After a week off

I'm back after nearly a week off. Missed you!

The fourposter bed, gone.
We start to sort the room. Ugh.

"Keep the main areas - kitchen, bathroom, and LR - clean, and the whole house looks clean," says my mom.

"Sorry, Mom. The house is a mess." There are boxes in the entry and piles of coats on the sofa. Our life is being sifted. The donation truck comes by again Tuesday, so that will help. Our bedroom turns into a sorting station.

Meanwhile, the basement is becoming the shell of a real home. The Sheetrock has its first and second mud coats. It takes a long time to dry with cement block walls. By week's end, W puts in heaters and a fan, which speeds up the drying process.

Our monstrous fabulous 4' Victorian lamp,
for sale.

• Monday: coffee tables and end tables get picked up. I fill 4 huge garbage bags of clothing out of my closet. I start grading Singapore papers.
• Tuesday: My coaching partner visits at the house; we have so much to talk about, we skip the coaching. My dad brings our nephew Lemuel to NU. I hand over a few sets of towels and bed linens. Yay. More stuff gone. The Blue Truck picks up the donation clothing. Also,  CL-ers buy two sets of stacking chairs. 
• I decide to quit FB for the week. I'm definitely addicted to my computer and have to stay in touch with buyers, but I can live without social media, can't I?
• Wednesday: We wake on a mattress on the floor; someone bought our bed Tuesday and T delivered it to them. It's weird lying 2' lower than our night tables.

  

  A table-full of
  redundant crystal

• Thursday: Breakfast with credentialed female ministers @ 3rd Place Commons. Freecyclers take picture frames and magazines. For supper, W and I cycle the 5 miles I walked earlier to Lake Forest Park. Feels good to be moving.
• In the evening, I crash down the front concrete stairs when the futon frame the guys carry outside topples onto me. Blue bruises. No breaks. Relieved
• Friday: Washer and dryer are delivered. 
• We meet with missionaries from Surabaya, Indonesia, John and Korie Taylor. They are very encouraging and answer a lot of questions about where we're headed. THANKS, you two! Looking forward to working together.
• W recycles a huge TV that's clogged up the guest room for years. He empties the back door closet to create a mini-bedroom (5'X9') for Miss K, our granddaughter.

  

  Goodbye, old friends

• I take the last china teacups, crystal, and Hummels out of the hutch and a young couple hauls it away. The dishes sit in forlorn heaps on the kitchen table. By next week, we'll have to clear away everything so a two-year-old explorer can't break it. Our kids move in next Saturday.
• Saturday: T brings more of their stuff over. Freecyclers claim our bedding, picture frames, and magazines. W sells a disability ramp and I sell a closet full of art supplies. My office looks like a dump: everything from the upstairs guest room is being sorted there.
• W and Jono continue mudding the drywall. I pack away crystal glasses and art supplies, and post more stuff on Craigslist.
• We're now on the hunt for a small fridge, 14-18 cubic feet. (No handles please! The kitchen's too small for protrusions.)
• How strange to crawl out of bed rather than climbing down: our fourposter bed was tall. The futon mattress is as low as it gets.

  

  Buying lunch with our little helpers

• Sunday: we get to Creekside (love our church!) and the whole family comes over for lunch. I go a bit crazy cooking in my kitchen for the last Sunday. Thank you, Costco: 3 kinds of ravioli, kale salad, beet and jicama slaw, garlic bread, Alfredo sauce. oooooh - and dessert. We call K in TX as usual: it was her birthday last week. It's so good to hear her voice! and pray together, but we wish she was at the table. Miss K settles right into her nap with Elmo, her doggie, and a stuffed cat. She likes her new "room" (the guest closet) and sleeps for over 2 hours. Good girl!

 I'm astonished at how much furniture flew out our doors in the last weeks. I'd expect the home to be emptier. Except for waking up 8" from the floor, the house still feels full. T and M are gradually transferring their things to our place, refilling emptied rooms.

I'll decide what we're keeping, packing, and giving away once the basement cabinets are in. If something doesn't fit, we can't keep it, whether dishes, furniture, rugs, or clothing. Once we're moved, I'll pack up the rest of the house and the kids can take over.

The kitchen takes shape

Our sale funds buy basement appliances, paint, and building supplies. Two workers from our friend's company come and go each morning. Appliances and cupboards are scattered between a table holding tools. The dust causes me to cough when I view the progress downstairs each evening. A good friend brings by a propane construction heater. W paints the kitchen area and we're happy with those clear warm white walls and floor.

I'm trying not to get impatient, but it will take 3X longer to get things packed up with a 2-year-old helping. I have one more week of grace, but it's a week in which I can't move things any way but out. And so out things go! The less we keep the better.

I wonder about the things we attach ourselves to. Though I've enjoyed the abundance, I've begun to look forward to a pared-down life. The new season is rushing in.

Read more:
*We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. Psalm 48:9 NLT

*Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Oh God, to your temple we come. Where we are, you are. Let us come together in example and encouragement always in your name and following your will. Let our hearts show your Christian love, today and always. Amen.