We hit 3 months in Australia last week. If it takes us 1 year for every 3 we were away to feel settled (and that is the advice we’ve received!) we are 1/12 of the way. No doubt there will be more ups and downs but at the moment we’re mainly still basking in the afterglow of having made it to 8 weeks.

We’ve been here long enough to experience a change in season. It’s warmer on some days, and the blossoms are out. We even did a Daylight Savings.

We have all had our first haircuts in Australia. I guess we could have gone to a hairdresser here but we didn’t. Arthur still did them, as he has for the last 10 years. But it’s a milestone because we’ve done it here for the first time.

We are seeing our competence grow. We even found a toothpaste!

I have a bit more creativity. That mainly manifests in cooking. When it comes to writing or composing talks, my brain is still sludge.

We are finding ways to be kind to ourselves. One has been shopping at ALDI. It stocks 10% of the products of Coles and Woollies, which means you can still get most things but don’t have to choose between 8 brands of tomato sauce, you just get the one that’s there, and it’s pretty much the same as at the other two, except it’s cheaper.

As we do deputation, we are having the chance to tell again and again about the place we love and ministry we built into and people who are dear and a God who is good. There’s a saying that you should talk about something until you don’t need to talk about it anymore; we are getting that chance, but because we see a different church or group each week, the content is fresh to them so we don’t feel embarrassed that we’re repeating ourselves.

We are remembering things we don’t like about Australia, things that aren’t culture shock but also we’ve not had to deal with them for a while. Like Australia’s casual sexism. And Tall Poppy Syndrome.

We are acutely aware that these are Very Early Days. Even just the next 3 months will hopefully make a big difference. I couldn’t get our kids into the school dentist because Centrelink hasn’t processed our claim yet but maybe in 3 months time they will have! Hopefully in 3 months time we will also have some idea of what’s next in terms of work, housing, schooling, and church.

And, as we have been so many times over the last decade, we are extremely thankful for CMS. We are not in this alone: there is a small army of pastoral care, admin, counselling, and finance professionals at our disposal. And of course, there are the supporters: at one small group, one member quoted back to us something we said in our very first deputation 11 years ago, because that’s how long and how closely he has been journeying with us! There are many stories of that kind of faithfulness.

Categories: Written by Tamie

Tagged as: Home Assignment re-entry repatriation transition

Tamie Davis

Tamie Davis is an Aussie living in Tanzania, writing at meetjesusatuni.com.