Background
All in all, a bit of a disappointing trip, but there were some highlights and great reunions with some of the alive family members.
Chapter 45(Word)
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Just wanting to share some of the things we have gone through, albeit some of the joys and sorrows of living. The good thing about it is if we allow God to get the victory over our problems, He gives us peace, even in those troubles, that He is there for us and will not let us remain defeated by them.
For a long time, Louise and I would go shopping together, and I would pull the front of the trolley, as Louise came along behind. When we had her previous power chair, we were able to get it into our station waggon, and she could drive it around the shopping centre. Some days if we wanted to do a 'big shop', at the main city centre, I would call ahead and book a "Gopher" (electric scooter) for myself and we made a pretty good team, without me getting worn out, walking.
The current power chair is too heavy to load into the Station Waggon, as we have to pull the thing apart to get it in, as well. Now we have to just go around with me pushing her in the manual chair, and I have to sit down for a break every now and then as I can't walk long distances. I said a few edits ago, we were expecting a new power chair. Sadly, the hoped-for ability to pack the new chair in our car never happened.
Another more recent change has been due to my vertigo attacks that have come up. I often used go on my "diabetic" walks from home to the local shop, and back. On occasion, Louise would accompany me in her power chair. I made arrangements to do exercises at the physiotherapists to compensate for the cessation of the walks due to the dizzy attacks that can come on unexpectedly. I am now pleased to confirm the attacks of vertigo have eased off. Now we are back to the accompanied walks with Louise riding along in her power chair on them.
We have to try and get out from time to time, as Louise can't stand being stuck at home all the time or eventually, she gets "cabin fever" - that feeling of wanting to crawl up a wall somewhere.
We have lived in our home for more than 26 years now. Neighbours around us have bought and sold, and come and gone. Sometimes we wonder if we might have some sort of a 'smell' or something. But we all know, in these days of marriage break-ups and upgrading for enlargement of the family, folks don't seem to stay in the one place for too long. In our situation, we don't have the freedom to 'pull up stakes' and move at will.
Our house has now become a "2-bedder" due to the "Ensuite" bathroom we had made for Louise, off our main bedroom. When the renovations commenced in 2006, we had to have one of those portable "conveniences" put next to our front door. Our bathroom being rendered unusable for several weeks. I am thankful to the organization that did the conversion of bedroom 3 to the Ensuite for Louise. Unlike most commercial plumbers and builders, they got the job done in the maximum time of only 3 weeks.
Something really funny happened, when it was found necessary to erect a ramp on the front of the "convenience" so Louise could get up into it as there was quite a step in. We had an old wardrobe we dismantled for disposal, a side of which became handy for the "ramp" up into the "loo." One of the men screwed some holes in the front of the "loo" to mount the ramp. Sadly, the unit was not suitable for Louise in the end as it was too much work for her getting in and out of it. Other arrangements were made for her.
After all the work was completed the unit was no longer needed. One of the guys began undoing the screws that had held the ramp onto the "loo."
Guess what happened? The screws had gone into the receptacle under the "loo" where all the "whatever" was stored. It was then decided to quickly replace all the screws back in the holes! I am not sure if the company from whom the "convenience" had been hired - ever found out what had been done by the worker!
If we had ever wanted to move anywhere else we would always have to do alterations to suit our special needs. Fact: It is better to stay where we are until the Lord calls us to our "Mansion in the sky."
We have been mostly lucky with the neighbours. The original neighbours on the lower side of us bought their house "off the plan*" back in the early eighties, They were here for the births of all three of their kids, we came around the time their daughter was born, their second child. Our house was the last and the largest of the group of homes built in 1982 all by the same Homes Group.
We are only the second owners of our house which we bought in 1987. We were very fortunate to have bought when we did as a couple of months after we moved in, the prices all went up and there was no way we could have afforded the place under the higher pricing. Once again God was in it all!
One of the big events in cooperation with all three adjoining neighbours was the wooden fence replacement.Termites or white ants, whatever you prefer to call them - had been having a field day with all the old wooden fences. We heard the later neighbours on our lower side had their book collection in their steel garden shed demolished by said termites.
I was entrusted by the 3 neighbours, to do all the research for quotes from the various suppliers and installers of steel fencing. I won't go into detail about some of the hassles we had with that.We are now currently in the same process with one of these neighbours again, to get a brick part-fence which has now fallen down, on our side as it had nowhere else to fall; removed and replaced again by steel fencing. This task is not as easy as before due to my health not being as good as the last time we did all this, ten years ago.
Quotes are in and we are just waiting for the neighbour to choose which one. (Both the same actually). Also for the rain to stop so the removal of the old fence can begin.
Now, lastly, a bit of fraud committed on us. We are now blessed with a fully air-conditioned home. In the summer we can keep comfortably cool and in winter nice cosy and warm in all parts of our house. I had been successful and very happy with the job done by Chris to install a Reverse Cycle Split System Inverter in my study. We planned to have Chris back again, a year later, to do the same in our bedroom. The thing we had been using in our bedroom for some years, was a rattly, noisy 3/4hp window kind, cooling only a/c.
Chris said he could get us a good price on a similar unit to the one we had him put in my study. So I sent him the $AU699.00. Then, it seems Chris had an accident and fell off a ladder. We had been promised we would get our money back when his dad could access his bank account. It has now gone more than 5 years since we transferred the money to Chris, and I know he is back working good and well again.
We doubt we will ever see the money again. The word "Gipsy" comes to mind.
As we entitled this chapter "Let Go and Let God" we believe it is all in God's hands. We are His People and we believe as we are faithful in our giving and service to Him as much as we are able as another scripture says in Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Author Notes
Reviewers have asked for definitions of the differences in our Dollars from "Up Over" to "Down Under"at the time of writing the Australian Dollar was equal to between 75c to 78c in $USD *Off the plan means they bought it even before it was actually built. *Skip Bins are iron bins of various sizes, carried on the back of trucks and lifted off to be filled at the homes, later to be picked up and taken away. *Whipper snipper is a slang expression for a lawn edging apparatus. Some are petrol or gasoline operated, some electric. The Pictures are "Let Go and let God", Louise coming along behind the trolley. I really wanted a manager to take a photo of me in front and Louise behind but they would not cooperate. The last photo is one of the new fences at back and the old brick fence on the right you will read about in the next chapter. (You can see the pavers on the ground on right from our old Garden shed as well.)
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