Ocean Zone!!

The pictures are of the Terrigal Beach! Isn't it lovely. The color of the Ocean changes with the tides and the time of day.

Ocean Zone is an area that Arthur's Dad (from the Arthur! series) calls the Ocean with all it's tidal pools, animal life, surf, etc. Dave took Zoe and Tristan to an area here in Terrigal that they have now named "Ocean Zone". There's a rock pool, for swimming and wading. Very calm at the low tide. They were there at the high tide on Thursday. All said there were sea stars, anemones, small fishes and other sea life. There were some pools that were continuously refreshed by the ocean's swells. Truly amazing.

On Saturday, Dave took Clara (Zoe and Tristan) to the Ocean Zone. Neo and I went to another house viewing. While we were away, I received a call from Dave - "Do we have bandaids?" Zoe took a spill on the rocks at the Ocean Zone. When I got home, he showed me the Wisconsin t-shirt that he had shredded to wrap the wounds. She had a cut on her knee and foot. She's recovering nicely at this writing.

On Friday, I had my first "missing home" break down. I think the stress of living out of a suitcase in holiday accommodations for 4 weeks straight is wearing on me. I've also been under enormous pressure to find a rental before Christmas. We made several applications last week. Some we were told won't be available by Christmas. Others went to other applicants. It's been very challenging finding rentals that are available, getting in contact with the agent, finding my way to the viewing, completing the application if it's something that will work (they don't all work), then contacting the agent again to follow up on the status of the application.

In addition, I'm missing my good friends from Madison. I have a wonderful support system in Madison - which is not readily available to me - especially with continued limited internet access.

Last night (Saturday) we watched via live feed, a Christmas Carols presentation that was taking place in Sydney. It is an annual event in this area. Many stars sang beautiful Christmas carols to a live audience. During that time, Tristan broke down stating that he missed home too. I asked him what he missed and he said "his friends". He went to get the friendship bracelet he had received from his friend Henry and felt better. We talked about how important friends and family are.

Today is Sunday. I decided I was going to go to a church service. So I went to a local Evangelical Church. God knew I was there because the message was just for me. It was on Acts 27 1-20. Luke provides a detailed account of Paul's journey on a boat. That along the way, the boat had gotten off course because of the winds. The crew had held up in an island that couldn't provide the vessel protection from the winter storms. The calendar was against them - if they were lucky, they would receive favorable winds and make their destination. They end up in a storm that lasts for days, but arrive with their lives to their destination.

I feel very much like I'm sitting on the island that will not sustain us because the calendar is against us - we have to be out of this holiday rental on Saturday 27 December. We are looking for "favorable winds" - a permanent rental. But if not, we'll have to leave Terrigal for another location during the big holiday time. We are very much in the middle of our "storm". In short, the message was just what I needed to hear.

Monday we have some calls to make and homes to see. Hopefully, we'll have someplace to call home before Christmas! It will be a lovely gift!