Headed to the garage.......

Greetings, friends! I posted this pic because I realized the other day that we don't have any pictures of Tim and I together!! This is one from his brother, Joshua's wedding. It also reminded me of how far we've come! This was just over a year ago! Who would've thought so much could happen in a year! We certainly didn't know at the time of this picture that we'd be moving half-way around the world! God works fast, ya know? Anyways.....

What a CRAZY week it's been! Tim and I have been planning, planning, planning.....so much to do. Today I got an e-mail from someone leaving our future home of Davao and is selling all their possessions to come home! Because our future apartment won't have a stove, fridge, or anything else, we have to purchase those big items ahead of time and then find a place to store them until we arrive. Whew. It's a strange feeling to buy such large items never laying eyes on them until we actually take possession of them!

Meanwhile, we're trying to get the logistical things done here....cleaning the garage and the office to sort stuff...what do we sell, what do we give away, what do we keep.....I made a checklist of all the things we must do before we move and the list was loooooooooong. Somewhat overwhelming, but each month we can get a few things on the list accomplished and maybe it won't seem so impossible. On top of all that, we still gotta do more fundraising!

This week, we tackle the garage.

There is a sick side of me that is actually looking forward to stepping into the chilly, spider-infested, box-filled garage. Much to Tim's dismay, I am excited to finally open some of our boxes with a few of our wedding gifts from over 4 years ago! It's true! We moved into our group home almost 6 months after we were married, so many of the wedding gifts we received (especially the pretty glass things) were unable to be used in our children's home....so they got stored in the dark, cold, dirty garage. Then there's the mass-quantities of university textbooks and sheet music.....the really old, beat-up pots and pans passed down from one Stewart to the next.....the gross junky blankets I used to sleep on in dorms....I think I even have one with Mickey Mouse on it! Ahhh, memories.....the ones you can't wait to get rid of!

I think the process is good. As we begin to simplify our life by ridding ourselves of the things we don't need, we are also giving ourselves time to grieve over the life we thought we'd have. You know...the white picket fence with the golden retriever and 2.5 kids. Uh-uh. Not for us. I'm talking about grieving over losing all security in "stuff". It's amazing how quickly having "stuff" can give you a sense of security, of pride, and accomplishment....and yet, it's amazing how quickly it can become worthless, pointless, and degraded to a pile of, well, junk.

However, there are some items we WILL NOT sell or give away...we want something to pass on to our children as our parents did to us, but we are really beginning to realize how blessed we have been and how little we really need. God is definitely stretching us!

And so Tim and I have planned a very intimate date day of purging the past and preparing for the future.