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.