There’s no place like home…

And home is where we are!

The last few weeks have been INSANE!!!

We packed, we loaded, we drove, we unloaded, and drove some more. Then we scrubbed and cleaned and polished, and became exhausted, oh and then we drove some more.

We have never left a rental before, but I have memories of my mum with a pot of Gumption in hand, scrubbing walls… and last week I’m sure history was repeating itself.

I was so determined (but not very hopeful) that we would pass our inspection first time round. We have had SO many issues with the very awful real estate / property manager we have been lumped with the the last five years, and I was incredibly nervous about it all.

The owner sent painters through, and I was quite peeved to begin with, but God knew what He was doing … it turned out to be a great blessing, because it meant that I didn’t have to clean down any walls or skirting boards, and the house just looked so lovely and fresh with its new lick of paint. We were also very blessed by some of our beautiful friends, who offered to have us stay with them for our last week in town, so we didn’t have to camp out in a furniture-less paint-fumey house.

On Thursday, the carpet cleaner came through, and we did the finishing touches, took a deep breath, and returned our keys. I was so nervous about the inspection, and that they would discover the small hole/dent in the door of Mayana’s room where my guitar case had hit it, or the little patch of damage to the lounge room carpet where a candle had dripped hot wax onto the floor and melted the cheap plasticky carpet.

Praise God, the inspection couldn’t have gone better. The owner and his wife were with the property manager (a woman who reduces me to jelly, by the way), and as soon as we walked in, they (the owners not the PM) began raving about how wonderful the place looked! They even asked if we’d had professional cleaners to do the windows… Pete was pretty proud to tell them it was all his handiwork (Windex and newspaper, in case you’re wanting to know his secret). They didn’t notice the door or the carpet. Of course the property manager couldn’t help herself, and when the owners left the room asked me to clean some imaginary finger prints from the inside of one of the cupboard doors – BUT, the good news is, our bond should be back in our account by Wednesday, in full. Once it’s safely there, I’ll be telling the world which real estate they should NEVER use if they can help it.

For now though, we’re safely ensconced at the in-laws, and all of our belongings are stacked in a 6x3m storage shed (who knew my whole house could fit in such a space!!). We’re not sure how long we’ll be here, but we’re hoping for not too far into the new year. We’re praying that God leads us to the right jobs… we feel like we’re meant to be back here, but there aren’t a whole lot of jobs going at the moment. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’m feeling drawn towards supply work, but it would be nice if at least one of us had a more stable/secure job lined up.   In the meantime, Pete’s going to do some work with his dad, and I’m going to chase up my teacher registration now that my final grade has been released and see if I can’t get one or two days relief before the Christmas holidays.

I’m also going to be sewing like a mad-woman, and I can’t wait! I’ve got quite a few orders lined up already, and would love some more (hint hint). And of course, spending time with my gorgeous daughter, who is growing up more every day.

Apologies for the mammoth post, but we had a lot to catch up on!!

What have you been up to lately?

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