And so the clock ticks...

Time is a strange thing…right now we're waiting to move house and each day it feels like the moving day is never really going to actually arrive….but it will arrive, of course.
Last year on the run-up to our wedding, the experience was similar.
And then there was three years ago and the journey I'd rather not think about but which sits in my mind unchanging and torments me so often....

 .…tick tock….
We've agreed to rent the house we're moving to from 1st August (not quite signed on the dotted line yet tho) and will actually move in on 2nd Aug with our house sale completing on 3rd Aug, and all Ellie's stuff from storage being delivered on 3rd Aug too hopefully.

It will be a weird experience - I know that selling our house is only "bricks and mortar" but there are 11 years of memories wrapped up in the house move, many happy ones, some sad ones and some utterly hideous ones.

I've no idea what emotional state I will be in on the day we actually move out and can't really hope to predict it.  At the moment, I think I'll feel more relieved than anything but who knows ?!  We both feel fairly relaxed about the build-up to it (so far!).
We've booked the removal men to come and do a "full pack" so they will wrap, pack and move everything - so we just need to sit back and watch (Theory A). In fact on the 1st Aug when they come to pack I'm planning on going to work like normal for a half-day just to try and maintain my sanity :-)
Right now though we're busy either throwing things away or giving them away on freecycle. Anyone for a set of drain rods or a selection of old mobile phone chargers ?!?!

Time keeps marching on…

Ecclesiastes 3:1-7...

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away, :-)
     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak.....
     

Roll on 1st August !...

Moving forward...

Well we exchanged contracts on our house on Tuesday 10th July !  Good news !
It was an emotional day as it would have been my 19th wedding anniversary…to be honest I was on the edge of the precipice for most of the day so when the phone call from the conveyencer confirmed that we'd exchanged contracts I toppled off the edge somewhat !  Put it this way… I left work early !!  

It's good though….we do need to move house!!  We haven't yet formally signed up for a house rental to move to but have verbally agreed to rent the house that we were originally going to buy subject to paperwork being sorted out (quickly!). 

We will be completing on our house sale and moving out on Fri 3rd August.   It'll be another roller-coaster-of-a-day I'm sure, but it is time to move forward….  

Phil 3:13-14 (The Message)   Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward - to Jesus.  I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.

Befriending, Bereavement and Bicycling

Long time, no blog....
Well this is a photo of the new rocket-bike....I've been promising myself a new bike for about 3 years and Ellie finally convinced me to go and buy it (for my birthday!)...it's very light which makes up for the fact that I'm a bit lardy :-)




So what's been happening?
Firstly despite multiple attempts at exchanging contracts on our house sale, it's still not happened - every day last week it was "going to happen tomorrow". It's been a comedy of errors really...and continues to be! To be honest I've been up and down in terms of peace in it all but seem to have finally given in and accepted that it'll happen if it happens (probably tomorrow!!) As it is we still haven't agreed a house rental anyway so could be homeless in a month !!

Two weekends ago we went along to the Care for the Family Volunteers day away...it was really good; as a charity they do fabulous work up and down the country with families. On the Sunday I was asked to speak to the Widowed Young Befrienders team which was a huge privilege and very emotional (It wouldn't be the same if I didn't cry when I speak !!). I spoke on being in a storm and Jesus walking to us on the water.

On Saturday just gone I went along to the Widowed Young bereavement weekend. Primarily I went along to see my befriendee who I've been talking to now once a week for the last few months.  Everybody there had a tale of sadness and pain. It's good to able to talk to people about their journey's and maybe provide some comfort in the midst of it...and certainly some understanding of their pain.

Tomorrow would have been my 19th wedding anniversary.

This morning, Ellie read this in her Amy Carmichael book :-

"This morning I was thinking of life as a voyage with no promise of calm seas. Then I came upon this in Psalm 89:9:'When the waves...arise, You still them'. No waves that ever were or shall be can overwhelm us, if only we trust these words."