Is Christmas moving?

Feliz Navidad/Merry Christmas everyone!! Here's a selection of our festive activities...we have had a great first Christmas here in America as an old married couple with our lovely family.

We kicked off the festivities with our own 'Tacky Christmas Light Tour', where Russell's sister (Becca) and her husband (Christian) drove us around the Richmond area to check out what some harry-hardouts have done to their houses...yip! Only in America folks!! These are people's actual dwelling places...just as well they're on nuclear power huh!

Then we moved into Russell's parent's new condo a couple of days before Christmas...all went well...just lot's of boxes, clutter and hardwork for a couple of days! Check out the HUGE 18-wheeler that brought their stuff from Waco! We have set up our cute little room and will live here till we get jobs...yeah, that's the next adventure- will keep you posted!

So then, after a beautiful Christmas Eve service at Becca's church, we celebrated Christmas at Becca & Christian's house, where both of us were incharge of preparing the feast! We had a blast and really enjoyed such a special day of family, presents (whoa!! American's are like so way generous dude!) and our cutie little niece (Brooks) who is our constant entertainment :)

Well, that's about us for now...hope ya'll had a fantastic Christmas whereva/whateva you were doing...love ya...Happy New Years!!

Russell & Sarah

welcome to atlanta, where the players play

We have arrived in Virginia everyone! After 9 days on the road, 2200 miles, alot of petrol and two sore butts, we have reached our destination of Richmond where we are living with Russell's parents for the time being.

We had 2 fantastic nights in Atlanta, Georgia with some of Russell's friends. We raced up Stone Mountain one morning to admire the gorgeous views of this tree covered city. The three gentlemen carved into the rock were the three big Confederate leaders for the south during the civil war (Andrew Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis and Robert E Lee). Russell's friend reckons "it's the biggest monument to a bunch of losers in the world"! Very beautiful though :)

So after loading up our car with Russell's stuff from his time in Atlanta, we drove the last 8 hours of our journey through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and then into Virginia. These states are all very stunning, covered in huge pine trees and finally, some hills & mountains have appeared! The leaves are gorgeous hues of reds, browns and yellows and it's about 3 degrees (celcius)/35 degrees (farenheit) right now. The sunsets are magnificent as are the meandering rivers and streams that are everywhere.

We are both doing OK...pretty tired and ready to start working again. It's great to be here with Russell's family and we are looking forward to a chilled Christmas (in both senses of the word). Happy holidays everyone, we love ya'll very much and pray God's richest blessings on ya this Christmas :)

Blessings, see ya soon.

Russell & Sarah

where no kiwi has gone before...

Kia ora everyone, here's some more picky's from our southern road trip...we're in Atlanta, Georgia now staying with friends of Russell before heading onto our final destination (Richmond, Virginia) tomorrow.

We've clocked over 1500 miles so far and Sarah has thoroughly relished each photo opportunity as we cross into a new state. She tumbles out of the car, looking like this cheesy tourist getting snapped by the welcome sign that the other thousand cars crossing that minute totally ignore!

After spending some time with some friends in Baton Rouge, we made our quick day trip down to what's left of New Orleans. This is probably the most eclectic European city in the states and there were many times when Sarah felt like we were in Paris or London...or any other old, dirty yet intensely interesting European city. Hurricane Katrina has certainly aided all the tradesmen in the city and it's funny to see some of their advertisements boasting "pre-Katrina prices"...such a competitive market here...you obviously do whatever you can to attract customers.

A highlight of the day was meandering our way back to Baton Rouge (one hour north of New Orleans) along the historic Mississippi River road and gazing at the stunning old plantations that used to dominate this area. Some of them even had the old slave shacks still standing and you could just imagine (with a little help from 'The Patriot' and 'Gone with the wind') the slaves toiling out in the cotton fields (these are fascinating by the way...big blobs of white cotton stuff just growing on the low-lying plants).

So hope you guys are all well, we absolutely LOVE hearing from ya'll :)

Keep it up. We miss each one of you.

God bless

Russell & Sarah

houston we have a problem...

Well....two stops down (College Station, Houston) and only four (Louisiana, Florida, Georgia & Virginia) to go. On Monday, December 11 we packed our bags and left crazy Waco. One of our first stops was with Russell's Aunt Jane in College Station Texas which is about an hour north of Houston. Check out the "lovely" christmas reindeer (complete which flashing lights & mechanically moving head!) which are the 'in-thing' this year in tinseltown :)

We had a gorgeous three days in Houston staying with Russell's best friends (Jonathan & Heather) & his lovely family (complete with cutzee little Brendy-sue doggie-woggie xox). So we went and looked at the 80,000 capacity 'Reliant' stadium-(next to the old Houston Astrodome) home of Houston's football team and the NASA Space Center,...Houston is so so crazy big! 4million plus just in the city and like talk about sphagetti junction!

They took us down to a cute little coastal town called Kemah where Sarah had the terrifying experience of having a sting ray suck fish bait out of her hand!

Check out Sarh's reaction...It is classic Sarah.

And then we had the precious memory-making time of putting up the christmas decorations with the boys- all dressed smartly in their school uniforms- even Russell!

So now we are in Baton Rouge Louisiana staying with Sarah's bestest friend-Phoebe's daddy who is a professor at the University here. Heading to New Orleans tomorrow to see what's left and remember if you're ever in this neck of the woods- don't swim in the Bayou's...there could be alligators about!

Love you all & see you soon.

Sarah & Russell

The Next Chapter Begins...

Kia ora ya'll, welcome to our new blog site. We want to keep you up to date on our latest adventures, having just moved to the States after getting married in New Zealand (Sept 30, 2006).

So that's us in the Whitsundays (Australia) on our honeymoon...little did we know then what we were getting ourselves into!

After a hard time of saying goodbye and "see you later" to our friends and family in New Zealand, we were off to the United States and the great state of Texas.

While in Texas, we have had the pleasure of doing some crazy things. First off, Sarah had the opportunity to witness her first American football game.(Baylor University versus Oklahoma University). Even though it seemed like it for Sarah, we were not in a movie.

As well as crazy football game at the local university, we were also able to have another first. Sarah was able to experience an American Thanksgiving with all the family... "She thinks my tractor's sexy?"

It has been great to see most of the extended family here in Texas, before we "mosy" on to the next stop.

Now, we are off on our trip from Waco, Texas to Richmond, Virginia. We will have many stops along the way seeing friends all over the USA...as well as many tales to tell you. So please enjoy the ride with us....blessing.