Thursday, February 12, 2015

Orphanage School Expansion

Hi All,

If you've ever read our blog you'll know how much the Indian Orphanage means to us. They have a new IndieGoGo campaign running to expand their school. We're supporting them with this and we'd like you to consider it too! 

A New Year Update

It’s been over a year since our last update so we thought we'd better fill you in on our lives:

2013
In mid-October 2013, we moved in with Jeremy for a few weeks, Miriam stated working and Brad decided to get some extra qualifications under his belt.  In November, we picked up a car for our East Coast trip (quite a novelty after 4 years without one), and moved into Tony’s room while he spent 2 months on an Australian road-trip. 2013 came to a crashing end with Brad’s mum (Margaret) suddenly and unexpectedly passing away just after Christmas.  

2014
After spending January 2014 in Mt Gambier, we decided to put our East Coast trip on hold to spend more time supporting family. Coming back from Mt G and with no place to live or jobs to go to, we pitched our tent at Christies Beach, bought a kayak and looked for a coastal rental.  

Miriam started another role in February, so we re-pitched out tent at West Beach, whilst Brad studied, applied for jobs, kayaked and bailed out our tent during some crazy weather.  

Fortunately, our tenants move out of our city apartment early, so we moved back in mid-February, deciding to leave our coastal living for later down the track.  A second kayak was bought.


In March, Brad started a permanent IT role and Miriam was offered an admin contract with her old company.  We both took on a health and fitness challenge, 3 months without alcohol, healthy eating, running 3 times per week, meeting our weight goals by end of May. In June, Miriam commenced working in the same role she had prior to the Europe trip.  We entered a number of running events, including the City to Bay (12km) and McLaren Vale Half Marathon (Miriam 10km, Brad 21km). 

One of our favourite things of 2014 was news that the girls hostel at the Indian Orphanage was completed. We had provided the funds for this in our 2011-2012 Projects (bottom of a long post) and we were happy to see the smiles on the recipients faces.