Housing Options

So, I think when I last wrote about housing, we were looking at a place in Twee Riviere and I was telling you all how I wanted something bigger and better than what we were able to afford. Let me give you a quick recap of what’s happened since then before I go off on something else. About a week and a half ago, we made an offer on a house in Twee Riviere. It was one of the smaller units and we were both feeling really good about it. We found out a few days later that our offer was not accepted, which was a HUGE disappointment, but there was another unit that was almost identical to the one we wanted. So last Tuesday, we decided to go back to Twee Riviere just to look around a bit. We didn’t go in the house, but took a quick look around, felt good about what we saw, and were planning to make an offer on it. We decided to drive by the other unit just to see it once more. While we were over there, I saw a lady watering her plants and thought I’d just go ask her a few questions to see what she thought about living in Twee Riviere. THANK GOD I did! She was so nice and friendly and started by telling me what a great place Twee Riviere was. She said the people were so friendly and it was quiet and that it was a nice community. However, she then told me that we should NOT buy a house here and invited me in her house to see why. We went in and she pointed out huge cracks in the ceiling trim. Then she took me down the hall and showed me where the wall was starting to crack. She said she has neighbors who have had whole walls crumble down and others who have huge cracks in the floor tiles. Apparently the whole place has been built on clay and as the houses settle many of them are cracking and having other issues. This lady was renting, so she said for her it is not so bad because the people they rent from will come in and fix things, but the people who have bought homes and are living in them have been told that they bought the house “as is” and it’s up to them to deal with the problems! I walked back to our car to tell Darin and just felt like God had His hand on my shoulder the whole time. We are so thankful that He protected us from harm!

So that is where we left off. The houses we were looking at were in an area/suburb called Montana. We both felt like living in Montana would be great as it would be kind of centrally located to the church we’ve been attending, Darin’s work and there were also some English speaking schools nearby. Since the whole thing at Twee Riviere kind of fell apart, Darin and I have kind of taken a few steps back and have been trying to figure out if there really is a best place to live. It just seems like there are so many options and each one comes with different pros and cons.

We’ve been getting to know some more people from church and are even going to visit a small group tonight. Through talking with people at church we’ve found out that if we were to live in Montana, we would basically be on our own. The closest small group to us would be about a 15-20 minute drive, and church would still be about 20-25 minutes away. This may not seem like a huge deal as many of you drive that far each week, but we want to be able to get involved in things through the church and be able to get together with people from church, especially if we are homeschooling, and I’m just not sure that would happen if we weren’t living closer to the church and the people who go there. However, Darin would be a bit farther from work and we’d be farther away from the area where we are currently living, which is an area we really love.

We’ve also been getting more involved with Mama Cathrine, so we’ve talked about the possibility of staying out in the Hammanskraal area. We really love being out here. We are starting to recognize people when we go shopping and they are starting to remember us. We love being out here on the farm and being more out in the wild. It is exciting and the kids have so much room to run and yell and just be kids. However, if we would stay out here we would be so far away from everything. If we were to keep attending Eastside church, we’d have about a 45 minute drive each week. It would be about the same to go to the closest small group. Darin would be about 50 minutes away from the petrol station, which is not very convenient.

We could also look at housing near the petrol station, but then we would be far away from everything else and we’d be in a very Afrikaans area, which is not really a problem, except we don’t speak Afrikaans. We do not know of any English speaking churches or schools in the area. We’d just be a bit cut off from everything, but it would be convenient for Darin and we might be able to get more involved with the community there.

So now we are just kind of back at square one. We are SO thankful to be where we are at currently and we are in no hurry to leave, but at the same time we know that at some point we need to decide where we are going to lay more permanent roots. Please pray that we would both be more aware of where God is leading us and not so caught up in the things that we see as obstacles or hardships. We have a lot of decisions to make and are glad that for now we have time to seek God’s leading while we enjoy the resting place He has provided for us at this time. Pray also that we would be free from worries, both big worries and the little tiny ones that creep in. All of the places that we could possibly move to are different not only in location, but culturally as well. In some places it would seem almost like we were living back in America. While this isn’t a bad thing, I worry that we will get too comfortable and might fall into the trap of cutting ourselves off from the needs around us. I also worry that if we end up somewhere that is more remote, our kids will feel alone and cut off and won’t have a chance to make friends. So I guess it is mostly me that has lots of worries, so please pray for me : )