Moving On

Wow, just looked at this and realized that I hadn't blogged since last year.  Oh wait, that's only two weeks.  Seems a lot longer.  As I write this morning, the cat's on the table, having overcome her trauma of her most hated dog last night, Kirby is at my feet, as usual and Winky is running, playing with toys and being busy, as usual.  All in all, a typical morning.  Going to church  later this morning with Kellie, so it's a later start than usual.

I titled this post moving on, and that is probably going to be the theme for this year.  I met with a realtor this week, and my goal is to be out of here and living at Liz's by May 1st.  Then floors will be dealt with, carpet, painting etc and the house will be staged for sale. It was a good meeting.  Our niece, Jess, is going to be my realtor.  I feel really confident with her.  She assured me that overall, it wasn't a bad house.  It needs work, but with a lot of cleaning from me and a few other things done, it will probably sell for the price that I want.  I wasn't really surprised by what she said, and for the most part our lists were the same.  I guess that watching all of that HGTV paid off.  Now I just need to find people I trust to work with me and get this house ready to sell.  My blog will probably be a journal of the trials and tribulations of all of this.

I had Annie, Kari and Liz over to dinner last night to fill them in on all of the plans.  I went to bed with very mixed emotions after that.  I understand that they are all upset over another piece of their childhood stability  not being around any more, but it was the rest of their reactions that had me upset.  They kept questioning me whether or not it was worth it to "put the money" into fixing up this house.  It left me with two possibilities as to the intent of those questions.  Either a) they think I am really naive and gullible about this house, or b) the generation that my children live in are really the "disposable generation" where if it's not perfect, don't work on it to make it better.  Either one is upsetting.  While this house is not the most beautiful, or the cleanest in Ramsey, it's been a good home, lots of memories and twenty five years of family love.  God found it for us at a time that we really needed it.  I have had things done, which Jess assured me were the right things to have done, and it's really not in that bad of shape.  My prayer is that the next family that lives here will be happy too.

I know that these next few months are not going to be easy.  It's not only the work, but the emotions.  I am trusting God to help me find the right people to get the tasks done.  I am trusting the girls for the help and support that I need.  I know that I have a lot of friends who are willing to help if I ask them, I just don't want to burn them out.  I will not miss the mortgage payments or living in this huge house all by myself with two small dogs and a cat.  Then there are the memories.  Gar and I lived her and raised our family here.  We've had revolving doors, that if the kids need someplace to come back too, we've been here.  There has been a lot of love and laughter here too.  It's a good house.  I am not going to get overwhelmed by my grief.  Instead, I stop and thank God for finding this house for us, and for giving me Gar and our children.  I also ask for your prayers, because they give me extra strength, and I am going to need all of that I can find.  God is good, all the time.