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.

Space saver

Most of us have access to more space than we realize. I love looking at space-saving storage and design. We used to tour RVs to see how livable small spaces could be. But I also love creating space where none seems to exist.

We're downsizing in preparation for moving away. Moving from our 2750+ house into 1000 square feet (into the 1000' basement that was storing our excess stuff!) It's plenty of space if we don't take everything with us. We'll let others stay there while we're gone.

"Oh, don't worry," my Mom assures me as we sell off and give away our things. "Should you ever come back and need to refurnish, I have enough for both of us. China. Silver. Furniture." That's made me smile.

Today I revisited a space I expanded. It functioned as a passageway, but now it's a living space. How did that happen?

At the university, a huge concrete and glass foyer was created to connect several classroom buildings. There was not a lick of furniture in it. Everyone used the too-hot-in-summer or freezing-cold-in-winter space as a hallway, but no one lingered. Occasionally, maintenance would drag some tables in for a reception and take them away after the event was over.

However, I needed a place to hang out with alumni on campus. The Caf could get too noisy and my office was too small to meet for group chats. One day it stuck me: "What about our empty plaza?" Could furniture and a rug stabilize the perceived temperature and invite people in?

The business manager graciously let me furnish the plaza. "Please don't put junk in it," he warned.

Meanwhile, our friends Arlyn and Sharon Nelson were downsizing their parents' estate. Sharon's dad was an alum of NU, and they cheerfully donated a gorgeous cream-colored leather suite (a Lazyboy, an armchair, and a sofa). We posted a plaque in her dad's honor.

The same week, W and I drove past a "free" beige leather sofa at the side of the road in Redmond. We pulled over to look. The sofa was solidly built, though the center cushion was ripped. Big deal.

We tossed it in the back of our truck, I bought $10 of upholstery fabric, recovered the cushion, and made toss pillows with the scraps. Then we added it to the new lounge.

I unrolled a rug we picked up on Freecycle and plopped a heavy oak table (another freebee) in the middle. I brought leftover blankets for winter meetings, and placed a slate tile and some pebbles on the table. I hoped creativity would draw students into the unwelcoming space. Anyone can play with stones, after all.

It was amazing! Within 10 minutes, students were sprawled on the sofas, arranging the stones, and conversation was flying. Six years later, the sofas may be worn but they're still beautiful. A student peer told me, "My little niece was playing with those stones last week!" Yes, people still sit, chat, and snooze in Dickey Plaza. Strangely, I never hear comments about the temperature.

Last weekend, I similarly got to arrange existing furniture and accessories in a Street-of-Dreams style home. It had been left unfinished, in a hurry, and wasn't pulled together. We set up 2 new areas for conversation in the enormous upper hallway and warmed up the rooms with accessories from throughout the house and garage. What fun! There's a lot more to be done. (Maybe I'll get to play again when we get back after summer. Those silk kimonos stuffed into a box in the office? They look like wall hangings for the hallways to me!)

From Real Simple

Do you rework and beautify a space by showing up? 

• Do you leave memories of a lovely conversation?
• Do you rearrange the furniture?
• Do people know more about Jesus by the time you move away?
• Do you clean up and leave places more orderly?
• Are items assembled, repaired, or put in working order?
• Do you leave new ideas floating around?
• Do people feel loved after they've met with you?

Read more:
*All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:6,8 (NLT)

*He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 (NLT)

*Christ says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Luke 21:33 (NLT)Paul wrote: In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5 (NIV)

Moravian Prayer: Almighty God, when we are bogged down by the petty matters of life, give us perspective. Remind us that our real home is with you and we will worship and enjoy you in the heavenly kingdom forever!

We pray to you, Lord, for justice and peace. Help us always to walk humbly with you and in a right relationship with all your children. Amen.