Capture life 365–week 52 a.k.a I’ve finally made it!

Christmas morning love – sibling hugs and gifts!Christmas day spent with both sides of our family – what a treat to have my mum & brother, Petes mum, stepdad, sister and niece to celebrate with!Happy mum, happy son!Looking at Grans new toy and working out how to do selfies.

Enjoying the kiwi summer – picnic dinners and swims at the beach with family and friendsBFF’s reunited!Serenaded by the sounds of a band playing on the back of a boat in the harbour while enjoying fish and chips at the beach.

Bush walks and eeling in the reserve next to where we were staying.

Making up for lost time at the library. Nerdy or not, we don’t care. We MISS the library!

It feels kinda weird to be at the end of my Capture Life 365 project.  An anti-climax of sorts, like there should at least be some fantastic, super meaningful picture to end with, but instead it’s my kids and their library books.

I started it with the goal of capturing small glimpses of the here and now. Intentionally recording the messy, hard, joyous, mundane, impossible and downright beautiful chaos that is my life. Everyday. In 365 pictures over 365 days, I wanted to try to capture what this season in my life looks like. I wanted to find the joy in the mess, the good in the hard and the beauty in the mundane.

If I had a grand finale photo it might almost seem like there is nothing more worth capturing, but instead, even as I soon face a new season of children leaving home, whether I continue to capture it or not, the ‘here and now’ continues, and I will choose to be fully present in it always looking for the joy, the good and the beauty. To see God at work in the mess, the hard and the mundane. Living life, 365.

Capture life 365–week 51

Hello NZ quirkiness – we’ve missed you! We found these decorated pianos all over our old hometown inviting people to sit and play a while.

We arrived back in time to join in with our good homeschooling friends end of year prizegiving – Lily got her first certificate in four years. Obviously a bit unsure as to what to do when someone puts their hand out to shake!

Jetlag taking its toll on Pete!

Backyard woodfired pizza with the cuzzies before getting into the Christmas spirit with a Christmas concert in the park.

Cousins happy to be together again!We’re all having so much fun in the rain…Kiwis know how to stick it out! Staying until someone finally makes the decision to call it off!

Enjoying things we often take for granted, kids going on a bike ride. Something that’s not an option for us in Uganda. Soaking it up while we can.

Christmas lights trail with friends. Santa said “I can do cool!” when the teenagers didn’t want their photo taken with him. Yes, Santa – you most definitely can!

While walking back to the van, I thought I’d photo bomb the teens we’d come with. Confidently shouting ‘photobomb’ as they took a photo, before falling onto the group and proudly telling my friend I’d just got them good, Riana informed me that it was a group of total strangers I’d ‘got’. According to Riana, the shocked and confused looks on their faces was worth my embarrassment! In my defence, it was dark.

Capture life 365–week 50

After only a short 3 month blog absence, I’m back determined to complete my Capture Life 365 posts before moving on to any other blogging! Obviously these next three posts happened in the last weeks of 2014 which I’m aware most people will have now moved on from! Though for the sake of having a complete years worth of posts – and my kids telling me I have to post them, here they are – for my kids!After picking up and dropping off many people over the last few years, it was finally OUR turn to go through the terminal doors!!Yes, we were just a little bit excited! Note the hostess in the background looking all official and not anywhere near as excited as us, this was taken before she went to sleep down the back, allowing Charlotte to pretend to be an air hostess and take our drink orders then go get them for us!Dawn breaking over India…

We scoured the Internet for the absolutely cheapest flight deal possible, which meant a 50+ hour trip, five different airports, taking all our luggage off in Thailand, then re-checking in with another airline later in the day. The sleeping hostesses goes to show you get what you pay for! To make the trip a little less taxing on everyone and to give some time for the family to process the last 2 1/2 years on the field we decided to take a few days in Thailand since we had to get off there anyway.

We found an absolute gem of a place, perfect for what we needed - a retreat centre for Christian cross cultural workers on a low budget. We couldn’t recommend Juniper Tree highly enough!

All our luggage went missing on our Ethiopian Airlines flight, however after enjoying some travels of their own, our bags were found and returned to us 36 hours later!First time in the ocean after 2 1/2 years!Was just a little blustery!Drew obliged me by climbing the coconut palm to pick me a fresh coconut!One of the great things about staying at Juniper Tree was meeting christian workers from all around the world. We met this awesome family from the UK and our girls became quick friends!Back in another airport, we found the best bathroom ever! You could actually rate your toileting experience! That alone made us want to give them an ‘excellent’ rating! Suvarnabhumi Airport - your bathrooms rock!

Capture life 365–week 49

Images from our week. Several weeks ago!

Don’t mess with Halima when she’s eating a chappatti!

Manicures and pedicures to celebrate Imuka mums on their last day of training.

Two days before flying out. Fingers still intact – just.  Apparently one of the most spectacular accidents ever. I’m surprised his injuries weren’t worse. Just some sprains, fat lip, lots of grazes & bruising and a concussion. Just what we needed before flying out!The remains of Joes glove. R.I.P.

I’ll spare you the remains of his hand!

A farewell outing with friends to a mall with a Christmas tree (the fact that it had a Christmas tree was quite exciting for us! The mall itself – not so exciting but it does have a supermarket!) Life here is full of hello’s and goodbyes. Thankful that the separation of oceans doesn’t mean the separation of friendships. It sure does make it harder though… This goodbye was to a good friend and her family who will have left Uganda by the time we get back.