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!  

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...

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!  

An Unexpected Trip

Just a few weeks ago, we found out that we needed to make a special trip to Washington DC in order prepare for our move to Sydney...

After a busy week of packing out of our home, we headed East to take care of some last minute details.

 
While over in the DC area, we were able to get together with my husband's Uncle David and Aunt Brenda. We had a fabulous time laughing and catching up since we last saw each other.  The children enjoyed getting reacquainted and we cherished the opportunity to spend this sweet time with them.

During the week we have been busy with appointments in the mornings, but have had the opportunity to wander about the area and take in some of the historic sites and museums.

 

 

It has been a whirlwind of a time and we are now looking forward to heading down to visit our family in California for a nice rest.   Then off to our new home in Sydney!

Happy Birthday Thomas!

We celebrated Thomas' Birthday today! 

He has just turned 8 years old.  

He spent a fun filled day with his Grandparents and

enjoyed a wonderful cake decorated with lots of

John Deere green! His favorite color.

He had a wonderful time...

in spite of our overseas move happening over his big day. 

I think he felt pretty special none-the-less.

Happy Birthday Thomas! 

WE love you.

Moving Day!

Today we finished packing up our overseas shipment.  Our items were packed up in boxes and then packed into wooden crates... which are then to be packed into a sea container... which will travel for approximately 75 days by boat to Sydney!  


This weekend we, will work to clean the house and prepare for another week of packing up the rest of our storage items... what an adventure!

I have moved a bunch in my life... this move has been rather interesting and in some ways more demanding of us to let go of stuff... things that we like... Australia has a lot of restrictions on the importation of goods... so we have had to sift through and weed out restricted items...



We have purged over half of our books... put many in storage... and STILL the movers comment on the fact that we had a lot of books!  I guess a home school family values the written word...  Perhaps we should consider a Kindle for the next move?  It would save us literally hundreds of pounds.

 

Of all the moves we have had... this seems to be the most planned for and by far the most complicated.  It has also been one of the most prayed over...  Things are running smoothly and we are so thankful that our Heavenly Father is walking side by side with us through it all. 

Happy 4th of July!

The past few weeks have been a blur preparing for our move to Australia... saying good bye to friends and neighbors... sorting through and packing our things.  Selling off our cars and many pieces of furniture... finding a home for our Oscar kitty....We slowly are simplifying and letting go.  There is lots still to do.  The moving truck arrives this week to pack and load the things we will carry with us to Australia... all will be loaded into a shipping container which will travel on a 75 day journey over the Pacific Ocean.

As we were packing up a few toys, Thomas shared some new found wisdom...packing up his beloved Legos he announced,  "Mommy, I thought this was going to be hard.  But it's really not.  It's kind of fun!"  It is an adventure of grand proportions for our family... to leave the comfort of our life here behind and prepare to set up a new "home" in a foreign land.
 
There are a lot of details still to unfold, but one thing is for sure, our Heavenly Father will guide and direct all the details and we need only trust in his sole provision for us.  This is where we will rest today.  In His sovereignty.

A Finished Project

This afternoon, we were summoned upstairs, with excitement, as Thomas had a special building project to share with us.

Thomas has been working on this K'Nex roller coaster since January...a gift from his Great Grandma Joan, he has slowly worked to put it together.  At first it was difficult, the pieces were quite small and it required a lot of focused attention on his part.  I have to say, this has been the first project that Thomas has not torn apart after it became too difficult... he stuck to it and he finished!

We watched as the roller coaster car zoomed and zipped around the 4 foot structure!  Very impressive for a seven year old little boy...  I can't wait to see what else our son can do when he puts his mind to it and perseveres... anything is possible!

Celebrating A Big Day!

Today, we celebrated a wonderful achievement! 
  

Ruth, our sister-in-love, graduated from law school with a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Idaho.

 

She has worked diligently and we are so proud of her!