We have moved. It was a hard, emotionally draining time moving out. Moving a large family is not easy. Nor is cleaning (and finishing off) a 60 square house! Part of our contract of sale was that certain things be completed. Fair enough too. I think Darren just underestimated exactly how much work there was to do and how long it would take. The last few days of our ownership were full on work, dawn till dusk, just to have the house up to expectations. Even then we had to leave a few things as we simply ran out of time. The new owner wasn't that pleased but Darren went over in the next few days and got it all done. It was very stressful.It's funny though, neither of us were that sad about moving on. We certainly weren't sad to say goodbye to the years of increasing debt and financial juggling we have had!
What is sad is that our financial situation is rather grave. After paying all our debts which included a huge mortgage, numerous borrowings from family, credit cards, years of tax debt and bills we had just had to put off, we don't have much left. Not even enough for a decent deposit on another house. We have lost most of the equity we had in our property.
This is very hard to come to terms with. I personally feel very embarrassed. I feel reckless and stupid. I don't know what we were thinking when we started this project. Looking back, how did we think we could actually build such a huge, complex, expensive house, live with little to no income while we were doing it and support a family of eight? And we thought we could just kind of wing it! We didn't do detailed costings, we didn't really have much of a plan at all. We were very naive.
Still, have we learnt a lot! We are quite amazed now that we got through it. We actually did finish it and get a good price. Unfortunately our debts were also huge but at least we have come out of it with something. We have some money to put aside and build on. Darren has got plenty of work (thank you God) and we hope to buy after a year or so. We have also learnt so much about faith, about how God works and how He doesn't. He doesn't just continually save us from the consequences of our own bad decisions, our own bad management of our lives and resources. Eventually, we need to face these consequences. But He is there to face them with us. He is there with forgiveness, wisdom and hope. He helps us through and gives us the strength to put our mistakes behind us and press on to what is ahead for us. And He blesses us along the journey.
It was very hard looking for rentals. We put in about four or five applications and had a few rejections (not nice!). Whenever we went to an open, there were heaps of other people looking and applying. It was very disheartening. We began to joke that we might have to move into some friends' garage!
Then, we got one! And it was the nicest one! It was in the Hills that we love! There is a picture at the top of this post. It is on half an acre and is really beautiful, right on the edge of the forest. The view from the back deck is magical. We love it!
It is smaller than we've had for a while and it gets a bit noisy when we are all upstairs in the one open plan living area. Still, we do spend more time together and are not off in 8 different corners of the house! There is a rumpus room under the house where the big boys have set up their "den" as they call it. They have a TV and the Playstation, guitars, drums, etc. down there. It is not connected internally to the house so they have to go outside and round the house to get there but they don't really care. The garden is lovely (and there is a gardener as part of the rent). There is a cubby and a sand pit and even real life echidnas burrowing! I really believe God gave us this house. It is really lovely to live in. I am truly blessed to see His hand was still upon us despite our mistakes.
So, a new start for us. Our debts are gone. We have no responsibilities except our monthly rent and bills. We hope to get back to being thrifty and saving. I intend to do a proper budget and get back to the basics of financial wisdom and planning. I am actually looking forward to it.
Love and blessings to you all, Jodie.
