Our little American

Posing with the flag!

Watch out world, I have my passport!

Being born in a foreign country does not guarantee citizenship.  Australia has strict immigration policies (after all we are boat people) and citizenship could only be awarded to Dylan after she celebrated her tenth birthday in Australia. We are happy with her being a plain old American but because everything requires paperwork,  our little Dylan was without country for the first few months while we got her papers in order and waited for our appointment.  Last week we visited the US Consulate in Brisbane to sign documents and complete her application for citizenship, social security and her passport.  She wore her patriotic colors for the occasion. 

Dylan Claire

The swinging bassinet Mark made

Just arrived

Going home

Cuddle with Daddy

 

Almost home 

Tiny Little Wonder

Baby girl Dylan Claire Haley, born Wednesday September 21, 2011 at 12:10pm in Brisbane, Australia.  6 lbs and 1 oz.  We are so pleased with the birth of our little treasure.  We are home from the hospital and all is well. xx Liz and Mark

Outback Dentist

We spent two weeks doing dentistry in two very remote aboriginal settlements.  We had the combination of a decrepit dental van with no xray capabilities and many patients who had literally not seen a dentist ever in their lives.  Sounds bleak, but we did have an enthusiastic team (Myself, Mark and Dental Nurse Linda) and a rockin' ipod.  We spent two weeks and saw about 100 patients.  Mark and Linda tried their best to get the people in these communities out of pain.  Hygiene and preventative dentistry does not factor in this time around as there was too much other work to do.  As I said in my last blog, it was an amazing adventure and cultural experience. 

the supply plane arrives from Alice Springs

this was our front door and porch, the communities were considered unsafe at night

the VAN!!

months of red dusk took hours to clean

getting sorted for our patients

how the community deals with rubbish

Linda and Richard

depressing playground

flouride treatment

Outback Australia

Back in June Mark and I spent two weeks in outback Australia.  Mark's dental office has a contract with the Australian National Health Service to do dentistry out of van in remote aboriginal settlements a few times a year.  When this offer came up, Mark did not think twice and was ready for the adventure.  At 25 weeks pregnant I had to think a bit about if I really wanted to be riding around on dirt roads in the middle of nowhere.  But then I looked at my husband with that excited twinkle in his eye and could not say no!  On a sunny Saturday morning we flew to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory to meet up with our new dental assistant Linda, and an outback Dr. who would give us the lay of the land.  For the next two weeks we would explore the outback landscape and get to know two different aboriginal communities.  I could write chapters on this experience and there is definitely a lot to say about Australia and it's treatment of indigenous populations but for now I will let all the photos speak for themselves.  An amazing experience but we were glad to be home.  This first blog will be dedicated to the landscapes of outback.  The second will focus on the communities and dentistry.

hiking in the bush

sunset at Uluru

supplies for two weeks

outback roads

our Outback-mobile

Linda (our fabulous Dental Nurse and new BFF) and Mark

Linda chases camels..

there are over 2 million wild camels in the Outback

and it seemed like just as many car corpses as camels

sunrise at Uluru

the climbing path on Uluru (Ayers Rock)

the path around Ayers Rock, 10 kilometers

The Olgas