Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you!

This is the first year that I haven't sent out any Christmas cards at all. To make up for the lack of real mail, I'll write a blurp here instead.

This year was a year of changes for us. One of the biggest changes was that we moved in July, from living in the country to a house in town, in Matamata itself.
We're very happy in this new place!
The other big change was the rather sudden leave from working at Crystal Springs, the local YWAM base. We'd thought we'd be there for at least a few years. But in August it became apparent that the leadership didn't want us any more. It was a hard pill to swallow and it's long story, too much to share here.
The result from all of this was and is that we got more involved in our church.
We can really see God's hand in providing us with other opportunities to serve.

Craig has become the Senior Leader of Iconz in Matamata, under the umbrella of our church. They had a launch night earlier this month, with 65 boys! The full programme will start up in Feb.
Craig also found a part time job as a schoolbus driver for special needs kids. He drives five high school aged students to school each day. It's the perfect job for him, not too much for his sore back and he loves the intersction with the kids.

Noah (3.5) started preschool in April and he's loving it! This preschool is a ministry of our church as well. In August I was asked to join the Board of Trustrees for the preschool and I accepted. This has been a huge learning curve and an interesting journey so far. I do really feel in the right place there.
In the mean time the oldest four children continue to be homeschooled and have no desire whatsoever to go to school :-)
Joel (15) & Nadia (13) are starting a job in January! They both got a position as dish washer at Totara Springs, just outside Matamata. They will work a few hours a week during school terms and more hours in the school holidays.
Aaron (10) & Tirzah (8) will have to do more dishes at home LOL

Nadia is off to Parachute at the end of January. For those of you in Holland, it's very similar to the Flevo Festival. She's so excited! Joel has gone for the last three years but now it's her turn.

Well, that's us in a nutshell. If you want to know more, flick us an email! Or look us up on Facebook. Joel & Nadia have their own FB pages too these days.

Lots of love, many blessings, Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010!
Craig, Esther, Joel, Nadia, Aaron, Tirzah & Noah.

I'm not very good at keeping up this blog, am I?!? [oops]

But now that we've got broadband again (after 2 years!) I will try to give more frequent updates.

Some photos:

On the right ----> Our children at Tirzah's birthday, late Aug.

Noah (3), Nadia (13), Joel (15), Tirzah (8) and Aaron (10).

Above: view of the backyard of our new house. We moved into town (= Matamata) in July.

Excuse the washing line, haha.

Some links to click on:

Noah dressed up as Indiana Jones.

Part of our living room.

The back of the house.

So we're living in town now. It's nice and easy and the house is so comfy, much warmer and easier to live in than the little cottage by the golf course where we were for 2 years.

We do miss the views of the golf course and the Kaimais but you can't have everything, can you? ;-)

Craig is working part time, driving special needs children to and from school. It's the perfect job for him, he loves driving and he can handle it with his sore back.

The children are well, growing up fast. Noah was given the all clear for his heart in June!

His heart is doing so well, he won't even need antibiotics when he has dental treatment :-)

Praise God, we're so greatful for his health!

He started preschool in April and loves it. The preschool is a ministry of our church. I've just joined the board of trustees for the preschool.

And yes, we're still homeschooling. With all its challenges and joys.

That's it for now, I will try to write more soon!

Esther

I haven't had a chance to update our blog for more than 4 months :-(

But here I am, finally!

I'm pasting a copy of our Christmas newsletter below. It has links to pictures instead of the pictures themselves. It's just easier that way, due to our slow internet connection at home.

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Dear friends and family,

How are you?!? Busy with the last preparations for Christmas?

My apologies for not keeping in touch more. I had big plans of writing newsletters regularly but our internet connection here in our new house is so slow and we were also without a computer for ages after we moved here.

We've now got access to a computer at home again!

We've been living in Matamata for four months now. Time sure flies!

We love it here, although it took a while to settle in and get used to a new place and a new town.

We are here because of our work with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). The YWAM base here in Matamata runs Discipleship Training Schools (DTSs) for families and young people. We are involved with the DTSs for young people, these are called Pursuits DTSs.

Craig is full time involved with the Pursuits DTS and I'm a little involved on the side while looking after our children at home and homeschooling them.

Our house is only a 5 minute walk away from the base. As a family we have dinner there every Thursday night and we try to go to the base whenever we can, to stay in touch.

The first DTS we were involved in, is now on outreach in Fiji. We didn't go on outreach this time. We may do that at some stage in the future with another DTS.

The first 12 weeks of this DTS were here at the base and it was an intense time for everyone. Exciting as well! Craig was gone from home most of the time, including some evenings and weekends. We didn't see him much!

It was exciting to see how the students were learning so much and to see God at work in their lives!

This DTS will finish by the end of January and three weeks later, the next one will start.

Our Dutch friend Henk will lead this next one. Henk and his wife Tineke have been great friends of ours for years and we feel so privileged to be able to work alongside them now. We love having them so close! Henk & Craig work really well together. Craig will be helping Henk in the next DTS.

The leader of the Pursuits Ministry, Bill, is very sick. He's been diagnosed with bone cancer. It's very hard on him and his wife Berryl. If you can, please remember them in your prayers!

With Bill so sick and in Auckland (and hour and a half from here) for treatment, Henk & Craig are supposed to pick up more and more work. But delegation hasn't been a strong point in this ministry, so the guys struggle with this at times. E.g. they aren't given keys but at the same time expected to look after vehicles etc.

This can be frustrating but they're doing what they can.

Some pictures:

Our children: Joel (13), Nadia (11), Aaron (8), Tirzah (6) and Noah (19 mo).

Nadia blowing bubbles, with Aaron & Tirzah

Noah outside on our lawn, we've got a lot of land around the small house here ;-)

Noah after eating dinner with tomato sauce… Yes, he had a bath straight afterwards.

The house we're renting with the driveway and a bit of our view to the golf course.

Joel is doing well, although he's struggling with his size and weight L

We don't know what's causing his rapid weight gain, he's under the care of a pediatrician for it.

He's very technical and has recently discovered the joys of reading for pleasure. I can't get him out of the books now! Maybe he will take after his mum, the readaholic, after all?!?

Nadia is our in-house artist but still struggles with reading. She's very handy with the sewing machine and just loves craft in all forms.

Aaron loves to read too and wants to follow his big sister when it comes to craft. It's just that his motor skills aren't always up to it, much to his dismay.

Tirzah just never sits still. She's having swimming lessons along with Aaron and lives for that, totally loves to be in the pool.

Noah never sits still either, our into-everything toddler. He wants to keep up with his big siblings in everything.

His heart is doing great but he's had a lot of trouble with his ears over the last few months. We suspect that his lack of increasing vocabulary has to do with this ear trouble. He's now on the waiting list for an audiology test in the hospital. He does understand a lot though, which is reassuring.

Craig keeps having a lot of trouble with his back, after a bad fall 2 ½ years ago. He's in constant pain but the doctors have said they can't do anything for him anymore.

I'm mostly busy at home with the children and the homeschooling. At times I'd love to be more involved with the DTS, it's something I struggle with sometimes.

But I can only be in one place at a time J

With the summer holidays upon us here at the moment, we're also looking towards the new school year ahead. I've just purchased the Sonlight curriculum for Joel. It will involve a lot of reading, including me reading aloud to the children. The younger ones will be able to listen in and then get on with their own schoolwork.

But first we're going to enjoy the summer holidays!

With lots of love,

Craig & Esther Sunnex

Joel, Nadia, Aaron, Tirzah and Noah

Last Monday afternoon it felt like Spring was in the air! So the children and I went for a walk on our local beach. It's a short walk from our house and to my shame, I have to admit that we haven't been there enough in the 18 months that we've lived here.
Anyway, I took the camera with me and can't resist sharing the photos here. That's what a blog is for, isn't it?!?

This was the first time Noah actually walked on the beach. He has been there before but always in a carrier. This time I put him down to explore.
He loved it but was wondering what that stuff on his hands was when he first got sand on his fingers ;-)

"I had a haircut!"

Hi, my name is Noah, I'm 15 months old and I had a haircut yesterday.


I've been really sick, with high fevers and a nasty cough. But I'm starting to feel better, so mum took me to Louise, the hairdresser. I sat very still and she did a great job! It was hard for mum to get a good photo of it, because I'm not one to sit still for very long ;-)
And I still have a snotty nose and that cough.

Some more photos to share:

Today Tirzah lost her first top tooth! She's about four weeks shy of her 6th birthday.
The following photos are from yesterday.

It was sunny and not too cold, so the older four played outside, behind our house:















I took these photos from our veranda, to show you what a view we have and the space to play! This field is destined to be filled with new houses at some stage in the future but for now it's empty and the perfect place to run around!!!

While Joel, Nadia, Aaron & Tirzah were playing at the back, Noah was with me on the veranda. He LOVES this dressing gown, he wants to wear it all the time. We call it his housecoat LOL.



Our latest helper in the house:

Of course he doesn't do this job all by himself ;-)

Tirzah

As you may already know, I'm passionate about babywearing ;-)

Tirzah wanted to have a go at it too a few days ago, she wanted to wear Noah on her back in one of my Mei Tais:

But she's only twice Noah's weight, so it wasn't easy for her and she couldn't do it for very long.
Here's another one:

And just for fun, a photo of Tirzah in the bath ;-)