...in mysterious ways...

Yup, He works like that sometimes. Let me tell you why.

If one has been employed by this particular organization for 10 years, one gets an extra month's leave ("furlough" it was, when mainly missionaries worked here and returned home for a month). Next year, I will have been here 10 years and need to fit in an extra month somewhere without disrupting the flow of work that falls under my care.

I've been toying with the idea of going over to Australia to see my dad sometime, as he has no family there and with mom gone by then will be all on his lonesome. Trouble is, tickets cost R10,000 or so each for my son and I to travel, and I wasn't sure exactly how I'd get that together, when I have to already find the equivalent amount for my son's education for 2006...

Until yesterday.

One of my colleagues has a family member working at an airline, who gets to take one person and their child to Australia twice a year, free of charge. She and her daughter were going to go, but she is handing that opportunity over to me and my son! All I have to do is cover the ticket from Perth to Sydney, around R5,000 for the both of us. That I can do!

And then I realized that my usual mid-year workload will be decreased next year - we've had a second-semester intake that required my attention up to now, but it won't be happening from next year onward. So I could actually do the June/July school-holidays thing without shirking my responsibility.

And, if we're flying in to Perth, then on to Sydney, we can stop in Perth to see a few friends (and perhaps bloggers!). And finally, if we're there for a whole month we can actually see some other parts of Australia too - like the Outback, which I'm DYING to get into, just for the experience. May even make it up to Cairns to see the Aussie farmer I spent 8 years in love with, and a good friend and her family too.

Having this much warning before we go will give me a chance to collect spending cash (and get in shape so I both feel and look good...one never knows who one may meet, after all! :) ). I'll have time to arrange pet care and time away, without rushing through it all.

I haven't said a word to my dad yet. I'm going to keep it a bit quiet until we can arrange everything and have a definite plan in place, then spring it on him! Unless, of course, he reads this... :)

Once again, God's done something unexpected, and wonderful, going beyond what I could have hoped for. Awesome.

::update::
Just talking to someone about this, they suggested we take the train from Perth to Sydney. Brilliant idea! We've flown over the country, but I'm dying to get to see it at ground-level. We'll have the time, and it may work out a lot cheaper than flying (still to be investigated!), AND give us the opportunity to meet fellow-travellers and see the scenery. Oh man, now I'm getting all excited and it's still many months away. :)