Sometimes, waiting or sacrificing things is actually just opening the door for God to grant us the desires of our hearts in a spectacular way...

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Exploring



The past few weeks have been both exciting and rather difficult at the same time. As with any move, there is a time of adjustment, setting up, and nesting... with an International move this process is spread out over several months... and so it takes patience and an enduring spirit to walk each day.




Our Little Cottage in Crows Nest


This is not easy when your comfortable bed is floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!  Yet, keeping things in perspective,  I am thankful we do have an adequate bed, for now, and a lovely home to keep us safe and warm.  

After three weeks, we finally got our house phone connected!  We are still working on the internet but we are hopeful by next week that will be resolved.    

We have been busy setting up our place... getting quotes for curtains, making appointments with Doctors, learning our way around our neighborhood, making new friends and meeting our neighbors.   We don't have a car... so we are daily walking to the grocery store for our meals... very much like Europe!




This weekend we ventured out to Manly. (A 25-30 minute bus ride from our place).  It is a famous seaside town located near the headlands, just north of Sydney.  It was a fabulous winter day... many people were out sunbathing and swimming in the ocean.





The children enjoyed investigating into the tide pools and digging in the sand... we enjoyed a fabulous lunch overlooking the beach...




A Walk along the hillside in Manly...
 

 
A Sea Dragon


We then jumped on the Ferry and headed down to the Circular Quay (the main Ferry/Train Station in Sydney.)  We got some great views of the city and the famous Opera House as well as the Bridge...









 It is hard to believe this is within a half hour of our doorstep!  

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Finding Our Way

We have spent the past few days getting adjusted to the time... Crows Nest is our home for the next few years.  It is a vibrant little village full of coffee shops and restaurants.   We are currently enjoying a cup of coffee at our local coffee shop (literally one short block from our home).  I am having a difficult time getting onto my e-mail.  For some reason, I cannot access it through the public internet connection.  This is a bit discouraging as this is one of my main forms of communication with friends and family.  If you have the time, drop a comment on my blog to let me know you are out there! 

Our new house is great... looking forward to making it a home.  We visited a Baptist Church yesterday... it was truly wonderful to worship and feel connected to the body of Christ even so far from home.

Photos to come! We are just finding our way through all the details...


Monday, August 8, 2011

Rest

The past few weeks we have enjoyed visiting with my parents in Palm Springs... It has been such a joy to visit with Pop Pop Jake, Grandma Linda and Great Grandma Joan.  Lots of good food, swimming and fun. 

Today, we traveled from the Coachella Valley floor at sea level up to the 
San Juacinto mountain tops at 8,600 feet!
  

 We rode the tram up to the top and enjoyed a lovely hike in the mountains. 


  
 





We leave for Australia in just two more days!  

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