Santa Barbara

I think today must be a nostalgic day: a great day to look back through pictures from over the last few months, and be reminded of how many amazing blessings the Lord has given to us. As you may already know, we LOVE Stephanie, our dear friend who has become like family, and whose home we are living in. A few months ago she took us on a very fun weekend of relaxation after Reuben had just completed a difficult Hebrew test. Here's some of our favourite shots from the sunny, sandy days at the sea. A great thought to hold in your heart for those of you experiencing the end of a cold winter!

Third Anniversary

Yes, it was a few months ago now (Jan 7th), but we celebrated our third
 anniversary at Disneyland!! Reuben's sister Jillian was here visiting from NZ,
so we took her and Lawrence to Disneyland, and had a great time.
Amongst all the busy-ness and demanding schedule of seminary life,
it's great to have these fun memories to look back on.

Reuben's favourite ride: Space Mountain. The front row is where all the fun is had...

...and apparently the second row just isn't exciting enough to keep Reuben awake!
The rest of us might have been hamming it up slightly...

Autopia...another Disneyland classic, with Matterhorn in the background.
True or False: the Matterhorn mountain is equipped with a
basketball court inside for the staff of the mountain to play on during their breaks?

Verity in her element: definitely my favourite ride is Goofy's Flight School... 

...it starts off by going straight up into the air, then makes a number of quick turns,
like you're learning how to steer an airplane. Because there aren't any sides on the
track OR on your car, you really feel like you could fall right off the edge! 

Ja & I had fun trying on some glitzy Mickey ears 

Another favorite ride: Thunder Mountain 

We got these cute pins from Town Hall because we were celebrating

And how cool is that: our room # was 303 for our 3rd anniversary!

The happy couple :) 

WE GIVE THANKS

Yes, it is American Thanksgiving! And with the season surrounding us, I thought I would (finally!) update you with the things that we are thankful for this year.

To start things off though, this is our "Bag of Blessings", thanks to our dear friend Karen Major. She made this for us as a Christmas present last year, and we have been filling it with things we are thankful for. At Thanksgiving each year, we are supposed to open it up and be reminded of the Lord's goodness... so here goes our first year!

*Note: there are SO many things to be thankful for that we couldn't possibly write them all down in one go, so please don't be offended if we don't have a photo of you...know that we are thankful for you all :)

The Bag of Blessings is full of reminders of how the Lord has
been faithful to us over the past year.

Giving Verity a job here...

...and here, and at Riverbend Bible Church, 

giving Reuben a job at New World grocery store (this
was his photo when he was cashier of the month!).

The Lord helped Reuben to finish his Diploma at
The Shepherd's Bible College, 

and Verity was very blessed to receive
a certificate of her own, the "PHT".

During the whole year we have been surrounded by friends,
(please note: Karen & I called ahead to make sure we would
both close our eyes in this picture. It's actually quite a stylish
thing to show off your eyelids, or so I'm told)

more friends, 

out of town friends, 

new friends,

dahhling friends...

sisters in Canada,  

and sisters in New Zealand.

Then, we waved goodbye as we stepped out in faith
on a new journey to a land far, far away... 

with a short stop along the way :) 

and we arrived to our new home in Burbank, CA!

We are immensely blessed to live in the home of Stephanie Wolcott,
who has become like family to us from the moment we met her.
Our original plan was to stay with her until we found our own
apartment, but the Lord has made it clear to both Stephanie
and us that it would be better by far to stay in her home longer.
The situation here is so ideal, and we couldn't have asked for
anything better. We have unofficially been "adopted" by
Stephanie, and we are giving thanks that we can be a mutual
blessing to eachother by our living arrangements. If this
were the only blessing in our bag this
year, it would already be overflowing.  

///Quick Flashback///
Over two years ago, Reuben and I came to visit Los Angeles
 to check out the seminary.  During this trip we stayed with
Stephanie, and she showed us all around. This is Stephanie
and I at Malibu beach, and the Lord was bonding our hearts
 together in friendship, well before we knew
 that we would one day become like family! 

///Another Flashback///
Just for fun, had to include this photo.
Same trip from 2009. Sigh... we were so young!!

We are so thankful that the Lord provided us this car for
absolutely free! This was an unexpected blessing, as we had
 already put money aside to buy a car here. We are very,
very thankful to be a two-car family.  Reuben
drives this one ("Popeye") to seminary and work (he works
part-time at the bookstore on campus). Wonder why we
named him Popeye? He is running fine, but has a few quirks,
one being that his headlights are glued on... like, with a
hot glue gun!! So you can imagine what happens to him on
a hot, sunny day above 100 degrees? Hence the name!!

Verity drives this one ("Carl") for her many weekly events:
volunteering, choir practice, babysitting, Bible studies,
grocery shopping, etc, and being the tour guide for:

VISITORS!!
We are very thankful that my Mum could come down
for a visit. It was such a blessing to spend time with her,
and finally we didn't have to waste any of our precious days
 together on Jet Lag. Thankful to be on the same
 time zone as my family :) 

We are very thankful to be a part of Grace Community Church. It is a real privilege to be here...and we find ourselves here quite a bit! In case you didn't know, the church campus is where Reuben goes to school everyday, and where he works. It's quite a big campus, including a seminary, elementary school, bookstore, tons of offices, and (of course) the church! We would love to show you around if you ever come and visit :) 

I am very thankful for "SemWives", the program for all the women who are married to seminary students. Here we are trained and equipped for our future role as a pastor's wife. This is my group, we are led by Missy Mehringer and Beth Busenitz. All the ladies in this group have been a tremendous blessing in my life already.  

We are thankful for how the Lord has been helping us to grow in our marriage.

We are thankful for our new home, which includes us three girls (me, Steph and Polly),

and the two boys (Reuben and Sailor). 

Even this Thanksgiving Dinner which we will enjoy on
Thursday night  is a blessing from the Lord. 

 We pray that you also will give thanks to God our Creator for all His provisions. The greatest thing He has given us was the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. More than 2,000 years ago the Lord Jesus died on the cross as a punishment for sin... this is the most gracious and generous gift anyone could ever receive! God made Christ (who knew no sin) to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God (from 2 Cor 5:21). He paid the penalty for us, so that we could be made right with God. Have you thanked Him for this gift? 

Hebrew Head Start

Wow - We are so thankful that we took this class!

Last week we went to seminary each morning for this optional class, designed to reduce the number of Hebrew drop-outs.  This was so very helpful for Reuben, and it's given us a basic understanding of the building blocks we need to learn Hebrew.  We learned how to read, write and pronounce all the letters; also to decipher the vowel pointings, and became familiar with some of the most common prepositions.

The class was taught by one of the current seminary students, and this was the first year they offered it.  Our vote: Two Thumbs Up!  This was definitely helpful, as it took the mystery out of these strange and unfamiliar Hebrew letters, and gave us something to work on before classes officially start.

The student who taught it also gave us some very practical insights into good studying habits, and how to develop a studying strategy incorporating all three different learning styles. 

One idea he suggested was to have a "studying scent" (like a candle or diffuser) going while you memorize things, because your sense of smell is very strongly connected to your ability to recall information.  Hmmm, we thought, does this sound a bit hokey?  Maybe.  But if it will help, we might as well give it a try! 

So, after a quick trip to our local Bath&Body Works, Reuben's studying den (aka: "man cave") currently smells of freshly baked apple crumble... at the risk of his appetite being over-stimulated!!

But we do have one question... What will his professors think when, during a test, Reuben whips out a lighter and a votive candle?? (hee hee!)

YES! We made it!

Hi all

We are very happy to report that the Lord has brought us safely to our new "home" in California, and our travels went smoothly.  Because a lot has happened, this post will have a few sections - sorry it's so long!

Starting with the farewell: After leaving our church family at Riverbend on Sunday, 10 July, we were farewelled at the Napier airport later that afternoon.  Thank you so much for coming out to show your love and support, we really appreciate you making the effort to come out.  It seemed like we were the last passengers to board the plane, but a few minutes after we boarded another male passenger came and sat in front of us.  He was dressed very casually, but I noticed the air hostess looked a little nervous when he came in.  When we arrived in Auckland we saw an entourage of black cars and security guards for this man... and realized it was John Key, our Prime Minister who was sitting in front of us in the plane!  How funny, we had both recognized his face but didn't say anything because we didn't think it would really be him.  I have a funny feeling that this occurance was one of those "only in New Zealand" things, and the president probably travels a little differently in America :)

We had a lovely farewell dessert evening with the Pickering side of the family.  Reuben's sisters organized an extended family gathering, which was a real blessing to us.  Gluten-free brownies were on the menu, both dark and white chocolate ones, thanks to cousin Katie.  I'll have to get the recipe, they were delicious.  Check out the cute cake Ja and Kirstie made! 

Jet planes around the outside to show the direction of our travels... from Kiwi land to Fiji palm trees, to the USA

Some of the family at the dessert evening.  Ja and Kirst made the house look awesome with red, white and blue decorations

Ja and Kirst waving goodbye from the upstairs, after we went through International Departures.  Our niece and nephew were also waving us off (the older two were at school).

After some "baggage issues" we made it to Fiji, with all our luggage... thanks to the Lord's help.  Fiji was very fun!  It was hot and humid, just as expected, and we really enjoying having a day to relax and enjoy a tropical climate with all the different sights and sounds and smells.  We knew our hotel was close to the airport, but when we got there we were surprised to find it was actually right across the street!  (Talk about location...very convenient if we ever need to fly somewhere one day, ha ha- The Castle)



Dinner at our hotel right after we flew in.  Reuben had something with shrimp, and I went for a fish and coconut milk curry with cassava root.  Very unique, but tasty!




This was the pool view out of our window.  We enjoyed swimming there, and using the waterslide!!



We definitely ate our fill of fresh papaya with lime juice.  mmmmm!



Here's us having lunch at a nice restaurant at Port Denerau.  In Fiji it will often start out sunny then pour with rain for a while in the afternoon, hence the foreboding clouds in the background!

 LA has been cooler than Fiji, and drier which makes it more bearable.  We took a FlyAway bus from LAX to where our dear, dear friend Stephanie picked us up.  We have been amazed by her love and hospitality.  Our setup here is ideal, her house is in Burbank which is such a nice neighbourhood and very close to church/seminary.  She is in the middle of renovations in the kitchen and bathroom, which is going to look great when it's all done.  Reuben has a dedicated study area downstairs which we have nicknamed "the man cave" and Stephanie and I need to say the password before we enter (just kidding!).  It stays nice and cool down there which will be very helpful for Rube to stay alert during these hot days. 

A huge blessing to us has been that our dear friends from NZ (the Shailers and the Majors) have been in LA at the same time as us, both for different reasons.  It's made it such an easy transition because we feel like we're still at home when they're around!  We've been "busy holidaying" with the Majors - it's been a blast.  We've gone to Disneyland, California Adventure, Universal Studios, San Francisco Zoo, outlet shopping, mixed in with much swimming to try and stay cool.  Somehow my camera stayed in the backpack for most of those days - sorry!  Such a shame :(

We still have a number of logistical things to get organized before we feel like we're really settled here, but we are thankful to the Lord that He provided a car for us to help us get around!  A family at GCC has offered for us to borrow this car for as long as we need it, which is a great help.  It's a standard (manual) so I'm not confident to drive it, so we may have to look out for an automatic... unless I miraculously improve! 

We have also got phone numbers now - email us if you'd like to get them, we'd love to hear from you.  We can receive international calls for free :)

We would really appreciate your prayers as we start to make a home in this new place.  Pray for Reuben to find a job, and for mental clarity and focus for his studies.  An introduction class for Hebrew starts on August 8th, and Orientation starts on August 22nd. 

Lord willing, more to come!

Countdown to Seminary

We are in the final weeks now!  Only three weeks until we arrive in LA.  Just in case you're wondering what our travel plans are:

Sunday, 10 July - final Sunday at Riverbend Bible Church.  We fly to Auckland at 3:15 pm, staying with our family for two nights before heading out.

Tuesday, 12 July - 1:00 pm flying to Nadi on Air Pacific.  We get to spend a night in Fiji, just for fun!  Well actually, the Lord provided these flights for us at an amazing deal of half price of what it would've been if we didn't stay overnight.  Who could say no to a night on a tropical island??  We made sure to get a hotel with a pool and a waterslide (yippeee!)

Wednesday, 13 July - Fly to Los Angeles on Air Pacific.  We leave Fiji at 10:15 pm, and arrive in LA at 1:20 pm... within an hour of the Majors (our NZ friends/"family") who are flying direct on Air New Zealand.

It feels so strange to be packing up, moving, selling our posessions... but to be honest, it really hasn't sunk in yet.  I don't think we'll realize it's happened until we're actually in the air, flying away from the South Pacific.  Please pray for us over the next few weeks as we go through many good-byes to dear friends and family.  We need God's help each day, so please pray for us.  What a blessing that His mercies are new every morning.  Great is His faithfulness!

A Beautiful Wedding

One month ago, Reuben & I had the privilege of attending my sister Hilly's wedding in Portland, OR.  Hilly married Nick on the 7th of May, and it was such a special day for all.  I'm sure the photographer took hundreds of photos on the day, but we are still waiting to see them!  Here's one to give you an idea, because the first question always is: What colour were your dresses?  As you can see, Hilly chose a smattering of bright, springy colours to brighten up the Portland spring (ha ha!)

Thanks, Nick and Hill, for letting us share in your special day.  We love you very much :)

L-R: Lizzy (Hill's friend from WA), Kitty (our eldest sister), Hilly (the baby!), me, Megan (Hill's best friend frrom Canada), and Mandy (Hilly's new "sister" in WA)