2012


Enjoying Matauri Bay on our 10th wedding anniversay
To say 2012 has been a life-changing year is almost an under-statement.  It is interesting to look back over the last 12 months and see how much has changed since this time last year.

Jay's first Kingfish
The year started off in a cruisy manner with continued renovations to our lounge, a great summer camp, trips to the beach & some good fishing.

Jon continued on in his job as a secondary music teacher, taking on another day per week & more students.  He also volunteered with the ambulance service (St John) and completed a few courses throughout the year to now be at a level of “First Responder.” Playing on the music team at church and renovations on our house has also kept him busy.

I was offered 2 permanent days at the same school as Jon & with my other day continuing on from last year, 3 days of work a week became my routine.   I continued to volunteer at Girl Guides, and spent considerable amounts of time on the preparation &administration of the 3 camps we have run this year.
What was put back into my body!

Early March saw us in Auckland for over a week as we completed the IVF process.  It was an interesting ride – one I wouldn’t care to repeat again.  BUT we were over-joyed and very thankful when the results came back not long after to say we were pregnant.  The rest of the year then began to fit into the different phases of pregnancy.  You can read about the whole journey on my blog at www.roofellin.blogspot.com

Bruno
We enjoyed having friends from Tauranaga come & visit us in Easter, when we enjoyed a bit of fishing & some good weather.
From the same hen??
My sister & her family came to visit us in the July holidays, and again we enjoyed some fishing and other activities.
We also had a few pets added to our family in the way of 3 chickens (fresh eggs everyday) and 1 crazy kitten/cat.
We also enjoyed spending most Saturdays during the winter watching our nephews play soccer.  It is nice to have family so close & be apart of their lives.


Happy Reunion
Spring saw us starting to prepare for the arrival of our baby, I stopped working & Jon started on the baby’s room.  It all seemed rather surreal, but on November 28th, Gabriella Ruth Grace Pirini was born.  She is an amazing and beautiful gift from God, who continues to blow us away.  At this stage we are just settling into life with her, but she is very good & is sleeping & eating well.  For a whole lot more photos of her go to http://flic.kr/s/aHsjD78wkc

Gabriella Ruth Grace Pirini -- 7lb 11
Lounge progress
As we look ahead to the next year, Jon will continue in his same job (although he will now be fulltime).  We will still aim to run 3 camps this year – see www.lonsdalechildren.blogspot.com for the reports of these camps & how God is at work there.  Our plan is also to travel in the middle of the year for about 6 weeks to both the States & Ukraine. Near the end of the year I might look at going back to work for one day a week.
Baby room progress

We look back over this year with thankfulness & glad to have so many people all over NZ & around the world who we see as family who pray & support us.
God Bless & Merry Xmas to you all

Happy New Year 2012

The demolition process
2011 ended in a rush, and to be quite honest I was quite happy to see the end of it.  It has been a good but hard year adjusting to life here in New Zealand again & working through different situations, ideas & thoughts.

New doors from inside lounge
Moving into our own house at the end of September has been good & given us a space to call our own & work on as we get the chance.  We have already taken out a wall to make our lounge bigger & put doors in where there was a window to give us access onto the existing deck.  It is a huge improvement &  makes it great for indoor/outdoor flow & enjoying the summer evenings.  We are in the process of discussing the other projects/renovating we will do with the rest of the house.

New doors onto deck
Our last camp in the October holidays went well, (click here for the report) we had a great team of adult helpers & leaders, but not as many children this time.  It was awesome to see more people buy into the vision we have & we feel excited as to how God is going to grow this.  We are in the middle of preparing for our summer camp, and again it is a roller coaster ride of getting the enough people to help out (still desperately need a cook – any takers?) and other decisions that need to be made, things to be bought etc.  Registrations are looking good at the moment & we are hopeful for a full camp.  It is amazing the different children who are coming to camp and the positive influence and difference it makes in their lives.  It is great to have positive feedback and hear their testimonies.

The rest of the school year & term ended in a blur, with extra work, exams, school Gala’s end of year break-ups, prizegivings, Christmas etc.  We were looking forward to the holidays with great expectation, and it has now been nice to potter around our place gardening and settling in properly to our house.  We head away tomorrow for a few nights break to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary – the years have flown!

My Dad playing Wii







We have had our follow-up appointment at the Fertility clinic which kick-started our IVF cycle which begins for real at the end of February.  It is with some excitement but also anxiousness/trepidation that we look forward to this process.  No doubt it will be a trying time, but whatever the outcome we are confident that God is in control and we can trust Him.

New nephew -- Isaac
The rest of the year for us looks similar to last year, although as we have now shifted into town we will not be going to the church in Pukenui that we have been attending, which also means we will no longer be  running the youth group & after-school club there.  We are not sure which church we will be going to yet, but one that is a bit closer.  We aim to make camps our focus this year, and not be involved so much in other church activities.  It is our intention to keep volunteering for Girl Guides and St Johns though.

We wish you all the best for 2012 and would love for our paths to cross this year in some way shape or form.

PS  And we are pretty thankful NZ won the rugby world cup :-)

Tonga v Canada