I got our Weber Q barbeque back in 2011. I first did a Christmas turkey on the Q, back in 2011:
Some 13 years later, that has been sold. A couple of young ladies responded to a FB Market ad I put up a few days earlier, and picked up the Weber Q last night.
Another one of numerous changes we’re going through…
We dropped off the little Padawan at Heather’s on Friday evening, and caught up with Jason and Mel in a Chinese restaurant in Scoresby for our Friday night soiree. Saturday was going to be (we hoped) busy and we didn’t want the little master stressed up with the busy home. We had also wanted to catch up with Jason and Mel before they headed to HK for a new phase in their lives.
On Saturday morning, after a restless sleep, we got up, and did some minor tidying. It had rained heavily all day Friday and it was still raining lightly early Saturday morning when we did some last minute work. We parked my car at the Bob Saker oval carpark and went to FHC for coffee and something to eat.
We walked around FHC for a bit, before driving back to Bob Saker oval, and parked next to my car and waited for a bit, then walked over to our house, which by now was a hive of activities. The rains had also cleared up and the skies were opening up, albeit a touch cloudy. We have again, seen our Lord’s hand in our journey to date. Dozens of people were inside the house; some were outside and for the first time since our home was put on the market, I saw up close, how interested parties inspected our home. Our friends, Chin Moi and Ing Tung and Gerry, were also there and we greeted them discreetly, careful to not give away that we were the sellers.
When Kenneth our real estate agent called for the auction to start, Tress and I sat at our dining table and just let it all drift past, or wash over us.
It was all over in 10 minutes.
10 minutes of frenzied bidding.
When it hit a “target price”, Henry, Kenneth’s colleague, rushed in and asked us if we were prepared to agree for to the home to be “on the market”, i.e., has met the “reserve price” and will be sold to the highest bidder. While he was in with us, the bidding continued.
Our house was sold, very soon after.
A young family, with 2 kids of maybe 7/8 years old, bought it. It was for their parents/grandparents, who were to come from overseas to join them (probably from China). That young family live in Mount Waverley, and our home was purchased by them so the parents/grandparents could be near them and the kids/grandkids. Sounds familiar. We were also told the father/grandfather loved working on gardens so we were even more pleased. The house has been sold to a family who are preparing to transition into circumstances not unlike ours, and so the house would be kept intact – not razed to the ground for rebuilding and not to be subdivided for cramped higher density dwellings to be created.
Tress was filled with adrenaline for the rest of the day. She buzzed right through Sunday as well. After the service at St Alf’s, Susan and Matthew Maury came across from where they had been sitting, to have a chat. Pam Thyer did too. We had also been talking to and updating folks like John and Siew Lim, Maree Vines and of course, folks from our home/connect group. All these are people that make up the community that we will leave before too long.
I have come to love and cherish the communities around us. At St Alf’s yesterday, everyone I greeted or chatted with, knew us by name (and we, theirs), have been to our home (and we’ve been to theirs) and people we’ve journeyed with for a while. Others in St Alf’s too, are people who know us by name and are people we’d greet or wave our hands at, when we see them in parks or the shops. Later at the Bob Saker oval, folks there too, fall in the same basket. We know them, and they know us. All are people we’d be leaving. This will take a while to alleviate the pains.
I’m excited however, at the prospects of being 10-12 minutes from Kiddo, Mic and Abby, and her little sibbling, The idea of being close to them again, to be part of their lives at closer quarters, fills me with hope and joy. That is what comforts me now, and soothes the pain of selling our home and leaving people who mean much to us.
Our Vicki Street home has been sold. We move on now, to create a new home.
It’s now less than 24 hours before the last major piece of “business” is scheduled to be done. Our home goes on auction tomorrow morning, following which hopefully, more pieces will land and our transition plans firm up considerably.
Tress and I had been nervous previously but at this point in time, I just want to get it over with. I’m tired, and can only rest and recharge with this behind us. We are just seeking the Lord’s providence and presence in all of this.
Friday dinner (with Tress, Nic and Jon) at Elephant Corridor.
Sat lunch with Tress, at Laksa Village
Sunday lunch with Tress, at Laksa Village again
Tress just spoke to her employer this morning. She too, has been a beneficiary and recipient of God’s gracious providence – her employer ok’ed her working remotely. So, she too can now breath a deep sigh of relief. She just rang me to have a bit of an outpouring of… We are both so very grateful.
And so, our journey to be with Kiddo, Mic, Abby and her little sister, surge ahead. It now leave the sale of our beloved home as the last milestone. I said to Tress a few nights ago, that when I prayed about my work situation, I asked the Lord to bless that outcome not in terms of having our employers agree to let us work from Canberra, but for Him to be with us on this journey, and bless us with his presence and strength. This way, whatever the outcome, He will be there with us and we can engage Him, listen to Him and walk with Him whatever our circumstances. Yes, I did say to Him I’d love it if I could continue to work, but from Canberra, but that was not my main prayer.
This last milestone will be accompanied by a same prayer. It happens in under 2 weeks, before we can fully focus on what lies ahead.
My sense of relief and gratitude is almost overwhelming. My employers were very supportive of my request to work from the capital city, on a long term/permanent basis. The response, when I made my request late this morning, was unhesitating and thoroughly positive. The MD also made the suggestion that they should fly me in on, say, a monthly basis, for management meetings. I had said to them I would be more than happy to come into the office (here in Melbourne) whenever needed, as well as on a regular basis (every 4/6/8 weeks). So the conversation went really well and that is another load off my mind in this transition.
To say I am so grateful to our Lord, will be to truly understate how I feel.
I am planning to have “that chat” with my employer today. I have pencilled in a meeting request, but I have not sent it. Sending a meeting invite with a non-descript heading can imply ominous intent. I have to have this chat however, and can no longer put it off. So many other processes have been set in train.
I will send that meeting invite shortly I guess… Lord, what do you have in store?
Tress and I left home very early last Wednesday morning, as we drove out of Melbourne onto the Hume Highway and headed north again. We had an appointment for a pre-settlement inspection of the house we purchased in Canberra, before the deal was completed the next day.
We arrived early arvo, contacted Kiddo and we met at the property and looked through the house. The next day (Thursday), after a false start, the transaction was completed. The first major leg of our transition has been completed.
The next day (Friday), we moved some stuff in – clothes and kitchen stuff mainly – and spent some time taking measurements and a bit of cleaning. Then Kiddo met us for lunch before we went to look at some furniture to complement what we will be moving from our present Melbourne home.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our time there, the stress of dealing with the move notwithstanding. Moving out of our home here in Melbourne – one that we have loved – and into a new place we know so little about, has been difficult to deal with. Yet, the underlying raison d’etre for this exercise was borne out every single day that we were there, staying with Mic and Kiddo and Abby. Seeing them grow as a family, witnessing the blossoming toddler and engaging with her smiles, laughs, words and antics – they were all affirming, the painful and worrying logistics notwithstanding. Overriding all these of course, is the constant prompting to submit everything to our loving Heavenly Father and worry less. A loving God and the lovely Abby and her parents, kept me focused and hopeful.
I had a boss who swore by siestas. He has a snooze every day, right after lunch. He is now 86 years old, and he is still only semi retired. When he was my boss, he was 63 years old. I still remember walking to his office to have a chat over something, only for his EA to signal to me that it was nap time…
Yesterday, after we returned from lunch post St Alf’s, I walked the little fellow and then we came home and I said to Tress we needed to go to Bunnings to pick up a nut for the bolt on my mower. That nut had come off last week and I couldn’t find it. So we headed to Bunnings, picked up my $0.71 nut and bolt set (together with a washer) and when I got home, I felt tired, with the slightest hint of a headache. I decided to have a snooze. It was one of the best afternoon naps I remember, not that I can remember the last time I had a nap. Tress said I was snoring and when I woke, I was worried that I had overslept. I had in fact, only slept for some 20 minutes or so. I felt refreshed however, and resume our activities.
We had been packing our bigger car that we’ll be driving to Canberra in, in a couple of days. It is filled with clothes and boxes of kitchen stuff that we would lug with us when we head there for the settlement of the home we bought. Settlement is for 26/9 and on the day before, we’d do a prior inspection. The first leg of our transition would then be completed. Sort of.
We had a first “open inspection” of our Melbourne home on Saturday, and so we busied ourselves with some tidying and putting away our everyday stuff, so that the home gets into a presentation ready state. The marketing gurus had their way again and I am simply doing as I am told.
Later that evening, after the “open inspection” and the cleaning up after, we went out for some lunch, walked the little guy, then went home for the footy prelim finals between the Cats and the Lions. It was a ripper game – one of the best prelim finals I can remember. The Lions got up (yay) and will meet the Swans in the Big Dance on Saturday. One that we will follow from the Capital City.
Ante 