Back Home Again!

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Well, we arrived back home physically last Monday night at about 10:00 pm and are waiting to catch up mentally. We had a few hectic days but a nice Thanksgiving with Glenn at home. Our refrigerator died while we were gone and it was a challenge to get one delivered by Wednesday afternoon so we could go shopping and actually have some food inthe house.

Our whole trip was wonderful. Last Saturday, we were on an hour's bush walk up in the foothills above Auckland called the Waitakere's. Chrissy did so well. We weren't walking quickly, but she was able to go the whole way. Our friend, Anne, took us and Chrissy did something that reminded her of when we were there and Anne just got all teary-eyed to think we were together again. Last Sunday, we were enjoying a barbecue outside and actually a little too warm. It sounds impossible after this cold week at home.
On looking back at the whole time, we are just so thankful and so blessed to have been able to renew so many of our friendships from long ago. We got to see everyone that we intended to and were available. One very special blessing for me was that so many people had such fun and loving memories of our son John and wanted to share them with us. He was 10 when we moved to NZ and came back to the States when he was 18. One fellow even remembered when our daughter Peggy joined his class when they were eight years old and was so happy to see us again.
The country is wonderfully scenic and certainly worth the trip to see the beauty of nature, but we went to see our friends and this was a precious and lovely trip that will encourage us for a long time to come. We hope to go back again before 20+ years have elapsed. We are not planning on 2011 since they got the venue for the World Cup for Rugby and it will be a little too crowd ed for regular visitors. Haere Ra, New Zealand!

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