Our return to Dunedin

As some of you will know (from the post on Nov 12) we are returning to Dunedin. How did this come about? When we left Dunedin we were fully expecting to "emigrate" to Christchurch and we were willing to say, "good bye", to a wonderful home. with a self contained flat. A flat that we had hoped we could make available to those from out of town who have relatives in hospital. Our thinking was that, "perhaps we could pursue this dream in CHCH in the future?"

The time came when, if we were to stay in CHCH, we needed to put our house on the market. As we came to sell the house we needed to set a reserve and we prayed about this gaining a real peace about where we were to set it. We knew this was going to be a fleece as far as we were concerned in terms of God's will for us: if he wanted us to stay in CHCH then the house would need to sell (no problem for him) and if he wanted us back in Dunedin then the house would not sell.

All was fine until I (Blair) heard a message at Spreydon Baptist Church by Mike Duncan (some of you may know him from his time with Servants). His message was summed up for me by the comment he made, "Live the dream - are you living the dream?" The context of this would take too long to explain here. As I considered this in the context of his whole message, I believed strongly his message was clearly for us, so I got the CD and left it for Ann, "listen to this and tell me what you think." To cut a long story short we both agreed that God could be saying return to Dunedin even before the auction. What to do? We agreed it was important that we follow through on the auction.

In the mean time we began to think about the flat as a ministry and a business. You can imagine our excitement when we noticed that the speaker for the coming week at Spreydon was speaking on, "Business as Mission" not just business for mission. I was amazed at the timing of all of this and how things were dovetailing together. What nailed it for me was when the speaker, Peter Shaukat Business As Mission finished by asking, "will you serve God wherever, whenever and however?"

Why was Peter Shaukat's closing statement so significant for me? Just before I left Galmi Hospital in West Africa, back in 1990, God asked a very specific question of me as plain as day - "Will you serve me wherever, whenever, however and with whomever?" In all the years I have been back I have never once heard a message where the same phrase has been used. When I head these words I was stunned. For me this was conclusive that our return was of God: God saying that our thoughts re the flat is not just of Ann (it has been a long term dream for Ann to be able to do this) but that this is clearly of God and is for both of us.


We have no regrets about coming to CHCH and believe it was God's leading that brought us here. We have loved our time in this family friendly city and will find it hard to leave, especially the neighbourhood of Gilders Grove, it is like none other. The kids have so much freedom to roam safely and have such good friends in the street. But, we also have a real peace and in fact a sense of excitement, about returning. In our time here we have learned much and done heaps. We have also had the time and space to think. As one friend put it to us, "perhaps this time was meant as a sabbatical for you?" This is how we now see it.

December 2007

Amateur Philosopher!

As some of you may already know we are moving back to Dunedin!! I'd need to do another blog to tell the story of how this came about. The night we were telling the kids that this is what was going to happen Samuel came out with a classic comment where he really nailed it!

"Well Dad, I half want to (go back) and I half don't - (sigh) I guess life's just like that."

Follow those instructions.

Having recently had the experience of assembling a somewhat over spec'd flat pack furniture computer desk, and taking three hours to do it - the instructions were a liability - I braved (along with the much appreciated help of friend Andrew and kids Sam, Alana and Samuel) the assembly of the swing set. This had been generously given to us for use.

So, what did we do but choose one of the coldest and as it turned out dampest Saturdays to do it. All was going well when we broke for lunch. The mainframe was up and so was the swing. After exceptionally delicious soup of Ann's and fantastic coffee from Andrew and Lorraine, a local roast from beans sourced in Thailand at a price that has enabled the growers to stop growing opium, the next phase did not go quite so smoothly. It looked as if we were going to be thwarted at the final hurdle when it came to fitting the seats: big generally does not fit into small, metal into plastic is always a reason for caution and with these two combined with near freezing temperatures we were getting desperate when Andrew made the great Kiwi bloke suggestion of breaking off the offending part of the seat, afterall as far as we could see it was unnecessary and only in the way! What great advice! The seats fitted beautifully. Kids happily tested it out with smiles all round.

Thanks guys for your help and generosity.

The Move Up

Thankfully a really good friend (Hilary) of Craig and Hilary took the kids the day we had the movers come in. It was great to have this support but unfortunately Ann still had to battle a migraine that day which stopped us driving to CHCH that night.

The packers were very slow to move us out. Get the women to pack and the boys to drive I say.

Rained the day we moved out and it rained the day we moved in.

After calling every Motel in Dunedin I finally found a place for us to stay.

We had great friends of ours who put us up on their orchard for 2 nights (and fed us for more) in the Horotane Valley while we waited for the packers who were delayed. So we had a two day wait for our gear to arrive.

As I said, it rained the day we moved in. The power was cut due to "essential maintenance!" Only two places in CHCH were without power that day and we chose one of the two with no power to move into.

Ann hurt her head badly on the car one night on the orchard when it slammed down on to her head - thankfully Ann was not concussed as was a friend of ours in a similar accident a few years ago and was unwell for a very long time.

The weekend after we moved in there was (by valley standards) a solid frost and the water in our pipes froze until 11:30 on Sunday morning. It nearly froze again the next day but I got up early enough to run the water and keep the pipes from freezing a second time.

However, in all of this we have seen God's hand in how he has provided for us. The kids love their school even though it is very large. Samuel came home and said, "two thumbs up Dad!" Alana loves it two but was much more apprehensive. We visited before the kids started at school and when we did their were a couple girls playing netball who said a very cheery, "hello" to us as we arrived.

The grove where we live is amazing. What better way to get to know your neighbours than be in need from the day you arrive with no power, now water and then no washing machine because the pipes in the laundry were installed correctly. People helped with containers of water, loaning the use of their laundry and coming over with a meal.

There are lots of kids for Alana, Samuel and Danielle to play with. there is Will, "my Dad works for the richest man in the world!" His Dad, apparently is the Australasian manager for Microsoft. His sister Bella. Then there is Max who is Samuel's age roughly. And, next door, is Blake who is a little younger and a little shy. They all get out on their bikes, scooters and enjoy riding around. It just takes one to be out and they all helmet up and out they go! It is great to see them so motivated to get out.

We have been going to Grace Vineyard Church for the last 3 weeks. We have not decided on a Church yet. The kids love it and it is certainly a welcoming place. Even Danielle enjoys the creche.

One of the biggest challenges has been to find day care for Danielle. Everything is so booked up. Eventually we managed to get Danielle into Fundamentals on Ferry Road. Not to far from where we are. Danielle enjoys it - just orientating to it at present. Thankfully we have this option. Even though they are not able to give certainty for a Friday, when Ann needs to be sleeping, they have been flexible and accommodating.

We've trammed, biked, been up the Mt Cavendish Gondola 5 times. A 13 month pass costs less that two family tickets - so kind of a no 'brainer' really. Then their is the Organic Vegetarian Cafe that is just a stones throw from our door and oh, the French Bakery at the bottom of the road. Great for all sorts of goodies and for cheap daily deals.

More later about work etc....