Moving day is coming

Today I have some actual news to share! We have been given accommodation at Piccolo Hill Estate in Longwood, praise the Lord!! The government has agreed to let us move into one of their houses, and they’ve waived the rent. We are thrilled. All we need is a place to call home for the next few months until the Manse is sorted out. I say ‘months’ because the engineers were in town this morning inspecting all the buildings. The chief engineer needs to write up a report now, but they are concerned about the kitchen and outside walls, and it seems that a lot of tearing down will need to happen. The church is also going to need some demolishing on the back wall – I think we already knew this. I guess it’s disappointing to realize that this isn’t going to be a two-week patch up job, but at least now we will have our own place where we can continue school and Nick can do his bible study and sermon prep. Living in someone else’s home, even though Steve and Maureen have graciously offered for us to stay on even after they return from the UK at the end of the month, would really be unideal. I think we will pick up the keys tomorrow morning and then move in straight away – they are just fixing the extraction fan in the kitchen. I’ll send photos when we’ve settled in.

This morning we were in town at about 9.15, following at phonecall at 9 to say that the engineers would be at the house at 9…could we please be there. Doh! Nothing like a bit of warning. We were all ready and waiting though, so hopped in the car with no delay. Nick opened up the house, church, schoolroom and yard, and we quickly gathered a few more belongings (it’s amazing how many things you really need – nail scissors, more shoes, more clothes and especially underwear for the boys, etc). Nick really didn’t want us being in the house when the officials arrived because it’s still out of bounds, so we were quick. It would have been a bit silly for us to trail around with them, plus which they had about ten properties to inspect all the way up the road, so we all went into town to do some shopping, go to the library, fill up with petrol, and so on. We were in town for a long time, and back at the house once or twice in between to check on progress. The Governor’s wife stopped by, so we showed her the inside of the church which was still open and she was amazed at how it looks – photos don’t really capture the whole mess.

I took these from the road-side of the church,

...and the road-side of the schoolroom – so many rocks, such destruction.

At this point the ‘way forward’ regarding the fixing of buildings is still unclear, but we trust that the Lord will continue to provide miraculously as He has already done with Piccolo. In a way it’s exciting to see His arrangements unfolding!

We were home by about 1ish, had lunch of fresh bread and either cheese and mayo or tuna and mayo, and then the boys and I watched a DVD together – Nick wasn’t interested in our Walt Disney selection.

We’ve taken over the corner of the kitchen with our stash of groceries, either brought from home (I had to ask a policeman let me into my own house to get milk out the pantry!) or bought.

Looking at a library book at the shiny glass kitchen table (try keeping fingerprints off that!)