2002 - THE BAIRN

Paul & Karyn Gardiner
CHRISTCHURCH
NEW ZEALAND


20 November 2002

Dear Friends and Family,

Paul here – letting you know what’s gone on for us in 2002. Well, it’s been very hard year for us, but also a very wonderful year (yeah, I know - sounds contradictory! Trust me, it’s true).

The highlight of the year was the birth of our beautiful baby daughter, Phoebe Katelyn Gardiner, 22 March 2002. She’s the cheeky wee elf up there. Every one says she looks like me: mischievous, chubby-cheeked, dimple chin, and bald as a chimp’s bum. Can’t see it myself!!! She has more hair now, and it was a milestone day when my Baby Daughter used more shampoo than I. She is doing well, full of beans, and looks like crawling by Xmas - which will get us both fitter, I’m sure. Still waiting on her first tooth, any day now…..

Our UK house was vacant for much of this year, and this was a bit hard, financially. Do you remember all those great BBQs we had there? We thought about selling it, then we secured tenants and things returned to normal. So, we still have the asset, but we may yet have to sell it in the future. Well, as a result of not selling the UK house, we put some work into our NZ home, mostly on the garden. I used to loath gardening, but have gained a real satisfaction from doing this work. I may yet become "Gardiner by name, gardener by nature."

As we write and read this, Karyn comments she hasn’t done much this year!! I can only say that I totally disagree, and that looking after the first baby is hard graft (especially one so “spirited”). Karyn has positively blossomed in the role, and is a real, natural mother. Who knows, we might even have another! As you might know, we have had trying times with Phoebe’s health, which has been compounded with the UK house thing. But now, we are getting on top of it all.

Finally, we’re going to UK for Christmas, and really looking forward to it. We’ll try to see as many people as we can, but our focus is our family in Scotland. Karyn and I are looking forward to seeing our first niece, Baby Sarah Gardiner.

Hope you are all well, and our love & best wishes to you for the Festive Season.


Paul C Gardiner, Karyn M Gardiner