our FIRST week

It's hard to believe we've been here almost a week already. At the same time, it's hard to believe we've only been here a week. It's starting to feel like home! The past week has been a whirlwind. I(Ashlee) have not been sleeping the greatest until last night, and then during the day we are running around trying to put life together. Opening bank accounts, filling our house with furniture, getting drivers license, catching up with friends, meetings about ministry... etc.  We are at the point now where we feel we can live day to day with what we have and gradually add the remaining items we need. 

waking up at the crack of dawn for the first week! (lots of bags and no furniture at this point!)

a very cold first morning in our new home

all you Menno's should be happy to see this cookbook made the journey!!

The is our porch(with Georgia sunbathing) and portion of the house. We live upstairs & our friends Jay & Tara Heller live in the downstairs. It's way nicer than we ever imagined!

Meet the Ford Laser! She's not the most beautiful car but very practical!

We are so grateful for all the Lord has already provided for us! Thanks for your prayers during this time of transition!

Moving In

We are still in with out internet and will be for the next week so sorry for poor communication! We promise it will be better in the future.

We were able to move into our new house (not a home just yet, I think a home would have some furniture!) on Thursday night. Trying to properly unpack is a bit challenging with out dressers etc, but we are doing well!! We have outfitted our house with all the basic supplies... plates, cups, cleaning supplies, hangers etc. Now we are just on the furniture hunt! and car hunt! and microwave & refrigerator hunt! Needless to say God is teaching us patience! 

On Monday we will take over the surf shop, which means lot of painting and cleaning up! Please pray for the shop & that the Lord would use it to be a light in the community of Mujimba Beach!

We hope to post pictures & more soon.... Thanks for all your prayers xoxo

WE'RE HERE!!!!

We had a spur-of-the-moment visit from our good friends Reagan & Amy Evans at the DFW Airport!!

After a 15.5 hour flight from Dallas, we arrived safe & sleepy in Brisbane! Us, our 8 bags, a guitar and several carry on bags! God guided our path the whole way here and we are so grateful!

all our stuff!

Today is full of moving and unpacking!  We signed our 6 month lease at our new house yesterday. Hopefully we get the keys today at 4. So helping Jay and Tara (our new housemates) move all of there stuff and our stuff into the new place is priority today.  We will through up some pictures of the new home as soon as we get settled and have our internet set up.  Thank you so much for the prayers, traveling couldn't have gone any smoother. We love yall.

& WE'RE OFF

Today's the day! & we can hardly believe it's here already! Last night we said many good byes to all our wonderful family & friends here in PA. It wasn't easy but I constantly remind myself that there are many great friends awaiting us in Australia.

As we reflect on the journey we've been on while preparing for Australia, we're reminded of all the answered prayers & favor the Lord has given us. Join us in praise & a heart of gratitude for all we've been blessed with....

*We were able to take a scouting trip last November
*Received our VISA in record time!
*Didn't have to have MEDICAL EXAMS for the visa!!! Saved tons of $$
*Cheap FLIGHTS but also the best route(in our opinion!) there!!
*Sold all our HOUSE stuff!
*Sold Jeremy's TRUCK!
*FINANCIAL & PRAYER support
*We have a HOME to go to!!! PTL
*We have a CAR to borrow when we get there!!

Please continue to pray for...

*Our safety as we fly!
*Smooth transition to life in Oz after leaving home
*Our MARRIAGE
*A job for Ashlee
*A CAR of our own
*We know there will be many needs & ministry opportunity there...DISCERNMENT in what is a GOOD thing & what is a GOD thing

LAST DAYS

Mini golfing with great friends the last weekend in PA!!

the guys

& gals

We love NMC YOUTH!

Last week we were at the Mennonite Church USA Convention in Pittsburgh. We had the honor of attending as youth leaders with 29 high school students from our church. 

Amazing 4th of July fireworks on the rivers of Pittsburgh!

We were dropped off at the wrong location for our day of service. Once we got to the right place we helped clean up a former dump that was being turned into a hiking path. There were all sorts of treasures we found...from very OLD refrigerators, to tires & golf balls, and LOTS of broken glass!

Evening debriefing. Hearing what God was doing in each of the students lives was a highlight for us!

some mean games of 4 square

so many bridges in Pittsburgh! 

We had Worship sessions every morning and evening with the 4,000 youth that were there from all over the country! In the afternoons there were tons of different seminars the youth could attend.

I will miss these girls dearly!

Awesome times of worship with powerful & inspirational messages!

the boys loving on each other

Stellar Kart Concert the last night!

our new HOME!

We got news earlier this week that the real estate company accepted our application for the house we applied for with our friends!! This is a huge answer to prayer! We can move in 2 days after we get there so the timing is perfect!

Thanks for your prayers!

Click on the link below to see the google map view of...
OUR HOME !

SAVE the CHAPLAINS

There is a poll being taken by Channel 7, in Australia, about whether taxpayers should fund school chaplains.  The link is below... please vote YES to help keep the chaplains in the schools!

http://au.news.yahoo.com/polls/popup/-/poll_id/eeddd01e-93fb-31a6-8e80-34b84a0e8b41

FLORIDA to PENNSYLVANIA

Some highlights of the past week....

Meeting sweet baby Taylor Grace Albritton

a day out with the Hoover family!

Finally meeting precious Bethany!

wakeboarding with the Stigers

Happy Birthday Caleb!

We're off to the youth convention in Pittsburgh bright and early Monday morning with the youth group from Neffsville! Pray for us and the youth as we spend a week seeking God & learning more about Him!!