Countdown to the move - Day 11

Yesterday, Monday, was Day 11 of the countdown to our move.

It was also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which meant Rob was home from work for the day. Too bad holidays are overshadowed by the moving process right now, or we would have done something more fun with the day!

Instead, we hung out upstairs while the painter finished his work around the lower level of the house. Then we all started to get stir crazy and lose our minds, so I took the older 2 kids to Target while Rob stayed home with Maddie while she napped.

We brought lunch home and the painting was finished, so we ate at the kitchen table (GASP!).

Still wet, so the knobs were off, but the cabinets look great in a bright new shade of white!

Ellie took a nap, Maddie hung out with me in the kitchen and snacked on Cheerios and prune/apple juice, and I started packing up our mixing bowls, tupperware, and other things that we don't need for the next 2 weeks.

Rob worked on packing the garage while Robbie played in the family room with trains, his Leapster... let's be honest, I really have no idea what he was playing with but he was occupied.

Then at just the right moment, Kelsey called to say she needed a study break and could she come play with the kids? {UM, YES}

She helped me bundle them up and took them outside to play in the snow. Good thing, because I'm a horrible mother and had no intention of taking them outside to play! Too much to do, didn't really want Maddie out in the frigid temperatures, etc. Everyone needs an Aunt Kelsey in their life (kids and moms included).

Ellie looked hilarious and adorable to me in this getup... is it the tiny body and huge hat? I can't figure it out. But I love it.

Oh my word. Those eyes. The lips and cheeks.

Packing just takes forever, doesn't it?! I got about 10 boxes done and I must have about 100 to go because when you look at the places I packed things up, they aren't empty. Sheesh. {And I thought being a mother eliminated any sense of satisfaction of being able to complete a task. It makes me happy and fulfilled but it sure doesn't make you feel like you've gotten much done! Packing = the very same feeling.}

I just found Ann Voskamp's January Joy Dare HERE, and want to follow along.

Here's my catch-up...

1. 3 things about yourself you are grateful for: my health, my compassionate side, my love for writing.

2. A gift outside, inside, on a plate: mild temperatures in January, freshly painted cupboards, dinner that will come from a friend this evening.

3. 3 lines you overheard that were graces: "We are best friends..." {the kids}, "I have felt the same way you are describing and it's hard..." {a friend who shares a similar internal struggle}, "She's so sweet, we're sad to see her move up to the next class because we enjoy her in here..." {childcare workers in Maddie's class about a little girl who needs to move on from the 'crawlers' room to the 'walkers' room - they really love the kids!}.

4. One gift old, new, & blue: God's Word, our new home, my kids' matching blue eyes that watch me every day

5. Something you're reading, you're making, you're seeing: Humility by C.J. Mahaney, a book about our old and new house for the kids to help them understand the transition, my own faulty ways of thinking about my abilities and limitations vs. the way God has made me and sees me.

6. One thing in your bag, your fridge, your heart: my lost-without-it day planner, homemade roasted tomato basil soup, the desire to be courageous.

7. 3 graces from people you love: Kelsey's gift of time yesterday, my mom's willingness to help me with the kids in the next 2 weeks, Rob's quiet help around the house as the tasks pile up.

8. Light that caught you, a reflection that surprised you, a shadow that fell lovely: the early sunsets this month, walking down the street with my 3 kids (so many blessings in just 3 years), the dark spaces in the arboretum that go unnoticed.

9. A gift in your hand, a gift you walked by, a gift you sat with: Our Arboretum and Gym membership cards {places that give me energy in different ways}, a dear friend at church in the hallway, a bowl of soup and a piece of chocolate cake.

10. A gift that's sour, a gift that's sweet, a gift that's Just. Right. : the limitation of time, waterproof mascara from a dear friend who knows the tears that will come, flowers from my husband.

11. 3 yellow things that strike you as fresh mercy: sunshine during a dreary month, candlelight, tulips as I enter my favorite grocery store.

12. Something above you, something below you, something beside you: A great cloud of witnesses, lovely new rain boots from my parents for Christmas, Maddie content to be with me as I cook, pack, write...

13. 3 sounds you hear: happy shrieks from the baby, endless clacking of plastic trains on plastic tracks, nonstop singing and the narration of everything as it unfolds.

14. 3 ways you glimpsed the startling grace of God: observing another's heart that warms to the things of God as He is rediscovered, studying Colossians, health when illness was feared.

15. One thing you wore, one thing you gave away, one thing you shared: daily my cherished engagement ring and wedding band, my time for others in little ways (on the phone, in the church nursery), my experience as a first time mom with a friend who has a new baby and is uncertain.

16. 3 ways you witnessed happiness today: Robbie eating snow and expressing contentment around the dinner table as we spent a quite evening as a family, Ellie being picked up by anyone, Maddie with her siblings.

17. One gift that made you laugh, one gift that made you pray, one gift that made you quiet: Ellie's dancing while she watched Wonder Pets, a friend's vulnerability in sharing her chronic pain and current struggle with it, traveling in the car by myself.

Counting joy brings a new sense of thankfulness.