Holiday Photos! Finally!

I am extremely excited to share with you today the photos from our trip down South. For those of you who are familiar with NZ, we stayed in Dunedin, Invercargill, Riverton, Wanaka, Haast and Hokitika in that order. So a bit of a loop around the bottom of the South island, if you like. It was a lovely time away, as you can probably see from the photos!! Unfortunately, we have hundreds (literally!) of lovely photos and I couldn't possibly upload them all. So I've done a bit of a selection for you, and hopefully you can get a bit of an idea of what we got up to. :) Let the photos begin!

Left: Jacob on one of the Moeraki boulders // Right: Lydia and I on the window seat in the place we stayed at in Dunedin

Those of us who went to see Baldwin Street (the world's steepest street!) 

This photo was too cute not to put in. Seriously. I mean, isn't Jana adorable!

Left: Johnny holding a butterfly in the tropical forest at Otago Museuem // Right: Danella and Jana in the butterfly forest, see the butterfly on Jana's head!

We walked to this amazing place called Tunnel Beach. There is a tunnel going down to the beach, which is the only accessway. The cliffs all around are colossal.

Now, on to our Invercargill time. This is Dad and I at Bluff, the southernmost part of the South Island.

Danella, Ben and Sophie enjoying a spa bath in the house we stayed at in Invercargill

On to Riverton now. Riverton is a little beach village about half an hour from Invercargill township.

Left: Looking for paua shells at Monkey Island // Right: Johnny in a random creek

Left and right: Hijinks in Riverton

There was an old train outside the Riverton museum.

Another view of the train

Daddy teaching us how to flax bomb out by the Riverton rocks where we went one evening

On the way to Wanaka we spent the day in Queenstown. This photo was taken by Abbie (which is why she's not in it) at the top of the Queenstown gondola.

Sophie and Danella in front of Lake Wakatipu

On to Wanaka now. Johnny at Puzzling World. Puzling World is awesome!

View of the Franz Josef glacier looking across Peter's Pool

On to Hokitika now. This is Johnny playing in Lake Mahinapua.

On the beach one night watching the sun set into the Hokitika sea

Left and right: The sunsets there are phenomenal!

We took the opportunity while we were in Hokitika to take some family photos, like this one. Isn't it hilarious. :)

The Hokitika Gorge, which has absolutely stunning blue water and is FREEZING cold to swim in - trust me, we know!! :) That's me on the rock in the foreground there.

Lydia swimming at Lake Kaniere in the morning

Lake Kaniere again in the evening this time, we loved it so much we went back again with a picnic tea. Here's Mum and I standing on the wharf watching Johnny, Dad and Ben jump in at once.

Cooking our sausages for our picnic tea that night

Ben shows off a 'perfectly' cooked marshmellow

That's the main highlights from our trip, shown in photos. 

I'm really excited because I managed to figure out how to get photos side by side in the post! You'll have noticed that I experimented with it a bit in the post. It takes of bit of html coding and some trial and error to get your head around it but I did it in the end. :)

What have you been up to?

Blessings

Happy birthday, Daddy!

Today I would like to say an absolutely massive happy birthday to my wonderful Dad!
I pray the Lord's richest blessings on you in this next year. You are an awesome, loving, kind father, the best I could ever hope for! :)

Again, happy birthday Daddy!
I love you so much xxxxxxx

The Second Chance

Today I'd like to tell you a story about a chap called Gerry Ponson.

Gerry was one of those guys who burned the candle at both ends. And if you asked him what he believed in, he'd say Wine, Women and Song. His sister once tried to talk to him abut God but he'd have none of it. He kicked her out of the house, called her a fruitcake.
Gerry wasn't all bad. He had a good heart. For instance, he had this old friend, Mac, whom he'd take duck hunting every year. He'd pick up Mac and his black lab Booga, about five in the morning, and they'd shove off from New Orleans in a small boat, heading to a favorite spot across the Bay.
But the last time they did that, it was almost the end of them. They got a mile off shore and were hit with a sudden, freak storm - a Nor'wester. The waves came up and started tossing their little boat like a toy.
In minutes the boat flipped, then sank in about eight feet of water.
By standing on the sunken boat, and holding onto a pole he jammed into the mud, Gerry could just keep his head above water.
Mac was not in very good health, so Gerry had to keep propping him up. "Hold on Mac," he kept shouting, trying to encourage the older man, while trying to figure out what they were going to do.
Booga the dog was swimming in circles. When he got tired, Gerry would hold him by the collar for a few minutes.
Then, finally, he said, "Mac... I can save you, but I can't save your dog."
So he shouted, "Git, Booga, Git." The dog swam away, but Gerry knew there was no way he'd make it back to shore.
There they were. It wasn't even sunrise yet and there was a heavy mist; he couldn't leave Mac behind and swim for shore - it was too far - and the likelihood of a boat coming along was slim to none.
"I'm cold, Gerry. I can't hold on," moaned Mac.
"Yes, you can," said Gerry, not at all convinced.
Gerry realised the options were bad. Real bad. Their only hope was for a boat to come down that channel - see two people out in the mist where two people are not supposed to be - and rescue them. That was a tall order and he sure wasn't a believer in miracles.
He thought about his sister and that day he called her a fruitcake. Then he looked at Mac, who was getting weaker and weaker. If they didn't get help, they were going to die for sure.
So, out of utter desperation Gerry looked up and screamed: "If you're there God... PLEASE...PLEASE GIVE ME A SECOND CHANCE."
"I'm tired, Gerry."
"Hold on, Mac."
Then, as if his eyes were deceiving him, he saw something in the mist! It looked like a cross! But it wasn't. It was the mast of a big boat!
He took his shirt off, stuck it on the pole, and waved it around, hoping and hoping that someone would see them.
They did!
The next thing he knew a man was swimming toward them... then dragging Mac back to the boat. Gerry swam alongside, amazed; he couldn't believe they were being rescued!
Then, he had the biggest surprise of his life. He saw the name on the boat. It was... SECOND CHANCE!
That day, Mac and Gerry both got a second chance. And so did Booga. When they got to shore, he was there to greet them, wagging his tail as if to say Hey, where you guys been?
It turned out that Gerry Ponson's worst day of his life was also his best day. That was the day he learned to believe in someone up there bigger than himself, the Maker of all miracles.
Ever since Gerry cried out for a second chance and a boat by that name showed up, he's been telling others his incredible story as a street preacher in New Orleans.
-Squire Rushnell, The Homecoming Magazine


Isn't that such an awesome story!

The Day I Jumped Out Of an Aeroplane

Last Monday I went skydiving. I jumped out a perfectly good aeroplane and plummeted towards the ground far below, reaching terminal velocity at around 200kph.

Now, it may seem like a very scary and maybe even a strange thing to do but it’s something I’d been wanting to do for a very long time. And I’m so glad I did it. Let me tell you all about it.

I had been wanting to go skydiving for a very long time and I decided late last year that I wanted to do it sooner rather than later. So I found a brave friend who wanted to come skydiving too and we booked our trip for Monday the 23rd of February at 9am. 

Skydiving is renowned for being a very expensive sport. But it doesn’t actually have to be too bad. I saved up for a while and we ended up doing an ‘el cheapo’ skydive—only 6000 feet, which is the lowest altitude you can do, no extra expensive professional photos or videos, and on a Monday  morning—the cheapest time of the week.

Our skydiving trip was booked for Monday the 23^rd of February at 9am. I woke up bright and early that morning, very excited and maybe just a little bit nervous. The adventure was about to begin! Unfortunately, though, our excitement was put on hold because we were all ready to go and were actually about to head off when we were phoned by a lady from Skydiving Kiwis, which is the place in Ashburton where you skydive, who told us that because there was a lot of low cloud we couldn’t do the jump! She rescheduled it for 10:30 that same day. And so we waited.

And then when we were about to leave we were once again told it was postponed because the low cloud still hadn’t lifted. The lady said she’d ring back at 12:30 and let us know what the plan was. So we ate our lunch and tried not to feel too terribly impatient and waited for the phone call. Eventually we were rung to say that it was definitely on and could we please be at the aerodrome at 2pm….for a skydive! So the family got into the van and we set off. At this point I was starting to feel quite nervous. But my emotions were mixed because we’d been waiting ALL morning for this moment and I was very excited we were finally going to jump. Or so I thought.

So were running a bit late and we got to the aerodrome at about half past two. We went inside the building and filled out a form and watched a video of someone else skydiving. The video did funny things to me. It looked like so much fun and I couldn’t wait to do it. But I think it had all seemed surreal and watching the video made it sink in – the enormity of what I was doing. I, Bonnie Joy, at the age of 16, going on 17, was about to jump out of an aeroplane. Woah!

On the wall underneath the TV they had this framed quote: “If at first you don’t succeed, don’t try skydiving.”

After the video we were told that there was still some low cloud so we had to wait. In the hangar there was a ping pong game and a pool table so we played some games for a bit and wandered around looking at everything, trying not to feel freaked out.

Filling in time - the aeroplane on the left is the one we jumped out of!

I think it was when our skydive was postponed YET AGAIN that I started to feel a lot less nervous. We were told to come back at four o’clock in the hopes that the cloud would have lifted by then. So we went to the playground in Ashburton and eventually rang Skydiving Kiwis at four to see what was happening. We were told they wanted us to go back the aerodrome. So we did, got there and discovered that This. Was. It. We were going skydiving!

There was another lady there who was skydiving from 12,000 feet high (we were only jumping at half that height.) So she went up first with all her gear on and we settled down to wait a bit longer. I didn’t mind the waiting too much because it was going to happen! Sooner than I thought, in fact.

The lady who had been going to jump from 12,000 feet had to come back down again in the aeroplane without jumping. Christchurch radar had busted, leaving every aeroplane in Canterbury with no radar monitoring! This was a massive disaster. However, it sped up our skydive because we were only diving at 6,000 feet which is not in the commercial airspace, which meant we could go ahead even though the other lady couldn’t for the time being.

So it was all go for our skydive.

It happened so fast from then on. We were given jumpsuits to put on and then harnesses that went over the top of the jumpsuits. Then we were given a little talk on how to jump out of the aeroplane and what position to take during the freefall. We were then escorted out to the plane and we took off from the airstrip. I’m not quite sure why, but for all of this, I didn’t feel nervous at all. I felt very excited but very calm, which puzzled me because I had assumed I’d be freaking out. And I wasn’t. It was sort of weird!

During the safety talk

In the aeroplane it was very cosy. There was the pilot, the two of us skydiving and our instructors (both of us were doing tandem skydives) which was a total of five people in a tiny little plane. We kept on going higher and higher and the ground looked further and further away.

This is us in the plane, taking off

The plane ride was very short. All of a sudden I was pulling my goggles down over my eyes and listening to some final advice from my instructor who was by now strapped securely to my back. Then he opened the door and we put our feet and lower legs out of the plane. I could see down. All the way down. To some clouds far below. And the ground even further below. I knew we were about to leap out. I put my head back, curled up my legs and crossed my arms as I had been shown. I felt so cool and collected about the idea of jumping out. Right up until the moment when we actually left the plane. It was FREAKY.

As you jump out, your breath sort of catches in your throat and you feel like you are falling (that's because you are). And I was terrified. For about two nanoseconds. Those feelings lasted a very short time and I was quickly able to breathe again. I looked down as we were falling and remember thinking, “this is so much fun!” Then suddenly the parachute opened and I was allowed to push my goggles up and relax as we floated in the sky.

There I am, underneath the orange parachute :)

This is my favourite photo :) 

There’s no feeling quite like that of hanging in a harness underneath a parachute, watching the world come closer beneath you. It is beautiful. Amazing. Indescribable. As we floated down we did some fancy spins and stuff which lost us height pretty quick. My instructor pointed out the aerodrome below us where we had taken off in the aeroplane. I could see my family outside the hangar. As we got lower in the sky I could see that they were all looking up at us and waving. It seemed surreal.

I was surprised and disappointed how short the parachuting bit lasted. All too soon I was being told to keep my legs up as we did a final spin and then came in to land.

And that was it! We took off our harnesses and jumpsuits, were presented with certificates to prove that we’d done it and then got into the van and drove home.

Hanging up my gear afterwards

I think that skydiving is definitely one of the most scary things I’ve ever done. But also, definitely, one of the awesomest* and most exciting. It was an amazing experience.

If you’ve been thinking about going skydiving, my recommendation is to go for it. It’s definitely worth it and very fun.

Well that's about it from me! If you have a question for me about skydiving, leave it in a comment below and I'd love to answer it.


*EDIT: I've been told 'awesomest' isn't really a word. But I'm going to leave it in there anyway. You know what I mean, right?

Arrogance, Pride, and... Humility

Photo taken by me, looking out across the Dunedin harbour

Philippians 2:3-11
Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ...

This blog post is about something I've been thinking about for quite a while. Please note, this is not terribly scientific because I don't really know a whole lot about this subject, but bear with me, because I think it's important stuff. Besides, it fascinates me. :)

Teaching styles. There are a million different ways to teach something. Let's take, for example, if I was asked to teach someone the seven colours of a rainbow so they wouldn't forget them. Here are just a few of the many ways you could do it.

1. Teach a mnemonic to aid memory- such as ROYGBIV (Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)
2. Make them write out the colours in order a hundred times until they have them memorised
3. Take them outside when there is a definite rainbow in the sky and show them the colours (for visual learners) - another option would be to use a picture, but showing a real rainbow would be better of course
4. Force them to repeat the different colours in order verbally until they have them memorised
5. Explain the colours, then explain the science behind why rainbows appear in the sky so they have some background knowledge
6. Record yourself speaking the colours in order over and over again, then put it on an audio device and make them listen to it until they have them memorised

Those are some ways that you could teach someone the colours of the rainbow. However, what I really wanted to talk about today was not the ways you can teach something, but HOW you teach something.

Yes, folks, there is a difference. :)

I am speaking from experience here. I have been taught many things over the years. Pretty much everything I know was either taught to me or I taught it to myself. I was taught how to swim, how to ride a bike, how to spell my name, how to do long division, when to say please and thank you, how to knit, how to sew, how to properly cut a loaf of hot bread.... boy oh boy, the list goes on and on!

Each of these things was taught to me in a different way. And in a different style.

Different people have taught me different things over my life. And I've found that some people make better teachers than others. It's all to do with how you teach something, not the way you teach it. 

Are you an arrogant teacher or a humble teacher?

Luke 14:11
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Let me tell you, friends, that it is MUCH easier and a better experience for everyone involved if you teach something humbly. I have been taught lots of things by lots of different people. Some people I would recommend as teachers. They come across as very compassionate, humble people who are teaching the thing to you not because they are better than you or more superior - but because they are interested in you and want you to excel in life. 

Other people I would not recommend as teachers. They come across as very arrogant, superior (even haughty) people. The whole time they are teaching whatever it is, they are giving a very negative impression of themselves and implying that they are very much better than you. 

These revelations and reflections have been on my mind recently, and I don't mind telling you that I am very embarrassed and disappointed in the way in which I myself have taught things to others. I am sure that I came across as arrogant. And I am truly trying to change. 

James 4:6
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Proverbs 22:4
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.

Here's my question for you, friend. Are you an arrogant teacher or a humble teacher?

It's most definitely worth thinking about.