Wednesday
Dear Elsie
Today was the day I went for an early morning road walk. As I walk I always imagine what the view is like from some of the houses. There’s this huge complex on Highway that from the beach look like a block of flats but when I identified them from their road, I realised it was two plots, with one massive house that had been subdivided into units. There is also the cutest little cottage. They back onto Daisy Lane which has this fabulous view.
And this is the complex looking up from Daisy Lane…
All the houses along the mountainside have attractive views. Further away from the sea, the views take on a whole new dimension as they become more valley views with the backdrop of the mountain.
Some people prefer mountain views while my preference is by far the sea. Mike and I regularly would stand on the balcony of our old house and say all we need is the sea across the road….never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that one day we would have – it would just be across a different road. While we desired to be close to the sea we never tried to make it happen. We never said, ‘let’s sell and buy or build next to the sea’. In fact the converse was true. We would see plots close to the sea and say ‘we’d never buy here’. Why? Because of how difficult it would be to build there and that there would be so much maintenance. We were not wrong! Today I watched Courage through my study window as he did some derusting and painted the woodwork on the balcony. Now it’s looking nice and clean. 
We would never be here if it hadn’t been for Julian. It was 10 years ago this week that he put in an offer on a little cottage which had hand drawn plans dated April 1949
As he went to sign the offer, there was a very brief conversation (one question in fact), which led to me also standing in front of the estate agent as he explained the terms of the offer. “The poor tree that gave it’s life for this contract,” I thought. “This offer isn’t going anywhere.” We had put in a very low offer and we were very confident it would not be accepted. The next day when I took the call from the estate agent and he gleefully announced the offer had been accepted, I was bewildered. What would Mike say?! After everyone had got over the shock, financial arrangements were made and we spent 2015 feverishly saving to pay off our bond so Mike could retire debt free in 2016. The Lord had opened the door for me to work and that money became invaluable.
And so the cottage was bought. We didn’t live there. David had the loft and Julian had the downstairs when he was in town. And that’s how it may have stayed if (again) Julian hadn’t come up with an ambitious dream of building on the mountainside behind the cottage. After all, there was 300m2 of mountainside that came with the little house. It would be a waste not to build on it. So Mike got designing and the first step to building, was clearing…. a job that was done on 8th April 2016.
I documented that Red Letter Day – it all began on that day – the blog is here
I was in awe that we would build a house, but big dreams take time. From 8th April 2016, it would be 3 years before we had plans & piles and a further 6 months before ground was broken and earthworks began.
Throughout the build, during 2020, my mantra was the Bible verse we had on our wedding invitation – Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. And it is quite remarkable that the house got built in 11 months during the pandemic year. November 2019 we broke ground – October 2020 we moved in.
I often say we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Julian, but obviously, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Lord. He poked and prodded around Julian’s mind, giving him ambitious building plans. It was very hard to build and there is a load of maintenance but it’s so worth it.
Revelation 3:3
Remember, then, what you received and heard; keep it, and repent.
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂