D - 27 - Dual celebration
Today was not about me but a day to celebrate four special people committed to a new life together as couples. We gathered together as a wider Whanau/ family to celebrate the engagements of my daughter Courtney to Lewis Chellew and Renene’ cousins daughter Chanel to Shaun Callaghan.
Shaun and Chanel have come all way from South Africa to spend 3 months with Chanel parents who are newly resident in NZ.
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| Courtney and Lewis |
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| Shaun and Chanel with gifts of Mere or patu and Moro porowhita |
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Courtney and Lewis were gifted two
“environmentally friendly” gifts to plant that would be gifts that would grow alongside their
commitment to each other |
What a wonderful opportunity to celebrate new beginnings in these young people’s lives and something very positive to distract us from these troubled waters we are navigating. Like finding a sandy beach and sheltered anchorage after a stormy passage on the “waka”.
The fellowship, the friendly and humorous banter, the genuine aroha of a connected Whanau and the welcome these two new men had into our broader collective.
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| Shaun and Lewis preparingbtrdational South African boerewors ( spiced sausage ) |
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| Two beautiful lady’s - brides to be |
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| Lewis and Courtney |
We ate well, we chatted, we sang, we cried together, we were proud together.
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| Proud parents |
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| Other proud parents |
Are we not so privileged to have all been made so welcome in New Zealand as displaces Africans and to be able to find comfort together at such a wonderful property as “Beulah”. Thank you Dee and Stu for opening your home to all the Whanau.
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| See and Stu our hosts |
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| Proud grandparents |
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| Out came the guitar with various maestro’s |
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Traditional boerewors for “ Boerie “
rolls |
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| Shaun “ incognito” |
And so we wish these two couples a fantastic life ahead of them . They have such good exemplars to learn from their grandparents and their parents who have set them a template for marital success and in the very sound advice from Grandpa Jannie “ never go to bed on an unresolved difference of opinion. Talk about it and settle your difference before you sleep on it”.
” Kia kaha “ you four wonderful young adults. The world is your oyster. Go out and enjoy your lives together and take nothing for granted . Life can throw some rocky roads in your path but with perseverance , some sprinkling of humour and a positive approach to life you too can make a success of marriage like those Whanau who have travelled the road before you.
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