Christmas Goodies

Thanks to those of you who have sent us Christmas greetings, Leslie and Brad. We loved getting greetings from home and Korea! Leslie, the Kemps were quite thrilled their name was on the letter too. Dad and Jan sent us some homemade Christmas goodies. Needless to say, we were all very excited about that. Dad was pretty sure we weren't going to making any of our own this year, and he was right. We make just what we can right now.

If you have a webcam, we can chat now. I have some of your screennames for AIM or Skype. There are some I don't....JANET SYLER. I need yours and anyone else's who wants to video chat. :-)

Internet is up!!

Click here for pictures

Here's a link to the pictures I took. I tried to explain everything on the pages. 

If you don't already know this, you dial 011 to dial out of the country. So, you'd dial that in front of what i've already posted.

Let's see...what's happened since our last post....we got our first sunburns here. It was Sunday at the park. neither of us were burnt bad. jer's are still there. they're on his shins...what's funny is he was wearing long hiking socks...so it's only like half  his shin. :-)  i've also started in on our gardens. i only finished a very small section that was full of weeds and dead stuff and had to be trimmed back b/c it was starting to come down and onto the driveway creating new soil for weeds to grow in. i hurt pretty bad today. lots of bending over. our mattress comes today!! very excited about that. we have been using one that was here. we're pretty excited to get ours. this one we're using will be the guest bed. so, come one and all to visit!

home phone

+64 9 482 0079

this is our home number

still no internet

we've been in the house a week now. all is well so far. we're just trying to get all the stuff we need to play house and not overlap too much what we have coming in our shipment. That's been pushed back to arrive on the 30th. of course, that doesn't mean we'll get it that day. customs could keep it a while. we're still w/o our regular internet. they do things very strange here. they send you a letter when your phone is working (after 3-5 days) then tolling takes 3-5 days (whatever that is) then you get another letter that your DSL is working (3-5 days after all that). dumb. it's a phone company...they should just call you. they told us its not like we just flip a switch...to which jeremy and jeremy said, "yeah, it kinda is". there's no cable yet in our auckland, so we didn't have that option. all this said means that i can't upload photos yet. our mobile internet can't do that much.

we're getting used to hanging out clothes on the clothes line. we have a dryer, but try to use it as little as possible. the washing machine takes an hour to run. crazy. the washer's bigger than the dryer too, so if i did need to dry something, i either do a smaller wash load or split the load in half. that's kinda funny.

dad sent us two boxes that i left for them to send with our stuff. one arrived two days ago, the other we're still waiting on. there's still time left today. it's just funny. 

jer's really liking nz. i'm really happy about that. i wasn't worried about it, but it's nice to know that he does like it. we're doing good driving on the other side of the street. we've only turned on the wipers instead of the turn signal once each. :-)  when i visited last time, i did it like every other time. it was a big deal to go a whole day w/o turning on the wipers. :-) 

we've gone to a picnic with the church here last sunday. this sunday we're doing it again. it's a cool little beach place about 45 mins north of here called shakespear park. you can see the auckland skyline in the distance. i guess that's about it for now. i'm adding pages to my pictures so that there will be plenty to upload when i get the ability. :-)  have a nice day!

Edit phone number

Edit on the phone number. You have to take out the first zero; apparently it's for in country use only. so the current number is...

(64) 21-027-565-74

House

i was going to post pics and movies from the trip tonight, but it won't upload the webpages i made for them. so you'll have to wait until we get into the new house we got! yes, that's right a house. it's a rental. we're sharing it with the kemps. it's huge and overlooks the sea. we're all pretty excited. here's our new address

17 Sea Vista Ave.

Beach Haven, Auckland 0626

New Zealand

We'll also be getting a home phone or skype number or something. I'll post that when it happens. that mobile number i posted earlier might give you less calling time on a calling card. they like to do that. they do mobiles and internet so funny here. maybe i'll explain that later when my computer is up and running. talk to y'all later.

Home

We're trying to find a home. It's crazy. We want to get a house. It's cheaper to get a mortgage than to rent. The only problem is we don't have enough for a down payment. So, unless you have some extra money hanging around you want to loan us.....

Arrived

We're here. I'll do pics and what not when we get set up more with Internet. I'm at someone else's house right now. Here's our mobile number if you feel like calling. 64 21 027 565 74. 64 is the country code.

Farewell Tour

We are well into our farewell tour. We got to Cabot safely Sunday night. We will be here until Friday morning. We are getting to see Craig, Sarah, and the kids in Searcy tonight. We're pretty excited about that. I also hope to see Gordon and Mama Jane who took me to NZ in college today. His retirement party is this afternoon. Friday, we will be heading to see Rebecca (Jer's sister), Matthew, and Audrey. Then Saturday, we'll go to Waco to see Jer's parents. Then Monday, we're off. Monday morning is our flight to LA. Most of you will be in bed when we fly out of LA, so say a prayer for us before you go to sleep. I think we fly out 9 something pm California time. We appreciate all you guys have done for us. We'll probably be in Auckland when you see another post. Maybe I can figure out how to do a video to put on here. :-) Jer will be working with Kerusso still when we move, so he doesn't have to look for a job. Yea!! We will have our cell phone until we leave, so feel free to call us. Love you all!

packing packing and more packing

i'm sure everyone wants an update.  well, jer's working and i'm packing.  that's about it. a few farewell dinners thrown in the middle somewhere.  this past saturday, we took a break from packing and joined a crew cleaning up (raking leaves, leveling ground, sawing branches) a trail to a small pivot rock. that was fun. we were very sore the next day. the 95 year old woman who owns the land, showed everyone up.  she doesn't have plumbing.  isn't that interesting?  she only got electricity not too long ago.  she's pretty cool.  i have everything packed that's going in the shipping container. next i pack the stuff going into storage in dad's house. i'll be cleaning house too sometime too. mom comes on wednesday to help with everything else. we have the yard sale on saturday.  crazy.  i can't believe it's this weekend. i keep feeling like everyday is thursday or friday too.  it's not cool. i guess that's it for now.  

2 weekends

Last weekend, we started our farewell tour in OK seeing our friends Bobby and Lisa. We stayed with Lisa's parents. They are the midway point between us. They were fabulous hosts and have a fabulous house on the lake. We went for a walk along the shore where we found an arrow head.  that was cool. i don't know where jer put it, but we should still have it. lisa's dad also drove us around the lake on his boat. it was fun looking at all the trees and houses around. apparently it's also fun to chase pelicans. :-)

2 Weekends ago, we took a hike with Jer's boss and some of her friends to Hawk's Beak. it's one of those places you've seen pictures of but never been to. This is where all those Arkansas pictures on billboards and magazines are taken.  You know the one on the rock outcrop with 2-3 people standing on it.  well, let me tell you, it's a pain to get to.  not the hiking part, but the rocky dirt road up to it. one of the trucks shredded her tire, but the driver didn't know it until just before she parked. it's a good thing our little car didn't have to drive that.

People really don't know

So, we've started calling utilities and setting up cancellation dates. jeremy had a funny (funny in a sad way) situation where the woman asked if nz was cold.  jer was like, "well, it can be...." and she said, "isn't by alaska?" jeremy explained it was near australia and informed her that it is warm there giving her references to the outback and movies that referred to it, like crocodile dundee. all i could do was shake my head.

i had a man asked me if i would adopt him as a grandpa and take him. he went on and on about adopting him how he's nice and takes care of his grandchildren. so i commented that his actual grandchildren might miss him.  that didn't deter him.  

it has been nice to tell the dish and telephone people that we're leaving the country. it makes it so much easier to cancel b/c they don't try to get you just to transfer your service.  ah, the fun of moving...

NZ or bust!

The time has come! We are leaving this country on Nov 24. On the 17th we start our tour de familia. Those who are in the vicinity can see us during this passage. We first head to Cabot, then Longview, then Waco. We will drive ourselves to DFW on the morning of the 24th. Any questions?

How old do you think I am?

So, i'm walking thru walmart on saturday, and there's a samples lady from garnier nutrise or whatever it's called. she says something and hands me a sample and says "you'll love it!" i was in a hurry, so i took it and stuck it in my purse to look at it later. i look at it and it's a deep wrinkle thing. what was she thinking?! how old do i look? i know i'm starting to get those lines around my eyes and my neck and collar bone look old, but come on ....there's no way she saw any deep wrinkles on me!

MIssy

for those of you harding people who haven't read lora's blog:

Missy is pregnant!!

she's due in mid-march and will find out the sex nov. 6

pictures

me in the cave.

Did you know that there's not really a black panther? it's a black leopard.

funny goat that spent the whole time in the trough(sp?).

there were lots of tigers.  we like tigers. there was a really cute baby tiger too.

uncle dave and zach in the cave.

Lions and Tigers and Caves, OH MY!

last weekend, jer's uncle david and his son zach (10 years old) came to see us. friday, dave, zach, and i went to turpentine creek wildlife refuge to see the big cats. it was fun. we kept threatening to feed zach to the cats. he didn't seem to think that was a good idea. i can't imagine why. :-) on saturday, we went to silver dollar city then stayed in a hotel that had a water park. much fun was had that day. while at silver dollar city, we went thru the cave that started the park. that was cool. sunday, jer and i got to spend some time with jer's aunt cheri and uncle brian, who just happened to be at silver dollar city that weekend too. we went to a church service at the park, then enjoyed a nice lunch before they had to head back home. after that jer and i went to a chainsaw carving contest at the titanic museum. we bought dad's christmas present. i'll post pictures of that later, i have to do some treating of the wood. it is bigger than our car. imagine that! i ended up sitting/guarding the piece while jer went to walmart to get a tarp and buggy cords to strap it to the back of our seats. it was great. it looked like it was going to rain. thank goodness it didn't!  well, i tried to upload pics, but it's not doing it. so, i'll try again later.

Eric

For those who haven't seen Eric for a while. He posted this not too long ago on Facebook.

Great Grandpa

I stole this photo from Aunt Carol's blog. I just thought it was cool. My Great-Grandfather was admitted to the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame. Is that not cool?

Vet Day

Today was Vet day for June. She wasn't too thrilled with it, but is doing good. She got her vaccinations and a good looking over. She weighs 11lbs 4 ounces. The vet in KS never weighed her, so when the new vet asked questions about things, I had no clue. I don't know what all shots he gave her. I don't know if her weight is always that...although I would guess it is. I did have the files faxed to the new vet when i got home though. She mentioned giving her shots for Cat Leukemia and AIDS too. I didn't know what to say to that. She said it was for outside cats. June goes outside sometimes. June also has some sort of allergy...possibly to fleas. she couldn't get a shot for that yet. it has to be at least a week after vaccines. it's not bad though, so we'll do it if it continues to give her bumps/scabs. everyone at the vet loved june and her little backpack we carry her in. it's so much easier than chancing her jumping out of my arms and she can hide in it when she's scared (all the time when not at home). it's also easier for getting to the car and back. She can't run out and hide under the seat where I can't get her out. her harness attaches to the clip inside the bag, so if she jumps, she can't go anywhere. yea for happy healthy cats!

Birthday Gifts

This is the gifts from dad. 3 puzzle books!
This is what he chose to stuff the box with. I think he went down the Halloween candy isle at Walmart and chose several bags, then decided to get some good nuts and chocolate covered almonds. Yummy. And he admitted to trying to make me fat. :-)
This is the 3 dvd disc set of Anne of Green Gables series that mom got me.
This is the recipe book that my mother-in-law gave me. It's cute and has plenty of room left.
Ok, this is my new ipod. It's orange if you can't tell from the photo. It's actually a graduation present from jer. I just got it today though. we were waiting for the newest ones that were came out a couple of weeks ago. edit: He put an engraving on the back that says "What can I say? Librarians Rule!" Apparently, it's a quote from Regis.

I also got a cool game from Matthew and Rebecca (brother-in-law and sister-in-law). It's called the Settlers of Catan. We enjoyed playing it together over Labor Day weekend.

Jer is actually getting me a b-day present. I get it this weekend. It's a spa day at a local hotel in Eureka. I'm pretty excited! I've been wanting one for years. It comes at a good time too b/c i woke up with a awful crick in my neck.

And the crying in the song from yesterday's post was just b/c. i didn't want to cry, not did i actually cry. the song was just stuck in my head and if i wanted to cry, i could. it was my birthday afterall. :-)

Tomato Sauce

This is my first attempt at tomato sauce from scratch. it wasn't so great at first, but it worked out ok after i boiled out all the extra water. if anyone has any recipes for this, send them to me. Janet, jer says that you have a good one. i would like to see it. who knows, it might end up in my new recipe book that i'll be posting a picture of soon. :-)

Birthday

It's my birthday 

and i'll cry if i want to

cry if i want to

cry if i want to

you would cry too

if it happened to you

doot doo doo doo doo doo

pictures of gift to come later....today is filled with mail and work.

Kristen Scholarship Entries

Here are some of Kristen's (my youngest step-sister) photography entries for a scholarship. Go and vote on them. You remember how much work went into getting scholarships. Help her out!

Photo Shoot Out 2 Brickfish

Photo Shoot Out 2 Brickfish

Photo Shoot Out 2 Brickfish

Labor Day Weekend

Jer's sister and family joined us in Hot Springs for Labor Day weekend. We have a wonderful time. Audrey's quite the little talker. I think she enjoyed hanging out with her Uncle Jermy and Aunt Iza. Here are a few pictures of our times together.

Full moon bridge at Garvan Gardens

Rebecca, Matthew, Audrey

Jer and I

In the hotel before we left.

Mini Golf

Mid-America Science Museum

Audrey and Matthew. I missed getting the pic of Audrey doing the pumping.

Audrey and  Rebecca Dancing

How many rice bags do you weigh?

Strong man!!

Jer update

Jer's medical tests came back. 

Cholesterol is at 189 from uncountable

Triglycerides are at 150 from over 700

Yea!!

Texas and back

This is Devonte (not sure how to spell that), Shanta's son and David when we were hiking.

This is Shanta and mom when we were hiking.

Mom, David, and I at Dave's birthday party.

Shanta and David just before we left.

These are from the trip Mom and I took to Belton, TX to see my Uncle David while he's home on leave from Iraq. The other people in the pic are his girlfriend Shanta and her son Devonte. We had a good time. We also met up with my in-laws. We had dessert on Friday on the way down with Janet, and spent Sunday night at their house. It was all good. We had safe drives even in all the rain.

As you know, the olympics is almost over. We got several more medals in gymnastics, and you've probably heard about Michael Phelps' 8 gold medals. This is a new record for one game. So, cool.

Oh my goodness! Watching the Mens 800m freestyle relay.  Crazy ahead of everyone and world record line...more than 2 body lengths.  They broke the 7 mins that stood. Amazing!!  Phelps part of the team. He's been amazing the entire games. 

Mens gymnastics got a bronze as a team. That was great. They stood a chance for silver b/c Japan was slacking off, but they pulled through. It's higher than the Athens games. So, we're slowing moving up! All these men were at their first olympic games as well. 

Women's: With 2 suddenly out with ankle injuries, it lowered spirits. We ended up with Silver behind China. They've been a powerhouse in both men's and women's this year. If we had held tight in beam and floor, we might have pulled gold, but it is what it is. Silver is nothing to scoff at.

I now have 2 tickets to the passion play left, if anyone wants them.

This weekend, mom and I are going to Texas to see my uncle Dave while he's home on leave from Iraq. We're excited to see him. We will be stopping on the way down for a bit to see Jer's mom. It's good timing, I have stuff for them. This way, I don't have to send them via Rebecca. :-)

And Bobby, if you're reading this, POST!!! you're only a few months behind. Lisa, if he doesn't read this, you can tell him I said this. :-)

As of Saturday Night...

Michael Phelps has his first 2008 gold. He's a swimmer for those of you who don't know. Also, in swimming there's this 41 year old woman leading the team. Amazing!! She's been going to the Olympics since she was 17...not every time though. When she got pregnant and was swimming for health purposes, she realized she wanted to train again.  It's quite cool. She and her teammates took Silver in a relay.

If you remember the Hamm twins from 2004, you'll remember how great they were. Paul esp., he took All-Around Men's Gymnastics Gold. They were both slated to go this year, but due to injuries they are both out. Paul is replaced by Raj Bhavsar. He is awesome, and I'm very excited he gets to compete. He was bummed about not going last time or this time, but he is able to compete after all. Morgan's replacement is Alexander Artemev. He was only put in the day before the competition started. So far, the entire men's team is looking pretty good. We don't stand a gold or silver as a team or any metals all-around, but there are a few individual medals we could pick up.

On another note: Jer and I enjoyed Silver Dollar City. We rode two rides, went to the magic show, and shopped. It started raining around 2:20 and we just wanted to get a quick snack and do the cave tour at that point anyway. It was too cool for water rides in our opinion. The cave tour was temp. closed when we made our way up there, so we decided just to call it a day. So, after a wet hour, we climbed in the car and drove into Branson to go to the Coleman outlet. We needed some replacement camping gear, like stakes...ours were bent up and whatnot. Then we went to McFarlan's (McFarlands?) for dinner. It was a nice low-key meal. I got my favorite, open face roast beef sandwich and mashed potatoes. Their potatoes are too salty, but oh well. We also share two desserts, the blackberry cobbler and coconut cream pie. The cobbler was too syrupy sweet, but the pie was great. Over all, a good day. We esp. didn't mind not doing much at Silver Dollar City since we didn't pay to get in!! :-)

Olympics Time

Well, it's that time again. The Olympics!!! I have intentions of keeping updates on here for you like I did 4 years ago. I know not everyone watches. It's much easier for me this year since I have DVR!! esp. since I work on mon and tues night.

Opening Ceremony:

If you missed it, you missed something spectacular.

the birds nest stadium in general

the drums-esp the countdown

the giant LED screen on the ground

synchronized blocks that you think are hydraulics...no, no, it's human done!

the synchronized lights and fireworks OUTSIDE the stadium

total of 15,000 participants--no duplicates

great stuff!

Anniversary

Saturday is our 5th anniversary! These are the gorgeous flowers Jer sent to me at the library. Isn't he great! Of course, this meant he had to pick me up, rather than me walk home, but he was ok with that. :-) We have planned to go to Silver Dollar City to celebrate. We get in for free since I work at the Passion Play. I know that sounds cheap.  Well, we are....plus we're saving our money for a Labor Day Weekend when we vacation with Jer's sister Rebecca and family. We're pretty excited about that. 

What else has been going on? Last weekend we went to Branson and did some shopping. It was tax free weekend for school stuff, so all clothes were tax free. State tax free anyway. We had fun doing that. Jer got two new drills b/c his were dead. We also went to Red Lobster and had a scrumptious meal. Other than that our lives are pretty normal. I finished all homework...ever!! I very thrilled to be done with all that!!! 

Also, for working at the play I have 6 free comp tickets to everything except food. So, if anyone wants them, let me know. They're good through October. Lisa's parents might be claiming 2, but I will know after this weekend hopefully if that's true. You local people can go for free this year, otherwise I'd be asking everyone around me.  

Oh, liver stuff came back ok, i guess. He didn't change anything and I don't have hepatitis.(not that I thought I did...it's just the only thing i know they specifically looked for)  That's all I know. 

More stuff

Last night, we housed two young teen girls from the Young Continentals. They performed at the church building, then we (along with several other hosts) took them out for ice cream, and then came home. Let me say...I'm tired. Staying up late on a work night is not fun. Jer kept looking around everytime they got up before they fell asleep...drink, bathroom. i had to keep telling him, it's ok. :-)  wait till we have our own. that's not an invitation to start hassling me about that, btw.

Today, i had to go back to the dr. for some more blood tests. they found that my liver functions are high? don't know what that means, and they said, "it could mean lots of things." so we'll see after these results come back. pray it's nothing of importance...like changing my meds or something.

There and back again

This weekend was spent in Bryant. Jer went bowling and had the car check-up on Saturday. Later that night, we went to Corinos with Bobby and Lisa, our wonderful weekend hosts who are moving back to OK. They will now be 4 hours from us, rather than 3. :-( Sunday was worship and popluck. Then, Jer and I went to see Wayne and Janet Syler, who are a couple of people we love and miss from Bryant. Julie their daughter was home too, so we had a great chat with everyone. That night was the last youth night at Bobby and Lisa's. Wii was played and Uno. Pizza was eaten. Good times had by all. Monday was Jer's 3-month cholesterol check-up. We shall hear some time next week, probably. We're pretty confident this new medicine is working well. The Dr. was pleased with his weight loss. We also ate at Mt. Fuji for lunch. Yum. We were gonna get chicken biscuits from chick fil a, but by the time we got out of the office, breakfast was over. jer was sad. 

After I write a quick paper on my "internship", that class will be done! and only one more week of the web design class after this week. i'm excited to finally be done. there's no chance i will go for my dr. 1. i don't want more school. 2. i don't need it for what i want to do. 3. thesis. 

Library fun

These are 2 crafts that I did this week at the library. There are 2 click beetles and a ladybug. June stole the ladybug just before I took the picture, so I had to steal it back...temporarily. He used to be more red too, but the marker rubbed off. 

This is a conversation with an old lady today.

Lady: I'm from Little Rock, do y'all having any of those "Black Arthur" books.

Me: Well, I can look. Is that the series name or title....?

Lady: No, books written by black people.

To top it off, she had just talked her dr. into letting her leave the hospital a little while. She apparently was bleeding internally and might have cancer. They didn't know yet. He should NOT have let her go. She staggered in and around and kept talking about being dizzy. I offered a chair, but she said no b/c she wouldn't be able to get up. Carol Ann also saw her at the drug store before the library and she about ran into everything on the way out. Carol did not think she'd make it there. She still had to go back to the drug store. Hopefully, someone got her back to the hospital. We didn't think someone who couldn't walk straight should be driving!

Just so you know, we don't categorize our books by race. Nor do we pay much attention to the race of the AUTHORS. Good thing Carol Ann knew the names of a few black AUTHORS. I can imagine LR has a poster or something of famous black AUTHORS, but our small library has only enough walls to cover in books.

Luggage and Graduation

This is our new luggage. We were looking for a garment bag and maybe new other pieces. Well, we found a set that has a hanging garments section in each suitcase. And the rolling pieces were cheaper than the garment bag, as usual. So, here's the set we got. We don't have all the pieces in the pic, but you get the idea. We got 2 big ones. One in purple for me, and the rest of the set in green.

Also, big news! I am officially graduating in August. Then, you are welcome to call me Master Richards. HA!!

Pics

Here's Jer cooking our chicken kabobs on July 4th!

A not so good photo of me.

The only fireworks photo that came out.

Here's another pic of Blake and Cailynn. I took it off Jan's facebook. I love Blake's face in this picture!