One day in February Phil received a phone call from a Wendy Smith from Moree Anglican Church - a place that I had never heard of before. And yet, that phone call led to us finding our new home and we praise God every day for his kindness in bringing us here. It was nothing short of miraculous that a place in the country, in the middle of nowhere, 13 hours away from Melbourne, became that place that we both longed to go to and put down our roots. Phil and I jumped on a plane at the end of February for an interview in Moree and we fell in love. By the time we took off to fly back to Melbourne we didn't want to leave. From there Phil was offered the job and we spent March and April packing up our lives, saying goodbye to Melbourne, friends and family and relocating to country NSW.
Our boys have done an amazing job at adjusting to our new life in Moree. While there were some difficult nights and some sad moments the transition was not as difficult as we had imagined it would be. Unfortunately we were chronically sick for over 2 months, but that seems to have subsided with the cold weather. There are plenty of wonderful things about this place which has helped us deal with the pain for leaving so much behind. Here are a few of the things that we love about Moree:
Our House:
We moved from a small place in Brunswick into a massive country style homestead.
We're all enjoying our larger abode. Phil is in love with the tall ceilings and dark rooms. I'm enjoying the newly renovated kitchen and the boys are loving their new bedroom which they are now sharing.
Our Verandah:
This is definitely one of the highlights of our place. The verandah stretched almost the entire way around the house and stops the hot rays getting in during the warmer months. But more importantly, it's a safe contained area that the boys love racing around on their bikes and a great place for lazy lunches and balmy dinners.
Our Backyard:
Of all the wonderful things that Moree has to offer, its the backyard that has won the hearts of our two little boys. They love playing in the sandpit that Nanny created, picking all the ripe and unripe vegetables, mowing the endless amounts of lawn, flying their dusty planes and just being boys. I've really been enjoying the massive clothes line which is brilliant in the Moree sun for a mother of young children. I've also been enjoying getting my green thumbs into action, utilising the fertile Moree black soil. We've also got an awesome mandarin tree - Isaac is happy!
The Weather and Big Skies:
Something I didn't realise until we moved to Moree is that Melbourne doesn't really get any sunshine between May and September - this is just something that I thought was normal. In contrast the sun shines nearly every day in Moree. It's not always warm, in fact it gets colder than Melbourne, but every freezing night is followed by a beautiful sunny day. I know it's going to get hot (very hot for a very long time) but right now we're enjoying the perks of living further north. The landscape is also extremely flat and so the clear blue skies look enormous. It's beautiful in a different way.
The Swimming Pool:
Moree apparently is the spa capital of Australia. Phil and I have certainly enjoyed soaking in the 40 degree water to remove any stress or tension after a busy week. There's no cinema in Moree and not much to do by way of entertainment but this is certainly going to become one of our favourite past times. The boys also love the pool - it has a brilliant toddler pool with heaps of fountains, slides and other fun things to play with. They've also enjoyed jumping in the cooler of the warm spas (37 degrees) on slightly colder days and swimming with Mum and Dad.
The Church and the People:
What can we say - we love being part of Moree Anglican Church. The welcome that we received has been phenomenal. The church culture is Christian and positive - unfortunately this is not what we are used to! The people love Jesus and want to serve him. We've had a wonderful time getting to know people and they have embraced us with open arms. Even though both of our families are far away, God has provided us with a loving spiritual family that is looking after us in every way that could ask for. The boys are making friends (with other little boys!!) and I'm loving being part of church playgroup and a bible study for mums with young kids during the week. There's even a clergy wives conference each year for me to be part of and be supported through.
The job itself is huge and Phil is running around like a bit of a mad man but he's getting such wonderful feedback from his ministry and people are loving him being here. It's such a change.
Everything else:
Other things that we're enjoying are the parks (the rocket ship, steam roller and digger parks), having diesel on offer at every bowser at the petrol station (caravan central!), the fire station around the corner (useful for more than one reason!), the airport that we drive through nearly every day to see the planes, being 5 minutes from everywhere and no traffic!
The boys have been growing up very quickly - and they're getting cuter every day. Last time I posted Isaac was only a baby and now he's definitely a little boy. Ethan and Isaac have become the closest of friends, always playing and scheming together. Today they were playing cafes on the verandah where Ethan was selling chips - When Ethan left the cafe Isaac went up to the counter and yelled "more chips please!" - but usually they are working together to fix an emergency, flying their planes and driving their firetrucks and ambulances. It's lovely to watch.
Hopefully life will be a little less stressful in the coming years and we'll continue to enjoy are new home. Looking forward to filling you in with updates more regularly.
