Two Years

I realise I haven’t updated my blog since our one-year anniversary, so this is well overdue. Honestly, it’s been such a busy year for us that I’ve barely had time for myself, never mind keeping everyone up to date on what we’ve been up to. But not to worry! I will try to sum up our second year in this all-inclusive post. I have posted some of our updates via social media, but I haven’t disclosed some exciting things that we’ve done or have happened, knowing I would have the chance to do it on this platform.

Here is a timeline of things that have happened (I’ll include the good and the not-so-good) over the past year since my last post. And for the sake of keeping the kids’ identities safe, I have renamed my son Jack and my daughter Diane (high-five if you get the reference):

August 2020: I started my new job as an Office Manager at Legacy Church.

September 2020: Jack turned five and transitioned from kindy to primary school (aka kindergarten!) and honestly, he did so well. He’s learning so much every day and I’m impressed with how much information he retains. He had a really fun Avengers themed birthday party, complete with a bounce house.

October 2020: I found out I was pregnant with baby #3, pregnancy #4. It happened fast and we were so ecstatic!

November 2020: I miscarried on Thanksgiving; it was very hard for me physically and mentally. But we still managed to have our South African friends over and share a delicious Thanksgiving meal regardless! That Saturday, we celebrated Thanksgiving for a second time, but this time with our American friends living here in New Zealand. And excitingly, and with great expectation, Matt finished his New Zealand electrical qualifications and got a nice raise at his job, B&M Electrical.

December 2020: We celebrated Christmas with our dear friends from South Africa. The kids were spoiled with lots of toys and we baked (and ate!) way too many cookies. Jack’s big gift was Minecraft for the Switch (he loves building) and Diane’s big gift was a doll house, completely furnished. You should have seen their sweet eyes light up.

January 2021: We took the family on a trip to Rotorua to attend Keswick Christian Camp with our Church. It lasted for a week and we had a lot of fun! We spent quality time with people from Legacy and really enjoyed the daily/nightly meetings that involved guest speakers. It was so good for us spiritually, but also physically as we got to rest and enjoy a lot of family time. The kids had a blast as well. My favourite event was the nighttime barn dance where we all dressed southern and did some line dances. I found out shortly after we arrived home that we got pregnant on that trip – we were ecstatic it happened so fast, again! Baby #3, pregnancy #5.

February 2021: Diane turned 3 and we had a high tea party for her in our home. It was an elegant affair full of little girls wearing their fancy party dresses and dainty finger foods. We had a blast! We even played classical music in the background and had those little triangle cucumber sandwiches. Having a girl is so much fun!

March 2021: We stayed put and did the bare minimum to get by as I battled with hyperemesis (this is typical for me). Thankfully, this is the first pregnancy that I did not end up in the hospital to get IV fluids. With the right combination of medications, I was able to keep hydrated. I still lost weight and was miserable but I stayed healthy, which was a huge milestone for me.

April 2021: We saw the Wiggles! Seriously, that was the best concert. I knew all of the words, thanks to both Jack and Diane being obsessed with them for ages. Many little girls wore the same Emma dress that Diane chose to wear and she could not believe her eyes when she saw them. We took the family down to Wellington for the concert and stayed overnight in the city in an Airbnb. It was a really fun mini-getaway. On our way home, we took the scenic route through the Wairarapa and stopped at the Wee Red Barn – this cute vege and fruit shop that also had fun trinkets for sale. I bought a cow serving tray and it’s probably the best purchase I’ve made all year.

May 2021: We found out that baby #3 is a GIRL! I honestly could not believe my ears – I was convinced baby was a boy. Name to be revealed at birth.

June 2021: I decided to step up and manage all of Legacy admin, now known as the Central Admin team. It has been so rewarding! I now have built a small team (that is still growing!) and together we are making things happen! I love my job and my church family. I cannot believe how blessed I am!

July 2021: I turned 31 and Diane insisted that I needed to have a birthday party, complete with a unicorn cake – so that is precisely what we did. For the first time in my adult life, we invited friends over and celebrated my birthday while wearing party hats. It was actually a lot of fun! And Diane was so pleased with how her, I mean MY, cake turned out lol. Matt and I celebrated 11 years of marriage and tried out Nero, the most expensive, posh restaurant in town. It was absolutely fantastic! We took the family on holiday to Taupo and stopped at Mt. Ruapehu on the way. We ate at the highest altitude restaurant in New Zealand and saw the best views! The kids encountered snow for the first time and ingested entirely too much of it. We enjoyed our senior leadership trip with Legacy at Wairakei Resort, and I got to spend a lot of quality time with my fellow teammates. It was a blast! And lastly, our two year anniversary of being in New Zealand was on 30th July.

Overall, it’s been quite the eventful year for us. I am so proud of how far we’ve come in our short two years here in New Zealand. When we started out here, we had next to nothing and weeks where we had $3 in our account to get us by. In those times, God really provided and got us through! Now we have a beautiful home (that we’re renting), a third baby coming, and enough room in our finances to enjoy ourselves from time to time, while consistently paying off debt (we are almost done!) and saving up (we have the most we’ve ever had in our savings account right now and we couldn’t be more proud of our progress). Matt is doing great in his electrical career and I am really enjoying serving at Legacy. We are both managing teams of people and learning along the way. It is exciting that we are both using our degrees to further our careers.

It hasn’t all been easy, but everything has been 100% worth it for us. Even if I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing. I love that New Zealand has gone from being a foreign country to our home over the course of these two years. I love the friends and connections we have made – they are many! I love that we are close with our neighbours and stay in touch with them frequently. I find it hilarious that my kids have accents (Diane’s is pure kiwi, while Jack has a hybrid accent). It’s hilarious when our “foreign kid” gets mad and yells at us with her kiwi accent. We probably shouldn’t, but sometimes we can’t help but laugh. The flip side is we haven’t seen our families or friends in the US in two years. It’s honestly really hard and we never imagined that COVID would cause the boarders to close, extending the time that we have to go without seeing anyone from the US. I really hope the boarders open up in time for our families to come see not only us and the kids, but brand new baby girl once she arrives. We will see what happens, and in the meantime we will keep Snapchatting, FaceTiming, calling, and messaging our family and friends to keep in close contact.

All that being said, I am really excited for what this year has in store. I am looking forward to a full year of maternity leave to spend with baby girl and to focus on my growing family. And lastly, I am looking forward to all that God has for us in this next year. He has been with us this whole time, and it’s really cool seeing His plan unfold for us.

Much Love,

The Cullums