New Pet for the Petersons!

It looks like we get to bring another memory from Australia home with us! When Sarah and I were in Cairns up by the Great Barrier Reef, we went to a koala park where we met Tyra. She was a sweet koala who seemed to take a liking to Sarah.

She had a pretty amazing story. She was caught in the middle of a local wildfire back in 2009, but some firefighters found her and nursed her back to health. She's doing great now; well enough, in fact, that the Australian government has put her up for a form of international adoption. The government was running a sweepstakes to raise awareness about koalas, and the winner gets to take her home to their home country.

Sarah and I put our names in sort of as a joke, but we couldn't believe it when we got a call from Australia over the weekend. They said we've been selected out of the thousands of applicants they had! They'll be sending her to us in a couple of months, once we get all the customs forms taken care of. And it looks like it shouldn't be too much work taking care of her anyways. We just need to put up some eucalyptus branches in our spare room. She'll sleep twenty hours a day anyway.

We're so excited to have our very own koala! The Australian government tells us in time we may be able to display her at public events, and train her to go on walks and maybe even ride a tiny tricycle they'll be sending along with her. Plus, they say we may even be able to train her to do simple chores around the house, like our very own little koala butler. We'll be sure to keep you guys posted!!!