moving on

life has been full lately. this summer would have been 5 years in our first house. when we moved in, we always said we'd be in that house for at least 5 years and then reevaluate. i say "that" house because about 3 weeks ago we sold it, and it became another young couple's first house. crazy? yes. especially crazy because we haven't yet found a new house. looking? yes. my parents have graciously allowed us to move in with them until we find our next home. so it's as good of a scenario as it could be considering we are homeless. ;)

the decision to sell came on fairly quickly. we thought we'd probably move in a couple of years when we started trying for our third child. but the more we talked with our realtor and loan guy (sorry, jerry, what's your title?) the more we thought we should try now with the rates as low as they are. so we thought we'd put it on the market and see what happened. within a few hours of listing it, we had a full price offer! we were excited and shocked and still trying to convince ourselves that this was really happening.

i'm not quite sure it's totally sunk in. i mean the fact that we will never go back to that house again. there were lots of memories there. we brought both of our babies home from the hospital there. we had lily's first two birthday parties there. we had countless couples over for dinner. game nights, "24" watching marathons, cook outs, book clubs. not to mention the little things like being half asleep while hearing lily's door open, followed by her little footsteps on the laminate floor, knowing it would be just moments before she'd climb into bed with us. and transforming both bedrooms from office and guest room into nurseries when we found out we were expecting.

my friend carri warned me of the flood of memories that would rush back as i peered into each empty room one last time. she was right. i was overtaken with emotion thinking about all the wonderful things that had taken place within those walls. but then i was struck with the thought that I could take all those memories with me; what i was leaving behind was only the sheet rock and plaster.

probably the hardest aspect of this move is wondering how it will affect lily. that house has been all she's ever known her whole life. and in the past she hasn't dealt with change all that well. i remember when i was pregnant with luke and we were getting his nursery ready. i planned on moving the rocker i'd had with lily into his room. well, when it came time to move it, she had a serious meltdown for the next 30 minutes. so going into this i wasn't sure what her reaction would be. but she's handled it great. we've tried to really pursue her heart and how she's feeling/ what she's thinking about all this change. she says she's sad that we're moving. and she kept asking if she could take her bed, dolls, toys, etc. with her. :) so sweet. i reassured her that we'd take everything to her new room.

i'm still not quite sure that she gets it though. just hours before we turned over the keys, we took one final walk through with the kids to say good bye. it was emotional for josh and me. we teared up again and again as we recalled with lily the fun or silly or special things we'd do in every room. it has proven to be another opportunity to teach her (and be reminded myself) that God is in charge of everything (one of our little village foundational truths) as every night we ask God to provide us with another house. He is in charge of where we'll live next. He's in charge of the sphere of influence we'll have with our new neighbors. and the new memories we'll create as we do life and ministry in our new home. that part gets me excited.

good bye, 2609. we had a good run.