Finding Our Love Nest

The prospect of being able to say “our baby was made in China”, or Egypt or any other of the foreign places we went to was something that I found enticing.  Stupid really now that I think about it.  I had no real idea of what being pregnant was like.  I didn’t even know how long it took for a foetus to grow in the womb.  I new it was nine months but when I heard people talking in weeks, I was completely lost.  Just another reason why I think I married someone wonderful with numbers.  The language of mathematics confuses me.

When Jim and I returned from overseas we lived with my parents.  The plan was to stay their briefly until we found our feet.  Soon after we had obtained jobs and I had started my degree at university, we purchased a little love nest.  Our first home!  It was a lovely little three bedroom home in Summerhill, Tasmania.  We had been looking for a little while at quite a few houses but nothing really grabbed us.  Jim’s aunty - a real estate agent – mentioned that she had a little home on the market that was worth having a look at.  We walked through the front door and immediately I noticed the apricot-coloured walls.  There was also a hint of cigarette fragrance in the home and that certainly was not a selling point for me.  As we parted company with the agent, we both mentioned how we felt really good about the property.  I could even imagine us in the home and what we could do to make it just that little bit “Stancombe”.  The colour of the walls was the first thing that had to go.  We discussed the price together, prayed about it and offered a lazy $20,000 less.  We figured that it was worth a shot.  What did we have to lose? 

Jim’s aunty giggled at the offer and was close to not going to passing it in.  I believe at this stage it is important to note that my darling husband is… well… some have said “tight”.  I like to say “frugal”.  Jim and I were in Melbourne for the weekend when we received a call from Aunty Kathy to say that our offer had been accepted.  Jim’s frugality came through for us and we became the proud owners (in partnership with the bank), of our own little brick and tile house.

We were blessed to be the recipients of the $7000 first home owner’s grant.  The deal with that you had to live in the property for six months within the first year of purchasing it.  My parents were headed off in their campervan, bound for “the big island” to vacation for 5 or 6 months.  This was looking perfect for us.  The idea was that we would housesit for them, rent out our little home for 6 months (thus having someone else pay the mortgage for that period of time) and then we would move in.  Sounds ideal huh?  And truly it was.  Alas, my father took ill and on the day they were supported to catch the ferry to the mainland, he announced to my mother that he was “physically and emotionally not able to go”.  Having just leased our home we were stuck.  Stuck living with my mum and dad for six months.  Was it terrible?  No not really.  My life as a wife for this period of time was very cushy.  For anyone who knows my mother, they know that she is always busy.  She is a doer.  She washed for us, cooked for us and even ironed my husband’s work shirts.  I think if I’d have left the bed unmade she would have probably gone and done that for us too.  This was her way of saying “I love you”.  It had been this way my whole life with mum.  I do think a mission was the best medicine for me to grow up and learn to do things on my own.

There is more to these living arrangements.  Things got a little more crowded up on ‘The Hill’ at my parent’s abode.  My sister and her husband had just sold their home and were in the process of building a new family home on the acreage that adjoined my parent’s property.  As a side note here, I must confess that my favourite television program is an Australian drama titled “Packed to the Rafters”.  I mention that because The serieis centres around the characters Dave and Julie Rafter and their three children, Rachel, Ben and Nathan.  Season one begins on the eve of their 25th wedding anniversary.  The couple thinks that they are finally about to have the house to themselves.   But home is a very welcome refuge for their children and when unforseen problems loom, they return like a boomerang.  After Dave faces unemployment, Julie's father suffers a panic attack, son Nathan and daughter-in-law Sammy need a place to stay, daughter Rachel leaves her abusive boyfriend, and son Ben moves next door but continues to drop in, the household is 'packed to the rafters'.

Need I say more about where my sister, her husband and their three teenage daughters resided over the coming months.  I can identify somewhat with my favourite Australian drama.  In Genesis 2:24 we read: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh (emphasis added).  Let's just say that this scripture has more meaning to be now having lived through this 'packed to the rafters' situation.  Yes families are wonderful, they are central to God's plan for us, but I have learnt that when it is time to leave the nest, leave.  Tank goodness each one of us has an eternal perspective, and that even after this experience we still love each other and desire to be together forever.