DC to Darwin in 34 days.

What did it take us to get from DC to Darwin?  I'm so glad you asked :) 

34 days.

3 countries.  

16,417kms of flying (across four flights).

1 cancelled flight.   

15 pieces of luggage to lug through incredibly empty airports.  

4 people to wrangle getting our car to us across the Victorian border.

1 incredible dad who arranged a trailer, loaded up all our gear in Bairnsdale and packed and waterproofed it ready to go!

14 days mandatory hotel quarantine in Sydney.

1 break down on the side of the road.  

5 days driving (including a day of sitting around waiting for our car to be ready to go again).  

2 Australian state border crossings.

1 hit roo (sorry!).

10 more days quarantining in Alice Springs.  

17 coronavirus tests (all negative!).

2 more days driving (bringing our driving total to about 4600kms or 50 hours!). 

Unlimited number of plan changes.

Lots of time together as a family.

3 flexible and happy kids.

1 devoted and gracious husband.

1 God who took care of us at every turn.  

And so here we are, having safely arrived in Darwin.  What an adventure it has been!  We can only laugh and with grateful hearts look back at everything that happened and everything that we were protected from.  

Quarantine number 1: hotel in Sydney CBD, 14 days

Many have asked how our time in quarantine was and I can honestly say that it was an enjoyable time.  After recovering from jet lag we were able to get back into some good routines and get home schooling underway again - it was a very productive time really!  Our quarantine in Sydney included puzzles, opening a new Lego set we had bought specifically for this time, lots of Uno and Pop 'n' Hop (Trouble), reading, obstacle courses in the loungeroom, watching a spectacular thunderstorm from our balcony on the 25th floor and making puppets for the Shakespeare play we were studying (using the paper bags the daily bread rolls came in), and a viewing of Madagascar 1, 2 and 3.  The toughest part of this quarantine was the coronavirus tests, particularly for the kids who were not excused from the brain ticklers!

Quarantine number 2: hotel in Alice Springs, 10 days

Between quarantines we had a few days in NSW as 'free people' as we headed to the SA border and then gunned it to the NT.  During these few days we stopped by Kmart and bought a few extra bits and pieces for our second quarantine: a mini basketball and ring that we hung on the back of the door, some watercolours and canvases to get creative with, some magnetic car games for the long drives, a 500 piece puzzle to do together, a journal to put together a song book of our favourite church songs from DC etc. We were spoilt to have two ground floor adjoining rooms, each with a balcony to eat our meals outside, and a lovely view of the local gums, dry river bed and friendly birdlife.  With a bike path not far from the fence line we were also spoilt to have 'visits' through the fence from a certain Aunty and Uncle who were in Alice.  A highlight of this quarantine was probably our final evening where the five of us had a dance party on the balcony outside to some old John Mayer favourites and the Madagascar sound track! 

Where to from here?  We are settling back into Darwin life and have been working towards planting a church here.  It's great to be home and we are so thankful for the adventures we have had over the past year or so.  We'll take a break from our blog for now, but you are welcome to contact us in any number of other ways if you want to hear the latest news.  Bye for now and thanks for reading!

P.S.  There are a stack of fun photos here of our journey home: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WNryXvSVPce9BJJh8

 

Road trip around the South East

Well, here we are at the tail end of our American Adventure.  Tomorrow we have our first scheduled flight home and it's been an eventful final leg, but more of that at the end of this post.  For now, I'd love to share with you about the road trip we took last month.

As the internship finished up at the end of May, it was time for us to hit the road and explore the bottom right hand corner of the US.  Road tripping in the current circumstances certainly had its challenges in trying to avoid coronavirus as well as riots and a potential hurricane, but we are thankful to God for an enjoyable adventure and lots of quality time as a family with great friends.  The main focus of our trip was to catch each of the intern families in their home towns as well as some family, all the while enjoying the countryside as we passed through.  While things were mostly closed as we expected, we were able to find some beautiful natural treasures along the way.

Here's a summary of our 13 states over 3 weeks - I'll let the photos do most of the talking:


District of Columbia: Packed up our belongings, loaded up the rental car and hit the road.  First time the five of us had been in a car for 5 or so months!

Virginia: Visited Roanoke's version of the Hollywood sign: The Roanoke Star.  Sat by a hiking trail and read Pilgrim's Progress to the kids while looking out over the grassy hills.








North Carolina: Stayed in Charlotte.  Drove through the deserted city (as a result of the riots) and had delicious cheesy garlic knots and pizza for dinner.  Caught up with our friend Katie from DC and hung out with her family in Waxhaw.  Enjoyed the famous Southern BBQ.




South Carolina: Swam in Buford Dam and stained our faces with yummy cherries.  Noticed accents were starting to get thicker.

Georgia: Drove through downtown Atlanta where we observed the damage from the riots the nights before.  Kids played on a playground for the first time in months in an out-of-the-way town called Newman and had a blast getting soaked in the rain!

Alabama: Beautiful green, grassy hills.  Sang 'Sweet Home Alabama'.  Had our first Taco Bell.

Florida: Arrived in Pensacola to spend time with JR's cousin DJ and his fiancee Olivia.  Avoided a tropical storm (downgraded from a hurricane) and swam in some of Florida's gorgeous beaches.  Spent a day playing Monopoly.




Mississippi: Spent time with one of the intern families, the Oliveiras, and explored Jackson and its surrounds (including a trip to Tiago's old stomping ground, RTS).  Amazed by the number of churches on a single street!







Tennessee: Hung out with the Raders (intern family) in Memphis and attended our first church service in months due to Covid.  Drove through Nashville with our windows down listening to live country music all along the main street while eating Hattie B's hot fried chicken (JR caught up with a friend).  Spent some time in the Great Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, including a day at Over Gatlinburg theme park for the kiddies.


Arkansas: From Tennessee we crossed the Mississippi on a massive bridge to Arkansas while a train crossed beside us and a ferry passed beneath us, just to say we made it to Arkansas ;P








South Carolina (again):  Spent two nights in Charleston and checked out the local history, scenery and Cracker Barrel.  Drove to Rock Hill where we spent some time with another of the intern families, the Rosses.



Maryland: Arrived in Maryland and spent a few weeks hanging out with JR's family. Enjoyed 4th of July celebrations as a family and ate our first ever cotton candy grapes (they actually taste like cotton candy!)







West Virginia: Made a trip across the West Virginian border so that JR could sing the song (!) and explored a historic little town by the name of Harper's Ferry.





Pennsylvania: Took a day trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and learnt all about the civil war, Abraham Lincoln and the Gettysburg address.

And so here we are, back in DC.  The new apartments built on the church property were completed a week or so ago, so we've been really enjoying staying here for a little stint as we have sorted, packed and made plans.  We've had flight cancellations, route alterations (cancelled our trip to Florida for the wedding due to coronavirus complications) and a last minute coronavirus scare when a close friend tested positive, but we are incredibly thankful to be well and healthy and cleared to fly on Monday.  We trust that God is completely in control and so we embark on our trip home with peaceful hearts and no fear.  We have N95 masks ready to go, bags packed and hearts ready to return.

We hope to be posting our next blog from quarantine in Sydney before we make our return to Darwin.

Love from the Del Rosarios.

Follow this link for heaps of photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gxALYya1CHtpSDeQ6

DC from our window...

It's amazing how much you can still enjoy the outdoors from inside the comfort of your own home.  We've come to appreciate the breeze and rain by way of opening the window, the birds and squirrels by watching them play on the other side of the pane, God's expansive world and diversity of animal and plant life by way of the Planet Earth series, the design of our solar system through our study of astronomy, the sunrise and sunset with a view looking down opposite ends of the street and a closer intimacy with creatures all over the globe through some of the stories we've been reading.  All without leaving our apartment.





Here in DC we were issued with a stay-at-home order on April 1st and at this stage it is looking to continue until at least the beginning of June (just extended last week).  We are allowed outside to exercise and for trips to the supermarket and pharmacy and so the kids and I have been heading outdoors for a ride or walk most days and enjoying the beautiful Spring weather.  Spring in DC really is spectacular!  The streets are lined with flowering blossoms and filled with sweet fragrance and the warm weather has meant the kids have particularly been enjoying climbing trees and jumping in puddles.  As for Zai, his first question when we get outside is simply, "Can I run?"  We played hide-and-seek amongst the trees in National Mall a few days ago and Mia threw herself down in the lush green grass like she was flopping into a cushy bed while Eden remarked, "I feel like grass never existed since (before) this day!" 




On one of our family outdoor adventures we took a step back in time to explore the Dizon (JR's mum's) family history in DC.  For many years, JR's Lolo (grandfather, now in his 90s) made his living by running a hot dog stall in the DC metropolis.  The kids and I had done some research into the exact location of the stall and had worked with JR's family and the local libraries to uncover a couple of old newspaper articles in the Washington Post about it (link here if you're interested). And so, one Saturday morning, we jumped on our bikes and headed to downtown DC with a couple of old photographs to determine exactly which corner the stall had been on.  JR remembers getting hot dogs, Jolly Rancher candy and Mountain Dew from the stall when he was 9 years old and I don't think ever would have imagined walking the same streets decades later with his wife and children.  It was a fun way to explore some local family history.

We've also been having a lot of fun indoors being creative with our schooling and play and somehow we have more photos than ever to share with you.  You can check them out here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7MSPx5DR6UtpexP58 

Since our last blog post, our beautiful Mia Clarita turned 5 and we celebrated with her choice of American cereal: Lucky Charms (basically bright coloured sugar in the shape of unicorns), a delicious vanilla cake that we made and decorated together and yummy local pizza. 

Looking ahead... we have booked our return flights home to Australia on July 29th (arriving in Melbourne) and so the countdown is on to enjoy these final weeks in the US as best as we can.  JR has less than 2 weeks left of the internship and then we plan to visit some friends and family in the south of the US in June before enjoying our final 3-4 weeks in DC.  We'll finish off our American adventure with a family wedding in Florida before flying back to the homeland.  All of this is of course dependant upon restrictions and COVID-19 developments and ultimately the Lord's will. 



In these very different times where we are constantly reminded that we are not ultimately the ones in charge of our lives I have been learning to love the limitations of life, as the book of Ecclesiastes teaches us, and to treasure the gifts that we have been given each day.

Much love from the five of us xxxxx

These days...

Well, we didn't see that coming!  With the publishing of our previous post coronavirus was not really a 'thing' in the US yet.  Things changed very quickly.  Within a matter of days it had been labelled a 'global pandemic' and a 'national disaster' and DC was taking steps towards an inevitable lock down.  It was announced that all the Smithsonian museums, art galleries and the zoo would be closing as well as the Capitol Building, Washington Monument etc.  How thankful I was that we had visited a lot of the tourist attractions already and with only a day's notice on the closures we squeezed in a trip to the zoo - I knew the kids would be disappointed if we missed out on going there!  Earlier in the week we also attended a Shakespeare workshop for kids and visited the African American Museum, which were both great.

In a typical year DC attracts around 1.5 million tourists at this time to see the 3,750 cherry blossom trees surrounding the Tidal Basin.  We wanted to check them out for ourselves, so jumped on our bikes, kept a safe social distance from everyone and enjoyed a lovely picnic under the trees and then went back again a few days later to do the same.  They were lovely and very reminiscent of our days in Japan.

Obviously our experience here has changed dramatically as we are legally bound to stay at home now with the threat of fines or imprisonment, apart from those essential activities outlined by the government such as going to the supermarket, chemist etc.  In saying that, the kids and I have been enjoying our time together and have had lots of opportunities for schooling, cooking, creating, playing and building cubbies.  We've implemented a new aspect to our homeschooling week to help us distinguish between the days with Musical Monday (we bought some recorders - sorry neighbours!), Tinkering Tuesday (STEM), Wacky Wednesday (arty), Throw Together Thursday (cooking) and Fascinating Friday (nature discovery).  While there are of course times of challenge, we have overall been enjoying this unique opportunity together.  JR's internship has obviously been affected as well, particularly with the cancellation of some significant events that he was looking forward to.  Thankfully though, he is still able to read and write his papers and is making use of video calls for meetings where possible.  We have no fear and trust that God is in control.  It has been encouraging to see how the church members have supported each other during these times.




We have moved house again and have quickly settled into our new place with self-portraits, musical notation and Bible verses stuck up around the house and a collection of toys, books and puzzles generously loaned to us from church members.  The living area is filled with natural light and there is an enormous tree outside our window where we've been enjoying hearing the birds sing in the mornings and watching the squirrels and cardinals play.

I recognise many of you are struggling at the moment.  I pray that during this time, when it seems as though the world has stopped momentarily, each of us would take some time to pause and consider what is most important in this life and beyond.  I leave you with these beautiful words from a hymn, Christ our Hope in Life and Death, which we have been singing together as a family lately:

What is our hope in life and death?
Christ alone, Christ alone
What is our only confidence?
That our souls to Him belong

Who holds our days within His hand?
What comes, apart from His command?
And what will keep us to the end?
The love of Christ, in which we stand

O sing hallelujah!
Our hope springs eternal
O sing hallelujah!
Now and ever we confess
Christ our hope in life and death

Much love,
Robyn, JR, Eden, Mia and Zai.

You can find our latest PHOTOS here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cKpZYutYPZSAP5h28