Good news from the Salverda front: our garden is growing splendidly. Dave and I just spent a few hours there. Our potato plants are growing big and bushy. Our beans plants are developing nice, full leaves. And our onions are standing straight and tall. After doing all that weeding, mulching, watering, and harvesting (spinach! zucchini!), we are in down-time mode. Dave is in the bedroom, reading a novel, and easing into a nap. I just made myself a snack… and thought I’d take a moment to write.
A lot has been going on in our lives this past month. Besides our typical weekly rhythm - getting to know people, writing emails, attending meetings, prepping for worship, leading worship, making meals, tending to house – a few other things have taken up our energy.
For instance, we’ve had to find a new place to live. Our current lease, at our current place, is up on August 1st. Not knowing if we wanted to stay here long term, we negotiated a six-month with our landlords before moving in. A few weeks ago, we were told that we weren’t going to be given the opportunity to re-sign and stay for longer. It’s not that we’ve been bad tenants, and it’s not that they don’t like us, it’s just that they were eager to ensure that someone would be in their suite by the time August came around, and because we weren’t ready to give them a decision about staying or going as earlier as they wanted us to, they found some other people who wanted to move in. So, we’ve got to be out in two weeks.
In a way, even though moving is a huge amount of work, I see this as a blessing. Dave and I have never succeeded in making this suite feel homey. It’s so much bigger than any other place that we’ve lived in that there are empty storage areas, empty shelves, empty wall spaces everywhere. Have I mentioned in a blog post yet that after a few weeks of being here, Dave and I moved from the master bedroom to the guest room because the master felt too big for us? He didn’t like the walk-in closet. “I hate how I have to walk into another room to get my clothes!” he’d say. Yeah. We’ve been learning that smaller is better for us.
And our new place is smaller! Definitely smaller. It would guess that it’s half the size of where we are now. It’s not nearly as well kept up, but it’s cuter and cozier. It has a great front porch, a great back porch, and a backyard that we can run around in if we want to. (The people that live in the other suite in the house are in the backyard a lot because they have two dogs… so that may hinder my presence there, but certainly not Dave’s.) There’s a clothes-line. There are trees. There’s garden space if we want it. I’m very excited about it. It’s in a different neighborhood, but we think we will like that area of town. Our house is right on the Galloping Goose (our favourite bike trail), and it’s closer to church… two huge bonuses. I’ll make sure to post some pictures of our new home once we move in.
The other thing that has been happening in our lives this past month has been funerals. Last week, there was a funeral. The week before that there was a funeral. That makes 4 funerals since becoming part of our church community back in January.
Although a death in our church can make both of us feel a bit nervous (just like Sunday morning worship still does!), being part of these funerals has been a pretty neat thing. We’ve been learning that there is no better opportunity for deep, rich, meaningful conversation. And we’ve been learning that there is something so incredibly powerful about preaching the Gospel in the face of death. During one of the graveside services, Dave read Psalm 23. As he read, a funeral home staff person lowered the coffin into the ground. It was so striking to hear the words “you make me lie down in green pastures” while seeing this coffin disappear from view…with green, green grass on all side of that hole in the ground.
All of this has made me especially thankful that I have faith in a God who is with me, around me, and in me. At one of the memorial services that I preached at, I spoke on some verses in Psalms about God being our rock and refuge during the turbulence of life and death. Oh my, those words weren’t just for the family and friends gathered to grieve. They were for me too. Even though I expected to do ministry involving death and dying, and even though that is actually part of why I wanted to become a pastor, each time we have gotten a phone call about a death, I have felt this little voice of fear trying to work it’s way into my heart: Are you ready for this, Brittney? Do you know what you’re doing here, Brittney? But God, my refuge, protects me from silly voices like that that aren’t from him. And God, my rock, helps me stand and work and minister and serve and bless and be blessed even if I don’t always quite know how it’s supposed to unfold.
All of this has also made Dave and I feel thankful that we are in this together. So far, if one person is working on the sermon for Sunday, the other one has been able to take the lead on preparing for the funeral. It has worked out so well. While we both end up working more than we expected to that week, neither of us ends up feeling over-worked or being burned out. Go team Salverda!
It’s raining right now, and it’s been rainy for a few days. Also, I should mention that I’ve been living in a jeans and a sweatshirt. In July! People have said again and again that this is an unusual summer weather-wise. It’s good to hear that this isn’t normal because the wet and the cold can be such a bummer sometimes. I’m about to brave the weather and go for a walk to the movie store, though. It’s our day off… and a good move is in order. Good-bye for now!
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