Thanks for calling in. To have reached this far into our site you must be at least vaguely interested in finding out some more about us. Welcome! New Zealand is a small country with just over 4 million people over its two main islands. Our time zone is 12 hours ahead of GMT (the time in England) and 18 hours ahead of EST in the USA.

As we stated on our homepage, we set up this website in 1999 not only as a celebration (and miracle!) of us getting together after a trail of divorce but also that our extended family would have a great family record of history and photographs. By far the majority of our visitors are from overseas and to you we extend a very warm and heartfelt welcome. We have heaps of links, photos and information about New Zealand and of course, our Christian faith. So, lean back, rest a spell and take the tour.

Deborah and I (John) met in December 1992. At that time I was living in Auckland in a small flat in Takapuna and to a large extent, very much missing my 3 children, Gemma, Jeremy and Lisa after a relatively messy divorce from what was my second marriage. After being made redundant from my job as a trade union legal officer I'd just started my own employment law firm and the work was starting to pile in. A Christian I was not. On the other hand, back in 1992 Deborah was living in Otaki, a small town about an hour's drive north of Wellington, our capital city. In other words, there was about 500km between us. Those first months after we met were very difficult indeed as we missed each other incredibly. Every second week I'd drive down to Otaki to be with her. The following week she'd drive all the way up to Auckland to be with me. Back then, Deborah had 3 of her children (Claire, Diana and Emily) living with her.

Call us mad if you like but we very soon got sick of the huge driving feats and the fact that we really missed each other. We decided there and then and just two and a half months to make a go of things. One weekend in January 1993 Deborah came up to Auckland and we looked for a house that would not only be suitable for Deborah and the two of her girls who were coming up, but also my 3 childen every second weekend. Talk about "Yours, Mine and Ours"!

We found a great home in Glenfield on Auckland's North Shore which had two levels, 4 bedrooms and a swimming pool and in we all piled. Did things go well from that point onward? Heck, no! Deborah and I got on wonderfully. After all, we were in love. The real fun started every second weekend when my 3 children visited. Talk about sibling rivalry! I very quickly developed strong fatherly bonds with Deborah's girls, Diana and Emily and my own children very quickly saw this. Similarly, the situation was also there in reverse. From my perspective it was like being the meat in the sandwich. For quite a while there it put a very real strain on our relationship. Over time however, things really improved. My own children started to blend in and we just tended to get on with life.

Deborah and I were married at the Glenfield Baptist Church on 7 May 1994 and we've never looked back. Our relationship has developed and flourished although not without the occasional bumps along the way. As for me, apart from working for another employment law firm for about a year, Deborah and I ran our own firm for about 9 years and it developed into a well-known and respected business amongst the legal fraternity. Deborah's career also flourished as she entered into the realm of market research and call centre management. Over the last few years I've been working in the field of human resources management. After a 5 year stint living in Greenhithe once the kids had all left us, we now live in our second Glenfield home.

As for our children, that's another story. Try and work this lot out:

Deborah's children
Karl - lives and studies at Laidlaw College (formerly the Bible College of New Zealand.)
Claire - lives in New Plymouth and she and Graeme have three boys, Maxwell, Daniel and James. That makes us very proud grandparents!
Diana - lives in Titirangi with her partner Kris.
Emily - lives in Beachhaven, Auckland with her husband David and their daughter Abigail. They were married in 2002. Click here to check out their wedding page and all their photos.

John's childen
Wendy - lives in Perth, Australia with her husband Brent and 3 girls, Brook, Jo and Trina.
Sara and her husband live in Auckland's eastern suburbs.
Gemma - lives in Adelaide, Australia with her partner Simeon, our grandson Kalib, grandaughter Rose and more recently, our grandson Oscar.
Jeremy - lives in Perth with his partner Helena.
Lisa - lives with her partner Toby in the Bay of Islands and our grandson Calal.

Phew! A handful huh?

There are two great things that have happened to me (John). The first was meeting Deborah and the second was God guiding me into his hands in April 2000. My life has changed dramatically and wonderfully for the better. To continue this epic story, have a look at my testimony. It's a worthwhile read.
Before you disappear we'd really love you to sign our new guestbook so that we know that you've visited and where you're from. Unfortunately a hacker destroyed over 2 years worth of entries so we had to start it from scratch.

Have fun touring the rest of our website! Take care and God bless.....
John and Deborah Watson