Blame it on the Rain, Yeah Yeah...

Today is Day 26. It is pouring down rain and the coast feels very VERY wet and dismal.

I have a strong feeling that it will be impossible for any sort of slab construction work to be done this week. Even with a pump - how can they pump out water from the hole/plumbing areas while it simply fills up again from the rain?

We had a rental inspection this morning. It went well for such an event but I simply cannot wait to be once again dwelling in a house that is ours - minus such intrusions as 'rental inspections'... I find them very stressful and always struggle emotionally with the concept of someone "checking up on me"... We have never had a bad report from a rental house but it is the concept that I really really dislike... 

The other stress inducing activity this week has been digging out the winter clothes for the family.  Due to the fact that we were supposed to be in the new house by winter - I had happily packed away the warm clothing... in the garage... where it is so full to find things in its depths requires a stiff drink :)

So a huge accomplishment / feat - deserving of an award - is getting out and ready the winter clothing...  Not only do the kids no longer fit half the clothes (mammoth sorting ordeal), but I needed to re-wash every single item due to the dustmite allergies.

So for the past several days, my house has been full of damp, winter clothing that refuse to dry because of the wet weather... (note -  I have no clothesline in this rental unit - our patio suffices usually but the constant rain even prevents that option this time).  We have had to squeeze around multiple hanging racks to eat meals at the small dinner table... I have repacked, resorted the lone cupboard (for three kids) so that clothing will fit inside it - and still have further items to sumhow find room for (jumpers are sooo bulky compared to summer items)... I think I deserve a medal... or a degree... or something... please?!

Yes this week I am clearly struggling with STILL being in this unit... Especially when the original plan (if even was remotely stuck to) would have had us happily in our new home by now... With a dryer (oh I miss you precious dryer)...

I am still traumatized by the ordeal of a "supposed few weeks to get through council that became a torturous 4 months"... This further delay onsite is causing flashbacks now to that earlier struggle that I have obviously not yet worked through or found peace with....  I am calling it "waiting trauma" - where seemingly endless, painfully slow days become weeks... that then blend together and became months and months... hmmm.... I am not ready yet to tell that story... That will be another post...

I suspect I will need some sort of therapy when this is all over? I must make a mental note to allow myself to 'debrief', and acknowledge the pain of this process / fall apart even - when we finally reach our destination... our new home... Just so I can then move on with enjoying it properly...

Sounds dramatic I know... It certainly feels this way today... Just being honest...

Thanks for reading (and for all you who are supporting us - it makes a difference to this journey to have you there :)  Please comment if you can... It encourages me to know that you've visited... staying tuned in... Maybe its just my ego...  hmmm... no pressure :)

Maybe I'll get my funny man to share a light fun story from our adventure next post, to contrast this one... Stay tuned for a laugh or two  :)

I hope to have some good news to share sooner than later :)Until then, PEACE.... yes even in the midst of rain, storms and life :)))

Waiting... on the weather

I visited the land yesterday (DAY 19) and while at first glance the block of land looked dry... Within several steps it became obvious that it was otherwise... The photos can tell the story:

The irony was when I looked up (after shaking off the mud covered shoe) there was the most beautiful blue sky... Amazing colour blue with the most gorgeous white fluffy clouds...

This morning I had the weekly Wednesday phone call with our Site Supervisor.  Yes - its a further delay until next week at least. If it rains on the weekend, the contractor will bring in a pump to get rid of the large pooling of water (as seen in the photos)... Apparently that's not happening this week as it might rain on the weekend or something...  Then next week, we will find out if  the land is sufficiently dry to continue work....

If only they could just get the slab done!

Who would have thought that 20 days ago when they first cut the land that it would take this long to get the slab down... Its going to be likely more than a month after the first land cut before the slab is even in place :(   

Building = great capacity for patience

My lesson to aquire this virtue continues....

Rain Rain Stay Away... Construction Men Come & Play...

It is Day 18 - The weather the past several days has been all clear YAY! 

Today, however, we are expecting some light showers mid morning :(  And tomorrows forcast is for showers in the afternoon.... Will this impact on the site works??? We don't know... I really really hope slab construction will keep moving this week... Oh pleeeease....

To share one increasing struggle - our kids are having trouble to get enough sleep due to the "fun" adventure that is 3 sharing a room :P  (see pic of triple bunked beds - I still can't believe they all fit in that small room!)

My 7 yr old son tried to get up at 3am the other morning... and came in to me asking if he "could get up now?" I mumbled "what time is it?" His reply - "5.30am" so I said "ok" and rolled over... It was only when my husband woke up enough to look at the clock - that he realised the 3am reality.... hmmmm so we had an interesting time telling the boy that he needed to sleep for at least 2 more hours.. (oh pleeeeease!).... The "conversation" woke everyone else in the vicinity (so sorry to the other unit dwellers in our block!)...

Needless to say, our other two children are often extra tired due to the boy's waking habits... I mean when he is asleep, he's fast asleep... but when he is awake, he is rarely "quietly awake" hehe... so full of life! We love him!  and yes he is also very tired.... sigh...

Here is thus an example of our strong reasons to need some sort of decent space / rooms to help with adequate sleep for all :)))  Yes, a new house is a luxury - but a separate room for the boy - this is becoming like a survival need (lol - I know that sounds more dramatic than it probably is - I feel that way right now).... I want to target some stratergies for the boy's sleeping habits without the other two getting affected also...
Add these logical reasons to my emotional impatience for our new home... and you have one "eager to be in the new place" woman!


So... pleeeease rain rain stay away.... 
and construction men come and play... 
(yes am reduced to begging while blogging haha)

On a colourful note - here is a photo of one of the many amazing sunsets we see from our unit's patio... Nature's beauty keeps me in awe and just that little bit more sane during this building process!


Yes the dark clouds are the ones responsible for the week(+) delay... but they are amazing to look at :)))  What a paintbrush the creator has.... Cheers

Day 14 - wet ground causes a week delay!

Yesterday (Day 13) we got the weekly contact call from our Site Supervisor (SS).  My paraphrase of his information to me follows:

When the guys went to work on site (concreting preparation etc) they found the ground was too wet to bring machines on to the land or do the work... All due to the lovely downpour of rain we had received the afternoon before. So the guy said he was not going to come back until  Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to try again. This would give it enough time to dry out (IF we didn't get more heavy rain in the meantime).

So our SS said to the guy 'I don't care if you have other jobs on - come back and do this job first!'

Hopefully this actually happens... Nevertheless, its was nice to hear our SS placing emphasis on getting our place done sooner than later!

So basically no more action on site until next Tuesday (hopefully not later than that).

I'm trying to take this in my stride and be positive... We've waited soooooo long for the construction process to start - one week will not hurt us... And besides, its due to rain, (one of my favourite things in the world) so I can't be grumpy at rain... I just hope it decides to keep its activities to being lightly refreshing rather than huge downpours over the next week...  Thats my prayer :))) But I also surrender to this as something that is completely out of my control.... (can you sense my impatience and my mental attempts to keep it in check haha)

I will aim to post some 'backstories' in the meantime, to keep myself busy :)

Oh - and just so you know - I have added a SANCTUARY QUOTE from Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events at the very bottom of my blog page... I love this movie... and its message of "making a sanctuary together" has always stayed with me...

Cheers :)

Day 12 - slab mesh delivered to site

I have decided to number the days since our block of land was cut - an numbering of days of construction... Beginning when preparation and work began on our site (when the land was cut on 30th April) .  And as the title says - Tuesday 11th May 2010 is officially "Day 12".

Today we saw a bundle of items, including lots of steel mesh, delivered to our site... I assume they are all for the laying down of the concrete slab.

This time I visited our land after school so the kids got to see for themselves that changes were actually happening.  (All three kids in one very small room = lots of "oh when is our house going to be built Mum?")  They were thrilled to walk around the block and see where their individual rooms may be...


The ground was much less muddy as the today had been full of lovely sunshine. However, within 10 mins of our leaving the rain began to pour down. It was quite a storm that hit the area (very large raindrops :) so I expect that would re-saturated the ground once again... ahhh autumn weather on the coast :)

Here are the other photos from today... 

and my favourite photo of the longs lines of the steel mesh...

Oh and today we were sent an email saying we can now call Energex about connecting power to our block! So one utility is on its way to being officially connected in our name :)))

Slab Preparation has finally Begun!!!

So it finally happened - Driving towards our block of land today and for the first time ever we saw construction workers complete with a 'digger' (is this what they are called?) on site - yes working on our land! OMG I have to admit I was unsure if this would ever actually happen.... Horray!!!!!!

The day had been sunny but as we drove towards the estate, it began to rain... I was unsure how problematic this was for the workers but when I asked them, they shrugged it off as a little shower :)

Well it definitely made for muddy walking. I took off my shoes (it was muddy enough to maybe lose a shoe) and walked bare feet out onto site... My excitement combined with the unusual feeling of squishy mud between my toes (too long since mud play as a kid :) This will forever create a lasting memory of today for me :)

No photo of the squishy toe mud (doh!) however here's the very convenient washing off in the rain water still running past in the gutter.  

The sand they brought onsite is obviously used in the process of laying the pipes...

This is looking from the back fence line / site corner. We think that the cluster of pipes in the lower right corner is for our ensuite :)  

We are so new to all this...

This gives a better overall picture from as near as I could get to the back fence (due to fill piled up at the back of the block).

Close ups of the trenches / pipes...

and more plumbing...

I was expecting more pegging and string but did see pink painted spots that obviously marked specific places on site...

Bottom line is - I am sooo happy to see a 'digger' on our land :)))

 

I have a definite appreciation for digger tracks in the squishy mud all over our block...

It means the slab preparation is underway :)

Thank You God!

During a chat, one of the guys told us he was booked to come back in two weeks - around the time the roof will be on!!! That sent me into a spin - is it possible? that after waiting months (and months and months and months) - that we may see a roof put on so soon?!!!  

:) Happy sigh :)

So, there's one more texture photo I thought I'd share with you all before signing off tonight 

(my friends might laugh at this).

It is a pile of bark I saw beside our 'future neighbours' driveway 

(T and M - can't wait to street party with you :)... 

The colour was so vibrant and rich - I couldn't resist a photo :) 

Isn't nature wonderful!  Enjoy :)

Waiting for Construction - Photos

The latest news on the construction of our new home, as told to me by our site supervisor: 
Tomorrow, Monday 10th May 2010, the concrete tradies (I have no idea what to call them?) are arriving to begin pegging out the block, then on Tuesday the plumbers are doing their bit etc...  Then the concrete slab should be happening by the following Tuesday (18th May).

So while waiting for all this to begin, I thought I'd post some photos I've taken at our block of land in the past month...

Its all about NEW BEGINNINGS :)

Standing Strong While Waiting

This is my son's stick that he (with help - thanks Opa :) placed approx where we thought his room might be.  Every visit to our block (many many times) over the numerous months we were waiting - we just had to check if "the stick" was still there...

I was always astounded that, no matter the storms or such, the stick was still standing (although getting knocked around)... I like to think this stick was a little like us - still standing in trust for the dream house ~ no matter the storms that rose up... (even though at times getting very knocked about)

Other photos:
My son... and looking from the back fence over the block of land...

My Favourite Tree!

I call it my lighthouse tree. I love its pale colour and how it stands tall and strong amongst the rest of the trees. It is approx in the middle of our back fence line. This tree is one reason why I loved this block of land :)

Due to all the rain, the grass grew quite long in places. 

I had to take a photo.... Such great long grass texture :)

The flowers at the fence line have also grown wild.

The wild flowers of course bring the butterflies... On one visit to the block of land, we saw so many butterflies we lost count... 

Mainly small yellow butterflies and the larger black and white butterflies...

I hope they hang around after the house is built.

We'll wait and see...
Waiting for our new home...
Hopefully complete with butterflies :)

Peace :)

Dare the Dream - Our SeaChange Whirlwind

If you are reading this - you are either a supportive family member, friend or curious visitor. Thanks for stopping by :)

Our journey has been quite a whirlwind... and though it seems cliche to talk of seachange (or treechange) I hope you find this blog interesting and as amazing as we did experiencing it all unfold...hmmm - Where to begin?

How did we get here?

This is the question...

At the beginning of 2009, if anyone had told me that we would selling our house in Brisbane suburbia and relocating to the beautiful Australian coast - well I wouldn't have believed them.
There were too many reasons why this was not our path...
We were well settled into the suburb-scape with the kids at a really really great school, juggled health issues (please no extra stress!), our favourite shops nearby and our own house we fought hard for. We also had a very full community of friends and family all around us.... Why would we move from this? No-matter what dreams niggled deep down inside us - 'rational' won out. Besides, I didn't think we were even allowed to have more than this (our lot in life)...

Sure we talked about retiring to the coast 'one day' - usually with the sigh of "wouldn't it be nice... one day"... But I totally believed that we needed to remain as we were until we had slogged it through life, the kids were older (moved out even?) and we 'deserved' to go for the dream of coastal living.... It had taken us ten years to even get the deposit to buy our first home in suburbia (that's another whole story). Surely we needed to be wise and hold onto this first home for several more years before we even thought of upgrading...

Then it happened... A whirlwind hit us...

and our path well and truly changed direction :)

It began via the growing awareness that we were headed for a crisis of sorts... An evolving conviction over a couple of months (built up over years to be honest) that we needed to 'fight for our family' and that how we were living wasn't cutting it...

There is that saying
"If you keep doing what you've always done - 
you get the same results"....
 

Well when we were brutally honest with our current results, our relationship as a couple, with our kids and as a family as a whole - it was lacking...
And this lack was building up in intensity... We were busy in our lives (doing good things of course) and made choices that meant our family consistently took 2nd place...

I had a sudden realisation that if we were at war - I would do absolutely anything to protect my family... I was, in essence, by my lack of action, allowing my family relationships to be battered... slowly but surely... If I desired to protect and place them first - where is the action that showed this??? In my busyness running around - many projects, tiredness, unproductive or unhealthy habits, ... oh and really, where was the 'quality time' that is so essential to building relationships in positive ways...

Our marriage, our children - were not just a task on the list or to be taken for granted... They are precious relationships to be protected, placed first and nutured mind, body and spirit... I believed this... but did I live this? Not very well...


So, one week in June 2009, J & I had a confronting conversation. I finally agreed to be open to other paths no-matter where they led - open to other opportunities that would allow us to put each other and our family first.... Even if it took me away from my comfort zone in Brisbane.


My first step was to escape from Brisbane for a weekend away with my man... no kids :) We took a breath of fresh air, reconnected with each other and explored the coast... We remembered how much we loved certain places on the coast... Our first kiss was here... soooo many fond precious memories... each holiday we tried to escape this area... We began to look around with new eyes...Began to dream 'What If ?'... What if we slowed our lifestyle down? What if we lived somewhere we were outdoor more... emmersed ourselves in nature... family activities together more... lived a healthier lifestyle? What if we were away from all the distractions that were currently in our life?

Looking around we remembered our dream to build our own place - and we began to ask about prices of land... Most were as expected and too expensive... Then we drove down a different street... Past a sign that said "DARE THE DREAM".... What an incredible motto we said!!! Then as we keep driving we see beautiful australian bush and flora/forna of an eco-friendly estate... Wow! We loved this place - it had a peaceful environment and so many trees, but surely its too expensive...
Well it doesn't hurt to look around we thought...

As it turned out, the land prices had just been lowered (bringing them to the upper edge of a budget we could achieve)... We were able to explore the land and paths through the reserve. We totally fell in love with a particular block that backed onto the nature reserve (trees were the only neighbours at the rear of the block - never to be cut down... the outlook was straight into a nature sanctuary) hmmm Sanctuary....


There were walking paths all through the nature reserve.
The potential for leading a healthy lifestyle was right at the doorstep. These paths led past the lake and all the way to the nearby gorgeous river precinct...

AND there were schools nearby! Our minds began to dream... Imagine if J was able to get a JOB at the nearby high school... hmmmm... What a incredible thought! I could keep working from home for my job ... and if J got a job at that school then he could walk to work! Slower lifestyle... healthier lifestyle... space for the kids to play... if a job ever turned up nearby then relocating was actually possible!!! I actually got slightly scared about hoping such a thing...
Dare we dream it??? Well, this place seemed to tick all the boxes... and now we had seen a block of land to aspire to...

So, returning to Brisbane we decided that all we could do was 'open the door' to this potential change... We would take step at a time, keep our eyes open and if the 'doors' kept opening then we would keep moving forward... as scary and as exciting as it seemed... We didn't have to wait long at all...

Within 6 days (not even one week later) there was a job advertised in J's areas of teaching and at the exact school near the block of land!!!! OMG - I expected abit more time to adjust to the thought of this move... but no - J applied, went for the interview and then GOT THE JOB!!! The 'door' was not only staying open for us to walk through - we were speeding though it :))) How could we back out now?!

We then had a rushed few weeks to pack up, get a rental in the area up the coast and sell our existing house... Whew!!! It was a whirlwind... But looking back now - I suspect that if it didn't happen so quickly I may have chickened out from such an overwhelming task... You definitely need guts to go for change / dreams / more in life...

There were also many little inspiring events that helped me keep faith along the bumpy way... There were many practical needs to ensure we survived such a time of change/stress with three kids and limited budget. We needed to rent somewhere cheap! This was overwhelming but worked out. TICK

We needed to get the kids into a new school. The school we wanted was 'full' but due to J being a teacher at the connected high school - they made the exception and found the kids a spot. TICK

Step by step we kept walking forward...
Our eldest daughter was very very apprehensive about the new school. On a visit prior to starting we accidently bumped into a teacher - and what do you know - it was a familiar face from our Brisbane school - a teacher who had relocated the year before. It made all the difference to our daughter's anxiety levels.

Another practical example was our washing machine situation... Basically, I have a very large washing machine that would never have fit into the small space in the unit we were to rent until our house was built. We didnt' have the money to buy a new one.
A few days before the moving trucks came, a house across the road put out a washing machine onto the curb with a FREE sign attached...
It worked perfectly (was only missing one little hose - cost me $12 to replace) and it fit into the space in the unit!!!
I could now wash our clothes :) TICK

Then after our exhausting move to the unit (up 3 flights of stairs), my daughter runs in early morning to tell me there was a rainbow... Sure enough - we woke to a RAINBOW on our first morning at our new location on the coast!!!
It almost seemed too corny to be true... But there it was!!!


So there's the basic background story...
I will keep posting about the steps of our construction, particularly photo updates of the progress. So if you are interested in these - stay in touch.


I also hope to share more of the back stories from the past 10 months. Eg: the insane rollercoaster ride that was our finance application(s):
Deposit on Land! Yay!!! excitement... OMG is the house gonna sell??? Nup contract fell through... Get an extension for the land contract... House sold Yay! Now bank needs more paperwork... Yes you have the money, but not enough...

Are we crazy??? What are we doing again? Oh thats right - DARING THE DREAM!

Now we need house plans to do loan for both land and home together... Stress... hurry up and get house contract... not quick enough - need another extension on land contract... Take more out of house plans to bring cost down... Is that enough? Oh please please.... What if the bank doesn't value it enough? Is it all over?

Just Breathe.... more paperwork... and finally "Yes you have been approved!" You mean the land is ours??? Now we can't go back!

Next step: hang in tight for council approval....

Frequent survival tactic =
"I think I'll go for a walk on the beach"... waves... peace... calm...

Thank You God!

Then of course there is the adventure of living in a small 2 bedroom unit with 3 kids stacked in bunks (in one very small room)... Oh the stories... I think I will get my funnier half to tell those ones... stay tuned :)))

Anyway this post gives some background...
However my future blogs unfold - thank you for reading about this adventure we are on... and this journey towards "building sanctuary" for our family :)))


If our story, in some small way, encourages you to also give attention to your relationships, family, dreams and hopes - then it is double the blessing...

Please feel free to comment...
I'd love to hear from you!

Peace :)