Out with the old...in with the new!

This week, is the final week in our home.  I have cried much with the thought of saying goodbye to this place.  In this house, I have...

1. brought home 4 babies from the hospital
2. potty trained 4 boys
3. redone a bathroom
4. watched a 3 year old drive down a 15 ft retaining wall in our mini-van
5. seen 3 of my kids go from kids to teenagers
6. made to many meals to count in what was a "new" kitchen
7. seen my oldest became at "adult" (not age only!)
8. walked the hallways MANY times with sick babies
9. listened to children play the piano for the first time
10. danced with my husband the day he lost his job and many other times
11. spent many hours on my knees in prayer
12. seen my kids learn and take pride in caring for rabbits
13. taken TONS of pictures
14. gone on many walks
15. lost 30lbs
16. cried in my bedroom while my kids were in Africa but felt a peace that passes all understanding from my Heavenly Father!
17. met neighbors that I will miss having around ( not sure we will be missed quite as much! :)
18. brought cookies and pies to them
19. read many bible verses to my children
20. made a house a home

I have mixed feelings right now about leaving our home.   I am ready to let go and see what the next chapter in our lives will be.  It has been an amazing chapter that we have lived!  I have been on a journey that I would not trade for ANYTHING!  Not always an easy road but exciting none the less!  As the garbage bags and boxes of "old" things go to the curb or local charity, I am reminded that other things are behind me and all "used" up.  I will and have gotten rid of much!  I am glad in most ways to be "out with the old" and I am welcoming the new!  I know God has an amazing plan for us and I will cherish the old but release it to Him and allow Him to do whatever He chooses with the new.  I have learned not to cling to comfort but to Him only! 

I can't wait to write what the new is in a few months!  I know it will be fun!  Never a dull life when God is in charge!  I am finding out to be true a church sign I read this past week, "He is the originator of surprise endings!"  This chapter ended in MANY surprises!  And good ones too!  I wonder what surprises will be at the end of the next chapter!  I hope you continue to join me!