Wow! I can't believe that in 2 days I'll be boarding a plane with Kaigan to bring him back to the States for college! I've dreaded this day his entire life. Little did I know that we'd be living in 2 different countries in 2 different hemispheres! Boarding that plane in Orlando for my return trip will be physically painful, and merely thinking about it reduces me to tears.
Last night we went to the Treetop Bar and Restaurant for, as Kaigan called it, his "last supper".  While we were there the All Blacks versus South Africa rugby game came on. To my surprise and amusement, all four younger children could sing the NZ national anthem, half of which is in Maori, the language of the indigenous people of NZ. It was so cute! The song is "God Bless New Zealand", which is quite awesome for a "secular country". I even got chill bumps.
After the national anthem, the NZ rugby team performs a Haka dance which is a traditional Maori war dance. It's meant to challenge and intimidate their opponents. It's pretty in-your-face and the opposing teams often look rather annoyed.  The Maori players' make particularly funny facial expressions, making their eyes opened really wide and sticking their tongues out. It is pretty bizarre but also really cool! As the Rugby World Cup begins in a few weeks, be sure to catch the beginning of an All Blacks game or you can find it on YouTube.
This morning we went to church as a family for the last time for who knows how long. After lunch we went to Pukekura Park (you will see more of this park in our House Hunters International episode). There we took family pictures and pictures of the kids all together. Kaigan was not a fan of this activity, which rather broke my heart but I did get some pretty good shots, even if he looks less than thrilled.
I can't believe I'm leaving my Billy and my babies for nearly a whole month! Talk about challenging my control issues!!! Our amazing neighbor, Natalia, who has become a dear friend, will be surrogate mum, chauffeur and cook when Mikaylie has soccer. She's even loves Pete and kept him when we left for three days on a ski trip (which was somewhat of a bust since Graham and Will don't ski and don't care to learn).
I thank God for Internet, skype and telephones! Please pray that He watches over Kaigan and me as we travel and our family we're leaving in NZ, especially Billy and Mikaylie... and Natalia who may loathe the day we moved in next door. Hopefully I get to see you while I'm stateside.