After sixteen years in our home, we are pulling up the stakes and heading to West Chicago to be closer to school and church.

It is definitely bittersweet as we say goodbye to neighbors we’ve known for many years, but we have also seen God at work throughout the process.

Not only have we been packing boxes for the move, but also preparing this house to sell. We started with a pile of 3×5 cards. Each one had a single task–some were small, while others required days to complete.   It’s funny how we got along just fine with broken bifold closet doors and missing drains in the bathroom sinks… but as we looked at the house through the eyes of a potential buyer, those things became problems that needed to be fixed.

Every time a task was completed, we tore up the card and enjoyed watching the pile diminish.  As a side note, while we were busy with home improvement projects, my mom came out several times to help with the home decluttering project, i.e. packing boxes.   Without her help, this process time would have easily doubled!

We got to work off the bat in the two boys’ bedrooms. Taking stuff off the walls,

spackling and sanding,

and finally painting.

It was a sad moment when we began painting over the glow-in-the-dark stars Jake had painted several years ago. Peter reminded us how much time Jake spent ensuring the night sky was accurately represented on the walls, ceiling, and doors of the room. It’s just the tip of the iceberg of memories which are bound up in this house.

While we are on the topic of painting over memories, allow me to bring you down to the basement where there are memories galore.   Having lived through four boys who like to play hockey (with full-size hockey sticks), dodge ball, basketball, wrestling, and Nerf battles, among other activities, I’m pretty sure our basement walls hold more spackle than actual drywall.   While it was quite rewarding to finally paint over the spackled holes and dents, it was altogether sad to paint over this.

Jake’s and Derek’s handprints from 2002.   I remember them smushing their pudgy, paint-coated hands along the wall like it was yesterday.   After adorning the playroom for fifteen years, they are now under several coats of paint.

We have managed to have some fun in the process…

Peter and Jeremy have become experts at disassembling bunk beds.  Bunk beds that are bolted into the wall for stability!

After a big surge of home-improvement progress last week, we finally felt ready to announce our intention to sell.

We were originally going to hold an open house this weekend, so Ruth used her marketing skills and got busy making an Open House sign.

But in the end, her sign was not needed, as our home sold the same day we put the For Sale sign up.

Commit your works to the Lord
And your plans will be established. (Proverbs 16:3)