The Ostrom Family Adventures

God has made it very clear in the last few steps of this process that He is in control and has been reminding us to be patient and trust that it will all come together.

We received the emails with approved Visas just before Christmas and booked flights for January 3rd!! As with many exciting adventures there is both a lot of excitement and a bit of trepidation.

We had a really lovely Christmas with the Fruin grandparents one day, then Grandpa Ostrom and Cathy for one day, and then Tommy and Soon-to-be-Sister April 🥰 and their van 🚐 another day. Visiting and relaxing with a bit of packing here and there turned into vigorous packing for a year and trying very hard to avoid over (or under) packing clothes, toiletries, toys etc.

Leaving our home furnished and decorated and even with the bookshelves full of books was the one of the best gifts our amazing renters and friends could give us – the best was that they are keeping Henry with them in his own house with 2 big brother dogs and a lot of snuggles and love while we are gone.

Frankly yesterday was heart-wrenching to leave our sweet boy – even if just for a year, we all miss him so much it hurts, and as hard as we tried to meet all the NZ regulations for bringing him with us, it didn’t work out and we trust God has Henry’s best in mind as well. He will have a lovely year with more consistency, and familiar surroundings.

Today we arrived at the airport 0400 and left on time at 0700 with all bags weighing what we planned and checked in well. We have about 2 hours to stretch and rest before boarding our 9 hour stretch to Auckland and then we arrive at 2130 on Jan 4, check into a hotel next to the airport (like walking distance). And tomorrow we will get our rental Ford Ranger pickup and pack our bags into it like Tetris and drive down to Hamilton and an Airbnb for 2 weeks while we explore and look for a home to rent for the year.

We are planning for Leif to attend a public school in Hamilton and are trying to find a furnished rental within biking distance to the school, my work and several gyms where Mason could work as well. We are looking forward to a much more active daily lifestyle than what we have fallen into since Covid started. Is it a lot to ask for? Yes, can it be found? Oh yeah, I can say with absolute certainty that God has a place planned for us and it will be great!

I’ll share photos of our 1st day tomorrow! 🙂