And the tears begin

Well just when I thought it was safe, the tears have begun to fall. It happened rather suddenly while I was dusting off an item of furniture that is making its way to another house. I'm not attached to the furniture but rather to the memories that surround the furniture. I'll miss the times we've crammed the extra stuffing on it when there just wasn't enough room at the table already full of family and friends. I'll miss the time we knocked over the pop just sitting on the edge while one of us reached for that card in a cut-throat game of 'pit'. I'll miss dusting off the good glasses when we celebrated the engagements of our daughters and new in-laws visited around our table. It's those things I'll miss about the furniture as it leaves.
As we made our way around our house and I tagged the things that we would place in storage I thought I wasn't really attached to anything and I still feel that way, but it doesn't stop the tears from flowing as I think of all those times we've shared with family and friends around those dented and scratched up pieces of IKEA finds that we've collected over time.
And even though it's only a year it's still hard to think of the little things that will change while we're gone. Things like little Liam sitting on Poppy's lap, stuffing his little face with turkey, carrots and a huge roll while laughing at all of us for making faces at him. Things like the games of Spoons or Pit or Settlers that won't happen with 8 0r 10 of us at a time for an entire year. Things like the 'insider jokes' that only the family can talk about. No it's not the furniture that makes me cry, it's the family that surrounds it that causes the tears to flow. It's the friends that we will not see over the next year that cause me to miss those silly pieces of wood and glue.

As the house empties, my heart aches a little more each day. The reality of what is ahead is looming in my mind and even though I know we are meant to go, it does not lessen the pain that a mother goes through when she leaves some of her kids behind.

Furniture and houses mean nothing. The emptiness of the heart is what causes pain. God blessed us with a house full of children and a heart full of memories that will sustain me over this next year. I am thankful that we share a bond with our children that I know many would love to have. We are truly blessed. It is that bond, those memories that will give me strength, that will see me through the tears as I continue to see the empty rooms, the cartons in the corners and the walls bare. Still I covet the prayers of those who read this blog. Prayer will see us through. God has called us, He will be our strength! Pray for our family while we are gone. It is a journey that is both exciting and sad but it will be one that we will never forget and our family will be stronger for it.