A Few Other July Happenings

Aiden got to go to a Backyard Bible Camp (AKA VBS) at the beginning of July. He had a good time, despite being one of the oldest and biggest kids there. He wasn't thrilled at having to bike to a friend's house for 7:30 in the morning to get there on time, but getting time with people and even some pool time was definitely a highlight for him! It was very well run, and the program on wisdom from Proverbs was excellent also. We went to the finale on our way to camping and we were impressed with all that they had done in someone's back yard - albeit a very large yard.

 

Mom and Dad worked on selling items we won't be taking with us to Halifax, so now our house is even more echoey and it is getting obvious we're leaving soon.

Grace and Jasmin continue to work away at their courses, fitting in dog walks and picnics for the many house showings when we have to be out of the house. Which have been many. Hopefully soon one of them results in an offer.

We've made it to a grand total of one homeschool gathering pool party outing as weather keeps cancelling or rescheduling them to a time we can't make it.

We said goodbye to our last foster dog this week also, as our house and life is getting a bit to unsettled to properly care for a very shy skittish dog. We look to foster in Halifax too, as it is a great way to have a dog.

As is often the case for us, this last month before we move away, local ministry engagements become super fruitful, tempting us to not want to leave. In the latter half of July there has been amazing transformations and even salvations, resulting in much rejoicing - and lots of extra meet-ups to fit in around everything else.
 

Camping Oasis

 After the whirlwind crazies of preparing our home for sale, we needed a proper time out. So we went backwoods camping for a weekend. That might not sound restful to many but it was just right for us this time. 

Some friends allowed us to camp on their property, so it was not a drive up campsite with water and electricity in a campground with plenty of recreation choices. Rather we had to carry in all our gear, clear ground, find our own wood, etc.  

Dad was kept busy being a Gibeonite - water carrier (we could fill up our containers at the farmhouse but it wasn't that close) and wood cutter :)

Aiden enjoyed learning to and using an ax to cut firewood from the many dead trees around our campsite. He also cooked us breakfast over the fire one morning and had the lovely experience of holding a frypan of grease fire! Now he has 2 small burn scars to boast over :)

Mom did most of the cooking as usual, but doing it outside over the fire made it fun and not just same as usual work. She also really enjoyed the specialness of evening firefly shows and early morning hot chocolate beside a fire.

Jasmin enjoyed the challenge of bird identification in the forest, making a safe fire pit with creek mud, and whittling sticks. Grace (and the rest of us) enjoyed simply not having to do anything but be present with each other.

The weekend was just enough camping time - not long enough to get bored or too disgustingly dirty - but it wasn't quite enough of a rest break to come back to "real life" pumped with enthusiasm.

A Crazy Whirlwind Upending month

 Well, we've been offline for over a month now and a crazy lot has happened:

Dad took over the flooring project and finished upstairs while mom was finishing her work placement.

and then

Life went crazy as we decided to sell our house! We took on the monumental task of getting our house completely ready for sale in as short a time possible as soon as mom was done her placement. With a very long list of fixes and upgrades we dived into 3 weeks of really looong days of home renovation: replacing light fixtures, finishing the flooring on the main floor, replacing kitchen appliances, painting everywhere, etc.

And, in those crazy three weeks we managed to host two birthday parties for Aiden and Jasmin! Even when at the beginning of the day of Aiden's party our living room looked like this: 

This is what it looked like at party time: 

Not bad, eh? And now, at the end of the process, we feel like we live in a new house. It is an odd feeling, especially since so much of our things are packed away to make for better showings and the house is echoey and lacking our personal touches.

It is also a strange thing, after all the many, many moves we've made, that this is the first time we've had a for sale sign in the yard and experienced the continual disruption of showings. We're glad of that, as it is disrupting - but having a lovely clean house all the time is nice :)

And, seemingly almost as a reward, Imma came for a whirlwind weekend visit at the end of June!

And now we're trying to catch up everything that got dropped during our crazy home renovation weeks, and dreaming of where we might end up next month when our house sells. Well, that's not quite as open ended as it sounds: we know we're moving to Halifax, mostly to be near Jasmin's new work place, and then also to be near Mom's family.  Jasmin will be starting a co-op type work placement at Cartoon Conrad near Lower Sackville in August/September that could very well turn into a full-time job in her industry. So may our house sell quickly!