NZ Dad in rare form . . . Guess he's feeling better!

Your kind offer has been accepted re putting you to work:

Now here is the list of your chores – Wash house – wash windows – prune trees – do gardening – make dinner – pour me a beer on demand – scrub………………….( sorry just kidding ).

Hi Chrissie

Excuse my sense of humour but I couldn’t resist it!! Only 16 days to go and we are looking forward to it as well. When you get here arrange time with Margaret and Graham to suit their schedule.

As for me, well I went to the NS Hospital Outpatients Clinic on Friday 24th, to see the Cardiologist and he said that I would not be going back to work for another 3 weeks. He wants to do an echocardiogram to check the damage to the heart, and for further blockages as the 60% blockage was not in the other stent but in a smaller artery.

Apart from all that I am feeling better than I did last week. I have been for short walks, walks on the beaches, short drives, shopping, light gardening, reading, plus drinking and partying into the early hours.

Love from us both
Bruce and Alison

PS

The weather is unseasonably cold in the SI and particularly at night, even in Auckland, so would suggest that you bring something warm to wear.

If you don’t we can probably give you something to wear, but it may not fit your build. Hey, if your not fashion conscious what does it matter, at least you will be warm.

The Road to Closure

After my trip to Scotland & London, I realized that I'd shut a part of myself off- I was raised in a Christian home and led a rather "charmed" life all through High school & College. Natalie's death was something unexpected- something "cruel" of God to "allow" and since I couldn't quite reconcile God's reasoning behind allowing his child to die so young . . . and maybe before she could make a choice to give her life to Christ . . . I had to start asking questions about my own faith that I hoped would never come.

That same year I experienced more loss in other ways and found it difficult to lean on that simple faith I'd had as a child. What were all of these doubts and disappointments doing in me? Where did all that stability in my friends and my church go? I started to understand the frustration with doubt others had talked about my whole life but I couldn't relate to-- so I asked God to grow me up. I wasn't sure He'd take me seriously to be honest, and I didn't expect much of Him.

In 2004, I was back on a plane headed to the South Pacific. Jaime and I had promised each other we'd go together when she graduated from Grad school, and I almost didn't take the trip. But, after another significant "loss" in my life, the opportunity to travel again presented itself. I was on my way to the Cook Islands, Fiji, and New Zealand with my sister, cousin, and two friends.

New Zealand was our shortest stay during our adventurous four weeks away, but as the rest of the girls flew on to our last stop, Hawaii, I stayed behind with the Vedders for two extra days and it afforded me that closure I desperately needed to come to terms with Natalie's death.

I stayed in the same house that I did so many years ago with Natalie, and although SO much had changed, it was as if I'd only been gone a short time. I spent quality time with Margaret (Nat's Mum) and she and I went through a box of her stuff together for the first time. We came across all the letters I'd written her, and a few gifts I'd sent. Interestingly enough, it was good to see it all again, and it allowed me to realize that it is a part of my past- a good part, but I didn't have to hold on to that mourning in order to remember that I loved her.

Bruce took me to see Nat's grave a final time right before I left NZ, and I thought about how much I'd come to know and love her family and Chris over the past several years because of our rather brief friendship. Her parents accept me into their home now as a daughter - not just a passing visitor, and during my stay there I didn't feel that absence of "her" that I expected- although I of course wished she could have been with us. When I left her grave site before my flight I also left that burden I'd held onto since the day I got that horrible news, and I literally felt like a new person with an enormous world of opportunities ahead of me. Nat's death now represents the birth of so many things- especially that year . . . but I know that along with such an amazing bond with a family of Kiwi's, God has used this journey to "grow me up" in my faith, and love for Him, and he's also touched Bruce's heart with a true relationship with Christ. The change in Nat's Dad was so evident when I went back, and it's so encouraging to have witnessed that change even after so many tragedies divided that family.

Maybe it sounds dramatic or strange, but I think that day in High School when I prayed for God to "help me pick the right girl" -it was a much bigger prayer than I could have realized, and there is no doubt that God answered it in His own sovereign way. Even if all of the reasons behind it are not for me to ever fully understand.

Since my last visit in 2004, Margaret had a stroke (of which she is almost fully recovered), and recently Bruce had yet another heart attack (and is now recovering at home). I look forward to spending the Holidays with my NZ family this year, and never take the time we have together for granted.

My trip is only weeks away now, and there is a mix of nervousness and excitement.

Lord, help me to serve this family the way you'd have me to. Prepare the way. Amen.