It's been a while...

Between being on holidays in New Zealand and not having an internet connection in the field when we got back, I have not been able to let you all in on what we've been up to.

New Zealand was pretty amazing. We hung out with some friends and travelled around the South Island. NZ has such beauty! We were awestruck time and again.

We ate lots of good food, none of which was rice or pork. New Zealand is famous for their cheap, but tasty fish & chips and their yummy ice cream which is available in any corner store (which they call a "Dairy") in multiple flavours on a cone or in a cup. I think we ate ice cream every day. It was a great chance to hang out with some friends, Brian, Helen & baby Maya.

And we just chilled. Went to the Cadbury chocolate factory in Dunedin, drank some good coffee,

And generally enjoyed being in a Western culture where we don't stand out. ...unless we're taking pictures like the one above. :)

We also chose to spend a couple of days in Singapore and also enjoyed the relaxed, beautiful and proud country that it is! We spent most of our time on an island called Sentosa, which is basically a touristy resort area, with beautiful beaches, manmade islands to swim to, and tons of things to do and see.

We went to the "Underwater World" which is a really great aquarium, saw a dolphin show and some other live animal shows. In one of them called "Close Encounters", Russ got to have an Eagle land on his hand and we both got to hold some cool parrots. Singapore's a really great place to visit - not too expensive, but really nice, clean and safe. Of course you would behave too, if you had to pay a $500 SD fine for throwing a cigarette butt onto the street!

We have plenty of other pictures from our trip, but I think they'll have to wait until we're back home for Christmas. Too many to post!

The really difficult part of this trip was knowing that I was spending an exciting holiday with my husband while my friend Rosanna's life changed drastically, in a split second, when she lost her husband. I can do nothing but thank our Lord for gifting me with each day that I have with my husband. I wished so much during that trip, and still, that I could somehow un-shatter Rosanna's life. I could never imagine Rosanna's pain and loss. I pray, my friend, that this road you are forced to walk on will somehow... I dunno... I pray that you will feel Jesus carrying you the whole way.