Taranaki

Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day for flying!! The sea and Mt. Taranaki were stunning!!! We were greeted at the New Plymouth Airport by Billy's future colleague, Jim, who took us on a quick tour of New Plymouth before bringing us to the home of he and his wife.  Jim and Debbie are also Americans but having lived in the Middle East for 2 years and NZ for nearly one, they have a slightly different perspective of the whole moving to the other side of the planet thing.  Added to that, they are from Pittsburg and have no children at home. Wonderful, fun and helpful people!

The hospital had loaned us a car and so after visiting with them for a little while, Jim lead us to the home of another future colleague where we were staying for the week.  First experience driving on the left from a right-sided driver's seat!!! Billy did quite well, though following someone else is a good way to start. Driving on the left also entails alot of talking to oneself and cussing.

Jeremy and Elise are a lovely couple originally from South Africa.  They've been in NZ for 18 years and were a wealth of information. They live on 3 acres and have 2 standard poodles, one black and one white, so we felt quite at home.

After freshening up and chatting for a bit, we headed back to Jim and Debbie's for dinner where we met the last of the physicians in the group with whom Billy will work. Arthur and Victoria, both Kiwis (I think), were also quite lovely and Victoria became simply invaluable when house hunt! More on that later.

Debbie had prepared an American style, Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious which is good because the bird was $120!!!  We had a wonderful time and laughed harder than we had in a long time. Four couples from three different continents, and each with completely differing life paths makes for great stories and side-splitting laughter.

The magnitude of this journey God seems to be leading us on was beginning to become more real and, quite honestly, more frightning!! Billy and I both woke that night in sheer panic and fear. "What the heck are we doing?!?" was all we could say. And this is when the praying REALLY began!