Progress Has Been Made

Progress has been made towards the goal! On Saturday, July 10th I was able to have a brief conversation with the dear kids I will be caring for over the next year. I met both M and S on Skype! M, dressed head to toe in his Superman outfit, took a little warming up but soon thought it was rather cool to be able to see himself on the computer. S was scared as someone strange was actually talking to her on the computer. Since I was at my brother and sister-in-law’s we showed her their dog, Madison, on the web cam and she thought that was neat! I am looking forward to my time with these two precious little ones!



A week and a half ago I was greeted in the morning with an email that read-“This is to advise that you have been granted an Electronic …visa on 12 July 2010.” I am not going to lie I did a little happy dance at that time but restrained myself from waking up my mom to tell her my visa had been granted! I notified N and she was delighted to hear I could now book my flight. She also told me that they (the family I will be living with) had been approved for the home they wanted so they get the keys this Friday, July 23 so that they can be all moved into the new place before I arrive! The 12th was a great Monday!


I immediately emailed the travel agent I had been working with (Downtown Travel-highly recommended!) and asked her to be looking into flights for me! Today was the day I booked my flight! I will be jumping the big pond in a little over two weeks-time will certainly fly!


My sister tells me the sooner I leave the sooner I come back! The realization of leaving all of my loved ones behind is starting to settle in. I know I have a spectacular support system in Australia and I am very eager to get to see them again; however, it is still going to be very difficult to be so far away from those I love here in the states. I am so thankful for technology these days that will allow me to keep in contact with everyone on the other side of the pond when I go. My family has been set up with Skype, students have created a blog to keep in touch through and for many others email and social networking sites will be used to help stay connected! Please do keep in touch, and let me know how you are doing! It is has always my fear of mine when I go on a overseas I will lose contact of people I hold dear.


What’s next on the list now that I have a ticket? Although I have completely moved out of my place in Hendrum I have a fair share of “moving” to do. I need to finish sorting through some things and find homes for them; as well as having some organizing parts of my life that still need to be done while I am not here—like taxes!! Other than that I am looking forward to enjoying my remaining time by spending time with family and friends!


I am looking for some Midwest gift ideas for the family I will be working for and some people I will be catching up with from my previous time in Australia. Do you have any great Minnesotan or North Dakotan gifts? If so please comment, I would LOVE to hear about any ideas you have! Australia is quite similar to the US in many ways I struggle with finding true “American” items to share with them!