Charlie, Gunnar and Chad

Charlie, with two of his friends, Gunnar and Chad, enjoying the snow fort.

Snow Fort

Rich made this snow fort for the kids with his bare (well, mittened) hands.

Piggy Bank

Grace painted this piggy bank all by herself.

Lego

One of Charlie's Lego creations.

Josephine is One

Josephine celebrated her first birthday on February 1st. Laura made a lovely rainbow cake, which was appreciated by all.

Christmas Morning

Visit from Santa

Santa made a recon visit to our home two nights before Christmas. He met with the children individually, identifying their gift wishes as well as probing their 'naughty and nice' records for the year. We have not seen bigger eyes on our children before. As he left, Grace asked: "Why is Santa driving a pick-up truck?"

Nativity Re-enactment

On Christmas Eve two other families (the Jeanes and the Crocherons) shared a meal and the evening with us. The Jeanes revealed themselves as the anonymous creche-givers (they gave us twelve separate pieces of a little Nativity set, one each night, over the twelve days of Christmas). We re-enacted the Nativity story with Jane playing Mary.

Playing In The Park On A Chilly But Sunny Day

Where's the ski lift?

Trudging back up for another go. This is in a little park walking distance from our house. The field is in the shape of a rectangular bowl with the sides coming down a few feet of gentle slope towards the middle, where kids play soccer in the warmer months. As it was our first time at sledding we were not game enough for the slopes at KMart Hill. Charlie and Dad tried those the next day.

First time sledding

Here we are getting ready to whoosh down the hill.

Santa Claus

There are three stages of a man's life: He believes in Santa Claus, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, he is Santa Claus.

Author Unknown

Eyes

If the eyes are windows to the soul, Jane must have a pretty cheeky soul.

How does Josephine express herself?

Part 1 - Amusement

a. Wide mouth frog smile

When she sees something or someone she likes, she opens her mouth and twinkles her eyes.

b. Wrinkly nose smile

A follow up to the wide mouth frog smile, she makes this one when she is sharing a nice moment with someone she loves.

c. Supportive laughter

If the whole family is laughing about something, she will join in, to add her support (even if it is doubtful that she really gets the joke).

Post Recital Party

The traditional post-recital-pizza went down very well.

Piano Recital

Here is Charlie waiting for his turn at his first piano recital. Another 25 or so other children (5-15 yeard olds) of varying levels of experience and skill performed also. Charlie played 'O Christmas Tree' and 'Angels we have heard on high'. He was remarkably calm and matter-of-fact about it, and did a terrific job.

Washing Day

To cut down on water use sometimes we wash the children and the dirty clothes at the same time. The spin cycle gets a little noisy.

Sunny Girl

Today was a blue sky day, and a little warmer than usual (2 degrees celsius) - so we headed off to Draper Park for a swing and a slide. Josie enjoyed getting out in the sun.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2007

Dear Diasporic Kith and Kin:

It has been a wonderful year for our family. On February 1st our bonny Josephine was born into our family. She is very chubby and cheerful, verging on jolly at times. The older children have taken her under their wings. Josephine doesn’t always appreciate being there, but she is generous and patient.

Two months after Josie's happy arrival, the Hunters of Hong Kong traded rice bowls for super bowls, and bamboo for tumbleweed. In April we moved from Hong Kong to Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The two places are worlds apart, but we are finding something wonderful. It doesn’t matter where you are, if you are with the ones you love and you roll up your sleeves and get stuck in to good activities - like ballet rehearsals, piano lessons, shoveling snow off the driveway and growing veggies – life is great wherever you are. Our little ones are growing like our zucchinis grew this (Northern) summer - big, bouncy and delicious. Actually that is not a very good metaphor. Our children are not that delicious.

In between our move from Hong Kong to Utah we went home to Australia to attend Richard and Claire Mary’s fantastic wedding and to catch up with some of our family and friends.

Since being in the USA, we have learned how to make snowballs, how to collect candy from strangers while dressed as a cat and how to say “purple” the way our American cousins say it. The education continues. Our friends, neighbours and work associates have welcomed us warmly.

Notwithstanding our wonderful experiences here, we miss our family and friends very, very much. You are so special to us. Thank you for your phone calls, emails, packages and prayers. We love you and pray for your happiness, health and blessings. We often hear people say “If only we could treat each other this nicely for the other 51 weeks of the year, after Christmas is over.” Well, we are happy to report that you, our dear friends and family, treat us like it’s Christmas all year round. This is very important to us and we thank you for all you do and are.

We are grateful for our knowledge of Christ, our Saviour. We love Him and we love His Father – our Father. We pray that each of you will feel the love of Jesus Christ this Season and always – and that you will know of our love for you and gratitude that we are friends and family together.

With love and warm wishes,
Laura, Rich, Charlie, Grace, Jane and Josephine Hunter