Moving Day

Tonight I'll be sleeping in the bedroom I had at my parents' house when I was visiting from college. The bedding and curtains are a fun black and white checkerboard print that I picked out during a big move we made to the next street (same street number!) when I was in high school. The girls sleep in the room I decorated during college, more of an "adult" floral in colors I love.  I comforted myself during those times of change with planning and decorating and choosing new colors.  In the same way, the thought of moving to this new house (which I have yet to visit!) brings much excitement and anticipation as to how we'll set things up, decorate, and make it our home.

And so here we are, our last night as Houston area residents for awhile. Our belongings are packed and ready to be loaded onto moving vans tomorrow. While Steven supervises at home (it stresses me out so I left halfway through today), we'll have our last outing to homeschool science class, and then we will drive off into the sunset to our new town. It's all starting to hit me as I'm sleepless even though very exhausted after two nights of prep work until after 1am to get ready for the packers today!

Tonight I was watching that show on hoarders and feeling grateful to have a husband who helps me to not be attached to "stuff." We've been purging the past few weeks and even more today. I've been ordered to stay away so I don't see all the things that are sitting out on the curb, and I'm glad that I can let others deal with the mess.  I have great hopes for creating a more minimalist lifestyle in our new home.  I know we won't be quite as minimalist as we might like, but this move is allowing us to really go through our belongings and make sure they are all things that we really want, really need, and really use.

I also have great hopes for how this journey will stretch our family. I was thinking about how in the past couple years, my blog has become mainly an avenue of sharing our outside activities, family celebrations, visits with friends, and homeschool events.  And I think in some sense this is what we have focused on as a family...our activities and outside events.  I hope that we can create more of a peaceful home atmosphere and that our own family life becomes the focus moreso than the activities that we do.  I still hope to participate in a few of them, but being in a less-active homeschool group should help us to pare down our outside commitments and focus on enjoying these fleeting days with our little ones at home.

I admit that Steven and I have both felt overwhelmed recently with the demands of caring for this little brood of growing children.  It is a lot more work than we anticipated, but yet rewarding in ways we couldn't have imagined.  They all have such unique needs and it is physically demanding to continually have babies and toddlers who need attention and older children who need to be challenged intellectually.  And then there are the most important aspects of virtue instruction, prayer example, and faith formation which are challenging to teach the children when you struggle yourself.  Discipline is a sore area all around.  And so I know that God has seen our family's needs and determined that this move will allow us to work on these areas of weekness and give us many opportunities to grow.

I know we will look back and hope that we treasured these days with young children, and I pray that God gives us the resolve to continue to follow His will as we move to to this new location and to find joy in the journey.  There is a vibrant faith community and a beautiful little home waiting just for us!  Jesus will be there with open arms to help us "grieve" the loss of our current community and comfort zone, but He will also challenge us to grow closer to each other and to Him.  I look forward to seeing our new house and what he has in store for us in these coming days!  Thank you for your prayers...