04/06/2026
As of today, there are six weeks to go until we leave. There’s still a lot to pack (most of it, really). Aside from a few packing boxes here and there, and a few gaps where there didn’t use to be gaps, our home looks mostly the same as it usually does. But the lasts are steadily rolling in. Last sessions with clients. Before long, the last swimming lesson, the last riding lesson, the last day of school. I’m thankful to only be working part-time, but even still my brain is feeling very full.
I remember times I’ve sat with clients who were struggling in the in-between seasons and spaces of their lives. Humans don’t like liminal. We like to be here, or there. We don’t like trying to straddle here and there simultaneously.
There’s probably a sermon illustration in there.
Next up is compiling the stuff we want to freight over. We’re trying to minimise what we bring, and stick to the essentials. Which for our family is books and board games and Lego, mostly. With maybe some clothes to fill the gaps.
Sometimes when I am feeling overwhelmed I make lists of our carry-on luggage, contemplate which book(s) I will carry with me squeezed in among the baby wipes (aeroplane tray tables = germ city) and notebook and pencils and card games (for the long hours in the airport) and laptop and change of clothes. Tish Harrison Warren’s “Prayer in the Night” (IVP, 2021) of course, but what else?
But I do have a while to decide, I suppose.
– Alex
The Newmarches in Nepal 