What we saw, What we missed

This week we had great plans to see and do…and we saw and did some of it.  But life and the clock often unfolds differently than our plan, and we may miss some things.
What we saw...and What we missed.  

The Kelly Tarlton Aquarium is a fascinating place to see and meet new “friends”.  What we saw: King Penguins 
...and strange stringy seahorses. 

We got to see the tummies of “shocks” and sting rays.        We also found here it was better to “look up”  to see.  



What we missed: The turtles and turtle show.  BUT…we saw and made friends with Molly and Faith from England.  That was as good as turtles.

Auckland Zoo

 The Auckland Zoo has many great things to see.  What we saw: the giraffes and zebras in the Pridelands (and learned that multiples zebras make up a “dazzle”).  
We saw seals.
We went to see the big turtles but we sort of missed them because we found tiny baby turtles we liked better.  
We even saw the cheetah, the tazmanian devil hiding in the bushes, the flamingos, and the illusive kiwi bird in the dark.


We almost missed seeing the alligator…whew!  It’s not good to miss seeing those guys!  
What we missed: the elephant and the tigers, not enough time.  Bear…there were none.


 Family Time
 What they saw: A need for a new hair style for grandpa.  
What they missed:  Not much to work with. 


What we saw:  A chance to celebrate an "almost" birthday for Adi.  And a place to get a butterfly balloon and a unicorn painted on their faces.
What we missed:  Her real birthday party...so we had an early one.


Mitai Village


We went to the Mitai Village.  What we saw:  Ben be the chief of the visitors and ask the warriors for peace and not to eat us.  We also saw the Haka and poi dancers,
And the waka of warriors
What we missed: taking a picture of the glow worms...well it was too dark and everyone knows glow worms don't like flashes.

What they saw and didn't miss: A chance to be a poi dancer.
What they missed:  lessons on "how to use poi balls" ...and they barely missed each others heads.

The Bay of Islands

 What they saw: The cultural show and more inspiration for their poi ball dancing career.  
What they missed: Not much, Adi found a stick and started dancing the "Kamatai warrior dance" as she called it...the Haka.  We wish she would have missed that.

In the Bay of Islands (144 islands in all) 
What we saw: The Waitangi Treaty grounds and the cultural show in the Maori Marae, 
 the 3 war waka’s (canoes)    

...beach and some rainbows.
What we missed: Most of the rain.  It only rained while we were driving...lots of blessings in the predicted and then actual weather.  Very nice.  We did also missed the Christmas Parade, but that was okay.

Oyster Farm

We stopped at an oyster farm where they raise oysters for the culinary market.    
What we saw (and learned):  Oysters have a heart, stomach, intestines, mouth and some of the same body parts as other animals, they need calcium carbonate to grow their shells, they live on plankton, they are harvested between 12-20 months. Some are grown elsewhere in boxes, here they are attached to wooden planks. 
We asked if they ever find pearls in these kinds of oysters and they said you have to look carefully but you can find some strange little pearls.  They showed us (we saw) the tiny little ones they have found.  Interesting.  
What we missed: Watching an actual harvest and eating one…but we didn’t miss that last eating part much at all.

Some of us went on the Bay of Islands Boat Tour.  
What we saw: Penguins and dolphins, hiked a mountain on an island, and went through the “hole in the rock”.    
What we missed:  We actually missed the original scheduled boat departure.. but got on the next tour, missed the rain, got a better tour with dinner as well. 
Paihia, NZ
Hole in the Rock


We ferried to Russell NZ, formerly Kororareka, the first permanent European settlement and early capital of NZ (it was a sailor’s hangout and became a wild city with a bad reputation for a time).  What we saw: the site of the big 1845 battle between Maori and English, the old church and churchyard with bullet holes from the battle, and the surrounding cemetery with many who died in the battle.  
Russell Ferry and our new local friends who let us see and touch their Kina catch.

Kina

What we missed: We have walked in the shallows for 2 weeks but we missed finding any of these ...Kina.  But the locals didn’t.  And they let us hold them. 

They were still very much alive.  The locals break them open and eat them raw.
They also had lobster/NZ crayfish in the bag too...very much alive!
bestfishguide web photo

What we saw:  The Jasmine is in bloom here...mmmm the smell is wonderful.
What we missed:  We completely missed seeing them last year.  
Love the hydrangea
 and the Pohutakawa...we will try not to ever miss any of the great flowers here. 

Flagstaff Hill

tikitouring.co.nz web
We ferried to Russell NZ, formerly Kororareka, the first permanent European settlement and early capital of NZ (it was a sailor’s hangout and became a wild city with a bad reputation for a time). 

  What we saw: the site of the big 1845 battle between Maori and English, and the old churchyard and cemetery, and the great view from Flagstaff Hill. 

What we missed:  Getting to ride in this beautiful sailboat and finding any Kina or lobster/crayfish ourselves.
  We went up to the top of Flagstaff Hill.  
What we saw:  A great perspective of the Bay of Islands.  
What we missed: We could only see the Bay of Islands, and probably not even all of that.  We didn’t see the whole Pacific, or even the whole earth, and for that matter the Universe.  But God does.  God has great perspective.  He can see what our myopic, mortal eyes don’t.  He sees the whole picture, the panoramic view and beyond.  He sees things you have missed, and things you cannot see right now.  But He can help you see, even things you would miss seeing. 
Tonysblog.info web photo
It is easy to look for the obvious, what is easily seen.  I loved, as a child, the stories of the native American Indians and how they could look beyond the obvious, detect nature and signs, hear and see things other would have missed.  Important things that often had to do with their survival.  I want to see like that.

Faith, Seeing, and THOTL

When Adi lost her greenstone heart she asked for THOTL to help her find it.  It came back to her in the mail this week. She had faith that it would. 
We are learning more and more about THOTL (The Hand of The Lord) and the many tender mercies that surround us.  We have seen: 
1.       -Many THOTL daily
2.       -Many THOTL we missed initially but recognize as His guiding or protecting Hand later
3.       -We are sure that there are many we have missed entirely. 
We are also leaning that there are many that are somewhat like your own personal revelation-they are sacred and personal and just for you alone.  We have shared some, we will tuck away some as well.  But we can’t tuck away the light and witness that comes because of them. We KNOW He lives.  Do you know?
He is keenly aware of every sparrow that falls, every pain, every heartache, every test and challenge, and every child of God placed here in mortality.  There is a plan and angels ...

and help for all of us if we Come unto Him.  We KNOW that, and are grateful when we see and feel His hand …our only regret is that we are sure we sometimes miss seeing.

Greg Olsen web photo
 Its nice to trust One who doesn’t miss anything. 

We love Him, and we love you.
Elder and Sister Downs
Vance and Louenda

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