In less than one month, we’ll be back in North America. It seems a bit surreal and now that we’re under the 1-month mark… things are kicking into a new gear…. somewhere between two -ICs:

ecstat-ic &
pan-ic  …  🙂

I’ll get to some of the preparations… but let me tell you about week T-minus-4:

More “Hedging”…

Again this week we headed down to the bottom of the church property to work on the hedge, taking advantage of the boys’ second week of school vacation.

The straight brown line across the top is where the majority of the hedge dried up after a terrible “trim” job before our arrival. The power company had it hacked down to protect overhead powerlines. It didn’t kill the hedge completely… but almost.

There are, however, areas where side-growth is 2-3m above that line. We wanted to trim it back in an effort to:

1. manage that growth while it was still relatively manageable and
2. try to force dormant buds, lower in the branches & trunks, to regrow.

The goal is to save the hedge (to hide a junkyard on the other side)… It’s a slow going process, but we’ll see how it goes.

You know what they say about all work and no play… Well, the fair is in town so after a couple days of hedge-work, the boys spent a few hours unwinding at the Spring fair.

Where’d Spring go?

After complaining about the still-cool temps last week, the weather has made a clear about face, as this week we’ve seen several days of 28-30 degrees.

If you’ve seen snow or ice this week (as I know several Canadian cities have)… I’m sorry. The downside here is that Dominic has already mowed twice here at the house and Timo spent last Saturday afternoon mowing at the church.

Translation

Have you ever used the YouVersion Bible app? Well, a long time friend is publishing a series of devotional thoughts on there and asked for our help in translating them… me into English and Liz checking an Italian translation that was previously done. Just a small project, but pretty cool!

Once we’re back in Canada, Liz will be beginning a book translation project with The King’s Translators, headed up by Liane Grant in Quebec… that will be her “summer down time” project.  🙂

Preparations:

Here’s a look at some of the preparatory things that are going on in the lead up to departure:

• Packing: This doesn’t just include suitcases for the trip… oh no. The Brochus will be reclaiming a number of furniture items as they’re soon to move to a non-furnished rental property (they’ve been in a furnished spot since their return, allowing us to use most of their furniture).
• Braces & Eyeglasses: The boys have had a number of appointments concerning their braces over the past weeks and Timo, who had been complaining about headaches, went for a pair of eye exams this week. Turns out he’s myopic and will get glasses next week.
• Sophie: Little by little, her classes are dwindling down. She will finish up one course Monday and another course later in the week, in preparation for graduation in May. On Tuesday she will do an orientation day at a local high school that she may attend next year. It’s not obligatory, but she’d like to do it to improve her written French and make for an easier transition to post-secondary education later.
• Fridge & Freezer: You know what it’s like… you’re leaving for a couple months and you don’t want to leave a freezer full of stuff… so all of 2016’s frozen (cooked) apple is finding its way into cakes & muffins. She made jelly with the frozen blackberries and grapes and is reducing our weekly grocery bill with goods that have been being tucked away throughout the year.

In the midst of preparations, we’ve seen the Lord’s hand of provision and we are grateful!

First Bonfire

I’ll leave off today’s post the way we finished off the week, last night… kicking back around the bonfire. Dominic pulled out his guitar & we played charades in the warm night air (fear not Canada… it’s coming your way too! 🙂 )…. a perfect way to close out a busy week… God’s blessing!