You learn something new everyday

Its true. I feel like this is a major theme in my life now! Everyday I do learn something new; whether it be in my job, about my friends, about living in another country, my husband, being married, my relationship with God, and who would have thought i'm still learning about me, even after 27 years! This might sound all kids of cheesy, but I feel like moving half way around the world and starting a life in another country really has changed my perspective on life. I think of all the lessons and experiences I've gone through in the last 19 months and sometimes I wonder how i've made it this far.

My hubby and I talk sometimes about some of the differences between the US and Australia, most of them not major things (even though at times it may feel like) whether it be hanging our clothes on the line to dry outside, cooking with herbs from our landlords herb garden, how slow the internet is here, washing dishes by hand, having central heating and air, etc. I told him that even though a lot of those things are silly, I hope if we do move to the US one day that we can have a clothes line in our back yard, have our own herb garden and maybe even some chooks! Don't get me wrong, I still want a dryer and dishwasher and all those things I miss so much, but every once in a while it is nice to sleep on sheets that had been hung outside in the sunshine all day!

I have decided that no matter where we live when we have kids I want them to know everything about where they come from, after all they will be half Australian and half American! I want them to know what its like to hang clothes on the line and not just use the dryer! I want them to get to celebrate all sorts of American and Australian holidays, we will get to do road trips around Australia and the US, and Lord help us but hopefully they will learn to love flying because we will be doing a lot of it! At times its overwhelming thinking of being an international family, but we can and will make it work. I'm incredibly thankful for technology and know that no matter where we live our kids will grow up knowing part of their family via skype, and thats ok.

I think of how moving here for me has been and i've had moments of ups and downs. Some days are great and some i'm just down right homesick. Its funny when I first moved here I talked about how the culture shock wasn't bad and I wasn't very affected by it...yeah, I was wrong. I think it takes quite a while for culture shock to set in. I've been here over a year and a half and I still have moments of, whoa! I really hope we will be able to create a life for our kids where they don't have to go through some of those experiences. Although I know some of it will be necessary, I just want to protect them from as much of the hurt and homesick as we can, wherever we live. I hope they always feel like they fit in whether it be in Australia or the US. I hope we can teach them so much about both places that it just becomes a natural part of their life. I hope they love both of the places they come from just as much as Ben and I do. Being an international family affects more than just Ben and I, but at the end of the day its he and I. We have to make the decisions that are best for us and one day for our children. We can't worry about what will make everyone else happy, because lets face it, we can't and we shouldn't have to. Its about us, our 'one day' family and the plans God has for us, wherever he leads us.

 

Blessed

Where to start? I've been trying to figure out what to start with and all I have is- we are incredibly blessed. As i've shared in past post, we have a lot going on! One of the biggest things being my permanent resident visa which we are waiting approval on. And because of several things out of our control, I will have to stop work in April until it goes through. But I tell you what, our God is bigger than all of that! We have been praying so much regarding my visa and work issues (as well as some other big things we have going on...and no, we're not having a baby!) and God has been blessing us and answering prayers left and right. We have so many other things on our minds and God is continuing to open doors and showing us his way. I'm just so thankful. At the moment we still have not been given a decision on my visa, but we did receive some good information from our immigration lawyer, which by the way he has been another blessing! We've only had to meet with him twice, but he still keeps in touch with us and answers any questions we have. He informed us last week that Immigration is making some changes with visas that are "process ready" which ours will be hopefully this week as we are waiting on 1 last thing from the US. And hopefully because of our situation we should get it approved faster so I won't have to be off work for very long, if at all. Not for a minute do I think any of this is an accident. God is on our side and he is working it all out. I'm not going to lie there have been times when I get so overwhelmed and stressed out with everything going on and knowing I don't have control over any of it, but God has given me so much peace about it all. We still have a ways to go and several more things going on besides the visa but God is in the drivers seat and I'm so excited to see where he is taking us!

 

soup & spiders

Before we got married my husband knew my lack of cooking skills but I was bound and determined to be the best possible wife and learn to cook for my husband. Well 7 months later, all I can say is i'm very thankful my husband is a better cook than myself! My husband is a great cook and he's a great teacher. Slowly my cooking skills are improving and one day when we have a kitchen thats big enough for more than one person to fit in, an oven that works and a dishwasher i'm sure i'll become a fabulous cook! I can however follow most recipes. I received a few cookbooks when we got married but there was one I bought after hearing about it from a friend that has become my favorite! Its called the 4 Ingredients Cookbook by Kim McCosker & Rachael Bermingham. I love it! How hard can cooking be if you can make a yummy meal with only 4 ingredients?! One of my new favorite recipes is Thai Pumpkin Soup. It is so yummy! I'll share the recipe with you, but I recommend you go buy the cookbook because it has over 300 recipes that are just as yummy and simple!

Thai Pumpkin Soup (serves 4)

Ingredients: 1kg butternut pumpkin peeled and diced (for my American friends, I believe butternut squash is the same as our butternut pumpkin...I think), 2 tbs red curry paste, 300 ml coconut cream, 1/4 cup coriander chopped

Steps:
1. Saute pumpkin and red curry paste until it starts to catch on the saucepan
2. Add coconut cream to deglaze the pan, top with enough water to level with the pumpkin and bring to a boil
3. Reduce heat simmering until the pumpkin becomes soft and mushy
4. Puree (I use a hand mixer), season with salt and pepper and fold in chopped coriander
5. Enjoy!!

It is a thai soup, but its not too hot/spicy for those who may be wondering.

Besides my cooking skills slightly improving this week, its been interesting around here...I was bitten by a spider. When I first moved to Australia I kept hearing stories about the wildlife here and how they have some of the most dangerous spiders, snakes etc. For those of you who don't know I hate, HATE spiders. Any kind of spider and especially the dangerous ones! I'm the girl who always has bug spray under my kitchen sink! So naturally I would be the one to get bitten by one of those dangerous spiders. We aren't 100 percent sure as I didn't see it, but the bite and all the symptoms I experienced match the red back spider. I got super sick on Tuesday with what I thought was a migraine as I had a bad headache, nausea, etc but later that night I woke up in tears with intense stomach pains. A few other crazy, random symptoms and 2 days later I was feeling more like myself. I didn't go to the hospital because silly me didn't tell my husband about this really sore bite I had on my ankle until the next day. I didn't think anything about it and just thought it was a mosquito bite, but once I showed him the bite he immediately started putting the pieces together and told me what it was and how all my crazy symptoms made sense now. We called his mum who was a nurse and she said I was in the clear. Afterwards once the shock wore off, I'm pretty sure I told him this goes on the cons list for us living in Australia! No...we don't really have a list, we joke every once in a while when certain things come up. And yes, I realize spiders are everywhere, even the dangerous ones. Lets just hope this was my only encounter with one!

 

Fancy that

They have an app for blogger??! Wow. What did we do before iPhones? I know I rely on mine for everything and I'm very glad we invested in the otter box case because my phone tends to dive off the sofa onto our tile floor frequently!

So here it goes, first blog post from my iPhone.

Yesterday was Valentines day. I love holidays, I especially loved being able to celebrate them with my kiddos when I was teaching. There are so many wonderful moments in teaching but being able to celebrate holidays and see them through a child's eyes is so wonderful. Kids often see things differently than we as adults do and so often they see it in a much simpler way and I love that. Although valentines day in Australia is not as big of a deal as in the USA my kiddos and I still had some fun talking about it and making valentines crafts.

Luckily my husband knows me well enough to know that even if they don't make a big deal out of something like valentines day here, that he married me and I love celebrating every little holiday! A few weeks ago we were watching 'Friends' where monika and chandler decided to make valentines gifts for each other. My adorable husband thought we should do that too. So one store bought gift and one homemade gift was the plan. He can be creative and crafty...me not so much. It was so much fun though! He was working away for two afternoons on my gift. When I came home from work last night he met me at the door and lead me around the house with my eyes closed to reveal my valentines surprises. Afterwards we went to a yummy dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant at Terrigal Beach. It was such a wonderful valentines day with my valentine.

My homemade...err...edible gift for him and his homemade gift for me :)

our holiday and a little update

It's hard to believe we've been back from our holiday in the US for almost 6 weeks! And sadly i'm just now getting time to blog about it. Better late than never, right?! We left the first part of December for our big trip home (my home anyway) to the US. Last year when I went home for christmas my dad and I had devised a plan to surprise my mom, so this year I was bound and determined to surprise my dad! We originally told my dad we were going to arrive on Saturday, December 10th however really we booked our tickets to arrive on that Friday. I know, I know...not a huge surprise but he is a hard man to surprise. Overall all our trip there was ok, as ok as a 14 hour flight, 6 hour layover and another 4 hour flight can be. I think we counted, our total trip time door to door was 28 or 29 hours. But it was worth every minute! I guess the biggest challenge was not sleeping, neither of us could sleep on the long flight. I think I slept maybe 30 minutes to an hour, I think I was too excited to sleep! By the time we arrived in LA we were so tired, thankfully we slept most of the flight to Memphis. When we arrived in Memphis my mom and brother were there to get us. For those of you who have never been to the Memphis airport it is probably one of the ugliest airports with this terrible brown, shiny brick everywhere and it always seems to have the same smell...but it felt like HOME! We decided to have my dad meet us out for dinner with my auntie Amy and her boyfriend Pete who were also in town for the holidays. We of course chose Mexican food because you just can't get that here! My dad showed up after a few minutes and needless to say I think we surprised him! He said he thought something was up because I was suppose to email him before we left Sydney and I never sent him my itinerary...excuses, excuses!

As soon as we got to Memphis we hit the ground running! We got to attend my childhood church our first Sunday morning there. It was so wonderful to see so many familiar faces and get lots of hugs! I got to see my best friend Bethany and meet her adorable little girl, finally! During our first week we headed to east Texas to visit with some of Ben's friends from when he lived there 10 years ago. It was so good to finally meet them after hearing so much about them. We got to see all the sights of Nac and even saw the house where Ben lived. I was able to meet up with one of my friends from college that lives in Lufkin, it was really good to catch up with her and chat all about being newlyweds! I hated that it had to be such a short trip, but it was worth it! The day we returned from Texas was also when one of my best friends Marie and her husband Brad came into town from Colorado for wedding reception. Marie had come out to Australia for our wedding but she was only there for 4 days so it was good to finally be able to spend more time together catching up. We ran around town like crazy getting things ready for our reception and had a lot of family and friends arriving in town! The Saturday morning of the reception we had my family, my Texas family (you know who you are!) and my 3 best girl friends over for an amazing brunch cooked by Marie's husband Brad who is a chef. I have to say that was probably one of my favorite moments of the entire trip was having so many of my favorite people in the world all in one place. Later that evening we had our Memphis wedding reception or as I like to call it wedding extravaganza part 3 or as my father has named it the Ben and Lindsey world wedding tour, the last stop. My mother and her friends did an INCREDIBLE job transforming the lobby of my parents church into a rustic, winter wonderland. My mother had been "pinning" ideas for our reception on her pinterest board for months and no lie, our reception looked just like her board. I am blown away by all the little details and hard work and her friends did. It truly was my "other" dream wedding! Not many girls get to wear the wedding dress twice and have more than one wedding celebration, we are so blessed to have been able to share it with all of our loved ones. The evening was perfect, the food was delicious, and the time spent with friends and family was priceless. If you want to see pictures from the night you'll have to check out facebook.

The rest of our trip was spent visiting with friends and family, shopping...lots of shopping, sightseeing and of course Christmas! We did make a quick day trip to Little Rock, but it was nowhere near enough time to show Ben my "home" so i'm thinking we'll just have to make another trip one day soon! Our Christmas was wonderful. It was our first Christmas together and it was so special to be able to spend it with my family that we don't get to see very often.

Its hard to sum up our almost 3 week long holiday in just so many words. The trip for me was much needed, I was very ready to have a dose of home and to be able to show my hubby the life I had there before coming to Australia. When you live so far from home and your family you learn some big life lessons, and for me I think I took living so close to my family for so many years for granted, so now the times we do get to spend together mean so much. I love the life we have in Australia, but I miss home a lot.

We arrived back "home" in Australia right before New Years. We were able to spend some time with Ben's family, including his grandmother who went into the hospital while we were away and passed away a few days after we returned. I'm so thankful we were able to see her before she passed away. She was such an incredible woman of faith. I only had the privilege of knowing her for less than a year but I was deeply touched and encouraged by her strong faith and love for the Lord.

Since being back things have not slowed down thats for sure. We quickly settled back into our jobs and home routine. I celebrated 1 year of being at my job, our 6 months of being married and we celebrated Ben's 32nd birthday a few weeks ago! I have spoken with immigration a few times since being back. We will find out if our Partner Visa (which means I will be permanent resident) will be approved this year. There is a 9-12 month wait time. So the earliest we would hear would be May, and August at the latest. However we did find out yesterday that if our Partner visa is not approved by April 11th, that I will no longer be able to work at the school i've been working at. The reason behind that is, when I first came to Australia I came on a working holiday visa which has work restrictions that you could only work at 1 employer for 6 months, now that i'm on a bridging visa the same restrictions from my original visa still apply. I was able to work for a second lot of 6 months after we were married because the time started over when I moved to a bridging visa but unfortunately there is no way around it after this 6 months is up, unless my visa is approved. So, we're praying that it will be approved! Please keep us in your prayers that it will be approved closer to the 9 month mark than the 12 month mark! Also be praying for us as we have a few other big things going on, we'll share when the time is right. And no...we're not pregnant because i'm pretty sure thats what most people would think first. We are very blessed and know that God has a plan for us. We're excited to see what the next season in our life will be and where God will take us!

 

Happy New Years!

Happy 2012!



I hate that I wasn't able to send out holiday card or newsletter of some sort this year, so i'm settling for a New Years blog update. I guess we are a much for digital world now days so I guess it fits, but you better believe I will be sending out card this Christmas!

2011 was certainly a year of change, challenges, friendship, love but most importantly a year of blessings! I was able to start a new adventure in 2011 when marrying my best friend and everyday since i've loved being able to share my life with him. I'm not sure how anything can top all the exciting, life changing events of 2011 but I know God has more exciting things for us to come in the years ahead.

To our friends and family, I pray that this year you are surrounded with Gods love, peace and blessings! I hope you get to spend time with your loved ones, get to experience a new adventure and are surrounded with heaps of laughter! We are so blessed to have each of you in our lives and so thankful for all your love, encouragement, and support in 2011! We hope you had a blessed holiday season with loved ones! Next post, I'll update you on our holiday with family in the US!

 

"A change would do you good"

It's bright and early on Saturday morning and these are the lyrics playing in my head. I'm not going to lie, I do love me some Sheryl Crow. Her cd's were some of my favorite lake music! I guess change is the topic on my mind over these last few weeks. I know, not like I haven't had enough change in the last 12 to 16 months...(you know...moving half way across the world, starting a new job, living with my cousins, meeting my husband, getting married, etc!) to say the least its been a huge year and a half of change so why on earth do I feel like I need another one? I honestly don't get it. As a kid and teenager, I HATED change! I was such a homebody and I loved the little bubble I lived in. I guess all of that started to change when I went to College and had to change classes every semester, new roommate every year and living in different dorms. I guess now I just having a hard time sitting still.

We've had a lot going on these last several weeks. They've been very busy and a bit overwhelming. I found out a few weeks ago, I did not get the teaching job I applied for at my school. I'm not going to lie, it was very upsetting. More so in the way the situation was handled. It was handled very poorly and to be honest I don't feel like I was really considered for the position. But for myself to move on I need to forgive and forget, which is something I'm still working on. But at the end of the day, God has my life in his hands, he knows my heart is in the classroom and I know I will be able to teach again one day.

Its the end of the school year, even though i'm not teaching I still have a lot of end of year things to finish up with my job and considering the fact that I begin another part of my job (Vacation Care) the day after school gets out, doesn't leave a lot of time to get stuff done. Oh, yeah and also preparing to be gone from work for 3 weeks! And is December, which means Christmas time! To be honest, I haven't even thought of Christmas. I have only bought 1 gift, we haven't and won't put up a Christmas tree, and there will be no Christmas cards from the newlyweds this year. It does make me sad, but it doesn't even feel like Christmas yet. I'm hoping when we arrive home next week and step off the plane in Memphis, TN and are hit with that winter weather, it will start to feel like Christmas.

One week from now we'll be on the plane! I'm probably the only person excited about traveling for 24 hours, including a 14 hour flight. Its weird, I remember in college I had lots of friends who lived far from school so they always got to fly home for the holidays and me only living 2.5 hours had to drive home. I remember thinking, one day I hope I live somewhere that I can fly home for the holidays...yeah, be careful what you wish for! Saying that i'm excited about going home is an understatement. I'm so ready to be in a familiar place again with familiar people. And knowing that i'm 1 week away from seeing and hugging my family and friends, some of my favorite people in the world puts the biggest smile on my face. I've heard about the reverse culture shock thing, but i'm not worried about it. I honestly think we're going to be too busy and won't be there long enough to have to deal with that, but I guess we'll see.

Whether it be our short trip to the US or something else God has planned, I feel a change is in the air. We just need to keep praying and trust in God's plan for our lives. I'm excited to see what maybe the next chapter in our lives. And I know that no matter what it is or where we go that God with take care of us and He has given me the most amazing man to share the journey with.