Category: Freedom

A Summary of the latter end of this week in Pictures

My eggs arrived! it was a record, they came through the post in less than a day, fully intact and ready to incubate! An Post is great. If it was a courier it wouldn’t have got here nearly as quickly. Sorry but I haven’t actually taken pictures of the eggs yet. They went into the incubator tonight. They should take approximately three weeks to hatch (providing they’re fertile).

Our new fire was installed and (wait for it…) a radiator in the living room, we’ve been soooo warm:

We also had a range installed that runs our central heating, I don’t think I’ve lived in a house with central heating for about 14 years, it’s great! The surroundings will one day match the cooker. I made pancakes this morning, then pizza tonight, to try it out. It is very, very nice. The only thing I really have to watch is keeping the littlest boy away from it because it gets so hot and trying to tell the oldest boy not to put plastic objects on top of it. Might have to get the fire guard back out for a bit maybe.

Finally, Chris’s dream came true, yes folks, he has a tractor!

He just has to get the mower to go with it and he’ll be away up off to the field with it. Up, up and awwaaaaaay, off to sort the field out.

God bless you all and see you soon.

What’s happening at the moment? Jobs…!

So what are we doing at the moment? It’s quite a busy time really. We’ve agreed to have our windows and door replaced, they should arrive for fitting over the next 4 weeks. The range and a new fire are being installed in just over a week (all being well) and an electrician is visiting tonight to check out the electrics (I am so thankful that he is coming).

Chris is currently strimming the field, all 3 acres – he has bought a steel brushcutter blade for the strimmer and it’s getting through it a lot better than the grass cutter blade. It’s very hard work and he’s building a shed today as a bit of break from it. (The future plan is to possibly get a little tractor and use that and to probably get a few goats). The shed will be great to temporarily store all our boxes that we aren’t unpacking yet and will allow us to do up the cottage more easily. I’ve decided I need to re-box a few things to give us more room, it makes more sense than winding our way through stuff we don’t yet have storage for in the house.

There’s a little plantation right next to our cottage which you can see on the above photograph. Eventually, the spruces are going to be chopped down as they’re very tall and quite close to the house and we’re hopefully going to have some native trees there instead. There are a couple of birch already in there but struggling and a lot of holly.

I knew there were some bottles in the wood, but this week I started investigating a little further and there are what looks like hundreds! I’ve started excavating them and am going to keep on doing so. It was suggested that we do a bottle wall, I’d love to in some ways but with everything we have to do now and over the next few years it is currently unlikely – so bottle bank here I come!

So I (Cathy) am watching Brexit and the UK and Irish responses to it with interest and I have to say, since we’ve been here we’ve met with nothing but friendliness and have been welcomed in general but Brexit particularly online seems to be stirring up a lot of anti English comments, I don’t know if that is because of the certain type of people who comment on online posts or if it is a general feeling, but I have to say the English or the UK don’t exactly help themselves sometimes. Whoever started the petition to get the Republic to join the UK is a little bit assumptive or taking the mickey methinks.

So anyway, back to the old homestead….I’m getting hatching egg fever again, I think I’m going to go for the breed Cream Legbar if possible as they are autosexing, you can tell if they’re male or female as soon as they hatch, which is helpful. I’m REALLY looking forward to hatching them, I just need to find a supplier over here. Cream Legbars have green/blue eggs and are bred mainly as laying hens, not for meat.

last year’s chicks 🐣

I’m also going to start reading up on goat keeping as I mentioned earlier, I think we have probably decided on goats as the main/first animal we will keep. Only a few as we only have 3 acres but we will see, there is no rush, as we also have to get the premises ready, as if you have livestock, you have to be registered with the Department of Agriculture as a goat/sheep keeper and be approved. We don’t know if it will be this year or next, but it will probably happen at some point.

Bye for now. May God bless you one and all with the knowledge of Him.

Cathy.

Big difference in a short space of time…

I’ve been thinking…not always good news, but this is pretty positive. What I’ve been thinking about is how much our little house has changed in a short space of time and how much you can forget or take for granted in a short space of time.

When we first arrived on the Friday evening on the 7th December, so nearly two whole months ago! I know I said it was warmer than we expected, and it was, but! we could see our breath whilst indoors, the walls upstairs in the bedrooms and also the bathroom were actually wet and the floor in the kitchen leading from the wall inwards was wet as well, it was really wet. Remarkably, as soon as we started putting heat into the building it all started drying out, but only after a week of not looking forward to going to bed (really not looking forward to it) because the bedding and the air upstairs actually felt wet as well. We’ve since realised we put a lot of heat in and that probably initially caused more damp, as we then didn’t realise a window needed to be opened a crack as well for ventilation (and it’s essential when cooking).

One of our jobs in a morning is to go around drying the insides of the windows and it has gradually improved – it has to be said this was Chris who initiated this. The dehumidifier has been a majorly good investment too in improving the dampness. On looking at photographs I’ve also remembered we took the flooring up in the dining room and bathroom so it could dry out.

We’ve learnt a lot about old buildings since moving in (especially in Ireland) and what to do with them and we’ve read up a bit about damp. Apparently, a lot of what surveyers tell you about damp is not right, it’s about looking at the causes, not treating with injectable damp proof courses etc. The main issues with this place was the lack of drainage around the building and having it all cleared and gullies dug out to drain all the water away from the building was the best thing that could have been done. Thank you God for our friend with his digger who was recommended and came to do all that work. There’s more to be done but that was a remarkable thing to have done within a very short time of being here. Also, he knew what he was doing and we didn’t! Chris also fixed the gutters and made sure the water wasn’t running onto the building.

Before and after photographs above… Gravel has also been put down since on the back to make a drive. The front gardens are going to be flower beds, conditions permitting.

I also watched Terry Waite speaking on a BBC clip tonight and he was speaking about when he was imprisoned and a major factor in surviving was actually living! Each day he was imprisoned, “that was his life” he wasn’t waiting for a life, he didn’t know if he would survive or when or if he would be released. But each day is our life, every minute of every day and while he was imprisoned he wrote poetry, he wrote his first book in his head! I have to admit, I’ve been a little sorry for myself at times recently and this really spoke to me. It is something I normally do believe in, living for that day, but it is so easy to lose perspective.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:34)

Photo by luizclas on Pexels.com

Things we take for granted.

Since the last post, Chris has plumbed our washing machine in and set up the drier in the barn. Which is incredible! For the last two months we have been taking clothes once a week to a laundrette (despite my initally loving the laundrette outside Tesco’s, it turns out they’re always breaking down). Then collecting them and taking more. Because of where we live, you have to drive to the laundrette, there’s no bus service or walking distance type ones. So! It feels pretty amazing to be able to do our own washing. Thankyou God for a man who is very practical and able!

So, I was talking to Chris and said how good it was and how little things make a huge difference and he said “well, it’s the things we take for granted isn’t it? There’s a blog there….” I then asked him if he wanted to write it, to which he replied no, I’m too busy. So I’m writing it.

Things we (or rather I, so I’m not generalising) take for granted:

Double glazing and solid doors that don’t blow a gale through them.

Curtain poles either up or able to be put up (the top of the upstairs windows are very close to the ceiling with it being a dormer). So currently, only one window covering up and held up by a garden cane.

nice view!

Washing and drying facilities (now sorted!…yippeeeee)

A bath/shower/bathroom – we have a sink and a toilet, very much looking forward to a bath. The feeling when we get one will be whoooopeeeeeee.

our bathroom at the moment.

This leads us onto waste disposal as of the toilet kind – we have a septic tank. This is normal here but is very new to us and needs checking out and maintaining.

Waste disposal as in of the rubbish kind. It is extremely easy in England to get rid of any rubbish, it is not easy here. We now pay monthly to have bins, they are collected and emptied every two weeks, you pay an additional fee for the weight, but they are very strict on what goes into their bins. How you’re supposed to get rid of normal glass or lightbulbs is currently a mystery to me. Glass bottles have to go into bottle banks, the waste collectors don’t collect glass. We think we are going to hire a skip when we have the windows done and just put everything into that, then hopefully problem solved. There were some old windows left here and quite a bit of other stuff that we need to get rid of. The only other options are either go north with it or have a big bonfire..

Health care/dental care/Hospitals etc. Healthcare here is private, you have to pay to go to the doctors and hence no NHS dentists (although the dentists was a lot cheaper than I was expecting and the one I got was brilliant). I applied for a medical card and for some reason it said we were not entitled even though Chris is not working, so I still need to work that one out. The kids should get an under 6 medical card.

Benefits – Don’t get me started on bureaucracy…. to get a PPS number for the children we had to get a letter saying our kids were resident and show their birth certificates…To get child benefit…you have to do exactly the same thing separately and do a paper application because I haven’t been invited to apply (if I had, I could do it online). i waited for a password to come through the post in order to verify my online account to be told I couldn’t apply online.

Places/groups to go to.

Shops to walk to.

Cleanliness – burning coal is dirty…no other word for it, everything within a day within the immediate area seems to develop a thin coating of blackness. We are getting an oil range installed in about two weeks, this will be so good.

Local ways/culture – we may think when we live somewhere like Derbyshire that there are no particular local ways or culture but I’m telling you there is and it is quite comforting when you know how people generally are.

Storage space – there will be some eventually, it’s just difficult at the moment, we are all sleeping in one bedroom and the other is a storage facility. Our room is lovely though, here’s a corner of it:

I’m sure there are plenty of other things but I’m going to leave it at that for now. That’s plenty. It is not meant to be a moaning/feel sorry for me list, but rather looking at what we have and realising it at the time, rather than realising afterwards!

What you soon realise too after moving is that wherever you live, there are people who love it but also tons of people spouting about how it’s gone to the dogs/not like it used to be/blah blah blah. That doesn’t seem to change wherever you are!

I want to do what God tells me to do and I so often fail, but I love, love, love, the following verses:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Words to live by – God is always dependable.

I feel especially at the moment with the whole Brexit palaver, border issues and so on, it is so easy to moan and groan and go on and lecture and ponder and slag people off, wherever you are. But wouldn’t it be a lot better to pray for our leaders? I’m going to try anyway.

There’s a lot of evil and horrible things happening in the world at the moment and it is good for your soul to look at the good things and be thankful (and pray about the bad things). The bad things do need facing and tackling and honesty is required about them being evil. Especially I feel, the recent change of abortion laws in New York and the UK trying to go the same way and also of course, abortion being introduced into Ireland. But! practicing looking at what is good can only benefit us and charge us up in the right way to then tackle the issues.

I just want to add onto the end of this, I miss you my friends and family, I miss you more than I thought I would. So love to you all. Just to also reassure you too – I am also very glad we have come here.

Snow, snow, everywhere!

I’ll be honest. I haven’t really felt like writing anything since the last post. It was very refreshing to write honestly and was enough for at least a few days! God is the best thing that has ever happened to me and it feels good to share that.

We got our stuff delivered almost a week ago now. It went well really, better than we thought it it would. The removals men worked really quickly and were lovely. We’ve got one bedroom set up properly now (with beds!) for all of us and its lovely, very cosy and has a nice feel. The living room is also set up for now. It’s lovely having a couple of almost normal rooms. The rest of the house is quite crowded really as we have a lot of things and as of yet not much storage. That will change in the future. So we’re trying to keep that in mind. It’s easy to get wound up if we let ourselves and it isn’t worth it.

it’s snowed! We woke up this morning to quite a surprising amount of snow.

Chris was quite excited because it meant he could go out in his nobbly tyred jeep. The windows man was coming to quote us today and got to Ballinaglera village and then Chris went and picked him up for the short journey to us. I was impressed! Nothing was stopping him trying to get here! He’s coming back next week with the fitter to measure up and then we will hopefully get a date. New windows should make the place quite a bit warmer, which will be great!

There’s a lot on my mind at the moment!

I find writing a blog quite easy and enjoyable in some ways and not in others. I enjoy it, I find it quite therapeutic in a lot of ways, I find it difficult sometimes to discern just what I should write (and not write) and in how much depth. I have a lot of depth… I also love that it is a record of our journey and what God is doing with us and our lives.

Photo by Nextvoyage on Pexels.com

Writing as I feel is required and being truthful can be quite difficult when I start thinking about the readers and unless I’m vigilant I can start tailoring content so I have it easy, just get approval and write things people want to hear. I get that, I do, we all want to hear nice things. It’s just that was not the aim when I started this blog. The aim was to be open, honest, truthful and vulnerable (as well as quite comical at times). I wanted it to help people who may be thinking of doing similar things, to be an encouragement whilst being open and to portray God in a real way to people who do not know Him.

I have also not really had time nor the energy to actually go into much depth recently about how this time has been for us individually and as a family. It has been exciting at times and new and a blessing, but also stressful, new and speaking for myself, sometimes terrifying. We all find different things frightening and strangely, probably naively, I didn’t think moving here would bother me. I thought it would be exciting and new and that I would just throw myself into it. But in many ways I have been scared because it is so new, and I have frequently felt very anxious and stressed. I am very imaginative and I have to keep a firm grip on my thoughts and imagination, otherwise I get carried away…Bert and Ernie ing as Chris would say (because of a clip that he remembers from Sesame Street).

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Escalation is what it means! Thinking something and then moving onto something else and then something else and then the whole world blows up.

Strangely, this has been good for me, although uncomfortable. I’ve had to get with God, to do as he says frequently “do not fear” and the only way I’ve been able to do this is by spending time with him and reading his word and then the situation changes almost without me realising. God makes me loving and kind, without Him, I am nothing, I have nothing. Thankfully, He is always with me because of Jesus and no matter what I think or feel he is always with me. He has made me (and anyone else who gives their lives to Him) a promise that He will never leave me nor forsake me and that is HUGE. Think about it, God who made you, who knows every hair on your head, who knows your thoughts before you think them, who knows absolutely everything about you…Loves you and will never leave you. He forgives you every sin ever, past present and future and does not change His mind.

God loves you. He also loves me. Jesus died for you. He died for me too. Jesus rose again for you so you can have new life with God. So can I and I have.

Thankyou.

Perfect love casts out fear. Now that I find, is true. Again, I repeat, try Him.

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Getting started on the changes (maybe/possibly soon)

We’ve decided to stop messing about and Chris got serious today about getting in touch with people and getting quotes and organising work to be done. A fella came from a place called H & F and quoted us for a Stanley range and heating supply and fit. We’ve changed our minds again…and gone for the oil fired range (instead of solid fuel) that also heats the radiators and water now. So we are going to go ahead with that, we just need to get an electrician in first and also get an oil tank set up outside.

We took the chimney breast covering down and unfortunately it wasn’t a stone chimney breast but concrete rendering,

So after we get the range installed we are going to get it all plaster boarded. At least the stone covering did actually need removing in order to get to the chimney and check it out properly. (I also didn’t like it at all). The chimney also needs lining, which H & F will also do.

Chris was on a roll! He then arranged for an electrician to come next week and rang up another company too, to get a quote for new windows (which are really needed, the bedroom one is pretty rotten in places). We may have managed to get an oil tank too and possibly someone to build a stand for it. (Thanks to a friend we’ve made since we got here).

We had some snow, the day after the last blog:

but it didn’t last very long, I think there’s more in Derbyshire at the moment than here. It was very pretty though, J keeps saying he wants to build a snowman, but we haven’t managed it yet. It has definitely got colder, but we keep the fire going and the radiators warm and all is well.

We’ve finally got the kids PPS numbers, the doc wrote a slightly sarcastic letter to the PPS office (which made me (not so secretly now) smile), but we still got them. So that’s a plus! It means we can now apply for medical cards, child benefit and maybe get J a pre-school place.

Finally! My tooth has been filled, no root canal, although she said there was a chance I would still need one and that I am apparently now more prone to abscess development. But more than a full day later and I am still pain free. Praise Jesus. So here’s hoping it stays that way. They were ever so good, got me in really quickly, explained everything well and weren’t as expensive as I feared they may be (as dentists are all private over here I think). Hopefully that episode is over, lesson learnt…don’t wait two months when having tooth pain… Go straight away!

I’ve never had a dentist that fits you in quite easily and quickly and without fuss before. Quite a nice experience in a weird way.

 

And hello from us!

Hello and welcome to the 2019 blog! When I think about life a year ago, it was just so different. I don’t think we even had a clue at that point that we’d actually be moving, never mind to a different country!

J’s birthday last year.

We’re doing things slowly at the moment, getting a bit of a routine going, looking for what grants we may be able to get on the house. There are definitely some for insulation, which is great. We are frequently discussing and planning the best way to do the cottage up, there are a lot of contrasting ideas when you look online, but we’re getting there.

Our things haven’t come yet, which is a bit testing, as I would absolutely love a bed, not just a mattress and also my living room rug would be great to have! But it is temporary and they will be here. We just aren’t sure when yet. What I have realised is that I don’t actually miss most things just mainly the settee etc, rug, stereo, beds, storage for clothes and the pushchair.

Chris has now cleared the moss off the roof and cleaned and repaired the guttering.

There he is! He’s also cleared the path surrounding the house.

Everything done makes such a difference.

The laminate flooring in the bathroom and dining room has now gone in order to dry it all out so it can then be tiled at a later date.

We’ve also just ordered a de-humidifier, which by all accounts should help too.

So, life moves on, there’s a lot to do, both in the cottage and outside and getting my head round that it all doesn’t have to happen immediately is sometimes difficult! I never realised I liked immediacy so much! But it is a good exercise for me, learning to wait and be still is good.

Goodbye for now.

Cathy

Post script

As a post script to the previous post (a bit of a delayed post script), about half an hour or so after I had written it there was a knock on the door and one of our new neighbours had brought some biscuits and cake round as a Christmas gift. Another of our neighbours also did similar on Christmas Day, such lovely gestures, which were really appreciated.

We’ve managed to get broadband now and it works really well so it should be easier for me to get things sorted now. There’s still a fair bit to sort, the kids need PPS numbers but I need to get an official letter off a doctors or a school saying they need one before they will issue them. I need the numbers before I apply for child benefit or medical cards too.

Christmas was good in general. Different, but good. I managed to cook a ham in our little oven (which we would be lost without) and we had our dinner, it was lovely. We went for a walk and messaged and spoke to relatives. It went very quickly really.

Christmas day, J in our field.

our littlest elf.

On Boxing Day (otherwise known as St Stephens day in Ireland) we went for a walk towards a mass rock nearby. Mass rocks are apparently where Catholics gathered and used as an altar when it was difficult/impossible for them to meet in public (mid 17th century). We aren’t sure whether we saw a mass rock (we need to find out where they actually are), but it was a gorgeous walk.

It’s a bit of a quiet/adjustment period for us at the moment but I think it will soon get busy, so we had better make the most of it!

Yesterday at Drumshanbo.

If I don’t post before..Happy New Year. May God bless you all in every way – The father of lights, in whom there is no darkness.

Counting your blessings

It’s getting a bit fraught here, on occasion. It’s quite difficult getting to grips with knowing things will be there and done, but having to wait. Such as, no shower or bath, no washing machine, a dusty, coaly kitchen (I am actually really looking forwards to having central heating…ssshhhh..) No dependable internet and lots of people/companies to get in touch with. (Lots of other things too).

^ the fire in the kitchen that Chris has heroically kept going almost non stop since we got here.

Take yesterday, the cat came back the other day, after being missing for a week and a half, which we were over the moon about. However, on going to Chris’s suitcase to find him some trousers… I smelt a funny smell… yes, the cat had peed over quite a few of the clothes.

So, change of plan, laundrette… then, on the way, littlest seems to have developed car sickness and vomited big style over himself. Then I forgot to put his clothes in with the washing and had to hand wash them at home.

Then, on the way back, it turns out the eldest had a little accident on his car seat and also soaked the back seat of the car… so… again… soaking and hand washing covers in a bucket and then attempting to dry them. I need to see this as comical otherwise I may cry 😂.

Then there’s the fact, because littlest is still crawling, all his clothes get filthy really quickly (as in in the space of less than an hour) because the kitchen floor is flagged and we’re currently using coal. It all adds up.

The little things start to get to you, but then you go outside and it’s …and relax…. even though it’s wet and a little chilly (not too bad though). The scenery and the area we’re in is beautiful.

Also, there are so many blessings in our lives. There really are. We have a home for crying out loud! I just keep having to actively look at them and thank God for them every minute of every day. He is so present here with us, but I need to spend each day thanking him and acknowledging his presence, because it is wonderful here but it is also hard. I know some people don’t want to hear that, but it is. Things being hard however, is not a wrong thing, it is how you change and grow and learn to depend on God and his provision.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23.

Thank you God for your love. Thank you that Christmas is about the birth of your beloved son Jesus, not about us. Thank you that we can look at you and “all is well”.