Christchuch Pettys January 2013

And now we are four and a half!

First of all the news you have all been waiting for… Jessica and William are expecting a baby in September. The next generation of Pettys is on its way. Poor Jessica is suffering from pregnancy sickness, but is hoping to feel better in a few weeks. The heat is not helping. I think expecting a grandbaby is definitely preferable to expecting my own. I don’t feel at all sick and I don’t have labour to look forward to.

We bought my mother a 42 inch LCD TV and looked after it for a month so we could learn how to use it and get the right cables etc. We finally installed it at her place a month later! It’s beautiful, but we really don’t watch enough to justify getting one ourselves. Maybe we will get one in a year or two when our income at least equals our expenditure. (Right now we are living off my redundancy payment and watching our flexiloan grow again.)

All of New Zealand had one of the hottest Januaries on record. We are lucky in Christchurch that it usually cools down over night.

I love the start of a new year, where it stretches out ahead of me like an untouched exercise book. For family home evening we talked about the things we did in 2012 and what lies ahead of us in 2013. I think this has to be the most unpredictable year ever, with starting the business.

I am organising a Women’s Conference for our stake. You can see all about it here. I really love my calling. I am so lucky to be able to serve in a way that is so well suited to my stage in life and experience. Though I generally dislike making phone calls, if I think of myself as RS President I can do it more easily. It is like playing a role.

My brother, Michael, and his wife, Marian, visited from Brisbane, and we took them for a look around the devastation that is Christchurch. I was saddened to see the absence of QE2 park. The concrete ramp/approach is still there, but goes to nowhere, in a very surreal, post-apocalyptic sort of way. Any of you who can make it here, it is worth the trip to see what nature can do. We are approaching two years since the most destructive of our earthquakes, and the focus is just starting to shift to rebuilding rather than taking down. Our centre city is still not open to public access. We had one sizeable shake this month, which is the biggest since July, I think, at 4.6, 12 km deep, centred SW of Christchurch. There has been a little seismic activity following on from that one, but nothing like last year.

My brother, Peter, who was in Japan, has now moved to Melbourne. He is having trouble finding somewhere to live, but is staying in a homestay until he finds somewhere for his family.

Jonathan had a three-day course at the RNZFB for people about his age with vision impairment. He did some shopping and cooking, and seemed to have a nice time.

Merivale WardYW Camp 2013 - Balmoral Campground

The highlight of the month for Mark and me was a Young Women Camp at Balmoral Forest. The manual requires the presence of two priesthood holders, so Mark went as one of them, and I went for the fun of it. We stayed two nights in tents. There were ten girls, three leaders and the husband of one of the leaders as well as us. The girls were lovely, and did not complain, even with a very wet and cold hike and first night. (It was the coldest day in the month!). Fortunately it warmed up the next day, and all was well. Mark and I had a great time, just lazing around in our tent, helping out when needed, and having our food provided for us. The leaders had done a fantastic job of planning. It made me wish William could have been in Young Women and go on camps like this.

Nicola doing finishing touches on our tent.
We decided on roughing it only so far this time; our bed was our
foam/air mattress with a pillow-top covering and a down duvet!!

Mark went back to work in the second half of the month, and I was trying to work all the way through. Our materials are getting there, but slowly.


Mark and I went to see Les Miserables movie. It was pretty good, though some of the singing was a bit dodgy. I really liked Eponine.

We visited Timaru Branch, about 160km south of Christchurch. As usual they were very welcoming. The Stake President happened to be there as well and got me to speak without warning. It was fine. I suspected he would and had something ready to say in my head.

Jonathan gave us the game of Agricola for Christmas, which Mark and I are really having fun with. It took a few goes to really get how to play it. We also watched a 30 minute YouTube video! Jessica and William have played a couple of times too.

That’s about it for us
Nicola, Mark, Jonathan, William, Jessica and bun.