Jodi's perspective!!

First of all, I just want to say that I thought everyone secretly loved Spam. It was a complete surprise to find that my children are actually campfood snobs. Who else would turn their noses up at tinned rice cream? When I was a girl, if we were hungry when we were camping, we had to raid a termite mound or try our luck catching lizards.

Speaking of termite mounds, there were whole cities of them on the way up. The scenery was breathtaking, which is just as well, since we had plenty of time to soak it up at 70km/h. We saw all the usual wildlife you could hope to see - big bungarras, wedgetailed eagles, kangaroos which got smaller the further north we went, snakes and frogs etc. It was actually quite sad that we had to do a lot of driving at night. I think we missed a lot of beautiful scenery.

The kids were absolute champions on the drive up. They were overjoyed when we stayed in a nice caravan park, and very cooperative at the other end of the scale too. They hardly complained when they were in the car all night, for hours on end. One little oasis in our trip was Fletcher and Anne, who kindly lent us their house for the day, and spent an evening with us at Fitzroy Crossing.

Now that we are here, I have to admit it all feels a bit surreal. Dad came to visit a couple of days after we arrived. It was a bit of a reality check for him. Normally he comes over to our house several times a week, has a coffee, stirs the kids up, and then leaves. When he arrived, he immediately stirred the kids up, and then realised there was nowhere to go. Needless to say, he has left now after two days.

We have had the opportunity to check out Kununurra hospital. This morning Lex was spinning on an office chair and fell off, splitting his scalp on a milkcrate. We took him to the A&E and they saw him immediately. They stitched him up and were blown away by his bravery - I personally think he has no nerve endings - he was actually giggling when they gave him a local.

I would appreciate prayer as I get ready to start school with the kids. It is my first year schooling all four and I am meeting a lot of resistance from Ben and Kira. I really want this to be a positive year for all of them.

Please pray also for us as we settle into this community. The people here are very nice and welcoming. Things are going to step up a lot in the next few weeks as lots of volunteers arrive for short term visits. This won't affect me and the kids so much, but it will affect Don.

We have been really humbled and touched by the huge support we recieved from family and friends in the lead up to this trip. So many practical and financial needs were met - all of our needs in fact, and we are so grateful. We are very conscious that we are representing our church and supporters while we are here.

I am planning to get in touch with everyone individually as often as I can - so far the days are slipping away pretty quick, but we have easy internet access which is wonderful!

I will post again soon. xx