Ying and Yang of Life

Well. We didn't see this coming. At least we didn't think we would see it coming for awhile yet. Steve and 11 other people from BGC Corporation were laid off from their jobs. It's rampant here now; sadly. Unemployment is hitting hard.

It's a whole different ball game when you lose your job in a foreign country. We have 28 days to leave Australia. Gee, don't let the door hit you on the way out, eh? We were all shocked and saddened at first. New friends, a new house, new car and what we thought was another year of adventures ahead of us. Not to be. Now that we have begun to make our plans to move back to Medford, the excitement has begun to build for each one of us. We all have our little things we are looking forward to upon our return. We will take up residence in our own house on Brookdale Avenue. Our renters there had one more year on their lease, but graciously agreed to move out so we could live in our own house. Yippee!

It has been an amazing 13 months (15 months for Lucas and Steve). We are so thankful for this life changing time in our lives. We do NOT relish packing and moving again, but moving overseas sparks a remarkable ability to get rid of everything that is non-essential. We will be arriving in Medford with little more than the clothes on our back. Kind of a pain, but kind of exciting to "start over" again. Don't anyone have a garage sale without letting us know about it first!

So, as we prepare to say "gidday" to Australia, we prepare to bid "hello" again to our homeland. I know many things have changed while we were away, including all of us. We are all looking forward to rekindling our old friendships and sharing our adventures. And, let's face it, we're pretty darn stoked to get back-to-back summers for 2009!

See you all this summer!
Paula, Steve, Lucas, Sam, and Camerin