Company progress

We have received an email about an hour ago that says our forms we submitted for company formation are lacking some information and we have 14 days to get it corrected or we need to start the process again. We are waiting to hear from our accountant in India as to what needs to be done but it is currently 6:15am over there so he is probably not at work yet. It appears we may be able to make corrections online but I am not sure of this. Hopefully we don't need to get any papers attested again as this will be hard over the new year and costly. We shall sit back and see what happens.

When there's little else to do

Mr Batra

We have made our first verbal contact with our accountant, Mr Batra, in India. David decided to call him the other day because we had not heard from him for a while and he had usually been so good at responding quickly.

It turns out that they are in the process of changing offices to a new address so had been a bit out of action. The good news is that all our papers are down in Bangalore and he expects the company should be incorporated before the end of the year. Woo hoo!

It was great to speak to him and to find that his English is very easy to understand. He seems to be a really lovely man. It was quite sweet because he calls David "Mr David".

I really feel like the count down is on now. It is very exciting.

Last N.Z Christmas for a while

Yesterday was Christmas day and probably the last one we will have in New Zealand for a while.

We spent Christmas eve over at my sister in laws and they cooked us a great pork roast, very yummy, complete with cooked to perfection crackling, Mmmm.

Christmas morning started out with coisonts and coffee while we were still at my sister in laws.

We then headed over to my parent places where we had the mass gathering of my mothers side of the family. It comprises of Grandparents, parents, aunties, uncles, cousins, second cousins etc. It was a great time to see everyone and some of which I may not see again before we head to India. We had a yummy turkey dinner washed down with a nice glass of wine, straw berries and ice cream and way too much food.

After everyone left we had about an hour and a half to clean up and reset everything ready for my Dads side of the family. We had a big ham and salad for this event and again it was good to catch up with our extended family.

At the end of the day we were very satisfied and very exhausted. What a day!

It was hard to comprehend that we will not be doing this again next year. I am sure we will be in for a very different Christmas next year.

Thanks giving banquet

Last night at church we had a fabulous and somewhat chaotic thanks giving banquet. It was fun to decorate tables and enjoy a big feed with friends.

There was a time for people to come and share how they are thankful and it was great to hear what has been happening in peoples lives.

Some people took the opportunity to thank us as a family and to be honest I didn't quite know how to respond. I am going to find the whole farewell thing quite awkward I think. I am not sure if I should smile, laugh, or cry and part of me wants to hide in a hole and not be center of attention and yet I also want to honor my friends. I have such wonderful friends and I don't think anything I say or do will do justice to how I feel about them. I think I will end up being a bit of a blubbering mess in the end. My problem is that I do not look attractive at all when I cry and when I do cry I tend to sob and not just do dainty girl cries. Some people seem to be able to still look great even when crying (just a glistening tear down the cheek) but this is not something I have been blessed with. I am a self professed ugly crier :) I also loose all ability to speak.

My friend Lana organised a New Zealand flag to be signed by the church. It really is so special and it will be something we cherish in India. You guys rock!

My eldest and youngest daughter were part of the worship team and did so well. i was very proud of them both. Sam sang and danced while Daya led the worship time. Here is a snippet of them:
Daya and Sam in worship

Our wee flat

The contract is now unconditional and we will take in a bank cheque to our lawyer tomorrow and then settlement is on the 23rd.

I have felt a bit stressed today because I lazed around in the morning and thought we would get the bank cheque made out when after we went to the movies with Tim and Xenia. The movie 'Avitar' was really good and could be the topic of a whole new post but I shall refrain. The point is that it was 3 hrs long and by the time we got out from the movie and I realised I had left behind the amount the bank cheque needed to be made out for, the bank was closed. I need to take the cheque to our solicitor tomorrow at 9:30. The banks open at 9am so I will need to get down there pronto.
I really don't like doing things last minute but what can I do now? I will just be pleased when it is all settled and another thing to cross off the list.

Wow! we have been so blessed.

What's up with the business in Inida?

There are times when being so far away and not knowing exactly what is happening can be a little hard. It is not stressful but I do at times wonder just where things are at. All our Docs for company formation are in India now and we are just waiting. Our Accountant wanted an office address in Bangalore because you need this for incorporation, this is a bit difficult for us because without a business we cannot get one. It's a bit of a catch 22. Our accountant is going to organise a virtual office for us so apparently that is acceptable. I have not heard back from him to see if he has done it yet. I may actually send him an e-mail now just to see what stage we are at and how long he predicts things will take from here. It's not that we need to rush but it would be nice to know a time frame we are working towards. It will aslo give us an idea then of when we may be able to start visa applications.

Life in the caravan is so much fun

Investment property

After the sale of our house, we made a good amount of money even once we had paid off our mortgage. It has been enough to buy a two bedroom block and tile unit freehold. It is all but a done deal. Fortunately for us but not so fortunate for the vendor, he has to sell due to financial difficulty. It had been on the market for quite a while due to the fact that the tenant was being difficult and not letting anyone through the property. After letting then vendor know we were cash buyers that wanted to buy before Christmas and after letting the tenant know that if she would co operate we would might her stay on, we were the first people able to view the property. We also got some pre purchase advice from a property manager and she seemed to think it was worth looking at.

We were very happy with what we saw and have put in an offer. The price has been agreed on and the only clause now is the vendors bank releasing the mortgage because he is in financial trouble. The settlement date is the 23rd Dec if all goes to plan. Yay!

The great thing about this flat is that it will be freehold so anything we make in rent, minus taxes, rates and management fees will be income for us in India. We also have a lump sum left over after the flat is paid for to tie us over until our company gets up and running in India. God really is so amazing!

Hot hot hot

The weather has been so hot the last few days and I'm loving it. I am beginning to relax and adjust to the fact that I don't have much to do.

People have been so extremely generous to us. It seems that people feel sorry for us because we are in the caravan and have been asking us over for dinner or providing food. I have not cooked since we left home. The truth is that we are loving the caravan and loving being parked up at the church. We have everything and more than we need but we still appreciate every ones giving and generous hearts. We would hate to deprive them of their chance to give:)

I got to do washing at the laundromat the other day. I felt like I was in an American sitcom.

Tonight we are heading to the beach with the Coop family and grabbing some fish and chips on the way. I am looking forward to it. Nice to hang with good friends and eat Kiwi food while we can.

Doc on way back to India

I posted our documents for company incorporation off yesterday. It should take about 4-5 days before they get them in India and then 12-14 days for incorporation providing the documents are completed properly. This means that possibly within 3 weeks we could have our company sorted and then we can apply for Visas. Yay!!

Emotions

I have found that the thought of something happening and the expectation of saying goodbye has been worse than the actual goodbyes. Even Danielle said to me that she found it easier leaving our home than she thought it would be.

There have been a few wobbly voices as I talk to some friends and family about us leaving. I guess it is the thought that some family who are unwell or who are getting older may not be here when we come home for visits. I am just so pleased that we have such clear direction of what we are doing because sometimes the heart strings get plucked and the lump in the throat rises. This does not diminish the fact that I am really excited to go to India. I can't wait to step into our inheritance.
The tears and goodbyes are just something we are going to have to go through. I know it will be worth it in the end.

Papers in Wellington

Because we didn't have enough to do on the day we were moving out of our house, we received our papers for formation of Nski network Technologies back from N.Z internal affairs. Each paper was "bundled" with a blue ribbon and a red formal seal. It all looks very professional. They are now down in Wellington at the Indian consulate for consularisation. We should have them back mid week and then we send them back to India. I am not sure if we need to do any further paper signing after this or if this will be the final stage of incorporation. I guess we will see soon. We have signed a paper to give our chartered accountant in India the power of attorney. This means he can sign on our behalf without needing to send everything over here.

NZ Monsoon

As I write we are camped up in our caravan down at the church building and the rain is pelting down. At one stage it was getting close to the door. New Zealand's version of a monsoon. It's actually quite exciting. We are just so grateful to be allowed to park down here. Maybe we will end up floating away like Noah's ark.

All the kids are asleep, baby is in the cupboard. We are officially out of the house and no longer own it. After a few weeks of full on cleaning, painting, selling etc, we now have time to breathe. I went back and did a last spot of cleaning today and then this afternoon the settlement happened. God has been so amazingly wonderful to us. Thanks also to my parents for having the boys for the day and for showering them.

There was a movie and sausage sizzle for the kids down at church. We snuck out to the caravan with Doug and Erin and had a celebratory glass of bubbly. It was a great way to put a full stop on the era of our house and to realise that life is still the same no matter where we are. It was lovely to share that time with them.

Jeff and Sonya have been great, we have stored our boxes up at their place until we go and we have shared a few meals and good times with them during our busy times. We so appreciate you. We have such amazing friends.

We have had endless offers of places to shower and wash our clothes. People are so generous. I am not too worried about showers. As long as we have running water, we can get clean.

As you can see, the children are enjoying themselves in the caravan.

Bye bye Coffee

Yesterday we said goodbye to Coffee. Not the steaming hot cuppa you may be thinking of but our dog. He really was a great dog and very much part of the family. The nice thing about this farewell is that he has gone back to the Setu family where he lived for the first year of his life. We think he remembered them all, especially his play mate Motzart (another dog) that he grew up with. The two of them frolicked in a way that two boys shouldn't but it's great to know he is happy and back with a family that love him.

The kids did really well and found it easier than they thought they would.

We have had contact from the lady who took our cat Budster. She rang at first to say he had run away on the first day she had him but then rang again to say he was back and she is keeping him in doors for two weeks.

The last few days in our house

I am feeling ready to move on from our house now. I have purposely chosen to say house rather than home because our home will be wherever we happen to be. I have great memories in the house with family and friends. Two of my babies were born here but it still doesn't make it home. My family is what makes it home and that is what is important to me.

We just have a few odd things to sort and then give the place a good clean but I am truly ready to move on. We plan on sleeping in the caravan from tomorrow so tonight will be our last sleep in this place.

David's Mum has just been up from Christchurch for the weekend. She is a wonderful lady and didn't mind living amongst the boxes and eating on the floor. Her health has taken a bit of a turn and she is going to need to start Dialysis due to kidney failure. It has been hard for David because his Dad has Alzheimer's and it may be that with his Mum's health not being so good that they need to look into long term care. I think it does pull the heart strings when you are leaving parents that could really do with your help. Fortunately they are sharing a section with David's brother and his wife. They have been amazing and we are so grateful to how well they keep an eye on Mum and Dad. It does give us peace of mind that we are not completely abandoning them. David's sisters are also very good and we know they will all look after them.