Our Thorns and Roses of Living in New Zealand

For the past (almost) 2 years, we have had the privilege of living in New Zealand. After a ton of prayer and thought and research, we knew our family was meant to move to this beautiful land. It took a lot of sacrifice to make it happen and we saw many miracles unfold as we took the leap of faith to journey there. As we close this chapter in our life and open a new one of world travel, we wanted to share our thorns and roses of living in New Zealand.

THORNS

Reese: I didn’t have any thorns!

Trevor: My thorn was the bad weather sometimes.

Gavin: My thorn was that it rained a ton!

Ethan: My thorn was not having good Mexican food to eat!

JoEllen: My thorn was the wet and cold weather! I really don’t like to be cold. But I didn’t know that until I experienced it more. Living in New Zealand taught me that I need sun to thrive!

Cody: My thorn was the cold weather and our cold home.

ROSES

Reese: I loved all of my playdates with my new friends.

Trevor: My rose was all the car trips!

Gavin: My rose was living near the beach.

Ethan: My rose was being surrounded by wildlife wherever you were.

JoEllen: I loved seeing a kiwi bird in the wild! I loved seeing glowworms! I loved Piha beach and Mangahwai Cliffwalk and all the other amazingly beautiful places! I loved the people we met and friendships we made.

Cody: I loved the incredible beauty!

We will forever remember the many experiences we had while living in New Zealand! We all learned and grew more than we could have imagined. New Zealand will always hold a special place in our hearts….the beautiful land, the wonderful friends, and memorable experiences & adventures. We will definitely be back someday!