Floundering - but finding the hand of Jesus

This is an update on my previous post

• Sale of our current house: price agreed in writing, progressing slowly
  
• Renting of our house while the sale goes through: date agreed, trying to sort a contract out
  
• Purchase of new house: price agreed in writing, progressing slowly
  
• Renting temporary accomodation: were on the verge of renting a bungalow with a minimum six month contract. This morning Mrs switched to renting some holiday flats long term - for holiday flats(i.e. 3 months) - this is a bit risky because if it turns out to be protracted we could end up paying a lot more. The main thing is that it is a smaller deposit and becuase it is furnished it will save £900 on removal fees, and maybe more on taxes and utilities, so it is very helpful in terms of cash flow now.
  
• Church: liking the independent one in a cinema. Which is awkward since I have come to believe in all sorts of very non-evangelical things like apostolic succession, infant baptism, and gay marriage. Not sure 'My' church even exists! the anglican one in the town is a bit too catholic, praying for the dead which I still don't believe in (Lazarus and dives shows that the dead are either with Him and don't need prayer, or not with Him and its too late).
  
• The car: I took it to the garage and said "I'm having trouble changing gears - I think its because I have let the gear box oil drain too low." He said "No, there's an oil leak in your clutch, plus your clutch is worn". I said OK, do it, he said "£528". I said "Ouch" and "give me the cheapest clutch available, I'm not looking for luxury and the car has already done 135000 miles, it won't last much longer". Three days later, having not been able to go to work and earn anything without the car, he gave it back, saying that "it needs a new gear box because you have let the gear box oil run low". AAARRRGGGHH! That's what i told him in the first palce! Now, I accept that it changes gear very slightly better, and that it did need a new clutch eventually, BUT it still feels basically the same as it did when I took it in. It struggles to go into first or reverse and won't go into fifth at all. So at a time when cash flow is critical, I have spent £528 on something I didn't need (yet) and did not get the thing I wanted. At least i feel slighty more confident that it is not going to let me down, and am just having to do 70 mph on the motorway in an uneconomical and un-environmental and noisy 4th gear.
  
• Student Finance: My daughter complained she was getting less from the Student Loans Company than her brother. I rang them to complain. They said "Oh, yes, I can see we have made a mistake. Don't worry, we'll sort it out". So they reduced the brother's student finance to match hers. He is now livid, and neither of them have enough to live on at university. (Her £68 plus her overdaft allowance until Christmas, him £100 left in his overdraft until Christmas). He rang to ask why they have reduced it four times since May when he signed his accomdation contract based on a much huigher student loan amount. But the Student Finance Company employs air-headed people who know nothing more than stock answers in their call centre. So to avoid an all-out riot we have had to promise our kids increased support that we can't afford at this time.
  
• Transporting kids too/from university towns: I think this is OK, but will have to do it in 4th gear!
  
• Son's flat: still stuck in legal procedures. Everyone knows the flat is OK, but we still have to wait while letters go through snail-mail from our solitor to their solicitor to the local authority to their solicitor to our solicitor and back to us. AAARRRGGGGHHHH!
  
• Work: I have been in the office for 13 hours this week, which is clearly not enough!

But overall, panicking less than when I last posted, and God is still in control.