Socialising, gardening, and assignments.

This weekend was less crazy than last, but still not much down-time. Someone said to me on Sunday that we need to be careful, we can't leave feeling totally exhausted. But I reassured her that we aren't jumping straight into ministry on the other side. We have holidays planned in July in Japan.

What the front yard looked like before we moved in. I
think it looks approximately like this again, though
perhaps with a few less plants (some died).

Saturday morning we took all the boys to wrestling training on Saturday morning, the last time we will do that. We'll take our eldest one more time, but the other two are pretty much done. They aren't interested in continuing just now (which frustrates us, because they are pretty good at it). 

It's been a good year being involved in this wrestling club and I'm glad we gave the younger two a chance to try out the sport. I also hope that they'll give it a go later on, when they have better training situations in Japan. Training here was challenging because we never knew who'd turn up and often there wasn't anyone else our boys size, so they had to wrestle each other, which was never ideal.

Saturday evening we had two families over for dinner. They made it easy for us, bringing all the mains. I just made dessert and we provided the venue. No problem. We've known these families for over 20 years, I met them when I was working at my first Occupational Therapy job in the country town of Kingaroy. It is such a joy to know that relationships made at that time have continued on with me/us.

Sunday morning was an ordinary one at our home church, except that we took several boxes and bags of stuff to give away. Things we don't want to store or take back with us. Some of it went, we packed it away and will bring it out again next Sunday (with a bit added to it, that we've found since).

After church we had two new family friends join us for a BBQ lunch. Low fuss hospitality, but worth it. It's been a real joy to get to know people at our home church. When we arrived 12 months ago we really only knew a handful of people and few knew who we were. Now we know many more and feel a part of the place.

The latter half of Sunday afternoon we spent "chilling". Then we got to work on our eldest's PE assignment. Or at least helped him finish it. It was a bit of a doozy that had both of us thinking, "Is this a PE assignment or a media assignment?" Enough said.

Monday was the Queens Birthday Holiday, so no school. We'd asked some friends to help us clean up our yard. We managed to cart away two well-filled trailer loads of stuff. I was sore last night! But we're happy, the place looks much better cared for now, but I wish I'd taken before and after shots (maybe I was too embarrassed by the before...).

Now we have less than three weeks left here. That sounds crazy! But it's gradually happening, step by step. We can see things gradually getting done, the pantry gradually emptying, and our minds gradually checking out. 

Yes, the mental part of transition involves disengaging from one place and reengaging in another. I can see all of us starting to disengage, which is good. It is healthy, but it is also necessary. With all that is required to do this move, we don't have the time or energy to be totally engaged here any more. A bit sad, but less traumatic if we make the change a little gradually.