Getting Ready to Move

Now that we have decided to put our house on the market, we finally painted our master bedroom and bath. Those of you who were fortunate enough to visit our Master in the past know that for over two years I have struggled to find the right shade of blue or gray for the room. As a result, we lived with several large squares of different paint colors on the walls for a VERY long time. Not the best look for showing the house to prospective buyers! We never found the right color, so we have chosen a very marketable shade from Sherwin Williams - Bungalow Beige. It actually has turned out very nicely, but the fumes are really too much for me to bear right now. Yuck!

While our bedroom is deconstructed, we are going to start the process of staging our house for the real estate market. I have discovered that this means packing up at least 50% of what is currently in our house and storing it away while our house is on the market. This includes the vast majority of the children's toys, which we will store at Grandaddy's house to allow Jack and Abby "visitation" time with their favorite play things. I need to just embrace this process and welcome the opportunity to de-clutter our lives, but frankly, I am feeling totally overwhelmed by the prospects of getting our house ready to show and keeping it that way. Oh well, new carpeting is next on the list, and that should generate lots of great pictures as we move every piece of furntiture in our house! Hooray!

For those of you who may be wondering why we would EVER choose to list our house in the current market, here is the brief explanation: We are preparing to make some major life changes as Michael follows his calling into the ministry. We are not sure right now where his calling will lead our family, or even where he will attend Seminary. So, our short term goal is to move into a smaller house that will allow us the freedom to exponentially increase our savings while also positioning us to to sell and move quickly a second time when it is time for Michael to attend school full time.

After your husband announces that he has been called into ministry, you hear all sorts of stories. Some good, some great, some funny, and some sad, but all relating to things that happened along the way that either confirmed or undermined someone's confidence in their calling. I have had several people share with me stories of families they knew who started doing exactly what Michael and I are doing now: exploring schools, selling homes, rethinking careers, etc. Certainly, there have been some key things to indicate to both of us that Michael's confidence in his calling is well-placed, and that this is the path God has set out for us to follow. So, I am overly anxious about selling the house, because I keep hearing these stories from other folks about people who put their house on the market and sold in 2 days, or 1 week as they prepared to go to seminary, almost as another sign from God that this was His plan. If that happens for us, GREAT! But if not, and our house lingers on the market for months like so many others in our neighborhood right now, I know it will inject some doubt into our current thinking. Please pray for us, and me in particular, that I will continue to seek God's will for Michael and our family, and that I will get some discipline to enable me to take things as they come, especially regarding the whole house thing. This is a very exciting time for our family, and I just need to focus on taking it one step at a time. For those who know me well, you know that is a very hard thing for me to do!