Christmas News from Brett and Sue Walker 2017
We are hoping you
have had a great year and will enjoy a blessed Christmas and New Year. Here is
some news from us.
You may have heard that David moved back to NZ from
Melbourne last Christmas and moved in with Paul and Mary in Gisborne. He has a job as the accounts administrator
for the Gisborne Towing Company and works full time. He has bought himself a nice car and he, Paul
and Mary enjoy each other’s company. It
is great when Paul works night shift at his restaurant as Mary has some company
besides their 2 dogs (Fergus and Oscar).
Paul enjoys his job at the Vines – a Winery restaurant, and Mary has
been working at the ASB bank, but has moved from part time to Casual which
takes the stress of having to push credit cards or extra loans which she didn’t
enjoy. We have been up to Gisborne a few
times lately as Brett has been on the interview panel for a Church looking for
a new minister and we also went up for Paul and Mary’s 6th Wedding
anniversary. We will go up there again
on Christmas day and have Christmas dinner with them and Mary’s family. Our two families have gotten on really well
and Mary’s Mum (Azure) has stayed with us a few times as she has travelled to
Palmerston north as she has been completing her degree in social work.
We have had our usual
run of international students stay with us this year. We have some from Myanmar, Cambodia, China
and Timor Leste. Some are here for a 7
week English program for Government officials and others are longer term EIT
students. The picture has Jackson from
China who has moved on to Waikato University.
We like following them on Facebook and to see how they flourish over the
years. Last January we were really
blessed to have a Japanese boy who had lived with us about 7 or 8 years ago
come to NZ and visit us. We were on
vacation in Nelson and so he and his family flew to Nelson for 1 day just to
meet us. At the moment we also have
Peter from China back with us who lived with us 2 years ago. He is continuing his
Wine Science Degree this year but needed somewhere to stay between flats. We still have John Graham with us who has
been with us 4 years now. John takes
charge of the animals (and students) when we go away.
Brett’s year at the church (Coming up to the end of 18 years
here in Napier now) has been pretty good.
We are still doing many funerals for people who have been pillars of the
church for many years including Sheila Jamieson (wife of Duncan Jamieson who was
minister at St Columba’s for 28 years from 1962.) We are grateful that there
are many new people joining and so our numbers are actually increasing. We have been looking at a 2 year growth
program (24 to double) which is helping up set in place some good systems as
Brett is not naturally a systems person.
Brett still goes to the Gym about 3 times a week and bought a new
bicycle this year to ride the trails - no more road racing. The hills haven’t got any smaller!
Sue has had a few
trips to Nelson to see her mother who is a sprightly lady in her 90th
year. Sue has a very
busy time as EIT international accommodation officer so before each semester
starts and when other groups come
through (such as the English Langauage training for Government officials for 7
weeks 3 times a year.) She still goes to
Yoga each week when she can and tried a Body Balance course at the local
gym. She enjoyes her card classes and
craft group. She has been in the same
bible study group for about 6 years so the members are good friends.
The other interesting thing this year has been the
installation of 16 solar panels on the roof and that is working as
planned. This month our power bill as
$39. (There are a few reasons, the previous bill was an estimate and they
charged too much and we had 2 weeks without anyone extra in the house.) Still, our average power bill the year before
was $300 per month so if we can save lots when the sun is shining we will be
very happy. The other thing we have done is put new lino down in the kitchen,
bathrooms and downstairs hallway. It
looks great and is easy to clean. The
down side is we have had to paint 3 rooms (which also look great – but it has
been a bit of work.) We are really
lucky that our Neighbour Tony as handyman/builder and he pops over and does a
bit of painting or other work so that place is looking great. We realise that we have been in this house
for over 10 years so it was time to do some renovations.
As I am sitting down
and writing this Christmas letter it is with some sadness. We have decided that after 15 years Misty our
Labrador cross is to go to the vet for a long sleep tomorrow. She is falling over at times and her
arthritis in her hips and foot are pretty bad (there are several other things
also which are making life no fun for an old dog). She had a nice trip to the beach on Friday
and we will have to treasure those memories.
I am not sure how Sue will cope so if you see tears on the paper you
will know it is still a painful decision.
She is being very brave to make it.
Sue herself has a cold and is not enjoying that experience especially at
this busy time of the year. Besides that she is decidedly fit as she has joined
the Napier Tramping Club and been wandering the hills for 5-7 hours several
times in the past 6 weeks. She has even
managed couple of Wednesday walks and got paid as she had accumulated so many
hours “in Lieu” over her busy periods.
Brett is not feeling the happiest either as he had a trip to Tauranga to
visit his dad in the ICU for a bad infection which they just got in time. He was home for a week and then had a relapse
so is again in Hospital as I write.
Added to that he had another heart attack a couple of weeks before
that. The Cardiologist has said his
heart is in poor condition and there is little they can do. We will be going to Tauranga again just after
Christmas and while it is only about 4 hours away – sometimes that seems a long
away. Apart from all this we are actually doing well and overall it has been a good year.
We hope that your year has gone well and we look forward to
catching up with your news as well.
Wishing you a session of peace and joy as we celebrate our Saviours
birth.
Greetings
Brett & Sue xox
