Our family just spent an incredible month in the land Down Under. We were first presented with the opportunity to travel to Australia for the 2009 Growing Families Australia National Conference in Sydney a year or two ago. So, we prayed. We told the Lord we would love to go, but only if it was His will and if He would provide.
Let me back up. I have always wanted to go to Australia and been fascinated by the country. In college, I was presented with the opportunity to study at the University of Brisbane for a year. My parents consented, I was signed up and ready. Australia, here I come! And then I met a tall, blond-headed guy who stole my heart. Yes, that hunk became my sweet hubby. There was no way I was leaving this guy for a year. I wasn't going to risk him getting away. Good-bye Australia. (It was worth it. I'd make the same decision all over again!) So, we got married and thought it would be awesome to honeymoon in Australia. Then reality hit that we were young, newly married with very little money. Good-bye Australia again.
Back to the present. We were thrilled when both Rich and I felt the Lord was confirming that we were to go to this incredible land for a combined ministry and vacation time. So, 20 years after I was supposed to study over there, here I was finally getting to see this long anticipated land with the love of my life and 5 kids. And as only our Heavenly Father can do, He provided so many gracious, beautiful, Godly families who lovingly opened up their homes to feed us, entertain us and give us their beds to sleep in. You'll read more about them below. We are so grateful for all they did to make our journey so incredible!
Day One
Here we go! Ready to travel to the other side of the world! 
Mom and Dad picked us up (in 2 cars!) to take us to the airport. There are a lot of us and there was a lot of luggage, plus a stroller, backpack child carrier, 2 car seats and too many backpacks to count, although, thankfully, there were a lot of backs available to carry those backpacks. We got many a smile and a chuckle as we traversed multiple airports, but we had it down to a science. Everyone was assigned their luggage to carry or pull and we happily marched along.
First stop - Atlanta. Well, we certainly didn't travel very far on our first leg. But everything seems to go through Atlanta. I've heard that we'll all be raptured via Atlanta. There must be a verse in Revelation about it somewhere. The boys found a putting green in the airport and made good use of an hour layover.
Snow-peaked mountains on the way to Los Angeles, CA.
A long day of travel and we'd finally made it to L.A. Not exactly the other side of the world, but at least we had made it to the other side of the country. We were able to cram our entire family AND all of our luggage into a rented mini-van AND we were still able to breathe.
Our first sleep would be at the home of Duncan and Angel, 2 adorable Westies owned by my Uncle John and Aunt Elizabeth where we would celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Costa Mesa, CA.
Day Two
Happy Easter! I was a little bummed that we, as a family, didn't do more to prepare for our Easter celebration. Usually, we read and study from the Bible the events leading up to the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, act out parts of the drama, come up with some fun Easter crafts and decorate the house with reminders of what Jesus did for us. (Sorry, no Easter bunnies.) I'm sad to say that the enormity of packing for 7 people to be on the other side of the world for a month got in the way of those preparations.
Thankfully, we were able to participate in a lovely Easter morning celebration at my aunt and uncle's church - complete with a 100 voice choir and a complete orchestra. It was magnificent! Sing with me! "Christ the Lord is risen today, Aaaaaa-le-lu-uu-ia!" Their church has a glass ceiling which is always fun to watch the clouds roll by and the sea gulls peering in on the service.
Aunt Elizabeth had fun activities planned for the kids including egg coloring and a hunt with fun prizes and lots of sugar that afternoon. They were loving the excitement! Look at the expression on Anna's face as she discovered jelly beans in her egg. She had no use for further eggs. She had hit the jackpot.
Fun tree to climb on our walk around Newport Bay.
Rebekah had already found a eucalyptus tree (or eucalipstick as Logan likes to say) and we were still in America. But it was certainly koala-less.
Day Three
Are we ever going to leave America you ask. Hold tight - that comes at 11:50pm tonight. Yawn! (That's 2:50am to our East Coast body clocks) Double and maybe even triple yawn! We ventured out to Mission San Juan Capistrano to explore and learn about the early Spanish Catholics who came in the late 18th century to establish a mission in Southern California. The mission is also famous for the Return of the Swallows every March 19th. How do they know to return on the SAME date every year???
This next picture is fun because I have a picture of Rich sitting on this same bench when he and I were here on a business trip of his. Who knew we'd return 15 years later with our 5 children? Not something I could have predicted.
Sadly, (especially for Anna. Look at her face.) we had to say good-bye to our gracious and generous hosts. While we didn't make it to the actual Disneyland, Uncle John and Aunt Elizabeth's house might as well have been named as such for all of the fun we had. But we were all quite excited for this next part of our adventure. Australia!
Waiting at LAX to board our jet Down Under. Notice Anna. She learned quickly to sleep wherever and whenever she could.
This has gotten long and I need to go to bed. Stay tuned for Part 2 where we actually make it to Australia...
No comments:
Post a Comment