Christmas in August?

Yesterday it seemed that it was unexpectedly Christmas in August at our house. 

Internet connection
We'd had this "internet connectivity" issue that we'd been waiting to be fixed ever since we arrived in this house six weeks ago. In fact we'd been working on getting connected for some time before that, but it just seemed to be one disappointment after another. So, for the last six weeks we've been functioning with a mobile dongle in an area of poor receptivity. 

Through that, though, we were learning a good deal of patience and adaptability. We were working on nice days outside on our patio, which was the only area near our house where we could get reliable internet. 

The latest as far as we knew, was that we had an appointment on the 17th of September. We'd pretty much resigned ourselves to many more weeks of mobile dongle inconvenience.

Yesterday, though, David unexpectedly had a phone call while I was riding with the boys to school, which went something like this:

"Hi, I'm from NBN. Sorry I've been away on holidays, can I come around and see what needs doing?"

It turns out he and another worker came around and did everything we needed to connect up to the national broadband and hey presto, we've got internet everywhere in our house!

The internet arriving marks the last of our "big" things to do for settling here in Australia, so it is a relief to have that completed. 

New computer
At the same time as they were working on connecting us up to national broadband, David was having a second go at transferring all our data to our new computer that arrived last Thursday afternoon. Our first attempt, on Friday and Saturday, had failed after hours of trying.

Yesterday, though, in under two hours our new computer was up and running and I'm typing on it now. After more than a year of sluggish, sometimes unreliable or quirky computer issues, I now have one that is working fast and reliably. It's delightful!

New book

That's my hand!

During all the above exciting events, I was shopping for weekly groceries. As I loaded supplies into our green van I received an anonymous text:

"The books have arrived."

After a bit of back and fro texting, I figured out that the 31 Days of Prayer for Japan books had finally arrived in Brisbane. Our state director brought 50 copies to our door later that afternoon, so I now have them in my hands! I'm going to have fun promoting these. Message me if you'd like one. They are AUD$4 (plus $1.40 postage within Australia).

Inside the booklet.
I wrote the article on the righthand page and one other page. The rest
of it I edited closely, with the help of other people.

So excited about these, but also so tired. The weekend was big (Sunday we had our first deputation appointment at a church), and Monday's are always big with wrestling/gym/mobile dinner happening after school and into the evening. On top of that we have a family member visiting for a week. It's a joy to have her, but I do admit to being tired.

It's four and a half weeks until we go on two weeks holiday: camping and visiting family. In that time we have quite a bit to do, including a big national conference for our mission next weekend (29-31). We'll be very ready for a rest by time our holidays come.