Tranquillity in Turbulence

Where are we now❓

We are still very much in HOT Doha. 😅 The countdown is on! 31 days to go!

Turbulence

It was about to be full moon as we sat in silence on the low wall of the Corniche in the late afternoon sun and gazed gazing into the turbulent water of the bay. A scorching afternoon! What's that you say? Haha, yes, every afternoon in July is hot in Qatar. High 40s. But some afternoons are just worse. There was a sporadic puff of wind, but the water was turbulent because of the tidal force of the moon. It felt as if the moon had affected us too. 

It had been a turbulent day at the office for Andries; I had had to persuade him along for our daily walk, as he sat prepping for the next day’s training. Studies have shown that outdoor activities boost the immune system and lift one's spirit, so regardless of the weather, we try to get outdoors to expose ourselves to all those wonderful biodiverse organisms, to vitamin D from the sun, and to reboot our spirits. It had been a tough day for me too, trying to get my head around SEO optimisation. (That's the term used for playing your "cards" – tags and keywords – just right in the search engine algorithm game so that seekers of info are directed to your website. Aim? To get more visitors to your I-want-you-to-buy-my-product/service website. Yes, it's a thing. And yes, when you have a website, it matters.😊)

 

There is turbulence everywhere, isn't there? Covid-19 cases rising all over the world, with new virulent strains detected in Australia; new lockdowns looming on the horizon; mask-wearing making a return; yet another booster vaccine being touted as our salvation; the WHO warning us all about Monkeypox; a looming global recession; political upheaval in the West; war in Ukraine; further threats from Putin; rising crime levels in major cities of the world; a push for green/renewable energy causing turmoil and protests in some countries; airlines cancelling 1000's of flights … and on a more personal level, distress, as our friends and family, indeed, ALL South Africans, battle the ineptness and corruption causing darkness (in more ways than one) in their country. 

One could fill a page with all the current upheaval. It makes us all nervous.

image by johnhain from Pixabay

As I gazed into the water, Jesus' words came to my mind. It was a tall order. "Fear not", he said. Now, had he been sitting there with us that afternoon (He was, we simply forget), we would have taken it up with him and debated on exactly how one is supposed to get that right!

I then pondered the disciples sitting in that boat on the turbulent sea and along comes Jesus, walking on the water! Oh my! Awestruck once more, I gazed out over the water imagining what it must have been like for them (the dark of night must have made it even worse). Can you recall the first thing He said to them? It’s mind-blowing if you put yourself in that situation … after all, they were in the middle of a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Sea of Galilee, by immyung from Pixabay

He said, ‘Take heart [in other words take courage]; it is I. Do not be afraid.’ (Matt. 14 v 27. ESV)

Finding as many excuses as my frazzled brain allowed, I counteracted, ‘But Lord … look at the …’ and I proceeded to list predicaments of every sort. ‘How could one possibly not feel fearful?’

The response was like a lightning bolt, ‘Faith!’ And yet, it was a whisper into my soul. For the umpteenth time, He quietly reminded me that faith is a choice. It is 2 Timothy 1 v 7, maintaining a 'sound mind', aka self-discipline. In case you dispute that, here’s the NLT translation of a 'sound mind'… ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.’  It is a decision you make. Isaiah 7 v 9(b) says, , ‘Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.’ That was God speaking through Isaiah. It is listening for the Shepherd’s voice amidst the racket of howling wolves. It is James 4 v 7. It is looking at waves with different eyes, as Peter the disciple did for a short moment in time when he stepped out of the boat and walked towards Jesus. Tranquillity in turbulence.

A new (for me) hashtag was born. I immediately posted a memory on Instagram stories, thinking, this is a moment to remember. 

© Turbulent waters, Doha Corniche, by GB Photography

Arch enemies

Fear and anxiety. Our arch enemies. For us mortals, those two come calling as regular as clockwork, don’t they? A battle ensues, faith vs fear.

As we sat there that afternoon, the silence broken by the lapping water at our feet and the traffic behind us, we were both aware of the battle within. As drops of sweat ran into my eyes, I knew that some of them were not from the heat, but from a different kind of heat – the one when your spirit battles your mind. It is said that variations of “Do not fear” appear 365 times in the Bible. Once for every day of the year. 

Image by PoseMuse from Pixabay

God knew our natural inclination would be to fear. So, he counteracts with many promises and assurances from cover to cover of His Word. We simply choose not to take Him seriously. Of late, many of my daily devotionals and verse-of-the-day messages delivered this verse – Isaiah 41 v 10 ...

‘So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.’ (NIV)

In the Amplified Bible:

‘Do not fear [anything], for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, be assured I will help you; I will certainly take hold of you with My righteous right hand [a hand of justice, of power, of victory, of salvation].’ 

Tranquillity in turbulence, indeed! Isaiah was addressing the Israelites 700 years before Christ, assuring them that regardless of the Babylonian conquest 200 years later, God would take care of them. Although Isaiah’s message had a specific purpose, God’s Word in its entirety is alive and carries a contemporary message and example for us to follow. After seeing that verse pop out at me multiple times, I resolved to sit up and take notice. It’s set as a screen saver on one of our devices as a reminder to our stubborn turbulent minds. 

It’s a choice we make, faith. The only means of overcoming our arch enemy, fear. 

Over coffee later, we chatted and asked God yet again to make us 'firm' (tranquil) as we choose faith (in the present turbulence) with so much that can go so horribly wrong.   

Caravanning 24/7?

Before it was granted, we had resolved to register as house-sitters once the visa came through. This was so that we did not depend solely on our children for accommodation. We chose MindaHome and registered last month, hoping that we would find a house sitting while we wait for the van to be delivered. Learning how the platform works, I nosed around to see if there were any house-sits in the area near Gympie where we will initially live with our children. Lo and behold, there was one 15 mins from where they live, from mid-December to mid-January. I thought, ‘Wow! This would be perfect tranquillity’. We’d be off the roads and stationary during the high-holiday season, and able to spend Christmas and New Year with the kids. Wondering how we could grab the homeowners’ attention (since we did not have reviews as others had on the platform), I decided to write our profile description in poetry form. 😄 It starts off something like this …

Here we are, expats, and permanent nomads about to begin exploring your beautiful land.
We are non-smokers, active, healthy, and eager
to look after your property AND
your 4-legged furry or feathered family,
fastidiously!

Well, much to our surprise, we had our first house sitting secured within a week – the one near Gympie! They responded to our query. We chatted with them via the platform’s messaging system. Then our daughter paid them a visit to arrange and confirm. We will be looking after their property along with 5 French bulldogs. 😁

image by athree23 from Pixabay

We were amazed. (Andries will get to ride a mower to cut the 2-acre lawn!) Here comes some fun! 😄

Moe The Lawn GIFfrom Moe The Lawn GIFs

A few days later I noticed an ad on the platform for a house-sit up the coast from Gympie and put our names in. We were contacted the next day by the owners who, after a phone call, decided we were ‘fair-dinkum’ (Aussie slang for okay 😄). Bang! We had our 2^nd house sit for October to November taking care of an elderly staffy-x-dingo for a month. 

Then, around the same time, I noticed another ad for the same area for Nov, beginning just after the previous one. We put our names down. Voilá! They were happy with our profile and confirmed us as sitters, also for a few days short of a month. This time we’ll take care of 2 “teenager” boxers that the owner calls ‘boofheads’ “because they think they’re lapdogs”. 😂

image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

A week later a message popped up from the Mindahome platform, ‘Please will you house sit for us’. We checked out their message and it was from someone who had found our bio and had chosen us to sit for them. They live in a small rural town. This time for a 3-month period next year. No animals to care for, but apparently, cows may come grazing from time to time in the backyard. 😁 We said yes. Sounds like perfect tranquillity. 

There are hundreds of sitters on the platform and thousands of owners looking for sitters. Seems the Aussies love to travel. 😄 Sadly, we’ve had to re-negotiate a delivery date for the van to a month later than planned, because we aren’t going to be in the area to take delivery. And that’s okay! 

Image by MabelAmber from Pixabay

Caravanning 24/7 will be postponed for a few months. But if any of these are cancelled, at least we have the van to fall back on. We’re still amazed that we secured even one house sit! The periodical stability will help us adjust to our new country and give us a chance to explore each area too. (Blog posts will be more interesting!! 😆) Our expenditure will also be reduced at a time when Australia’s inflation is higher than in the last 20 years. Our Father’s provision is amazing.

Our website

As many of you know, our website is up and running. Please take a look around. We'd love to have you join our community. 

We’ve had a request for some pointers, so here goes ... 

• When you visit you will be asked to accept or set cookies. This is a legal requirement. By accepting you help us to track clicks and visits to the site. We will not sell your data or share it with unauthorised 3^rd parties. Cookies also apply your preferences each time you visit. We encourage all our visitors to take the time to read our Privacy Policy and User Agreement. 
• In the header are tabs to negotiate the site and a (very limited 🙄) keyword search field which will only search within the part of our blog posts that appear on the website. 
• In the footer below each page, you’ll find links to the privacy policy and user agreement on the left, and on the right a field where you can enter your email address to subscribe to our ‘Mailing List’. To put your mind at ease, I can assure you that these ‘mailings’ will be few and far between, probably only when a new blog post goes up. 😅
• On the ‘Home’ page you’ll see a link that says, “Where are we now?”. From next month, this link will take you to the website's blog/gallery page. This page is for site members only (mostly to have control over hackers, bots and spammers), so please join us on our site. We'd love to have you on board. 
• Also on the ‘Home’ page, you’ll see our Instagram (IG) feed. If you click on the ‘Join us on Instagram’ link/bar, you will be taken to our acc where you can choose to follow us. We will probably post more often on IG than anywhere else. (If you’re thinking about opening an IG account, it can be quite rewarding providing it is controlled – by not clicking on ads, choosing carefully who you want to ‘follow’, and by not allowing every Tom, Dan, and Harry/random odd stranger to ‘follow’ you.) IG is owned by the loathsome (in my opinion) Facebook. Oh right, they’ve rebranded, haven’t they? 🙄 They’re now called Meta. Same book, just a different cover! Unfortunately, there just isn’t a similar photo sharing app on the market that works as well.
• The ‘Gallery/Blog’ page holds a collection of our latest photos and a blog intro. When you click on the Gallery page you’ll see a message pop-up asking you to ‘Join our site as a member’. We made this member-based for various reasons, one being to have control over hackers, bots and spammers. Simply complete the form to create your own profile which you have total control over. This is why a password and username is required. No, we don’t get to see your password. ☺ We then receive a message asking us for approval and once that is done on our end, you will have access to the page. 
• Your profile -  Once you've joined our community and have your own profile, you are able to load a profile image if you wish, turn notifications on or off, and interact with other members. Just remember to 'log in' when you visit, and 'log out' again when you leave the site. This is done at the top right hand corner of the site. You can unsubscribe at any time. 

non-member view

member's view

• The ‘About Us’ page is info for visitors to our site. 😃 We are hoping to fund fuel in the tank by selling Sandy’s Essentials. The Sandy’s Essentials logo is a link which takes you to the product website. (Still very much in the construction phase. 😅) On this page too there will shortly be a link to the YouTube channel, ‘From my plank to yours’ which will focus on Cooking in a Van. When that goes live our members will get a notification. 
• The ’Contact Us’ page provides email, phone, or Facebook links, and a form, for questions or a chat. Yes, out of necessity we are planning a Facebook account. I created one for unDESERTED last month. At the end of an almost 2-hour session, I was notified that I had breached their rules and was instantaneously and unceremoniously locked out! I appealed, but they stood firm saying I was a spammer! 🙄 All because I had been attempting to follow all our friends and family as soon as I had finished creating the account. Now I dislike them even more! But, as an info professional, I must give credit where credit is due – their system is geared to knowing exactly who is creating an account. My second sin had been an attempt to make the name on the account AJSandy with ‘couple’ as gender! 😆 Lol. Ah well, lesson learned. In Australia we’ll have new telephone numbers, and we’ll create a new account. We’ve learned that in the vanning community Facebook is vital for safety reasons and to be able to contact towns up ahead for info.

That’s it for today. Whew! I hear you say. 😅  I know, right! How do I manage to make it so long? Sorry. 😖

We’ve just had the most unseasonal rainstorm ever … Doha was washed clean! Everything is sparkly and dust-free. For now at least.☺ 

Our thanks to all for stopping by. Until next time, cheers.

Be blessed. 🌼
 

Featured image: Turbulent water by Pexels from Pixabay

Gif: from Tenor 

Could it be God?

July 1. Stage 2 – an interim change.

Today is our first day of a two-month stay in this apartment hotel as we wait to depart from Doha after 21 years. Can someone tell me how it got to be July already? 😆 I think my brain got stuck in January … then suddenly it was March, and the wedding was upon us. And yes, we checked into Aus in April, but it’s all a blur since then. Where did May and June go? 😁 I have a theory…my brain tuned out so that it could cope only with what each day delivered. Right now, bone-tired, we have entered reset and recover mode. More like total reboot!

It is said that when you have a major life change in your latter years, your stress levels are through the roof. We all know about the Scale of Stress … there is the Perceived Stress Scale, developed in 1983, measured by answering questions regarding your feelings and thoughts in the past month. THAT would be a BLOWOUT for us. 🤯

 

Then there is the Holmes And Rahe Stress Scale, created in 1967, the one I think we are all mostly acquainted with, where 43 life events are given a rating. If you get a score of 300 or more you stand a chance of major health breakdown within the following 2 years, according to the American Institute of Stress. (To this we say, ‘But God …!’ 👆) No. 8 on the scale of stress is being fired – 47 points. (Ummm, 😬 does firing yourself count? 😅) Oh okay, no. No.10 then, retirement, with a scale of 45 points! (But what if you can’t really retire?) 😅 Then we have No’s 15 and 16 – a major business readjustment (like us, trying to start a new business in an economy racked with inflation), and a major change in financial state (zero income if Andries doesn’t get online training) with 39 and 38 points, respectively. Just recently No. 23 applied to us, adding 29 points to our scale with our son getting married. 

Image: Hendrik Steytler Photography

Along with that came the stress of his transfer-of-sponsorship application (before his visa expired in June) so that he could remain in Qatar when we leave, along with the complicated process to get their marriage registered within South Africa, The Philippines and in Qatar. 

No. 28 on the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, a major change in living conditions, checks in at 25 points and No. 32, a change in residence, with 20 points – for us it's first the downsize to this hotel apartment, then the move to Australia. Numbers 34, 35, 36… 38, 39, and 40 apply too… shall I carry on? Okay, okay, you get the picture. 😅 Our stress levels are through the roof. Lol. And there is the cause for the blur of passing months. 😅  

It feels as though we’ve been getting rid of stuff, packing up and living with chaos since November last year when we went to South Africa to clear out our storage crate. We watched car loads of our belongings being carted off.

"Why did you hang onto it?", I hear you ask.

Well, we were never sure that we would be granted the visa until it came through … and the stuff we held onto would’ve enabled us to set up again in SA. Wise or dumb move? You be the judge.

December and January, we found ourselves stuck in South Africa since we were locked out of Qatar for 2 months due to Omicron and the subsequent ban on travellers entering Qatar from South Africa. THAT was stressful!! And did we bleat about and bemoan our lot! But, as always, with hindsight, we now realise that it was a huge blessing as it gave us more of a chance to organise Gus and Cha’s wedding. And oh my, it was such a lovely wedding. We were immensely blessed on the day as everything came together with the amazing help of talented people like Kathy, Sydney, Ada, Belinda & her team, and others who worked so hard. A shout out to InfinityTimesInfinity Productions for the amazing job with the video material. If you’re in South Africa and planning a wedding, contact them for your video.

 

Andries’ resignation at the end of May was a huge step. We both knew that it was inevitable – the day would come. But no matter how much you prep yourself for the actual event, when it arrives, you’re a ball of nerves. His training schedule never eased off through all the changes and planning, probably his saving grace, giving him something to focus on. At home, I would often find him pacing aimlessly while having tons to do. As for me, the days were long; I was lost in what felt like a vacuous space that used to be ‘home’. With much of the house contents gone it sounded hollow. The silence was deafening. Yet, just six months ago I was as happy as Larry to spend my days alone. (Lol, who’s Larry? That’s a saying worth looking into for its origins.) In the evenings, instead of packing and sorting, we chose to watch old movies to escape reality. 😅 Then I chose to tackle the world of website design with 3 weeks of (procrastinating) fun! Eventually, that was done too, and the mountain of paperwork, faithfully stored in file 13 for 21 years, was waiting for me (three-quarters of which went into the rubbish). Time was fast running out. I found myself asking, several times, why we did this to ourselves?!  😅

Along with all the packing, sorting, throwing out and waiting, we have been immensely blessed. First, our son and new daughter-in-law needed to set up a home after their marriage – at just the time when we needed to get rid of everything in our home. Could it be God? We carted car loads to their new apartment, from cutlery to furniture, linen to paintings. Within 2 days they had a furnished home. 😀 (Maybe not what they would have bought, but for now, it’ll do.) God is good!

Next, our house contract which ran until 30 Nov each year posed a problem. We are booked to leave Qatar on 1 Sept. Dilemma! We would have to pay for the 3 months that we won’t be living in the house. One day, Andries’s colleague, Wilfred, came to work informing him of a massive increase in his apartment rent with only 2 months’ notice. A take it or leave it situation. 

"Please can we take over your house?", he asks. 

"If the landlord okays it, it’s a deal", Andries replied. We then had to wait 5 weeks for an answer, as Wilfred had an annual vacation booked beginning the following week. But eventually, the contract was approved by our landlord in June, the deposit paid, and the house would be theirs on 30 June. The biggest blessing around this story is that Wilfred and his family wanted to purchase all that was left in our house after the newlyweds had removed what they wanted (and this included washing machine, fridge, stove, bedroom suite, dining room suite, and more). They were moving from a furnished unit to ours which comes completely unfurnished. We did not need to sell a thing! In a city where there is a huge population turnover, it proves exceedingly difficult to sell second-hand furniture and household contents. We were spared the struggle. Could it be God?

 

Then, gulp! Where will we live for the next 2 months? We had been looking around and asking for quotes, but anything for a reasonable amount was either dodgy or hemmed in with construction (think massive infrastructure construction when you use the word concerning Qatar) and consequently unapproachable by car and/or on foot. 😫 

We were forced to look at more upmarket apartment hotels, with a kitchenette in the room, since we did not want to live on hotel food for 2 months. We need to keep our immune levels up! We settled on FraserSuites and approached the sales desk. Yes, they said, we’ll show you three options. I think they saw in our pleading eyes that we needed enough space at a “good” price, please. We were offered a large studio room at a smaller room’s rate (the same price as our house rent 🥴). It has a little kitchen (washing machine and full-size fridge included) and an en suite bathroom. A ‘special rate’ because we would be staying during the height of summer when few tourists visit Qatar. 😅 Floor to ceiling windows, bright and sunny, on the 12^th floor with a view over the bay, we are extremely blessed. This, our baptism into living in a smaller space! 😀

(image: Fraser Suites website)

While packing up our home and preparing to move, we were also negotiating the purchase of our van, deciding on the finer details and inclusions. Our stress levels were through the roof over this period as we were arranging everything over the internet. Not being able to be there in person was a challenge; we hoped we got everything right and made wise choices. After all, we are total novices. But we are confident in our choice of manufacturer, and they were extremely helpful (and patient 😅).

When we mentioned that we would arrive on 2 September and would need the van as soon as possible afterwards, we were promised delivery by end of September. Now there’s a blessing, because we would prefer to not be dependent on our kids. Many folks wait up to a year for their vans. But then I remembered that we had enquired last October already, at which point they began to design the van. So, the timing there proved to be a blessing too. (We may be the first customers to take delivery of the model we requested – time will tell.) We can’t wait for the big reveal, soon; keep an eye on our blog. 😊

Once we had decided on what we wanted to ship to Brisbane, we packed it into boxes and put it all together in a group. 

We instantly broke into a sweat. What were we thinking?! We began to cull mercilessly ... fifty percent of the clothing went to charity; more books donated to a local library; more documents tossed and shredded. UNISA assignments that I had shed blood, sweat and tears over, thrown out. 😪 We emptied frames and albums and kept only the photos. We replaced several favourite items in the cupboards they had come from for the house’s next occupants to take over. 

 

The shipping quotes we received that met our budget were for 1 cubic metre, except for one that offered us 2 cubic metres at an even cheaper price than the others. We had several doubts about going for the cheapest offer, but we knew we needed the space. We accepted their offer, and they sprang into action. Amazing! Their communication was detailed. They answered every question within 15 mins; replied to every email promptly; their team was there to pack 1 hour before they said they would be; and in 1 hour they had packed, cleaned up and carted away our belongings. It still filled 12 boxes.😫 It felt as if a whirlwind had hit the house, but they were efficient and thorough.

WHAT a blessing! And I couldn’t even remember contacting them. Could it be God? We hope that their amazing service continues right up to delivery in Brisbane. A shout out to Arrow Line Logistics Qatar. Well done!

 

Now, as we drive around Doha, we take in all the sights and reminisce. We remember what it looked like when we arrived in 2001. We've seen the city develop rapidly, in front of our eyes. We recall key events in key places. We know, without doubt, that this has become home. But we always knew that it could not last …  this was a temporary arrangement. Qatar has been good to us and for us. We have been immensely blessed by working and living here. We have learned much and have been thoroughly moulded and pruned through perseverance and diverse experiences. It will be a sorrowful, yet needful parting. To those who are considering an expat life, we would say "Do it!"

“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.” (Steve Maraboli)

Seasons come and go. We pray for the grace to walk into our new season with boldness and faith. When one of us has an offish day, the other is perky. Make no mistake, we have our moments of doubt, fear, and anxiety. But a quote that came from a dear friend resonated with us, “The opposite of faith is not doubt; it’s our desire for certainty,” by John Ortberg. So, we go easy on ourselves and don’t self-flagellate when we doubt. Our Father understands our uncertainties. The one thing we are sure of is, we are unDESERtED. 

 

Meanwhile, it’s quite a novelty living in such a small space. (The caravan will be even smaller! 😂) The sofa is comfy. The bed is a bit low (our knees protest heavily first thing in the morning) but it’s comfy too. The kitchen has 2 of everything so dishes don’t pile up, and we have a room with a view. A cleaner will come in once a week, and we are provided with clean towels every 4 days. Other than that, we are autonomous. What more could one want?

 

If you read this far, I’m amazed. Thank you. 🤗 Soon these blog posts should become more interesting as we begin to document our travels around Queensland.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by. 🌼

(Featured image: Hourglass by Nile, Pixabay.)