What a year! It is with lots of joy & good memories that
we look back on the past year. Although
it has been hard at times, we are thankful every day for the gift God has given
us in Gabriella & its amazing how much our life & photos have changed
as we have spent our first year as parents!
Aside from the normal milestones a baby will bring, our lives this past
year has been full of family, camps & an around the world trip!
We have continued running holiday camps each holidays
(expect July) and really enjoying the team that comes together each time &
the children that come & are changed.
More info, photos & our camp reports can be found on our website: www.lonsdalechildren.blogspot.com
In February we had 5 awesome days in the beautiful Opononi
with my family in our 4-yearly family reunion.
It was great to catch up with 4 of my 5 siblings & their families,
along with my parents. We enjoyed
fishing, boating & jet skiing with some great food & discussions thrown
in. I am thankful for the legacy of a
loving Christian family.
The end of June saw us taking to the skies firstly to the
States to celebrate my brother Jono’s wedding.
We spent a lovely week in Washington State (near Seattle) taking in all
American culture we could, including Independence Day complete with a great
fireworks show. It was very cool to be a
part of Jono’s wedding & really enjoyed the great US service & warm
hospitality from Marie’s family. We then travelled on to Ukraine where we
stayed in our house for a month & caught up with lots of friends &
enjoyed being back where we had lived for about 3 years.
We are still in the process of renovating parts of our house
in Kaitaia. We have completed the
lounge, guest room & Gabriella’s room.
Our summer project is to work on the new bathroom, slowly but
surely. It didn’t help that we found a
60 year old concrete fireplace in one our walls that we had to demolish! School
has been quite hard work for Jon this year, he has taken on a few extra
responsibilities which have taken up extra time & effort, especially as the
school has been without a Principal. He
is looking forward to the new year & the direction a new Principal will
bring. Playing at church has also kept
his busy, along with music students, the odd gig & perfecting his coffee
skills.
Have a great 2014 & keep in touch.
