Tassie Farm - Animal adventures

Wow - the effort to get two adults and three children with all the right gear to Tassie. What will it be like going to Chicago?!?

The kids are so excited to be in Tassie visiting their Grandparents. The first priority was to see the new ferret babies. Granny put them out on the table with some chicken to eat. They were very hungry.

After checking out the rabbits and the cooks, there was time for Daddy to take them for a splash in the creek. Then dinner, bath, and bed. The girls shared a mattress in one room, but Dante felt a bit lonely in a bed by himself, so Granny found a companion for him - Zac.

This afternoon we are off to a children's church service - with a donkey, a ferret and a chook!

Visa Vexations

A long story, but basically Scott couldn't apply for a visa until he received his official acceptance from TEDS, and they gave him official numbers and documents that were necessary. As soon as they arrived, Scott went onto the internet to set up a visa interview appoinment. Our tickets were booked to leave on the 10th December, and this was about 23 rd November, late at night. The earliest interview time was on 14th December - after we were due to leave. We decided to go to bed, and Scott could call the next morning. 7 hours later, he logged on again and the earliest interview was now on November 18th, so we decided to take it.

The next problem was that they couldn't tell us how long it would take to arrive in the mail after the interview. Calling the info line resulted in a variety of answers, from 2 days to 40 days. When to change our flights to? Being Christmas also meant we would miss lots of postal days. Do the people in the embassy work between Christmas and New Year? We decided to book our flights to Chicago on the 7th January, which provided about 8 postal days. We also booked flights to Tassie to spend Christmas and New Year with Scott's parents.

Well, we moved out of our house, spent some time at Lysbeth's and the farm, and then moved into a serviced apartment in Doncaster so Dante could continue to go to school. We went for our interview on the 18th, which was a very interesting exercise - another story. The interview seemed to go smoothly, but had we filled in all the forms properly? Time to wait. Suprise! The visas arrived in the mail on Friday 21st December. If only we had known! But, gald to have the visas, and we trust in God's good timing in all things.

Our home is in boxes

We have moved out of 4 Lara Crt, Doncaster. Scott and Dante have been living with Lysbeth, while Kate, Grace and Angela have spent the week at the farm. It has not been very nice to have our family split in half, but we have been thankful for the love and care of our hosts. Grace and Angela have had fun cooking, going to the beach and the swimming pool, and riding their bikes. Kate managed to get some scrapbooking done in the evenings, which was very thereupetic. Next week we will be going to a serviced apartment in Doncaster. It may be a bit squashy, but we will all be together. We still have a month before we fly out. It is dragging a bit, but we are trying to make the best use of the time we have.

Our family! This photo was taken outside our house in Lara Crt, Doncaster, on the day the girls turned 4 yrs old.

There are only 5 weeks to go till we hop on the aeroplane to fly to Chicago. It still seems very un-real, as everyday life is still so normal. But we have booked a skip for next week, so then we can start the packing process in earnest. We have already had two farewell dinners, so that has helped us to think that we are actually leaving soon. Next Saturday we have our church farewell dinner, and then our last services at St Marks. It is amazing to think back three years ago when we first arrived at St Marks. The girls were only 15 months old, and Dante was 3.5yrs. Scott was just out of uni. So much has happened since then. The children have experienced lots of love from the adults at church, and lots of fun and adventures with the friends they have made. Scott has been able to put all he has been learning into practise. We have both made close friendships, and really seen God's graciousness to us. Though bits have been really hard, He has carried us through. Now we are so excited to be starting this next era in our lives.