Oops Forgotten Blogsite!

Good intentions certainly were high when I started in on this new blog journey.  Once I landed in Canada after nearly 10 years of New Zealand I may have been slightly exhausted and more than just a bit confused by the home and native land I found upon arrival.  More than likely I just started enjoying the freedom from schedules and demands on my time including ones that I made on myself.  I was interested for a while in twitter were sounds bites of life seem to be much easier to put down, no fuss, no muss, no time really to jot down a thought and keep under the maximum number of 280 characters.  In fact, I had completely forgotten I started this blog and would have never remembered if I hadn't been inspired by my daughters to blog again...first Danae, then Mackenzie and now Paige not to mention the many blogs my wife is involved with.  I think I started feeling a bit left out so I'm back, tail between my legs, head down, fingers ready to spill out details from my perspective on the life I have been given to live.  Thanks ladies.
I think I would like to pick up where I left off in the first blog.  We camped around Alberta and BC visiting family and friends, catching up with one another with some family members I had not yet met in person. When we left NZ we were able to sell our home for a profit and this allowed us to have some fun with our kids on a week long holiday in Rarotonga,  then spoil ourselves in Hawaii for a week while we grieved somewhat over leaving a land we loved, had many great memories in and of course 3 of our 5 kids (including our 2 newish son in laws) and then promptly got into some serious retail therapy as we  purchased a truck and holiday trailer upon repatriation.  While in Hawaii we had studied hard in order to pass our drivers exams only to be pleasantly surprised that we didn't need to rewrite or even redrive them.  We had accidently kept our BC drivers license all those years and that allowed a continuity of driving history and so we were issued new licenses and I was even given back my class 3 and class 6 permits.  Nice!
Our little holiday turned into nearly 5 months of living in our holiday trailer like gypsies moving from one campground to the next, doing day trips, enjoying the sweeping mountain vistas, wide open spaces and rolling grain fields while pounding out over 20,000 kilometers.  I will detail some fond memories of these months in coming blogs.  But just to finish off this blog I thought I would add a few photos of our times with family and friends during this wonderful adventure of returning home after being away for such a long time.  Please enjoy them. I will do my best to keep them in chronological order but who knows...

The Move

Mt. Rangitoto New Zealand

We always had a sneaking suspicion we would be moving back to Canada someday.  However, while living and working in New Zealand we never really gave it much air time in our conversations.  We love New Zealand. Such a great little country at the bottom of Pacific Ocean.  We loved the people, the picturess landscapes, the 5 beautiful beaches within a 5 minute drive from our front door and on and on and on I could go.
When my wife and I got married we put into our prayers a request that God would someday allow us to take our children on a journey that would see them experience more of the world that just Canada.  God answered that prayer and in January of 2007 we made the move across the ocean with our 3 teenage girls in tow.  The first year was a bit rocky as we seemed to each take turns being homesick but eventually all that went away and we plunged into our new home with a growing appreciation and joy for it.  Cheryl got a job in the office at a local elementary school, the kids all went to Pakuranga College for their High School education and I worked in a small international church that was part of the Christian & Missionary Alliance in New Zealand.  Cheryl eventually started teaching in the school, out kids all graduated and went on to Auckland University, Paige graduated with a teaching degree, Danae with a spacial Design degree and MacKenzie will finish up he conjoint Arts and Science Degree next October 2017.  I finished at the International Christian Centre and through a serious of events found myself pastoring a Chinese Church in an Interim capacity.  After 5 years of leading the church and seeking a pastor for it we believed the Lord was now calling us back to Canada.  And so the move back happened in May 2016 after 9.5 years of work, life, ministry, friendships and overseas experiences that will stay with us for our lifetime.   We were sad to leave and especially sad to leave behind our children but since arriving we have had so many confirmations from the Lord that we have made the right decision in coming back to Canada.
My new blog is a place where I can record some of my thoughts and feelings and experiences taken from my work and ministry in New Zealand and also the new normal that is the current unfolding story of our move back to Canada and the work and ministry directs us toward.  I look forward to starting again to write and take some time to share with those who are interested my thoughts, insights, wonderings and there may even be a few laments along the way.