As you can imagine, we've been super busy and extremely exhausted. Jet lag has been a real bummer with a baby and two young boys. For the first half of the week they were up and ready to start the day around 3am and ready to collapse and sleep for the night in the afternoon! - not very helpful when you have so much setting up to do. So most days I have been falling asleep (sitting up) while Jordan has his afternoon feed and both Clayton and I have been dropping to sleep for the night around 7:30pm.
The flight went reasonably well. We missed our flight to Brisbane, so were put on a direct flight to L.A instead. This was a wonderful blessing. When Clayton rang up to check, Qantas had told us that we only had to come in an hour early to check in. Turns out we were ill informed and should have been there 2 hours early. The flight was soooo long, but the boys did well. It really helped that the boys had their own tvs to watch kids shows on. There was enough to keep them going. They also managed to sleep which was a relief. I even managed to steel half an hour of sleep for myself. Jordan was a little unsettled from time to time, but nothing we couldn't manage.
We love our new home. It is big and charming. The boys are happy here which is the main thing. There are 5 split levels- the basement, then a floor with what we will make a playroom and separate bathroom, next up there's the ground floor which has the kitchen and living areas, then followed by our bedroom and the main bathroom, then the boys room, study and attic. So we have more than enough space! (A huge contrast to our 2 bedroom apartment in Pasadena.) The other awesome thing is that we have loads of storage room. Yippee! We are really grateful to God for this house. We have had hot humid weather, so the central A/C has been helpful. The weather is 'muggy', but there is often a gentle breeze which helps.
Wheaton is just lovely. A very charming place to live. The streets are lined with gorgeous trees and the homes are like something out of a story book. The people seem friendly too.
The college is amazing! The facilities make Melbourne Univeristy look like backyard institution and needless to say Fuller is certainly dwarfed. They have fabulous facilities here and beautiful buildings. We've already started to make use of the sports and recreation facilities. Clayton and I have used the gym and the boys had their first 'swimming lesson' with dad a couple of nights ago. We've been eating at the cafeteria for dinner too. It works out cheaper than eating out, but more expensive than eating at home - certainly an excellent solution when you have not yet bought any kitchenware and the pantry is empty!
We took the boys to see their preschool and to meet their teachers yesterday. They are both looking forward to having preschool in their lives. I'm still a little overwhelmed by the prospect of all of the taxiing, but we are on the top of the list - should a morning position become available for Judah - so please pray for this.
Oh yeah, we bought the van that we had settled on - a Honda Odyssey. We managed to find a lovely sliver 2002 van with tinted windows and leather seats. A real answer to prayer. It had only had one owner and was well looked after so it seems like it is brand new - all except for the miles! We think that we did okay on the price too. Thanks God.This weekend we hit Ikea and attend our first church service here. Still have no idea which one we'll go to. We really need to pray through this very important decision. We've decided that the most important element will be that the children's ministry is just that - a ministry and not simply a child minding service. Really just want to find a healthy church that ALL of us can be a part of and grow in.
Update on Jordan: He's 4.5 months old now and clearly indicated that he was more than ready to start on solids. Boy can that kid eat! He loves it and cries if I stop and he hasn't had enough.
