University of New South Wales

Well, we decided it was finally time to pay tribute to the whole reason we came half way around the world...UNSW.   

Here is a picture of Damon on campus.  

Damon had his first day of class this past Tuesday.  Things went well and he was really impressed with his teacher.  Here is his "first day of school" picture.  (He is standing outside of our apartment building.)  He was begging me to take this picture.  He goes to class on Tuesday and Thursday nights.  

This is a picture from O-Week (orientation week).  There were hundreds of students of campus, plenty of free food and booths representing every club on campus.  

Answered Prayers

I just got off the phone with my mom and the test results were good!!!!  The aneurysm has NOT increased in size.  Therefore, she will continue exercising and watching her diet, planning her trip to Australia and will have another scan in a year.  Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying and who has e-mailed or asked about my mom.  God is good!!  

White Trash or Homeless

We were able to spend time with Hayli Hartman this past Saturday.  It was so good to see her and great to spend time with someone who understands both Australian and American culture.  She shared lots of advice with us and gave us tips on things to do and places to see around Sydney.  We had several questions for her.  One question was in regard to the trollies/shopping carts.  We shared with Hayli our excitement about being able to wheel our groceries right up to our front door.  Another Aussie friend, who lives in America, had cautioned us that we shouldn't really be taking the carts away from the store.  Hayli confirmed that for us when she said that only white trash or homeless people take the carts!!  Well, thankfully we are not homeless so I guess that means we are white trash.  Hayli, thanks for your honesty.  We will take your advice to heart about not easily being offended. :) Well, the washing machine just beeped so I better go.  I need to hang up Damon's wife beaters.   

Bondi Beach

Here is a 15 second clip of the famous Bondi Beach.  Amy doesn't like her voice  so she told me that I could only post this if I told everyone to turn their sound off before watching it.  So turn your sound off. (but she won't know if you have your sound on or not)  We have never been beach people before but we are definitely reconsidering!

Say a Little Prayer

As some of you may, or may not know, 6 months ago we found out that my mom has a brain aneurysm.  She decided to postpone brain surgery for the time being and check back on the size of the aneurysm in 6 months.  Well, the 6 months is up and she is having an MRA this Friday morning, March 7th.   Obviously, we are all anxious to hear good results...like God has reduced the size of the aneurysm or even made it disappear!!  As I said, the test will be this Friday morning and she will get the results back the following Monday morning at 8:45.  So, please say a little, or BIG, prayer for my mom.  I will keep you posted.  Thank you!!

Do As The Romans Do

We live about ten minutes from the nearest shop so we were wondering how we would be able to carry our stuff home when we bought more than a couple sacks worth.  We found the answer.  You just take the shopping cart with you.  As we were walking around we noticed that there were shopping carts everywhere.  At first we thought this was really rude of people to take a shopping cart and then just leave it in their front yard but then...

we saw this guy.  His job is to drive around the area and pick up the carts.  You help him out by putting your cart close to the curb for easy pick up.  What a great place we live in!

My Ironman

The 2008 Australian Ironman Championship took place at Coogee Beach yesterday.  Damon said he was going to exercise everyday once we got to Australia and he thought this would be a great event to start with.  Here you can see the competition lining up.  I accidentally cut Damon out of the picture but trust me...he's up there!

Look at him riding the wave back onto shore....
and crossing the finish line.  I am so proud of my Ironman!!  He has come so far in just two weeks.  Imagine where he will be in a year.