My musings, writings, observations, ideas, & thoughts about God, Life, and following Jesus in Suburbia.

Today, just over two weeks since we first received the notice to evict, we had a look at a couple of houses that we were interested in. It didn’t start too well — the first place we went to look at, we found the agent sitting out front with no-one else around. Wonderful, we thought — either the place is a secret or there’s something up! Turns out the landlord had decided to sell the property rather than rent.

The realestate agent gave us a listing for another place so, having a bit of time, we stopped to grab a 50c cone from Macca’s then headed up the road to the second house. Not too far from the shops, and half-way to Croydon and Mooroolbark — pic looked good.

We turned onto the street and started looking for the right number and easily spotted the house at the end of the court with the myriad of cars and people out front. Seems that the house was popular and everyone looking for a decent rental was present! There were young couples, married couples with kids, older folk and folk from all sorts of ethnicity. So, we joined them and had a look at the house.

While nicely presented, the smell of cat pee was the first thing to hit me. Getting over that, we entered and had a look around. Not bad, two of the three bedrooms had walk in robes, great as the girls would have to share and Oscar would have his own room. The place had a kanara and renovated kitchen etc. Problem was, there was no backyard as the property had been subdivided and yard sacrificed, so no space for swing set or cubby house. Another problem we seem to come up against often, is that our fridge won’t fit into the spaces allocated for it in many of the older houses!

So, I must admit I left fairly despondent and depressed, not just at the quality of the house, but the sheer volume of people looking and how it seems to be a mammoth task to find something suitable! We swung past another house that has an open day on Monday, that, as we drive there, we found that it is very close to another school in the area. All I could do was laugh at the situation!

We’ll go look at this place on Monday. Meanwhile, we continue to pray and look for a suitable place.

Shalom!

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Just a quick update. No news on any houses, although there are a few out there but many are beyond our budget. We did take a look at one last week that was promising but a drive-by convinced us that it was not in a great location. We even spoke to the current tenants who told us that they house was crap, cold in winter with leaks in the ceiling and walls!

There are many folk out there looking for us, praying for us, and we thank you for that! We trust that we will be able to post some better news in the near future.

Meanwhile, the packing has continued and the filled boxes crowding the rooms. The kids and Jen have been awesome packing while I was away at Surrender over the weekend. My turn is coming! I have yet to even start with all the books and gear in the spare room/study — a task that I am not looking forward to it. We are hoping that we won’t have huge amount of boxes to move, that it will be a case of getting a place soon so we can start ferrying gear to the new place.

Thanks for your ongoing prayers and thoughts!

Shalom

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Well it’s Wednesday, Day 6 of our housing crisis and there is not too much to report. We have been searching the real estate sites online since we found we had to move. The rents in the area have gone up considerably and what we pay now for a 4 bedroom is the norm for many of the new or renovated 3 bedrooms in the area.

The biggest thing to probably be reported on has been the kids reactions. Our eldest who has been through 4 schools since starting kindy and is now in Grade 4 burst into tears. I had already promised ALL the kids that they would be finishing their primary years school at the local school that I am on the school council for. After we convinced her and the other kids that this was still the case they were still not too keen to be moving yet again.

My inlaws were around tonight with some boxes — new ones — after we lent Jen’s cousin a stack of our boxes. We were hoping to get ours back but they bought some boxes for us instead — not as big but still effective.

We have been looking around the areas of Lilydale, Mooroolbark, Chirnside Park, Croydon Hills, Croydon and Kilsyth for a home. Prices vary as do the quality of the houses.

I would ask for your prayers in all this. I have applied for a position with the Salvation Army that I hope and pray will come to fruition soon that will allow a smoother move. One of my fears is that with being a student and considered unemployed for the past 12 months that I am not going to be an asset for an application. So, please keep us in your prayers.

If you have a house to rent or know of someone that can help — love to hear from you!

Shalom!

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