life's lovlies: Taken Care Of

In the past 2 days I have been attacked by a flock of wild parrots, crossed the equator, eaten my first "biscuit," ran from one airport terminal to another, seen the mountains of Fiji, crossed the Pacific, been humbled and realized how BIG God is, ridden in a vehicle on the wrong side of the road, drove through the Sydney Harbor bridge, saw the opera house, lost a day of my life crossing the international dateline, and I am ashamed to say, stolen some toilet paper from McDonald's, but ey, a girl's gotta eat.

The biggest lesson we have learned the past two days is, our God is taking care of us.

Let me begin with the San Fransisco airport. Dane and I arrived to learn that our flight from LA to Fiji had been moved back one hour. We had not been notified of this change, and as a result, we could make the flight, but our luggage would not. Our luggage is our home on our backs and the airport agreed that us going and sending it later was not a wise option. Dane got on the phone with Orbitz and after an hour of debating, and running across the San Fransisco airpot, we made it on a Delta flight, flying from San Fran to LA. We literally made the flight by one minute. Louis, the man from the Delta counter followed us all the way through security to make sure we and our bags made it on the flight. Something that seemed virtually impossible, became possible. We knew God's hand was at work, and it was confirmation that He truly wanted us here in Sydney.

The flights all went well with no delays. I took everyone's advice and spent lots of time walking around the airplane. There were several inflight movies to chose from, but both Dane and I often chose to watch Glee in concert. Drew, we know you are LOVING that, and we did too! We were both able to get some sleep on the plane, had an easy time getting through customs, and were ready to go when our feet first hit the dirt from "down under."

Once we arrived at the college we learned about our housing arrangements, enjoyed some biscuits and coffee, and then a student drove us to our home, which is about a 30 minute walk from campus.

I was the first to walk into our house. This place is a MANSION. The living room and kitchen are probably the size of the Presby Senior High Youth Room (just to give you CC people a reference). We have a front porch to sit on, a little patio in the back with a garden, clothes line, and swing set. There are 4 bedrooms upstairs including a master bedroom which is ours. It has a bathroom with a shower, a walk in closet and its own balcony which i ADORE. Here is the down side of the place. There is NOTHING in it. Dane and I have no bed, no fridge, no washer and drier, no couch, no dressers.

So we are sitting up in our room talking about what our needs are in the home. Our number one need was a bed. As we were toying with what our best options would be to fulfill this need there was a knock at our door. It was Greg, our next door neighbor, just wanting to meet the new kids. He asked us if we had anything, and we responded with no. He told us that he would love to loan us an air mattress for the night, and we felt so grateful. The next thing we know, we see him hauling a queen size mattress, and bed frame over to our house. He was giving us a bed as well as a couch and coffee table. Dane and I were blown away. The timing of God couldn't have been more perfect and my heart was humbled. I love how our friend Stephanie put it, "God just showed up on your doorstep." It was so true. Greg also has two children, and his daughter, who will be going into sixth grade, has become a rather fond friend of mine.

So that has been our last couple of days. Today we set up phones, bank accounts, called home to our parents (it was so good to see your faces) and are taking in as much as possible. If you have committed to praying for us we have a couple prayer requests tonight. Please pray that God provides us with a fridge and a washer/drier. We love you all and will share more soon!