Does anyone have ANY idea how difficult it is to pack up SOME of your stuff to live with for who knows how long? How do I know what to take? How do I decide what items to take and what items to leave behind. What if I forget something. What if I make a dumb decision in the midst of the crazies?!? I just don't know what to do. I go into a room and freeze up unsure of where to start and what to do after I've started.
Do I sound like a wreck?
In the packing department, I am.
Life in general, however, is beautiful. Sure, I'm exhausted. Sure, I am outnumbered and sometimes do not have enough appendages with opposable thumbs (might have helped if God gave moms monkey feet...I'm just sayin'). Yes, I miss my other half terribly.
However, life is beautiful. I am feeling good. I am fulfilling my role as mother to 3 with, I believe, more grace than I had anticipated. I get up each morning with joy and I drop into bed with thanksgiving. I have had 3 pregnancies. Twice, I have felt AWFUL for weeks afterwards. This time, when I needed it most, God has blessed me with health both mentally and physically. From the day of his birth until now, I have felt well and I haven't had complaints other than a few minor aches and pains that are to be expected...are normal...NORMAL. I don't typically fit that bill, medically speaking. God has been so gracious to me to grant me good health when I am on my own with 3, packing, getting little sleep, and surviving...no flourishing daily.
So, the questions that I've been asked over and over again that I would like to address now are as follows:
1. Has our house sold?
2. When are we moving?
3. Did Mark get the house we were talking/praying about?
4. How is Keaton?
5. How are the other kids?
1. Our house is past the 100 days on the market mark with no signs of selling any time soon. However, God is sooo much bigger than the economy and we know that it will sell when His timing is perfect.
2. I wish that I had a solid answer to this. Let's combine this with #3. We pretty much have the house. The lady hasn't had showings and is sending him the application, which he will fill out and send her with the deposit. Mark wanted us there next weekend. Not gonna happen. We wanted to be together for our 8th anniversary (Oct 26th), but we're not going to be able to be, I guess. Now, we'll either be going Halloween weekend or the first weekend of November. As soon as I know, I'll be sure to pass the word.
4. Keaton is awesome. He is the best baby. Again, God blessed me with just what I needed in this difficult situation. He is still a very chill baby and he never cries unless he is REALLY hungry. Thank you, Lord, for a calm, contented child when
5. The big kids are great. They love their brother so, so much and have adapted well. We still have issues of them messing with him, but I just try to remind myself that they just love him to pieces! Cassie is doing great in preschool and I terribly hate to have to pull her out at the end of the month. Conrey's language skills have exploded to where other people can understand him a lot of the time. It is so great to be able to meet his needs much more effeciently now that we can understand what the heck he's saying!
Welp, that's about it. If anyone out there wants to A) help me pack, B) come play with the kids while I pack, or the best option...choice C) come do all of the packing for me while I enjoy a relaxing trip to the spa, be sure and let me know. I would love any and all help that I can get!
I'll keep you all posted with the details of our lives once I know them. Over and Out.
3 comments:
Talk to me on Sunday about Monday evening. I think maybe I could come help for a few hours while Justin is at bible study. I want to come help.
Thanks for this post, Devon!! So much good information and answered so many questions I've been thinking :). I am so happy to hear that things are going well with Keaton, the older kids and your recovery!! Praise God!! I will continue to pray for God's timing on your move & house selling!! Hang in there with the packing...packing just stinks no matter how you cut it! Ick! Wish I were closer so I could help!! Love you friend!!
I've been in your shoes twice with moving. Both times I knew that 75% of my belongings would be packed away and not usable for an undetermined amount of time. The first time my things were packed away for 1.5 years. The second time for three months. I'll try to make this short about how I organized and figured out what to pack.
Toys. All of the big toys were packed away. Toys that were used on a daily basis and smaller in size were considered, and put in a special box (boxes in your case) to be used immediately. You could probably have Cassie pick a couple things she really needs, and you yourself pick a few things for Conrey, unless he's capable of that for himself :) Toys were the last thing I packed, because that kept Chloe busy while I packed.
The kitchen supplies. How much cooking will you be doing until you unpack everything? How much space do you have? I don't know your specifics, but I'd pack away big things like stock pots, blenders, food processors, etc., and keep the things you need on a daily basis.
Decorations. You probably don't need to have all of your decor around the house right away, so I'd pack that stuff away except for a few things you'd like to have on a counter or shelf.
If you have more than one computer, choose one to keep running and pack the rest. If you just have one, problem solved.
If you have multiple televisions, I'd pick one (or more if you need it) and pack away everything else related to televisions except for videos for the kids to watch. You might want to stick those with the kids' stuff so you don't lose them and wonder where they are.
Bathroom stuff. If you have appliances in your bathroom like a foot spa or hot rollers or larger items like that, you might consider packing all of that away along with extra things like linens and towels that you don't need right away. My curling iron, hairbrush, and the typical toothbrush, etc. were all we kept out for the bathroom.
Clothes. We picked things out of our wardrobe to last a little over a week (sometimes I miss having hardly no laundry to do!) I chose a couple outfits for church, lots of comfy clothes, and a few "going out" type outfits. Everything else got packed away.
I don't know everything that your house holds or what your needs are when you move, but I hope that helps you to choose what to pack.
Also, what was really, really helpful was a master list on my computer that listed every box, each one numbered, and its contents. I had a total of 54 boxes...I never knew we had that much junk. So if I went to our storage unit looking for my sewing machine, I'd first look it up on my list and find the box number, then go to storage and look for the number. It made it easier to find things, and if things were damaged or stolen we were able to have a list to show the insurance company.
We used labels on the boxes, but I recommend just a sharpie; the heat in the storage unit caused our labels to peel off :( Also, at one point my computer crashed and we were thankful that we had printed out copies of the contents. Make sure you keep the list somewhere safe, and label things carefully, because if someone gets a hold of your list or reads on the box "computer" they'll know exactly which box to steal.
That's a lot longer than I thought, but I just wanted to throw my two cents in there to see if it helps. I've been there, and I know how overwhelming it is. You feel like you're packing to go to Bible camp with kids in tow, right?
Post a Comment