Settling In

G'day mates!
We have made good progress this past week as far as getting settled. Just this week we purchased a fridge and a washing machine. Duane bought a bike to tackle the ever rolling hills and for exercise. Yesterday, Rachel and I took the train into the city and attained a Queensland driver's licence. We also stopped by the Australian blood bank and both of us donated blood. Rachel applied for a job yesterday at Australian National Geographic store and by evening they called her for an interview for this Saturday. She has applied for schooling at three universities this past week. They will contact her in January to let her know if she gets in or not. We also held a bible study at our house on Friday evening. The month of November, I will be teaching Sunday school for Our Redeemer in Kallangur. Yes, I think we are finally settling in.
Our furniture has not arrived as of yet. The last we were told, the ship is stuck in heavy traffic trying to get through the Asian port and will hopefully make it to Brisbane November 6th. We just hope that it makes it to port and clears customs by Christmas! The children have done remarkably well without their toys. We are sleeping with our travel size pillows in sleeping bags on beds that we are renting. A friend of Rachel's loaned her some sheets and a blanket for her bed just this week. I think sheets and regular sized pillows is the only thing that I really miss and perhaps a clock. We also purchased a patio set for the veranda. Our furniture rental is up the 10th of November so we will probably not renew it. We have everything that we need now except a sofa, TV, and beds. We will purchase some air mattresses to get us through.
By the way, my e-mail (Stacey's) was finally cut off last week.
Please e-mail me at hengst1962@gmail.com.
To celebrate Rachel giving blood for the first time, We are going out for lunch today. There are no familiar chain restaurants in our area. They do have fast food chains, but nothing like Denny's, Red Lobster, or Olive Garden. Just an interesting fact: Out Back is not in Australia! Australians have never heard of Out Back Steak House. I thought that was funny!
There are plenty of KFC, Mc Cafes (Donalds), Pizza Hut, Dominoes Pizza, Hungry Jacks (Burger King), and Subway. Their chains are called names such as Hog's Breath and Pig N Whistle. Sounds appetizing, huh?
Most of the nice restaurants are pubs and very pricey. There is no place for good affordable family dining, at least we haven't found any. That's alright. Nothing beats home cooking anyway!
Driving has gotten so much easier. A roundabout is simply an intersection in the form of a circle without stop signs or traffic lights. Sounds thrilling doesn't it? It is! Australians are not big on traffic lights or stop signs. Roundabouts are popular. Downtown Brisbane does use lights rather than roundabouts. I have driven through downtown Brisbane more in the last month, than I ever drove through downtown Houston in the thirty years that I lived there.
Yep, Our gracious Lord and Savior is certainly watching over the Hengst family! We are missing our piano and our Lutheran Hymnal. We have family devotions every Wednesday evening and we would love for Rachel to play some hymns for us. We will also us it for nights that we host Bible study. The Hymnal here is alright, but we miss what we are familiar with. We do sing hymns without the piano but it would be nice for Rachel's playing to keep us on key! We are certainly not the Von Trap family singers!
We are settling in just fine, finally, but we do miss all of you. We would love to get e-mails from you! Sally, would you please give my new e-mail address to Jeannie so that I can still receive the prayer chain? Thanks!
May the Lord keep you all in His gracious care!