Monday, April 18, 2011

Thanks for the flowers, but...

Last week Verity had an overnight stay in the hospital after a small surgery to remove endometriosis.  All went well and she is recovering very well at home now.  We have been very grateful to receieve many kind texts, phone calls, emails, visits, meals, and... flowers.  They are very gorgeous and smell lovely, and have brightened our room. 

Meanwhile, Reuben has been noticing pain in his right ear, which has affected his hearing the last few days.  This morning he went to the doctor to have it looked at, and (believe it or not) his ear drum is inflamed and has some fluid there too.  The doctor said it looked like he was suffering from hay fever and the symptoms were present in his ears, but it's the wrong season... then he mentioned the flowers in the house and bingo!  The doctor is sure they are the cause. 

So Reuben was given a prescription for some nasal spray to clear everything up and hopefully remedy the ear drum situation before his flight to Portland for Hilly's wedding. 


I find it quite an ironic cycle of events that the very things given to us to help Verity recover from surgery caused Reuben to visit the doctor!!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Accepted!

We are very excited, as you can see from the photo... the U.S. Consulate accepted our visa application and we are officially allowed to study at TMS this "Fall" (aiming to fly out mid-July).  Thank you for praying, we thank the Lord for granting us this next step along the journey to seminary. 

The immigration officer was quite relaxed, which made us relax.  He even tried to catch me off-guard by saying "Everything looks good except, on your record here Verity, it shows you have robbed a bank in Dunedin?!"  I was hoping they weren't going to find out about that one - ha ha :)  I guess everyone wants to have a bit of comic relief in their day, even if you work at the consulate!

It was a real blessing to go to this interview, as we flew up to Auckland on Thursday night and stayed with Dad/DP/Lawrence that night and got to spend some time with Reuben's sisters as well. Our interview was a real breeze, and we were finished much earlier than anticipated, which meant that we got to spend some more family time together. We enjoyed an early morning walk around the Viaduct with Dad, coffees/chai in hand! We also met up with Jillian and Kirstie (Reuben's sisters) and our youngest nephew and niece, Joshua and Briana... we all enjoyed ice cream and walk along Takapuna beach.