How Did We Get Here?

We've been asked many times how this whole move came about and it's a simple answer - a few casual lunches in Houston ended up in an offer that we couldn't pass up, both for the family and for Matt's career. By the time it was official, Matt was already back in Perth so my last few weeks in Houston were spent dealing with relocation instead of catching up with friends. We will be moving to the Katy area, which is totally new to us, so I spent several days looking at neighborhoods and houses with a realtor and even bought a car before we left. It's exciting to be going somewhere new but sad that we won't be going right back near our families and old friends. That's probably a good thing, though, because after 4 years away we couldn't possibly to expect to pick right back up where we left off. Anyway, by the time the kids and I left to fly back to Perth, we knew it would be a short and very busy trip! We had exactly two weeks to pack up the house, sell our appliances, return the leased car, sell Matt's car, close out our utilities and accounts, say goodbye to friends, and enjoy our last days in Australia. With a lot of prayer, plenty of organization, major teamwork, a TON of work on Matt's part while I cared for the kids (thank goodness he wasn't working this week!), and help from our friends, we have wrapped up our lives here and will get on the plane early Monday morning with one-way tickets to Houston. I'm not going to say it's been easy, but it has gone amazingly well. Saying goodbye to all of our dear friends is definitely the hardest part but we have so much to look forward to on the other end! There are four grandparents with huge smiles on their faces at this very moment anticipating the return of their long-lost grandsons. And those two boys are looking forward to getting back in the new (to us...it's a couple of years old) gold car that they already love.

By the time it was clear we'd be moving back to Houston very quickly, I was dying to get back to Perth and enjoy my last few weeks here! Matt talked me into making the responsible decision to look for a house first (and we may have found one! have to wait and see how it all works out) so we only ended up coming back a few days earlier than planned. It was unfortunate that we lost Easter somewhere in transit, but the Easter bunny visited Grammy and Grumpy's house just before we left.


Once we were safely across the ocean again (and the boys did amazingly well again with the trip and the jetlag...whew!) we wasted no time in getting to the beach. We couldn't wait to get our toes in the sand and Matt didn't want to waste any last few precious surfing opportunites.

I'm pretty sure this is what he'll miss more than anything about Perth!


This is the kind of thing I'll miss - amazing birds everywhere! Cockatoos, parrots, black swans, emus (in the country), kookaburras, magpies, ibis, and these gorgeous rainbow lorikeets.

This is what the kids will miss:

They love nothing more than digging in the sand and playing in the waves.

We will also miss these sweet faces dearly! Brynn, Alex, Ben, Wilder, Austin, and Ansley, the Wednesday afternoon gang.

We moved into an apartment a few blocks away before the movers came to pack everything up and the boys were surprised to find everything in boxes when the packing was done.

It's hard to see all our stuff packed and know it will probably be two months until we see it all again. It's also hard to pack our suitcases with all the things we may want during that time. Thank goodness it will be easy to go to Target and Wal-Mart now for the things we'll need in the meantime! We are definitely going to miss our great view through the windows there.

So long, furniture! See you on the other end...

We are soaking up every last minute down under and really stopping to enjoy the moments. Last night we literally stopped on the way to our friends' house to see the sun go down.

It's been a great run in paradise!