End of the Year thoughts.

Well, we survived a hot Christmas where the temperature reached around 110 F. I wouldn't really know since we never laid foot outside (the children refused the beach; they wanted to play with all the new toys and I don't really blame them) but my sister gave my husband a new indoor outdoor thermometer so we can see the temperature rise before we head out. We spent most of our Christmas morning face timing with family and opening presents in front of the ipad. YAY for technology!

The tree is now bare underneath which is the saddest sight. It looks so empty without the brightly covered presents. The anticipation and build up of the holiday is amazing and then just like that it is over and we wait a whole 364 days until the next one. For the days following Christmas I feel a little lost. How long after Christmas is it acceptable to keep listening to Pandora Christmas channel, or watching Christmas specials on DVD and Netflix? As you know from previous posts I do love my Christmas, but at what point do you hit the pause button on Christmas until the following November? Most people say New Years, I would normally say longer but this year is slightly different for me. In the states at our previous homes we have snow through march, so as long as its snowing and you can drink hot cocoa to me it's relevant to keep up the holiday cheer. This year was a little bit harder for me to get into the spirit. It could have been the 100 degree temps. It could have been the beach days before and after the big day on the 25th. It could have been the lack of Christmas lights in the town (although the ones we did see were pretty amazing). It could have been the lack of Christmas get togethers and parties; but most likely it was knowing that our family and friends were on the other side of the earth. I went through the motions for the kids, but truly honestly it was hard. Christmas Eve service was amazing, we found a little church since our church didn't do eve service  and attended that. It was a good reminder of what Christmas is all about. Addison helped make our annual 'birthday cake for Jesus' as our Christmas day dessert, but this year was just harder than others. It hasn't quite been a week and I look around and i'm feeling anxious to get the house in order and back to its usual look. I usually have to fight with Jerrod to let me keep the tree up a month longer, or to keep my winter dishes out until valentines day; but i'v been slowly already gathering odds and ends to be packed up.
My big job for the holidays is over; giving the kids the best holiday and Christmas season that I could give. As long as it was over the moon fantastic for them then I achieved my parental goal. My daughter told me it was the best Christmas ever, so i'm thinking I achieved that.

Now onto New Years.  At the end of this month we are officially a quarter through our time here in Australia. Mind Blown. I don't want to wish it away, we are having a great time discovering this amazing country and are anxious to take our road trip down south at some point in the new year, but I am even more anxious to see my family again. To sit on my moms deck on a warm day and just chat, to snuggle my kitty in bed, to take my dog for a walk on a beautiful fall day in the leaves and of course take the 4 munchkins to our yearly trip to Storyland (maybe more by the time I get home ::winking at sister::)
I'm thinking about it like this. Only one more Christmas apart. Only one more Halloween and Thanksgiving apart. When I think about it like that it makes it easier. Time goes by so fast. I don't want to wish away this once in a life time experience. I just wish I could fly everyone out here so they can experience it with me! Anyways, that is what is on my mind today.

I don't really believe in New Years resolutions as no one really keeps them after February anyways. The gyms will get over crowded for about a month and half and the salad bars won't be able to keep up with demand but by March everyone reverts back to the way they functioned pre new years. But what I will do is hope to achieve some pretty realistic goals. Continue to stay positive  on this adventure down under. To try and take advantage of experiences that I feel comfortable doing that I will never be able to do again. Travel and see more of this country. Keep raising my children to be fearless, adventuress and kind hearted human beings.

What are some of the promises you will make to yourself for the New Year?

Talk to you all in January

A Little Christmas Nostalgia

It is officially one week from Christmas and I'm feeling nostalgic and a little bit homesick. The holidays are a very special time for me. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! It is not about the actual Christmas day; which is obviously awesome (I mean I got engaged on Christmas morning after all!) but for me it's the season. It's the anticipation and traditions and festive activities leading up to Christmas. I suppose it is my parents fault. I personally think we had the hands down most fantastic holiday season experience. My mother is a little Christmas crazy herself and I suppose that is where I get my love for it at. I couldn't wait for her special Christmas time dishes to be pulled out. She has a setting for 12 atleast (but I'm pretty sure more!) plus every piece of serving ware imaginable; how I love those dishes with the Christmas tree and the little train that went around at the bottom. She had this Santa that I actually believe was made to be a piggy bank...hes old and made of porcelain and I think she once said it came from home interiors, but I love it! Perhaps the best was her nativity which still makes it appearance every year; I remember her getting certain pieces when I was younger. It is gorgeous. larger than a traditional nativity and the pieces are painted beautifully. Today she also displays a nutcracker collection that takes up an entire book shelf. Many years ago we got rid of a piano the once small collection sat on top of it during the holidays and our only thought was where are the nutcrackers going to go at Christmas?
Now my father; his lights were amazing. We had this deck with lattice wood underneath so he would hang those big old C9 bulbs in giant X patterns on the bottom then twinkle icicle lights from the actual seating of the deck. My first Christmas being married we went to buy lights and I insisted on the C9 lights because it was what my dad had always used, after half of them braking against the house that one season and spending a fortune to replace individual bulbs I gave in and let Jerrod buy smaller outdoor lights. The icing on the lights; our old plastic blown light up Santa and his reindeer which still make an appearance every Christmas.
We had so many ornaments we had 2 trees, one real one for the living room which was always bought too big and always needed to have the top cut off to fit in the room and tied to our deck door to prevent it from falling ( do I have to tell you how we had to figure out to tie it up!?). Our artificial tree appeared in the dining room which was great because who doesn't want to look at a beautiful tree while eating dinner plus every homemade ornament from when they were in pre school.
There was a little pond in front of our house that we would spend days skating on. We would spend all day out on that miniature rink and at night my dad would bring down the portable work flood light for us. Today that pond has grown over but my memories are still there (side note-my cats are actually buried right next to it).
Christmas time meant baking. My mother would make what seemed to be 100s of sugar cookies with every sprinkle you could think of and atleast 6 different colors of frosting. The 3 of us kids would sit down and decorate until you get to the point where you stop caring about doing details and you are just throwing on green frosting onto any cookie just to get them all done. Peanut butter balls were always a must, my mom made tons of these as well to give out as Christmas gifts. Leftover balls always got put in a bowl in the fridge but they never lasted too long....they were so amazing.
Ginger bread houses were something my sister and I did together. Yes they were a pre made house and yes that made it awesome because they were ready to go with minimal prep and cleanup work.
Perhaps one of my all time favorite traditions would be getting in the car and driving to town in the evening with the Christmas music playing. We would grab a hot chocolate and ride around some of the bigger neighborhoods and look at all of the beautiful lights and displays. You know what makes this all super awesome, is that when I go home it all still happens. Every thing (minus the skating and PB balls) but every thing else is still carried on when we are able ot make it home for the holidays.
The magic my parents brought into our lives on Christmas morning was phenomenal. I was left believing; really truly believing much later than most kids. The details of a type writer typed tag with our names on special gorgeous Santa paper, stockings over flowing onto the floor. Everything was just always perfect and magical, and just because we are older now there is still that same magic all these years later. If you wake up at my parents house on Christmas morning you better believe cookies and milk had been drank and nibbled on, and yes he has left you a special gift. As much as you can say thank you in the moment of something, I only hope my parents realize what they did for me and my siblings and how much I truly am thankful; so in a way I guess this is a thank you to them for the magic of Christmas, for the memories that will never be forgotten and for giving me traditions to carry on with my children.

My house currently smells like ginger bread (can anyone really complain about that?) I gave in last night and spent 2 hours baking homemade pieces for ginger bread houses. Jerrod made me do it our first year married as his family tradition is making the houses from scratch (nod to aunt lou and aunt peggy for making enough for like 20 people!) and they assemble them all together the saturday after thanksgiving. I have proceeded to make them every year except last year and felt guilty yesterday so busted them out. Not quite stale enough yet to build, hopefully by tomorrow.  Anyways; building traditions and memories of the holidays regardless if snow is on the ground or not with my little munchkins is all I can hope to accomplish. Id say if when they get older and can look back and love the holidays for what we did together and remember the love poured out for them then I did a good job. Now im going to throw my thongs (flip flops) on head out in this 99 degree heat to grab dinner at the store. Happy memory making and merry Christmas to everyone everywhere!



Heres  what you need for Trafton family ginger bread
5 1/2-6 C flour
1 TSP baking soda
1 TSP salt
2 TSP ground cinnamon
2 TSP powdered ginger
1 TSP ground nutmeg
1 TSP ground cloves
1 C shortening
1 C sugar
1 1/4 C molasses
2 beaten eggs

1.Mix flour, baking soda, salt, spices
2.melt shortening; not too hot. add sugar, molasses and eggs in that order. add 4 cups dry mix
3.knead in remaining dry mix. make it firm and add extrra flour if needed.
4.roll out to 1/4'' thick

bake at 375 10-12 minuites and makes ~40 cookies or 2 houses ( i use wilton house piece cutters)

Land of the Flies

I have composed this post in my head probably a dozen times if not more. The temperatures are finally reaching 97 degrees and up on a daily basis and something no one prepped us for, something no one talked about to us nor could we read about in any books or our welcome booklet---FLIES. I'm not talking a pesky fruit fly, but a straight up swarm of full sized flies. They are everywhere, you can't go outside without getting swarmed. They buzz around your ears which I think might be my new least favorite noise in the whole world, they fly under your sun glasses into your eyes, they fly up your nose, in your mouth and land on the corners of your lips. They gather on your back and on your shoulders in the dozens. There is literally no escaping them. I thought they were bad 2 months ago, October had nothing on December. The only relief is a windy day that keeps them at half bay. I have tried every kind of bug dope they have here, nothing seems to work to MY satisfaction which would mean they stay a mile away. The only positive thing I can find is that they do not bite...or at least not yet? they mostly just want our moisture and sweat. (Ummmmm...YUCK!!)
They really should have warned us about the flies. Would it have changed our minds about coming...no...but at least I could have prepared myself mentally. I am officially renaming Exmouth as the Land of the Flies.
End Rant

On a happy note, we have learned the Aussie Jingle Bells song almost word for word and I have posted it here for your enjoyment. It's pretty awesome and is incredibly accurate of life here.
Just click the link below and it will be like you are right here with us!!
Aussie Jingle Bells

Wish to sing along? Here are the lyrics, just sing it to the tune of jingle bells :-)

dashing through the bush in a rusty holden ute kicking up the dust

esky in the boot kelpy by my side singing christmas songs it's summer time and i am in my singlet, shorts and thongs jingle bells, jinjle bells, jingle all the way christmas in australia on a scorching summers day hey jingle bells, jinjle bells christmas time is bute oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty holden ute engine's getting hot dodge the kangaroos swagie climbs abord he is welcome to all the family is there sitting by the pool christmas day the aussie way by the BBQ oh jingle bells, jinjle bells, jingle all the way christmas in australia on a scorching summers day hey jingle bells, jinjle bells christmas time is bute oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty holden ute come the afternoon grandpa has a doze the kids and uncle bruce are swimming in there cloths the time comes round to go we take a family snap then pack the car and all shoot through before the washing up oh jingle bells, jinjle bells, jingle all the way christmas in australia on a scorching summers day hey jingle bells, jinjle bells christmas time is bute oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty holden ute oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty holden ute

THANKSgiving

No Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
No Turkey roasting in the oven.
No stuffin muffins.
But what we do have is THANKS.
We are thankful for our health, we are thankful for our family near and far, we are thankful for our friends that have been made across the world, we are thankful for food that can nourish our bodies so that we do not go hungry and we are thankful for the roof over our head. We are thankful for this life experience here in Australia and for clothes on our backs. I am thankful for a husband who loves me, who takes care of me and our 2 beautiful and healthy children and for the fact that he provides and supports us during these years where I am able to relish in the time of being able to stay home to raise these remarkable little human beings. I am thankful for technology; something that allows me to see the faces of my sweet niece and nephew, have weekly conversations with my mom and dad, visit with my sisters and yes talk with my cat Trigger who I am convinced talks back.
Yes, we have a lot to be thankful for when there are so many that don't have half of what we have.
I feel lucky and fortunate for my life. there may not be stuffin muffins or the rockettes with high legs dancing in front  of Macy's but the holidays will come regardless.

my elves decorating the tree

My husband has been surprisingly very un-hum buggy this past week. He has picked out Christmas movies for family movie night, willingly picked out Christmas songs for lullabies with the kids and even put the tree up ON Thanksgiving. He knows November through December is my happy place. It makes me feel good and puts me in a good mood. Even if its in June, if i'm having a bad day nothing perks me up more than a Bing Crosby song or even better an up tempo Michael Buble or Mariah
Carey Christmas melody. Infact, I had the name Bing on my boys name list (among Ret; gone with the wind and Humphrey (Bogart)) for Logan because in my eyes he is a Christmas God but Jerrod put his foot down, and in reality that was probably a good thing.
Saturday (tomorrow) there will be a turkey in the oven...a 5.5 kilo turkey to be exact (it will be around a 12 lb bird). We will be hosting a Friendsgiving with our 2 best family friends here in Exmouth, People that we want to share this super awesome thankful holiday with. It will be the first Thanksgiving for them. So here's praying my gas stove doesn't mess up my apple pie, pumpkin log or over cook the bird and I wish you all a very happy holiday season and cute comfortable elastic waisted pants.

I'm Back!

The long wait is over...we officially have the internet! One can only take so many instances of paragraphs upon paragraphs of in depth posts complete with pictures and captions all typed up on my itty bitty cell phone touch screen only to have it mysteriously vanish right before the 'post' button is pushed....needless to say that is the reason for the long hiatus.

It was a long road, and many hours spent on the phone with the local internet company but we finally locked them down with what they owed us! Thank god that is over.

The next joyous news...our large shipment of what I call 'our life in boxes' is due here this week! it has been roughly 3 months without all of our things and part of me wants to say 'no, no take it back! put it in storage with the rest of our things!' (minus my sheets, blankets, Christmas tree, bikes and a handful of favorite toys) we have survived this long without all of it and are functioning and living normal without needing anything extra. This has been quite a humbling experience. With all the tears I shed narrowing down the books to be packed for the kids because of our weight constrictions, and crying because they would be without special items that they have had since birth (which were clearly more important to me) and not being able to bring my jewelry hutch with my jewelry and only selecting 4 necklaces and a few earrings... it is so clear how people can live with nothing and not complain. It has really made me realize the importance of the non material things; us being here as a family and living in the moment everyday, making relationships with other families and spending most days running around at the park, splash pad, playground or at the beach doing picnics and barbies.  The things I am most anxious for in this delivery; my pictures. I want to be able to see my mom and dad every day on the wall and I want the kids to see all of the cousins constantly.

Our honeymoon phase is over. At this point we are LIVING. we have our daily routines and things aren't new anymore. We are no longer the 'new american family' in town. With this comes the reminder that we are in fact living on the other side of the world and we wont be going back any time soon, thus leading into the occasional pangs of homesickness. No different than the ones I would get in Arizona or Jersey, but at least they were broken up with quarterly trips home or visits from my mom or sister in law.
I find myself more and more anxious for when the time comes for us to have a real home of our own. One we wont have to pack up and leave every 4 years or so. I know people say its not that great, you have to fix it all yourself and it is expensive, I get that, and in reality I  know that once that time comes for us we will probably be itching to move every so often and wondering what else is out there. But I miss my family and I miss having close friends (physically and emotionally) the kind that you don't go into the relationship knowing there is an end date. There are only a few handful of friends that I can safely say have stuck by me even with all my moving and not being around and I appreciate them more than they will ever know. As a military wife we tend to collect people. we have scattered friends all over the world and the one thing we have in common is we all get it. Our spouses have different schedules week to week and they can miss anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to a year being sent to who knows where. We are forced to be strong even when we don't want to be and hold together the family and make a house a home with every move. Sometimes I wish for the normalcy that people have, but then I wouldn't be having adventures to NYC, exploring the Grand Canyon, Philadelphia, Sydney harbor and hand feeding kangaroos in the outback of Australia. One day we will settle down, and when we do we will be able to look back at this time and know it made us as a family stronger and we will have incredible memories to tell our grand kids and anyone else who will listen.

Vegemite taste

It's taken 7 weeks, Iv had this jar of vegemite in my pantry for 3 weeks. Today we finally opened it up! Check out our video link below to see if it's a hit or not!

Vegemite tasting

Roo foster mum

It's official i am part of the wild life animal rescue family. This means when foster mums for the baby roos that are rescued need help they can drop them off to me and I'll take care of them! Baby roos are just like babies, they need feeding every couple hours, help going to the bathroom and plenty of sleep and play time. We cannot have them full time in our houses so this is the next best thing for helping out hands on. We also will be helping at the roo pen for the more juvenile roos that don't need such 1 on 1 care. I'm pretty excited about this, seriously why wouldn't I take this opportunity to help and work with these amazing creatures for the 2 years I'm here? Or shall I correct that and say less then 2 years? I am not counting down, but secretly in the back of my subconscious I am thinking about the time I get to see my family again. It will be much easier once we get the internet which hopefully won't be much longer at this point.
We have gone and checked out the camper that is available to us through Jerrods job last weekend. Everyone goes camping here, so we want to try it too. Camp grounds are everywhere and not to mention that is how every one travels here, with a camper since there is not many hotels. It looks promising and we hope to make a few trips before the hot summer heat sets in.

Ugly insects

Can we juat take a moment and stare at the ugliness of the insects here. This creepy thing was attempting to get in my house this am upon returning from dropping my daughter off at school. He was in between my screen door and my solid door. Reason #5,489 why I don't leave just my screen doors open and just use the AC because clearly the creepy crawly  things easily slip under the screen doors. His family will never see him again, let's leave it at that.

Addison started football aka American soccer and she likes it alot. There's about 18 mini roos (4&5 year old players) so they split them among 2 coaches. My daughter for sooome reason thought your supposed to tackle the other players around the waist and drag them to the ground...apparently she's watched too much American football and confused the name? Either that or I need to put her in rugby instead. Anywyas after I explained that's the wrong sport it didn't happen again...atleast she didn't make the boys cry that she tackled to the ground.

We got a call Monday that our unaccompanied baggage (our 500lb rush shipment ) would be here this morning! So what do I do, remembering how it's always been done in the past they say morning and that means 1 day it's 11:30 and the next they show up at 6am, I rushed A to school to get back incase they showed up. 2 hours later still no movers. I'm terrified if I even think about getting in the shower they will show up mid shampoo and I'll miss them, so scratch being clean today. I remembered we needed to return toys to the library so I packed them up and hauled Lo and the toys across the street and hurried back. Still no moving truck. Going on 11am. To me, morning means before 9:30 , after that it's mod morning. It's 11:14  now. If they had said noon I would have atleast ran over to the pharmacy or market to grab groceries. Ohhh well. I'm thankful to know that at SOME point today we will have SOME of OUR things, and this makes me happy :-)

Blown away

Jerrod had today off so we loaded up the truck,  packed up a days worth of snacks plus some (because let's face it kids could snack allllll day ) and headed out to the west side of the peninsula to sandy bay. You would be disgusted by the amount of dead roos on the side or in the middle of the road out that way. They are rather stupid creatures and jump either in front of or right into vehicles as they drive...like they hop into the side of your car. It's really rather sad because you are obligated to "finish them off" rather than let them suffer; it's like hitting  a deer in maine. Then you must check the pouch for babies.
Once we drove the 45+minutes to the beach it didn't take long for us to notice some pretty nasty clouds headed our way.  The beach was dead, and much more windy than we anticipated. Some of our friends arrived and the 3 young girls spent the time in the water playing while logan dragged sticks around in the mud making shapes. After about an hour and a half the black clouds were close enough to make us un comfortable so we packed up and got in the car just as the rain began to pour down on us. So much for our sun soaked relaxing day at the beach! First rain for us since we have been here. .so 4 weeks!  On the bright side,  we should be receiving our unaccompanied baggage by the end of the week! (Our first 500 lbs of essentials) this makes me happy because we will be able to start putting our touches into the house and really making it ours.
I made rice krispy treats yesterday to bring to share at the beach. I recommend if coming from the states and you like marshmallows bring your own. There pink and white marshmallow concoction taste like crap. So if you are reading this, feel free to send a couple of bags my way!

Sausage sizzle

Today we had our first sausage sizzle. That I quickly learned is what they do at get togethers. Today was a 5 year olds birthday party. It was very casual at the part y ou know the normal spread, miniature meat pies, sausage rolls, fairy bread (bread with butter and fully dunked in sprinkles!) And then of course the full on grilled sausages , hence the name a sausage sizzle. Eveything was amazing and so delicious. When asked don't you guys eat sausage at parties we responded no, mostly hamburgers and hotdogs; and might I add there version of hot dog we found at the market is NOT  an American hot dog by any means. But boy don't these Australians know how to throw a party!  Besides the giant 2 tier frozen themed cake and platter of fresh fruit, coolers of beer and wine they had a piñata, water balloons and plenty of play for all the 20ish kids in attendance.  We met so many more wonderful, welcoming people.  We are starting to hear the familiar "ohhh so your the new American family"  or "oh nice to meet you, I've seen you around" at which I think 1) I hope that wasn't a day my kids were being terrible in the store or 2) I guess we are the talk of the town!  Once people see you around longer than 2 weeks its assumed your here for a while.
On top of my new favorite "sausage sizzle" phrase,  there's some other lingo that we have caught on to so we don't look like complete idiots
Breaky-breakfast ( I actually love this one! )
Keen-  you keen to still get together? You keen with that?

Ok side note because my mind is all over tonight, pause on lingo. ...yesterday at the skate park we went to meet some friends,  6 kids between the 3 of us. I brought fruit snacks to share that I had imported over as they are every moms life saver for any toddler or child and they don't have them here!  So anyways, I hand out the bags and my kids go to town and they were like, umm what do we do and what are these. ..they are fruit snacks,in no way are they fruit they are just shaped like fruit and yes they are sugar. ..but they are motts so they are the best kind :-)

Ok.up date over.

Sunday Funday

Today I woke up and dressed the kids and myself and we walked maybe 4 minutes down the road to the local Christian fellowship lighthouse church. I felt a little relief as I walked closer to the open doors and we could hear a heavy drum beat coming from inside. Not to much change is good right now for the kids. We were greeted by the tiny congregation and welcomed by many. The contemporary band made it familiar for addison which was nice, I was afraid traditional hymns may have been too much transition for her. She immediately recognized a little girl from her kindy class and they colored as we sang. Logan went into the small nursery they have in the back of the building, the 4 year olds and up left and went to another building for children's church and I stayed put in my folding chair. Because of the small size and frequent transit among the residents they do not have a full time pastor; instead the elders of the congregation take turns doing the message, sermon and prayer every week. The 3 piece worship team was really good and played uplifting music that eveyone got into. As one of the women said to me "we may not have a pastor to lead us, but our hearts are in the right place and God speaks through us to eachother". They were all wonderful and very helpful. Logan enjoyed playing with kids his age and new toys and addison had a blast at church school.

Our weekly schedule is slowly starting to look like a real calendar, with weekly repeating events and functions.

Yesterday I had to have a heart to heart with addi, she was telling me how when we go home to get whiskey and Trigger they will love going back with us to our house in new jersey. I had to remind her that we won't be going back there, and most likely a new family is already living in that house, she got really upset thinking  some new child was using her things. She just doesn't seem to understand we won't ever go back to that house. Leaving it was such a whirlwind I feel like I didn't even get to properly take a minute in the empty house before leaving. Things happened so fast between movers, cleaning, turning in keys ect. I still remember seeing it for the first time with my father and being so excited knowing it was going to be the house we raised our children in and brought home to. As much as we were ready to start fresh, and take advantage of the adventures the military offers, we had a good 5 1/2 years at that base.

Did I mention I found a cockroache last night while I was home alone? No? It was as big as my hand no joke...and did I mention they fly here? Yes.....with wings....i saw it move under my pizza pan in the cabinet as I was getting a pot out. Needless to say, I went without the pot and closed the door and did the smartest thing I could think of , I waited for jerrod to get home. When he got home he went hunting for it, but it was gone....now I have a man eating cockroache loose that will fly around my house at night hunting me.... seriously?! Not cool. And my husband thinks I made it up. I hope he finds it in his coffee mug just for that, ok not really because I would cry if that happened to me.
Cheers.

A little faith goes a long way

I'm finally settled in our new country and with addi attending school now I find myself with free time while logan takes his mid day nap. ..somehow my book I never was able to get into (i was just too busy!)for my bible study back in the spring 'a lineage of grace' by Francine Rivers made its way here even though all we have is suitcases...hmmm...the point is, is i can't put it down! I feel like it made it secretly into my luggage for a reason. I find myself bawling in the pages describing the pain (emotional and physical) Tamar encountered in the house of Judah. In a few short chapters I feel connected to these real life characters. These strong women who structured the course of our biblical history. It gives me hope, and an inner strength that I can do anything, a reassurance that God will in fact look over me and my family and not let anything bad happen to us as long as we have faith in him and nothing but him.
You havn't read it? Then you should! Keep in mind it is historical fiction, but it is fantastic!
I give credit where it's due; new jersey. If there is one thing I can take away from that place it is the re-birth of my faith. I feel like my whole outlook has changed since then. When most people would have been stressing about a move to the middle of another country with not so much as a fast food chain  I just kept praying for peace and some how I made it through the whole transition without one giant melt down. I'm not saying things wernt hard, but I knew we were going to be taken care of.
Sorry too much religion for you? I couldn't help it, my heart was full with faith this morning and I needed to share!

1 week down

Well we have made it a whole week here in australia! (Technically 1 week 2 days). The past week seems like a blur. We have done something every day and have been busy exploring the area and getting to know new people.

A quick summary of our week.
Addi started school and is super happy to have friends again; she goes 3 days a week and they are pretty much the chillest school Iv ever gone to...bare foot,eating outside, lots of art n crafts and tons of play! She is in the kindy program (pronounced ken-dee) and gets to wear a cute little uniform!
Jerrod started work last Monday and so far enjoys his job. He works 30 minutes away in the middle of no where  and works from sun up to sun down, about 3 or 4 days on and 2 to 3 days off. Not a bad schedule and gets to walk addi to school atleast once a week which she likes.
We have discovered a beach only a mile and a quarter away and we were able to watch the hump back whales breaching and playing from the shore as they make the yearly migration journey. The kids and I have got to go to the rescue and rehabilitation site for kangaroos where we go feed and check up on them.
The kids and I have discovered the library, the toy library (we can check out toys! Perfect since we don't have our stuff yet!) And we have encountered several emu around town.
Yesterday we went to the west side of the peninsula with Jerrods co-workers and checked out 2 beaches.  One of them had too many jelly fish on the beach and in the water so we went to turquoise bay instead.  The water was perfect  and the kids spent the after noon making sand castles and playing in the shallow water.jerrod tried out snorkeling and got to see Nemo and dory :-) Jerrods supervisor was taking care of a brand new baby red roo rescued the day before so we brought it with us. ..yep we had a kangaroo at the beach. He was so cute and just stayed in his pouch all day!
We saw about a dozen roos driving home, they are every where and you have to be so careful because they will LITERALLY  run right into your car (they are not very smart) dead roo carcasses  line the roads...it's really sad...it's like deer in maine. And just like deer in maine you can't leave them on the side of the road or in the road if they are still partially alive, I think you know what I mean has to be done if you hit one. :-(
Sooooo let's just hope when we get our van one doesn't run into us! An American here just hit one with there American Van and it cost them 9,000 to get it fixed (keep in mind some roos can get as big as 6'+!)

Today I took the kids down to heritage park for the farmers market and then to Brumbys for muffins.

That's the week in a recap.
Now we are waiting on our cable box to get here, I was really hoping it would be here before the weekend so I could watch the olympics but that didnt happen :-(
We should have internet by September 1st sometime...hopefully.  they only have so many ports in this small town, so there is a wait list for Internet port lines until 2018 but since an American family from the observatory is about to leave we are going to take over their Internet line.

Logan is napping, I juat mopped the floors and addison is playing with Legos we got from the toy library and watching the little mermaid from my computer. I have a marinated pork belly from the butcher in my crock and it smells amazing, not to mention all cleaners here are made with eucalyptus so everything smells good!

Gonna eat a chilled Tim Tam my new favorite addiction and relax. Everyone have a wonderful sunday!!

Jet Lag Sucks

Jet Lag is no joke.

we were able to track our flight as we went,
kinda cool to see the path we took.(NOTE:just TX-Sydney)

We have spent a majority of the time sleeping since we arrived here in Exmouth. Well, Jerrod, Logan and myself at least, Addison is another story...she is quite frankly a freak of nature I swear. My 4 year old literally wakes up at 4 refuses to nap and puts herself to bed at 7:30 just to do it all again. Meanwhile Jerrod and I are dragging butt getting things in order and learning the area. We took 3 hikes yesterday in hopes of seeing a kangaroo (the kids want to see one so bad) we even took a trail...the kind that had uneven red sand and tall grass on both sides about the height of my knee and I just prayed I could run fast enough if necessary. It is THE trail to the beach so walked often and every one says they have never seen a long squiggly thing that must not be mentioned on it, but lets be honest if someone would see one it seems like it would be me. We got 1/2 way up the trail to where it meets a main road and took the road back to town and never made it to the beach as the wind was wicked strong and Logan was complaining about his ears in the wind. We were told by a local we stopped to talk with that normally the kangaroo are abundant in the area but they have had so much rain this year (the most they have had since the 1900's!) that the kangaroo don't have to come into town from the desert to seek water because they have it already (makes sense to me!) Everything is sooo much greener than we thought it would be, for the same reason. It is kind of nice, not as much of a shock having some grass in our giant backyard; which i have yet to have the nerve to go back to.
Every one is so laid back, shoes and shirts are optional and everyone greets you with a g'day and a smile. When we took our day in Sydney we were floored with the beauty of the town. There wasn't any garbage ANYWHERE and it was so clean and tidy...and if there were homeless people, we didn't see any and we walked everywhere. The same can be said for this small town. Australia has something right, taking care of there country. It's  the cleanest place I've ever seen and I love it. They also don't use plastic bags at stores at all, so you have to bring your own reusable bags or buy them there.
The sticker shock set in when we did our first grocery shopping trip Saturday. Thank god we had pre ordered essentials and some non perishable food items on walmart.com and they were waiting for us in the house; just a small tube of banana boat sunscreen is $20 (that's something I stock piled from the commissary with coupons before we left since you reapply daily) The grocery store is literally right behind our house, so its nice to be able to walk to. We left with the kids in the double stroller and came back with it full of groceries and the kids walking...glad we brought it! All the shops are close together including a delicious bakery full of breads, breakfast delicacies, meat pies, cakes and desserts (I may make it a goal to try one of everything!) a butcher, hairdresser, several restaurants, post office, Addison's school, library, toy store and several other small shops.

The kids woke up at 5 this morning rather than 4 or 4:30 so it is improving; thank god for New England's Best Blueberry coffee that came with my wal mart order, it has been saving my life on these early morning! Jerrod is getting ready to head into his first day of work! He will catch a car pool and drive about 30 minutes out into the desert to get to the observatory; honestly he will see more wild life (and not the cute and cuddly kind) then I will...he can just keep those things out there with him at the site thank you very much.
Ok off to get 'acup' (coffee)
 of this delicious hot beverage so I don't fall asleep here on the couch while the kids are running around. Wish us luck on our first day being alone in our new town!

Almost Take Off!

Here we are sitting in the TLF (temporary lodging facility) here on Mcguire. Things have gotten real really fast. Yesterday Jerrod drove down to Baltimore to drop off our mini van to meet us in Australia (it should take 2-3 months) and while he was out our first set of movers showed up taking with them our 500 lb essential load-let's just say i realized how few items 500 lbs really is once you start adding in clothing, bedding, towels, pots and pans, and a TV. That load should get to us in 4-5 weeks. Today we were smart and while Jerrod ran around finishing out processing I hired a baby sitter to sit with the kids here at TLF while I was at the house dealing with the second set of movers. Today we had 1500 lbs for the remainder of our stuff. Once again, once we start adding in toys, Logan's crib and the rest of our things to live with we found it added up fast and we just hope we didn't go over our limit (eek). I started the deep cleaning as soon as they were gone and got through the master bathroom and bed room. One thing I can say that is good about military PCSing is you are forced to weed out junk and things you don't really need. It is hard though, and I can't say it wasn't an emotional day making cuts on books, stuffed animals and pictures. It was by far the most emotional moving day I have ever had.  Monday the third and final set of movers will come to pick up everything that is left and take it to storage. This weekend we have a big task ahead of us of selling off all of the things we don't want to keep (donating what we cant sell) and getting everything cleaned up around the stuff still in the house because we have our final inspection Tuesday morning before we leave.
So, as you can see the past 48 hours have been emotional and rough, but we are getting through it.
The kids are both in the the bed room (there is just 1) it is the first time they have ever slept in the same room. Addi is on an air mattress,Lo is in a pack n play and the bed is for me and Jerrod (i was on the 5ft couch/coffee table bed i made up last with Logan and it was terrible!) They are in the room laughing and carrying on in conversation; half of me wants to tell them to lay down, but i'll let them enjoy the first official sleep over and since no one is crying or screaming I think its a success.
The kids are having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to everything...I found Logan hiding under the dining room table today laying down not wanting to come out and Addison has been very over emotional about everything. I give all military kids kudos. They really are resilient and I believe it will make them stronger individuals later on.
Our bags are packed and ready to go.
This is crazy to think we will be in Australia in our new home this time next week.
The adventure awaits us!

Post #2

There has been no need to post as we have not had any progress in moving preperations, that is until recently. We finally received our official orders and jerrod is now in New Mexico for a 3 week training program for his new job in Exmouth. He will be back this Saturday just in time for us to schedule or out processing, movers and all that other not so fun mostly stressful stuff that's always done super last minute by the military, because hey, why not?
Our estimated departure date is still around the 20th so we have ALOT to do in the next couple weeks (painting the house, sell the truck ect ect.)
At this point we have said our good byes to family and have dropped off our animals to the foster homes for the next 2 years; Whiskey at my mother in laws and Trigger at my parents. I don't think good byes will ever get any easier, this is our 3rd move in 7 years and although this will be the longest we go without physically seeing family I thank God for the technology we have now to be able to skype, face time and share on social media our adventure. I look at my son and I am in awe that he is now 2 years old and think of how fast that time has gone, I know the 2 years ahead will be extremely hard but I also believe they will be over before we know it.

Post #1

Well, the count down is really on now. Only about 2-3 months left in the states before we head out to the land of OZ for Jerrod's new job studying the sun at the solar observatory in Exmouth Australia. It is just a 2 year assignment, enough time for us to fully submerge ourselves into the culture and live completely among a small quaint town on a peninsula. It has so many adventures waiting for us!.
I have missed my writing and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to start back at it. I can share our travels, experiences, findings and adventures with all of our state side family and friends!