It has been quite an exhausting and emotional week. I started frantically packing up boxes last week and started to move them into the POD that arrived in our driveway. My parents were kind enough to come over most afternoons to help me get it all packed up while Tom was at work. Packing boxes required more mental energy than I had expected. I had to consider each item – Did I want to bring it to the new house? Did I want to sell it? What would I do with it? It was exhausting. Then at some point I just had to box it all up and deal with it later. We are lucky to have such wonderful friends (the Youngs) and family that are willing to help us pack boxes and load furniture into a Uhaul. I really didn’t think that we owned too many things, but we were still able to fill up a 16 foot POD and the bottom half of a 26 foot Uhaul. The kids loved playing the random toys and bicycle tires that were found…
The hardest part of the move was saying “good-bye” to the house that we had lived in for nine years. I was emotionally attached to our house in a big way. Tom and I bought the house one year after we had been married. I remember looking around our five bedroom house and saying with a giggle, “I hope God doesn’t have something planned for all of these rooms.” He did. We raised three children in that house and I even gave birth to Miller in the middle of the living room. (Of course we didn’t tell the new owner that. haha.) Right here…
Many great memories were made in our home on Mountainview Drive. I was sad to leave them behind – fearful that I would forget them. I cried for three days while I packed up the final boxes. On the last day before we closed, I was at the house cleaning up when I started to thank God for all of the wonderful blessings that were given to us in our house – three kids, a restored marriage, health, happiness, remodeling, financial stability, the ability to buy a home, a house to run and rollerskate in, etc. It brought me to tears. I knelt down on the floor and tearfully thanked God for all that he had done for our family. It is all because of Him. As I was getting ready to lock up the empty house I realized that there was something still hanging on the refrigerator. I found it fitting that this picture Faith did was the last item to leave the house…..
The next day, the house was sold (I even cried at the lawyers office while signing the papers). It was no longer our house. Six hours later we bought a new house. The sadness that I experienced over leaving our old house was replaced with the excitement and joy I had over buying the new house. The new house is fabulous and perfect for our family. Tom and I stood in the middle of the new house and high-fived. It was ours! Wilson wrote on the chalkboard upstairs in the new playroom, “I hate moving, but I like our new house.” It was comforting to know that the kids were as excited as we were. Our new backyard rocks! And yes, that is a pool.
We have yet to actually move into the new house because we are redoing the floors, painting the cabinets and painting the entire interior of the house. I remodeled the other house while living in it and this time I plan to have it look awesome before we move in. I can’t wait. Five more days and we will be in our new home, but for now we are living with my parents…they are virtually saints, the kids love it, I have enjoyed the help, and it has been a fun little adventure. I am sure that they will be glad to have their house back, but I think that they are enjoying it a little bit as well. 
The last week has been quite a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I was exhausted, to say the least. Now my biggest struggle is what color to paint the house…..which can be quite a chore for an indecisive person like myself. Not a problem to complain about though. We are very blessed! I look forward to drinking the bottle of champagne waiting in the fridge because soon we will be home.
