Piles more piles

Not too much to report except to say that the piling people are putting on the pressure and producing plenty of piles (what a fabulous alliteration, if I may say so myself!).  It looks like they'll be finished this week and then our builder can get started with the foundations.  Hopefully that will all be done before the builder's holidays and then come January we'll be going up!

94.7

 Believe it or not, there have been other things happening in our lives other than the building.  Last week Carl, my dad, my 2 brothers and my nephew rode the 94.7 cycle race together.  They did it in a very impressive 4h10.  So impressive that dad came second in his age group.  Carl and Roland have vowed that next year there will be no pushing dad up the hills!!  Anyway, we were very proud of all of them, but most especially dad and Austin - amongst the oldest and the youngest in the race.

We have piles!

Yes, that is an announcement that one would not normally make, but, I make it with glee!  We have to sink 46 piles, and they did 10 this week.  We are really hoping that the company is going to send another machine so we can speed things up a bit.  They take a 2m long hollow steel pipe and slowly hammer it into the ground.  Then they weld another 2 metre long pipe onto it and sink that too.  We better not have cracks in our walls after all this effort and expense!!!  It is the noisiest procedure I have ever heard.  Our poor neighbours - I am SO glad we are not living there!

Slowly, slowly wins the race. I hope!

Sadly, I don't have much to report since my last entry.  3 weeks have gone by and all we have to show for it are some rather impressive foundations.  The piling people were meant to arrive yesterday, but apparently their machine is broken (or they are finishing off another job quickly, who knows?).  So, theoretically, they are going to start on Monday. 

It's the first time in my life that I want piles, and quickly!

Dig, dig, dig

We went to the plot on the weekend to show it to my brother's family who have not yet seen our bit of earth, and I was pleased to see some progress in the 2 days since the land dedication.  They have started digging the foundations.  What a job.  All by hand.  This is when I am glad to be doing the fun stuff like choosing tiles etc.  and not the manual labour!

We have lift off!!

Hooray!  We have finally begun to build.  Perhaps 'build' is a bit strong for now, but we have started the process of building!  We have officially agreed on the quote/costing from the builder, the plans are all but through, so our builder, Esrom, has begun.  He has started doing the house layout, and getting ready for digging the foundations.  Sadly we discovered that the soil is not great, so we are having to do some serious foundation re-enforcement, but at least we shouldn't get any cracks!

On Wednesday evening, we invited our good friends and pastors, the Bouwers, Rodger the architect (who comes to our church) and my folks to do a land dedication.  We all met at the plot (Bev came in her finest, I was pleased to see!) and we prayed over the land and the project and committed the whole thing to God.  Carl and I really want this project to be a blessing to all who work there, and once our home is finished, to all who visit.

The scripture I have for our project is Psalm 127:1:

'Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain'.

So once  we were finished praying, we celebrated with some champagne.  I guess it could be called a sod turning ceremony, but no one thought to bring a spade, so we didn't actually turn a sod! 

Going, going...

The past couple of weeks while waiting for our plans to be passed have been spent clearing and leveling the land.  We had the tree fellers in for a week and the place looks so bare!  Most of the trees on the land were syringas, privets and bug weed, so they had to go, but it is a shock to see how bare it looks now.  We were meant to be left with an apple and an avocado tree, but something got lost in translation and the apple tree is no longer.  At least the property is surrounded by lovely big old trees, so we'll just have to feast our eyes on them while we wait for our trees to grow.

Before......

After....

Last week we had a grader in to start with the leveling and removing big tree stumps.  Looks to me like there is still a lot to be done to get the levels right but architect and builder are happy, so I am too.  This process is a real test for me to stop worrying and start trusting the experts.

An aside blessing - I tried to apply for a water connection from Joburg Water, but their records have not yet been updated into my name, so I can't apply until it is changed.  Who knows how long that could take?  HOWEVER, we have a fabulous borehole which the builders can use.  Otherwise we would have been totally stuck - one can't build without water.

Up sh!t creek without a paddle

OK, so you might not fancy the title but there was no other option.  We discovered 2 weeks ago that there is no sewage or water to our new property.  Potential disaster!!!  We immediatly got hold of the conveyencer and told them to put transfer on hold until we've sorted it out.  So, a week of emails and documentation went flying around, all proving that the sub-division was legal.  The sewage was applied, approved and paid for.  BUT, according to Joburg Water, was not installed.   This left Carl and I in a total pickle.  What do we do??  Do we back out of the deal somehow (long shot!), do we continue and then put it straight back onto the market (and lose a huge amount of money) or do we sort out the problem ourselves - i.e. go to council and persuade them to come and install it, 5 years on.  Eish!  There is the additional issue that the sewer is 4.1m deep, and our driveway is 4m wide and 55m long (we are a pan handle).  That is a LOT of digging, a lot of money and it means no building could happen because the drive is the only access to the property.  Which means wasted time and we are already pushed for time. 

So, our architect, Roger, and I went into Joburg Water (JW) yesterday to find out why it hadn't been installed and to see if they will come and do it.  The lady we spoke to went off to her computer and returned with a printed 'completed work order form' which gave the details of the sewer's location and depth!  They just have not updated this information on their maps and that is why we were told (by more than one person) that it wasn't there.  Well, I was doing a victory dance, but it still meant that we had the massive task of getting it from the edge of our property (which is as far as JW takes it) down the driveway.  Nonetheless, I was still so chuffed to find that it was actually installed.
On getting home, I phoned my dad who has been walking this crappy road with us and he asked for the details of the installation.  When I read the form more carefully, it stated that the pipe was 57,5m long.  Which means that it might have been already installed all the way down our driveway!!  So, dad, the architect and plumber went today to check it out and voila!  there it was - a man hole right inside our property.   Our property is very overgrown, so finding the man hole was no easy task, but Praise the Lord, there is was!
Therein lay a lesson.  By Monday, I had got myself into a total state about the whole thing.  Eventually, I just gave up, and handed it over to God.  I just could not do anything more.   I prayed like a crazy woman that somehow this would be resolved.  And so it has been - exceedingly and abundantly beyond my expectations.  That's God for you!

Our new home

I have decided to start blogging again after a rather long hiatus (I have always wanted to use that word!!), but that is because I now have something extra exciting about which to blog - our new home.
It is not a home in the normal sense of the word.  Nope, it is a messy, weed ridden, patch of land 2300m2 in area which is going to BECOME our new home.

However, this is not only to keep those of you who are interested up to date.  It is to serve as a record of God's amazing goodness, His miraculous ways and to prove that He cares for each of us over and above what we can even imagine.  I know the cynics out there will think I am crazy and pass off each of my miracles as mere coincidence (yes, you Roland), but I don't care.  I know what I know - I serve a living God and this is my testament to that. 
OK, preaching aside, onto the house. 
Megan is moving to St. Mary's next year for high school and we had Ali's name down at St David's and St. Johns, so we needed to find a new home closer to the schools.
I saw this piece of land in about April and loved it.  I have always wanted to build a house - I lie awake at night and plan the perfect house design, then in the morning jot it down.  Sad, I know, but that is just me.  We have built before - at Selborne on the South coast, and have done two sets of renovations, and so you could say that I have a bit of experience.   None of which were terrible, which is probably why I would actually consider building again!  However, Carl declared that he did not want to build and so I turned down the land and continued house hunting.  How depressing.  Truly! 
Which is probably why I let the agent persuade me to just have one more look at the land.  So, I set to work on my darling husband and he decided to take one for the team (a BIG one, at that) and we put in an offer.  A very cheeky offer.  The agent came back to us and told us it was too low, would we go higher.  Carl was very stressed that day and told her he couldn't think about it, we would let the offer lapse and consider putting in a new one.  Well, clearly the seller decided a low offer was better than no offer, so 45 minutes before the offer expired, we received an sms from the agent congratulating us!  We were in total shock (kind of like when you find out you're pregnant - even when you are hoping for it, it is still a shock!).  So that was the first miracle - the price.
Then we discovered a couple of weeks into the process that there was actually a rates dispute on the land.  Which, if you know our municipality, is something that could take ages to clear up, and we needed to get this building show on the road ASAP.  So, we quickly had an addendum drawn up by the lawyer to say that if the rates weren't sorted out within a certain time, the deal was off.  Turns out that on the very day that a meeting was scheduled to try and sort it all out, it resolved itself (too complicated to explain all the details).  On the very day!  What a coincidence.  Ha ha!
There is lots more to come, but that's all for today.

Ta Da!!!

I have to brag. My birthday present from my darling hubby is the most beautiful Yamaha upright piano. The kids and I are now having lessons (the teacher comes to the house - how awesome is that?). One day when I'm at concert level, I'll upload a video of me playing. Ha ha!

Here it is......

My Birthday

Firstly, I am going to stop apologising for the belated entries! It seems every entry (all five this year or something - actually last year now!!) have started with an apology. So, not more guilt, when I update, I update! I must add that a few snide remarks from a few people has motivated me. Right, where was I....

Yes, the dreaded big 4 -0 arrived on October 3 2011. Sigh!

I did not have a party, instead I opted to take my whole family River Rafting (excluding Heidi et al because they were in Doha, and in their place our almost family, the Bouwers). The weather was NOT very kind to us, although we had to be grateful for small mercies. It rained lightly on and off and the wind howled the whole way, nearly pushing us back upstream - it was such hard work!! But, once we were back in our cars heading home, the rain came down in force, as well as hectic thunder and lightning, so at least we got to finish the paddle.

We arrived there nice and early, and had a brekkie before we set off. Don't we all look sexy in our safety gear?After a bouncy half hour ride in an open truck, with raucous singing to take our minds off our sore bums, we got to the set-off point upstream.

We needed some instruction on how to drive the boats and then we were off. The paddle took a very long time - with both the strong head wind, and shallow water level counting against us. The break half way didn't come soon enough. We were all very relieved to reach the end of the paddle and be taken back to camp where, after changing out of our wet and cold gear, we enjoyed a warm lunch in front of a fire. And that, my dears, marks the start of my next decade.