Pause script?

Hi. I have some actionscript for a button to do several things. Here is the function:

function homeAboutClick() {
_root.home.gotoAndPlay (“clear_home”);
_root.nav.gotoAndPlay (“go_main”);
_root.al_text.load (“text1”);
_root.al_content.load (“about_mc”);
}

The problem is that in order to execute the load actions it has to gotoAndPlay (“clear_home”); and play about 40 frames before the al_text and al_content are available to have anything loaded into them. In other words, the script tells it to load something before the “container” is on the timeline/stage. Any suggestions as how to remedy this? My instinct is to somehow tell the script to pause before completing the last two commands, but I’m open to other suggestions. Thanks!
dawn