We’ve been here in Canberra for a little over a week. It has been very hot all over Australia in recent days, and Canberra hasn’t been spared. This has meant extra challenges in settling down to our new home and surroundings.

The little fellow for example, did not want his dinner last night. We had taken him to Kiddo’s home in the arvo. Kiddo and Mic had a date on Sunday and took in the Wicked movie, and Mic’s mum had little Abby for the arvo. This is a wonderful respite for them, as the new bub is due in under 5 weeks, when such restful and rejuvenating pleasures would be like hen’s teeth. I’m so glad they could go this.

We had lunch with them after SBC (Southside Bible Church) finished just before noon, after which we came home as they went on their R&R. We changed into garbs that we thought would deal with the heat more sensibly, swapped cars (from Tress’ hatchback to my CX60) and headed to their home. We took the little fellow there to reacquaint himself with Milo.

The bigger job was to transport their Weber Family Q to our home. We maneuvered and pushed the barbie and the trolley stand it was sitting on, out from their deck through the side gate around to the car port, We then discovered that the Weber was inseparable from the stand, unlike the Q we had back at Vicki Street. So the unit has to be carted intact, which presented a greater challenge, not least in the heat that was slowly but surely building up.

Tress found some cardbox remnants that we thought Mic had cut up from a rocking/nursing recliner they recently bought and we made full use of them as we heaved, hefted and applied elbow grease liberally and finally carted the unit into my car. We took the barbie and the trolley stand back to our home, and left the little fellow at their home with Milo. We then headed back and played with both pooches for a while, let them out to the yard, before we headed back late in the arvo.

Back home, we rested a bit and then got on with the job of getting the Family Q ready for use. After more elbow grease that greased not just the elbow, the barbie is ready for the summer now. I think. It looks the part as it sat on our patio, along with the Weber kettle that we brought with us from Vicki St.

The heat has made the weekend a blur in some ways. What pulled into focus, for me, were a couple of things. A couple of affirmations.

One, the affirmation that springs up, every time I said “hi” to little Abby, and see her face light in a smile that would brighten up any room. The affirmation that lingers and takes hold when she lifts up a hand, to ask that I hold it as she shuffles off somewhere. The affirmation that wells up when she tires and lifts up both hands to ask that I carry her, and when I do, gives me the gentle hug that says she knows who I am and accepts me. An affirmation that says whatever the sideshows that can threaten to overwhelm, we have done the right thing to uproot and leave Vicki St and head up north to this the capital city to be with this family.

The second is less convincing but has probably started to be one. It is the slowly building affirmation that perhaps Southside Bible Church is where we should be. We still want to visit another – one that is, on “paper”, very similar to St Alf’s – but the idea of being in the same church community as Kiddo, Mic and Abby is one that is hard to knock. I thought its DNA is of the prescriptive persuasion and that is a dissuasion but I wonder if that is what I need at this point in my walk with the Lord. I don’t know. It’s a work in progress and I’m giving it time.

It’s just over a week to Christmas. Last Saturday morning, as we had coffee and pastries in a bakery in Kambah Village with Kiddo, Mic and Abby, I wandered into the butcher’s shop and placed an order for a pork loin roll for Christmas lunch. We’ve planned to do it in our new home and adopting the Family Q from Kiddo and Mic was part the grand scheme for this. Mic’s parents and one of Kiddo and Mic’s good mates from Sydney will be coming along. It will be a relatively small and hopefully pleasant Christmas lunch. One that I trust will provide yet more affirmation, that we haven’t wondered too far off the reservation, in this journey of ours.