Christmas letter 2024

 Hi friends 

A little late as usual but happy New Year to you all .

We are both looking forward to a Christmas break in a weeks’ time.  It has been a busy year.  Work has been relatively normal. Brett started the year with a party for being minister at Taradale for 25 years, and We finished the Year with a party for David and Vincent’s wedding (Mid November actually). In between we have replaced our kitchen, had a deck built, remodelled the gardens and much more around the house.  Most of the pain was in paying the bills, but Brett moved 3 tonnes of topsoil and re-sowed all the front grass (which is looking great except the soil was weed infested.)  All this work goes alongside getting the section subdivided and plans drawn up for a new house for our retirement. We hope to have the plans by mid Jan and the house finished in a year’s time.

Speaking of pains in the back. Sue has had a rough 3 months with her back.  She had a really enjoyable day planting hundreds of trees in a community project but has been in agony since.  Multiple trips to the Physio have barely made a difference.  It is 42 years since her back surgery, and she has managed it well until now but this pain is draining. It also meant she didn’t take the drive to Gisborne for James 4^th birthday in October.  She enjoys her job at EIT but is counting down till she can retire (over a year away.)

David’s wedding was a small affair in their garden with a few relatives and friends and Vincent’s mother, aunt and friend from Vietnam. It was a lovely occasion, and you could see they really care for each other.   David and Vincent come to dinner most weeks and Sue and David walk the dogs together a couple of times a week.  It is great having them 500 meters away.  David continues working from home as an accountant and he is now the church treasurer.  Vincent sells cars for Turners and is very successful.

We get to Gisborne occasionally, and the family there are doing well. James is a lovely boy (I am not biased at all) and Paul and Mary are awesome parents. Paul changed his job recently and is no longer the head chef which takes some pressure off. He also gets Sunday mornings off now so has started taking James to church which is thrilling.

Other notable events for the year seem to blend into a blur as I type this, so I guess it was the usual round of leading the church, loving the family and enjoying life with all its ups and downs.