b-day, new house, and the never ending job hunt

October 23, 2008

i had a really nice b-day. a couple girls made me brekkie, then we made crafts with shells, picked poppies in the central park (since they were about to be torn up), and that night for tea (dinner) we had sushi with a homemade carrot cake for dessert. very fun

i moved into a new place with 5 other people (4 guys and a girl) and a puppy... a little crazy, but i have my own room. the suburb i live in is called "the hill," so as you can imagine i get a good work out. hopefully soon i will get a bike b/c i am exhausted from walking around town. i've realized it takes me 3x as long to get somewhere walking as it would running, and i'm sure biking will be even faster than running... almost as fast as a car. except they make you wear helmets here or you get fined. so i have to get a helmet. and there aren't too many bike lanes, so i guess it's good they make you wear the ugly helmets.

so please continue to keep me in your prayers with job stuff and figuring out why i'm here. it has been a good lesson so far... not easy, just a process which i'm trying to learn to enjoy. hope all is well in the home land... tell me stories :)

love,
julie... who is now 27! so mature - ha, ha
and thank you for all the b-day wishes

p.s. let me know if you want my cell or address b/c i didn't want to post it on here

after the long weekend

October 8, 2008

well, i had so much fun in Sydney! i drove down with a girl named Nerida who lives in Newcastle, but is from Sydney. we toured the city in the rain and cold, rode the ferry, checked out the opera house, enjoyed an amazing Latin festival and then church and a jazz festival the following day. i was just blown away... so stoked and really felt God's love through it all.

now I'm back in Newcastle. I spent a couple days at a hostel and am currently staying with one of the girls here until I can find a place... that's right. I'm praying about settling in Newcastle... so we'll see what happens. I'm scared and excited and just trying to figure out how to trust God with everything. I would like to have things sorted out before my b-day on Tuesday, but who knows. I wish things were easier sometimes, but we learn so much in the process, don't we? :)

to God:
This life is a journey of chosing you and walking by faith. Loving you, loving others with the love you have lavished on us, and being used by you only when we recognize that it's all about you to begin with and what a blessing it is to be yours.

julie

a few days in Newcastle

October 2, 2008

so some promised pictures will be coming.
now that I'm hanging around a group of aussie girls I'm getting accustomed to some more cultural differences. a few things... they like to abbreviate and add "ie" to everything! Dixon beach is "diko," chocolate is "chockie," gum is "chewie"... you get the idea. they use so much slang it's ridiculous to keep up.
i really like being so close to the beach, although i have to get used to surfing a shorter board and feel a bit of a kook out there at the moment. i still have to get the whole duck diving thing down, because i would always turtle roll my longer board. (sorry to non-surfers who have no idea what i'm saying) i love hanging out with girls who are stoked on God and surfing. i'm praying about staying here or traveling more. i was feeling frustrated today about it and shared that with one of the girls. right away she was like, "let's pray about it." i love being honest with people and seeing God work through that. what a difference it makes to rest in his peace and cling to his truth. God has really been showing me how beautiful life is with him... his love has just been radiating through so many of the people i've been meeting. there is nothing more encouraging than to see how God changes people's lives.
so here are a few more pictures to enjoy and create a visual for you.

love
julie

Newcastle

September 30, 2008

I don't have much time to write, but I just wanted to let you know that I made it to Newcastle.
Let's see... Sunday night I got to go salsa dancing on the beach in Melbourne with some friends and then on Monday I finally got to go for a surf near Bells Beach in Victoria. So I arrived Monday night in Newcastle and already am stoked b/c there are some awesome Christian girls here. I'm staying a walking distance from the beach and have been surfing the last couple of days. I have plans to head to Sydney for some sightseeing and guess what... there is a latin festival!!! So I will get to hit up some more salsa dancing there as well. I can't wait! I will send more pictures when I get a chance. I'm thinking this is where I might want to stay... so I'm praying about that. I haven't had much of a chance to just sit down and relax over the past few days (which I desperately need). But it's so great meeting so many wonderful people. Thanks for your prayers.

Love,
Julie

step 1: the search

September 24, 2008

ok, so my new friends are really great. it looks like i'm going to join the circus with them.
come on now! really... that first email was a joke.

I got picked up from the airport by 3 lovely ladies... after waiting an hour for my luggage which was misplaced between baggage carousels. So now I'm staying in a little town about an hour from the airport called Narre Warren, which is part of Melbourne. Then in a few days I might be leaving for the coast... to Newcastle, which is a little north of Sydney. The two women I am staying with help lead the children's ministry at the Calvary church and have all the ministry activities at their house. Last night they had a midweek Bible study and on Friday they are having junior high girls over for dinner and games. The pastor lives next door and I got the chance to sit down and chat with him for a while about Australia and ideas on what I'm doing over here.

Some cultural differences... they drive on the other side of the road, have 2 levers when flushing the toilet (a half flush and a full flush), trash is rubbish, breakfast is brekky, dinner is tea, cookies are biscuits. "Tim tams" are some really popular biscuits, similar to oreos. Footie and cricket are their two main sports...

We are 17 hours ahead, so the first day I was up for a long time and had many meals. I felt much better after a full nights sleep. On Tuesday, I saw a cool bird in the backyard called a Tawny Frogmouth Owl, even though it's not an owl or related to one. But it's good at disguising itself as a tree. It was pretty hilarious... Wednesday morning, I went for a run and halfway through it a mastiff started following me. I figured I would call the owner if it followed me all the way home and it did.

So yeah, I'm praying about my next move... plan to get over to the ocean and then check out a few places. I figure I should find a place I'd like to live and then start looking for work. So, we'll see. Thanks for keeping me in your prayers. I enjoy hearing back from you guys. :)

Julie

the arrival

September 23, 2008

hey guys,
just wanted to let you know that i made it to Australia safely.
things are good.
i'm already starting to make friends...

julie