They let me back in the country.

Janell, me, Andrew, Lindy & Nate in Kirkland, WA

Andrew and I arrived back in Adelaide yesterday after our flights from LA and then Sydney. I got pulled aside in the Sydney airport and questioned about my returning to Oz so quickly after my last departure, but since I still have time on my tourist visa and ITeams is in process with my work visa it's all ok. And apparently we just missed Lance Armstrong in the Adelaide airport yesterday; he arrived last night for the Tour Down Under, which starts here on Sunday night.

It was a fabulous, although quite busy, trip! I have mixed feelings about being back...it's summer here, yet today has greeted me with pouring rain and gloomy skies. I have much to update the blog with from our adventures in Seattle and LA, and hundreds of photos to sort through! We had a great time with family and friends, a not so great time sorting through my storage unit in LA and running bazillions of errands (but thankfully it's DONE!), and many fun adventures like snowboarding/skiing and Disneyland. It is nice to be back and begin to figure out the next steps, and have a bit of downtime to recover from the madness!

Happy new year, by the way, and while I don't really make resolutions as they are pointless and not motivating for me in the least, I thought of one thing I would like to try this year. I have stacks of books on many topics (theology, psychology, women's issues, various topics in spirituality) that I want to have read but haven't yet made the effort to actually read. I'd like to tackle some of these at the very un-ambitious rate of one per month. That's doable, I think, and at the end of the year I will have read 12 books off my shelf and be that much smarter. This month I'm going to finish one I'm halfway through (fitting as we're halfway through the month). I'll tell you all about it.

And finally, I think I might change up the blog this year. Maybe retire this one and start a new one. New themes and labels (for some reason starting fresh with the labels really excites me!); this one has a lot of years and a lot of topics. I'm keeping the formerly-known-as-Greece-blog, to update with ministry stuff, and will continue to use this one (or the new one) for personal things.

Ok I have a lot of crap to unpack! Bye for now. :)

Almost time to go...

We leave in the morning (Friday) for Seattle! It's been a year and I can't wait. Because of the time zones, our Christmas Eve will be 42.5 hours long, complete with 3 flights and 25 hours of traveling. That is pretty gnarly; we are going to be a barrel of laughs when we arrive mid-day, definitely ready to party that night. ;)

Twelve Apostles

I have no idea why these rock formations have acquired the name "Twelve Apostles," especially since there were ever only nine, and two have fallen. So there are seven. Yet, I give you, the Twelve Apostles on Australia's southwest coast...

Victor

Rick and Beth went on holiday last week to a nearby beach town, Victor Harbor. They invited us down, so Andrew and I drove down for a quick 24 hour break this week. Last night his sister, in typical Aussie fashion (shortening every word possible), asked us "How was Victor?" "Who's Victor?" I thought, until I realized what she meant. Victor Harbor is MUCH too long to say in a sentence. What was I thinking?

Anyway, we had a beautiful day down there; it was too cold for swimming (although the past two days here in Adelaide have been scorching hot!), so we wandered around the little town and surrounding areas, had a coffee and a picnic lunch, played on a playground we found (why not), and had another coffee with R & B after their bike ride.

I touched them. But I washed my hands afterward.

[Side note: Earlier today I was looking at a friend's photos and reliving my shock at the public urinals in Amsterdam. Just click on that link and you too can relive it!]

[Side note #2: I am not giving you answers to my quiz below until some people actually attempt to figure some of them out. :)]

And here are some photos from one day last week in Australia (I am back in Athens now), when we went to this wildlife reserve and touched weird animals.

This is Blair, the koala:Koalas are basically lethargic and sleepy all the time from eating so much eucalyptus. Except when they need more, then they're quite alert! Not so sure about touching this thing... (like my hair cut? It's as short as it looks, eek!)Dingoes:Off to see the kangaroos...These were the strangest for me. I guess I'd never really seen them before, so I felt like I was in some computer animated movie with made-up animals (like Mr. Tumnus in Narnia?). Especially watching them move, with their enormous muscly hind legs and tails, which they also use to move around. They are pure muscle. Explains why it's such a healthy meat (yes, they eat their mascot in this country!!!)...These suckers were so strange and I am admittedly not much of an animal person (not so sure about this one either) ...Andrew is a pro!Taking a load off...Tasmanian Devil:Wombat:And we ran into more kangaroos, some bigger ones and then some smaller ones. They were everywhere in this forest, which added to the whole Lord of the Rings/Narnia feel... (I was a pro by then too!)A baby joey in the pouch:Emu: (I may have chased the emu across the field, but I would never confess to such a thing.)

A fun day in the Land of Make Believe. I did try some kangaroo later, as well as crocodile and emu. All tasty! There isn't really a shortage...you have to be careful driving around dusk because kangaroos will just hop into the street (they aren't very smart). What a strange place. :)

Well hi!

I am sitting inside as it pours rain and thunders and lightnings outside with ferocity! (I hope that is a word!) Lovely to be in a winter storm, knowing my compadres in Greece and the US are still enjoying nice warm summer weather (it's ok, I am in Australia!). :) We did have nice weather in Sydney last week though.

I am staying with Andrew's sister and her husband, and spend much of the mornings on my own while everyone is at work. As I have some down time here in Adelaide to think and pray and dream, I'm feeling good about the next couple of months. I know God has closed some doors in Greece, so looking forward, I feel excited about possibilities here. Obviously Andrew is here, which is a big draw ;) ... but also I am excited about the IT national director's heart for justice and her desire to see how we can begin to use our gifts and resources here.

As I know more, I'll fill you in, and ask for more specific prayer! For now, here are some photos of Sydney last week, including the Opera House from every possible angle, and some shots from our adventures to Manly and Bondi Beach... It's a beautiful city - and I'll be back soon...

Ha ha, Andrew hates this photo, but I love it:

(We had great weather - a far cry from what I'm listening to now as the sky unleashes its vengeance - but it's a perfect day for hot chocolate and a movie! There are good things about winter.) :)

Another first...

In the bowels of the Woodfield Mall

Got to hang out with Suzie again last night. We went to a nearby mall (hallelujah for American shopping malls!!), one of the biggest in the state of Illinois. Coming out of a department store, we noticed all the shops were closed. It was only 6pm, so I asked a shop owner what was going on.

"There's a tornado," she said.

Fabulous! What do you do in a huge mall when there's a tornado coming? Why, evacuate, of course. So that's what we did. All the stores were required to close, and everyone was herded down below, in the thick cement bowels of the mall under all the stores. Suzie and I and 500 of our closest friends.I think that last picture is hilarious. Please excuse the mod makeup; we were accosted at the Dior counter in Nordstrom, had free makeovers "forced" upon us, and my guy went a little overboard with the eye makeup. It was pretty hot though. ;)