BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          Ok so this week has proven to be quite a big week for our family.  Mick called it last Sunday night when he rubbed my back and reassuringly said, "Don't worry Brooke, I think this is going to be a big week for us."... Well my husband is a genious or he has supernatural powers or just simply... great faith...  Any of you who know me well know that I have eagerly and desperately been waiting on my partner visa to come through so that I could officially be allowed to stay here in Australia with the love of my life, my husband Mick... but also because without it my two daughters have been unable to attend school here, to make friends, to learn, and to continue to grow...  All three of us have therefore been waiting at home each day while Mick has been off at work, trying to pass the hours, learn something and not lose our minds.  In the end we have waited six long months, nine months altogether, if you count the summer vacation that had just ended before we left the states.  So nine months of noooo school... kids at home, reaching new levels of boredom that I didn't even know existed. 
           So this last week, as I sat at my computer and my girls bring the mail into me and I see the envelope from immigration, my heart skipped a beat.  I looked at it.  Could it be done?  Could my partner visa actually have been granted?  I certainly did not think so, the envelope was way too thin... Not to mention it just seemed completely impossible to me that it could finally be done... After all the past seven months had been what seemed like a never ending process of doctor visits, notarizing documents, phone calls, endless paperwork, and visits to the post office.  But sure enough it was!  I honestly didn't quite know what I was looking at... and the girls had left to go play, so they had no idea what had just come in the mail.  I texted Mick, he called me back, and I told him what it said... and yes! that's the one we had been waiting for.  I couldn't stop smiling all day.  Mick and I decided to tell all the girls that night, as they would all be together and we could make a bit of a celebration out of it.  So we bought a yummy cake, and wrapped up the girls' school uniforms (which we had already purchased back in November) with a note telling them that they were finally able to go to school!

The girls all posing with the cake before they found out the good news.



Lucy and Esther's reaction...

          So the next day, which was a Thursday we set an appointment to meet with the school principal after we picked up Mick from work.  This time we went into his office prepared with our visas in hand... It was such a great feeling.  The girls were so excited and the pricipal had fun teasing them and getting them all set up with which grade they should be in etc.  In the end we agreed with the principal that putting the girls in with their appropriate age group was the best, and so surprisingly enough, that means Lucy is now in 5th grade even though she had just began 4th grade in the states.  And Esther is in 2nd grade, the same grade she had began in the states.  With both of them being out of school for so long Mick and I and their principal will see how they do in these grades and adjust if it's needed.  Either way, they were pretty excited. 
           Originally, the principal said he would need them to wait until Monday to start school so that he would be able to give the teachers time to prepare for another student etc...  But as the meeting progressed and he could see how excited they were he eventually said... "you know what... just let them start tomorrow..." screams of joy ensued...
           I am very excited and happy with the school they are going to attend, the principal was more than helpful and after spending an hour talking with us, he then took us and the girls on a tour around the school.  It was perfect.

Esther in her new classroom

A big map of Australia in Esther's classroom

Lucy in her classroom, by some paintings of surfboards and sand... Ah so Australian...

Another view of Lucy's classroom

Esther sitting in the computer lab

The hugemongous new gym they just built!  What a beaut!



At our Celebration Dinner, yummy Thai Food!

                   The next morning the girls where up and more than ready for their first day of school!  When I went to pick them up they came running down the side walk full of happiness.  Lucy said it was one of the best days of her life... and Esther said, "It's good to be back."

Getting their lunch boxes ready and eating some breakfast

All ready to go!!!!!!!!!!!