Time for another update ... given I've been pretty slack in this department.
Pregnancy is going really well, now almost half way at 19wks and morning sickness mostly over with. Our scan is set for next week so hopefully we can find out what sex this little jellybean is :)
It's certainly different being pregnant 10yrs older and I'm noticing the tiredness kicking in more this time round. Or maybe it's the fact that I'm doing nightshifts this time. I still love my job although I miss Craig so much when I have to work nights and I struggle keeping myself going at 4am in the morning.
I've been negotiating a few changes in my job which has been a bit tricky. But it's officially been accepted by the big bosses. I've scored myself a 'job share' roster with another guy at Botany station, which happens to be just down the road. This means that instead of doing 2 days/2 nights/4 days off ... I'll now be doing 2 day shifts/6 days off until I go onto maternity leave (somewhere around the end of January). The guy I'm sharing my job with will do the other 2 days/6 days off (he runs a part time business as well). Botany station is a day only station so no nightshifts anymore... yay!!! The down sides is that they won't cover me on maternity leave part time so when I leave to have baby I have to go back to my old relief full time roster and the other guy I'm job sharing with has to find a replacement for me or go back full time. This means the job share won't be there when I come back (in a years time) but it's good for now and I'm possibly thinking of not coming back (still thinking on that one)
The only other down side is that my salary gets cut in half but the coolest thing happened ... at the same time we were negotiating this job share with my bosses, Craig was negotiating his contract with AirNewZealand and got sprung with a surprise payrise ... exactly the same amount of money that I would be losing on my pay going down and his payrise comes into effect exactly the same day my new contract starts on the 12 November, meaning we'll have the same amount ... how cool is that??!! Yet again someone upstairs is looking out for us :)
When I leave my job obviously we'll have to take a cut in income but at least now its only half the amount of what we thought, which will help out with buying baby stuff in the meantime.
The house is still fantastic!! We are loving the gardening! I've never done gardening before as we've never had the space or been renting. The kids planted out their very own gardens last weekend and are loving seeing their seeds poke through and growing madly. This place has fantastic sun and is so warm, compared to our old cold hole. The indoor/outdoor flow is wonderful with 3fold ranch sliders that pull right back from the family/kitchen to a BBQ area ... love it! love it! love it!
I still keep pinching myself when I see my life now compared to the heartache I went through a few years back. Craig is the man of my dreams and is such a complete sweetheart!!! Everything I went through was completely worth it, just to be with Craig!!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Updates ....
I'm not sure if anyone still checks up on my blog, but I have some news ;)
We are in the process of buying a new house. Some of you may remember when I lost my beloved house my ex and I built back 7yrs ago. I cried for 6wks when Bill decided we were selling. It was the start of the end of our marriage. Things went downhill from there, Bill's drinking went from bad to worse and we ended up almost backrupt only saved by the fact that my parents helped me out with giving me a $60,000 loan in which I am still paying off the remainder. I walked out of my marriage in debt with just the clothes I owned, my laptop and my car. But the best decision I could have ever made. I lived 7yrs of hell over that time!!
And as you all know I went through another relationship with a 'christian' man that nearly broke me!! When I left Bill regardless of everything that had happened I still had my integrity, but Michael tried to break that, telling me I was a bad person.
I finally had enough of feeling horrible about myself and kicked him out....
Then Craig came into my life ... I never knew life could be like this!! He still continues to treat me like the most precious gift from God. We are inseperable, and are still as much in love as the first moment we laid eyes on eachother. He still gives me a foot rub when I get home from a long day at work. He says he is completely blessed in recieving the 'whole package' ... 4 adorable kids that he never thought he would ever have the priveledge of being part of!!
Craig was married for 13yrs like me and had a wife who had an anger and control problem. She refused to let him have any contact with his mother, siblings or friends. He became a recluse and his self esteem was at an all time low when he relised he was thinking thoughts of ending it all. At that stage he walked out on her, with her parting words of "you have no right to end this marriage, how dare you!" Where he fled from Auckland to Christchurch for the next 2yrs.
22yrs ago, before his marriage, he was living with a girl. As an 18yr old he wasn't thinking about contraception and was surprised that over the time he lived with this girl that she never got pregnant. When they broke up she went straight into a relationship with another man and immediately got pregnant. Craig wondered to himself if something was wrong with his sperm and went off to get himself tested. The results came back ... 98% dead sperm, only 2% of his sperm was alive and of that 2% all were very sedantary (didn't swim very well) and was told at the age of 18 that he would never be able to father a child without the help of IVF and even then it would be highly unlikely. He grieved but accepted at that young age that he would never have a child of his own. And over his marriage of 13yrs he remained childless.
So when he met me with 4 children already, he thought his dreams had all come true at once. And here I was thinking I was a burden as a solo mum of four. Over the past year I've been with Craig I have found out what love really is ... complete, unjudgemental, giving and satisfying true love!!!
Over the stress of the past few weeks of buying this home, in trying to get finance, builders reports, LIM reports, dealing with bank managers, accountants and lawyers, emotions were elevated for me and I was finding myself crying a little more than usual. And it was wearing me out with me often falling asleep on the couch at 6pm. When I get under a little stress (altho really this was nothing compared to what I've been through in previous years) my period often is late or sometimes fails to arrive...
... you can all guess where this is going?? ....
... 8 days late and I made a instictive decision to do a pregnancy test after work one night ... and ... YES!! I'M PREGNANT!!!! On telling Craig, he was like a exploding firecracker, unable to contain his excitement!!! In tears he told me he never thought this would EVER be a possibility!!!! A complete medical miracle!!! I don't know how or why but we're enjoying this amazing gift of God!!! The kids are ecstatic, with the boys screaming in excitement and Lauren bursting into tears of joy! Craig's mum was speachless, gobsmacked and squealed at the thought of finally having another grandchild and sooooo happy for us! (her only other 2 grandchildren are teenagers and all grown up)
My parents were also extremelly excited for us, infact I've never heard my mother like that!! Lots of tears of joy and squeals of 'yay!!'!!!
So herein starts the next chapter ... it's been 10yrs since I was last pregnant and I'm so looking forward to it all!! Yes even the morning sickness ;) (which fortunately hasn't started yet)
For those of you who are on Facebook, I need to keep this quiet for now on there as alot of my work colleagues are on there and I need to talk to my boss first ... mum's the word ;)
Who would have thought this happily ever after story would end like this????
We are in the process of buying a new house. Some of you may remember when I lost my beloved house my ex and I built back 7yrs ago. I cried for 6wks when Bill decided we were selling. It was the start of the end of our marriage. Things went downhill from there, Bill's drinking went from bad to worse and we ended up almost backrupt only saved by the fact that my parents helped me out with giving me a $60,000 loan in which I am still paying off the remainder. I walked out of my marriage in debt with just the clothes I owned, my laptop and my car. But the best decision I could have ever made. I lived 7yrs of hell over that time!!
And as you all know I went through another relationship with a 'christian' man that nearly broke me!! When I left Bill regardless of everything that had happened I still had my integrity, but Michael tried to break that, telling me I was a bad person.
I finally had enough of feeling horrible about myself and kicked him out....
Then Craig came into my life ... I never knew life could be like this!! He still continues to treat me like the most precious gift from God. We are inseperable, and are still as much in love as the first moment we laid eyes on eachother. He still gives me a foot rub when I get home from a long day at work. He says he is completely blessed in recieving the 'whole package' ... 4 adorable kids that he never thought he would ever have the priveledge of being part of!!
Craig was married for 13yrs like me and had a wife who had an anger and control problem. She refused to let him have any contact with his mother, siblings or friends. He became a recluse and his self esteem was at an all time low when he relised he was thinking thoughts of ending it all. At that stage he walked out on her, with her parting words of "you have no right to end this marriage, how dare you!" Where he fled from Auckland to Christchurch for the next 2yrs.
22yrs ago, before his marriage, he was living with a girl. As an 18yr old he wasn't thinking about contraception and was surprised that over the time he lived with this girl that she never got pregnant. When they broke up she went straight into a relationship with another man and immediately got pregnant. Craig wondered to himself if something was wrong with his sperm and went off to get himself tested. The results came back ... 98% dead sperm, only 2% of his sperm was alive and of that 2% all were very sedantary (didn't swim very well) and was told at the age of 18 that he would never be able to father a child without the help of IVF and even then it would be highly unlikely. He grieved but accepted at that young age that he would never have a child of his own. And over his marriage of 13yrs he remained childless.
So when he met me with 4 children already, he thought his dreams had all come true at once. And here I was thinking I was a burden as a solo mum of four. Over the past year I've been with Craig I have found out what love really is ... complete, unjudgemental, giving and satisfying true love!!!
Over the stress of the past few weeks of buying this home, in trying to get finance, builders reports, LIM reports, dealing with bank managers, accountants and lawyers, emotions were elevated for me and I was finding myself crying a little more than usual. And it was wearing me out with me often falling asleep on the couch at 6pm. When I get under a little stress (altho really this was nothing compared to what I've been through in previous years) my period often is late or sometimes fails to arrive...
... you can all guess where this is going?? ....
... 8 days late and I made a instictive decision to do a pregnancy test after work one night ... and ... YES!! I'M PREGNANT!!!! On telling Craig, he was like a exploding firecracker, unable to contain his excitement!!! In tears he told me he never thought this would EVER be a possibility!!!! A complete medical miracle!!! I don't know how or why but we're enjoying this amazing gift of God!!! The kids are ecstatic, with the boys screaming in excitement and Lauren bursting into tears of joy! Craig's mum was speachless, gobsmacked and squealed at the thought of finally having another grandchild and sooooo happy for us! (her only other 2 grandchildren are teenagers and all grown up)
My parents were also extremelly excited for us, infact I've never heard my mother like that!! Lots of tears of joy and squeals of 'yay!!'!!!
So herein starts the next chapter ... it's been 10yrs since I was last pregnant and I'm so looking forward to it all!! Yes even the morning sickness ;) (which fortunately hasn't started yet)
For those of you who are on Facebook, I need to keep this quiet for now on there as alot of my work colleagues are on there and I need to talk to my boss first ... mum's the word ;)
Who would have thought this happily ever after story would end like this????
Monday, May 2, 2011
Still here :)
I'm still alive ... and LOVING married life!! I just adore my wonderful man!!! I'm back on the weightloss wagon again after a weighin back from honeymoon of 109.6!! eek!! lol ... but enjoying being back in control of my eating again, with 4.5kgs lost in 4wks.
For now I'm probably not going to blog much about my weightloss ... my life is crazy busy with just being accepted onto the Paramedic degree course ... part time while continueing to work full time doing the job I still love!!
So everything is going fantastically well even tho really busy.
I won't close this blog as I still want to be able to pop in every now and then to say hi and give any exciting news ... but for now it's taking a back step.
Love you guys!!
For now I'm probably not going to blog much about my weightloss ... my life is crazy busy with just being accepted onto the Paramedic degree course ... part time while continueing to work full time doing the job I still love!!
So everything is going fantastically well even tho really busy.
I won't close this blog as I still want to be able to pop in every now and then to say hi and give any exciting news ... but for now it's taking a back step.
Love you guys!!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Temporary blog
Quick update to let you all know, yay we got married, it was a fantastic day and we are currently touring Italy on honeymoon!! Having a blast of a time!!
Craig and I have done a travel blog giving updates on our honeymoon through europe. The blog address is www.craigandlyn.blogspot.com ... feel free to have a read if you wish. So I'll be updating on there instead of here while we're away :)
Craig and I have done a travel blog giving updates on our honeymoon through europe. The blog address is www.craigandlyn.blogspot.com ... feel free to have a read if you wish. So I'll be updating on there instead of here while we're away :)
Monday, February 21, 2011
bad day
I'm completely selfish ... the most amazing day of my life in 3 days is now in jepardy ... by an earthquake in christchurch. My initial shock and concern for Craig's family down there, whom we've found out are safe. My next shock, airports closed.. hoping they can make it to be able to still fly up on Thursday, ... next ... national air traffic control based in christchurch closed, putting the possibility of us flying out to Italy on Saturday at risk.... all of this we can deal with ... travel insurance will cover all of that ....
... the finality that I'm struggling with ... a phone call from my sister in Hamilton (paramedic) that all of their staff on leave have been called back to work so that other staff can go down to help in Christchurch ... and Auckland is next on the list ... so I'm on knife edge waiting to hear if my wedding day will be called off for me to go back to work.
My emotions are so mixed ... my guilt is plagueing me ... this was supposed to be my big day .. so much planning gone in preparation ... along with the feelings that all those people are devastated with the events of today ... lives lost ... and when it comes down to it of course I will be there to help, no questions asked ... just stink that it happens to be on my wedding day!!!
... the finality that I'm struggling with ... a phone call from my sister in Hamilton (paramedic) that all of their staff on leave have been called back to work so that other staff can go down to help in Christchurch ... and Auckland is next on the list ... so I'm on knife edge waiting to hear if my wedding day will be called off for me to go back to work.
My emotions are so mixed ... my guilt is plagueing me ... this was supposed to be my big day .. so much planning gone in preparation ... along with the feelings that all those people are devastated with the events of today ... lives lost ... and when it comes down to it of course I will be there to help, no questions asked ... just stink that it happens to be on my wedding day!!!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The story of Lyn and Craig
Five days to go before the most amazing day I will ever experience!! You are all invited to share in this moment if you would like. Under the pohutakawa tree at Cockle Bay, Howick at 4pm on Friday, the 25th of February, 2011 ... I will marry my sweetheart and soul mate .... Craig I love you!!!
~ The Story of Lyn & Craig ~
The very same week Lyn moved to Auckland after separating from her husband,... Craig also moved AWAY from Auckland to Christchurch, after separating from his wife. Neither of them having any idea that their soul mate was so close in crossing their path.
2yrs would pass while both Craig and Lyn would spend the time grieving and healing. In the tears of the moments over the following 2yrs, Lyn’s mum told her that her dad had a prophetic word for her... “while the past was her Ishmael, God had an Isaac for her sometime down the track, that he felt that she would find him in church” ... Christ’s church??
At a time that Craig finally felt ready to start dating again, he went to his Pastor for prayer and together they prayed for Craig’s spouse to be shown to him. Without this knowledge Lyn had joined a dating website and discouraged by the lack of suitable Christian men in Auckland, she expanded her search in a moment of ‘weakness’ to include other areas of New Zealand. Knowing full well that her search was crazy ... why look outside of Auckland when long distance relationships are impossible!?
One Saturday afternoon in June of 2010 she came across a profile of an interesting looking Christian man who lived in Christchurch. One sentence in his profile caught her eye “Must be imperfect” After a few ‘judgemental’ experiences this seemed like a breath of fresh air. With a deep breath, she sent off a smile to ‘Mr Macaroni’ who just so happened to be online at that very time ... being one day after the prayer made by his Pastor. Craig was also intrigued by Lyn’s profile and returned the smile, even though ‘Auckland profiles’ were far outside his criteria. There was no way Craig was ever going to go back to that Auckland place!!
That afternoon 4 or 5 messages were passed back and forth. The final message from Lyn asking what his actual name was (rather than just his online profile name of “macaroni”), just before leaving to go to work on a busy Manukau nightshift. On arriving at work Lyn told her workmate of this fascinating man she had found online. On hearing that he was from Christchurch she was told she was crazy and proceeded to hear for half an hour about the pitfalls of falling for someone on the other end of the country. The likelihood of actually having a chemistry connection with them regardless of how well you got on was incredibly unlikely!!
Cautiously, but inwardly excited Lyn waited for Craig’s next message.
The next morning she checked her messages ... hoping for Craig’s reply ... nothing ... waiting ... another day passed ... 2 days ... 3 days ... Then surprised and disappointed she decided that obviously it wasn’t to be. Then out of the blue ... a message!! Craig apologising that he hadn’t checked his messages for a few days with being so busy at work. “Phew!! I thought I’d scared you off by asking what your name was”
An immediate rapport developed when they both found out they were Pastor’s kids. Both agreeing that while they got on so well, nothing could ever develop more than that, given the huge 1700km distance between them. But before long, only a couple of weeks, both Craig and Lyn would each finish their work day and race home to go online for one more moment/minute, turning into hours, to chat online.
Then came the dare from Lyn, for Craig to take the next step and call her on the phone. Not believing for one moment that he would actually take her up on it. All communication to that point had been typed. While typing her next message to him the phone began to ring... it couldn’t be!??!!
“Hello???”
“Hi ........ this is Craig”
... then the longest gap and hysterical laughter followed ... Lyn was gobsmacked and stunned for words!!
An appointment time was made ... video skype ... 2pm on Sunday afternoon. While we both had seen photos of each other, video was a daunting next step. Hooking up the webcams and hearing the sound of ‘call coming in’ another moment of nervous laughter followed. Once the initial tension was broken we continued to get on so well ... laughing and talking to all hours of the early morning, day after day. Video skype became our staple diet. And snapshots taken by each other during our skype chats got us through till the next stolen moment of conversation. After a very short time Lyn realised that the 3GB bandwidth she had was not nearly going to be enough ... used up after just 5 days!! Lyn increasing hers to 30GB and Craig went from 10GB to 80GB!!
This was not to be the only increased cost of love!! Mobile topups went through the roof with Craig’s mobile phone bill now reaching the $180 a month!!! After so much investment in four weeks, the obvious next step was to meet in person. Craig organised to fly up to Auckland to meet this mysterious internet profile to see if she was actually the same in real life as she appeared to be online.
While Lyn was outside looking at the neighbouring Pohutakawa tree that God often spoke to her through she looked up to see a perfectly symmetrical rainbow exactly overtop of her favourite tree and the words came from DaddyGod above ... “My banner over you is love” ... exactly the words she needed to hear giving her heart to a man on the other side of the country!
The flight booked and meeting place organised ... ‘the coffee club’ in Manukau. Needing to be somewhere neutral and knowing full well how meeting for the first time at an airport would just not work, Craig agreed to Lyn’s cafe suggestion. Craig’s first taste of Lyn’s cheekiness followed. Hearing the disappointment in his voice at Lyn not being at the airport when he arrived, she quietly chuckled to herself.
As Craig walked around the corner at the airport and made the way down the long flight of stairs he happened to glance up and saw a “vision of beauty and loveliness, she was the most stunning woman he had ever seen and he instantly fell in love” Both of them stunned in the moment, Craig’s hands shaking and Lyn not being able to utter a single word. A hug and suggestion of coffee broke the ice. Two coffees later and they were off to have some fun at Rainbow’s End Themepark, the perfect first date!!
Without realising it a themepark couldn’t have been a better choice for a first date. They just had fun and talked lots, and laughed, ending the day with a new sparkle in their eye for eachother. Love at first sight was definitely true for both of them. Time flew by and before they knew it, it came time for Craig to board his plane home again. With tears shed (of course not infront of eachother) they hugged goodbye and Lyn watched Craig walk back up those stairs until their next planned time together a week later. This would become a definite downside to the long distance. Lyn began to hate airports and the drive back home again after saying goodbye was always filled with sadness.
As Craig was picked up by Andrew his brother in Christchurch, the first words out of his mouth to his brother was “I’ve just met my soul mate, I’m going to marry her!!”
The next weekend Craig flew to Auckland again, given the success of the last weekend. This time they made the decision to meet the kids and Lyn’s parents. What were we thinking?? Interestingly, we made the meeting point of Craig meeting his ‘inlaws’ to be “Butterfly Creek”!! Looking back Craig says thats just how he felt ... in Butterfly Creek, stomach going crazy with the hugest butterflys!! And in the typical nervous Craig way ... he hardly said a word!! Hardly the way to make an impression .. but he clearly did, as Lyn’s parents didn’t tell her to run for the hills.
The next day was spent on a ‘relaxing day skiing at SnowPlanet’ ... part way through the day Craig took a fall on his efforts to impress his new girlfriend with his fancy ski moves. As he arrived at the bottom of the slope mentioning to Lyn of his side back pain she showed her huge amount of ambulance compassion ... “really? Ahhh you’ll be alright” And Craig chose to bite his lip and keep going.
The next day was ‘meet the kids’ day with a picnic at Mission Bay. The kids impression?? ... “He looks like John Keys!!!” Craig didn’t eat much due to his nagging back pain, making Lyn feel uncomfortable that her new boyfriend refused to eat. With his mention of this pain they called in to buy some more pain relief on the way home. While watching a dvd Craig just could not get comfortable, and they both talked about going to the local A&E to get it investigated but given his flight back to Christchurch that night, it was postponed.
Craig got back to Christchurch and continued on with work, choosing to ignore the nagging back pain. One night it just got too much and he drove himself to the local hospital. Lyn got a call the next morning to let her know he was in Christchurch hospital with a perforated kidney, complete with blood in his urine!!! Now that’s how to make one feel bad!! At least Paracetamol and Nurifen was offered!! Lol!
Craig started to feel like Auckland was his only ‘home’ given that was where his heart was and the love of his life. The next 5mths were centred around the next available ‘grab-a-seat’ flight and Jetstar certainly made some money off of them. They managed to work out time together through flying from Christchurch to Auckland and vice versa, with the largest gap being an enormous 14 days, both deciding that was far too long!!! Even though video skype filled the gaps, that wasn’t enough anymore.
One long nightshift in a crazy 3am moment Lyn had a spur of the moment idea to fly to Christchurch to surprise Craig straight after working all night. She went online and found a cheap flight leaving in 6hrs!! Arriving home at 7am she rang her sister to organise for her to come up from Hamilton to look after the kids, packed her bags and caught a very expensive taxi (costing as much as the flight to Christchurch) to the airport and by 9am she was on a flight to see her man, with caffeine filled coffees on board to keep her eyes open after not having slept for the previous 24hrs. Even catching a wink of sleep on the plane didn’t happen due to her excitement of seeing the shock on the face of Craig when he saw her in person.
Once in Christchurch, she navigated herself to the centre city by bus, not quite knowing how to get to Craig’s house. While waiting for the next bus her phone rang. It was Craig wanting to know how her day was going. “Where are you?? I can hear really loud noises in the background!” “Ohhh ... Ummm ... I’m out organising a surprise for you” Hoping that would be enough information for him to stop asking any more questions.
Lyn eventually arrived at Craig’s house at 1pm and couldn’t get hold of Andrew, Craig’s brother, her only way of getting in his house. So she made herself as comfortable as possible on the back step and waited for Craig to finish work ... 4hrs later!!!! She conceded that concrete is very difficult to sleep on and not a wink was had. As she heard the front door unlock Lyn snuck around the front and knocked on the door... The door opened and Craig was lost for words ... again!! “what??!! ... what... what are you doing here???!!!?” His face beaming at the sight of his girlfriend standing infront of him, instead of where she was supposed to be ... on the skype screen in Auckland. The lack of sleep for 36hrs and the 4hr wait on the back step was definitely worth it for that one moment of seeing his face!!
One particular day Craig got sick and went home from work. While skyping we made a spirit of the moment decision to see if there were any flights available and he could fly up to Auckland for a few days. There was one flight arriving 7am in the morning on Jetstar... perfect!! But not to end up as perfect as we thought. Lyn arrived at the airport in good time and as she walked into the arrival lounge saw on the Jetstar notice boards that his flight was delayed due to heavy fog in Auckland. After speaking to the Jetstar staff she learnt that the flight had taken off from Christchurch but that they were circling in the air somewhere around Raglan waiting for a gap in the fog to be able to land. Lyn was frustrated at seeing Air New Zealand planes landing and taking off but not Jetstar’s. Apparently Jetstar does not have fog landing equipment, like AirNewZealand’s ones. 3hrs later Lyn got a phone call from Craig ... he was in Wellington!!!! Jetstar had flown back to Wellington to refuel and supposedly be back in the air in half an hour to try again. Lyn frantically started praying for the fog to clear, hoping for a miracle. Then within half an hour the fog cleared and the sun came out ... planes started landing and Lyn excitedly waited for an update as to when her man would finally be landing ... even though it was now around 2pm, but better late than never... famous last words!!
Unbeknown to her the pilot made an announcement on Craig’s plane while they were in the air towards Auckland that due to the fog still being in Auckland they would be cancelling the flight and turning around to fly back to Christchurch. Around the same time the Jetstar board updated Craig’s flight as being “cancelled”!! And a phonecall from Craig confirmed this as he landed back in Christchurch at 5pm, 10hrs of flying up and down the country and ending up no closer to where his heart wanted him to be. And to top it off Lyn left the airport paying a $35 parking fee, without Craig!!
This experience gave Craig itchy feet and the need to be back in Auckland again, permanently. This commuting was just too hard. So we prayed that God would show us a sign if it was infact in His will for him to be in Auckland.
The very next day Craig mentioned to his boss that one day in the future he may be looking to move up to the big smoke to be with this new love of his life. And in the same day out of the blue an email arrived from someone who knew nothing of this new romance. “Not sure what you’re up to but wondering if you are interested in a job in Auckland, call me” Along with this, DaddyGod chose to confirm our gutt feeling with the current ‘word for today’ being “Genesis 12:1 ... Now the Lord said to Abraham ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” Given Craig’s father came from Christchurch this was a sure sign to us both that God’s timing was now, even sooner than we envisaged. Originally Lyn and Craig had talked about Craig moving to Auckland at the end of the year ... but November was good, no complaints there ... If God is moving the pieces then who are we to complain J
Then a slight amount of doubt entered in to our heads, understandably so ... so God chose to again show a verse to Craig the following week in his bible reading ... “Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not know where he was going” Now there was no question where God wanted Craig to be. As to how it would happen would be interesting to see, which we were soon to find out.
Without notice Craig was informed by his boss in Christchurch that while he was imperative to their project his boss had advertised his position with the impending leaving of Craig to Auckland. Clearly Craig’s boss had seen the love in Craig’s eyes and knew it was only a matter of time.
Over the next week everything snowballed and following Lyn and Craig’s simple prayer to DaddyGod for Him to show a bit of direction, everything was put into place. Seven job offers for Craig in Auckland and a finish date ... it was all happening!!
The decision chosen after some fine negotiating and Craig had job with a substantial payrise and dates to work on... First week in November Craig was moving to Auckland to be with her girl. Lyn organised for the week off and a fantastic roadtrip organised. Lyn would fly to Christchurch and drive up with Craig to the next chapter in their wonderful future together.
There was so much to organise. Now that Craig’s job was organised, he needed a place to live. We had made the decision before God that we would not have sex before marriage, so that meant Craig finding a unit to rent in the meantime. That in the short term proved to be a slight issue. Every place we found that was a slight possibility in renting had sometimes 50 or more other applicants applying for the same rental property. We couldn’t even get a look in, with the 20 or more places we looked at. Out of the blue Lyn’s mother rang to say that she felt God telling her that Craig needed to buy a property rather than rent. In her words “what would be better than the perfect rental property? Having one to own!” Up until this point that hadn’t even entered our minds but it seemed like the perfect solution. So we both sat down and prayed about it.
Within a couple of days we made contact with an agent about a property we found on trademe. She was surprised about our enquiry because the property wasn’t supposed to be even listed anymore, as the owners had withdrawn the sale a few months ago. She decided to reapproach them with our interest and they came back saying that yes, they were willing to consider an offer. So an offer was made and within 24hrs of making contact with the agent we had an agreement, and a 2wk settlement ... in perfect time for Craig’s immonent arrival ... to the day ... only as God would have it perfectly planned!
While they knew they had so much in common together, the road trip concreted this in their hearts. So much in common... cafe’s, triple shot mochas, art galleries, photography, finishing eachother’s sentences, travel, Italy, pasta, nature, dislike of conflict in public, computer games, favourite tv programmes, and a great relationship with our DaddyGod without the need for religious pomp!!
On our departure we heard the weather forcast was for storms ... one at the bottom of the country and one at the top. Where we were was perfect blue sky and as we travelled up the country we watched the storm clouds follow us from the south but never reaching us... blue skies all the way!!
We had an amazing 10 days together on our roadtrip and absolutely loved eachothers company every single minute! Including an impromptu moment as we arrived in Wellington not realising it was Guy Fawkes. As we booked in to our accomadation the receptionist asked us if we were here for the huge fireworks display on the waterfront. Not our original plan but God allowed us to watch an amazing display that night, finished by a romantic dinner for two.
Over the next month Craig became certain of the future, getting to know Lyn’s kids with an amazing ease. They immediately clicked with him, showing excitement at everytime he turned up. Craig’s non-history of childrearing was nowhere to be seen.
It was decided in Craig’s mind that he wanted to propose to this perfect woman God had given him. So he purchased a ring which burned a hole in his pocket for the next month, until he found the perfect opportunity to ask Lyn’s parents for their permission to marry their daughter.
The day was decided in Craig’s mind that he would travel to Hamilton with Lyn’s children while she was at work. Ringing them to make sure they would be home at the time. The night before Craig was feeling rather nervous as expected and during prayer time Lyn suggested we pray that her dad would be told of Craig’s proposition and be forewarned to make it easier.
On arrival in Hamilton Craig found Lyn’s mum to be home but her dad was out at a church working bee and not due home for the next couple of hours. So he filled in the time with polite coffee and chitchat while his heart pounded in nervousness, unbeknown to Margaret, Lyn’s mum.
On Merv’s arrival home he had another coffee with Craig, lunch and proceeded to turn on the cricket, which Craig knew (from Lyn’s stories) could last hours!! Then out of the blue the tv was off and gave Craig the opportunity to ask his future father-in-law for a tour of his vege garden. While inspecting Merv’s delicious looking broccoli he had a moment of honesty, telling Merv of his anterior motives in driving to Hamilton, that he wanted to marry his daughter. Before he could say anything further Merv interrupted Craig to say “Yeah I already knew you were gonna ask me that” Craig’s jaw dropped .. Merv continued “ God told me last night, that’s what you were coming down for, to ask me for Lynette’s hand in marriage” Craig still stunned, Merv followed by saying they were very happy for that and they both walked inside to tell Margaret of the good news. “Margaret, I was right!! Craig wants to marry Lynette!!” To which Margaret exclaimed “let’s break out the champagne!!” with hushes with not wanting the kids to know yet. And Craig drove home with a humongous grin on his face much to Lauren’s intrigue.
Craig had it planned a week later to pop the question ... but ended up being two later, he could wait no longer. He offered to give Lyn a sleepin, while he took her kids to school before going to work. At 10am Lyn got up and txt Craig to thank him for the sleep and let him know she was now awake. The reply came back with “how would you feel if I brought lunch home?”
“LOL!! Ok??”
“great! I’ll see you in half an hour!”
Lyn’s suspicions were aroused when Craig turned up in jeans and a t-shirt in his car, instead of his normal business shirt/trousers and on his motorbike. He advised her that she might want to go get ready because he was taking her out for a picnic.
Calling into a cafe for her favourite triple-shot mocca and proceeding through her favourite gardens Craig set up his picnic rug and pulled out the ‘sugar-free redbulls and sought-after apple mizones’ then followed by an amazing array of entree’s. At this point Lyn became VERY suspicious!!! (Okay, I think I know what’s goin on here) ... main’s ... a blanketload of salads and meats that we couldn’t finish ... then dessert, including my favourite fejoa lollies ... all my little treats Craig had learnt about in the previous 7mths of knowing me ... all in my favourite place ... perfection ... waiting for the words which took forever for him to ask!!! Making polite conversation for what seemed like hours!! Common Craig I know what’s happening now as much as this is beautiful in every single way ...
... and then ... getting on one knee in the perfect tradition, pulling out a pretty pink box with silver bow Craig informed Lyn that he completely adored her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her... “Will you marry me??” At which point Lyn (who NEVER cries) eye’s welled up and replied “of course!!” with tears running down her face, surprising herself at her unexpected emotions... with a huge grin on her face!!
~ The Story of Lyn & Craig ~
The very same week Lyn moved to Auckland after separating from her husband,... Craig also moved AWAY from Auckland to Christchurch, after separating from his wife. Neither of them having any idea that their soul mate was so close in crossing their path.
2yrs would pass while both Craig and Lyn would spend the time grieving and healing. In the tears of the moments over the following 2yrs, Lyn’s mum told her that her dad had a prophetic word for her... “while the past was her Ishmael, God had an Isaac for her sometime down the track, that he felt that she would find him in church” ... Christ’s church??
At a time that Craig finally felt ready to start dating again, he went to his Pastor for prayer and together they prayed for Craig’s spouse to be shown to him. Without this knowledge Lyn had joined a dating website and discouraged by the lack of suitable Christian men in Auckland, she expanded her search in a moment of ‘weakness’ to include other areas of New Zealand. Knowing full well that her search was crazy ... why look outside of Auckland when long distance relationships are impossible!?
One Saturday afternoon in June of 2010 she came across a profile of an interesting looking Christian man who lived in Christchurch. One sentence in his profile caught her eye “Must be imperfect” After a few ‘judgemental’ experiences this seemed like a breath of fresh air. With a deep breath, she sent off a smile to ‘Mr Macaroni’ who just so happened to be online at that very time ... being one day after the prayer made by his Pastor. Craig was also intrigued by Lyn’s profile and returned the smile, even though ‘Auckland profiles’ were far outside his criteria. There was no way Craig was ever going to go back to that Auckland place!!
That afternoon 4 or 5 messages were passed back and forth. The final message from Lyn asking what his actual name was (rather than just his online profile name of “macaroni”), just before leaving to go to work on a busy Manukau nightshift. On arriving at work Lyn told her workmate of this fascinating man she had found online. On hearing that he was from Christchurch she was told she was crazy and proceeded to hear for half an hour about the pitfalls of falling for someone on the other end of the country. The likelihood of actually having a chemistry connection with them regardless of how well you got on was incredibly unlikely!!
Cautiously, but inwardly excited Lyn waited for Craig’s next message.
The next morning she checked her messages ... hoping for Craig’s reply ... nothing ... waiting ... another day passed ... 2 days ... 3 days ... Then surprised and disappointed she decided that obviously it wasn’t to be. Then out of the blue ... a message!! Craig apologising that he hadn’t checked his messages for a few days with being so busy at work. “Phew!! I thought I’d scared you off by asking what your name was”
An immediate rapport developed when they both found out they were Pastor’s kids. Both agreeing that while they got on so well, nothing could ever develop more than that, given the huge 1700km distance between them. But before long, only a couple of weeks, both Craig and Lyn would each finish their work day and race home to go online for one more moment/minute, turning into hours, to chat online.
Then came the dare from Lyn, for Craig to take the next step and call her on the phone. Not believing for one moment that he would actually take her up on it. All communication to that point had been typed. While typing her next message to him the phone began to ring... it couldn’t be!??!!
“Hello???”
“Hi ........ this is Craig”
... then the longest gap and hysterical laughter followed ... Lyn was gobsmacked and stunned for words!!
An appointment time was made ... video skype ... 2pm on Sunday afternoon. While we both had seen photos of each other, video was a daunting next step. Hooking up the webcams and hearing the sound of ‘call coming in’ another moment of nervous laughter followed. Once the initial tension was broken we continued to get on so well ... laughing and talking to all hours of the early morning, day after day. Video skype became our staple diet. And snapshots taken by each other during our skype chats got us through till the next stolen moment of conversation. After a very short time Lyn realised that the 3GB bandwidth she had was not nearly going to be enough ... used up after just 5 days!! Lyn increasing hers to 30GB and Craig went from 10GB to 80GB!!
This was not to be the only increased cost of love!! Mobile topups went through the roof with Craig’s mobile phone bill now reaching the $180 a month!!! After so much investment in four weeks, the obvious next step was to meet in person. Craig organised to fly up to Auckland to meet this mysterious internet profile to see if she was actually the same in real life as she appeared to be online.
While Lyn was outside looking at the neighbouring Pohutakawa tree that God often spoke to her through she looked up to see a perfectly symmetrical rainbow exactly overtop of her favourite tree and the words came from DaddyGod above ... “My banner over you is love” ... exactly the words she needed to hear giving her heart to a man on the other side of the country!
The flight booked and meeting place organised ... ‘the coffee club’ in Manukau. Needing to be somewhere neutral and knowing full well how meeting for the first time at an airport would just not work, Craig agreed to Lyn’s cafe suggestion. Craig’s first taste of Lyn’s cheekiness followed. Hearing the disappointment in his voice at Lyn not being at the airport when he arrived, she quietly chuckled to herself.
As Craig walked around the corner at the airport and made the way down the long flight of stairs he happened to glance up and saw a “vision of beauty and loveliness, she was the most stunning woman he had ever seen and he instantly fell in love” Both of them stunned in the moment, Craig’s hands shaking and Lyn not being able to utter a single word. A hug and suggestion of coffee broke the ice. Two coffees later and they were off to have some fun at Rainbow’s End Themepark, the perfect first date!!
Without realising it a themepark couldn’t have been a better choice for a first date. They just had fun and talked lots, and laughed, ending the day with a new sparkle in their eye for eachother. Love at first sight was definitely true for both of them. Time flew by and before they knew it, it came time for Craig to board his plane home again. With tears shed (of course not infront of eachother) they hugged goodbye and Lyn watched Craig walk back up those stairs until their next planned time together a week later. This would become a definite downside to the long distance. Lyn began to hate airports and the drive back home again after saying goodbye was always filled with sadness.
As Craig was picked up by Andrew his brother in Christchurch, the first words out of his mouth to his brother was “I’ve just met my soul mate, I’m going to marry her!!”
The next weekend Craig flew to Auckland again, given the success of the last weekend. This time they made the decision to meet the kids and Lyn’s parents. What were we thinking?? Interestingly, we made the meeting point of Craig meeting his ‘inlaws’ to be “Butterfly Creek”!! Looking back Craig says thats just how he felt ... in Butterfly Creek, stomach going crazy with the hugest butterflys!! And in the typical nervous Craig way ... he hardly said a word!! Hardly the way to make an impression .. but he clearly did, as Lyn’s parents didn’t tell her to run for the hills.
The next day was spent on a ‘relaxing day skiing at SnowPlanet’ ... part way through the day Craig took a fall on his efforts to impress his new girlfriend with his fancy ski moves. As he arrived at the bottom of the slope mentioning to Lyn of his side back pain she showed her huge amount of ambulance compassion ... “really? Ahhh you’ll be alright” And Craig chose to bite his lip and keep going.
The next day was ‘meet the kids’ day with a picnic at Mission Bay. The kids impression?? ... “He looks like John Keys!!!” Craig didn’t eat much due to his nagging back pain, making Lyn feel uncomfortable that her new boyfriend refused to eat. With his mention of this pain they called in to buy some more pain relief on the way home. While watching a dvd Craig just could not get comfortable, and they both talked about going to the local A&E to get it investigated but given his flight back to Christchurch that night, it was postponed.
Craig got back to Christchurch and continued on with work, choosing to ignore the nagging back pain. One night it just got too much and he drove himself to the local hospital. Lyn got a call the next morning to let her know he was in Christchurch hospital with a perforated kidney, complete with blood in his urine!!! Now that’s how to make one feel bad!! At least Paracetamol and Nurifen was offered!! Lol!
Craig started to feel like Auckland was his only ‘home’ given that was where his heart was and the love of his life. The next 5mths were centred around the next available ‘grab-a-seat’ flight and Jetstar certainly made some money off of them. They managed to work out time together through flying from Christchurch to Auckland and vice versa, with the largest gap being an enormous 14 days, both deciding that was far too long!!! Even though video skype filled the gaps, that wasn’t enough anymore.
One long nightshift in a crazy 3am moment Lyn had a spur of the moment idea to fly to Christchurch to surprise Craig straight after working all night. She went online and found a cheap flight leaving in 6hrs!! Arriving home at 7am she rang her sister to organise for her to come up from Hamilton to look after the kids, packed her bags and caught a very expensive taxi (costing as much as the flight to Christchurch) to the airport and by 9am she was on a flight to see her man, with caffeine filled coffees on board to keep her eyes open after not having slept for the previous 24hrs. Even catching a wink of sleep on the plane didn’t happen due to her excitement of seeing the shock on the face of Craig when he saw her in person.
Once in Christchurch, she navigated herself to the centre city by bus, not quite knowing how to get to Craig’s house. While waiting for the next bus her phone rang. It was Craig wanting to know how her day was going. “Where are you?? I can hear really loud noises in the background!” “Ohhh ... Ummm ... I’m out organising a surprise for you” Hoping that would be enough information for him to stop asking any more questions.
Lyn eventually arrived at Craig’s house at 1pm and couldn’t get hold of Andrew, Craig’s brother, her only way of getting in his house. So she made herself as comfortable as possible on the back step and waited for Craig to finish work ... 4hrs later!!!! She conceded that concrete is very difficult to sleep on and not a wink was had. As she heard the front door unlock Lyn snuck around the front and knocked on the door... The door opened and Craig was lost for words ... again!! “what??!! ... what... what are you doing here???!!!?” His face beaming at the sight of his girlfriend standing infront of him, instead of where she was supposed to be ... on the skype screen in Auckland. The lack of sleep for 36hrs and the 4hr wait on the back step was definitely worth it for that one moment of seeing his face!!
One particular day Craig got sick and went home from work. While skyping we made a spirit of the moment decision to see if there were any flights available and he could fly up to Auckland for a few days. There was one flight arriving 7am in the morning on Jetstar... perfect!! But not to end up as perfect as we thought. Lyn arrived at the airport in good time and as she walked into the arrival lounge saw on the Jetstar notice boards that his flight was delayed due to heavy fog in Auckland. After speaking to the Jetstar staff she learnt that the flight had taken off from Christchurch but that they were circling in the air somewhere around Raglan waiting for a gap in the fog to be able to land. Lyn was frustrated at seeing Air New Zealand planes landing and taking off but not Jetstar’s. Apparently Jetstar does not have fog landing equipment, like AirNewZealand’s ones. 3hrs later Lyn got a phone call from Craig ... he was in Wellington!!!! Jetstar had flown back to Wellington to refuel and supposedly be back in the air in half an hour to try again. Lyn frantically started praying for the fog to clear, hoping for a miracle. Then within half an hour the fog cleared and the sun came out ... planes started landing and Lyn excitedly waited for an update as to when her man would finally be landing ... even though it was now around 2pm, but better late than never... famous last words!!
Unbeknown to her the pilot made an announcement on Craig’s plane while they were in the air towards Auckland that due to the fog still being in Auckland they would be cancelling the flight and turning around to fly back to Christchurch. Around the same time the Jetstar board updated Craig’s flight as being “cancelled”!! And a phonecall from Craig confirmed this as he landed back in Christchurch at 5pm, 10hrs of flying up and down the country and ending up no closer to where his heart wanted him to be. And to top it off Lyn left the airport paying a $35 parking fee, without Craig!!
This experience gave Craig itchy feet and the need to be back in Auckland again, permanently. This commuting was just too hard. So we prayed that God would show us a sign if it was infact in His will for him to be in Auckland.
The very next day Craig mentioned to his boss that one day in the future he may be looking to move up to the big smoke to be with this new love of his life. And in the same day out of the blue an email arrived from someone who knew nothing of this new romance. “Not sure what you’re up to but wondering if you are interested in a job in Auckland, call me” Along with this, DaddyGod chose to confirm our gutt feeling with the current ‘word for today’ being “Genesis 12:1 ... Now the Lord said to Abraham ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” Given Craig’s father came from Christchurch this was a sure sign to us both that God’s timing was now, even sooner than we envisaged. Originally Lyn and Craig had talked about Craig moving to Auckland at the end of the year ... but November was good, no complaints there ... If God is moving the pieces then who are we to complain J
Then a slight amount of doubt entered in to our heads, understandably so ... so God chose to again show a verse to Craig the following week in his bible reading ... “Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not know where he was going” Now there was no question where God wanted Craig to be. As to how it would happen would be interesting to see, which we were soon to find out.
Without notice Craig was informed by his boss in Christchurch that while he was imperative to their project his boss had advertised his position with the impending leaving of Craig to Auckland. Clearly Craig’s boss had seen the love in Craig’s eyes and knew it was only a matter of time.
Over the next week everything snowballed and following Lyn and Craig’s simple prayer to DaddyGod for Him to show a bit of direction, everything was put into place. Seven job offers for Craig in Auckland and a finish date ... it was all happening!!
The decision chosen after some fine negotiating and Craig had job with a substantial payrise and dates to work on... First week in November Craig was moving to Auckland to be with her girl. Lyn organised for the week off and a fantastic roadtrip organised. Lyn would fly to Christchurch and drive up with Craig to the next chapter in their wonderful future together.
There was so much to organise. Now that Craig’s job was organised, he needed a place to live. We had made the decision before God that we would not have sex before marriage, so that meant Craig finding a unit to rent in the meantime. That in the short term proved to be a slight issue. Every place we found that was a slight possibility in renting had sometimes 50 or more other applicants applying for the same rental property. We couldn’t even get a look in, with the 20 or more places we looked at. Out of the blue Lyn’s mother rang to say that she felt God telling her that Craig needed to buy a property rather than rent. In her words “what would be better than the perfect rental property? Having one to own!” Up until this point that hadn’t even entered our minds but it seemed like the perfect solution. So we both sat down and prayed about it.
Within a couple of days we made contact with an agent about a property we found on trademe. She was surprised about our enquiry because the property wasn’t supposed to be even listed anymore, as the owners had withdrawn the sale a few months ago. She decided to reapproach them with our interest and they came back saying that yes, they were willing to consider an offer. So an offer was made and within 24hrs of making contact with the agent we had an agreement, and a 2wk settlement ... in perfect time for Craig’s immonent arrival ... to the day ... only as God would have it perfectly planned!
While they knew they had so much in common together, the road trip concreted this in their hearts. So much in common... cafe’s, triple shot mochas, art galleries, photography, finishing eachother’s sentences, travel, Italy, pasta, nature, dislike of conflict in public, computer games, favourite tv programmes, and a great relationship with our DaddyGod without the need for religious pomp!!
On our departure we heard the weather forcast was for storms ... one at the bottom of the country and one at the top. Where we were was perfect blue sky and as we travelled up the country we watched the storm clouds follow us from the south but never reaching us... blue skies all the way!!
We had an amazing 10 days together on our roadtrip and absolutely loved eachothers company every single minute! Including an impromptu moment as we arrived in Wellington not realising it was Guy Fawkes. As we booked in to our accomadation the receptionist asked us if we were here for the huge fireworks display on the waterfront. Not our original plan but God allowed us to watch an amazing display that night, finished by a romantic dinner for two.
Over the next month Craig became certain of the future, getting to know Lyn’s kids with an amazing ease. They immediately clicked with him, showing excitement at everytime he turned up. Craig’s non-history of childrearing was nowhere to be seen.
It was decided in Craig’s mind that he wanted to propose to this perfect woman God had given him. So he purchased a ring which burned a hole in his pocket for the next month, until he found the perfect opportunity to ask Lyn’s parents for their permission to marry their daughter.
The day was decided in Craig’s mind that he would travel to Hamilton with Lyn’s children while she was at work. Ringing them to make sure they would be home at the time. The night before Craig was feeling rather nervous as expected and during prayer time Lyn suggested we pray that her dad would be told of Craig’s proposition and be forewarned to make it easier.
On arrival in Hamilton Craig found Lyn’s mum to be home but her dad was out at a church working bee and not due home for the next couple of hours. So he filled in the time with polite coffee and chitchat while his heart pounded in nervousness, unbeknown to Margaret, Lyn’s mum.
On Merv’s arrival home he had another coffee with Craig, lunch and proceeded to turn on the cricket, which Craig knew (from Lyn’s stories) could last hours!! Then out of the blue the tv was off and gave Craig the opportunity to ask his future father-in-law for a tour of his vege garden. While inspecting Merv’s delicious looking broccoli he had a moment of honesty, telling Merv of his anterior motives in driving to Hamilton, that he wanted to marry his daughter. Before he could say anything further Merv interrupted Craig to say “Yeah I already knew you were gonna ask me that” Craig’s jaw dropped .. Merv continued “ God told me last night, that’s what you were coming down for, to ask me for Lynette’s hand in marriage” Craig still stunned, Merv followed by saying they were very happy for that and they both walked inside to tell Margaret of the good news. “Margaret, I was right!! Craig wants to marry Lynette!!” To which Margaret exclaimed “let’s break out the champagne!!” with hushes with not wanting the kids to know yet. And Craig drove home with a humongous grin on his face much to Lauren’s intrigue.
Craig had it planned a week later to pop the question ... but ended up being two later, he could wait no longer. He offered to give Lyn a sleepin, while he took her kids to school before going to work. At 10am Lyn got up and txt Craig to thank him for the sleep and let him know she was now awake. The reply came back with “how would you feel if I brought lunch home?”
“LOL!! Ok??”
“great! I’ll see you in half an hour!”
Lyn’s suspicions were aroused when Craig turned up in jeans and a t-shirt in his car, instead of his normal business shirt/trousers and on his motorbike. He advised her that she might want to go get ready because he was taking her out for a picnic.
Calling into a cafe for her favourite triple-shot mocca and proceeding through her favourite gardens Craig set up his picnic rug and pulled out the ‘sugar-free redbulls and sought-after apple mizones’ then followed by an amazing array of entree’s. At this point Lyn became VERY suspicious!!! (Okay, I think I know what’s goin on here) ... main’s ... a blanketload of salads and meats that we couldn’t finish ... then dessert, including my favourite fejoa lollies ... all my little treats Craig had learnt about in the previous 7mths of knowing me ... all in my favourite place ... perfection ... waiting for the words which took forever for him to ask!!! Making polite conversation for what seemed like hours!! Common Craig I know what’s happening now as much as this is beautiful in every single way ...
... and then ... getting on one knee in the perfect tradition, pulling out a pretty pink box with silver bow Craig informed Lyn that he completely adored her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her... “Will you marry me??” At which point Lyn (who NEVER cries) eye’s welled up and replied “of course!!” with tears running down her face, surprising herself at her unexpected emotions... with a huge grin on her face!!
Monday, January 31, 2011
itinary
In answer to Lynda's question ... where are we going in Italy exactly?? ...
I finish work on the 7th February ... next week. Have 2.5wks off before the wedding .. married on the 25th Feb, flying out on honeymoon the next day. We flying into Venice via Dubai, arriving on the 27th Feb, stay there for 2 days. Pick up our rental car and drive up to the 'Dolomites' which is a mountain range north west of Italy to do a couple of days skiing, then carry on, weaving our way up to Interlarkin, Switzerland... where I have a sister-in-law who lives there. She is gonna be our tour guide for 4 days. Then amble down to the north east corner of Italy and down to Monaco, France... back into Italy, Tuscany coast and over the next week or so down to Rome via Pisa (where the tower is), and duck down to see Pompeii and zig-zag up through the middle of Italy back to Venice where we drop our rental car off on the 17th March. Then fly out to London for 4 days to meet up with a cousin who lives there whom I haven't seen for 5yrs and never visited her home there. She lives and works in the very centre of London so that will be nice. Then fly back to Venice and home via stopover in Dubai and Melbourne. Arriving in Auckland on the 24th March, stay one night (secret location) and fly out the next day to Rarotonga, staying at my sister's bach over there for a week. Figuring we need a week of absolute nothing to get over our rush rush of holiday europe travel. Finally arriving back in Auckland on the 1st April and starting back at work a week later on the 8th April.
My boss has been fantastic giving me 2mths off work!! I so can't wait to be 'Mrs Macaroni' (ironic we're going to Italy then huh?) Well actually it will be Mrs Mackie but nicknamed Macaroni; ;)
I finish work on the 7th February ... next week. Have 2.5wks off before the wedding .. married on the 25th Feb, flying out on honeymoon the next day. We flying into Venice via Dubai, arriving on the 27th Feb, stay there for 2 days. Pick up our rental car and drive up to the 'Dolomites' which is a mountain range north west of Italy to do a couple of days skiing, then carry on, weaving our way up to Interlarkin, Switzerland... where I have a sister-in-law who lives there. She is gonna be our tour guide for 4 days. Then amble down to the north east corner of Italy and down to Monaco, France... back into Italy, Tuscany coast and over the next week or so down to Rome via Pisa (where the tower is), and duck down to see Pompeii and zig-zag up through the middle of Italy back to Venice where we drop our rental car off on the 17th March. Then fly out to London for 4 days to meet up with a cousin who lives there whom I haven't seen for 5yrs and never visited her home there. She lives and works in the very centre of London so that will be nice. Then fly back to Venice and home via stopover in Dubai and Melbourne. Arriving in Auckland on the 24th March, stay one night (secret location) and fly out the next day to Rarotonga, staying at my sister's bach over there for a week. Figuring we need a week of absolute nothing to get over our rush rush of holiday europe travel. Finally arriving back in Auckland on the 1st April and starting back at work a week later on the 8th April.
My boss has been fantastic giving me 2mths off work!! I so can't wait to be 'Mrs Macaroni' (ironic we're going to Italy then huh?) Well actually it will be Mrs Mackie but nicknamed Macaroni; ;)
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