Work Visa -- APPROVED!!!!!!

What a week!!! It started off to be such a calm week last week with a few little paperwork things to send off. One: application for a job that was intense! It was such a long thorough application just to apply. Two: Government Tax papers that I had done wrong to start with, so I was pleading my case hoping they would be kind. Not too tough to get those in on time. Well...of course as I thought that thought a little envelope comes in the mail.

Immigration NZ.

I knew it wasn't thick enough to have my passport which meant that my visa was not approved. I was right. They were holding my visa and needed 8-10 different things from us to prove that we were really married. It isn't so bad, but the fact that I had about one week to make sure I was legal, and I had already applied for jobs I was hoping to get interviews for made me almost lose it. I say "almost" because other than one moment on the phone with Amy where a few tears fell I made it through the day relatively stress free. I called people in NZ and in the States and asked them to stop their day and write a letter saying I was really married to Sam. Thank you to those of you that did that!!!! It meant so much that you were so quick to get that stuff to me. I was able to write all the things they wanted (a detailed chronological journey of our dating/married life, dates/reasons of travel since we met, short and long term goals and printed out emails back and forth....) It was quite a busy day but I managed to get it all in, print it all off and make it to the post office by 10am the next day so they would have it the next day.

Quite a stressful week, but I saw some growth in my stress levels. I let the tears come when they did and kept typing away knowing they were just tears and they would pass. This was one of those week that things felt like they were starting to come a little right. Sam worked all week with some friends, I nanny'd a few days and we both saw our goal to get out on our own within reach.

We still aren't there yet and yesterday we had a VERY long day with miscommunication and family which are never fun, but especially not when it's your new family. It will all work itself out, but even in the midst of it I again just love watching my husband and how his mind works. We have made the choice to be together and that means that we have a few things that are still being worked out...places to live, steady jobs, cars... In the 7 short months I have been married I can't imagine being married to anyone else. Getting married, moving countries, having a little emotional/relational conflict and having to get on our feet while living at my in-laws and trying to start our business has been something I think that we will look back and shake our head in wonder that we are even alive still, much less still in love with each other. But at the end of the day I married my best friend and we work hard at our friendship. We started out friends and figuring out how to make it work in Fiji and now it is fun to continue that friendship and make life work here. After all was said and done this week I was sitting on the couch next to Sam and couldn't think of anywhere else I would rather be. The details are hard, the pieces aren't always fitting together as quickly as we would like and I am so overwhelmed some days I can't even remember what day it is much less if I got anything accomplished, but we are figuring it out and we are seeing God more and more in our journey than I ever thought we would.

Now...on to getting a job that is steady and what we need. Pray with us that I find a job that is easy to get to with one or no car (depending on the day) and that Sam would have tons of work at the mechanic place he is picking up extra work at, and that we would have more and more clients. Lots to pray for, but Sam reminded me this week that we need to begin asking God and asking others to ask for God us in this season. I think I hit panic mode and am trying relentlessly to figure out how to get in our own place, get jobs, launch our business and still find money to get my gray colored!!! (by the way, thanks MOM for that little Vday gift so I can get it colored!!!) Sam was right though, we need to begin asking God again as we realize what He is doing in us and where He is leading us.

Here are some big prayers you can pray with us:

Money to get into our own place
Finding our own place
Jobs to sustain our own place :)
A car to go to our jobs that will help us sustain our own place :)
Photography work to open up for Sam in the advertising/marketing world
(Sam had an INCREDIBLE meeting with a top photographer in NZ who LOVED his works and thinks its some of the best out there right now and asked him to assist him in his upcoming projects!!!)

Thanks guys! Being far away is hard some weeks and this last week I was ready for a little old fashion "you can be what ever you want to be" & "you can achieve any dream you want" americanness. Kiwi culture doesn't give much room for chasing or following your dreams, or for the fact that they don't happen over night. Some days that part of the culture is a bit much for me to take. I talked to my mom and a couple of friends this week and was reminded that we can make it and we will make it. There is an overall "you can't make it" mentality here. That is until you do make it and then there is a new thing you can't do well. Kiwi's in general don't like to praise or allow you to think too highly of yourself. Which might not be such a bad thing sometimes, but some days I quite frankly just don't want to be "put in my place." I want to think that we will make it and believe that we will suceed far beyond what we could ever imgaine. I have to keep believing that. God created us for more than just this moment. Our dream one day would be to have the finances and "in" to get into places like Haiti and help bring the untold stories of people's lives to the world. Ond day we will do that and in the mean time we will fix cars, nanny other people's kids and work at McDonalds and even live at our in laws if we have to. I just don't want to stop believing!

I digress in passion...sorry back to Immigration and Work Visa's: I too will join the ranks of working people in NZ and start on the next portion of immigration....residency. Who would have thought??!?!

Thanks for praying with us and for the constant support in emails and messages and facebook updates and even real live letters in my mail box!!! It is so good for me to know that we have such a support system cheering for us. And if you haven't checked out Sam's site lately go take a look at his new stuff...

http://www.samuelackland.com/

So Close Yet SOOOO Far

This is how it feels to have Sea Jay and the family in Australia and me in NZ....seriously are they that close and I can't go see them ? :(

I am holding out for some amazingly cheap deal to Australia to pop up and be sent directly to my inbox...it could happen right?

In the mean time I will continue to be faithful and responsible...blah blah blah...and apply for jobs so as soon as my work visa comes in I have options. I think I applied for 20 or more jobs today!! Can't there be a job where I fly from America to NZ and hang out with people....surely someone wants that for their company, and wants to pay me top dollar. Heck I will even write stories for them and have my husband take pictures....seems like a good deal to me

right???????

Merry Christmas To Me...again!

This Christmas the gifts seem to keep coming. I told Sam today he did the perfect thing! He got me great gifts that I got to get later making them seem like another gift!

Today I finally got to get the pedicure Sam got me for Christmas. I was SO excited and was so happy to get my toes pampered for a bit.



And painted...



And then at the end I not only had pretty toes...they give you a rose!!! Can't beat that now can you?

Home Alone

I watched all 4 Home Alones this week while I was nannying....I didn't even know there was a Home Alone 4, evidently there is. And now it is Sam and my turn to be Home Alone. The lady I nanny for left for vacation this week and "let" us house sit for her. It was such a fun treat to get to have a house to our self and just enjoy being away....it's like a mini vacation for us. Her house is beautiful, with a great view and a pool. What a treat for us! There was one catch....her oldest son has a BIG Lizard and we have to feed it LIVE locust and meal worms....when I say "we" I mean Sam.



It was yet again, "perfect timing," completely unexpected, but "perfect timing." I have been thinking so much this last week about ....well about life. I find myself consumed with thoughts of "is this the life other people think I should lead?" "will people be disappointed in me?" "are people judging my decisions and finding me lacking in spirituality, love (or any other thing I think that I should be displaying at the moment)?"

This last few days, it is as if something clicked in my head. My friend Rachel started a blog and I was so excited to learn from her. She is a woman that I admire from the years I spent in LA and I was thankful that she was willing to share her life, journey and insights with people. One thing she said this last week struck me.

Now, I so wish I could say that when He (God) speaks to me, I hear, period. It doesn't always work like that for me. Most of the time, He brings things to mind on a consistent basis or speaks through others until, tada...the light bulb finally goes on.

It was such a simple line and really wasn't the crux of her thoughts that day, but all of a sudden I realized that it is that simple. It's not always easy to understand God and there are times that life seems so mixed up and confusing, but give it time and you will eventually have the light bulb moment. I just have to believe that about life....it is the part of me that has to hope for more. I think that for me the last few months I have been living this process. I keep wanting to just live the life I am living and not live what others think I should live, or more accurately what I "think" others want me to live. People pleasing seems to be hard wired inside of me and there is a brilliant side to that--I enjoy making people smile and watching people feel good about themselves after I have interacted with them. The down side...obsessive thoughts about what other's think and how I can make them not disappointed in me or my actions. This last few months I feel like the same thoughts keep coming to mind over and over again, through people, books, the Bible, in quiet moments when no one is around, even in "Friends" episodes (yes God does speak through "Friends"): Live the life in front of you.

I have expended so much energy as of late worrying about others that I think I forgot something so simple that will actually bring me what I truly want: to enjoy loving God, my husband, and my life no matter what I am walking through. An old college professor that was full of wisdom and strength, yet so gentle and compassionate said something over 10 years ago (Oh my gosh has college really been that long ago??!?!?!) that has rung in my ears all week: "Grow where you are planted." It was simple, and after all his years of life (he was in his 70's) serving people, pastoring, teaching and loving his wife that was sick he said this was the simplest of all theology. You are in the place you are in...grow in that spot.

I woke up this morning just peaceful, liking my life, happy that I get to see the man I love right when I wake up. I have loved all the experiences I have had over the years and love that I have been privileged to see so many people over the years connect to God, walk through huge life struggles and learn more about themselves and God....truly a gift from God and something that I do not deserve. With no title, no paycheck, no staff of people I oversaw, or group of volunteers I led...I saw my life as such a gift this morning, even more beautiful than all the other years combined. It was quiet and simple, yet beautiful and complex. To love another and be loved by another is a gift that not everyone will experience. I don't know what life holds for Sam and I...quite frankly I don't know what the next day holds for us most days :) But I do know this, our life is a gift. As we love each other and love those that are placed in our path--like unexpected single mom's and 3 sweet boys, we are seeing parts of God that he has chosen to share with us. In these moments we are the delight of the Father's heart and experience His delight. To be delighted in is a great feeling and the reality is that at every moment of the day it is our privilege. In the chaos of life and change for me and in the obsessive thoughts of not disappointing others I can so easily forget that. When I was 21 I heard this wise lady in her 40's say, "In your 20's you think everyone is watching you and you act accordingly. In your 30's you decide 'Forget it! Who cares if they are watching I am going to live my life.' In your 40's your realize that no one was actually watching you at all." It made me laugh and I have never seemed to forget it and when life feels like all eyes are on me I always seem to recall that and tell myself, "No matter how it feels, the reality is very little people are watching you..if anyone at all." :)

I guess at the end of the day, my sweet little Raya that shared her room with me last year has theogogy understood much more than I do...this was in her room a few weeks ago when Sea Jay found it...



This week I will choose to remember those two simple truths...and enjoy my life.

Trying to be Legal

Passport picture #315....or at least it feels that way. In the last two years between renewing my passports, extending visas & applications I feel like I'm forever taking passport pictures.

But notice one missing....that means that an application is headed to NZ Immigration with my picture on it!!!

With this application, though it means I can legally not only stay in NZ but work if my application is accepted. Turns out I had been doing the wrong visa paperwork the last two months. Agh!!! Which included stressing out about medical exams & chest x-rays that I didn't even need!

The paperwork that i actually was supposed to do was easy...guess asking immigration a little earlier would have been a little more helpful. It's just been a crazy transition & I haven't been on the ball as much as I have liked, oh well...such is life.

Technically, the application needed to be in 2 weeks ago. All we can do is pray that it will be processed faster than expected because in the words of the nice immigration lady, "You face the possibility of staying past your illegal date & could face removal."

Perfect.

Then she quickly added, "Most likely we won't take action since you have paperwork in process."

I hope so.

I'll keep you posted....

Nanny Diaries

This week I've been spending my time playing with mice, frogs, swimming,doing kitchen science projects, mini golfing, skate board racing & driving around in a "nanny car." All the while getting paid to do it!











A lady in town lost her nanny to vacation & the holidays, & my great sister in law got me the job. Three boys that are ALL boy. James comes with me most days plus one other family friend. Yesterday we all (5 kids & me) went mini golfing & to the park! It was fun & not too crazy. The oldest brother is great with the one year old so it makes it quite easy.

It was perfect timing too...which i think has more to do with changing my perspective. I'm having a pretty home sick week & to have something to distract me & help me stay connected emotionally here helps. It's easy for me to check out & just go through the motions...it's all apart of adjusting but I want to enjoy the moments here.

Changing my perspective & expectations helps in seeing things happen at the "perfect time.". Between so much change this year & feeling & trying to learn lessons of not people pleasing has left me spinning a bit. For me it's all a process & journey of mostly learning that life isn't perfect & expectations aren't bad but adjustable. When hold too tightly to my expectations I often have missed cool gifts along the way.

This week it's hanging out with three boys, next week who knows. I just want to keep learning to love, let go of things that have hurt & accept myself exactly where I am. Funny how watching carefree kids teaches you things.

Day at the Farm

One thing I know for sure...We are not farmers! Yet we do love going out to our friend Sally and Andy's land and hanging out with them.

We spent the day with them on New Years, swimming, having a BBQ and just hanging out. Then Sam and I went over to their place for Sam to do a little shooting. We are doing family pictures for them, and the kids were out playing guitar on the street at the Mount to make extra money. It was so fun to see them and it made them look like rock stars to have a photographer shooting their entire set!

We headed out to their land and showed Sam all the cool stuff to do! First we got a few pictures though...

Georgia and me...notice my gum boots (rain boots) :) and the Mount in the background...


Georgia was taking our picture but didn't quite know how to use the camera and shot this one and it made me laugh so hard I had to put it in...think I'm dramatic??? It was actually so windy I was trying to get my hair out of my face, but instead got a semi nerdy looking picture of me!


Farmin' in a sun dress and gum boots = I'm not a farmer!



Sam might be though! He was helping heard the sheep into get their bums shaved...gross! I helped a bit, but really Sally and I just squealed as they ran and JUMPED by us!



We headed to the creek for a bit and Sam took pictures, we saw trout, and eel and picked berries!



Campfire time...




Andy shaving the sheep bum!!


And of course their was a bit of a drama....Andy nicked the leg of one of the lambs and then had to stitch it up. Sam held the head why Andy stitched him up...lots of blood....Georgia and Sally and I were reading magazines why this was going on :)


All in all a fun day at the Farm, but we learned once again we are not farmers!