1. That we did not have a frame of reference for missions! Before we came, I would picture our “flat” and say things like “I’ll make it our little beach house!” We were in for quite a shock…we are no where near the beach and it looks much different than we had pictured. We were so blessed by a clean, freshly painted, fully furnished “flat” and we feel so loved and taken care of, however we definitely had a glamourized view of missions and how people live when they are in missions!

2. God meets us when we obey! The first night we were in a bit of culture shock and super homesick…”what did we just do” was all we could get out. Tears over missing the dog, our home, and life in Tacoma. Tears also over the neighbors heavy metal music blaring through the wall and the smell from the neighbors downstairs. However the Lord has really met us in our new little home (which, thanks to IKEA is cutely decorated now and we have yet to hear the heavy metal music again… oh, and now we only smell that smell from downstairs when we are in the bathroom). His presence has been so near. The Bible has been coming ALIVE again! The desperation we feel for Him every day has caused us to cling to worship and depend on prayer!  Lord, all we want is to bring you glory. All we want is to see people know you. We want to see the broken healed. If this is the road to get there, we’re so in! Read the rest of this entry »

Top 10 memories in getting to Australia!
10. Getting a call the day we were leaving from our auto insurance company letting us know we could pick up our $5,000 check to cover a hit and run accident I was in 2 months ago. This check was totally out of the blue and completely unexpected!

9.  Needing 6 adults (Aaron and I along with 4 friends) just to get all of our baggage into the airport! That was 500 lbs of checked items not to mention our 10 carry ons, 2 strollers, 3 car seats, 5 pillows and 6 stuffed animals! We are such an “American” family! Read the rest of this entry »