atableinthewilderness

Settling in 2

Earlier today I blogged about how flat we are all feeling, you know how it is (and it didn't get posted)?!? Returning from overseas, catching up with all those people you hadn't seen in months, the excitment of the warm weather etc. but then it hits you like a brick - you start to vasilate (sorry for the spelling) between anger/rage and sorrow/depression - two of these are valid the others just selfish - not getting our house doesn't help but the biggest thing we keep asking is .... WAS IT WORTH IT?!?!?! As Sarah says, "when I get there I've got some big questions to ask Him". Then there 's the next big questions - WHAT NOW?!?!!? As others keep telling us, take your time and be gentle - thanks Graham M - were trying to take your advice. Cya.

POSTpost - well it seems as though the first blog went through after all, fancy that...

Settling in???

Settling in to our new abode. It's a little more than we had in Prague but a whole lot hotter!!!! Can you tell? I've hit the sad's, yes when you've caught up with all those that you know and are just getting into life again the downs hit home hard. I/we are feeling very sorry for ourselves at the moment and just looking for the good things in what's happened - very hard from this end I might add. I hope it was all worth it God 'cause at the moment I'm having my doubts! Cya.

Ups and Downs...

So the last few days have had their ups and downs.

Down – it was a long flight with not much sleep – 24 hours travelling - 17 flying.
Up – the kids loved their personal entertainment units on the two long flights – thank you God!!!

Down – we landed at midnight so our tickertape parade was cancelled due to bad light.
Ups – we got to land with good friends who understand us and love us anyway. We got to surprise some people with our return – I love disrupting the status quo.

Up - we get to spend a few weeks with our other good friends before they …
Down - take off and leave us for the USA – selfish, just when we need them the most. (one of the reason they are leaving is ‘cause we had left….)

Downs – we are still suffering from jetlag (I don’t think I am but any excuse for an afternoon snooze) and the kids are still walking around like the living dead in the afternoon.
Up – the first three days of weather were blessedly cooler than usual so we could sleep when needed – tomorrow is 38 (101) degrees - plus it's great to have 'summer friends' with pools.

Down - can’t get back into our house till June so we have had many tears and much disappointment over that.
Up – we are moving Monday to our “Castle on a hill, near the ocean” (Czech out the blog dated 01/01/04) Cya.

Back on line

Back on line thanks to Telstra - free for a month too!!! Well we've spent the first two day just sleeping and chatting to friends. Caught up with Paul and Adrienne, our special link people, the other night and had a great time. Looking forward to see others real soon - though we will take our time to see you all. Thanks to all who have commented, it means a lot to us to have you on board. Looking into the future at the moment and seeing what we think is good things. Pray for the Jones' on their journey. Cya.

We made it...

We flew in at 11.50 last night after 24 hours of travel (Singapore Airlines is the way to go) and stayed up with Pete and Deb talking till the Sun came up this morning. Glad to be here but sad too. Looking foward to seeing lots of people but are currently getting over jet lag. Having trouble replying to email messages so please be patient we will get there, probably soonish, maybe. Cya.

We're gone...

It's 3:45 pm and we are just filling time before we leave for the airport. Had a great day in the city eating our favourite Czech snacks and drinking the hot wine, UMMMMM very good in cold weather. Speaking of the cold, last night was the coldest night this winter -10 degrees celsius, brrrrrrrr. Looking forward to some warm weather and a soft landing in Perth - thanks Pete and Deb. For our next blog, we'll see ya on the other end of the world.

New Year update...

Greetings to you in the New Year - we hope it will be all you and God want it to be for you.

So what have we been up to since making our announcment to head home? We've been packing and cleaning up. We went out to dinner with some good friends here in Prague and had a laughing good time in a great Italian Place, yes Sarah, "Sean Connery and Jonny Depps favourite restaurant in Prague".

We then returned to the Peach for some "Fire works". Nothing to most, but to us Australians a moment to be enjoyed - they are illegal at home. So I got to supervise 4 boys salivating as they played with fire sparks - so primative!! We all survived, though there was some close moments - great time.

New Years day, I dropped our good friends Artie, Elsabeth and family at the Airport for their 3 month trip home to the States - have a great time, we will miss you and hold you to your promise of coming to Oz soooon. Tonight we all went out to get some presents for family and some friends at home - weight permitting.

Thanks to all those who have emailed us with encouragment and thoughts. A lot of you have asked if you can do anything for us, which is very humbling, but there is. Could you pray that our house will become available very soon. Our tenants signed a 12 month lease and they are entitled to see their time out - they are great tenants - but we just want to move home without having to rent for a few months. Unless there is a very cheap castle we could move into over looking the Ocean??? I didn't think so, so prayer about moving home would be great. Cya.

We're going back to Oz ...

It is with much sadness that we inform you that we are returning to Australia, from what must seem to you a short time in Europe but to us seems like a lifetime.

After spending some time alone in Berlin as a family, discussing and praying about the future we have decided to return to Australia. Basically we are not able to continue in Prague and we do not see the point in putting every detail in an email but would prefer a conversation upon our return.

There are many wonderful people who are financially and prayerfully supporting us, and we don't feel that we can continue on as we are doing.

We have just purchased tickets and by the Grace of God will arrive on January 4 at Perth Airport. We don't know what we are going to do in the short term other than process the whole time away and recover. We ask for you prayers and care as we do so.

Once again thanks for your support and we look forward to our next meeting.

Bruce and Sarah Stuart.

Chrismas Cheer

Hey, many Christmas blessing to one and all. Hope you all got what you wanted and if not what you deserved! We had, as you could imagine a busy Chistmas with 9 kids, 4 adults and three visitors on the day, but when all is said and done - I'm glad it's over!!! The kids got to ice skate on the lake, so the 'White Chrismas' dream has happened - Yeh!!! Spent boxing day with new good friends eating left overs, being silly and talkng heaps - thanks for a great arvo guys. Cya.
PS - big news to be annoucned soon....

Australia's Bobsled Team...

All the kids were out sledding today and they were Defending Australia's Sledding honour. They were against the Americans/Kiwi's and some local Czech kids. Daniel was hot, dodging trees, avoiding the little kids and taking the drop to win all the races except one. As they took off down the hill, Matthew the "Enforcer" took out one kid and then another but it wasn't enough, Daniel was bumped by one of the Czechs. He went round one tree, dodged a pole and then bang straight into a tree. We ran down to see what had happened as he got up and started walking towards us. With blood everywhere and a quick trip to the Hospital, he was home with three stitches in his chin and a bit of a headache. But he is still 'KING OF THE HILL' after only two days of practice - note the echos of a proud Dad. Cya.