Update.

Hello friends,

This is just a quick update on what is going on with me and my visa.

I am kind of assuming that if you are reading this you know that I am trying to get a work visa so that I can move to Australia for two years to work at a camp. 

If you didn't know that, now you do! 

I got a job at a campsite in Australia last May/June and have been on a quest ever since to get a work visa so that I can actually go.

When I say I have been on a quest, what I more mean is that I have been waiting. Most of the work for the visa application needed to be done on my future employer's side of things. And there have just been a lot of hold ups and drawn out things that have helped to stall out the process. I completed most of my portion of the application in November. 

This whole process has sort of pushed my life into this weird limbo state. I don't really know what is going to happen or when it is going to happen so I have been forced into a perpetual "wait and see" sort of state. I was supposed to be moving there in September. At the beginning of the Fall especially, when I thought I was going any day, I was super hesitant to commit to things.  I would always think, "I'm going to be gone by then, so I shouldn't get involved." It led to a few months of weird detachment from most of what was going on around me. I would say I am still in that state a bit, but because of how long I have had to wait I have sort of been forced into doing more. I got to the point where I couldn't just sit back and not do anything anymore. I was going insane. I am still kind of in that weird limbo state, but I am trying to be more present in it. I am trying to do things. I am still not committing to things that are far away, but I am trying to fill my time doing productive things. 

I do think that God is leading me to Australia. Or at least I think He has been leading me thus far. I guess I don't know for sure that Australia is where He wants me to be. But I think it is. I am sure that this is some important lesson in patience and His timing. Some days I am better at waiting than others. Some days I am content. Some days I am frustrated. 

I have stayed out at camp since the summer. I have been working and helping out here on a sort of part-time basis as I am needed. Camp has been gracious enough to let me continue to live and work here while I wait. I am currently working as a part-time Volunteer Coordinator for them. It is actually kind of funny. I am learning so much in doing this role that I never really wanted to do. If I had been offered this job in the fall I probably would have said no. But as a result of everything that has happened, I am here doing it. I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. And I am better at it than I thought I would be. 

I have recently been told that my visa application has officially been submitted to the government. I don't know exactly when it was submitted. Sometime in the last few weeks. I have no idea how long it will take for them to process it and give me an answer. I have been told that they still might ask me for some additional information. They might ask me to get a medical and chest X-ray done (to prove I don't have tuberculosis or other diseases they don't want in their country). I am hoping that they don't though. I think that having to get that done will draw out and stall the process even more. So if you are the praying type, you could pray that my application is processed quickly and that I don't need to get the medical done. 

I am anxious to be done with the waiting. Even if I don't get the visa, I would just like to know. I will be okay either way, if I get it or if I don't. But it would be really nice to be past this waiting state and feel like I am actually making some progress in my life, either towards moving to Australia, or towards figuring out what to do instead. 

So there you have it. You are all updated and you know as much as I do about what is happening with my visa. 

So you can all stop asking me about it. 

(I am just kidding, I really don't mind when people ask me about it. It just seems easier to update everyone all at once).