Moving Realities

We've moved before, but there's nothing like moving when you don't have a landing place!  We're moving out of our house and into the big wide world of international travel.  That means that everything has to fit in perfectly sized suitcases under 50 lbs.  I still need to buy that scale.  It also means that I threw out things that have followed me around since high school and college.  I even tossed out lesson plans from 12 years ago.  I won't be writing an English textbook or teaching in a classroom anytime soon.  Thankfully, a teacher stopped by our last yard sale and picked up all my laminated bulletin board items and holiday stuff.  It was a box of stuff "free for a teacher" and she fit the description! 

Just three days ago I faced the impossible challenge of cleaning out the boys' room and the girls' room as well as the rest of the house.  It really was impossible to finish it before our leave date.  So I prayed.  And God answered by giving me a dear friend who called an army of amazing women to help: one cleaned out the refrigerator, another cleaned out the boys' room, someone helped the girls sort through their clothes, and one of them was caulking my shower - no kidding!  They were willing to do anything that needed to be done.  We also worked on the kitchen together and managed to clean out every single drawer and shelf in just 1.5 hours.  Someone brought lunch and dinner, too.  Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.  You are all absolutely amazing. 

A big THANKS to a friend who will be picking up our garbage pile and taking it to the dump!  Wow.  I threw out so much stuff.  Tonight I realized I threw out the charger to the kids' brand new ipod.  They earned it by wrapping change they found around the house (with a little additional help from a friend at church who gave them some money).  Thankfully, the charger should be easy to replace.  I thought I tossed my vaccination card, too, but found it safely tucked in my "important papers" file so I didn't have to make a long drive to get it replaced.

As I sit here and look around our empty house, I feel very exposed.  The walls are bare and the cabinets empty.  I couldn't even bake a batch of brownies right now, because I threw out the pan and my mixing bowl is packed away. 

Tomorrow we will be skipping church because they already have a new candidate coming to possibly fill Mark's position as pastor.  We don't want to detract any attention from the task at hand, so we'll attend another church in Modesto.  It's hard, though, because we all desperately want one last time to visit with our friends.  The kids are particularly upset because it's luncheon Sunday, their favorite day of the month.

Happy Father's Day, Everyone!!!  In the midst of packing, I'm so glad I didn't forget this wonderful day of remembering great Dads.

Goodbye, Max! 
The kids have been reeling from changes this week, but they all went to sleep peacefully tonight.  The piano and violin are gone, baseball season ended yesterday, their beds are gone, 90% of their toys are gone, and now their best little furry buddy is sleeping in someone else's home.  Saying goodbye to Grammy and Grandpa is on Monday, and I know that will be the hardest, yet. 

Mark and I have had our emotions on hold as we focus on cleaning out the house, and we haven't given the kids much of a chance to sit and absorb all the changes.  I'm glad we have lots of together time in the car on the way to Colorado.

Always Time for Baseball

We gave Joshua a choice, and he gave up a first degree black belt to play his first season of baseball.   He's especially thankful for several pitching opportunities.  In this photo, he's praying before he begins the inning.  His coaches and teammates are amazing.  I've never enjoyed baseball this much!

Mark's mom Joyce and my mom flew out from New Jersey to help us move and were able to attend two exciting games.  Three more games left...

Before Picture of Garage

Don't doubt us.  We have 9 days to clean out our house.   The garage used to be clean, so all of this is from closets and cabinets which are now mostly empty.  This was also after our first yard sale!  I'll post an "after picture" of our garage when we're done!