Australia - 3/30/08

Sunday morning we woke up at 7:00am. It was the only morning of our entire trip that I hated getting up. Every other day sleep felt like a burden. I only agreed to go to bed because I knew I needed to renew my energy for the new day coming. Every day was a new adventure, with new experiences and memories to be made. But, when Sunday morning came, I hated it.

We had to meet our airport shuttle down on the street at 8:00am. So, we had packed everything the night before and just gathered up all the last minute stuff in the morning.

Our final moments with my parents were really precious. We shared some tender moments together that filled us with so much love and comfort. I was handling the whole "good-bye" thing okay until my Mom told me that she wasn't going to go down to the shuttle with us because she was afraid that she'd run after it. So, that got the tears flowing and our good-bye was so much more rushed than I wanted it to be. So, the day was quite emotional, to say the least.

Our shuttle driver was sleep-deprived or just naturally really eratic... I don't know which. But, we were really surprised and relieved when we arrived at the airport safely.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:30am Sunday morning (Australia time), but we didn't leave until 12:30pm. We arrived in Auckland at 5:00pm (New Zealand time), which was 3:00pm Australia time. We left Auckland at 7:30pm Sunday (NZ time)... and FINALLY arrived in San Francisco at 11:32am Sunday (America time), which was 5:32am Monday in Australia.

The flight was exhausting... and we both caught some little bug just before leaving Australia, making that long flight even more miserable than it normally would have been. It wasn't until 4pm that we actually stepped into our house and crashed.

But, we had such a wonderful time! It felt like a dream while we were there and felt even more like a dream once we were back home. But the pictures and the experiences that have been imprinted in our minds and hearts tell us that we really were there. We made some really awesome memories together that we will remember and relive for our entire life.

When my parents got their mission call last March, we decided that we HAD to make it to Australia while they were there. So, we had been saving and planning... and then in December we found these awesome deals that we couldn't pass up. At the time it was a little scary to make plans for a trip that was three months away, not knowing how our schedules would be that far ahead. But, we are so happy we took the plunge and just did it. It was so worth it! You can't put a price on the experiences and the memories we made... they are worth more to us than any amount of money.

So, this is another big THANK YOU to my parents... our trip to Australia was absolutely wonderful in EVERY way because of you! We had such a fantastic time getting a glimpse into your life in Australia. Thank you, a million times over, for making our trip so awesome! You are doing such an important work with the people there and we pray everyday for your success and safety. We love you so much!