Tom is an Anesthetist (anesthesiologist, for those of your scoring at home) and has a one year contract with the hospital in Gisborne. He and Michelle have three kids: Noah (6), Emma (3), and Elijah (almost 2). We’ve known them since our intern year at the University of Michigan, back when we each just had one kiddo. We’ve been in church small groups and generally great friends for the last five years.
Having them with us here in New Zealand feels a lot like having family. (Although we’d love to have some family as well; just sayin’). We visited them last weekend and had a great time seeing the kids pick right up playing and running together. Tom and I are looking forward to learning to surf and kite-surf together, as Gisborne has some awesome beaches. For now they are about a four hour drive away from where we are in Taupo. We’ll be moving to Gisborne for a one year contract in March.
The pictures are from our brief visit with them last weekend. We can’t wait for more adventures together.