The Announcement

This was the email that my DH sent off this morning. This has not been an easy decision, nor was it an easy decision to move here in the first place. I do hope that people understand a little about the situation we are faced with. The main reason we came to Australia was for John's Schooling and everything has changed. I hope that people can see that we have truly opened our hearts and poured everything out through this email (especially my DH who was so excited to come here and has been so dissappointed that nothing has worked out). We are being open and honest.

We did receive a very harsh response to this email that completely and utterly attacked us and the decisions we made. That is why I am writing this. We are not whining about Australia, we think it is a very beautiful country and would love to come back again for a visit someday, but to live here, it is simply not possible right now,(We have been through a lot of struggles and after having lived in 5 different countries now, I do have an idea as to what to expect, how to prepare, etc., but this completely blindsighted us). I have been in tears most of the morning because of this attack. These people, who we thought were our friends, were ruthless and down right insulting and said a lot of hurtful things. They clearly do not know us that well and nor do they want to. So please read our announcement below with the understanding that we are simply trying to figure out God's will and follow God's plan for our lives. We still maintain that God brought us here for a reason and as John says we have learned some valuable, valuable lessons! We have had to swallow a lot of pride, admit we were wrong in some areas, and put our tail between our legs and head down and come back to Canada.

The email:

From the very first moment we arrived in Australia (whether it was the first arrival into Sydney, or the dark decent into Brisbane later that evening) it's beauty has been tarnished because of the enormous difficulty we have gone through.

When studying about Australia, before we made our move, we along with others agreed that Oz would be the smart move for our young family. The land was cheap, the beaches golden, the outdoor lifestyle to be totally envied and the benefits to the new Australian: manifold. So, with much prayer and consideration, downsizing, selling etc etc etc....we began our preparation for the exodus (not that I am comparing Canada to Egypt).

What I didn't take into consideration is Australia's 'camelion' nature. Years ago I tried to become part of the lucrative business world of exporting American trucks to Australia. Along with another Australian (who eventually doublecrossed me and tried to run with the business by himself after we had fueled each other with info we had collected) we began, well, I began phoning customs Australia, insurrance companies, mechanics, importers....the list goes on. I eventually got to the point where I was ready to start shipping. Within the three months I was getting things together, Australia implemented a number of new regulations that would now prohibit me from supplying the Australian public with the "red-neck-Porches" that were selling for inbetween 80-110 G's. "FLUSH!!!!"

Since then, regulations have changed a number of times...AGAIN. This is our story today. Australia originally supplied it's citizens with free post secondary education (so long as your marks were decent enough to prove you were willing to continue good study habits). This eventually dicipated to a thing called Oz-study (the government would basically pay you some money to take care of bills as long as you were in full time studies). Myself (John) being a duel citizen (Australian/Canadian), was totally qualified to receive Oz Study. Well, once again Australia changed policy and legislated the "residency" clause. To receive any Australian benefits, you must have been in the country for a minimum of 104 weeks, even...if .....you....are..a.....citizen! This new policy has pretty well squashed any hopes of staying in Australia for this sect of Gooches.

Service and the Economy

The economy, in Australia is booming, but there is a total lack of infrastructure. People are generally very friendly, but that's it. To get anything done, or to receive any correct sum of information it takes no less than six sessions with six different people (government institutions are oblivious to their need to know what the "blankety blank" their policies are, and to be able to relay that information to those in need.....it's mind boggling!). Private businesses or institutions just don't care......if you don't buy, someone else will....so buggar off Yank! Which brings me to another problem, our accent. Constantly mistaken for Americans, we have suffered scorn and predjudice. Recently at a store, a young girl asked Vanessa where she was from, V said Canada, and the girl said, good, if you were an American the price would have gone up. This is just one example. This has also made it hard for me to get work. I have applied for numerous jobs in retail and been turned down for the stupidest reasons. On my resume are three examples of Managerial positions I've had, and yet my responses have been (in writing) that I'm over qualified?!

The housing market is ridiculous. Australia was voted (National Australian Newspaper and by the Department of Ausralian Immigration) the most expensive place to live in the world. For us to buy a small house in a decent area means a $3000 mortgage payment per month. For us this would mean , myself working full time and going to school, Vanessa working (once the bungle of her residency paperwork is worked out....who knows when and how!) full time and dropping Zech into a super pricey daycare four to five days a week. Really, it seems our quality of life would completely take a drop if we were to stay here. Family would come last and for the next five to six years we would only pass each other like ships in the night. The list of problems we have faced have been daily.....yes I said daily! We live on the Gold Coast of Australia and yet 'for the life of me' I'm having a hard time enjoying it. Now monsoon season has arrived and we are stuck inside packing. Yes, packing....we are coming back to Canada.

Now "ye of little faith" may say, I thought you said God was leading you there. And I would reply "COME OUT SATAN!" Haha, no I'm just kidding (well maybe some of you). We, to this moment, even after the wasted moving money, the piles of paperwork and the numerous frustrating circumstances......look at this as a blessing. Yes that means we still believe God meant us to come here. I have had this problem, ever since conception, of wanting to be somewhere else. Where I've been, has never been as good as where I could be. If we would not have moved to Australia, I guarantee you that I would be moaning about how much better life in Australia is and we should have moved there and and and.... I think I am finally ready to settle the family down in one spot, cut my lawn, beat my dog and pee in the bushes I planted five years ago (after moving back from Australia) in...my...yard. One of the other reasons we do believe this move was God's will, was numerous untold circumstances in which God completely came through in miraculous ways that in no way could be chalked up as coincidence. You'll hear more about this face to face when we see you next.

Now, when we left, I had written Canada off. I still believe Canada has huuuuuuuge problems, and if it doesn't decide on a national identity (not a barf stew of cultures) for those who claim 'Canadianship'.....then we might as well fly the American flag at our city halls.....'nough said!!!! So hello once again Canada. UBC Okanogan is now my choice of academic institutions as they have agreed to accept 18 courses I had considered wasted from 11 years ago that no other institution in Australia would credit me. Well I could go on about bad and good things, but I guess you can see a bit more into our situation. This move will be the way we will continue to put family first as concerning quality of life for the Gooches.

We will be back this year....could be sooner.....could be later........

Love The Gooches in Australia.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. It is so hard to believe that another year has come and gone. 2007 has been a year full of many memories, many changes and many lessons. God has blessed us, God is never failing and God is always forgiving and loving. May God Bless you all in 2008! Another exciting year begins, one I know will be filled with more major decisions and changes.....I will elaborate more on this in the New Year.

We have already celebrated our New Year, but have been watching your New Year on the tube. All of the beachside festivities and fireworks were cancelled here. We are going through a wicked storm. All of the beaches are closed, it has been raining on and off like crazy, the winds have reached over 90km/hr, the ocean has flooded certain carparks and surf clubs and we were without power for a few hours yesterday. So we watched movies and went to bed early, not much else we could do! :o)

My attempt at family photos, did not go so well. While they are not perfect, it is perfectly us!

Another "free" digital layout from Two Peas. This one is the "Be Merry Kit" by Cherie Mask and the other two that I did below of my inlaws are from the"March Free Kit" by Rhonna Farrer.

Our Christmas Festivities "down under"

Christmas seemed to just come upon us so quickly this year. We weren't ready, but I wasn't stressed out about it (this is a first). We felt lonely, but were so happy and blessed to have John's parents with us. We missed family and friends and it didn't feel like Christmas as we were sweating profusely in the humidity, but then I remembered the true meaning of CHRISTmas and we realized that no matter where in the world we are, how far away from family we may be, CHRIST's birthday is important and can be celebrated everywhere! It truly is a remarkable season when we think about all of the things that CHRIST has given us, sacrificed for us and blessed us with.

Sunday

To start our festivities off, on Sunday December 23rd we attended a Christmas Barbie (BBQ) and Carols night at our church. Our church here is very family oriented so they had a jumpy castle, train rides, indoor playground, face painting and a petting zoo for the kids. After the BBQ they had a concert. They had a whole symphony (just recently put together consisting of the old and young and a huge variety of instruments from the violins, cellos, flutes, trumpets, tubas, and harmonica) and a choir. It was their debut and they played really nice (kind of reminded me of the band in our church)!! They also put on the Christmas story and did it with some Aussie humour! It was very nice. To end the evening they sang my favourite Christmas carol "Oh Holy Night". It always gives me tingles and now I just belt it out. They had a soloist who sang for the first time, and his voice was amazing.

Monday

We had a relaxing day as we prepared for a nice meal in the evening. I decided to do a roast chicken with dressing, potatoes, gravy, salad, peas & carrots, egg nog salad (a Gooch favourite--made by my mother-in-law) and a green salad. It really was much to humid to turn on the oven, but I made the sacrifice. We had a nice meal and then opened our presents. We did not wait until the morning, as we had to leave bright and early to make it to John's cousins in-laws for the day. We were spoiled and it was fun watching Zech learn to open the wrapping paper. He was more enthused with the wrapping paper than with the actual gift--go figure!!

I did a couple digital layouts of my in-laws that I thought I would share......

A new book from Aunty Michelle, Uncle Jason and cousins---he LOVES Books!!

A new sun hat and special swim suit from NaNa and Grandpa

Tuesday (The birth of Christ!!!)

Christmas Day we were up when Zech the alarm clock went off (7 am). We got ready and headed out for the 2 1/2 hour drive up to the Sunshine Coast to celebrate with Wayne & Victoria Gooch and Victoria's family. Victoria's sister Ruth and brother-in-law Tony have a beautiful acreage up close to Marochydore. They thoughtfully invited us to partake in their Christmas celebrations. They had a fabulous salt water pool, a beautiful house which felt so warm and cozy and Christmas like. We spent time in the pool, ate some appetizers and then had our feast which consisted of a variety of salads, roasted veggies, including roasted pumpkin (an aussie staple--which was amazing), and BBQ meat including a ham, pork roast and chicken loaves. For dessert we had trifle, chocolate cake, and of course Christmas pudding. It was a fabulous day, with great people and awesome food. We headed back that evening.



We made it home safe and sound and a little plumper than when we left. Just as we walked in the door, poor little Zech vomitted all over me. I have never had so much vomit on myself before in my life!! I was seriously covered head to toe!! Now the fun had really begun. Zech was sick. We spent most of the night up with him and finally John got up and brought him into our room. It was coming out both ends and I had just finished changing Zech, when all of a sudden John was running. Zech seemed to feel a little better, but John was now feeling ill. So Zech finally went to sleep and John was up for the rest of the night. Morning came far too quickly and then it was my turn. Thank God we had Mom & Dad Gooch around. They spent the morning caring for Zech, who was still a little under the weather, while John slept and I spent my time gathered round the porcelein bowl. That evening JOhn's Dad started and was up most of the night and then of course Mom Gooch started. SO we were hit by the nasty flu and it hit us hard.

We have spent the last couple of days recovering. Zech had a relapse this morning. John's parents took us out for brunch as they were leaving back to Sydney today, and all of a sudden Zech vomitted all over the table. He is also getting two more teeth and these ones are painful, so painful he refuses to eat anything. After these teeth cut through, Zech only has two more and then his back molars to come in. I can't wait until he is finished teething. He really does not teeth well and it is such a miserable time for him as well as for Mom and Dad!

So we did have a nice Christmas. We did really miss our families, but were happy that we had some of our family to spend it with. We also received a surprise phone call on Christmas Day from the "Halwa" side. Every Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember we have spent it with the Halwa side. Lots of good eats and fun times! It was so great to hear from everyone and talk to my Grandma, my Aunts and Uncles and even cousins!! Thanks so much for thinking about us and taking the time to call us, it really meant the world to us!!

Attempting Christmas Photos

A few weeks ago, I attempted to take some Christmas pictures of Zech. Well it failed miserably!! He was not too happy and wanted no part of pictures. We also tried to take him to see Santa and get a nice picture with Santa. That too failed miserably and he screamed like he has never screamed before. He is really afraid of masks and mascots. I think that we will try again, but one of us will have to sit in the picture with him.

Here are a few pictures that we got!

Sydney

We headed to Sydney on Friday and by the time we got organized, we left a little later than we wanted! :o) It is a long trip--about 12 hours by car. Poor Zech ended up getting sick and we had to stop a couple of times to clean up. Goat milk is not a pleasant smell! We arrived late and went straight to bed.

SATURDAY

On Saturday we had a small luncheon to remember John's Grandma. It was nice and we got to meet a few more of John's relatives. We were still really tired. John and Zech went for a nap and I went on a walk with John's parents. They showed me a bit of the neighbourhood, which was nice.

SUNDAY

We went exploring. We went to Penrith (a suburb of Sydney) and caught the fast cat ferry right into the Sydney Harbour. It was really neat and a beautiful day for a ferry ride. From Sydney Harbour we caught a ferry to Manly Beach and spent some time walking around and playing in the water.

The famous "Coat Hanger" Bridge.

The Opera House

Some old building down by the Harbour (I thought it was so nice and festive)

The Boys and the Aboriginals. They were playing the Dedridoo--pretty neat!

A prison right in the middle of the Harbour.

Exploring Manly Beach and area.

Manly Beach - the only semi-nice day we had in Sydney!

MONDAY

On Monday John's Mom took us around to show us her old stompin' grounds. We went to the first place that she lived in Peakhurst. It was really neat to here her tell us about all of the people and shops that used to be there. It has completely changed, it is almost like an industrial area now. Her old place was situated on a large corner lot, and it was bought out by a Gas Station. The house was moved across the street and we think it was the same house, with a few reno's.


After she took us to her old elementary school just up the hill. It was still the same school and it is still being used today.


Next, we went to the beach where John's Mom used to go as a little girl. The name of the beach was Cronulla. It was a lovely little beach.


Finally, we went to the second house that Ann (my mother -in-law) moved and lived in. It was in a really nice area called Baulkham Hills. The house was completely redone, and looks quite lovely.





It was a really nice day and we really learned a lot about Ann's child hood. I think that she was really happy to show us around too.

TUESDAY

We relaxed and went to a couple of malls around the area. We also packed up and got ready to leave the next morning.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday morning was the viewing, so all went down to the Funeral home. I stayed in the car with Zech, but John and his parents went and his AUnt. It was pretty hard for them, as the viewings always are. It never does look like your loved one and it is hard to see them like that--I guess it does bring closure though.

After the viewing we started heading back home. John's parents decided to come back up with us. They were originally going to fly or bus up closer to Christmas time, but everything was booked up or super expensive. So we said that we would stay a few extra days in Sydney so that we could drive his parents back up with us. We stayed the night in Coffs Harbour, a beautiful little town on the beach and then we headed home on Thursday.

THURSDAY

We finally had nice weather. It rained and rained in Sydney and it was really cold. We were not prepared for the cooler temperatures in Sydney, which is really unusual for this time of year. So we had a nice trip back and we actually dropped John's parents off in Surfer's Paradise so that we could go home and clean up before we showed them our place. We left it in a hurry and it was a bit of a disaster. So we cleaned up and then went and picked them up.


Now we are all back home and enjoying the beautiful sunshine and the heat. It keeps getting hotter and hotter and it will get a lot more humid.

The Buzz

We finally decided to give Zech's hair a little buzz. The last couple of times, John and I have trimmed Zech's hair ourselves---not too successfully! We were in the mall on Thursday before we left to Sydney and we decided it was time to give his hair a buzz. It is really hot here and the poor little guy has been sweating like crazy. He would wake up and his hair would be soaked. So we took him in and he was buzzed. He did pretty good, was a little scared of the razor, but he got a balloon so that kept him busy. They spiked it all nice when we left, but I didn't get a picture of it. I think it looks so cute and it is so much cooler for him!

Sad but Happy times....

We are sad to tell you that John's Grandma passed away on Sunday. We knew it was coming for a while now, but she was one tough lady. We did take a trip down to Sydney to visit her in the hospital. It was the first time John had seen her in over 16 years. She was pretty out of it, but John does have a great sense of humour and asked her to come surfing with him when she was out of the hospital---she thought that was pretty funny. Zech also really seemed to brighten her day, she kept looking at him, trying to smile and wanted to touch him. I am glad that we did have the opportunity to see her before she passed, even though John didn't know her that well, I think it is so important to keep your family close and dear as you never know when it is their time.

John's Mom was really happy that we went to see her and so was John's Aunt. I think it meant a lot to both of them. So this is the sad news......

The good news is that John's parents are on a plane as we speak. Of course please keep Ann (my mother-in-law) and her sister Gab in your prayers. I know it is a difficult time for them and my thoughts and prayers are with them. We will be attending the service sometime soon. We are really excited though to have John's parents here for Christmas. They will be in Australia for 2 months. They will be in Sydney first of course to handle all of the funeral arrangements, etc. Then they will be staying with us for the rest of the time. I think that I am the one that is really excited----I do feel lonely and it will be so nice to have some familiar faces with us for a while. Plus, maybe John and I can get a date night or two and my mother-in-law is an amazing cook, so maybe she will help me get some Christmas baking done.