Counting Down and Clearing Out

The countdown is on, and the sorting and purging are being done in earnest at this point. My mom was here helping me with this task for the last week, and she worked us hard! I told her before she left this morning that I probably only would have accomplished 10% of what we did together had she not been here to prod me along (gently, of course!).

I took my loaded Yukon (not a small car!) to Goodwill yesterday and came away feeling very light! There is more to go, but we sure got a lot of JUNK out of the basement in the last few days!

I have sorted through holiday books and decorations and chosen some to take along... but only what will fit in one Rubbermaid container... except for the Christmas books.... I couldn't leave many of those out and have nearly a full milk crate of those going.

Last week I tackled my hope chest~ it was a Christmas gift from my parents perhaps my junior year in college, just months before Scott and I were engaged. I filled it then with things for our new home, but since our marriage sixteen years ago have used it to store all sorts of things that had special meaning... but as I looked at it all last week, I realized that some of it was not really as special as it once was. Why did I save my nursing bras?! Those went in the trash. There were lots and lots and lots of letters and cards... fun to read through a few, but I decided I didn't need them all anymore. There was the unity candle from our wedding. It was at one time very pretty, but years in the hope chest had left it looking like... well, like an old candle. I have pictures from when it was pristine, on our wedding day. Perhaps it's best to remember things like that as they were, not as they are now. I saved my wedding veil, some special letters, the dolls I played with as a little girl, a sweater set that had been hand crocheted for Scott's baptism, my own baptism dress, and a few other odds and ends.

Scott has been away in China now for 11 days. He will be home in 7 days. Our packers come in 18 days, and we leave for Shanghai three weeks from tomorrow. Whew.

The clearing out feels really good. I love not being encumbered by so much stuff. The leaving~ well, that seems sad. There are so many and so much I will miss here. The going, that seems exciting. It's a new adventure with so much ahead of us to discover together. It's all good... and hard, and sad, and exciting, and scary, and wonderful and so many other emotions.

I think I'm ready. I don't know for sure. But I take great comfort and find great safety in knowing that God takes hold of my right hand and leads me into what is not at all unfamiliar to Him.