The Party That Never Quits

Again.

But this time? This time it's into our own place.

It's not built yet,but it will be by our time here is up. It's been such a wonderful story of God's grace and provision.

We have purchased a 1.8 acre block of land in a highly desirable area of town, that would normally sell for twice what we paid for it.  We first noticed it about 3 years ago. It sat on the website for all that time. We kept our eye on it, because for some reason, it spoke to us. Well, mostly it said "you'll never afford me, but dream away", but that's neither here nor there.

About a month ago, Adam and I applied for a home loan. We were told we had too many children. No lie. Those exact words. Nothing wrong with our financials... just that we have too many children for them to give us any sort of money that would help. Apparently, we feed them caviar and dress them in Armani.

So, my mother decides to go see if she can get some money on top of her mortgage. She can.

So, after a little back and forth negotiating on the block of land we had been so drawn to, our (mum's) offer was accepted.  Settlement is in a month. We are currently designing a house to be built in part, but enough for us to live in, by December.

The best part? Always wanting to know we were doing what the Lord wants, mum prayed for a sign that, yes, this was the right path to be going down. The next time she called the realtor for the land he told her, quite offhandedly, that as soon as he had hung up from her confirming that the owner had accepted her bid, three people rang enquiring about that particular block. After not one single bite for the entire three years it was on the market.

So. We have us our own little patch to set down some roots. While it might not be in our name yet, we are so very grateful to my mother, and to the Lord of course, for blessing us in this way. The way the market is, and with, you now, so many children, there was no way, bar a huge lottery win, that we were ever going to be able to purchase a home. We knew it would happen; we had prophesies telling us so, so we know this is totally God. I may go and hunt them down tonight, and have another listen to it, to remind me of how God goes before us in all matters of our life.

After it was all done and dusted, I was reminded of the first part of a verse in Proverbs that friends of ours pointed out to us about 2 years ago. We were talking with them about our desire for our own home, and how so far out of reach and reality it seemed for us.  They shared that they too were unsure of how to purchase a house, when they started to stand on this verse regarding it.

Houses and wealth are inherited from parents ....(Proverbs 19:14a) 

God is good and faithful :)

When we knew we had to start looking for a house, we knew we needed at a minimum, 4 bedrooms. Troy does not share well, and he needs a place where he can go and chill out and calm down before facing the world again.

We had a word from a visiting prophet back in June that the lord would provide a house for us that was exactly what we needed.

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but I can't be bothered to go and find it.

Anyways, we wrote a list for what we would like in a house. Nothing really extravagant, really, considering we are going to have something like 5 teenagers at any one time, and teenagers invariably come with friends.

The house that we have been approved for to move to for the next year checks enough of the boxes for us to know that this is good for now, but not enough for us to be convinced that the house is still to eventuate.

I found the list in my prayer journal while I was tidying (!!) up today, while I was packing, and I thought I might post it here.

Again, I think I said I'd do this.

So. We prayed, in faith, for:

* 5-6 bedrooms (for office/guest room & a music room also) X It has 4
* A big yard or block a 4 acres is plenty big enough :)
* Shed/man cave a It's a three car garage
* Separate lounge/family room X But the master bedroom is big enough to have a small sitting room
* Be close enough for on call. a Just.
* A large, in ground pool a 8X4m
* Good neighbours with appropriate friends for kids - Not sure yet.
* Big, open plan kitchen a I can move the island bench around :)
* Airconditioning throughout a
* En suite a
* Private a we have 1 neighbour, and their house is a paddock away from ours. the next closest is the people across the road. Well, and the land lady, who lives in a flat on the property, but that doesn't count :)
* Girls and boys bathrooms X
* Entertainment area a Huge verandahs
* Formal dining X It's open plan... ie, living/dining/kitchen in one room
* No snakes or dingoes a & X They don't have dingoes, but they do have snakes that come for the chickens. Nothing prayer can't fix!
* Good climbing trees a
* Walk in robes a & X There is a walk in robe to the master. The kids don't have cupboards at all
* Walk in pantry X I was a little concerned about the lack of cupboard space in the kitchen
* Big laundry room X The laundry is situated outside on the verandah, which I hate.
* Storage a It has a loft! I was so stoked. It was a little thing that I wanted, but I didn't actually write down. God likes me a little bit :)
* Fully tiled a (I hate carpet up here. It makes everything so hot.

So, there it is. And out of 21 requests, with this house, we got 14 :)

I'm so thankful God hears us. At the moment, we are just crazy excited to be getting out of this wee place. We know this new place is just a stepping stone.

I just like that it's a big one ;)

We're moving.

Not any time greatly soon, we've been renting my mothers house while she's been in England these last two years, and she gets home in 2 months.

One could say both Adam and I like to be prepared.

Either that or we know how spectacularly we can procrastinate until we only have 4 days to pack up a house of 6 kids.

Needless to say, we've begun collecting boxes and as of last night, started putting things away.

We are loving it.

While we are incredibly grateful that we had mums place to move into, it has been the most trying two years as a family to date. Mum's house is.... small, to put it nicely.... and it has been really hard squeezing six children into a house built for three people.

Did I mention there's no back yard?

Anyway, we are so excited to move to a bigger home. One where we can have a bedroom. Sleeping on the lounge room floor was fun for about a week. One where I can send the kids outside to run off some steam.

One where their fighting isn't magnified by the closeness of the walls.

The hardest thing these last two years has been the noise. The relentless noise of cooped up kids with cabin fever. I am so looking forward to having my sanity back. There is nothing worse than constant bickering, screaming and wailing.

As a singer and generally all-round musical person, I am sensitive to noise. Being an INFP personality only compounds this. I was talking to a dear prayer warrior friend at church the other week and I told her that if it was a happy noise, I wouldn't mind the volume so much. But it's not happy noise. It's bad noise.

It's not just the kids either. While I'm feeling like every sound wave is ramming itself into the side of my head and I'm sick and tired of their constant at-each-other-ness and zero capabilities of working anything out on their own without shrieking at each other or physically fighting, I must be honest and admit that I add my own voice to the fray.

Cutting words.

Dismissive words.

Screaming.

Swearing.

Often simultaneously.

Children learn what they live.

I know I am incredibly undisciplined in this area. And though the Bible tells us that taming the tongue is impossible (James 3:8), I can tame my heart, or at least allow Jesus to do it for me. And in doing so, it will check my temper, and allow me to respond, rather than react, and at least bring the decibels down a little bit.

Adam and I really sat down a few months ago and tried to work out where our home life all went to pot in this regard.

The answer was so simple.

We moved from a house with a backyard bigger than the block this house is on now.

Our children need to run.

This was proven to such an extent I was nearly blinded by the shattering light bulb above my head, when we took the kids out to a friends property for a birthday party.

They did. not. stop. running.

We arrived there at 3:30. From the minute they were out of the car, they were gone. I didn't see them again. They didn't even come to eat.

This is a big deal.

I called them at seven to tell them it was time to go, thinking I'd need at least a half hour to get them gathered and in the car.

Five minutes later, they were all packed up in the car, not one whine or tear to be seen.

Huh!

Fancy that.

We also realised, Adam and I, that as two introverted parents, with predominately extroverted kids, we do not work well in close environments. We are all up in each others business too much.

There is no where to go and be alone.

The kids share rooms. We don't have one.

Sometimes, we need somewhere to go and have a time out. Sometimes, when Adam comes home, if he calls me, I'll sneak out the front, and when he arrives, we'll just sit in the car for 10 minutes before we brave the pit.

We are standing on Words given that God will provide us with a house. With space, so we can grow.

And that is a good noise.

"Home is not where you live, but where they understand you ."

~Christian Morganstern~

There was a couple of kids who fell in love. They got married. They had kids.

Lots of kids. Well, not lots as in Duggar lots, but 5 is considered 'gluttony for punishment' by most people who ask the loaded question.

In four more sleeps, this family of seven is moving. We've been in this house for 4 years now, and so we have amassed some considerable... stuff. I thought about keeping a running total on how many bags of stuff was given to the opportunity shop, and how many garbage bags were added to the landfill, but I gave up. Needless to say, we have entirely restocked a Red Cross Shop, just about, and added at least a million years to the decomposition process.

Oh yes. I have been harsh.

I've had to be. In an effort to cut down on costs (because we like to eat, it's a bad habit, I know), and also to help my mother out, because she's going to the UK for 2 years, we are moving our boisterous children out of a house that is starting to feel a little snug into a cottage half the size. And no backyard

*Pause for dramatic effect*

Wait... what's that sound? Oh, that's me in the corner, sucking my thumb and whimpering.

The good thing about mum's place is that it comes with oodles and oodles of built in closets, which is always a plus. The house we are in now has tiny wardrobes in the bedrooms and that is it. No linen cupboard, nadda. However, mums little abode has a kitchen with no pantry and only the under counter cupboards. But there are shelves on the wall, so all is not lost. Although Lilliput did call, they want their kitchen back.

It also gives me an excuse to purchase the buffet hutch I've had my eye on for about 6 moths. And baskets to keep all my food in on the shelves in an effort to keep the kids out of it long enough to actually cook with it.

Back on topic, we've been packing, or attempting to pack, for the last two months. After putting most of the stuff we are keeping into boxes, and then piling it all against the big wall in the lounge room, we're actually wondering why our house was always so messy... there really isn't that much stuff. Either a) all our stuff was on the floor at the same time, b) I've purged 25% of our house or c) I am a MEAN pack rat.

I'm thinking it's d) a combination of all of the above.

I'm on the home stretch now. All that's left are piles of miscellaneous things that we're keeping, but either don't have a category, or there's not enough of it to warrant it's own box. I'm loath to make a Miscellaneous Box, as in my experience (and I am very experienced at moving) misc. boxes are the ones that never get completely put away, but rather rummaged through from time to time, making a mess, until you are 11 years into a relationship and marriage *ahem* and you have stuff that you can't remember why you even remotely thought it was worthwhile keeping, let alone carting from one end of the country to another,

And no... hubby is not in that box.