Category: Shetland

The story so far – August 2018!

Hi. I thought I would put together a bit of a summary of what has happened this year and what is currently happening.

March/April 2018 – we saw a farm/smallholding for sale on an Orkney Island and on further looking realised that property was fairly cheap in this area. We travelled to Orkney at Easter for a week (Chris had his birthday there) and viewed it and a few other houses. None were quite what we wanted but it was a great experience, we had never been in that part of the country before. We also realised it was a completely different lifestyle there, to where we currently are and! that it was doable!

We carried on looking online, monitoring the Orkney area property sites and then just on a whim decided to look at Shetland. We saw an advert for a croft and house, owner occupied, which is a definite bonus. It looked lovely but as we had not yet sold our house we thought there was no point in even looking.

May 2018 – The croft had a closing date advertised of 31st May, we resigned ourselves to the fact that it had gone.

June 2018 – Our house sold, as in went under offer whilst they did/do all the necessary stuff as in survey, searches etc etc. A cash offer so we were presumptive in thinking it would go through quickly.

The croft came back on the market as it had not sold.

We really liked the croft in Shetland, so we booked Chris and his dad onto the overnight ferry from Aberdeen and arranged for them to go and view it, which they did and on coming back and discussing it, we decided to put an offer in via a solicitor.

We also went on holiday to Orkney again for a week, the original plan was to view houses again, but we didn’t think we needed to and also, there wasn’t really anything going we thought was right. We had been spoiled as the land on the croft was quite extensive. Before, we might have settled for a detached bungalow and a plot of land around it, now we had our eyes set on more.

The survey was carried out on our house.

July 2018

Our offer went in to the seller’s solicitor’s at the beginning of July. In the Scottish system (or Shetland) the offer is an actual document, not just an offer.

On the 6th July we received an email saying our offer was acceptable in principle, so we rejoiced!

Chris had an encounter with God which was very powerful and thought God was telling him he would give us the croft. We are now wondering if he meant something slightly different, a different place, a different timing maybe.

But! the very next day we then also we received word that our buyer was now unsure whether to continue with the purchase of our house because of the survey. He decided to send a builder around to have a look and quote him a price for damp proofing.

A builder came round and seemed very positive, then we didn’t hear anything, we presumed no news was good news about selling.

August 2018

We didn’t hear anything on the croft until the 2nd of August when we got an email marked urgent and a requested date of entry being the 31st August (or another mutually agreed date), which was a shock because we had heard nothing for just under a month. When I said we could not yet really give a date because our completion date had not yet been given. The seller of the croft withdrew his acceptance of our offer. On that same day.

The positive thing about this is that we contacted our buyer who confirmed the sale of our house was still going ahead and that they were just starting the searches.

Future…

So, here we are, a potted history of our moving story so far. We are now looking a bit further afield, possibly at Southern Ireland, whilst still keeping an eye on what is going on in Shetland, Orkney and the Highlands. We thought about France, but Chris would need to find work there and we think there would be more chance in Scotland or Ireland.

Also, we keep pushing, but we don’t want to go anywhere that we are not meant to be. So we keep asking God and seeking him but also pushing those doors and seeing what happens.

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

So we are moving out at some point, but currently don’t have a home to go to. So there is much more of the story to come. I am looking forward to this story unravelling every day and us learning to listen and be with God all the way. He has good plans…

faith and love

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

We keep thinking what do we do now?

I have to admit I keep thinking wait… which sounds mad at the moment because we will need somewhere to live…but I still keep thinking wait (for the time being) and I am wondering if it is God speaking.

We have been looking at other places to buy, there is nothing in Shetland currently that we are really interested in, or Orkney. There was one in Orkney that was nice, but it has gone under offer and it wasn’t really what we wanted. We have also been looking at some other places in totally different parts of the country and pushing a door or two. I love looking at property adverts. I love looking around homes as well, but unfortunately the ones we are looking at online are too far away to view at the moment.

So…what to do?… I think lean on the Lord and wait on Him. Keep pushing a few doors and listen.

I remembered today, one item that was on my bucket list “lean totally and utterly into God and come to know him more and more and deeper and deeper” – be careful what you wish for crossed my mind (haha). But it is the only way for me. Jesus is the only way for me.

 

 

 

Saturday morning is quite nice really, even though we don’t yet have a farm…

I have got up early with Mr Toddler, the baby is asleep and so is the husband. I’ve been searching properties and feeling a bit sorry for myself.  But also a bit excited about the fact the we don’t know where we are going. Is that weird? I like it in a lot of ways. We will keep looking and hopefully the right place will come up. In God we trust (often after trying to do everything our own way, haha), but He has plans we do not know about, they’re also more than a million times better/different than ours.

Although I have to admit I have had my moments of looking around where we live and at the allotment and thinking “what are we doing?!!” we have a nice place to live, somewhere fairly child friendly and an allotment just over the road. Then I think, but I don’t want to stay here, we want somewhere new. So new it will be.

Well, I’m going to start thinning down on our stuff today and hopefully spend some good time with the children. Josh is currently laid on the floor playing with some sort of construction set, watching tv.

It feels a bit weird that I’ve put in the opening page that this is hopefully the story of our family moving from Derbyshire to Shetland (or Orkney originally) when we actually don’t know that now. It is not the end of this story though…..

Loads of good has come out of it so far, Chris and I have travelled to Orkney twice (when normally we would not have even contemplated it and have never been before), Chris and his dad have been to Shetland. We have spoken to people we would not normally have spoken to, found out and researched information we would not normally have done and realised we were/are prepared to go into a life which would be totally different to the one we currently have. It has been quite an exciting year so far.

We may also have a gap where we don’t have a house to live in, when our house sale goes through. That feels strange…but freeing in a way, because we will have the money to buy somewhere without any hitches hopefully. Albeit not a massive amount, but some. It is so strange that we could have bought a croft on Shetland for the money we get for our terraced house but if we wanted to live in the Peak District we would need a lot more to even get a 2/3 bed house.

God bless you one and all! Time to get on with life here for the time being.

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well, we are now looking for somewhere new…

Unfortunately it seems it is now official. The acceptance of our offer on the croft has been withdrawn and they have accepted someone else’s offer instead. So! onto the new…God has good plans for us and we will try to follow him. I think he may surprise us..watch this space…

We are still selling, and we will still be moving somewhere…we just don’t know where yet…It would be stupid to lie and say we are absolutely ok about this. We are very disappointed, because it seemed so firmly in place and it went from we are moving in a few weeks at dinner time yesterday to being told we had lost it in the evening. So a bit of processing is needed. I would still like a smallholding/croft, and so would Chris, and the children but we will see what happens.

Thank you God for loving us and never, ever leaving us. That is the best thing ever. Thank you for family and friends, thankyou that you are in charge.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

(Ephesians 3:20-21)

 

What on earth is going on?!!

1205 hrs.

So! Suddenly contacted today by our Shetland solicitor, the seller is  wanting to go through with the entry date to the croft being the 31st August. Brilliant news, but we haven’t even exchanged contracts on our house, that is only in about 4 weeks and we need the cleared funds to pay to our solicitor 2 days prior to this. So I contacted our English conveyancing people, they say they cannot do anything, they have sent everything off to our buyers solicitors so now Chris has rung the buyer to find out if there is any chance of completing in the near future. I feel so so stressed, it’s unbelievable. I couldn’t really ring him, Mr Toddler and baby were making more noise than at a football match. So we are awaiting our buyer ringing back….Please God can it all work together.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

ah God please.

1245 hrs

The buyer rang Chris back and was very helpful and is going to pursue whether they can get a completion date on our house.  He is going to ring Chris back when he knows more.

1745 hrs

Phone call from our Shetland solicitor, the owners of the croft have pulled out of the sale of the croft to us because we cannot give a concrete date yet. They thought we were cash buyers (which we will be once our sale has completed, but we definitely have not got it before this).  However, if we can get a date, she thinks we may possibly still be able to buy. We will see. Awaiting a call from our buyer. Hopefully soon. Hopefully with a date.

This is all very, very stressful.

We may be back to the drawing board…

or we may still be going ahead…

Don’t know….

 

 

 

 

Things adults say..

Just for the laugh I thought I would spend a day or so writing down the things we say (or mainly I say) to our children…so I did.  Although it has dawned on me that the things may just be negative as in “don’t do that”. (I do spend a lot of my day telling them good things too).

It has also dawned on me that it would be far more entertaining to write down some of the stuff J (Mr Toddler) says. It’s brilliant. He was talking about Jesus having a cup of tea and a fruit shoot earlier and then that the four cotton buds he had planted at the allotment would grow and become a plum tree. Love him. He also said today that his favourite flowers are purple ones because they grow in the dark.

Chris spoke to our Shetland solicitors today, apparently they have just received a load of paperwork they have to go through and they are then going to send us some paperwork to peruse! So it is apparently all in motion!

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A day in the life

“stop hitting your brother” (classic)

Calm down! (statement guaranteed to never calm anyone down)

Put it down, don’t wave it around…

Sit closer to the table!

Elbow!

Knee!

Not against the telly! You’ll break it if you do that!

Don’t stand on my foot please

Come away from the television

Come awaaaay from the television

Do not put your feet in his face

Don’t push him

Stop sitting on him

Stop!

Stop doing that!

Why are you crying?

What’s wrong?

Do you want the toilet? (repeated 50 times daily, I must be really irritating)

Pancakes? (positive one)

Put it (sweets/batteries/food off floor that someone else has left/50th piece of fruit in a day/food in shop) down

she’s gone to fetch your bun (He was crying because he thought it had disappeared – aw)

Don’t let the dog out

Stay in the yard!

Try not to kick me

Stand still!

That is not a drum, put it down (the PS3), get off it please

No, you can’t have another tube of smarties

No, we don’t have lollies for breakfast

Don’t stamp on your brother, aww that’s nice, yes be nice…stop treading on his hand!!

He is not a naughty baby!

You have to sleep in your own bed

Stay in the garden

Noooo, stop, that is not edible

Do not hurt your brother – I know he is wrecking your tower – I’m sorry

pleeeeasse sit still so we can get your shoes and socks on, it’s already taken an hour to try to get out of the door

Don’t tread in the poo (at least it isn’t don’t eat the poo)

Don’t lick the table/wall/window/mirror

Stop pulling the flowers up – aw is that for me, thank you!

Don’t wave that around in here, go outside (dog ball throwing thing)

Hold on to the pushchair, this road’s busy…Hold on to the pushchair…HOLD ON TO THE PUSHCHAIR

Yes you can walk on the wall

Listen! look at me… Listen!

I love you. You are amazing.

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Tomorrow is not a certainty.

You know we all have thoughts that jump out of nowhere, they are often thoughts that are not even particularly unusual but they make us think.  I suddenly thought last night – today could be my last day here! I didn’t really believe it, but it is true, none of us know when our time is up in this life/body. So that got me thinking, so it could be said don’t sweat the small stuff, live for today, do what you want… blah blah blah…. or it could alternatively be said that the small stuff is extraordinarily important because that is what is important to people on an everyday basis in our lives.

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Strangely things like moving house, looked at from this perspective, actually don’t really matter. I think it’s personal things, caring for others, looking out for others, loving others, which is important.

It is not just important to us, it is important to God. He wants us to steward this life well.

One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. (Luke 16:10)

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ (Matt 25:21)

give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:38)

He is a generous God. This gave me a little perspective I think, over the move. We really want it, but we tend to want it on our terms and in our timing (i.e quickly), but it’s not that important.  What is more important is how we do it and how we do life in general. God’s perspective is different to ours again. “give and it will be given to you” and he also talks a lot about helping people in need, about being there with them and doing nothing out of selfish ambition.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Phillippians 2:3-4)

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:16-18)

The only way any of us can do this is through meeting Jesus, making him Lord over all of our lives and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Then we will be changed, jealousy and selfish ambition will be changed (sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly) into love and compassion.

I pray for this process to continue and for our perspective to come from you Lord Jesus. Our perspective is often off, yours is not. We are and will keep asking for your wisdom.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:5-6)

 

 

 

 

 

Before we leave Derbyshire..

I have been creating a bucket list! (or a wish list)

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Photo by hitesh choudhary on Pexels.com

Things to do before leaving….one of them is J’s (which I’m now calling Mr Toddler). I think you can probably guess which item.

As we do them I’m going to edit and put a line through 😀

BUCKET LIST!!

Go to the Ritz Cinema in Belper Haven’t done this – but we are going out on our wedding anniversary which is good enough for me. I would have booked to go here, but the only film at the right time is predator and I am not watching that again. (edit 6/10/18).

Go river paddling (18/8/18)

Go up to Northumberland

Take Chris to Clumber Park because he doesn’t think he’s ever been. (18/8/18) Now been multiple times 6/10/18. 

Matlock Farm Park (because I’ve never taken J)  (29/8/18)

Canoeing day course! (might not get to do this! depends on circumstances) – not done, no longer relevent

Make a rocket

family trip to Nando’s (6/10/18)

Powerboat level 2  (For Chris, again depending on circumstances) – not done, no longer relevent

Get finances straight

Get rid of a shed load of stuff – streamline…. (work in progress but getting there 6/10/18)

Make a humongous 1st birthday cake for littley and celebrate well (21/8/18)

For someone we know/encounter to be saved by Jesus, whether it is before or after we move – edit 6/10/18 😀 (praying this)

To manage to have a date with Chris (may have to be a day time one) – planned for our wedding anniversary.

Take J on a train

lean totally and utterly into God and come to know him more and more and deeper and deeper – this is a process of before, during and after the move (edit 6/10/18).

see my friend Caroline (18/8/18) and I know Chris has a few people to see

To have a conversation every time we go out with someone we don’t know. – I do this most if not every time we go out anyway (6/10/18)  

I’m going to add more as I think of them too…and then cross them out when done…although the God one is ongoing and won’t be crossed out!

edit 7th October 2018, I’ve changed the list a little, deleted a couple of things, changed others – not going to add any more things as we really just want to move now and it seems a bit pointless adding any more to a bucket list! Bring on Ireland!

I love lists…weirdo….

 

Not even a ripple

That’s how Chris described the moving situation this week. Nothing, nothing at all. I’ve heard this is normal but it is frustrating. If we actually knew whether an offer accepted in principle was just an offer accepted or not, it would be fine…I’m guessing (as someone kindly commented earlier in the week) we’ll suddenly hear from everyone at some point and it will all go through.

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This photo was taken when we went to Carsington Water this week. It was a beautiful day. It was the day when I felt stressy and serious and we went out. We were VERY hot but it was a good day. We took a picnic again, my boy loves his picnics and we built things out of big stones and fended off geese.

Geese that seemed fierce but then weren’t
This was the nest we made for the geese

So I guess we just keep on looking up at our maker and seeking him and keep on keeping on. I love Psalm 27, I read it a lot when I was first saved. It is very calming and beautiful. You have said, “Seek my face.”My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek. Always Lord, always.

As a side note I’m quite interested in keeping some geese, I will have to read more about them and what types there are. I think they are good for field rotation with the sheep and keeping the worm count down too. Will get back to you when I’ve read more!

 

 

The heaven’s declare…

Regarding our house sale, the builder fella came around yesterday to check what needs doing damp proofing wise, he was really friendly and seemed realistic and honest.  So we’re waiting to hear that all is well and our sale is going through.

Not heard anything on the croft since we heard our offer had been accepted in principle, I’ll feel a lot happier once the advert actually goes under offer though. I contacted them  again yesterday to find out what happens next. Whether it officially goes under offer at some point or whether it is because it has been accepted. It is the in principle bit I’m not sure about.

I’m really, really enjoying life on the allotment at the moment, there are turnips growing, sprouts, cabbages (only a few because they got eaten even though they are netted), runner beans flowering, summer and winter squash growing, courgettes, sweetcorn plants, onions, spinach, a few beetroot, lettuce and spring onions. One reason I’m really enjoying it is it seems it is the first year since we got the allotment that I’ve really been able to make a difference and do a lot of the work. It’s because I was pregnant with our toddler when we first got it and since then had the old post natal depression/anxiety /lack of get up and go and then another baby. Life has been busy! But busy is not necessarily bad and now the two boys generally play for a while whilst I do some work. I also LOVE going on with them, being outside is good, for them and for me and our relationship.

The little one has now started bum shuffling (he has got quite fast) and I leave him in one place and look up and he’s in a veg bed with something interesting like mud held between his finger and thumb, on it’s way to his mouth, like the finest delicacy.  Mr toddler is also starting to take an interest in the names of plants and of taking care of the beds and doing things like hoeing etc. I just have to watch he doesn’t dig my plants up. It’s brilliant this year because we never actually got round to planting any potatoes so he has basically got his own patch to play on/dig up/roll around in/learn to garden/whatever he likes.  He has been loving it.

 

We still have our four hens on the allotment too, they’re about 14 months old now, only three are laying at the moment, but one does look like it has been going through a moult, so maybe she will start again. We are going to need to rehome them very soon (it looks like we have found a home for them). I love having chickens, but I think it would be a bit much to take them 700 ish miles with us.

 

We can’t wait to get moved and start getting set up, I love the thought of getting our new chickens there, we will be able to have a rooster too! (we can’t where we are at the moment) and maybe ducks and sheep to start with. We are planning on putting chickens on the vegetable garden to clear it over autumn/winter (depending when we get there) and then sorting that out next year. It is walled but the wall has disappeared under grass, so hopefully we can get the wall uncovered and the house will have a walled garden again.

We have a dream/wish list in relation to the croft, one of which is a large polycrub in which we would be able to grow just about any veg/fruit/flowers we want. The problem in Shetland as far as I am aware is the wind and so a polycrub would be ideal. The only thing is the cost of the polycrub, we are praying that we will be able to get one.

We are also planning/wanting to plant some trees which should be suitable for the area, we have been researching a little on what would be the best options for the area – some of the suitable trees are downy birch and hazel and we should hopefully be able to use these somewhere on the croft as a wind break/shelter as well as having the joy of actually having trees there. There aren’t many on Shetland from what I have heard.  I have seen this week that the woodland trust sell landowner packs of trees and there is a pack called wild wood tree pack which looks ideal, even more so because the ones that are out of stock are not ones we wanted and the ones they are offering are the ones we wanted. So getting and planting these would be so good to do. It’s good that Chris and I are so on the same page with this really, we love planning this sort of thing, the gardens, the land, the trees.

When Jesus was first making himself obvious to me, I had been asking him whether he was real because I was desperate and did not know where to go with my life, I felt like I had no hope. I suppose everything had been made clear to me that “things” and even people just don’t cut it and hiding yourself in things like drinking don’t really work. I can remember driving into the countryside, specifically from Chesterfield into Ashover and praying the Lord’s prayer because it was all I knew regarding prayer really and begging Him that if he really was there to help me and I looked around and the fields and trees and skies had suddenly become brighter and just spectacular, it was in technicolour. So one of the ways he showed me himself was via the outdoors. It was just awesome.

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The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork (Ps 19:1).

I’ve seen some interesting news in the last few weeks as well, Shetland is going to be homing some Syrian refugees, I feel really excited about this, we are still involved with the world! we are not cut off! I have to admit I have been wondering what sort of stuff we will be doing there and dreaming of what God may have for us to do. Dreaming is good, dreams can become reality, especially when you pray them, especially if it is actually God giving you those dreams…

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

I love this prayer. When you actually look at the words and what they mean, it is just brilliant.

(I don’t generally do the whole olde speak thy/thou thing, but I do with this prayer, because it is how I learnt it when I was young, and I like it. But you don’t have to, you can talk to God however you are comfortable, he loves you to talk to him).

See ya!