Moving in!

Here we are (most of us anyway) last Friday evening when we were preparing to move into the new house. We had just taken settlement and spend the (rainy) evening unpacking glasses boxes and enjoying pizza with mum and dad and our new neighbours (and great friends) Wal and Steph and their girls. Rachel, Cooper and Ty visited earlier with a lovely bunch of flowers from their garden and some choccies and Tim stopped off later on the way back from work. We couldn't believe that we'd actually got to our settlement date and that we were going to actually move in the next day! 

One of my favourite memories of this night was having everyone together. And earlier, before anyone else came, Tobes and I took some quiet time to sit on the floor of the room that is now our bedroom to pray over the house and to thank God for what he had done in allowing us to have it, and to sell our other place. We dedicated this new place to Him and asked Him to use it as He will, for His glory. 

        

 The following day was very full on! We awoke bright and early and spent the day carting boxes and furniture across town in our upgraded truck (thank you for a brother with a truck licence!) with the help of some wonderful family and friends- mum and dad, Tim (super driver), Rachel (organising queen!), Cooper (pocket rocket!), Graeme and Rach, Mat, Steve and Jack. Wal and Steph lent a hand when they could and were an amazing help. Mary and Phil popped in later in the night for a cuppa- phew. It was so lovely to have everyone there to celebrate and help us. And in the last week I've had coffees with many girlfriends here after work. So lovely. A BIG sleep was had that night and we continue to unpack.

Photos of the afters to come! :)

The sound of Summer

It has arrived. Summer has hit with warm, humid weather and all of the associated sounds.
Last night I heard cicadas chirping as I left for the staff Christmas party.
The mosquitoes were buzzing as we played lawn bowls into the night.
Tonight I hear the gentle hum of air conditioners in the surrounding homes.

This new house is great. I do loads of washing and hang them out on the veranda and they're dry in no time.
Today was a busy one. Tobes and I headed to the shopping centre at 9am (thinking that we'd beat the crowds- we didn't), but we were successful in grabbing the last tree (that we had chosen) from Big W. BARGAIN I tell you. It was $28 at full price (the others were upward from $78) and there is NOTHING wrong with it! The tree is taller than me, nice and bushy and covered in decorations that remind me of Christmas' past. It's covered with vintage and homemade goodies and clear fairy lights. I love it!
Again... more promises of photos to come.

We had our second last clean up of the old place this afternoon and will return for the final time tomorrow.  We spent a good hour chatting with our old neighbour too which was lovely. He was so helpful and supportive of me, especially back in my single days. Thank you God for Steve. :)

We're settling in well to our new home. Just need to get the computer up and running properly and I'll be back to normal blogging. But for now it's bed time and an attempt to sleep in this heat.  
 

I'm back!

Why hello everyone! Here I am on the other side of the move. It's been a pretty busy and exhausting week, but we've made it and this new house is beginning to feel like a home. It's a beautiful place and we really love it. It still amazes me how large it feels! It's a medium sized family home with one large living area at the back, but it's SO much bigger than what we're used to in our little unit! We are loving the differences like having a back area large enough to fit armchairs and couches and clothes airers and an ironing board... with lots of room to still move! :)  Brilliant! Photos of the moving process will come soon, but I wanted to share what I discovered upon returning home tonight.

Before today, the entire wall was covered with ivy! We've had the most amazing stormy downpours this week and tropical, humid weather. The strength of the rain and the weight of it brought down our ivy. Toby's already gotten rid of it. Now to decide what to replace it with! :)

Be back soon with the house update!

Settled

Here we are this afternoon at the house. I'll post more pics later this week. No Internet at the new place for a while. We move tomorrow so this is our last night here. Sweet dreams!

Think on these things

Last night at bible study we studied this passage. It's very timely for me. How good to be reminded of the praiseworthy, the lovely, the admirable, pure and holy in our everyday lives, even... Especially when the times are hard.

Phillipians 4:4-9
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Settlement on our new home is tomorrow and I have mixed emotions. We will start moving in a few boxes tomorrow night and sleep there on Saturday night. I am so excited to move in and be settled, but oh, there is also the part that cries for this little home of mine. In reflecting earlier I thanked God for the blessings that make leaving here so sad. And I pray for new memories to be made in our new home too.

I am certainly the emotional one in our family with Tobes and I. I connect to people and places strongly and find change unconfortable when I'm in it. I'm looking ahead to see what will happen in this next chapter of our lives.
And you will be able to read about something other than house moving soon too... I'm sorry. I feel some scrapbooking coming on! :) Thankyou for hanging in here with me through this time. I really appreciate it. xoxo

This. Is. Happening.

And so I'm going to enjoy one of my last few breakfast times sitting out on the back deck in the warm morning sun, blogging this.



Taking deep breaths. Trying not to get overwhelmed by the move and more so, by the leaving.

In a wee meltdown last night, Tobes reminded me that in however many years I'm going to be crying about leaving our new house when moving into the next place. He's right! I say we renovate rather than move!!!

We're going to have our final inspection of the new place tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing it again and reconnecting. The weather forecast for the week isn't encouraging- thunder and lightning storms on the way! :)

All is well!

Things we love about our home

When Tobes and I began the process of selling our home, the agents asked 

us to put together a list of things that we love about living here. This is the 

list that we put together. it is by no means exhaustive, but it captures the 

heart of what we love and what we will miss. I cried when I wrote this 

several months ago, and the reality that this is the home we are leaving very 

soon is beginning to set in. 

This was my first home. It was mine. It was what I bought to show God that 

I was willing to move on and accept being single if that's what He wanted. 

It's where my family and friends came together to paint and to garden. It's 

where Kat and I lived and where many friends hung out. It was a safe and 

happy and fun place.

It was where I started my garden, and watched it grow (a lot!).

This is the place where Tobes and I spent most of our courtship- playing 

backgammon, watching TV, snuggling on the couch. It is also the place 

where we shared our first kiss. And the place where he proposed to me.

It's where we returned to after our honeymoon and where we've spent hours 

talking and dreaming and planning together.

Things that we love about our home...

• ·        The quietness.
• ·        The view through the back window—watching the seasons change and the many native birds in the gums.
• ·        Walks and bike rides along the trail, stopping to watch the ducks.
• ·        Our fantastic, friendly neighbours (who bring in our bins!).
• ·        Walking up to the shops for a coffee or to pick up a few groceries.
• ·        Lazy weekend meals on the back deck.
• ·        Picking beautiful smelling roses from the front garden.
• ·        Wonderful restaurants only a short walk away.
• ·        Relaxing out the back—chatting with friends while cooking!
• ·        The way the morning sun comes into the kitchen and bathroom.
• ·        Entertaining—enjoying the open living area and spilling out onto the deck.
• ·        The convenient location- close to shops, schools and the Freeway.
• ·        Turing the central heating on in winter and having the house toasty warm in just a few minutes.
• ·        The many very special memories.
• ·        We will really miss it and hope that the next owner will love it as much as we do.
• 
  

We really will miss this place. 
Will move on Saturday... that's 6 sleeps! Wow!