It Has Begun!

Sorting.  Storing.  Purging.  It has begun: The Great Sift.  It's the beginning of the end of having all our own stuff in our own home, ready and available whenever we want or need it.  We're leaving Duluth in the fall, but we're not just moving to another house.  We're moving on with life, and eventually moving on to Africa!

We'll be taking very little with us, so now it's time to start sorting, storing, and/or purging.  Sifting.  Do we keep this?  Do we need it for daily living?  Do we put it in deep storage?  Do we get rid of it completely?  It's not as simple as boxing everything up and moving it from Point A to Point B.  We're not moving into another home where everything will get unpacked to be used again and/or dealt with at a later time.  A decision needs to be made over every single item in our possession.  Everything we choose to keep will be stored in someone else's space, and we want to be cognizant and careful of the space we're overtaking.  And many things we won't need to take with us.  Couches, tables, dishes, decor...none of that will be needed when we move on from here.  But we'll staying in this house through the end of September, so decisions need to be made not only in what to do with everything, but when to do it also.

We'll be slowly sifting through stuff this summer, in hopes of minimizing the work toward the end.  The reason is because we're on a deadline, and because I'm only getting more pregnant by the day and can't imagine doing this kind of work in earnest when I'll be barely able to move by that point.  Here's our timeline:

• Our landlord is putting the house on the market in August.
• Our baby is due in the middle of September.
• We'll be out of the house by October 1.
• We'll live at The Farm in Cambridge for a week-and-a-half.
• We'll attend our 10-year Reunion at Bethel the weekend of October 10-11.
• My parents will fly out and help us drive our cars and kids to Michigan.
• We'll move into my parents' lakehouse in Michigan and live there until we move to Africa.

So...lots of transitions ahead of us!  Life is busy and only getting busier.  It's gonna be a little crazy, we admit, and there's a bit of nervousness on my part, but we're praying and trusting that God will help us every step of the way through The Great Sift.