Brian's Take on the Last Five Weeks or So

My goal here is explain what's been happening since June 20. June 20 was the day that the Commonwealth of Australia decided to go with the Spanish ship design rather than ours. The next day my coworkers and I had to pack all our own boxes and computers up and move them to a segregated working area. The day after that, Friday, June 22, our managing director announced that 24 out of 44 employees would be fired. There was some question over the weekend as to whether I was one of those 24 or not, but on Monday, June 25 I was asked to pack my things and go home. I have been without employment since then. The good news is that the Commonwealth is still relocating us back to the States, and the company's severance package is much better than anything we would have gotten in the US.

That first week after I lost my job was a very stressful whirlwind. Our pastor at Trinity here in Adelaide offered me a traineeship for two years, but we soon found out that we would not be able to get work visas for it because I have no formal training or experience to qualify me for the position. We also explored a few other options that would enable us to stay in Adelaide for a while longer but everything fell though. Sarah and I have really enjoyed living here and have made good friends that we'd love to spend more time with. We've been through a lot with them, and it's going to be very hard to leave.

I also poured a lot of energy into sizing up the job market for Naval Architects back in the States, and looking at seminaries. I sought the advice of my friends, fathers and mentors as to whether I should continue in engineering or transition into some sort of full time paid position in the church. I think our path at this point is to seek full time engineering work in the States and find a good seminary that will do correspondence courses. That way I can start a Masters of Divinity or some such degree and work on it slowly while we save up and decide whether or not we should jump into seminary or church work or missionary work full time. Our thinking on these things is enlightened and informed further by new opportunities fairly often, so don't be surprised if our "path" has taken a couple twists and turns by the time we talk to you next.

The second week (which was the first week of July) was much more enjoyable. It was less stressful in a decision making sense, but more stressful in a taking care of Alexander sense. We had to go to the US Consulate in Melbourne in order to get a Consular Report of Birth Abroad and a Passport and a Social Security card for Alex. We decide we would drive and make a little holiday out of it all. We left Monday afternoon and arrived in Melbourne by the most direct route late that night. We stayed right in downtown in the Victoria Hotel. The next morning we went to consulate with all our paperwork and citizenship proving documents and met with success face to face. We raised our right hands and swore that all we had entered into the blanks was correct and true, and little Alejandro became a United States citizen from birth. We spent the next couple days touring around Melbourne. Here is some photographic evidence.

These are from a walk we took around Melbourne's park lands:















These are from the Melbourne Aquarium:





And these are from a trip we took up to the top of one of the tallest buildings in Melbourne:







On the way back to Adelaide we took the Great Ocean Road. It is a much longer, much funner route. I know it's not a word; deal with it. The road follows the coast and has many beautiful sights and many beautiful curves. Much fun to drive upon. Here are some shots of that two day journey:









When we got back home to Adelaide I started applying for some jobs back in the States.

The Sunday after we got back to Adelaide (July 15) our friend Calum arrived from Japan to spend the week with us! We had a grand old time reliving the days of bagging groceries and cashiering at Family Fare together. We also made some great new memories four wheel driving, wine tasting, touring, sitting in the sauna and jumping into the freezing cold pool, taking pictures and checking out the crazy Australian fauna. Here are some photos from that week.

These are from the Clare wine valley:









These are from Cleland Wildlife Park:











This is Calum pretending to be mad at me for crossing the road against the light.



And these are from a little four wheel drive and Mt. Lofty tour Calum and I did:









Sadly, Calum had to take off the morning of Sunday, July 22. Sarah and I kept ourselves very busy making moving arrangements and courting potential employers before the arrival of our next guest on Wednesday morning. Alec Glass had been in the Philippines for the previous four weeks doing some missions work at a university there with the Navigators. We had a glorious week of camping in Innes National Park, almost drowning in the monstrous surf, speaking of the deeper things in life, watching kangaroos and repeating the four wheel driving. Alec took off early in the morning on Thursday, August 2. Here are the images captured during his time in Oz.

Here are some from Warrawong Sanctuary:





These are from our camping trip to Innes National Park:















While Alec was here I received one job offer from a company in DC and learned that my previous employer in DC would know at the end of August whether or not they could take me back. There is also an opportunity to work for them in a government office near Norfolk, VA which I should hear back on sometime soon.

On Saturday, August 4 we hosted a farewell party for ourselves. It was lot of fun, and we've almost eaten all the left over food now. Sarah whipped up quite a delicious mix of goodies including veggies and dip, crackers and cheese, cream cheese brownies, sausage rolls and fruit pizza. So good.

The movers are coming on August 13 and 14, and we plan to fly out on the 16th. We plan to spend a night in Los Angeles to break up the travel for the sake of the sanity of Sarah and the time zone acclamation of Alejandro. We should be in MI for about 4 or 5 weeks before gallivanting off to whatever city and job we end up choosing.

We are extremely sad to be leaving this place and these people but we are also very excited to see our families and friends back in the States again, and to introduce them to Alex!