coffee and lovely afternoon with two (or technically at the time 3 ;)) lovely ladies - Sharon, Nicola & technically, gorgeous wee Caitlin - I just didn't get to meet her face to face. ;) It was very very special to see friends from home. :)

Our trip back was busy but very enjoyable. Each day we drove on average 8 hours, and it took us 5 days to get back to Chicago. Just an incredible trip - something that we never imagined that we would get to do, and something that even a lot of Americans don't get to do. This country is HUGE! We came down from Canada into Washington state, popped in for the day in Seattle, then drove across the top of Idaho, into Montana, then down into Wyoming and through Yellowstone National Park. Again, this park is massive, and to really appreciate it I could see that you would need to spend at least 3 days traveling around it - however we didn't have that luxury, so did the best we could with one day, which was still amazing. We got to see wild bison, and even a grizzly bear! 

After our trip through Wyoming we were on the home stretch, heading through Nebraska, Iowa and then finally back in Illinois. 

Wyoming

Providentially the trip was incredibly smooth, and we enjoyed each other's company to boot. ;) 

Once home it was a great blessing for Josh to have two weeks off before school started up again, his first proper 'holiday' since January. So it was a great time to catch up with some local friends and get prepped for the new school year. 

We had the seminary retreat day where we were able to meet a lot of the new students which was really nice. Josh has now been back at his studies for the past two weeks, and it's full steam ahead. 

We are also facing winter again now. Just this past week, on Wednesday 10th, I was out in the evening wearing shorts and a singlet - the temperature being about 27 degrees. The very next morning we woke up, and it had dropped to 12 degrees, warming up to about 16 during the day! Talk about extremes! So since then, we have been in sweaters, jeans and pulling out the jackets. Autumn is definitely here. There is also talk of another very cold winter like we experienced last year - the words 'polar vortex' are being thrown around again - so we shall see. At least we know what to expect a little bit now! 

I have been able to spend some lovely time with some of the other seminary families, and get to know some of the new ones which has been great. All the other activities are starting up again - with the Bible study, Sem-Wives meetings and I have been starting nannying again. 

The other week I got to go and watch a softball game where two of the girls who I taught art to last year were playing in opposing teams! It was very fun to be able to watch them play and support them. 

Leah batting & Emma as catcher!

We also were blessed to be taken out for the day to the Chicago Air Show by some generous friends from church. It was a very fun day spent lakeside, with beautiful weather and some pretty amazing stunts performed by the pilots. 

The beach before it got even busier, and Chicago city in the distance.

Parachuters (I guess that's what you call them in plural...)

They also took us into the city and we visited Bloomingdales

Trying to blend in with the wall art

Josh has a new job for the seminary this year (last year he opened up each day), this time managing the book store three afternoons a week, so we are very thankful for this opportunity that the school provides to earn some extra money. This year Josh also will have opportunity to preach at various churches around the area (and potentially further afield) and is booked in two weeks time to preach in Iowa where we will be for the weekend. 

We have both learnt so much over the past year. It has been amazing to see how much Josh is loving his studies, and just soaking in every opportunity to learn from very gifted professors and fellow students. It is very intensive study, and yet knowing the depth of meaning that the study of God's Word brings with it makes the opportunity a very real privilege, and not a burden. Josh works really hard, but also has set aside Friday afternoons where we can go for a walk and spend some quality time together, and we have also kept up going to the gym together as well. This has really helped his energy levels, and coming in to the winter will be even more valuable. 

I have been keeping up my quilting - with lots of my friends having babies at the moment I have a lovely excuse to keep sewing! Also will be involved in the Bible study this year and have continued on as a Crossroad Bible Institute Instructor (a very good prison ministry). I've also been trying to read more and build up a better reference library (although I won't be able to compete with Josh!) so if anyone has any book recommendations let me know! I was able to read a very good one over the summer called 'Partners in Ministry' by Christine Hoover. Found it to be very encouraging even if you aren't a ministry wife!

Well that is where we are at for now - we really very much appreciate all your prayers and support. Without the support of you God's people we wouldn't be here. It's an immense blessing and very humbling. 

They do have beautiful sunsets in Autumn in Illinois

If you are praying for us, we would very much appreciate your prayers specifically in regards to the following:

• That the Lord will continue to equip us for (in His providence) a future in ministry - in Josh's ability to preach God's Word faithfully and truthfully, and for my willingness to support him in doing so. 
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• Tying in to the above request - that we will remember Who we are doing this for, and why - for God's glory. That we will never lose sight of that. 
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• Thanksgiving for all God's provision for us - that God has moved so many people to be so willingly generous of their time, money, wisdom and all the support we receive. And this from many people, from many parts of the world. Some who have known us our whole lives, and others who have only known us for a short time! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
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• That the Lord will also give us contentment (for all the seminary families) - it is no small sacrifice to leave all our families, friends and the comfort of home - and travel a long distance to seek to follow God's call for our lives. There are students at the seminary from Egypt, South Korea, the Netherlands, England, Canada, the other side of the United States - and of course we Kiwis - and it is hard not to feel home-sick at times. Please pray that we will be content. Especially for the wives who may struggle with loneliness and with the fact that they may not see their husbands so much during term time. That God will provide us all with peace. And that we will be able to be a support and 'family' to each other while we are here. 

Thank you so much again for all your prayers and support!

Much love,

Josh & Hannah

Spring has sprung!

Well it feels like an age since my last post, which is probably true - but things have been pretty busy! This past semester has gone by very quickly. Josh had his spring break last week - which I had hoped would mean some time that we could go out on a day trip together, but he had exams to study for and assignments to write, so it ended up being a regular week. But he made really good progress on his work - it amazes me how hard he works, but I'm thankful for it! 

Another thing that we are very thankful for at the moment is the warmer weather! The grass is turning a healthy green again, and (dare I say it) the white winter snow seems almost like a dream. It's just amazing to see how much the landscape can change in a short period of time. And there is something so cheering about longer sunshiny days, and warmth in the sun - it was strange to get into the car and discover it to be toasty warm (as opposed to frigid). So after experiencing temperatures like the ones that I recorded below - we are now back up into the positives and today got up to wonderful 15 degrees. :)

Brrrr!

One of the last big snowfalls that we had in February

We were really blessed to be treated to a delicious pizza dinner with some of our Kiwi friends from church. They took us to a famous local pizzaria which had a really great atmosphere and very delicious pizzas. 

Josh enjoying the tasty pizza

Before all of the snow melted I also got to go sledding with the Couperus girls! It was a lot of fun. A cold day, but we trekked up and down the hill and had a lot of fun.  

Zara at the top of the hill

Kate with her rosy cold cheeks! (and you can see Zara going down the hill in the background)

We had a couple of big inner tubes to slide on, as well as a couple of boards that were kind of like boogie boards (just the snow versions of them)

The view from the bottom of the hill!

Now we'll just have to wait until next winter to go again. :) Here are a few more pictures that we took over the past couple of months. For a combined Valentines Day/Wedding Anniversary present to ourselves we decided to go out for dinner to a local cafe and enjoyed a bowl of chili - that they very cleverly decorated with a heart. ;)

Some of Josh's snow-blowing exploits at the seminary

Josh and Albert managed to convince the seminary to fly the NZ flag on the flagpole again for Waitangi Day. NZ represent! :D

Our Valentines Dinner - they always serve the meals here with a massive pickle. 

Mountains of snow that Josh had to shovel through over the winter

A cool picture that Josh took :)

The other news we have is that we have had our summer internship confirmed! We are heading to Canada! And not just any part of Canada but British Columbia - which is about as far away from where we currently are as you can get. :) It is apparently a really beautiful part of the country, and we are really excited to have the opportunity to travel there. The church is the United Reformed Church in Abbotsford, which is about an hour west of Vancouver. We are so thankful to this church for taking us for the summer, and we (in particular, Josh) are really looking forward to working alongside the pastor, and Josh will have a lot of opportunities to preach in the 10 or so weeks that we will be there. It's such an incredible gift to be able to experience this, and for the church to take in a first year intern is amazingly generous. We are really looking forward to the experience.

So below is a map of the road trip that we will be going on. It's a biggie! So your prayers would be really appreciated as we plan and prepare for a big trip and also the time that Josh will be preparing for regular preaching as well as our travel once we are on our way!

According to Google Maps it's about a 34 hour drive

Something else that I am kind of excited about is that in the pictures that I have looked up of Abbotsford, it looks a little like NZ...

Abbotsford = mountains, hills and rivers!! Hurrah!!

Don't you think so? Cool huh! It'll potentially be like a little trip home! So that is a little update from us. We will try to keep you posted as things progress and we get some more things arranged for our trip. In the meantime we really appreciate all your support and are so thankful to be a part of a worldwide family. Plus our first year in the US is almost over, time has flown! We are enjoying it here - but don't worry, we look forward to coming home in another two years. ;)

Til next time!  

2014 and a new semester begins

Hi everyone,

Yes it has been a while since we updated, and a few people have asked if we are still going to keep this blog updated. We are hoping to, but I guess part of the reason that we haven't updated for a while is that we haven't really done anything. Haha. :)

Josh's second semester officially started today, although over the past 3 1/2 weeks he has had Intensive Hebrew classes, so he has been keeping busy. I never realised before just how much ancient Hebrew sounds like Orc. Oftentimes Josh will be studying in the other room and muttering words to himself and I wonder if he is actually conversing with a stray Orc who was wandering past (then I remember that we aren't in New Zealand, and we only have Orcs there. The US might have squirrels and raccoons but we have Orcs and Elves right?)(and a dragon). It definitely makes for interesting sound effects anyway. 

Rewinding back to December a bit - we had a really great holiday period (or vacation as they call it over here), really just in so far as we were able to really spend some nice time together. During term time, and especially at the end of the semester the seminary students get crazy busy, and I wasn't seeing much of Josh for a couple of months before he went on holiday. So it was really nice over the break to make the most of being able to just be together and reconnect. 

We were really blest to have been able to celebrate a Kiwi Christmas with the other NZ families from church - complete with delicious roast lamb (also from New Zealand!). That was a lot of fun and it was really nice to be able to spend time all together - as all of us have family back home that we were missing spending Christmas with. 

Our Kiwi Christmas with the Couperus's and Vooys's :D

Then on Christmas Day we were very kindly invited to our good friends from church to have a delicious meal, great fellowship and even games with their family. It was a lot of fun and really nice to have church family to be able to celebrate the day with. 

You may have heard about a 'polar vortex' that has been hitting the northern (and even some of the southern) parts of the US. We have most definitely been effected by that. The temperatures have been getting down into the -20's and we have had a few groups of days where the temperature dropped down to -26 to -30 (without windchill). On the first weekend that the 'vortex' hit it was at the start of January, and we were asked to go and shovel the seminary because there was so much snow, and with the temperatures being so cold, the longer the snow was left the harder it would be to clear away from the paths. So we wrapped up with multiple layers of clothes and trekked over the train tracks. Our car wouldn't start - and there was a 'state of emergency' that had been declared so that people weren't actually supposed to be driving because of the weather. Plus the seminary carpark and a lot of the streets around it hadn't been ploughed, so we wouldn't have been able to drive in anyway. 

Needless to say it was a very cold trip, and it was my first shoveling experience (Josh had already done it a few times at the seminary) so we were broken in with the big stuff! There were drifts of snow that were halfway up the front doors of the school - so it was a big job, but we had fun, and once you get working then you warm up! :D

On the way back home Josh took this picture above - it my hair was freezing from the cold wind. And yes, that is actually a sock on my hand - I only had one pair of gloves that had a couple of holes in them, so I took a spare pair of socks to shove on if need be. And I'm glad I had them! 

Josh started Hebrew a couple of days after our shoveling experience, and because of the cold was taking the car in the mornings. That meant that I didn't have a way of getting around, so have pretty much just stayed at home. Which I didn't mind considering the temperatures outside!

Icicles from our car attaching themselves to the carpark

The standard view that we have had from our house for the past month (the snow has just become a bit dirtier now)

Icicles hanging from along the edge of our apartment. They look almost fake!

Otherwise I have started up teaching the art classes again for a local homeschooling group. Which is a lot of fun. The kids are great and the Mums are lovely. It's nice to spend time with them and get to know them better. 

I am also still going to be leading a little group of 4-5 year olds while their Mums are at Bible study - it hasn't started yet this year because we keep on getting held up by the weather, but I'm looking forward to doing that again. 

With the long days indoors, and the fact that it has been pretty much impossible to get outdoors for walks or anything - we were noticing that our health hasn't been great. We weren't eating much because we weren't doing much - and were almost going into hibernation mode. Plus being on a tight budget means that I've been trying to keep the grocery bill as low as possible, which makes it tricky to eat consistently in a healthy way (well that's what I've found anyway, maybe I'm just a bit useless at cooking. Haha). Plus in mid-December Josh's Dad had a heart attack, from which providentially he has recovered from really well - but it gave me a bit of a reminder that I need to make sure I'm feeding Josh better, because heart troubles do run in his family. So having said all that, we decided to invest in a gym membership. There is one that opened up just in December that is quite close to us, and the membership is only $10 per month (yup you read that correctly, it's very cheap) with no cancellation fee. I have started babysitting again, and Josh is still working for the seminary, so we were able to pay for this with some of our own 'spare change' over here. Josh has been going for a couple of weeks now, and I think already he has been feeling better. I only signed up yesterday, so am looking forward to getting some more energy and feeling a bit more healthy! 

So back to seminary - Josh is really looking forward to this semester. It sounds like they are going to be doing some very interesting classes and getting stuck in to some more practical stuff - such as pastoral counseling, and they will be starting to write more sermons and exhorting as well. So it's going to be a really educational 5 months I think! 

The next big step is that the summer internships are starting to come out. These are opportunities that the students have to go and work in a church for about 10 weeks - so they get some experience preaching, meeting with congregants and assisting and working with the active pastor (if there is one - some of the internships are at vacant churches or church-plant kind of situations). So that could really end up being anywhere in the US - and at this point we have no clue where we will be. I guess it will be just anywhere that they'll take us! It would be great to have the opportunity to go to a church that is different from what we would experience back home (so perhaps a super big church or something along those lines), however, I think the biggest thing that Josh really wants at this time is mentorship - so to be able to work alongside someone who he could learn a lot from, and hopefully glean some of their wisdom and experience. So we will keep you posted about that. 

Here's a little comparison for you - Josh's school in the above photo during the Autumn, and taken from the same spot last week. :D Pretty amazing huh!

Thank you again for your support everyone. And your continued prayers for Josh's studies are so appreciated. I read that awesome verse the other day from Isaiah 26:3:

"You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." 

That is really our biggest prayer at the moment - that we will be able to continue to trust that God will provide for all our needs, as He already has been amazingly - and that we will be able to keep focus on why we are here - not just in the US, but here in general. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And at a time when it is easy to go a little stir-crazy because of being cooped up indoors, and to miss family and home, the temptation is far too great to allow ourselves to get a bit despondent or experience self-doubt. 

But it's because of instead of 'staying' our minds on Christ, we are allowing ourselves to become self-focused. It makes such a difference to change that perspective, reshuffle that focus, and get back on track. So that even if our situation hasn't changed at all - suddenly the outlook, purpose and motivation is all different because it's God's - which gives us awesome hope, meaning and unfailing confidence in the fact that we are here for a reason. Very cool stuff. 

This is ending up long - so I will sign off here, but I will try and be a little more regular with the updates I promise! :) And if you are in NZ at the moment - enjoy some of that beautiful Kiwi sunshine and moderate weather for me! Haha. Take care everyone!

September Update! (Finally)

Allo allo!
Well, it has been a busy month (September was anyway), and we can't really believe how time has been flying by. One thing we do know however is that it is about time we gave you all an update! 

Josh's story is currently pretty straight forward - he is studying. Ha ha, that hasn't really changed. He has a couple of exams this week, and in the weeks ahead - so he is just really focusing on that and making sure that he has things clear in his head. Primarily he has been focusing on the languages. Greek he found relatively straight forward to learn - and I think that his year at Uni studying Latin perhaps helped a little with that. Hebrew has been trickier, especially as the characters are new too. Thankfully, there are a couple of guys in his class who have already learnt Hebrew, and are good teachers themselves - so he has been able to study with them which has been a great help. He seems to be able to cover more ground that way, and because they can test him on it it speeds up his learning process a lot. 

As for me, I have been (mostly) keeping out of mischief. ;) As I have perhaps mentioned in my last post I have been volunteering as an art teacher each week for a homeschooling group. This has been really fun - they are a great group of kids, and boy do they have amazing imaginations! Ha ha! I was working with the 3-7 year olds last week drawing a imaginary trip that we had thought up - I got them to think of a place they wanted to travel too, how they were going to get there, and who they were going to see. One very creative young man was flying to Canada in a jet plane, which was being attacked by missiles from all directions (he's only 4, and you know what - his drawing was very good). It's interesting seeing what the boys come up with in comparison to the girls. :D

Each fortnight on a Thursday morning I have also been helping out taking care of a bunch of about 8-10 3 and 4 year olds for an hour and a half while their Mum's go to Bible study. That is definitely an interesting challenge! They are super cute, but it is an age group that I haven't worked with much before, and they are quite different! We have been working on the Armour of God - which is lots of fun. So each time we are making different parts of the armour. Last week we made helmet masks so they put their masks on and then to occupy them for a while we did things that soldiers do. So marching, riding horses (more fun than pretending to be in a jeep or tank ha ha), flying in aeroplanes, and then by that time I was exhausted, so I said that the other thing that soldiers do is sleep so they can recoup their energy - so I managed to get them lying down for about 5 seconds before we were up marching again. : ) The week where we make swords is going to be an interesting one...

I have also had the opportunity to start up some piano lessons again! I figured out that I haven't actually had lessons since I was about 13 - which is slightly scary, but I have kept up playing. So we thought that this is something that we could invest in that may come in useful in the future. It has been really great to learn again. Unfortunately we don't have a piano (I don't think there is any way we could get one into our flat anyway, ha ha) however some very generous people from church have said that I can go around to their place any time and use their piano to practice on. Plus I was given a little keyboard that I can use at home to practice with when I can't make it to the piano. Generous people huh!

Piano practice time!

The trees are all changing colours over here now - and the weather has been a lot cooler - and actually really nice over the past couple of weeks. Although the weekend was unseasonably warm. 

Morning walk - doesn't really look that different from NZ huh? :)

I also got to go with another lady from church last week to the Westfield Mall that they have over here. We just had a mooch around the stores and stopped for a coffee. In the middle of this mall they have a full sized, double story merry-go-round! It's pretty cool. 

So otherwise it's been nice to have time to spend with people from Seminary and church, there are some very very cool people over here, and we are so thankful for the opportunity to get to know them better! Experiencing their generosity and thoughtfulness has been a massive learning curve for us - in so far as learning to graciously accept it, as well as hopefully learning how to do it ourselves. So that, Lord willing when we are in a position to be able to be generous in the future we will be able to do so in a similar way to these people. Unrestrainedly. 

I was also given a ticket to attend a conference the other weekend - so a lady from church who was going took me along. It was really encouraging and challenging stuff. With a focus on being thoughtful and loving towards others from a Biblical perspective - and selflessly giving of our time and gifts to other people. As you can see - it was challenging! But we got to hear Paul Tripp, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Susan Hunt and Elyse Fitzpatrick - all who have written books that I have read, so it was pretty cool to be able to actually get to hear them speak. They were all really good. Very humble people - which was pretty cool. 

You can tell it's Autumn (or Fall) over here when all the Pumpkin flavoured stuff starts coming out. Not to mention all the Halloween decorations show up in people's front yards. I got to try some of these cookies at someone's house, and managed to discover them on sale at the store this morning - so I nabbed some. They are soooooo delicious. The American's know how to do good cookies, that's for sure. Good for Josh to be able to snack on while he's studying huh. I was thinking of him. ;)

Drooooool.

In the meantime we can say that we are still so thankful and feel very privileged to be over here. We are being massively blest by being able to live here and experience the culture and build relationships over here. Plus the seminary is so great - Josh is learning a lot and is enjoying his studies. We have a lot to be thankful for! Speaking of thankfulness - Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple of months and we are really looking forward to celebrating that for the first time. :)

Right well, that's about everything up-to-date for now. I promise that I will try and be a little more regular, but our lives are kind of ticking along in a routine now, so there isn't much that is newsworthy right at this moment, however you never know from week to week what could happen. ;)

Updateadoodle!

Hi everyone! 

I thought it was about time for an update for ya'll. :) Things have been getting busier as summer is drawing to a close and things are starting up again over here in the US. Kids are heading back to school, high school graduates are heading to college, and Josh has officially started seminary! 

The intensive languages are over - and with all his hard work he passed the Intensive Greek course really well, and also the Introduction to Hebrew. The languages will continue as the years progress, but now he has started his other courses as well. This past week we attended the Seminary Orientation Day, which was spent with the other 'freshmen' - or first year students. So we got to know them and learn a little more about them which was great. 

There is such an amazingly diverse group of people studying in Josh's class. They come from all over the world, and from very different backgrounds. There is a brief summary of each of the students that is going to be published in the seminary newsletter soon, so I will link it through for you to read - some of these guys have experienced some pretty amazing (and humbling) stuff. It is a constant reminder to us of how privileged we are to be here. 

We also met the Professors - who are of such a high calibre - again, very humbling! They look like they are going to be excellent for Josh to learn under, and have placed an awesome emphasis on exhorting the students to keep a balance between the academics of the course (which does need to be learnt so that the students can pass) but also maintaining humility, and remembering why they are there studying in the first place. It's been very encouraging.

A couple of weekends ago Josh and I had the opportunity to go and spend some time away with another couple from the seminary. They had very kindly invited us along to spend some time with them at a resort (which sounds very fancy to us Kiwi's - and it was very nice - but it is a pretty common thing over here. Much like Kiwi's would go away to a bach for a weekend, here people go away to a resort). The weekend had been donated to them, so they very generously shared their gift with us. 

It was really cool to spend time getting to know this couple better and it was really good for both of the guys to have 'time out' after the Intensive Greek course had finished. I think that Josh's brain needed a bit of a rest! 

Pretty sunsets

Illinois - very vast, and very flat (and there's lots of corn).

At the resort they had a swimming pool and mini golf course among other activities that again, you could do for free! So it was fun - they taught us how to play Shuffleboard (Josh and I weren't the best at it, haha but we had fun), we had a round of the mini-golf, and then in the evening we played 'Lord of the Rings' Risk (and we were all still friends afterwards). :D It was a lot of fun - and we were so thankful for the opportunity to get away for a couple of nights and see a little more of Illinois. 

Shuffleboard - lots of fun! 

Mini golf can be hilarious - apparently.

We played in teams and Josh & I were the baddies so we got the cave trolls - hehehehe

On Tuesday this week was the Seminary Retreat - which was a day spent at a conference centre with all the professors and students currently attending the seminary. They had a speaker who was a graduate of the Mid-America, currently pastoring a church in Canada. He spoke really well, and had some excellent advice for the students, as well as being an encouragement. Then we all got to know each other better over some good food! It was a really fun day. 

So that's pretty much brings us up to date - hopefully more soon. In the meantime I leave you with this super cool caterpillar that we discovered the other week. Josh and I were 'ooh-ing' and 'ahh-ing' over it, and I patted it - and I think that the American people who we were with thought that we were nuts. It was really cute though - don't you think? :D It's so fluffy! 

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...

Finally, an update!

Allo everyone,

Sorry that it has been such a while since our last update - the reason being that we moved into our apartment just over a week ago, and haven't had internet! So Lord willing, we will be getting that hooked up this coming Wednesday. 

In the meantime, we have been SUPER blessed - with being able to move into our own place, get set up with a lot of generously donated (and very nice I might add) furniture and items for everyday living, and also continuing to enjoy church life and getting to know people better!

Josh has still been busy with intensive Greek. He had another big exam last week, and did well - so that is a huge blessing, his hard work is paying off. This is his last week of the course, and he has the final exam this coming Friday. 

Our fellow Kiwi's, Albert, Hanneke and their girls, are coming back tomorrow - so we are really looking forward to hanging out with them in 'real life'! Haha - up to this point we have been in communication with them via email, Skype and phone - so it will be cool to meet them. :)

I have been keeping occupied with going for walks around our new neighbourhood, bike rides, and spending time with church and seminary friends which has been really nice. Also been investing time in some cooking and baking - I made some strawberry jam last week which was lots of fun, and it even came out tasting yum. :) 

A local home-schooling group has asked me if I would be willing to take the children for some art classes, so I am also going to be busy coming up with some lesson plans for that over the next couple of weeks. Josh will have a couple of days off to recuperate from Greek, before starting a short course in Hebrew. Then I think he has a week off before the Fall semester begins. :) He is still enjoying study, although has been pretty tired just lately in particular. 

Another couple who have moved here to study at seminary too, called in on us over the weekend and very kindly brought us some house warming gifts! They gave Josh the mug pictured below - they already have him figured out. He does love his coffee. :D

Hopefully we will have our internet set up on Wednesday, and then I can be a bit more regular with our updates. In the meantime, hope you are all well. Your prayers would be appreciated for Josh as he preps for his final exam on Friday. Also he has been feeling a bit under the weather for the past couple of days, so prayer for his health would be amazing too. Thank you so much! 

The Windy City

That's how they refer to Chicago, although we haven't experienced that side of it yet. The weather has yet again been amazing over the past week - and was actually quite pleasant last week because it was a little bit cooler, with a nice breeze and not as humid. This week however is set to get up into the 90's (possibly as hot as 35+ degrees celsius for us metric people).

Last week was pretty fun! Literally, come to think of it. We travelled in by train to downtown Chicago to visit the 'Taste of Chicago' festival. This is a festival held in Grant Park where a bunch of local restaurants have booths where they can sell samples of their food. There was also a concert incorporated into the festival of a well known current band called 'Fun' - which was a free concert. This is pretty unheard of for us - to hear about quite a high profile band having a free concert. So we thought we would go seeing as it was free, and we like a few of their songs. :)

So here are some touristy pics that we took on our travels...

Waiting to catch the train at Homewood Station

The 'Bean'

Happy Hannah because she has a Churro :D (it was the first place I wanted to go) 

The Buckingham Fountain 

Josh playing around with his fancy panoramic camera

Panorama by the Buckingham Fountain

Genuine deep-dish Chicago pizza - really yum.

It was a good day trying out some local food and getting into the spirit of the festival. It was also a super hot day. We ended up sitting for a good number of hours in a spot that we picked for the concert (in anticipation of the fact that it was going to get super busy - and it sure did). However unfortunately the spot we picked ended up bordering on being a swamp. Well - it was pretty damp on the grass, and although we had bought a big thick beach towel to sit on (not anticipating dampness considering it was so hot), it soaked up the damp pretty quickly, and consequently soaked our butts too.

Not having many other options in so far as good spots to sit though, we stalwartly held our place - thinking well, we are Kiwi's after all. And therefore are pretty used to living in swamps. :) We also got quite sunburnt, so after coming from NZ winter with our glowy white skin, we have now started to fit in a bit more with the locals and are a bit more bronzed (once the red died down).

It's pretty amazing - for the number of hours that we spent in the sun, we were only just burnt. Compared to back home, if we had spent that much time in the sun with no sunscreen we would probably be in hospital being treated for burns. 

This was our delightful swampy spot for the concert.

By the time the concert started there were looooooooots of people.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole thing was people watching. The people are so diverse (which I guess you would expect to find in a massive city), but they are diverse in different ways to back home. So it was really interesting watching everyone.

The past weeks have been busy, but enjoyably so. We have been shown masses of hospitality from the people at church. They are SUCH a blessing to us! 

We have also enjoyed a couple of opportunities to hang out with some of the other Greek students and their families, thanks to their hospitality too. It's great to meet some of the others who are in a similar situation to us - and they are all really lovely! 

Interestingly, in Josh's Greek class at the moment the majority of students (as in about 90% of the class) have relocated to be there. And most of them are 'internationals' - harking from NZ (of course), Canada, South America, the Netherlands etc. It makes for a really interesting group and class discussion. 

I have been out and about cycling around again, just getting to know the area and enjoying the breeze! It is VERY hot here. You know it's hot when you are inside, lying down in bed, not moving - but you are still sweating (sorry if that's a bit TMI for you all, but it illustrates the point). :)

And apparently it's only going to get hotter. We have adjusted to the temperatures mostly, but it still takes some getting used to. It really impresses me that the people in this area are so used to these crazy hot humid temperatures in the summer, and then freezing cold and snow in the winter. It would mean that you could travel anywhere and not really be phased by the weather. 

We have a huge amount to be thankful for - and in particular we hope that we may have found a place to live! We only got to go and visit it yesterday, but it seems to be just the right size for us, and within our means. So we haven't yet confirmed it, but Lord willing, we will have a place to move into soon. We will keep you posted!

Otherwise we are so massively thankful for the kindness and generosity of the people at our church and at the seminary. We know what it is like to move to a new country where you don't know anyone, and having people to help makes such a huge difference! 

Soli Deo Gloria!