Let's go back to the beginning...

 You may be wondering what on earth let the Bodily Family to New Zealand? Let's get into that.

There is a bit of disagreement as to when the idea of living in New Zealand first occurred to Brad. I thought he had talked about the idea of living in New Zealand years ago. Like when Ryan was just a little boy. Not seriously, mind you, just kind of like, how cool would it be to live in New Zealand? And we talked about how we had heard you had to have a million dollars in savings or something to even apply to live there. So, who knows if that ever actually happened or not (though I visualize this conversation happening in Mom & Dad Bodily's kitchen in their house on Howard - does anyone else remember this by any chance?).

Anyways, whether that was the first seedling of feelings for living in NZ or not, a few years back, I believe sometime in 2020, Brad saw a wallpaper on his computer and something about it appealed to him enough for him to find out the picture was taken in New Zealand. Not because the picture was so amazing looking, more of a feeling that it gave him. He had the impression that he should talk to his parents about us visiting New Zealand. (Honey, if you read this and I am remembering incorrectly please let me know) So, he talked about it with his parents. We wondered about them flying out to us (we were living in Virginia at this time) to stay with the kids, or us all going out to Idaho to leave the kids with them there while we went. I looked up prices on what it would cost to do these things.

Side note: At this time I also looked up prices on what it would cost to go to Banff, Canada. I figured if we were going to look at dream places to visit that's a place I visited as a teenager and LOVED (in fact I wanted to honeymoon there but we didn't). Just wanted to share that. (second side note: we haven't visited yet)

All right, so COVID is in full swing and everything has shut down. Borders were closed and even if we had a job waiting for us in NZ we couldn't get there. So, during this time we started learning more about New Zealand. Including watching YouTube videos of others living here and sharing their experiences. (Mostly It's a Drama - YouTube but also occasionally Kiwiamericans - YouTube) Also we started learning about what it takes to get a visa to New Zealand (spoiler: it takes a lot). 

In 2021 Brad started applying for Microsoft jobs in New Zealand (Brad went to work for Microsoft in 2020 and when he got the job we discussed the possibility of working and living in another country some day, since Microsoft is a global company, we thought it might be fun to have an adventure and move somewhere foreign). In spring of 2021 we found out that we were going to have to once again find a new house to live (this was our 4th house in Virginia and we had only been living there for 4 years) as our landlord wanted to sell the house we were renting. The previous summer we had looked at housing, planning to buy in the area, but nothing was right and after a few months we quit looking and renewed our lease.

We decided this was the time to leave Virginia. Brad received permission to work remotely and we moved back to Idaho. We moved in with Brad's parents for what we hoped would be 6-12 months while Brad applied for any Microsoft NZ job that he was qualified for. The idea being that we hoped to get a job transfer to NZ and move. We got rid of most of our furniture and headed to Idaho.

Six months after moving in with Mom and Dad they ended up buying a ranch in Montana and moved out and we took over their house. Which was pretty wonderful. They live in a beautiful neighborhood and were in an awesome ward. Living in that ward was truly an answer to prayers for our family. We are so grateful for the time we had there.

Anyways, none of the jobs in NZ panned out and we settled into living in Idaho. The next year our kids got into the charter schools we had attended previously (and absolutely love) and I was happy to be back in Idaho. Brad kept pursuing jobs in New Zealand and I told him I didn't want to leave. It was a little bit of a trial for us and I wasn't sure how to reconcile our different feelings. Also around this time Ryan was bit by the NZ bug and realized that he didn't have a wife and kids to worry about so he decided to take a year off school and in February 2023 he moved to New Zealand. He had an Airbnb for 30 days, so he had that much time to find a job and another place to live. (Side note: he did awesome) A few months after he left Brad and I discussed flying out here to see him and visit NZ. We thought maybe we should see this place we have discussed moving to (if you didn't know, neither of us had ever been here). 

I didn't even want to come and visit NZ or Ryan. Which if you know me, that's saying a lot. I just had barriers up when it came to NZ. I was happy in Idaho. I was with my sisters, family, friends, schools I loved. I didn't want to leave. 

Anyways, we ended coming to visit Ryan and we brought James along (which was absolutely an inspired from above idea we had). We took the kids to Grandma & Grandpa Bodily's ranch in Montana and flew out from there. I cried pretty much the whole way to Auckland. I'd never left any of my children for that long and I still wasn't very thrilled with the idea of this trip. But, when we landed and I saw Ryan I was pretty happy and within a few days I was falling in love with this beautiful country and the lovely people who live here. We were here 2-1/2 weeks and it was awesome. It's probably a good thing we left 4 of our children behind because when it came time to leave I didn't want to, except that I did want to see my kiddos! Once again I cried on an airplane on the way home.

I waited until we had been home a couple of weeks, but then I let Brad know that if he got a job in NZ I would gladly support moving our family. I loved the country, I loved the people. We had amazing experiences here and there's just something about it. In fact, when we drove home from Montana as we pulled into the neighborhood I had the distinct feeling that this just wasn't right, it wasn't home anymore. Which was really hard, I had such a desire to be back in NZ, but that is such a scary thought - to actually move our family across the world?! That's crazy! But, I thought, let's at least give it a shot and see if it can even be a possibility.

Oh my goodness, if you are still reading, then kudos to you! I want to share one other thought. Before we went to visit Ryan in NZ, as we thought about moving there I think my biggest personal fear was that I wouldn't make friends. Everywhere we have lived I have been immensely blessed with good friends and I worried that wouldn't happen here. However, I felt like every town we visited on our trip here in NZ I made friends. I really felt that this was Heavenly Father showing me that I would be okay, I would make friends if we moved here.

All right, congratulations to those who have made it this far! I am pretty sure future posts will not be this long and will have more pictures to entertain you. But I will include a few pictures here at the end from our trip to visit Ryan.

Next post will be about the visa process. And it is quite a process!

With love from New Zealand,

Lyndsay

On the plane out of Great Falls. I stopped crying long enough for a picture. 

I think this would even be too long for James, we couldn't believe how big this Batman pajama was!

A beautiful sunset on the beach.

The ocean coming in over my feet.

A bakery next to Ryan's church building where we sampled many of their goodies:

My NZ friend, Christina (also Ryan's institute teacher). She's awesome!

Can't remember what this place was called, but it was all about Maori and some of their history.

James was my backseat buddy as Ryan was our tour guide for our trip.

This beach was made up almost entirely of crushed shells.

Golden Sands beach, one of our favorite spots.

Having lunch in the Party Tent at Hobbiton.