first things

We signed the papers and handed over the check for our new little cottage on Friday. After Elias trying to polish off the candy bowl at the title company while we signed and signed and signed, we went up to the house to see it all together with owner's eyes. The kids chased each other screaming in circles through the house and I started shallow breathing at the fact that the house is completely empty and it does not seem at all echoey or cavernous as an empty house usually does. I got over my square footage freakout and put the one thing on the kitchen shelf that I'd brought with me: a bowl Grammy gave me the summer before she died. It was kind of my "I claim this land for Spain" act and it made me feel better to see that bowl on the shelf. It reminded me that soon our things will be there and the walls won't be peach and jade sponge paint and it will feel like home very soon.

It's hard to leave our first home, the home we brought our babies home to, the home I learned to be a wife and mom in. We have put our touches on every surface and made it our home through and through. It's hard to start over.

But, I am daily reminding myself of the blessings of our little cottage: a block from Sydney's pre-school, minutes from our church, minutes from our friends, a 10-minute walk to Nick's office (so we will see him every day!), neighbors we already know, a home loved by kind souls who have been so good to us in this transaction, no more time on an icy dangerous highway with my precious cargo in the backseat...

I am getting better at saying goodbye to the Treefort with every tub I move into the storage shed at the cottage, with every fresh tomato, grape, squash and head of lettuce that I reap from our new garden, with every creative touch that Nick adds to our new home. We are on our way into this new phase of life and it will be as full of blessings as this phase has been. I just know it!