Australia - first days

I'll try and recap our first month in Australia. It involved a lot of reconnecting and our energy focused largely on settling in . . . getting a vehicle, finding a place to live, and getting essential furniture items. More on all that later.

Our first Sunday we worshipped in Campbelltown with the Southwest church of Christ. Jason was an intern here for two years. Even though we have not visited often, or even recently, every time we go back to Southwest, there are always warm smiles and open arms. True family.



Ella is often the center of attention:


Overlooking the coastline heading to Wollongong:


At the Harbor in Wollongong


We made a couple of day trips to Wollongong before flying to Brisbane to see my family. We have not been to Australia since July of 2006 and on that trip were only in Brisbane for about 6 days. This trip we had about 8 days with them. It was good to "land" a little more. My nieces have grown and I have a nephew to meet for the first time (and another one on the way). Ella will learn a lot from her Australian cousins, I'm sure. I look forward to seeing them interact over the next few years.

Ella with her big girl cousins, Lauren and Olivia. They are so good with Ella.


And with cousin Benjamin who like Ella but was a little distressed at no longer being the baby. Good practice though because he is about to be a big brother.


With Aunty Shelly and Uncle Brian


And with her Aussie Grandma


First time in the swing at Grandmas house


Ugh. So not ready to go here just yet. Ella Rhys wearing Momma's wedding veil


Thanks to Facebook I was able to get together with some highschool friends and a long lost friend from primary school. Many of them I had not seen or talked to since we graduated in 1994. It was a lot of fun to catch up. We're all pretty much in the baby season of life. And as I always do while in Brisbane, I enjoyed seeing my friends from Uni days. More babies there, too.



I also enjoyed seeing people from my home congregation. They prayed for us as we move to Wollongong and we were greatly encouraged by their support.

And with Kuan Chou...the Monopoly champion. Ella loved him and even fell asleep in his arms.


For the most part, I'd say that Ella Rhys likes it here...


Ella and her momma


God sure did spread a lot of beauty here. This is at Wellington Point - about 10 minutes from where I grew up.

Team Retreat and Departure

We are connected to the internet at our home. We are so thankful for this. Time to catch up on the blog.

Backing up...at the first of the year we had a team retreat at Pickwick Lake in Tennessee. It was a good time for us to be together as a team before leaving. We enjoyed planning and playing.




I found Ella like this on the sofa. She tends to get toys "caught" on her arms and legs, or in this case her face. She just lays there and waits on someone to rescue her.



Before the team retreat though, we had to say our goodbyes to Jason's family. We spent one last night in Austin celebrating the beginning of another year with them and the Kohl family. Ella learned to play UNO.




After the team retreat we spent a few days in Memphis. We stayed with "Aunt Kari" and savored a final meal at El Porton with cheese dip and said goodbye to the Kohlbacher boys...





January 7th finally came. We drove to Nashville and spent some time at Emily's parent's home. Several friends came by to say goodbye and then it was off to the airport. The emotions I felt that day are still hard to put into words. Even six weeks after our arrival in Australia, it still feels quite surreal that we are here in Wollongong.





Many have wondered how Ella Rhys travels. She does great. At five months she had flown ten times. On the flight from Los Angeles to Sydney (which is almost 14 hours nonstop), we had a bassinet that pulls down from the bulk head wall. This was a great help - letting Ella sleep and giving my arms a rest. We are so blessed with a great traveler. She also wins hearts as we travel around the world. There is nothing like seeing your daugther bring joy to people just by her sweet smile and innocent existence. Traveling to Australia with her at five months was good timing. I really believe that God in his goodness and wisdom allowed our funding and visa and all that to come together at just the right time. I know we will eventually travel with a more mobile Ella...but for this trip, I am just thankful she was still baby enough and immobile!

The journey begins. Heading to LA...


Waiting to get on the Qantas flight to Sydney. She has NO idea what is about to go down in her life!



And we made it.


Thank you God for safe travels, a happy traveling baby, family and friends who have let us go, prayer warriors and supporters making sacrifices for us to be here.

Arrival in Wollongong

As many of you already know, we have arrived safely in Wollongong. We have been in Australia for almost one month now.

Unfortunately we have limited email access so we have not been able to update our blog with pictures. In a couple of weeks we will have internet in our home and will look forward to communicating more regularly.

God has blessed us richly. We found a great three bedroom home about 15 minutes from downtown Wollongong to rent. The house is perfect for our family and for entertaining new friends...we hope that time will come soon. We have a beautiful view of Mt. Kembla from our kitchen window. We hope to post pictures soon.

We have also purchased a vehicle and some basic furniture. We have met our neighbours and others along the way. Ella is going to have her first 'Music with Mummy' class next Tuesday and I hope to connect with other young families.

Ella is now sitting up, eating her toes, and blowing bubbles. Today is a big day for us -- she is going to have her first solid food. Something about it makes me a little sad but it is time! I can rejoice in having a healthy, thriving baby. She is just over 16 pounds now with new rolls appearing each day!

We look forward to sharing pictures soon! Please keep us in your prayers as we adjust, make contacts and begin sharing the good news of God's love and redemption to people in this community.

Wollongong Bound

Today is a big day. After years of planning and praying our family is moving to Australia. At 6pm we will fly from Nashville to Los Angeles and then on down to Sydney.

Preparing for an international move is a lot of work. The past months have been marked by road trips, paperwork, packing. And most recently goodbye after goodbye. I have said some difficult ones this past week.

We don't know what the next year, or five years will hold for our family in Wollongong. But I am so humbled at how God has worked. And the truth is I don't even know ALL of the ways He has worked. God has been preparing us so much deeper than just providing us with the money to go. I have experienced tremendous emotional and spiritual transformation over the past years. I am so thankful to God for all of the ways he has refined me and for the ways He will continue to do so. It is not finished yet!

Today is a new beginning. Please pray for us as we begin this new chapter of our lives.

Five months old

We can't believe how BIG Ella is getting. Her doctor has no concerns -- she is definitely getting what she needs! Thank you, God, for a healthy, thriving and happy baby.
(scroll down for several new updates)

Ella Rhys' first Christmas

Ella celebrated her first Christmas in Abilene, Texas. She woke up at 1am and 6am, taking us back to those newborn nights. I'm going with the theory that she "gets" Christmas and couldn't sleep for the excitement. Christmas morning treat was to sleep in bed with her parents after eating at 6am. Okay this was really our treat.









Getting Ella's Australian passport...the last necessary document was a good Christmas present

T'was the night before Christmas

On Christmas Eve, we "let" Ella open her first tree ornament. This will probably become our family tradition and we hope her excitement will increase as the years go by. :)

Bringing you up to date:

Jason's visa has been granted. He has a Religious Worker visa good for two years. God has faithfully and generously blessed us with what we anticipate to be the necessary funds for the work in Australia. We are so thankful. We received Ella Rhys' Australian passport about an hour ago. This was the last document we were waiting on. And in contrast to her US passport - her picture is awfully CUTE! (she is mad and redfaced for her US passport).

The congregation here at Round Rock had a send off for us. The elders met with us for fellowship and prayer. Many members came to a come-and-go reception we had yesterday. We feel very supported and loved by the people at Round Rock.

We are in Abilene for Christmas. We fly from Austin to Nashville on January 1st and will have a team retreat the first few days of January. On the 7th we fly from Nashville to LA then down to Sydney arriving there on the 9th. We will visit my family in Brisbane from January 13th - 21st.

We covet your prayers as we spend the last couple of weeks in the US and transition to Australia.

Merry Christmas by the way.

Denver trip

We made a quick trip to see Jason's cousin Brian in Denver, Colorado this past week. We had a great time. Brian and his wife Heather have three kids - Cade (3.5), Aubrey (23 months) and Luke (5.5 weeks). Adding Ella to the mix meant a game of tetris getting in and out of the car, lots of toys, and loads of fun.

It was Ella's first time in the snow. The weather was kind to us until we tried to leave Denver. We ended up giving up at 10pm that night and opting to stay in a hotel and fly back the next morning. We made our flight in spite of the additional security screening our family was lucky enough to be chosen for.

Here are some highlights including baby Ella and baby Luke sporting their cute Christmas onesies as a gift from Aunt Cindy.



Jason calming the babies



The babies





What do you mean we have to wait for Christmas???



Cade and Jason

Citizen by Descent

Ella was granted Australian Citizenship by descent on October 28th. Yesterday we traveled to Houston to apply for her Australian passport.

Four Things

My friend Faith did this on her blog. She didn't 'tag' anyone . . . but it looked like fun so I 'tagged' myself. Ella updates coming soon.

I tag y'all by the way. Leave me a comment if you participate so I can swing by you blog and learn about your four things!

Four things....

Four jobs I've had:
1) Waitress at the Outback
2) English teacher in Japan
3) Travel agent
4) Mom

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1) My Best Friend's Wedding
2) Elf
3) The Sound of Music
4) Dumb and Dumber

Four places I've lived:
1) Brisbane, Australia
2) Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada
3) Ibaraki and Tochigi, Japan
4) Memphis, Tennessee

Four TV shows I watch:
1) Seinfeld
2) Heroes
3) Lifetime (Shameless!)
4) ? Could only come up with three unless the Weather Channel counts :)

Four places I've been:
1) Riviera Maya, Mexico
2) Jamaica
3) Fiji
4) China

Four people who email me regularly:
1) Mum
2) Aussie Mission team members
3) Kari
4) Cheryl

Four of my favorite foods:
1) Sushi
2) Pho noodles
3) Cake batter ice-cream with almonds
4) Chick-fil-a

Four places I would like to visit:
1) Hawaii
2) New Zealand
3) New York
4) San Fransisco

Four things I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
1) Watching Ella grow
2) Working in Wollongong with our entire team
3) A summer in Australia - its been 7 years
4) Watching how God will work