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| So great to pull into the drive the Friday before "Pack up the House Day" and see SOLD! |
We were overwhelmed with help in packing up our home in
Newburgh. I wasn’t sure what to expect,
but tried to have the boxes, tape, and markers ready to go the night before. The packing crew on the Saturday we packed
was AWESOME!!! They began showing up one
by one and when one would need to go, another person would arrive. I was going to be happy if the downstairs was
completed that day, and instead they did it all in a four hour time span. It was far beyond what I had hoped. Because we were living in the house while we
packed there were still some things left to pack up, but only a closet and the
bathroom we were using. When they left I
wept tears of gratitude and thankfulness.
Bittersweet.
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| Part of the packing crew: Patti, Kim, and Donna! THANK YOU!!! |
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| Camping in the Newburgh house. |
One of the last things I packed was our family
pictures. I love pictures as you can
tell from my blog. I think it adds
something words can’t capture. I found myself
not packing them up. Instead I was going
through them and taking a trip down memory lane and posting a few on Facebook. It was very fun! I found my baby book, grade school report
cards, senior pictures, prom pictures, and pictures of Neil and Maddie as babies
that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I found
pictures of myself as young as two years old with my grandmothers, one of which
is now with Jesus. I found pictures from
past Christmases and pictures of our honeymoon.
I found pictures when we were thin and Brad had facial hair. Then I
found pictures of when we built the O’Hunter House and a piece of paper that
listed the steps in the building process with handwritten dates on the side of
when they were completed. I smiled, I
laughed, and I shed some tears. Bittersweet.
Loading day was just like packing the house up day. We weren’t sure exactly how many would turn
out and again, God provided more than enough.
He always does and He always will.
Why I stew and fret I have yet to figure out. I’m so glad He is patient with me. As I’ve shared before, many hands make light
work…even cold ones. About an hour into
the loading, the temperature dropped. No
one complained. With red checks, red
noses, and frozen toes they continued to load furniture and boxes in the
trailer. Four hours later, the trailer
could hold no more and our friends departed.
There is something about seeing all your earthly possessions in one
place, loaded up in boxes. Loading day
was emotional and difficult. The
realization we may not see some of these sweet, sweet people this side of
eternity again rushed over me. Bittersweet.
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| The trailer arrived by 10 a.m. Little did we know it would be full six hours later. |
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| The hands and feet of Jesus to the Ferris family. Thank you friends! |
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| The ramp was the last thing they could fit on the trailer. Done. |
The most difficult part of the good-bye process in Newburgh
though hands down was Thursday. It was
the last day we spent in the house. We
loaded up a UHAUL with the items that wouldn’t fit on the big trailer, loaded
up the Explorer on the trailer, loaded up the van and the car topper, and finished
cleaning the house. As I cleaned each
room Wednesday and Thursday, I prayed for the new occupants for joy, laughter,
good health, and wonderful memories. I
prayed Jesus would be their Lord and Savior and change their lives. Then it was
time to do one final walk through. Now
the house was completely empty of stuff but so full of other things. As I was going through one last time, the
sounds of laughter from the children still echoed off the walls. Cries of babies just brought home from the
hospital sounded in my mind. Visions of
Neil and Madeline running up the stairs laughing as they made their way to
their rooms on move in day played in my mind.
Memories of family celebrations - anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, good
report cards, milestones of riding bikes, crawling, walking, and baptisms
flooded over me. Dinner time laughter
echoed in the empty kitchen. Bedtime
prayers softly spoken from a child’s heart whispered out from the walls of
empty bedrooms. Giggles, tears, and so
much more surrounded me, and their sounds seemed amplified in the
emptiness. This was the last time we’d
ever be in those walls, and while I was glad to take the memories with me, the
time had come to leave. It was time to
say good-bye to an old friend.
Bittersweet.
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| Good-bye! |
Paper signing day to sell our O’Hunter house was a good
day. The new family was precious. The father is a minister!!! I had a smile on my face knowing that the
house was in good hands with people who loved Jesus and would take care of
it. So good to know those walls will be
filled with Jesus’s love, laughter, and hope again very quickly! It was a joy after all the papers were signed
to join hands and pray together with them and our realtors. We pulled out of Newburgh afterwards exhausted
but full of hope and wonder and what God had in store for us. During our time in Newburgh, an offer we made
on a house in Springfield had been accepted.
The next step was to wait for an
inspection report on this new house. Sweet.
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| Pulling out and heading back to Illinois |
The new house was incredible and looked great! It was built for entertaining and we eagerly
looked forward to a projected move in date of late February. Needless to say we were thrilled and VERY
excited! Inspection day was Wednesday of
this week, but the findings were not positive.
Over 20 major problems were identified.
These items were things one wouldn’t be able to see by just walking
through the house. We had been
continuing to pray about the inspection and asking God to open the door if
that is where He wanted us or to shut the door if not. We both had a peace that God had shut a door and
had protected us. Bittersweet.
We were very disappointed, all six of us. I think I was the most disappointed of all –
the kitchen was INCREDIBLE (stainless steel appliances, double oven, cook top,
custom cabinets, quartz counters, ceramic tile flooring…a cook’s delight!). I had to seek out some chocolate cake therapy
along with a glass of blackberry lemonade from Smokey Bones yesterday after the
“official” report was e-mailed to us. Today I was amused at how sad I was about
losing something that wasn’t even mine to begin with, but in my mind I had
moved us all in and had planned out some groups of people to have over. The children had this hilarious menu planned
to help me “try out” the new kitchen our first week in the house. We had begun to make plans and mentally get
settled and now that was not to be a reality.
I was reminded of Proverbs 16:9, “We can make our plans, but the Lord
determines our steps.” (New Living Translation) Bittersweet.
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| Chocolate Cake Therapy |
God has something different planned for the Ferris family,
something better for us somewhere out there in our future. The difficult part is waiting to see what
that is. We appreciate your prayers for
us and once again ask you continue to go before God on our behalf to show us
where we need to live and make the path clear to us. We need wisdom. Please pray for God to open the right doors
and close the wrong ones. While we wait, we will continue to “camp” in
our little red cabin and hold onto the thought that the best is still yet to
come and that is not a bitter thing…it is very, very sweet!
