The Purging of My Home

I am thankful that we've decided to move.  Yes, I said that.  I now understand when people sell all of the extra earthly goods they have, and move somewhere for the mission field or just relocating, I see how freeing it is.

Letting go of memories is not what is involved.  Things that hold us down is what is involved.  I have purged my books, the kids' books, Mr. G's books (with his permission---I would have kept more than he did, but gladly he purged), as well as curriculum, office supplies, clothes, extra things that we just don't have room for any longer.

Why?

We have a large home.  When you look at the main floor and the upstairs, it is 1752 square feet of living space.  With the basement, it would be 3300 square feet of living space.  We are purging the basement, and the rest of the house to ensure that what we have will fit in to the next house once we move.  We are purging furniture, desks, recliners, coffee tables, end tables, the piano, the couch, everything!

We are keeping the things we love.  I am hoping to be able to finish my teaching degree since I only have an art class, Jr. Practicum and Student teaching to do to finish.  My heart is being pulled to teach Kindergarten in a private Christian school.  My love is teaching little ones.  My kids are almost done with their education.  My daughter will be a Senior and my youngest son will be a Sophomore.  By the time he is finished with school, I may be able to take a couple classes myself.  After he graduates, I'll be able to do my practicum and student teaching.  There are numerous private schools where we're moving, so if I can get my foot in the door as an assistant teacher, that might be one of the ways I can get in to a teaching position.   All that to say that I'm keeping my good children's literature books and eventually adding to them once we move, so that I have them once I have my own classroom, Lord willing.

I know my daughter has been keeping her drawing books, adding to her collection only the ones where her interest lays.  My oldest son enjoys things science related and only asks to keep his Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines.  My youngest son enjoys blacksmithing and knife making, so he is engulfed in those types of things.

Keeping what we love is a good thing.  Organizing things we need to keep for tax purposes is a good thing.  Pitching or burning the old envelopes, boxes, and papers/things that we no longer need to keep is freeing and beginning to feel a bit lighter.

Ask me how "light" I feel after our move.  LOL

I have not touched much in my kitchen as of right now.  The platters for serving things have been packed, but that's it.  I'll need to go through everything to see what I can sell at the yard sale.  I have a difficult time letting things from my kitchen go because I've found some neat kitchen gadgets that are stainless steel or something that works well, so I'm going to "love" them and pack them for the new house.  I'll look at some of my bread pans and some other things that I just don't use any more to sell.

It is difficult to say, but I honestly don't think that this much purging would have taken place had we not decided to make such a large move.  It certainly is sad to think that in order for my home to be completely purged I needed to move.  Yes, I purge on a regular basis, but not a complete purge like this.  I'm glad we're moving for that reason, so that we can truly see everything that we have and get rid of things that are broken, unfixable, and unloved.  I cannot tell you how many huge black trash bags we've hauled to the Goodwill!

So, when we move in to our new house, where ever that may be, we will have a couple book shelves, computer paraphernalia, a TV, only a couple side tables, our beds, dressers, washer and drier, freezers, boxes, personal hygiene items, pet stuff, and our clothes.  We plan to buy gently used furniture to fit the spaces we have there.  Mr. G and I will have new chairs to sit side-by-side in our living room, then we'll get 2 couches to accommodate kids and guests.  We'll also buy a gently used dining room table to accommodate kids and guests.  All this within the first 2 weeks of moving.

What an adventure!  I'll continue to post as I can, but the next few weeks will prove to be very busy, I'm sure.

God Bless,

A Day At the Beach & Life Lessons

Weeks ago, we decided that it was time to bless our kids with a trip to the Lake Erie beach that we love the most.  With all of the cleaning and packing we've been doing, it was time to stop, grab a friend, and go to the beach.

Lake Erie when we arrived and set up to relax.

It was such a beautiful day! 

I could barely see to take the picture, but here is one where Mr. G and I were sitting in the shade under the tree.  I take medication that makes me photosensitive, so we spent most of our time under the tree.

After spending over 3 hours in the sun, the kids were sufficiently crispy--even with 70+spf sunscreen--we went to Panera Bread before heading home.  It was something new for a couple of us, something familiar for others and just fun to pick out some neat treats that we don't normally have.

On the way home, my hubby didn't take pictures because he wasn't feeling well, but he did get a couple on our way up to Erie.

Small town with American flags waving.

Lonely old silo

Small grassy area on the hill

The valleys and scenery is breathtakingly beautiful.  I love looking as far as the eye can see and see hills and trees with an occasional splotch of green grassy patch.  It gives me a chuckle.

Upon arriving at home, we found a phone call from our Georgia realtor waiting for us.  We called and left her a message and within 5 minutes she returned our call.  The house that Mr. G put an offer on last week, we had been counter offering with 3 days in between each offer--it's a bank owned/HUD property thing where they get 3 days to reply to an offer.  The last offer, the bank/seller did not accept.  We are taking a step back and praying about how to word another counter offer, if at all.  The bank/seller would not budge on the price, but to come down $1,000.

We need to take a step back, regroup, get some things done here on our house in Pennsylvania, then see if there have been any other offers on this house.  We're waiting 2 weeks, then starting with the offer process again.  If the Lord wants us to have it, then He will make it available.  

For now, we get ready for a "Moving Sale" next weekend.  I'm getting so many things ready to sell so that the things we have to move will be limited and as small as we can possibly get it.  We are selling curriculum, too.

This journey through life is by far the most important time because it builds character, helps us to enjoy our time in the here-and-now, and it makes us linger to ensure the needful lessons are learned--sometimes whether we like it or not.  Our attitudes on the journey can be ones of thankfulness, or selfishness in which case it causes great heartache and stress for those who love us due to our own selfish responses to the unfamiliar.  

For now, though, we rest in God's will.  It's a good place to be.  Learning to rest there is difficult for many, but a very important and integral part of the journey.  I often visualize sitting in the passenger seat and letting God be the one in charge of my car.  How much I actually trust Him is directly related to how much I rest while He is driving.

It feels good not to have to drive this car through life, but to rest and let Him take the wheel.

God Bless,

On to the next thing...

Our house has sign put out.  We are still getting things done, in spite of the rain.  Some things that my husband needs to do has be done outside in the driveway, but with the rain and thunder storms, it isn't a good thing.

The front of our house has undergone quite a few changes in the past few years.  A couple years ago this view would have a gang plank approximately where the irises are due to us digging up the foundation to redo the coating.The dirt piles were up so far that no one could see in to our bay window.  Now, we're waiting for lots of wonderful perennials to pop up above the mulch.  We're leaving the large whiskey barrels without flowers because we're taking them with us.  The smaller whiskey barrels will have herbs in them because they're easier to transport.  

This trellis is covered, as is the one on the other side of the bush just out of site, with clematis flowers.  They were in full bloom this year and absolutely gorgeous!  We let the vinca vines take over and fill in the area around the bottom of the bed because there are periwinkel flowers on them and they look pretty.  

In the lower left of the above picture, I see the leaves of my lillies.  As of right now, the clematis has finished blooming, the vincas are spreading, and the lillies are in full bloom.  I should post a picture of all of them.  They're gloriously beautiful!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, I plan to finish my own chores, pack 4 boxes, then get out to my herb garden and get things thinned out.  I'll take before and after pictures.  My oregano and bee balm has decided to take over!  It's incredible what happens when your attention is elsewhere!

I plan to take clippings of all of my herbs with me, along with my perennials.  I love my perennials because I don't have to go to the store and buy them every year to make the yard beautiful.  :)   As I have gathered and grown them, the yard is being filled and I don't have to buy as many annuals.  I still like my petunias and my impatiens.  Those  flowers always fill areas and do so very well when they're cared for properly.

Have a lovely day!

God Bless,